Pumpkin time?

Day 213 on 365 cards on Tuesday was 'In Pieces': 'We have done a paper piecing challenge before, but this one is specific. If you complete this challenge, you must use this image:



It seemed at first as if we were being asked to make a halloween card - and I don't hold with halloween, so I thought I couldn't take part. However, when I asked I was kindly told: 'If you wish to use only part of the image - for example, just the pumpkin body, that's just fine :) If you don't celebrate Halloween, it's not a requirement, just an idea for those who do.'

So I incorporated the image into a card, together with my autumn ATC that I did for the 'ribbon' swap on BF.


I'm editing this because I've just found the new monthly challenge blog 'By the cute and girly' with 'autumn glory' as the first topic, so I'm linking this card there as it was made after the challenge was launched.

You can see here how I put the ATC together. The background of this card is K & Co Brookfield paper. The pumpkin was coloured with various shades on copics orange - which is just right for today's challenge 13 on Copic Creations: colouring a pumpkin.



This is another entry for 'shades of autumn' on Ooh-la-la 37, also for challenge 35 on Crafty Creations: leaves/autumn theme, another one for Allsorts 20: autumn days, another one for If the Shoe Fits ... Fashionista challenge 4: fall themed - it must contain leaves.

Salt: Growth

It's Salt challenge day - and I'm afraid that I'm a little late with posting my LO today, but here I am at last.

It was Esther's turn to choose the topic - and Mona last Thursday chose a meditation on growth for her 'in between' slot - neither Esther nor Mona knew what the other was choosing, so it's quite clear that they were both led in the same direction.

You can read what Esther said here and if you didn't manage to stop by Salt last Thursday you can read what Mona wrote in her meditation here.

When reflecting upon this topic to seek to decide what I should craft, it struck me that physically our growth is dependent on many things, but primarily on food for our bodies; so it is in our spiritual life, we need food to sustain our souls and for us to grow in maturity in the faith. Jesus said, 'I am the Bread of Life' - we need Him in our lives and to regularly seek His plan and purpose for us to grow spiritually.

So my LO meditates upon the passage from John 6 where Jesus talked about Himself as the Bread of Life - well worth looking up that chapter and reflecting on it.

The photos of bread were royalty-free ones found on the internet. The textured card is DCWV, the background paper is K & Co McKenna and the patterned strip of paper is K & Co Brookfield.

As always, if you click on the picture you can more easily read what I've written.



If you get time, why not pop along to Salt and read what Esther has to say and see the lovely crafting of the rest of the team - we would appreciate any comments you wish to leave us.

Just for Karen

Karen left a comment on my WOYWW picture from last night, asking if I'd show more of the stamps that were at the top of the picture.

So here they are - difficult to see what's there really because they are squeezed behind and on top of one another to use the available space. Once upon a time I said that I wouldn't buy any more wood mounted stamps because they take up too much room, but I seem to have forgotten that I ever said that. And I do happen to have a few (!) acrylic and unmounted rubber ones too.

A better view if you click on the pictures - oh, and please excuse the teddy's paw on the top right of the second picture - all teddies etc live up on the top shelf.

BF September ATCs swap

Postie's brought me my BF ATC swaps for September this morning - they are all so lovely. The theme was 'ribbon' - and it's amazing how different each one is and yet they all stick to the theme.

Thanks, girls - and thanks to Ali for once again organising.

What's on your workdesk Wednesday

No crafting here today (yet!) because we've been up at Guy's again today - so why is it that there is such a mess in this photo? Simple - I crafted yesterday and didn't clear it up, only the bit in front of me.

So this is for WOYWW:

Movie stars sparkle

This card is for the sketch on Clean & Simple FTL61:



It is also for GC21: Chestnut theme challenge 'Movie Stars' on Gingersnap. Also for Creative Card Crew 30: 'all that sparkles' (even if it doesn't show up properly here, that bottom pinkist white strip is glitter card and really shimmers, and the twisted pyramage is edged with gold foil.

It also fits the theme for day 142 on 365 cards: Movie Monday - 'Let the Twilight movie inspire your card. Use a black card base or black background, patterned paper where the dominant color is red, and embellish with either glitter or rhinestones.'

Bee happy

This card is for this sketch on Sweet Sketch Wednesday:



It's also for challenge 79 on Cute Card Thursday: 'Buzz off!' - 'we want you to use a black and yellow colour combo'.

Cupcake challenge 59 is 'cute as a bug' (I think a bee qualifies as a bug!)

I'm also linking for Alphabet challenge blog: Y is for ... yellow.


Day 150 on 365 cards was 'An 'eye' for an 'I' - use one word that sounds like another - hence the 'Bee happy'.

The checked paper is HOTP - other bits are from my stash - have had the quilled bees for quite a long time and not found a use for them until now. I suppose if I'd really been clever I would have had a hexagonal background like a beehive, but I didn't think of that at the time.

A sporty card

This is for the sketch on Prairie Paper & Ink:



Day 182 on 365 cards: Sporty Saturday ...'The specifics: Use a ball on your card - baseball, soccer, basketball, tennis, golf, or volleyball.'

And Charisma Cardz challenge 38 is 'getting sporty', so I'm linking for that.

Also for Die Cut Dreams challenge 15: it's raining 'men'!! (sorry, bit late for this one)

I don't know what the image is because I got it in a swap - coloured it in with copics. Black spotty paper is HOTP and red stripy is K & Co.

Thanks to Vee, I now know that the image is a Paper Nation stamp - I should have known that because I've got some of the others, for instance, the rugby one, which is similar. Thanks, Vee.

Thinking of you

Color Dare challenge 35 asks us to use these colours:



Challenge 6 on Stampin' Sisters in Christ is to make a 'thinking of you' or 'praying for you' card. I realise that I haven't actually stamped on this card, so I might do another one for this later.

I've used an aperture 'window' card for challenge 34 on Crafty Creations

I used flowers cut from a K & Co embossed vellum. The sentiment ties up the three colours asked for in The Color Dare:

A recipe for a cute card

Just amended this post to say that Leah supplied the sketch, not Nikki as I previously put - that'll teach me to read things properly - sorry, Leah.

This card is for this week's sketch by Leah on Paper Blooms:



This week's Cute Daisy May challenge is 'Easy as 1, 2, 3!' - 1 ribbon, 2 buttons and 3 flowers. The wide ribbon with spots on has been in my box neglected for far too long. The buttons are tiny, but are definitely there! and it seemed a sensible place to put them. The flowers are layered but you can't see that too well here.

The image was obtained in a swap so I can't say what it is - if anyone recognises it, please tell me) and I coloured it with copics,V09, B23 and BG01, which were the nearest I had to the colours specified in this week's Copic Colour challenge:



Papers are BG wisteria and euphoria.

Autumnal sepia

Autumn is really upon us now, although the last few days have been more like summer than that season was! Anyway, there are a few more challenges this week about autumn.

For this card I used this lovely sketch given for the Spoon Full of Sugar challenge 70:



I used an autumn stamp that I've shown before, stamping with Heritage timeless sepia, appropriate for the 'sepia' challenge on Tuesday Taggers.

With the autumnal theme, the card is good for:

Ooh-la-la 37: shades of autumn
Crazy Amigo: autumn
My Time to Craft 78: autumn fest
Allsorts 20: autumn days
Creative Belli 74: fall or halloween
If the shoe fits 4: autumn theme (must use leaves - these are on the stamped image)
No time to stamp? challenge 106 - rich autumn leaves, added element: sponging - I hope the sponging with ink on the flowers counts.

This is also another card for Our Creative Corner: monochromatic mania

The papers are all BG- from infuse, scarlet's latter, wisteria and lemonade. The autumn stamp is by Hero Arts. I inked some beige flowers with the sepia.

A winning streak!!

I've just found out that I was awarded shoe of the week for my card for challenge 3 over on If the Shoe fits, which means that I can put the appropriate blinkie on here (will do that tomorrow). Thank you so much to that blog for choosing my card, which is this one.

Also, as you can see here, my number was randomly picked as the winner for challenge 16 on Pile it on.

My number has also come up on Crafty Pad challenge 38 - I get a turn as a guest designer sometime soon - watch this space!

A silly mistake

This is a card that I made a few days ago - unfortunately, I made a silly mistake.

I originally made it for Fashionista Friday 2 on If the shoe fits, which was a sketch. Silly me, I went to the shoe blog to get the sketch and saw the first card on that challenge pageand proceeded to make a card to that 'sketch'. It was only after I'd made it that I realised that the card was the one that had won the previous challenge and the sketch was underneath - so, in fact, I hadn't done the sketch for the challenge, but had card lifted from Susan Z!! Thank you Susan for such a super card that inspired me so much that I didn't look further down to find the right sketch!!

So, this is the card I made, using HOTP papers and stamps, adding a coin etc:



The toile strip is actually a linen type of ribbon. This makes the card suitable for 365 cards 168 challenge: a touch of toile.

Continuing my Rosie-Dee catch up!

This was the challenge for week 52 on Rosie-Dee: 'This months theme of SHAPES continues with a recipe. So, we'd like to see 2 squares and a rectangle on your project this week please.' There are definitely at least 2 squares on my card and one rectangle (and one or two more squares).

For this I decided to use the sketch for challenge 17 on Creative Inspirations this week:



The current challenge on Our Creative Corner is 'monochromatic mania - 'This week we are making monochromatic cards. You can incorporate as many colors of one shade onto your card/project. You may also use neutrals (White, Cream, Kraft, and Black).' I suppose I've cheated a tiny bit (but it is only a tiny bit) in that there is a hint of green here and there, but I think I'll get away with the overall impression of various shades of pink.

The two images were ones that I originally made for a twinchies challenge on Something Completely Different (another challenge blog that I haven't done anything for for a while - and would like to get back to). The pictures of the girls were taken from a Crafty Individuals pad, but the backgrounds of the two images were stamped with a paisley stamp. This means that this card qualifies for the Banana Split Sunday challenge on 2 red bananas: easy as 1, 2, 3: 1 piece of ribbon, 2 stamps and 3 dew drops or gems.

All behind like the donkey's tail!

There are some challenges that I don't like to miss, but it's not surprising that, with the way things have been with John in recent months, crafting has had to be somewhat erratic. Because of the treatment John is currently having on his foot, he, once again, isn't allowed to put his weight on that foot, so only absolutely necessary walking indoors. That gives me more to do, but it does mean that on non-hospital days I can usually fit in a bit of crafting.

So, I'm trying to catch up with the recent Rosie-Dee challenges, so this card is for challenge 51, for which there was a sketch and 'We want to see at least one circle and one oval.'



It's a simple card, with BG granola papers and oval and flowers by Deni Designs:



Now to check their blog for the next September Shape challenge that I've missed.

Quick sketch card

This was the super Sunday sketch for day 204 on 365 cards:



I've made a quick card, using components from Dena designs (good to have handy when time and energy is limited):

365 cards day 208: challenge combo - with spots

For day 208 on 365 cards we were asked to make a card combining at least one challenge from each of June, July and August challenges. I chose day 118 'I've been framed' for June, 146 'mirror me' for July and 181 'white space' for August.

It's a simple card using elements from Dena Designs and some sticky spotty ribbons. As the ribbons are spotty, I'm linking for Paper Play week 36: 'spot this'.

A distressed cat? No way!

This card is for Get Sketchy 7:



The bonus challenge for Get Sketchy 7 is 'distressing'. The background behind the frame is Core'dination 'whitewash' - pink with a white backing that is revealed when sanded - I used one of the BG tools to do this - the scan doesn't make it look as white as it is for some reason. 'Sanding' is the 'try a technique' on 365 cards today (day 210), so I'm linking there. And it's another one for Cupcake 58: distressing techniques.

Taylored Expressions key ingredients challenge is 'paper distressing', so this card is good for that.

The background paper is BG euphoria, so I'm linking as another card on the BG challenge blog for week 4: embossing, having embossed using one of my favourite cuttlebug folders. The frame, cat and butterfly are Dena designs.

Another bright card

For this card I've used the lovely sketch for challenge 60 on Cutie Sunday:



The theme this week on Pile it on for challenge 16 is 'punches'. Because I've got a cuttlebug and cricut (as well as a robo that has been neglected for quite some time now - must use it!) I possess very few punches - the ones I do have are mostly corner punches. For fancy edging I tend to use my rotatrim, which is how I got the scallops on this card, putting the holes in with the 'big bite', which is, after all, a punch - mind you, I don't think I punched the holes very well - blame it on the quality of the piece of red card - but perhaps I was going for the distressed look!

The idea of the Pile it on blog is to see how many other challenges you can use, so this card is also for:

Day 164 on 365 cards: Color scheme:



Keryn Campbell colour challenge 25:



One stop craft challenge 48: die cuts (as well as the punched border I've used the die cut chippie cake, balloons and sentiment.

Bright colours

This card is for sketch 134 on CPS:



I used bright colours to tie in with the colour scheme challenge for day 205 on 365 cards. These were the colours we were asked to use:



I think I managed to include all of them. The card also includes the colours asked for in challenge 61 for Color Throwdown:



I also used buttons for Whimsy stamps challenge 20: 'buttons, buttons, who's got buttons?' and for 'B is for button' for challenge 10 on Paper Cutz - using at least three buttons (I love using buttons, so it was no hardship).

The crisscross paper is from the BG lemonade range and the stamped image is one that I did in May for a twinchie challenge (I blogged about it here).

Young crafters

Paul came to see us today with the girls - it was lovely to see them. When Paul and Danielle went over to McD's to get lunch for us (to save me cooking - but I had made a trifle for afterwards) - Chloe and Faye decided to do some drawing:







After lunch the girls went into the garden to get rid of some energy - they played hide and seek for quite a while - at one stage I had to go and hide - went behind the shed, which I suppose was an obvious place, so Chloe soon found me.

Grandad John couldn't step out into the garden, so he sat in the doorway of my craft room so that he was included.



After a while, the girls came in and did a bit of serious crafting - stamping up images and colouring them in.

Can you guess what Faye's favourite colour is?



Chloe was taking her crafting very seriously:





And so was Danielle:



They all seemed to be pleased to be crafting in Nana's room.



And before they went home I stamped up quite a few images for them so they could take them with them to colour them.

Lol - Net asked if there was any trifle left - no chance - it went quicker than the time it took to make it - at least it was enjoyed!