A lovely surprise

Yesterday our postie brought me a lovely surprise - a package from the US - and this is what it contained:

Beautiful 6 x 6 double sided papers, vellum quote, lovely stamps and a gorgeous card. Thanks to a very precious fellow Saltine (if you haven't heard of Salt yet, please pop over and have a look).

Wednesday Stamper: gesso + ABC V is for violet

When I looked at Wednesday Stamper this week I thought I'd have a go. This is what it said: ' This week its all about GESSO. This is such awesome stuff, not only to prime things, but you can stamp with it, transfer with and even use it as a modelling paste. Show us your creations using gesso, but don’t forget to use at least one stamp.'

Well, I was going to go out today and buy some gesso, but my back has been very painful and I just didn't feel like it. I read somewhere that you could substitute gesso with white acrylic paint. So I took a piece of canvas (bought it a while ago in a pack - quite thin sheets of it) and spread it with white acrylic and while it was still wet I stamped into it with this Dawn Bibby design stamp (didn't use any ink, just the stamp). When it was dry, I chalked over the design and then used it to cover a piece of chipboard which has then been matted on to the card.


As this is a violet colour, I'm linking this as a second card for the ABC challenge V is for violet.

Friday Sketchers 34 + ABC V is for violet

For this card I used the current sketch on Friday Sketchers (No. 34):

And I made the card to a violet theme for the ABC challenge V is for violet.

The papers are from offcuts in my box (think they might have been HOTP); the image has been printed on to linen card, which gives a bit of a watercolour look to it. Underneath the fibre there are purple eyelets (although my big crop-a-dile doesn't set these as well as the smaller one used to - I suppose it must be operator error!).

Di Hickman sketch January 1 + Cuttlebug: simple white card

I've combined the Di Hickman sketch January 1 challenge with this week's Cuttlebug challenge to make a simple white card.


I used the paisley cuttelbug embossing folder and the Swiss dots to emboss on white linen card; three blooms were added with a brad and a piece of white ribbon wrapped around, with another much narrower piece in the middle of it. The sentiment is a small Cuttlebug embossing folder. The scallops were cut on my Rotatrim and holes made with the crop-a-dile:



The light had faded too much to take a photo, so I'm afraid that on the scan there are shadows caused by the depth of the blooms - irl the 'white' is even.

Crafty Muse: something new (new home)

Mum asked me to make a new home card for her to send to a friend. I actually have one or two in stock, but, as I'll need some more anyway, I decided to make a different one. I used a stamp that I bought a couple of months ago and hadn't yet used and coloured with copics - only a subtle difference in colours of the houses because of using red card background. I wanted to layer this up, but didn't have any matching glittery silver (the card blank was one I've had for ages - it already had the embossed border), so I used some of the matching envelope to create a matching silver mat (so now it can be put in a red envelope instead).

The current challenge on Crafty Muse (one I've not done before) is 'something new' .... for example a new year, new baby, new home, new job .... Make a card or project based on this theme.

No crafting today yet, but ...

I've just been putting inserts in cards and labelling, ready to bag up and I am amazed that just with doing forum and blog challenges since Christmas I have 40 new cards to put into my stock (and I've also made and sent a few as well). I found another twelve cards that I'd made just before Christmas, but hadn't had time to input inserts etc. As I'm hoping to have a sale for Tearfund one Saturday in March (probably 14th, but not sure yet), I'm glad that my stock is building up.

Thank you to all those who arrange the challenges - they are much appreciated.

And thank you too for all the visitors who kindly leave their comments - they too are very much appreciated.

2 Sketches 4 You: Kazan's sketch 17

A quick card for Kazan's sketch 17 on 2 sketches 4 you:


The paper on the left is Pamela Woods creative imaginations and I can't remember what the other one is:

Cupcake Craft Challenge 21: glitter

Plenty of glitter on this card for the latest Cupcake craft challenge (although some of it isn't obvious on the picture). The Happy birthday and the cake are shaker stickers that themselves have glitter around the outside. The paper used is a piece from my scraps box and a strip of sticky ribbon. The card is actually white, not blue (had to scan rather than photo because flash caught on the glitter).

Mixed Media Monday: lunar

Quick card for Mixed Media Monday challenge: moon/lunar, using HOTP materials (sorry, scan is not good - it's black, although it looks like dark blue on here).

JB January 1: a template

On JB Bex provided this template for January Challenge 1:
I've used Kanban papers, a HOTP chinese writing stamp and a Cuttlebug embossing circle, inking with adirondack terra cotta. I cut out circles to overlap for the left hand edge (I originally punched holes in them, but didn't like that when the card was made, so I added the primas instead).

Theme Thursday: vintage Valentine + JB January 3

This card is for two challenges.

Theme Thursday this week is 'vintage Valentine theme', so this seems appropriate (it will have a lovey dovey Valentine sentiment inside!). January challenge 3 on JB is 'old and haggered' 'I'm thinking...aged looks, lace, vintage, antique, torn looks, faded.....you know what I mean,' said Lisa.

I used K & Co Brookfield paper (double sided, so the stripe on the left is from the same paper) and a little vintage card. The quote at the top left says:

'Stalwart youth and maiden fair
Of these poets have sang
No joy compares with that we feel
When the heart is young.'

OCC: color challenge

It feels so strange not going out to church on a Sunday morning, but the pathways were slippery looking this morning - either heavy frost or sprinkling of snow, probably the former - that I didn't want to risk slipping. We're hoping that, with the lovely sunshine we've now got and the increasing temperature, we'll be able to safely go out this afternoon to get to the 5 pm service. I've been indoors for most of the past week or so - as you can see from my blog, I've used time to craft, but it's much better to be able to get out and about. I seem to be going through a bad patch again with my back - trying to ignore it and hope that the pain might go away!

Anyway, this is a crafting blog, so enough of that and on to the card that I've made this morning. The challenge on OCC this week is 'to use two shades of blue along with a neutral color.'

I've used BG Larkspur Oh Baby! paper to stamp on, using Stazon ultramarine with one of my foam stamps that I got from QVC and then mounted this on to matt silver (my 'neutral') and again on to the BG paper. The card itself is randomly stamped with a Dawn Bibby Designs stamp that I often find useful for quick effective backgrounds. The 'thinking of you' has been printed on the computer and then matted and layered to match.

Now I must get into the kitchen, or we won't have any lunch ready!

UKStampers 21:tags old and new

Challenge 21 on UKStampers: 'Create 2 Tags one with OLD as the theme and one with NEW... You can use as many stamps as you want but one stamp must be used on both tags.Post your finished tags on the blog!Happy Stamping! Create 2 Tags one with OLD as the theme and one with NEW... You can use as many stamps as you want but one stamp must be used on both tags.Post your finished tags on the blog!Happy Stamping! '

I chose fashion (in a loose sense) as the theme, the stitching stamp being the same, because stitching is used in any generation. The tags are vellum and the colours look much better irl. The stamps are all See Ds, Vintage and Accessories:

Inchy by inch: horse

Last week for the first time I took part in the Inchy by inch challenge, so I thought I'd look this week to see what the challenge is. A guest designer, Deidre, has produced a beautiful hanging cube made from inchies (certainly worth a visit to the blog to see what she's done). I can't aspire to that, but I've made one little inchie (well, it would be little obviously, because it's an inchie!) of a horse.

I used a new stamp I got this week from Dewdrop Craftz: Harvey Horse. The stamp is a small one, but not small enough to use the whole image on the inchie, so I stamped it and then chopped until I got an inchie. I then coloured with copics, with a touch of an inktense pencil to get the bit of shading on the side of the face:

I'm not sure what I'll use it for - probably incorporate it on a card some time.

BG 17: chipboard

I love doing the BG challenges - love working with the papers. Today's challenge is to use chipboard. I stuck some BG paper on this little birdie and then cut round it with my Fiskars fingertip craft knife - I love using this - before I got it I used to hate using a craft knife. I managed to cut the bits in the middle and then distressed using my new BG precision file set (worth buying in my opinion - can get into those little places quite easily).

The papers are BG sugared (I think - have to confess that I had quite a few pads out, took the papers out and used them and now am not 100% sure whether they are from the sugared pad or another one - what I do know is that they are definitely BG!)

When I'd made the card the right side looked a bit bare, so I just cut out four of the flowers and stuck on.

Tanda Teaser 80 + Rainbow Lady 42: green and black

Teaser 80 set by Wendy on Tanda this week is 'quick cards in a quarter' - quarter of an hour, that is. I already had the piece of BG two scoops paper on my worktop, so I just added a couple of sticky ribbons and stamped the ivy down the side and coloured with copics, added the sentiment - all done within the 15 minutes.

This card, of course, is another green and black one, so I'm also linking it as another card for Rainbow Lady's challenge 42:

Dottie's world Sunday challenge: start the New Year with a laugh

The challenge on Dottie's World this week is 'ave a laugh! I'm not really sure (lol!) whether mine is funny enough, because it's deadly serious!

I used the 'jumpgirl' image on linen card and coloured with copics (not very successfully - I'm still learning - the first attempt went in the bin), mounted on matt and on to a night club purple majestic card, which has a blue glittery look in a certain light.

If you play along with this challenge you'll get Scruff in the tub absolutely free:

I look forward to getting him. You've still got till midnight tonight to take part in the challenge (you need to include a Dottie download - details on the blog).

Simply skinnies 12: children's stories + RaInbow lady challenge 42: green and black

I came across this stamped image of a quote from Alice in Wonderland (or perhaps it's from Alice and the Looking Glass) that I received in a swap on CBC.

This is my first time of doing something for Simply skinnies, challenge 12 being to make something to do with children's stories, so this seemed to be very appropriate - the skinny has to be 3" x 5":


The skinny was chalked with shades of green and black and green and black gems added, mounted on to a piece of BG paper.

I then used it on a simple card, using a strip of BG two scoops down the side - this is for Rainbow lady's challenge 42: green and black:

Our Creative Corner sketch + Created by hand: flourishes

I'm hoping to be able to have a card day again some time at the beginning of March to raise some more money for Tearfund, so I'm gradually building up my stock and having a bit of fun doing challenges at the same time.

This card is for two challenges. Firstly, it's for this sketch on Our Creative Corner (I just spun it round):


As the stamped image has a flourish under the glass, I thought it qualifies for the challenge on Created by hand this week.

The stamped image was one I received in a swap on CBC and I used copics to colour. The papers are again BG Scarlet's letter, plus a Papermania sticky ribbon with wavy edges for the scalloped part of the sketch.

I thought this could be a versatile card - for Valentine, wedding, anniversary, including silver or ruby.

One Stop Craft 10 + Stamp Something: no stamping allowed

This card is for two challenges.

Firstly, it is for the sketch by Shelley on One Stop Craft challenge blog:

The card had to include brads or buttons, so I included buttons, because they were already printed on the oval that I used ( K & Co Brookfield), so I just stuck some real buttons over them. The papers used are HOTP and K & Co. The lily image and the 'thinking of you' are vellum.

The challenge this week on Stamp Something is 'no stamping allowed', so I'm submitting this card for that too.

Secret Crafter Saturday challenge 13 + Dutch Dare 30

Challenge 13 on Secret Crafter Saturday challenge is a sketch:

I hope you can see it in this simple card (with a little bit of imagination!):

This also includes three triangles, so it OK for the new Dutch Dare challenge 30 'to use at least three triangles on your card'.

The tie is a tag that came with a sheet of wrapping paper, so this was a very easy card.