Tuesday catching up

This was the sketch for Tuesday morning sketch 33 (just scraping in with this one before the new one is launched today):

Same papers as the last card - Guy's thing and BG and the middle bits are from the free magazine sheet - a quick card.

Another for 'masculine' on Stampin Royalty 7 and the colours are good for today's Picture Perfect colour combo 2:

Along for the ride

I've used the colours from Dancing in Pajamas TCP 97:
and the sketch from Carol's sketch fun 20:

It's also for Stampin' royalty 7: 'masculine cards'

The background paper is Guy's life (still using up some of this, although, unfortunately, not much left now - has been very useful), the striped paper is a BG offcut and the car was free with a magazine - it has almost a canvas texture to it. The labels that look like dymo are actually rub ons.

Gatefold Easter card

Jacksonbelle this week asks us to 'try a new fold' - well, I was all set to try making a 'joy fold' card - found a video on You Tube that had good ratings ... and then found that You Tube didn't want to play properly. When I can get You Tube to play nicely, I might have a go at the joy fold card, even if I'm too late for the Jacksonbelle challenge - and there's one also on Project Tuesday.

So I've resorted to an old favourite (that I admit doesn't take any thinking about) and have made a gatefold Easter card, which fits fine for Doodle Palace 'create a card using more than one score line with an Easter theme'.

It's also for:

Kaboodle 25: 'fancy folds' (although it's not really fancy, but a bit different to the norm) - I'll try to do something more fancy for this challenge before the deadline
Corrosive 52: 'wings' (the butterfly)
Die cut dreams 36: 'Easter'
Another for Spoon full of sugar 91: 'spring is in the air'
Another for Belli 85: 'butterflies or dragonflies to celebrate the coming of spring'
Cupcake inspiration 47: As you can see from the picture inspiration, the cupcakes are decorated with pale pink and blue - I know that my card has other colours, but it was the pastel look that inspired me
All supplies, except the irridescent card blank, are from Poundland.

Flowers for Cute Daisy May

For this card I've used sketch 16 on Delightful sketches:


For this week's Cute Daisy May 'flowers' challenge, I used a CDM image from sheet 62, changing the colour to purple within Picture It and using a clone brush to take off the purple on her face, arm and hair, which I then coloured with copics after printing out.

It's also for:

Quirky cards 22: 'cute'
Incy wincy 31: 'touchy feely' - the glitter card mat behind the image has a lovely texture feel and the flower has an almost suede feel to it
Lexi: 8: 'anything goes'
There she goes 43: 'birthday sparkles' - the purple glitter card and the flower centre
Digital Tuesday 46: 'all things girly'
Practical scrappers: 'stamps' - can be digi, so this is OK
Etsy inspired 76: 'enchanged beehive' - I chose:

Picture perfect creations: colour combo 1:

The papers are BG wisteria (I must buy another pad of this because I love it and most has gone now) with a little turquoise BG lime rickey behind the image mat.

BF February ATCs: flowers

The topic for the February ATC swap on BF is flowers. I've simply used one of my favourite flower stamps by Anita - it was one of the first stamps I owned and I still love it. I used textured card that I don't think would have taken too kindly to colouring with copics, so I decided to give them a rest and get the Sakura pens out - I used to use these a lot, but they've taken a back seat with copics being so popular.I dotted some crimson metallic on the petals and then blended with a white pen. The blue background to the blocks was done with an ordinary colouring pencil.

I felt tempted to make these more elaborate, but in the end I felt that they looked right as they are.

Paper piecing for spring

This card is for Sketch & Stash 29:

The idea of Sketch & Stash is to use new or neglected stash - I'm still trying to use up some of the offcuts that have accumulated over the months - I spy a piece of BG paper there from quite a while ago.

I've used some offcuts of green and yellow to paper piece the stamped image and added a bit of colouring with the copics which are designated for this week's Copic colour challenge.

It's also for:

The treehouse 37: 'paper piecing'
Our creative corner: 'try a new technique'
SPCC 35: 'green galore, only orange, summer sun'
Copic colour 52: 'C-3 cool gray No. 3, R11 pale cherry pink, G21 lime green'
Your next stamp 10: 'spring colours'
Cutie stampers 43: 'yellow + birthday'
Stamp something: 'touch of spring somethings'

Please share my umbrella

That title takes me back to the 1960's with the song 'Bus stop' by the Hollies - loved it!

This card is for Crafting life's pieces sketch 21:

It uses the colours for ColourQ 20:

It's also for:

Dottie's World: 'hearts' - using the Charmed download 'puddle love' from the Love and Marriage collection
Quirky crafts 21: 'Valentine's'
Another for Ooh-la-la 47: 'love'
Another for Papertake weekly: 'check this out - gingham or checks'
Flutter by Wednesday 97: 'hearts' - I've included butterflies
Another for Pixie cottage 9: 'love theme'
Tanda teaser 134: 'these boots are made for walking'
Dutch dare 71: 'Valentine's day'
Another for Susie's sassy 8: 'hearts and flowers'
Totally Gorjuss 18: 'flower power'
Incy wincy 30: 'punch it out' - don't know whether this is cheating because the heart shapes were made on my cricut (I don't own many punches because of using the cricut)

I cut the heart shapes on my cricut using Make the cut software. The papers are out of my offcuts box.

Another prize

I was privileged to win this gorgeous stamp that arrived today, for challenge 9 on Sketchy colors:


It was for this card. I look forward to using this super stamp.

Chocolate and pink

This card is for sketch 20 on Crafts4eternity - the recipe also calls for chipboard and polka dots:

It's also for:

Another for Penny's challenges: 'birthdays'
Another for Tellen's place 6: 'birthday'
Another for Raise the bar 6: 'stamper no stamping'
Totally papercrafts 4: 'lots of spots'
Cupcake inspiration 46: this is the yummy inspiration picture:
I've used a mixture of paper offcuts and a DCWV far east chipboard sentiment:

Green and pink 18

This card is for sketch 154 on CPS:

It's also for:

Gingersnap GC40: random redhead challenge: 'numbers'
Sketchy colors 11: 'light green, dark green, pink'
My time to craft 79: 'green plus one'
Cute card Thursday 100: 'metal mania'
Pixie dust studio 9: 'charmed'
Stamp, scrap & doodle 28: 'charming'
Penny's challenges: 'birthdays' (it doesn't say 'birthday' on the outside, but has a Happy Birthday message inside - obviously for an 18th birthday
Tellen's place 6: 'birthday'
Raise the bar 6: 'stamper no stamping'

The papers are unknown offcuts from my scraps box (still trying to use some of these), the lock and key charms were part of my prize from Incy Wincy and the flower charm is from scrapbook creations. The '18' numbers are Thickers.

Unscripted stitching

This card is for the sketch and colour combo on today's Unscripted 43:

It's also for:

Another for Pile it on 6: 'let us see flowers'
Crafty angels 22: 'fantastic flowers'
Practical scrappers: 'flowers'
Stamping vacation pick 3: I chose 3 of the same type embellishment (the flowers), colours blues and brown, an embellishment sentiment
Flourishes timeless 54: 'all about me' - what you love - favourite embellishments: flowers
Simon says: 'recipe': 3 types of embellishments (the flowers), 2 patterned papers, 1 image (the stamped sentiment - hope this counts)
Humble pie: 'only one type of embellishment - the flowers
Cuttlebug be inspired 71: stitching - I used the cuttlebug stitching border embossing folder and lightly sanded the embossing
Another for One stitch at a time 1: 'stitching'
Another for Sophisticat 22: 'stitching'
Another for Crazy Amigo: 'stitches'
Another for crafty creations 55: 'stitching'
Creative card crew 45: 'get well soon'
Stampavie 82: 'get well soon'
Paper cutz 29: 'get well' - the sentiment was stamped
Hand full of stamps 17: 'sending you wishes'
Lots to do week 7: 'use a machine' - I used my cuttlebug with an embossing folder for the 'stitching'

Papers were free with a magazine, flowers a mixture from my stash, 'get well soon' sentiment stamp by Hobby Art:

Forever your friend

This card is for Friday Sketchers 89:

It's also for:

365 cards day 335: 'the 3 D's - dark brown, diamond and distressing - the torn oval
Res-Q 32: 'snakeskin ... a new way' - I tried the technique given - the result is the 'diamond' shaped card behind the teddy oval
Saturday spotlight 18: 'around the house' - I used the netting from a 'bag' of lemons for the 'snakeskin' technique as described for the Res-Q challenge
Teddy stampers 4: 'love'
Sunday stamper 91: 'all you need is love' - I always think that the FF bear takes love wherever he goes - I would have used the teddy with a heart, but think I've used hearts so much recently ...
Artful inkables think ink Tuesday 14: 'naughty or nice' - this definitely conveys 'nice'
Ann's creative nook 78: 'in honor of President's day' - I used the 'bronze' theme for the faux snakeskin - created with 'copper penny' and 'old English red' heritage inks
Cupcake 78: 'keep it simple'
Pals paper arts 30: 'keep it simple, sweetie'
Creative inspirations 48: 'say it in sepia'
Fab n funky 11: 'it's childish' (suitable for a child, although I think anyone of any age loves FF bears)
Raise the bar 5: 'be mine forever' - use an item that you will never sell or give up - copics (used to colour the FF bear)
The striped paper is offcuts of BG and the dark brown is from a piece of Be blessed paper.

Wings ATC

For this 'wings' ATC for this week's Something completely different I've used one of the Tim Holtz eclectic palette stamps that I had for Christmas. I stamped on to a piece of BG blue paper using Adirondack stained glass ink, which I part embossed with stardust EP and part with hologram. I then lightly sponged with distress tattered rose and old paper.

I've enjoyed doing this - sometimes when life is difficult, it's helpful to do a little crafting.

As is usually the case with something sparkly like this, it's very difficult to get a photo.

I have a confession to make to the SCD team - last week I made this ATC for 'mad March hare' - having used lots of UTEE on it, it had curled up somewhat, so I put it under heavy books to straighten - unfortunately, the UTEE cracked and the picture underneath couldn't be seen properly - so it ended up in the bin - a complete disaster! The card I used was too thin to start with - should have used chipboard - oh well!

Prize goodies

Last week I was one of the 5 top runners up for Sew many challenges 3 and received three digi images of my choice, for this card (which is the one I gave to John for Valentine's Day).

Today I've received a lovely package from Canada as my prize for winning challenge 23 on Incy Wincy with this card. I was told that I had won 'Rub ons, a baggie of charms and a spool of ribbon', but, as you can see, I received more than that:

Recycled kimono

This card is for La-la land 26: 'red' (as the main colour) - the kimono (which seems to be a coloured peel off on handmade paper) was rescued long ago from a card, so it is recycled. I originally made the background of the card for another creation, but then changed my mind, so you could say that the whole creation is recycled.

It's also for:

Crazy 4 challenges 24: 'red'
KL stampin n scrappin 17: 'red, black and white'
Colour create 38: 'time to par-tay!!' - red, white/off white, chocolate and pink
ABC: 'O is for one paper'

Easter fun

As I'm hoping to take cards to our WEF in a couple of weeks' time, I need to get on with making more cards, particularly some Easter cards, so here's a very simple one using part of a bag set from Poundland and a couple of their stickers.

It is for Eat sleep sketch 70:

As it's an Easter/spring card it's also for:

Spoon full of sugar 91: 'spring is in the air'
Creative Belli 85: 'butterflies or dragonflies to celebrate the coming of spring'
Inky impressions 30: 'think spring'
Papertake: 'check this out' - gingham or checks (the ribbon)
Little red wagon 16: 'ribbon'
411 colour inspiration 110:

Salt: continue in prayer

A new challenge is launched today on Salt - the subject was chosen by Julie and you can read what she wrote here.

The last few days have been very difficult for our family - John's sister died in the early hours of yesterday. She had been in hospital for over a month and over the past few days had deteriorated greatly.

I have to admit that I hadn't done anything for my Salt contribution and didn't think I'd be able to participate this time, but yesterday I was able to sit down and produce my simple LO:


Please visit Salt and see what the other members of the team have created for this challenge and perhaps do something creatively as your own response to it - we'd love you to leave us a comment there so we can visit your blog to share in your crafting.

The large white letters are Thickers - the smaller letters are from an unknown set of stickers; the photos were part of a kit from QVC. I don't often link to other challenges with my creations for Salt, but thought this time that, as I have stamped faux stitching using HOTP stamps, I would share with these:

Corrosive 51: 'sew it up'
One stitch at a time 1: 'stitching'
How much is too much? 126: 'a stitch in time saves 9' - stitching and 9 different things - my 9: 4 different pictures, 2 different DCWV cardstock, 2 different inks (memento black and Elzybells whipped cream) used to stamp the faux stitching, Thickers letters
Crazy amigo: 'stithes'
Crafty creations 55: 'stitching'
Sophisticat 22: 'stitching'

Bright and cheerful

For this card I've used the sketch for Think ink challenge 13 on Artful inkables:

It's also for Cute Daisy May 'bright and cheerful' - the image is a CDM digi one - and it was coloured with copics for this week's challenge 51 on Copic Colour:
It's also for:

Little paper shop: 55 'distressing' - the torn paper
Sparkle creations Christmas week 10: 'blue and red' - the 'script' paper is winter/Christmas themed, so this card might well go into my Christmas box
Susie & Vikki's Christmas club 4: 'digital Christmas' - the image is a CDM digi
Stampin' B 45: 'make a red, white and blue non-patriotic card'
Simple doodles 10: 'add some background'

The background paper was some that I got ages ago in a swap. Why is it that photos look wrong with flash, so I resorted to a scan and now that makes the ribbon look crooked when it's not!

A simple green card

A quick card for Mercy's sketch 60:

The pieces used on this card are from Dena designs.

This is also for:

Paper sundaes 5: 'a glittery spring' - there is glitter on the rectangle and the leafy swirl, but hard to see on the scan
Cards for men 4: 'green' - I think this would be suitable for a man
Fun with shapes and more 40: 'lilac, green and white' - there is only a bit of lilac, but it is there on the bird's tail

Give a hoot - recycle when you can

This is a card to myself - to put on my shelf as a reminder. It uses the freebie image 'give a hoot' given this week on Digi Kitty for their 'get owly' challenge. The symbol on the owl is, of course, a recycling one, so I thought it would be a good idea to base my card on that theme and to put it on display to help me to remember to recycle when I can - we have separate bins for paper, plastic/tins/glass, food scraps ... I coloured the owl with copics (having printed him on recycled card).

Of course, all the materials used for the card have been recycled.

I've used Papertake sketch 34:

It's also for:

Crazy amigo: 'arrows'
Digital Tuesday 45: 'it's all about animals'
Squigglefly 36: 'the animal kingdom'
365 cards day 349: 'a good sense of direction' - arrows

Check it out in blue and yellow

This card is for Sketch & Stash 28:

The 'neglected' stash is the large blue bloom.

The card is also for:

Another for Pile it on 6: 'let us see flowers'
Another for Theme Thursday: 'flowers
Sophisticat 21: 'tartan'
Cinema Saturday 66: 'Clueless + a touch of plaid' - I've based the card on one of the yellow tartan suits that one of the actresses wore (I'm loving the way these film challenges are making me think outside the box)
My Grafico 36: 'plaid out!'
Pink elephant 54: ribbon'
365 cards day 304: 'sounds great' CD cover inspiration