Have a cool yule

This card is for this week's sketch 45 on Do not waste your Thursdays:

I used a blue base card and added torn hammered white card and then added stickles crystal ice to the torn edges. The speech bubble was created in Publisher and printed and a few Anita's glitteration snowflakes were added here and there.

The penguin is an image received free for the I did it creations challenge 16: 'cute, cute, cute'.


This is also for:

Sundays with Crissy 7: 'Christmas in July'
Ann's creative nook 100: 'Christmas in August'
Stampavie 104: 'Christmas in summer'
Moving along with the times 58: 'Christmas'
Christmas cards all year round: 'snowflakes'
Craft your days away 1: 'favourite things' - making Christmas cards - if you scroll down my blog you'll see that I make a lot - love doing them
ABC Christmas: 'Q is for quick and easy'
Meljen's 19: 'clean and simple'
Raise the bar 30: 'pearly whites'
Oh Alice chapter 25: 'white rabbit, white gloves, white wonderland'
Paper jewels 6: 'monochromatic'
Delightful: 'distressing' - torn edges
Alota 40: 'distress'
Creative craft: 'animal antics'
Some odd girl style challenge 5: 'so punny'
Creative Friday 23: 'things with wings' - not sure technically whether penguins have wings or flippers (I've googled and got mixed answers!)
Crafty creations 80: 'winged things'
Penny's 35: 'anything goes'
Bee crafty 35: 'all about the image'
Sentimental Sundays 15: 'anything goes'

Rose torso

This month's theme on Something completely different is 'torsos' and this week's theme is 'a bit of bling'.

I've never made a torso before - I'm glad that a template was given on SCD, thank you.

Having printed the torso template I stamped the Hampton art rose background stamp, masking the neckline, and heat embossed with moonglow red/teal powder. I added the gemstones around the neck of the dress for the 'bit of bling' and coloured the neck with copic R00.

This is also for:

Digi doodle 19: 'use your favourite stamp' - I have so many stamps, so many of them favourites - this is certainly one of them - so versatile
Stamp dreams 43: 'lyrics: kiss from a rose'
Tanda teaser 152: 'rosa sine spina'
Stamp and create 4: 'flowers'
Penny's 35: 'anything goes'
Fiskarettes Monday challenge: 'embossing'
Our creative corner: 'it's embossable'
Paper jewels 6: 'monochromatic'
Drunken stampers 28: 'masking'

Paper pretties prize

I've received this lovely stamp from Paper Pretties, calleed 'wade E bug' for winning their Wednesday 28 July challenge.

Thank you so much, Paper Pretties.

Time for another tidy up

It's Wednesday again, which means WOYWW 62 on Julia's blog.

I can't believe that most of the stuff on my work surface is to do with the baubles embossed Christmas card I made last night. I did quite a bit of experimenting with embossing, sanding, inking etc - the finished card is in the post below - but now I see it in daylight I don't think I even like it, so I might do some more experimenting. One of the things I tried was embossing straight on to the front of an A6 card, but I obviously was more tired that I realised because I ended up with debossing instead of embossing. Oh well, you can't make an omelette without cracking eggs.

In the first photo you can see the Paper Pretties stamp that I won in a recent challenge - I'll blog about that next.



So, it's time for a tidy up ... and then I can start all over again!

Apologies to those who show their workspaces on WOYWW - I just don't get round to leaving comments because there are now so many blogs to visit. However, I am very grateful for all those who leave comments for me - I really am.

Oh, and some of you were wondering whether I'm taking on the 300 Christmas cards commission - yes, I am - the initial card needs preparing on computer, including a photo which I've already altered successfully - and then printing, so no actual 'crafting' involved.

Simply dry and wet embossing for Christmas

For the theme for August 25th club on BF forum, Joanne gave us this inspiration picture:

So I thought it was about time that I got started on the August cards - the days of the month are slipping away fast already. I used my newly acquired PM baubles embossing folder run through my cuttlebug. I used some copper pearlescent card for the embossing and then slightly sanded it in places and swiped a brillance galaxy gold ink pad over the whole surface. I then covered it with clear embossing powder and heated. Sadly, you can't get the proper look of it on here and it's too dull to take a photo without flash. The use of the embossing powder over the whole surface obviously has added a sheen to it, which has a subtle gold look over the copper.

I then mounted this on to old gold pearlescent card.

This is also for:

Fiskarettes Monday challenge: 'embossing' - dry and wet embossing
Wild flower Wednesday 26: 'embossing' - dry and wet embossing
Our creative corner: 'it's embossable' - dry and wet embossing
Sundays with Crissy 7: 'Christmas in July' (yes, I know it's August now, but the challenge continues)
'Tellen's place: 'Christmas in July'
Ann's creative nook 100: 'Christmas in August'
Moving along with the times 58: 'Christmas'
Meljen's 19: 'clean and simple'
Totally stampalicious: 'single layer' - no stamping involved, but I did use ink pad and EP
No time to stamp 151: 'one layer cards'
Paper jewels 6: 'monochromatic'
Delightful: 'distressing'
Alota 40: 'distress'

Cake plant happy birthday

This is for the sketch on Stampotique 12:

I've used the colours for Off the wall 19, which has this inspiration picture:

I've used BG porcelain papers and some sticky ribbon that's been in my box quite a while. The stamp, coloured with copics, is Stampotique Janet Klein 'cake plant'. The smaller flowers were white, coloured with copic to match the iced cake.

Please excuse the wonkiness of the scan - light is too poor to get a photo.

This is also for:

Party time Tuesdays 11: 'anything goes' - I know it's not very clear, but the stamp does have 'happy birthday' on it
Your next stamp 22: 'birthdays'
Frosted designs: 'celebrate life' - birthday
Lots to do week 31: 'ribbons and lace' - these ribbons have a lace effect
Craft your days away 1: 'favourite things' - stamping and colouring with copics

Every dog has its day

This is for CCEE 1031 sketch:

I've used a DL card and papers are BG max & whiskers. The dogs are part of a Magenta stamp (it actually has three dogs on it) coloured with copics.

It's also for:

Order of the opus gluei 67: 'dog days of summer
Stamptacular 71: 'snips and snails and puppy dog tails'
Stampin' B 70: 'dog image'
Creative craft: 'animal antics'
Shelly's TTT: 'this place is a zoo' - hope two dogs is OK
Play date 41: colour challenge:
Cupcake inspiration 71:

Ahoy there!

This is a quick card for Everybody art 102: 'pirates':


I printed off the treasure map and added the stickers - easy peasy card!

It's also for Italy on Sunday 51: 'maps'

CBC July ATC swaps received

These are the lovely ATCs I've received as part of the monthly swap on Crafts by Carolyn, the theme for July being 'fabric'.

Thank you, Jane and Nigel.

Pink and green

This card is for One stitch at a time 24: sketch and/or 'use a little pink':

I've used Bo Bunny papers - the background is My darling Bella and the circle was cut from another BP paper, which I think is called darling dots - it was a small piece I rescued from the 12 x 12 that I mainly wasted the other day.

The bright green card was embossed with a cuttlebug folder and inked with orchid pastel chalk inkpad. The edges of the stamped sentiment were inked with lime pastel chalk inkpad.

This is also for:

Little red wagon: 'circles, circles, circles'
Cupcake 102: 'distressing'
Flourishes timeless 78: 'no embellishments'
Delightful: 'distressing'
Freshly brewed: 'thank someone'
Wild flower Wednesday 26: 'embossing'
Meljen 19: 'clean and simple'
Alota 40: 'distress'
Our creative corner: 'it's embossable'
Sweet stampin' 38: 'pretty in pink'
Craft your days away 1: 'favourite things' - I just love, love papers and Bo Bunny are among my favourites
Cupcake inspirations 70, which had this inspiration picture:

Off on an adventure

'Off on an adventure' is challenge 16 on Cards for men. I've used the sketch for Critter 25, which has the added twist of using a minimum of two ribbons.

The double sided paper is K & Co Donna Ingemanson.

It's also for:

Scrappy frogs: 'a stitch in time'
2sisters 4: 'stitching'
Pals paper arts 54: 'a masculine KISS'

The shirt off your back

Order of the opus gluei challenge 66 is an unusual and novel one: 'use 'the shirt off your back' - in my case, it's the blouse. I photographed part of this blouse to give me some background paper:

The blouse material is a bit crinkled which gives a slightly offbeat look to the photo and print out.


I used CPS sketch 178 (love this - will remember it and use it again):

The spotted strip of paper is American crafts 'confetti'. The sentiment stamp is from Hobbycraft (think it was in one of their bargain bins).


This is also for:

Stampin' royalty 31: 'create your own designer paper
Sentimental Sundays 14: 'switch it up! - new technique or new style' - this is the first time I've taken a picture of some material and used it as background paper
Simple doodles 23: 'get out of the box' - a different idea for creating background paper
Crazy amigo: 'free theme'
Tuesday taggers: 'lots of lovely black'
Penny's 35: 'anything goes'
Scrappy frogs: 'a stitch in time'
2sisters 4: 'stitching'
Stampavie 103: 'black, white and one more colour'
Stamp, scrap & doodle: 'no images only sentiments, diecuts or other embellishment'
Pixie dust 34: 'cute as a button'
Everything but the kitchen sink 20: 'buttons'
Really reasonable ribbon 5: 'black and white (can add a splash of colour'

Cheers!

A while ago I was given a lot of aperture cards by a generous crafting friend, so I decided to use this heart one for a card that would be suitable for an engagement, anniversary or wedding.

The card itself has a lovely sheen to it. Inside the heart aperture is vellum, covered with acetate. The bottle and glasses are very sparkly 3D stickers (think they are craftime). The white verbena flowers were from Hobbycraft (out of the bargain bin).


This is for the following challenges:

Crafty creations 79: 'wedding or anniversary'
Creative cottage 20: 'acetate'
Other lovelies thoughtful Thursday 23: 'acetate'
Oh Alice chapter 24: 'windows and broken glass'
Ann's creative nook 99: 'are u thirsty?' - incorporate drink
Drunken stampers 27: 'frosty drinks'
My time to craft 101: 'let's eat or drink it up'
Papertake weekly: 'white and bright'
Pink elephant 78: 'something yummy'
Penny's 35: 'anything goes'
Simon says: 'sing it baby' - I can just hear Cliff singing 'Congratulations!'
Divine diva inspiration 33: I went for the 'bottle' theme
Frosted designs: 'celebrate life' - an engagement, wedding or anniversary

Just a cute bear

Just cute bears 28 calls for 'anything but square - and include a tag'.

Once again I've used my cricut wild card cartridge to produce another 'doiley' card. The double sided paper is American Crafts the goods truly inspired. The tag and bear are 3D stickers and the piece of ribbon has been in my box for a long time.



This is another one for Character cafe challenge 27: 'round card' and Raise the bar 29: 'a sticky situation'.

It's also for:

Sketchy colors 32: blue, grey and beige
Little red wagon: 'circles, circles, circles'
Penny's 35: 'anything goes'
Charisma cardz 31: 'teddy bears'
Prairie fairy 30: 'anything 3D' - the stickers
Teddy stampers 17: 'use different shapes' - scalloped and plain circles
Always playing with paper 9: 'vintage'

It's a girl thing

Why is it that everything I've attempted to craft today has gone wrong? - and I've wasted some precious papers - oh well! Onwards and upwards!

I'm not sure whether this is girly enough for Daring Cardmakers 'it's a girl thing' challenge - I hope so. Originally I was going to do a girly stamped image, but a few pieces of 12 x 12, ribbons etc ... and this is what I've ended up with. The double sided paper is Fancy pants 'heavenly' .

I used Cricut wild card cartridge to cut the 'doiley' card, so it's for Character cafe challenge 27.


The 3D flower stickers - for Raise the bar 29: 'a sticky situation' - are Anna Griffin. It's also for Little red wagon: 'circles, circles, circles'.

Salt: Trinity, three in one

Ruth chose the topic for today's Salt challenge - you can read what she wrote here.

My digi LO is very simple - I just used the 'night and day of earth' illustration and added the worship song.

This is a quick post, as I'm doing it in advance, because we are up at Guy's again for a foothealth appointment for John.

'Thank you, teacher 'or 'back to school'

This is for Clean and simple sketch 101 (I turned it on it's side):

The alphabet paper is DCWV (very old) and the paper with arrows is K & Co.

This is also for Copic Creations 32: 'summer reading' - I've used one of the free illustrations offered by the sponsor of this challenge, Elizabeth O Dulemba and, of course, coloured with copics.

This could be used for a 'back to school' card for a child or as a 'thank you, teacher' card.

This is also for:

Crafty Hos: 'back to school'
Cutie Sunday 103: 'school'
Frosted designs: 'need a little direction?' - use an arrow
Freshly brewed: 'thank someone' - suitable for thanking teacher
Sisterhood of crafters: 'celebrating the month of August' - using red, orange and green - a time for school holidays - thinking back or looking forward
ABC: 'A is for August' - see above
Theme Thursday: 'words'

WOYWW 61

It's that time of week yet again - time to show what's on our workspace today - if you don't know what I'm talking about (is there anyone now who doesn't know?) then hop over to Julia's blog to find out - and then take part and show us your workspace.

My space is much the same as usual - some debris left from yesterday's crafting.

You can see in my box of stamped images that I've stamped my new Stampotique birthday cake stamp and coloured it ready to take part in this week's challenge, but that's as far as I've got with it. I'm going out to lunch soon and later date must get my LO done for the new Salt challenge for tomorrow, so I'm not sure when this will get used.

I thought I'd show some of my stamp shelves - and perhaps it will prompt me into sorting them - I used to have Christmas ones separate etc but they have all got a bit out of handy lately.


Someone asked last week about the mug tree and what's on it - it has lots of double sided tape (which is a bit silly really because I hardly ever use it now because I've got the ATG yellow gun, which is brilliant, but I do sometimes use narrow DS tape. It also houses masking tape, sticky dots tape and rolls of foam tape.

Must dash - lunch is calling - and I'm meeting a friend to discuss whether I'm taking on a commission to make their firm's Christmas cards - a total of about 300!!

Bright butterfly birthday

This is for Creative Belli 96 sketch 4 and something that moves (the butterfly):

Papers areBG Indian summer and the glittered butterfly has been in my stash for a few years now (think it was originally on a hairband).

The colour combo is for Colour create 50: 'hot pink, warm orange and saffron', which also has the option to use butterflies and also for C.R.A.F.T. 61: 'hot and spicy colours'



It's also for:

Party time Tuesdays 10: 'summer birthday'
Crafty creations 78: 'summer lovin' - hot summer colours
For fun: 'summer colours - bright colours'
Ooh-la-la 59: 'birthday'
Paper romance 9: 'birthday'
Cowgirl: 'animals and bugs'
Pile it on 30: 'butterflies, bugs and bees'
Flutter by Wednesday 115: open - include a butterfly, fairy or angel'
Creative Friday 23: 'things with wings'
Crafty catz 43: 'material girl' - the butterfly is organaza
Cupcake 102: 'distressing - I've torn around perspex ovals
Paper pretties: 'glitter' - on the butterfly
Cas-tastic 14: 'bling it up'
Going grey (Scrap-creations) 21: 'anything goes'
Lollipop crafts 1: 'anything goes'

Get well soon with Scarlet's letter

This is for Eat sleep stamp sketch 94:

The colours are for Colour throwdown 103:

I used BG Scarlet's letter papers (one of the oldest range of BG, but still one of my favourites). The 'buttons' were die cut with a thin cut die. I like using these because it keeps the card flat - which is quite important if selling for charity, because people don't always want to have to pay extra for the postage to cover extra thickness.

This is also for:

Theme Thursday: 'words'
Cute card Thursday 123: 'texting crazy'
Flourish timeless 78: 'no embellishments' - the 'buttons' are die cuts and they are allowed!
Going grey (Scrap-creations) 21: 'anything goes'
Lollipop 1: 'anything goes'

BF July inchies received

Postie brought me my swaps today for the BF forum July 'America' inchies - they are fab - thanks, girls, for these.