Springtime birthday celebration

This card is based on the sketch for week 8 on Create 4 fun:


I've used a Penny Black stamp from the Critters selection for Penny Black week 89: 'colour combo - pink, green and yellow'.

The card is also for:

Loonies stampers 81: 'spring moss, smokey shadow, sweet blush'
Peachy keen 23: green and yellow, 3D element (the flowers/pearls, butterflies), stamped image
Copic colour 53: YG03 yellow green, Y17 golden yellow, C-7 cool gray No. 7 (I used No. 5) - the colours look paler on my image because the base card is quite shiny
Charisma cardz 8: 'birthday card with a twist - must include a candle'
Raise the bar 7: 'three's company' - 3 embellishments etc - butterflies, flowers, pearls, mice, designer papers
Flutter by Wednesday 98: 'open - include butterfly, fairy or angel'
Crazy amigo: 'insects'
Created by hand: 'things that fly'
Another for Belli 85: 'butterflies or dragonflies to celebrate the coming of spring'
Another for Inky impressions 30: 'think spring'
Another for CDM: 'flowers'
Another for Flourishes Timeless 55: 'flowers'
Another for Jacksonbelle: 'anything with flowers'
Another for Corrosive 52: 'wings'

Papers are Craft creations and Basic Grey, pearls are Prima.

Roses are red

I've based this card on Sweet stop 44 sketch, which also calls for flowers:

It's also for:

Alphabet: R is for red
Colour create 39: 'black, red and off white'
Another one for Tanda teaser 135: 'riots of petals'
ClearlyiStamp 8: 'it's hip to be square'
Another for Practical scrappers: 'stamps'
Pals paper arts 31: 'an inspiration challenge' - I concentrated on the four squares aspect:

Once again, I used the Magenta roses stamp with versamark and metallic red embossing powder.

Pink roses

This card is for sketch 52 on Card Patterns:

It's unusual, in that it asks for two images - so I used two of the four panels on a Magenta rose stamp that I had for Christmas. This is just right for Pollycraft 34: 'double up' - use two images.

It's also for:

Allsorts 40: 'a tag, ticket or a label'
Another for There she goes 43: 'birthday sparkles' - lots of glitter edging on the birthday tag
Another for Penny's challenges: 'birthday'
Gingersnap colour challenge GC43: 'three colours you love' - the combo of black, white and hot pink is one of my favourites
Twisted Thursday 45: 'hot pink'
Theme Thursday: 'flourish'
Another for Sophisti-Cat 23: 'embossing'
The treehouse 38:'bling it on' - the birthday tag is very glittered
Tanda teaser 135: 'riots of petals'
Pixie dust studio 10: 'think birthday'

Papers are DCWV and the images were stamped with versamark and heat embossed with hot pink powder.

Something completely different: keys

This is a very quick ATC for last Friday's Something completely different challenge: 'keys'.

I was going to use a die cut of a key or possibly a picture of one and play around with inks, but in the end I thought 'the answer is right in front of me - my keyboard!'

Vintage father Christmas

The next six cards are for the 25th club on Bubbly Funk forum - the idea is that each month we make a set number of Christmas cards (we choose how many to make) - and there is a theme for the month. This month the theme chosen by Tracey has been 'animals'. Until today I had only done 4 of my 10 cards, but now I've completed them.

This first card for BF 25th club uses the sketch for Sparkle creations 11:



The animal, of course, is Rudolph - papers are various offcuts and I'm stamped one of my favourite Christmas images - the vintage Santa is OK for Fab's big Christmas 8.

I've added three hearts for February's challenge on Christmas cards all year round - that means I've now made two cards for this challenge - another three to make.

The challenge on One powerful hour this week is 'faces' - 'This week use a face or a portion of a face in your piece.'

Btw, the card isn't crooked, it's the scan - and the little hearts don't look so purple and pink irl.

Clean & simple Christmas cards

The next two cards for BF 25th club use Clean & simple sketch FTL79:


As the sketch says, they are clean and simple - the background paper on the first one is English paper company and the second one is Craft creations.

As I've used images from a kit that I bought just before Christmas, I think this qualifies for Bah! humbug 2: 'using new/nearly new stash'

Skating fun

The next card for BF 25th club is based on the sketch for CPS 115:

Once again, the background paper is Craft creations and the strip across the middle is English paper company. The skating bear is a Forever Friends 3D element sticker, which qualifies it for Sparkle creations 12: 'use any winter sport related image'.

As this card has three hearts on it, it's another one for Christmas cards all year round February challenge.

Crafty catz 20 is 'charming bear' - the FF bear and the hearts charm.

Forever friends current challenge is 'hearts', so this is suitable for that.

Time to hang up that Christmas stocking?

This is another card for BF 25th club based on Sketchy Colors 12:

This is also for ABC Christmas: 'C is for candy' + pink

Papers are DCWV

Sweet Christmas bears

This final card for BF 25th club February is based on The sweetest thing sketch 57:

This was a good sketch for using up offcuts.

It's also another one for Sparkle creations 12: 'any winter sport'.

A prize

I've received this prize from Ann (Ann's Creative Nook) for her challenge 76, for this card.

Thank you, Ann.

What if ...

This is a card for Taylored expressions 101 sketch:

It's also for Divine diva inspiration 22:

I mainly picked up on the deep bright blue of the pool, with a hint of the yellow in the writing.

I used a piece of double sided paper from the K & Co rough and tumble pad - as I only used one piece of paper, it's good for ABC O is for one paper.

I'm also linking for:

Quixotic 15: 'one for the boys'
My Grafico 37: 'chipboard' - the car circle is chipboard edged with dark blue chalk ink
Creative inspirations 49: 'monochrome'

Where do the days go to?

It's Wednesday again - and that means WOYWW on Julia's blog.

Considering I made eight cards, a set of inchies and a set of ATCs yesterday, which involved lots of cutting, sticking, using the cricut, getting messy with inks ... perhaps my workspace isn't as bad as it might be. I try to put things back where they belong when I can, but it's inevitable that things get littered around me, including the floor.

So far today I've made one card (the only below this post), but I had three attempts at it and more rubbish went in the bin or on the floor!



Now I'm going to have a tidy up and then I can start playing again! But first I must go and prepare some veg etc for tonight's meal.

Oh Alice!

A new challenge blog has just started - devoted to Alice in Wonderland - Oh Alice!

The first challenge is Chapter one: down the rabbit hole: the beginning ...
'Alice gets glam inspiration challenge' - In anticipation of the upcoming Tim Burton remake, let's GET GLAM with Alice! Jessica recently scored this UBER fab makeup palette by Urban Decay (thanks honey!) and fell in love with the awesome colors, the NAMES of the eyeshadows (all after Alice, of course ;) and the pop-up mushroom mirror!

'We wanna see how YOU get Glam using this amazing little piece as your inspiration! Show us your style, put on the glitz, and GET GLAM!'

I looked up the make up set on the internet and printed out the palette of colours. I then found a copyright-free picture of Alice to put in the middle. Having printed this out, I then used four favourite mini stamps with versamark and then embossed with gold detail (I wish it showed up better on the photo, but it's a dull day again, so had to resort to flash). The first three stamps on the top row are Magenta and the righthand corner one is Stampendous 'african flower'.

It so happens that the new challenge launched today on Wednesday stamper is 'Alice in Wonderland' - what a happy coincidence! - so I'm linking for that.

It's another entry for Sophisticat 23: 'embossing'.

I really enjoyed this challenge (even though I had three attempts before I got it right - kept getting the wrong stamps in the wrong places).

Anya dressed up warmly

This card is for Paperplay week 7 - a sketch by Sandie:

It's also for:

Wild card Wednesday: 'paper piecing' - using Anya in autumn digi download from Greetings farm - I paper pieced Anya's boots and scarf - the rest was coloured with copics
Anyone for Anya: 'something completely different' - until a day or so ago I hadn't tried paper piecing (wanted to do it first for this challenge, but couldn't find Anya in autumn when I wanted to do it)
Another for Paperminutes 102: 'polka dots'
Copic creations 22: 'colouring embellishments with copics' - I coloured the flowers
Another for Penny's: 'birthdays'
Another for Tellen's place 6: 'birthday'
Daring cardmakers: 'winter birthdays' - I think Anya is dressed up warmly enough for winter
Stamping 411 colour inspiration 111:

The papers are out of my offcuts box.

Black and white flowers

For this card I've used Sweet sketch Wednesday 37 sketch:


I cut the circles on my cricut, so I'm therefore linking this for Just Buggin' 25: 'black and white'.

It's also for:

Pile it on 7: 'get well soon'
Another for Paper cutz 29: 'get well'
Another for Creative card crew 45: 'get well soon'
Another for Stampavie 82: 'get well soon'
Another for Hand full of stamps 17: 'sending you wishes'
Stamptacular 46: 'going in circles'
Another for Sophisticat 23: 'embossing'
Another for Flourishes timeless 55: 'flowers'
Another for Jacksonbelle: 'anything with flowers'
Paperminutes 102: 'polka dots'
Fun with shapes and more 41: 'spotted' - the cut items are the circles that were cut on the cricut

The middle was stamped and embossed with detail black using the lovely Magenta stamp (one of my favourite flower ones)

CBC February ATCs

The topic for the ATC swap on CBC for February is 'postal'. Tim Holtz has been on QVC today - no, I didn't give in and buy the TSV, but I was prompted to get the distress inks etc out and have a play for these ATCs.

I started off by sponging the edges with brushed corduroy and then I sprayed with a mini mister that has a mixture of perfect pearls, milled lavender and shabby shutters re-inkers (they muddied together to make a browny colour) and water. Having dried this I then turned the cards over and blotted on to my craft sheet where there were droplets from where I sprayed. I stamped Timeless memoirs with brushed corduroy and then sponged the edges again, brushing a little of the ink on the pen and some tattered rose on to the stamp.

I'm also sharing this with:

Stamping sisters for Christ 27: 'time' - which is another theme this stamp can be used for
Dewdrop craftz 8: 'time'
Tuesday taggers: 'getting messy hands' - this is being sponsored by the Craft Barn - a £15 voucher is up for grabs! It so happens that I didn't have time to do the previous challenge at TT, which was time - covered by this one as well.
Another for Creative Inspirations 48: 'say it in sepia'
Saturday Spotlight 19: 'doing the mess around' - distressing with ink etc

Unfortunately, it's typical of flash photography that the parts that have picked up the perfect pearls from the misting look more emphasised here than irl. I had to abandon the idea of scanning instead because none of the distressing really showed.

Music to my ears

This card is for the skethc on Diva coffee break 165:

It's also for:

Play date cafe 17: 'colour challenge - red, brown, linen'
Crafty Ann 8: 'if music be the food of love'
Creative craft 7: 'music to my ears'
Another for Stampin' royalty 7: 'masculine cards' - this time I used a stamp
Sunday stamper 92: 'nowhere man ...'
Sophisticat 23: 'embossing' - the trumpet was stamped with versamark and heat embossed with gold detail

Love is ....

.... sharing your umbrella!

The theme for the inchies swap on BF this month is love/Valentines/romance. I have to admit that I was a bit stumped as to what to do - some ideas seemed a bit obvious and I didn't have the right materials for other ideas.

On Sunday I saw this week's challenge on Dottie's world is 'it's a small thing' (something smaller than you would normally make), which, of course, needs to include a Charmed download. I know I've used it quite a lot on cards, but I decided to use one of my favourite Dottie digis 'puddle love' from the Love & Marriage range and shrink it digitally to fit on an inchie - I opted for using the coloured-in version as there was no way that I could have coloured that tiny picture.

I only had room to put 'Love is' so the picture itself has to complete the phrase. I added some clear gloss on to the umbrella and the puddle using a Sakura glaze pen - hard to see on the photo because of the flash, although the third one looks as if the couple have really been caught in a shower (flash light).

I'm also sharing this on Creatalicious for challenge 7: 'create a little something'

and here is a single one using Gez's 'universal ink pad measure':


As I've used a red pen to put faux stitching around the edges, I'm linking for Bee crafty 24: sew cute (and, of course, I used a digi); also the colours of Whimsical Wednesday 23 are here - light olive/avocado, rose/pink, sky blue/light aqua hot pink/raspberry.

Sweet treat for someone special

For this card I've used the sketch for Charisma 7:

The card also uses the colour combo - maroon, lemon, pink - for Basic Grey 14 - I've used BG Indian summer papers.

The colours are also OK for Just us girls colour challenge 21:


I used an image from the pink frosting digi set from Nutcrafters, coloured with copics - so I'm entering the card for Nutty nutshells 9: 'sweet' challenge - I think this was supposed to be a Valentine card, but it's a bit late for that now, but it's still one that's for someone very special.

It's also for:

CCEE: 'Sweet' - incorporate a sweet treat
Stamp dreams 19: 'magenta/pink'
Paper sundaes 6: 'distress' - the 2 torn ovals
Another for CDM: 'flowers'
Another for Flourishes timeless 55: 'flowers'
Another for Quirky crafts 22: 'cute'
Res-Q 33: 'you are what you eat' - use anything that is edible
Quixotic 14: 'something for mum'
Secret crafter Saturday 71: 'mother's day' - I know it doesn't specifically say 'mum', but I think this would be fine for a mother's day card
Magical crafts 9: 'something for mum'
Digital Tuesday 47: 'a card for mum' - the image is a digi

The pearls are Prima.

Pocketful of posies revisited

I haven't used any DCWV pocketful of posies for ages, but found some in my offcuts box and thought they were just right for the Color Dare 56:


I've used the sketch currently on Pink Persimmon and linked to Samantha's blog as part of the blog hop give-away for this challenge:

In addition to the DCWV papers, there's a colourful rub on and also a Craftime glittered sentiment.

The card is also for:

Flourishes timeless 55: 'flowers'
Jacksonbelle: 'anything with flowers'
Another for There she goes 43: 'birthday sparkles' - the background card is glittered and so is the birthday sentiment

Scraping in with another sketch card

I'm scraping in at the deadline with another sketch - this time it's ICS 54:



It's another masculine card, made with similar offcuts to the last couple of cards. A lot of crafters shy away from making cards for men, but, tbh, I like making them and don't find them that difficult - it obviously helps if you get some good guys' papers!