Saturday 28 December 2013

help Audrey reach 2000 followers

Hippi Aud wants to reach 2000 followers and as an incentive she is offering candy not 1 but 2 so why not pop over and help her reach her goal., wish her happy new year and tell her I sent you in the right direction.

 CANDY - HELP ME REACH 2000 FOLLOWERS:)

Sunday 15 December 2013

Christmas birthday

When growing up I always felt sorry for my sister and one of my friends as they both had birthdays near the Christmas season. One on 20th December the other near the beginning of January. I felt sorry for them as not everyone made the distinction between birthday and Christmas and they often had presents for your birthday and Christmas and birthday cards are so hard to find near Christmas. My mums birthday is at the beginning of December and cards are hard enough to find then.

My neighbour and friend has a birthday a couple of days before Christmas her husband jokes that is why her parents called her Carolyn so when I made her birthday card I wanted it to be as little like Christmas as possible.



I'm not good at pink cards but as its not a colour that is associated with Christmas then I thought it would make a good colour to use, it also reminds me of the pink blossom that arrives in Spring and I am so looking forward to the 21st the shortest day as I can then do a happy dance and say the dark days will start to wane and spring is on its way as I hate the long dark days of winter.

I used another image from sugar Nellie this one is a sassy girl and as Carolyn wears glasses and her hair similar I thought it would be a fun image to use.

The card design is inspired by one from Mandy at a sprinkling of glitter, I love her cards but am so far off creating anything as beautiful she definitely has no worries I'll ever make cards as beautiful.

I used a Martha Stewart punch for the card edges and a spellbinders die oval. The image is coloured with promarkers as are the roses and the ribbon as I wanted the colours to blend with the image. The papers were a magazine freebie scrap and the sentiment is from LOTV.



Hope she likes it , have to say I'm still not a pink card fan as I'm not sure I like how it looks but it definitely doesn't look like Christmas.

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:-

cutie pie-for a special friend
4 krafty girls -anything goes
Pennys-feminine with a sentiment
little red wagon-holiday birthday
crafty catz-anything goes
hiding in my craft room-use your scraps
pumpkin spice-ribbons or bows
QKR stampede-3 favorite embellishments( ribbon, flowers,gems)


Thursday 12 December 2013

clean and simple nativity

This is my last Christmas card and a quickie as I realised that I hadn't posted this one to friends who live in the USA. I decided to make a light weight single postcard type card with an attached stand like on a photo frame ,in the hopes it will arrive on time. The image is from LOTV and just super cute. I coloured with promarkers that I used like watercolours by scribbling onto acetate and painting onto the image with a water colour pen. I think it works quite well though you have to work pretty fast before the promarkers dry on the acetate.

The star is coloured with sakura gel pen in silver, well there has to be some sparkle. I also added sparkle with the moonglow mica embossing powder in  ruby obsidian which is a freebie magazine stamp. Quick and simple but hopefully it sends our love and best wishes across the miles.



i would like to enter this card into the following challenges:-

crafty girls-anything goes
scribble and scrap-always anything goes
CRAFT-inspired by a movie/TV/Song-away in a manger
happy campers-christmas
passion for promarkers-include a sentiment
ladybug-clean and simple
crazy for challenges-Nativity One layer Embossing Lambs


In the pink Santa


Its that Santa again from Sugar nellie but this one is coloured with my neighbours 5 year old in mind. She already thinks I'm totally silly with the things I say guess she's just 5 going on 50. OOPs maybe I'm 50 going on 5. 
Anyway she is a proper girly girl and loves pink and sparklies so thought Santa ought to dress appropriately just for her. I coloured him with promarkers and added stickles for sparkle- where would we be without stickles or glitter at this time of year?


I added some embossed copy paper brick design made using a fiskars board to make a roof and some paper I think may have been a magazine paper for a night snowy sky. The sentiment is a pink peel-off , card done, just got to hope she likes it although I can just here her say Santa wears red silly Julye and giggle.


I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:-

All that stickles- happy holiday
addicted-to-stamps-sketch layout
colour me creative-holiday bash
passion for promarkers-include a sentiment
In the pink-it's Christmas
Creative knockouts-t'is the season



Snowflake Santa


Another Santa card this time an easel card too this time . The sentiment is from LOTV and embossed in red moonglow ink and a hand-cut snow flake glammed up with stickles for extra impact. The easel card I used a Martha Stewart snowflake punch to fancy up the edges.


The image I used is a forever friends magazine from a magazine freebie set. I coloured him with the grah iy markers i won and some I bought to trry a while ago. I tried to blend the colours firstly paprika and plum for his clothes and lemon and peach for his body. I yhink I need alot more pactice as I found that the blender tended to dilute the colour  so I tried colouring onto the card and blending there. The clothes colours seemed to work quite well but the peach and lemon not so much but I think I quite like the effect. I need much more practice though.


I decided to make this card as an easel card and as the stopper on the base I used a sparkly poinsettia. I used another spellbinders circle for the place to write my message and again added embossed snowflakes paper to the base and punched snow flakes down the sides.


I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:-

Shelly images-welcome to winter
graph it marker challenge-colour mixing( not sure if I'm in time)
All that stickles-happy holidays
great impressions-glitter and sequins
fitztown-easel card
creative card crew-pointsettia or holly
creative inspirations-traditional Christmas colours
C is for -traditional Christmas colours
paperminutes-typical Christmas symbols

Wednesday 11 December 2013

James sledging variations on a theme


I love getting all my old Christmas stamps out at this time of year and because they haven't been used all year they are like meeting an old friend once again after not seeing them for a long time. Pennies are not available for new rubber friends to come and stay at my house as we are helping our son set up a new home .

These 3 cards I made with a cutie having fun from LOTV James sledging. All 3 images are coloured with promarkers and accented with icicle stickles for that hint of crisp fresh snow glinting in the early morning sun of a clear blue winter sky often with the delicate soft snowflakes falling from the sky. 


i again made this background all white using embossed copy paper from fiskars embossing boards . The sentiment is again from LOTV. 


I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:-

passion for promarkers-include a sentiment
kafty hands-anything goes
All that stickles-happy holidays
My time to craft-cute and cuddle Christmas animals
created with love-anything goes


My second James card i fussy cut James again and layered him on a snowflake embossed spellbinders circle. I mounted that on a snowflake base of a freebie paper from bird house. The sentiment once again is also LOTV and the ribbon is from my stash.

i would like to enter this card into the following challenges:-

crafty boots-Christmas
incy wincy-let it snow
craftin' desert divas-it's Christmas
craft your passion-let it snow
papertake weekly-Christmas creations



The third James card again coloured with promarkers and accented with stickles but this time extra sparkle with a gltter board tree.




I used bird house freebie paper again and a LOTV sentiment , a really quick card to make and I think it makes a cute scene.


I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:-

All that stickles-happy holidays
party time tuesdays-winter wonderland
Addicted to stamps-photo inspiration
sweet stamps-simple Christmas
Love rubber stamps-anything goes Christmas
Top tip tuesday-snowflakes
LEJ designs-festive fun
cards und more-10 minute make

Tuesday 10 December 2013

saturated princess


many will know I don't tend to use many digi images , I think I prefer rubber stamps though I do see the merit of digis, the ability to make them any size and no need for storage . I do however often run into problems printing them when my aging printer decides to be temperamental when pulling the card through and I often finish up with 1/2 a digi and many decapitations even though I only use the weight of card suggested.

this digi however did successfully print and I do love it. It is a saturated canary image and I love it as it is just so glamorous and a little bit fairy-tale too just what every girl dreams of.

I coloured this cutie with mica inks as I felt they lent themselves well to the feel of a rich evening gown as they have a two tone sheen  and building layers adds depth of colour. I added stickles to the image for added sparkle, well it is the holiday season. I think she looks really glam and off to a very special event.

I decided i'd use he on a card for my husband , not that I will be whisked away to an evening out that would require this kind of attire and its not an outfit for cooking Christmas dinner in either. I do love my hubby though so my card is sent with love and it is always good to tell our loved ones so as you never know whats around the corner.

I added a peel off to a small spellbinders oval which I added a hand tied bow to and a little heart charm too.

I am so loving white on white cards (white is one of my 2 fav colours in everything not just crafting) as they really allow the image to be the true focal point, well that's my opinion anyway. I embossed the layer of copy paper using a fiskars board and stuck to my hand-cut card base. I know the card will be put in place by me once hubby has opened it so for a change I made a plate card and I will ensure it stands correctly on display. Maybe hubby will surprise me and stand it up himself who knows. I finished the card off  by adding pearls to three of the corners always odd numbers these work better as they are what is found in nature.






I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:-

paper crafting journey-its Christmas time
saturated canary-untraditional christmas colours
a gem of a challenge-anything goes
Ali-craft-Christmas
Dis digis-non traditional Christmas colours
All that stickles-happy holidays
Robins fetish IDIC-must have a bow
613 Avenue-anything goes, optional create a calendar
kaboodle doodle - non traditional Christmas colours






Sunday 8 December 2013

Oh Christmas tree magic card

I don't have many penny black stamps but of those I do have  i have a set of clear Christmas stamps and love them all as they are so cute. This wee mouse looks like he is greeting the robin with a cheery Christmas greeting , so simple but so cute too.

I coloured  this image with the mica inks so it has a wonderful sheen which just adds some sparkle. I added icicle stickles to both the tree and as snow to ground both the tree and the wee mouse.the sentiment is embossed in green sparkle embossing powder and is from LOTV, the shine doesn't show very well guess that's due to the lighting sorry.

The papers I think might be papermania but I've had them that long that the front cover has gone so I'm not 100% sure, sorry.
The card style is another magic card (from stampArtic) but I have had a play myself and resized the dimensions though the concept is the same. I really love how effective this design is.


I would like to enter this card into the following challenges;-
lacy sunshine-celebrations
hiding in my craft room-holiday colours
Animal friends-anything goes
OSAAT-seeing red
scriibble and scrap always anything goes
stickles-happy holidays
crafters cafe-traditional christmas colours

snow business like snow peeps


I love the simplicity  of look that a white on white card gives even  if there are lots of layers or just one or two. I used another sugar nellie stamp coloured with promarkers though it didn't really take much colouring. I added sparkle with sakura gel pen and stickles.


I mounted the fussy cut image on to a go kreate die cut 
and mounted that onto the base card that I had part layered with some self embossed copy paper using the fiskars snowflake board that is getting overworked at present.


I used some holly garland gift tie, the start of the last pack of 3 I bought from Asda several years ago, sad that they haven't had them since. It has a wire base so I used both pva glue and double sided tape to stick it to the card. I think it finishes the card perfectly and ties in well with the garland the snow peeps are holding.

I didn't add a sentiment as I thought it would make a nice card for my newly married niece and nephew (you might remeber I made the wiccan card) apparently I got bad information as they are pagan not wiccan and my niece described the difference as being the difference between Cof E and catholic, but they thanked me for the effort and kind thoughts. I decided that as pagans they are more likely to celebrate the winter solstice although I'm sure they will expect Santa to visit too.



I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:-

sarah hurley- create your own background
creative fingers-anything goes optional easel
crafty hands-winter or seasons greetings
QKR stampede-white with a dash of red or green(hope its ok I used both like the DT)
creative knockouts-Christmas splendor
creative corner challenges-traditional christmas

Saturday 7 December 2013

Party dress bumble bee



Another fab sugar nellie stamp this one is a gorjuss girl and one of the stamps that led me to find the house of sugar. I painted this sweeties party dress with mica inks and her dress has a fab 2 tone shine . Her hair and skin is coloured with promarkers and her wings with stikles , well you can't have a sparkly Christmas outfit without sparklies.



The card style is a magic card the instructions I found from StampArtic here and I think it could become a favourite as I love the effect it's really quite stunning.
The papers I used were freebies from the bird house, I used 2 different shades of lilac. The sides I punched with a Mary Stewart snowflake border punch its very effective but in hind sight they are a little delicate for use on this design as they are easily damaged. 
The flower and the rose are from my stash and the sentiment is printed on vellum and mounted on gold mirri card and was from an old qvc kit.

The inside of the card I decorated with the same paper and added a spellbinders circle as some where to write the message.


Definitely a card deign I will be making again.

I would like to this card into the following challenges:-

delicious doodles-Christmas/new year
a creative romance-sparkle at Christmas
alphabet challenge-v is for vellum
milk coffee craft-Christmas non traditional colours
stempelgarten-unconventional Christmas colours
CRAFT-Christmas
wags n whiskers -thinks with wings
jelly park-Christmas

Thursday 5 December 2013

how much is that doggie in the window?

Whilst researching information for the joint 60th birthday card I recently made I found out that the doggie in the window song was a hit in April 1953. Hard to believe that a song I remember singing for fun as a child was once thought of as a hit pop song, and I wasn't born in the 50's I'm talking about singing it in late 60's early 70's.



This is another cutie image from Sugar Nellie and I love colouring it as it just pops to life. I fussy cut the image and simply mounted it on copy paper that I embossed using a fiskars snowflake board. I added a punched snowflake border using a martha stewart snowflake punch just to add more texture.


The sentiment is from some kit I have had ages and only have odd bits left but thought the simplicity fit the card, which I think will be perfect for one of my young nephews or the little girl next door.


I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:-

simon says wednesday challenge-create your own background
crafts and me-anything goes
sentimental sundays-traditional Christmas colours
creative knockouts-christmas splendor
allsorts-inspiration from a song or carol
totallly gorjuss-snowy scenes
paper crafting journey-its christmas time

penguin cuddle


Sugar Nellie at funky kits have some of the stamps I really love, I have many still on my wish list but this is an older one but think its perfect to send to couples at this time of year, be it for Christmas or a winter anniversary.

I used it this time for a Christmas card so for a change used traditional colours. The background papers is one of the fab freebies from bird house and makes a great back drop to this image. I added a scrap of white glitter card to ground the fussy cut image and add some sparkle.

The sentiment is from a LOTV set which I embossed in moonglow embossing powder.I added a matt of blue mirri-card and the card is done quite simple but I think it creates an effective scene.


I would like to enter this card into the following challenges;-

Fab n funky-a touch of frost
flutterby challenge-anything with wings
stamp and doodle-Christmas is coming
paper pretties -its beginning to look  a lot like Christmas
inky impressions-winter or snow
a gem of a challenge-winter wonderland
2 sisters -anything goes
  


Saturday 30 November 2013

Joint 60th birthday

A work colleague and friend  and his wife are both celebrating their 60th birthdays this year and so are having a joint birthday party as I don't know either that well so am not sure of their tastes etc or anything specific to their lifestyles . I also figured that if they were sharing a party they are important to each other so this fun image from Jellypark would be perfect.


I coloured the image using promarkers and took the colours for clothing from the photo that was on their invitation apart from the pink slippers that was just for fun.

The inside of the card I decided to fill with all kinds of facts from 1953 the year they were born. I now know all kinds of useless information like 1953 was the first year the VW beetle was introduced to the UK though no one thought it would be popular or last, how wrong they were. Anotyher fact was that Frankie Lane dominated the pop charts with I believe although there were others that many will know like 'she wears red feathers' and how much is that doggie in the window?' My son was laughing when he read this and said I can't believe that songs like those were called pop, as he remembers singing the doggie song at primary school.

The background paper I created in word by typing in the years numbers and changing the font style and size for each. I did print one in grey shades too but decided to go with the blue. I mounted this on blue mirri card as well as mounting the image base to add sparkle, well it is a celebration. The base oval for the image I added embossing to a rainbow pattern to symbolize wallpaper and wood grain to represent flooring so the image appears grounded. 

The sentiment is a peel off and the numbers are from my stash sorry not sure where from originally. 

Hope they have a fun time celebrating and get a giggle from the card too.

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:-

OLLCB-birthday
Ladybug craft challenge-blue and white
rogue redhead-birthday ( I know the rules state must include stamping but not sure if that includes digital stamping.I'm sure if it doesn't you will remove my entry so appologies if I misunderstood your rules)


Purple and lime green Christmas

I recently had a splurge of painting with some mica inks  that have admit I'd forgotten I had but fell in love with again after seeing how they sparkle and shine. I had this image given to me a while , well ages ago when I belonged to a image swap and have been saving it as I don't have that many Tildas but decided I'd paint it in my sparkly inks.                                                                                                                                                                   I just thought he dress would look great as shot taffeta after seeing all the beautiful little girl party dresses in the shops and wishing I was small enough to fit in them, how special they must make any little girl feel. Sorry I digress. Anyway the purple ink I have has a tonal effect with a green that just reminded me of taffeta which when it came to making up a Christmas card with her caused me to think and wonder what papers to use. I will also have this problem with another image I painted in the same colour more on that when I get around to using it.

I searched my scraps and found a small scrap from a scrap-booking set I bought from QVC several years ago so went rooting for the box that it came from and found a bigger piece, to find it had a border of lime green. I always thought it had a bit of an indian feel to it but when I put it with the image I was so happy that it worked. Not sure if it's the mottled pattern that makes it work or not but hey who cares, problem solved.

I fussy cut Tilda and mounted her on a spellbinders die cut  oval and let her feet slip off the edge. The card I decided to keep clean and simple , am so loving this style at the moment but have to stop myself adding more as I often think is it too bare and looks unfinished.
 I added white ribbon as per the sketch I followed from Tuesday morning sketches and a tag which I wrote a sentiment on in sakura gel pen. Card done.


 iI would like to enter this card into the following challenges:-

Marvelous magnolia-anything goes
The ribbon girl magnolia only-winter or Christmas
My Shericrafts-non traditional Christmas colours
Tuesday morning sketches-Christmas and sketch
Creative craft challenges2-non traditional colours
Hangler and magnolia-Christmas is coming
Penny's-frame a female
crafts 4 eternity-non traditional Christmas
Hanna and friends-little presents



Friday 29 November 2013

oh Christmas tree

A wee while ago I was lucky enough to win a marianne die from Lothian crafts. Many will know I don't have many dies and am relatively new to die cutting and how to use them so I still find them a bit of a challenge.

This one i was inspired by Mandy at a sprinkling of glitter who has a similar if not the same die, her card has green  and white accents but it did give me an idea .

I decorated my tree by by firstly rubbing with versamark ink and embossing with holographic powder, it just adds a little sparkle. I then added some 'baubles' that were magazine freebies ages ago.

I kept it quite simple and added more of my fiskars snowflake embossed paper and some white ribbon and hand tied bow. The sentiment is a peel-off . I think it makes quite an elegant card so thanks Mandy for the inspiration and Lothian crafts for making me a winner.



I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:- 

Lothian crafts monthly challenge-use a marianne die
live and love crafts-photo inspiration
try it on tuesdays-white on white
glitter and sparkle-show us some snow
ribbon carousel-holidays and celebrations
make my monday-contempory christmas
crafty ribbons- anything goes
ali craft-all white


jolly happy Santa

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I so love this jolly happy snowman from Sugar Nellie and as I was happy with the Santa tag I made a while ago I thought something similar on a card.

I coloured him with promarkers and added some sparkle with sakura glitter gel pens.

The base I decided would be all white as this would really make the image the central focus of the card. I used white copy paper which I embossed using a fiskars board .

I mounted Santa on silver mirri-board and then on a fancy spellbinders oval. I used the snowflake embossed paper on a shaped base and layered with more snowflake embossed paper and added some die cut swirls.

 I added a powder embossed sentiment from a set by LOTV and finished off with a couple of hand tied bows.

Not sure who I will be sending this to but I think they'll like it I know if I were to receive it I would.



I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:-

Kaboodle doodle-inspired by a movie (The Santa Claus)
crafty catz challenges-Santa is coming to town
Sister Act-anything goes
crafty girls challenge-anything goes
ABC Christmas-out of the box no squares
Christmas sweet stampin-white on white















Thursday 28 November 2013

Christmas fairy



I just love this cute fairy from Sugar Nellie and the cute squirrel this fairy is having a quick word with. I thought she would look great on an all white card. I coloured her with promarkers and added loads of stickles so she really sparkles.

The background I punched some white copy paper using a Martha Stewart snowflake punch and overlaid it on a white base card. I added base for the fussy cut fairy using a spellbinders oval die.


To finish off I added a craftworks sentiment that was a bauble but I cut the top off to make it a circle.

It looks a clean and simple design but I think its quite effective.




I

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:-

I love promarkers-anything goes
simon says-anything goes
paperminutes-Christmas clean and simple
southern girls -add texture
4 crafty chicks-Christmas 
creative knockouts -tic tac toe( I used stamps,dies and sentiment)
the sugar bowl-sparkle and shine