Hardware

Well that was a fun one to make!
I started off with the sketch from Sketch Saturday and knew I wanted to make a birthday card for a friend of my son

As this is a card for a boy I thought I'd go with a blue theme, although the neutral pallette might have got a small look in too!  So am also entering it into Fussy and Fancy's Feeling Blue challenge, and CASual Friday's Winter Blues challenge.
I'm not sure if this would count as a Clean & Simple card but the challenge over at Less is More this week is to use some hardware which I don't often do, so seeing as they've given me the inspiration I'll put it in

Blue Stripe Birthday

This was a good card for using up some of the scraps of wrapping paper that I can't bear to throw away because they might be useful for something!
The letters are from a Stampin' Up jumbo wheel (Nursery Letters) that I stamped onto scraps of white paper then cut out individually.  I didn't have a stamp with the right size sentiment for the 'happy' so (after much practice) wrote it in white gel pen.  While I was at it I added the lines of white dots too.
Am entering this card into
Allsorts - For Men Only

Rainbow Birthday

I've had in mind for a while that I wanted to make a paper windmill to use on a card, so when I saw this photo for the Ribbon Reel's Over The Rainbow challenge inspiration hit!

I've made this card for the Ribbon Reel's challenge but am also entering it into
Polka Doodles - Bright Colours and Sparkle
Do You Stack Up #96 Use Some Brads

I sketched out and hand cut the large lettering (I really must invest in a bigger alphabet set for my die cutter!), but die cut the 'today' letters (in Sizzix Blackboard Blues).  There's a sheet of acetate on the back fold that the letters are stuck onto
The paper windmill / pinwheel is made from a square of blue paper, with coloured paper triangles stuck on one side to get the flashes of colour after it's all folded up, and secured with a sparkly blue brad through the acetate.  The windmill even spins around!  I can post further instructions / pictures on making the windmill if anyone's interested ....
The piece of bright green organza ribbon helps hide the bottom edge of the acetate
And the Happy Birthday sentiment is heat embossed in a shimmery blue

StripesAndSwirls

I've made this card for three challenges:
Less is More week 91 Sketch 7

Simply Stampin's Colour challenge to use these colours

And Stampin' For the Weekend's challenge 20 Anything Goes

I used Stampin' Up Solid Stripes for the yellow stripes and a Stampin' Up jumbo wheel (It's Beautiful) for the flowers and swirls.  I didn't think it would be that tricky to cut out a few of the flowers and swirls to stick over the striped panels but it took a lot longer than anticipated!  I added a few blue gems to the card to finish it off.  I had to print one of the tiny flowers again at the end to stick next to the sentiment.

Autumn Makeover

I think I have a bit of a leaf addiction!  I had a few spare leaf prints from my last autumnal card and was itching to use them, and before I knew it I was out collecting some more leaves to ink up and stamp.
What really got this card started though was the challenge at City Crafter to makeover an old card that had room for improvement, and then I found the Ribbon Girl's challenge with their beautiful inspiration photo and I was off!

















This card had been sitting in my stash for a while ....

.... and I thought it could do with a little something extra.  To cut a long story short I got a bit carried away with all those lovely leaves.

The leaf prints are made from lovely green bendy leaves that are inked up on their veiny side then placed (ink-side down) on your card.  Put a piece of scrap paper over the top and then roll over with a brayer.

I'm also entering this into Hand Stamped Sentiments #141 with their lovely inspiration photo too

365 Cards Day 234

That's it!  I've done it!  I've managed a whole week of cards over at 365 Cards.  I'll be back to housework and taming children again tomorrow!
My final (for the time being, I will be back) card for 365 Cards challenge 234 was the letter B.  My three Bs are black, blossoms and bling.  Although I couldn't help myself, I've added a little bumblebee too.  Can you spot him?

I'm also entering this into the Daring Cardmakers Don't Worry Be Happy challenge and the Paper Players #118 CAS Framed challenge










The frame I used is one of my favourite stamps but I thought it might be cheating just to have that, so I've added some extra flowers around the edge of it.  The frame is heat embossed in black sparkle and the flowers are heat embossed in shades of pink and purple, with three pink/purple gems in the centre of the larger ones.

365 Cards Day 233

And on to day 233 at 365 Cards where the challenge was to use these colours ...










... I've interpreted them as Close to Cocoa, More Mustard, Really Rust and Old Olive.
They shout AUTUMN to me, which reminded me of a leaf stamping technique I read about last year but never tried.  So, after a beautiful walk in the woods earlier today, I came home with a small selection of nice green bendy leaves, which I inked up on the veiny side and then used my brayer to get a good leaf impression.  I tried putting a piece of cream tissue paper over my background but it lost too much detail this time so I printed one big leaf on tissue and just stuck this over the right hand edge.
The big central swirl frame was stamped twice to get a ghost effect.  The first image was stamped in More Mustard, and the second, slightly offset image was in Really Rust.
I'm also entering this into












Lawnscaping Challenge - Try a new technique
and Allsorts Challenge 177 - Autumn Colours

365 Cards Day 232

Day 232 over at 365 Cards is Setting an Example - use a quote and an image or item to match it.  I had been feeling very clever and looked up some quotes about flowers (as I do have one or two flower stamps!), but after thinking about it remembered I had this Stampin Up set which I hadn't used.  So here it is.  All in Stampin Up supplies too!

365 Cards Day 231 You Raise Me Up

Okay, fourth card out of seven done.  This one's a bit more me.  I've made it to fit three challenges -
365 Cards day 231 - lift three items up off the card
Sketch Saturday week 229












And Papertake's Make Your Own Flowers, which I've missed the deadline for (again).

I made the big pink flower in the centre based on something I learned at a Stampin' Up evening a few years ago.  I can't remember exactly what we did then but I think it's close enough.  I cut four scalloped circles (all the same size) and punched a small hole in the centre of each.  The circles are dipped in water and screwed up, then carefully unscrewed and a brad put through their middles to join them together.  As they dry carefully scrunch them up into your desired flower shape.
I layered the small flowers and stuck the three nearest the bottom on glue dots to give them a bit more dimension.
The background papers are magazine freebies, with a layer of white tissue paper glued over the top to calm the colours down a bit.  I love the softness this brings to the background (and seem to use this technique a lot!)
Finished off with a bit of faux stitching around the edges.

365 Cards Day 230

Today's card, my third of the week for 365 Cards, and this time we were asked to include three items - an animal, something yellow and floss.
I've got lots of birds and butterfly stamps but not many animal ones, so was quite pleased when I found this very happy looking sheep.  I stamped him four times, coloured him in, cut him out and stuck him on!

365 Cards Day 229

Day two and I'm already feeling the pressure of getting the cards finished in time!
This one was made for 365 Cards day 229 - Favourite Things and Mojo Monday 263

My favourite colour is pink and my favourite crafting tools are having a sketch to work from, distressing inks and heat embossing.

The sketch is from Mojo Monday ...












It's not really clear in the picture but pretty much all of the edges of the cut papers have been inked or distressed - I love Stampin Up's neutral colour palette for that.  The papers are all Stampin' Up, the heart stamp (also Stampin' Up) was heat embossed in a shimmery pink over the sentiment which I masked off first.

Right then, better get thinking about the next challenge!

365Cards day 228

I've found a very exciting card challenge blog recently with a new challenge every day of the year!  I'm going to attempt a whole week's worth, and here's my first one for Super Sketchy Sunday over at 365Cards

I took a whole bunch of flower stamps and with a bit of careful masking stamped them all in Old Olive, Chocolate Chip and More Mustard.  I used paper, tissue paper and paper twine to make the rows of scallops along the bottom edge, and used some teeny tiny pearls to accent a few of the flowers.

Clean and Simple

Two challenges this week.  The CAS-ual Fridays challenge of incorporating a heart got me scratching my head, but when I saw the sketch over at Clean & Simple Stamping and found out my cousin's moving house very soon it all just kind of came together!

It's a bit difficult to see, but the heart is heat embossed in a shimmery red, and the house (which I cut out by hand) is heat embossed in a thick clear embossing powder.  The sentiment is stamped out in a typewriter font  in Early Espresso.  All stuck on to a glossy cream card base.

Forty card

Those fabulous ladies over at Retro Sketches have tickled my fancy again with this sketch

I had in mind the papers I wanted to use, but it took a bit of fiddling about with a tissue paper overlay on the background, some doodling on the pink polka dots and an extra swirl of pink tissue paper for balance.
I'm quite pleased with how it's turned out!

Boys Second Birthday Card

I had fun with some new stamps this week.

The card is based on a sketch from Sketch Saturday (week 226 sponsored by Bugaboo Stamps)

and I'm entering it into the Totally Papercrafts challenge #135 which is For A Child seeing as it's for a friend's little boy's second birthday.

The left side of the background is a fun stamp I found on ebay from Visible Image clear stamp company called Plaid, and the Happy Birthday is one that I picked up in Hobbycraft last week.  I stamped it several times in bold bright colours and cut out the letters from the results to make a multi-coloured sentiment.  The little parcel at the end was cut out in different colours too and a small piece of paper twine was used to make the bow and attach the number 2 tag.

Bow birthday card

After the disappointment of missing the deadline for the Retro Sketches challenge the other week I've made sure this one's been finished in plenty of time!
Here's the sketch it's based on



and here's the link to the challenge.
The home-made stampamijig got used a lot for this card too, the stamps and inks are mostly Stampin' Up.  The black stamped label is a Sizzix stamp and die cut set, and the scalloped edge is a Xcut dielicious border die
The swirls are Sizzix die cuts, I used pink tissue paper for these to keep them from overpowering the sketch.

DIY Damask card

Well, I've had a go and I can't say it was the easiest thing in the world to do!
The Shabby Tea rooms want us to use damask this week.  I figured I had lots of swirly stamps so I could use them to make a damask pattern .... this is what I came up with after I raided my son's box of lego to make a stampamijig!  I know it doesn't look much but it took most of the afternoon to put this card together!

I'm entering it into
The Shabby Tea Room #128 Shabby Patterns
Polka Doodles #34 Stitching
Stampin' for the Weekend #16 Pearls and Swirls
Clean&Simple  #205 sketch



The swirl stamps are Chocolate Baroque Butterfly Flourish Swirls and are stamped in Stampin' Up Sahara Sand.
The flowers are a Tim Holtz die, cut out of pink papers and tissue paper
The sentiment is a Stampin' Up set, Curly Cute
It has faux stitching around the edge of the damask paper, and teeny tiny pearls in the centres of the flowers.

Going Around in Circles

I quite enjoyed delving into the depths of the craft cupboard for the last card and have kept a few of the bits and bobs I found down there out for this card.  There were a set of big circle and elipse templates that I've used here and some wobbly edge scissors that my children are after now that they've seen them!
The swirls are Sizzix dies and the papers are freebies from magazines that have had some cream tissue paper glued over the top to calm down the colours a bit.

Am entering this into -
Allsorts week 167 - going around in circles

I based the card on Retro Sketches #24 but was too late posting it to enter.  Doh.  Must make a better note of the closing dates!

Lilac Anninversary

I think I had everything out from the craft cupboard this afternoon to make this card, even my very rickety old wobbly edge scissors which haven't seen the light of day for a very long time!

I'm entering this into 3 challenges;
The Shabby Tea Room #125 Sweet Summertime
The Ribbon Reel #33 Button It
Sketch Saturday #219

My 1 year old is currently sitting on my lap 'helping' me post this blog so I won't go into details about how I made it, except to say that I've inked, stamped, die cut, folded, threaded and layered lots of newspaper!




Woo-hoo!  Many thanks to the Shabby Tea Room for awarding this card an honorable mention cup of tea.  You made my day!

Retro Gold

Well I seem to be on a bit of a card making roll at the moment, I've barely packed up all my cutting, sticking and stamping supplies before I feel inspired to get it all out again and make something else.  Maybe it's something to do with the lovely British summer we're (not) having!
I'm entering this card into three challenges -

Less is More, #75, Gold
Retro Sketches #19
Sentimental Sundays, #110, Bingo ( I used pearls, flowers and stamp)

The bottom half of the card is dry embossed with a flower design on plain white paper.
The top half is stamped with a small flowery design in a caramel/gold colour.  I stuck a layer of thin white tissue paper over this to soften it a little.
The stamps are all Stampin' Up (Office Accoutrement and Elementary Elegance).  I heat embossed the large flower in gold, the other stamping was done in gold and just off-gold colours.

There are too many great challenges out there this week to only make one card, so here's my second one which is entering
Mojo Monday 248 - sketch
Papertake - Anything Goes

I loved working with just white the other week so thought I'd give it another go.  I used some white diamond bling card for the big piece, and some plain white thick paper which went through my paper crimper for the smaller piece.  The stamped frame is from a Stampin' Up set I purchased on ebay recently and have used lots.  The scalloped edge is a XCut Dielicious border die, and I made the paper roses after seeing Brenda's beautiful creation for the In Bloom challenge from Allsorts (week 161)

Patterned Paper Flowers

Just when I think that the weekly challenges out there couldn't get any more exciting, four fabilicious ones come along at once!
Clean & Simple Stamping provided the sketch
The Daring Cardmakers dared us to use a minimum of six patterned papers
The Allsorts challenge blog is In Bloom and required the use of  a flower (or bunch)
and the team at Papertake have an anything goes week with the option of using some glitter

So here's my creation which I had lots of fun putting together
The flowers are die cut using the Tim Holtz Tattered Florals die.  I managed to find six patterned papers in my stash that (sort of) coordinate.  The flower centres are Stampin' Up glitter brads.

Something Shiny

So many great challenges this week I didn't know which one to choose, so I've had a go at combining three.  Unfortunately I wasn't quite quick enough to get it entered into the CASual Fridays one before the deadline.  (Doh - will be better organised next time!)  The two I'm in time for are:
The Shabby Tea Room - Week 119 Diamonds are a girls best friend ( white and silver with pearls / crystals)
Less Is More - Something Shiny

I used a white card blank and heat embossed (in silver) some flowers (from Stampin' Up Growing Green) in a kind of circle shape.  I stuck some shiny diamond gems in the centres of these.
Around the edge of that I used another Stampin Up flower stamp (from the Polka Dot Punches set) which I stamped in silver ink.
I placed a piece of acetate over the top with another Stampin' Up flower (this time from the Printed Petals set) for which I used some white pigment ink.  The acetate is stuck on with some 3D sticky pads to raise it off the card.  I rather like the shadow that the large white flower casts behind it - although it's a bit tricky to see in this photo!
Finally the sentiment was stamped in silver and I've placed some sheer/shiny white ribbon down the side to help disguise my sticky spots.

Less Is More

It now seems that I can't make a card without checking out all the fabulous card challenge websites for ideas and inspiration.  This time it was the Less is More team that got my creative juices flowing with their Use a Flourish challenge.

I used lots of Stampin' Up supplies for this one, including the French Filigree and Seeing Spots stamps and the Curly Cute set for the beginning and end of the sentiment.  I added a few hand-drawn swirls and dots to the card to give my flourish a bit more pizazz.

Can you guess who I might be sending this one to?

Less Is More

I love it when a card just works and I don't feel that it just needs a little bit of something extra.  I made this one for my cousin who's just had a little girl.  The name was stamped with the Forever Friends Hand Script Alphabet stamps (which I've just bought and couldn't wait to use) and the footprints are stamped with some ancient unbranded stamps (which were amongst the first stamps I ever bought).  I stamped in Versamark and used a pink sparkly embossing powder.  And that was that!

I'm entering this into the Less is More week 68 challenge: For a Baby or Child

Another Mother's Day card

Inspiration found!
Thanks to:
The Shabby Tea Room (#104 - Colourful Confections) for the gorgeous colour scheme - pink, aqua and green
Lawnscaping Challenge (#29 - Sketch) for the lovely layout design

and The Ribbon Reel Challenge (#23 - Newsprint)

There are lots of layers on this card and it took me ages to put it all together!
I started off with strips of newspaper which were wiped on a white inkpad and stuck to some backing paper.  A piece of pink tissue paper was glued over the top and stamped with a slightly darker pink.
I cut a tag out of some aqua coloured patterned paper then stuck some cream tissue paper over the top to tone it down a bit.  I stamped some white flowers over this bit.
The newspaper flower on the tag is a sizzix die cut.  These newspaper bits were also inked in white then gently sponged over with blue and green.
The tag has a blue tissue paper border and the sentiment is stamped onto blue tissue paper then overlaid with acetate to make it stand out a bit better.

After all my efforts in making these two mothers day cards I'm not sure I want to give them away - still, I couldn't ask for two lovelier people to give them to!

A card for Mum

Thank goodness for all those wonderful weekly challenge blogs - I'm not sure I'd be able to design a card without their help anymore!  This one is for my Mum for Mothering Sunday and it's being entered into 3 challenges:
Sketch Saturday
Polka Doodles - polkadots or stripes
Stampin' for the Weekend - bingo!

As soon as I saw this weeks sketch on Sketch Saturday I knew I wanted to use it.  I love polka dots so getting them on the card was another plus (thanks PolkaDoodles), and then I saw that Stampin' for the weekend had a bingo game and polka dots were on there too, so I chose a line with polka dots, die cuts and flowers.
The big pink flower and swirls in the foreground are all sizzix die cuts, I mounted them on acetate to lift them up away from the card a bit.  The next layer I had fun stamping lots of flowers on around a circle then cut it out so that it has a (sort of) scalloped edge.  The next layer is a new technique I've discovered that's great for toning down bright colours - I had a pretty scrap of flowery paper that I loved the design of but it would have overpowered the card, so I glued a piece of pale pink tissue paper over the top (then ran it through my die cutting machine to get it nice and flat).
The last layer is a polka dot background that has lightly distressed edges.
Now, I'm off to find some more challenges to get inspiration to make a card for my mum-in-law too!

Butterfly Birthday

I made this card for my niece's birthday and am entering it into two challenges
DYSU #61 Things with Wings
Allsorts 144 Spread Your Wings

The background papers were out of my stash and I cut the big number 9 out of some gold card.
The lettering was die cut with the Vintage Market alphabet, the butterflies were from a Sizzix Framelits stamp and diecut set.
The colouring was done with a set of shimmer paints that were free from a magazine - I don't really do much in the way of colouring in or painting on my cards and I have to say I actually quite enjoyed it!

Seaside Birthday Card

I've made this card for entry into 3 challenges this week.
The Ribbon Reel Challenge Blog #22 Weathered

Hand Stamped Sentiments Technique Challenge #106 Colour Blocking (HSSTC106)

Papertake weekly challenge - Get Krafty

I started off with a square piece of Kraft card onto which I stuck smaller squares of newspaper which had been covered with a layer of white ink.  I sponged two rectangles of blue ink near the top and bottom edges and stamped the waves and the seagull in a darker blue.  The small houses were stamped in white on Kraft card and stuck down, the larger houses were stamped on white card, cut out and stuck on top.
This was then placed onto a cream card base and finished off with some paper twine and a birthday sentiment

The stamp set I used is the Harbour set from Hobby Art.  This was a set that my small son chose when he came to the craft shop with me and that he's used to create some lovely seaside pictures whilst making a right old mess with his inky fingers  :-)
I'm quite glad I've finally had a turn with them now too!