3-2-1 Blast off

Kenny was 3 at the weekend, where have 3 years gone? I made and posted this large card, is is C4 (A4/letter) size. I used two Kraftin Kimmie stamps, the rocket is by Rachel Anne Miller, and Astro Boy is by Annie Rodrigue and I thought they went together so well especially on the DCWV boy patterned paper. Images are coloured with Promarkers and Graph'it markers. The numbers and letters were die cut with Sizzix dies, and Birthday is die cut with a Marianne die from a stamp and die set, boy is a stamp from the same set. The little rockets are from a cute set I bought at the show by Lin & Lene Designs who are new to me. I added dots of Liquid Pearls and rays round the 1. 

This card is blasting into the following challenges:

TTCRD - anything goes May 18th - 25th

Little Miss Muffet - 112 anything goes (Thurs)

Sentimental Sundays - cute or funny sentiments 

Dear Santa.....

Not the best photo, I seem to have had a relapse, and had a terrible night with no sleep, slept all morning then woke with no voice, apart from which I have been a little deaf for two days. Went back to bed for a few hours, and slept in a chair all evening so I probably won't sleep tonight now.

I did manage to colour this sweet stamped image yesterday, and die cut it. I've kept it CAS, just adding some ribbon (from Crafty Ribbons) and die cutting it, this could be more because I am ill than anything else.

I took the photo on an easel on the desk, don't feel up to getting the photo studio out tonight.

The stamp is from Kraftin Kimmie Stamps, and the image is by Rachel Anne Miller called A Letter to Santa, and when I spent my recently won voucher I had to add this one to my order because I fell in love with it. I know we don't have this sort of mail box over here, but it is so cute!

Entering the Krafting Kimmie Wonderful Wednesday challenge (ends 26th Nov) and...

Open Minded Crafting Fun - #23 fowl, or birds (Sat 22nd)

Christmas Card Challenges - colour challenge (Sun)

Glitter n Sparkle - cute (Sun)

Winter Wonderland challenge blog - Let's get Sentimental (Fri)

TTCRD - anything goes (Nov 24th)

Divas by Design - let it snow (Wed 26th)

Polkadoodles - CAS (28th Nov)

Rubberdance - red, gold and green (7th Dec)

Creative Fingers - #56 anything goes (a Friday sometime)

Crafty Ribbons - #107 Animals at Christmas time and ribbon (Thurs)

Bunny Zoe's - snow (Fri?)

The Craft Barn Alpha Challenge G

The Craft Barn Alpha Challenge is on G, and I chose Girafe which is French for Giraffe lol. I used some Sprial Whisper stamps (I don't think they exist as a company now) designed by Debbie Moore, and a Penny Black stamp. These are stamped on card, coloured with Promarkers quickly and cut out, the stamping on the page went badly! All round the page are shapes stamped with my never before used Color Box stylus system, you mould the tip by heating it with a lightbulb (first problem was finding a "normal" lightbulb so it was hot enough) then you press the tip onto a rubber mould then use it as a stamp.

Apologies for the photo on the Craft Barn post, I had to add a WIP image or not get there at all, I was very late with this, I have been so busy all week. On Thursday I was standing on a stall all day explaining about the Made in Bradford shop, this was in County Hall, of course I had to go over and get a car full of stuff ready for it the day before, then take it back yesterday. As well as getting to a hospital appointment.  Then today when I finally had time to get on with it I had started tidying up the space where the now sold eCraft used to sit and cleaning, I had the irresistable urge to clean and tidy it and I had the bad habit of shoving print outs and mail there in the space between the magazine rack full of similar stuff and the ecraft! Anyway I managed to tidy and get rid of a load, and there is so much more to get through but every little helps!

I hope to add at least one more page here for G, I was planning 3.

Here are Geography and Glamorous. Featuring Kraftin Kimmie Stamps for Glamorous, coloured with water colour pens, and Hero Arts map and the Rubber Stampede save the world stamp you have seen before but it behaves better in Stazon. Map stickers were a set that I was given for a present. (Do you think anyone noticed me sneaking this one in?)

The Craft Barn Alpha Challenge - Z

The Craft Barn Alpha Challenge is on Z (but this is not the end because letters are not given out in alphabetical order) and I can safely say this is all I will do for Z! The Z's in the English section don't have anything much more apart from zip and zoom, and I am not sure how I would do those!

So I chose: Zigzag, Zebra and Zoo, zigzags are hand doodled (you would never have guessed I know lol), zebra is a Kraftin Kimmie stamp, and the zoo animals and foliage are from a Hero Arts set with the addition of a Spellbinders fence and some chipboard letters which I thought about painting then decided to leave as they match the colours.

I stamped with Stazon, much better than Memento on the gesso, and coloured with Marvy's and Whispers. Not so many colour choices as Promarkers but I am reasonably happy with the end result.

Sooty relaxing with crossed paws and quizzical ear in the air!

It's a Quirky great day for a picnic, and a late Alpha challenge page.

Doris choose the theme of Picnic or Barbeque at Quirky Crafts Challenge Blog this week. We are sponsored by Crackerbox Palace who are providing 3 generous prizes, and provided these images and more for the team to use. I used ant, small watermelon slice, small pie, plaid rug, picnic basket and ant picnic sign. I printed the images on white card and coloured them with Promarkers, then printed the ants on green card and cut out the coloured images to add to the green, paper piecing the ants. Does it need some ribbon? I might add some gingham to it (updated photo, card now has ribbon from Crafty Ribbons). The Glorious day sentiment is from a Hero Arts set. The Life's a Picnic sentiment is from Crackerbox Palace.

Hop on over to Quirky Crafts to see some more great examples, and lovely images and please have a go at the challenge, and share your makes with us.

I did have a few problems while making the card, I decided to print the ants onto green card and piece their bodies, and that was ok, I made the main panel up. Then I decided to die cut the sentiment, I had it in green and white, decided to use the green one - the die slipped and it was ruined. So I tried to cut the white one - same thing happened. Then I tried to find more green to print on, the printer would not print, after several attempts I realised the card was slightly different - that is when I found that the sheet I printed on was the only one exactly like that! So I had to re-print the white sheet and use that. I found some green I think will go through the printer but it was a different shade of green altogether! 

I have entered this card in the following challenges:

http://daringcardmakers.blogspot.co.uk/Daring Cardmakers - colour combo

Crafty Ribbons - anything goes with ribbon - Thursdays

This is another T page that I did for the Alpha challenge at The Craft Barn, and I was working on it Saturday evening trying to make the deadline and didn't, it took longer than I thought it would. So not entered but it was fun to do. I chose Travail meaning work (hard work, manual work, handicrafts, supervised pratical work,, housework etc), and Tricoter meaning to knit. So I have knitting chickens by Penny Black, knitting House Mouse by Stampendous, and some Quickutz die cuts, and on the work side Monica the seamstress by Kraftin Kimmie, fireman and housewife by Paper Nation, and I love to read which is a Sugar Nellie stamp by Krista Smith. Saws and paint brush are Visible Image stamps.

Quirky well fold it, late reminder!

 For this joy fold card I used images and sentiments from the Ahoy Matey set from The Cutting Cafe who are sponsoring the challenge, and giving three great prizes. Freebie papers, brass charms from stash, ribbon by Crafty Ribbons, white banner ribbon by Papermania.

 Untie the bow and you can see the pirate ship.

 The little pirate is a Kraftin Kimmie stamp. All images ae coloured with Promarkers or Trias.

 Fully open the card reveals the treasure map and some more sentiments and charms.

Finally the top card flips up to reveal a greetings frame that is perfect to write your own greeting in the centre.

I have entered the following challenges:

Joanna Sheen - male cards

Crafty Ribbons - anything goes with ribbon.

Papertake weekly - hot hot hot - warm or hot colours.

Cute card Thursday - Once upon a time (there were pirates on the high seas)

Stamping for the weekend - cute (cute pirate)

I love Promarkers - anything goes.

Kraftin Kimmie - bling it on

Last one for Kraftin Kimmie, challenge 1 bling it on, and now I really must go to bed.

I can't remember this fairy's name but she is pretty. The Stickles glitter glue was still very wet when I took this, and she is coloured with Promarkers and die cut with Nestabilities.

I have entered the following challenges:

Die Cut Divas - washi tape or birthday card or both.

Krafting Kimmie Partay!

Kraftin Kimmie have had a week long Partay to celebrate the new releases of lovely rubbah! Last Saturday 6 challenges were set, I hoped to enter all of them but I have managed 2 so far and it is very late and there are hours to go so maybe this is all I will manage. This card is for Challenge 3 Fussy Cutting and features Alice.

This card is for Challenge 2 - Happy Birthday. I love this one for a guy, I know there is a little ink bleed around the umbrella that I can't seem to sort out.

I have entered the following challenges:

Die Cut Divas - washi tape or birthday card or both.

Daring Cardmakers - April Showers (Fridays)

Simon Says Stamp - April Showers or Spring Flowers - well either card would  count here I entered the first one. (Wednesdays).

The Alpha Challenge E for Enfants

Here is another page for The Alpha Challenge at The Craft Barn blog. This time E is for Enfant, I hope I am improving each time on this project. The black and white children stamps are by Paper Artsy, the baby in arms is Kraftin Kimmie from a set I won. the boy and girl are by The Stamp Barn, and I am not sure about the hands and feet. The meaning includes alter boys and giving birth, I didn't have stamps for either!

Now can anyone tell me how to get dried on Gesso out of my favourite best purple fleece? 

Sweet sweet music

In honour of the Bradford on Avon Music Festival this weekend at the Wiltshire School of Music I have been making musical cards. I only just saw these stamps by Crafty Individuals at the beginning of the week and had to have them, and they came really quickly with some freebies, thanks Crafty Individuals! 

I stamped the music stamp onto some marled card, and cut a frame using a Spellbinders die, which I cut the centre out of to make a frame. The reason you are seeing three photos of this card is because I tried 3 different dies in the centre to get different effects. I embossed the frame then used the die as a stencil to shade it with plum Memento ink, and then cut the music sheet to fit behind. I stamped the piano and instruments and cut them out to add, oh and I should have said the first thing I did was stamp and heat emboss the sentiment using stamps from a Hero Arts clear set.

Do you like this frame the best? I just used a square Nestie in the middle here.

Or this one? I used the next size down of the main die this time.

They are all easel cards, inside I added a panel of the green card, some ribbon with musical notes, some Prima blooms and a gem, and a French horn, or is that a tuba?

Slightly different inside, I used Tim Holtz Ideology tape on this one.

I had high hopes of making more cards using this wonderful Dreamweavers stencil, and I tried it embossing it by passing it through the eBosser ( I had several attempts before getting anything like what I wanted, the one with two pieces of card to shim it worked best but then the machine reversed it and wouldn't accept that a second time, after which all attemps were not so good), then I tried the Big Shot, the Big Shot gave me a better definition, and I tried the embossing paste. I had a few problems with the ebosser and didn't end up with the result I had hoped for. I got in a mess with the paste trying to do the black piano keys only despite have the little brass masking tool, well I just got in a mess! So this one ended up with the dry embossed image cut from the keys, and I used black Promarker pen to mark the embossed notes, words and the black keys. I also used Cordinations Black Magic embossed with a music note folder and sanded, then die cut with Grand Nestabilities die. I mounted them on gold and added Happy Birthday cut out of some printed card I bought ages ago at a show, and I used Sizzix ;Lollipop dies for that.

I am entering the ABC challenge E for embossing, take your pick the cards above all have embossing!

These little characters are stamps which I think I bought from Smiling Summer Girl on ebay many years ago, I think they are mythical folk art figures maybe Mexican and beginning with X but I could be wrong! It is really bugging me that I can't remember what they are called. The set includes the figures in different sizes, so the block comes smaller, and the small individuals come in a bigger size. The sentiment might be from her too. If anyone knows please tell me. Anyway this is a CAS or clean and simple card, I used Kaleidoscope ink and stamped directly onto the card.

When the new stamps arrived I tried to use every bit of the one EZ mount sheet I had left, and some scraps! So the Crafty Individuals had to be mounted so I could use them and as many Krafting Kimmies as I could fit!

Ermmm, I think I need to order some more EZ mount!

Shaun and Richard outside in the cold and very wet laying a new base for the new greenhouse to come, with toughened glass so that Kenny doesn't have any accidents. The old greenhouse is being used as shelter here, and will be going to a new home next week!

I won blog candy!

So far I have won Crackerbox Palace stamps as blog candy for commenting on their cards, and I won another stamp for making a card with the blog candy stamps.

I won a House Mouse project book and CD from Joanna Sheen, I was the random picked winner of the prize, they pick a top three but the prize is random, lucky me!

I also won Bev's Bag from Crafty Ribbons Challenge blog.

I won Laura's 111th post candy too, Laura is on the Crafty Ribbons Challenge DT and I went to look at something she made which is when I found her blog candy.

Before that I won Kraftin Kimmie blog hop candy and a challenge candy.

So I am on a roll right now!

Won at KKS

My Kraftin Kimmie Poppy card won over at Kraftin Kimmie challenges, whoo hoo, I have a very cute cat in stocking stamp to come now. She is very appropriate for Remembrance Sunday too (Veteran's day).

Kraftin Kimmie challenge

Please excuse the photo, it is on my workbench, and I am trying to beat the deadline of midnight in the USA to enter this card in the Kraftin Kimmie challenge, make your own background! I was going to make a different background then came across this stamped card that I had done a few weeks ago and I thought it went well with Poppy. I made an easel card, and I am not sure that I am happy with the inside being so plain, I might stamp it yet.

 Also entered in:

One Stop Crafting Challenge - anything goes (Saturdays)

The Crafty Pad - anything goes closes today

Kraftin Kimmie sketch and whooop whoop news

This is my first Kimmie to see ink, and I am really pleased with it except I am useless at colouring hair so I need to study some tutorials on that! This is Priscilla, I think she is great. I coloured her with Promarkers and die cut her with Nestabilities, cutting out the pop out part first, not sure I have that quite right and it isn't the method I normally use but is much easier! Papers are from the Rockstar stack by DCWV, blooms are Prima and the largest size was from Lakeland when they sold craft stuff, brads are Dovecraft. The birthday sentiment is Debbi Moore, the other one came with Priscilla. The ribbon is gold edged taffeta from Crafty Ribbons.

Here is the sketch.

Oh - nearly forgot the Whooop whoop news! I went to find this sketch on the Kraftin Kimmie blog and found I had won the October blog hop, YAY, WOWSER, MEEEEEE! You might be able to tell I am just a tad excited about the prospect of more rubbah from Kraftin Kimmie Stamps!

As well as Kraftin Kimmie's sketch challenge I have entered the following:

Cute Card Thursday - something scary. Priscilla is ready scary books!