Card finished

Here is the card posted below but with the finishing touches.

I added a little more colour to Poppy's posy, and stamped Birthday Wishes from a Debbi Moore clear stamp set. I stamped Niece using a stamp from a Papermania set.

I added more of the K&Co paper inside, and stamped a sentiment from the Debbi Moore set, it was a great value set, a whole A4 sheet of clear birthday stamps, with something to suit most cards.

Spyder Lyn is a clever girl

Our very own Quirky Lyn teamie at Quirky Crafts has her own digi image business over at Spyder's Corner. Every week Lyn gives away a freebie too, and this is the latest one called Poppet the Posy Puppy, so cute.

Now that Lyn has a challenge going to win a fantastic tree digi, and you had to use one of Lyn's digis to be in to win and with just over an hour to go I remembered and though I better try and enter. Therefore I haven't finished this card but uploaded it anyway. Also I messed up one of the front panels and couldn't move it so as the glue stuck fast! I have the inside to do and perhaps some more embellishments or a sentiment on the front.

I coloured the image with Trias and Promarkers. Image is cut out with Nestabilities, and paper is by K and Company.

There you are - I got it in just in time, came back to do the write up, and I know it isn't the best but someone will love to get it I am sure and now I need to make a better version.....

A sketch challenge by Quirky Lyn

Yes it is one of Lyn's sketches this time round, and the sponsor is Bugaboo (Lyn's personal favourite).

For my first card I used Lilies from Bugaboo, a hand drawn image which is lovely. I wanted to keep the delicate blooms as the focal point so hunted for some papers to do this, the striped paper was a freebie with Crafts Beautiful magazine, the butterflies are an English Paper Company paper. I coloured the lilies with Promarkers and Trias and then painted the petals with Artists Iridescent Medium for a sparkly finish. I added some organza ribbon and some pretty pearl brads and stamped For You o the paper, the sketch is flipped for this one.

 My second example is an Easter card featuring Eggbert Bunny  from Bugaboo- so cute! Again coloured with Promarkers and Trias, and cut with Nestabilities ovals and scalloped ovals, and the papers are freebies from Crafts Beautiful magazine. Blooms, ribbons, bows, pearls and Happy Easter stamp are by Papermania. Eyelets from stash.

 My third card is a masculine doggy one, and I used Oz Toto  from Bugaboo on this one, with papers and stickers by Boxer Scrapbook Productions, and the Papers are called Woof Words.  I stamped and heat embossed the sentiment on a bone sticker, and the stamp is from a clear set by Hero Arts of birthday greetings. I searched everywhere for the bone eyelets only to find them in the first place I looked. Do you like the bone shaped paperclip? I don't know who it is by (It might be Queen and Co but I can't be sure). Toto is coloured with Promarkers, and I particularly like him because he is just like Alfie dog.

If you want to see some more lovely examples and join in to try and win 7 (yes 7) digi's from our generous sponsor Bugaboo, then hop on over to the Quirky Crafts Challenge blog right now.

I have entered the Dog one in Pollycrafts Monday challenge - mmmmmmm Choklit!!

I have also entered him in Cute Card Thursday (or take your pick of the two cuties) -Anything Goes.

I have also entered the dog in   I ♥ ProMarkers  - use three different papers, a Wednesday fortnightly challenge.

I have entered the Thursday challenge at MAWTT - Easter Wishes (hmm all coming out choklit coloured I see).

I have also entered the Easter card in Joanna Sheen's monthly challenge - Spring is in the Air.

Special Lady

It's Quirky Challenge time again and this time the challenge is to make a card for a special lady, and to include circles, gems or pearls and flowers.

 The sponsor is The Cutting Cafe, and I used sets Its All About Mom and A Spring Day. There are so many images and sentiments in each large set, they are very good value and you can also buy cutting files for electronic die cutting machines.

I decided to use my cut and dry foam (had to hunt for it) and Distress inks, which I am pleased with however they made the printer ink smudge a little. I cut an aperture in a square card blank using Spellbinders Nestabilities small circles, mounted the word block inside the card, then cut out flowers to decorate the front. There is a Sizzlet die cut flourish too, that corner needed something else. The sentiment has bubble stickers over the printed flowers. I used Promarkers on the small flowers and the striped middle of the flower inside.

This is the inside:

I could have made some more flowers to cover the back of the ones you can see the back of, or coloured both sides, I didn't think of it at the time (I might be able to rectify that), I was up against the deadline. I had hoped to also have made at least one more card that I started a week ago, however I have been quite ill with a nasty virus that kept getting worse so I ended up in bed for a few days. At least I have lost a bit of weight!

Anyway do please hop on over to Quirky to see some more great examples and join in if you want to win a great prize of some of these great digi sets. 

First signs of Spring

It is definitely Spring like here today, in fact it is almost like Summer with the lovely warm sun for a change.
The challenge is on at Quirky Crafts, and you need to make a double Z fold card or a 3d project with hidden element of Spring which was set by Diane who regularly challenges us to do some paper engineering! A link to instructions on how to make this card is on the Quirky Crafts Challenge blog.

I made a double z fold card a long time ago and so I had to use the instructions, even then it took me several attempts to work out the best way of making this, and ending up with straight edges that met in the middle! I used my Fiskars rotary trimmer with the scoring blade, and I eventually worked out it was best to have the bulk of the card on the trimmer bed, so that it didn't skew. The sponsor this time is The Stamping Boutique, and you can win 5 lovely digi images from them. I used digi images from The Stamping Boutique called  Spring, and Cynthia Fairy and the Carrot Thief. The papers are by The English Paper Company, and all images are coloured with Trias and Promarkers. I die cut Spring with a Nestabilities labels die and added a Lakeland flower - Lakeland don't do them now. I added some wide organza ribbon in pale green, I think it was from Ribbon Oasis. I may add Happy Birthday or Happy Mother's day to the card at a later date when I decide what it is for.

Baby blues

Well there is some blue in one of these!

These are the results of my crochet effort so far. The pattern is Sirdar 3383 and it is for 4 ply yarn.

Luv story

That is the challenge over at Quirky Crafts this time, you must use ribbon and a charm too.
Our Sponsor is Robyns Fetish, and I used I have a Crush on You, sentiment and image. I think the male cat is kinda tough looking, not too cute.

This is version 1, I coloured the two kitties with Promarkers and cut round the image which has a background  made using a Spellbinders Nestabilities heart cut from some free papers that came with Crafts Beautiful Magazine called Spring Collection, (and the good thing is they are "proper" quality papers not shiny magazine paper) matted on a dusky rose pink scalloped heart. I cut a panel of hammered cream card and two borders with Spellbinders Contemporary Hearts in the same dusky rose pink. I added some very fine Organza ribbon which is pinky blue, it was an odd length and I think it was from Crafty Ribbons. I added two love charms, two fishes and a fish bones charm. (Love and best fishes perhaps?)

Version 2 was when I remembered I was going to use the punched out hearts from the borders which I had run through the Xyron 150 and so they were ready stickied and I just forgot. Then the computer wouldn't recognise the memory card so I couldn't upload any more!

So better with I think, what do you think.

I have entered this card in the following challenges:

ABC I is for In Pairs, I used two love charms, ther eare two cats too, and two borders, 5x2 punched out hearts, 2 fish charms. Ends 14th Feb

Cute Card Thursday Pink Valentines Cards. Ends Wed 15th Feb

I love Promarkers Luv is in the Air ends 14th Feb

Moving Along With the Times Cute Critters ends Wed 15th Feb

Thank you cards

I needed a thank you card a week or so ago, and I decided to keep it simple and make the word Thanks the feature of the card. I used Sizzix Shadow Box alphabet to cut my letters, and I tried different variations of the theme.

The top two are Papermania papers, on a contrasting card shadow, the top one has stamped butterflies,  and the letters are staggered.

The second one has the letters in a line but the H, N and S are "popped" out with foam squares, and I added a bloom punched with a Nellie Snellen punch and emboss set to match the letters.

On the final one I used some freebie Dovecraft Kate Knight designed papers on a dark teal shadow to emphasise the darkest colour in the papers and I punched and embossed butterflies with a Nellie Snellen punch and emboss set. Again the letters are staggered. The card blanks are Anita's tall blanks.

I think this is a good idea for using up scraps of pretty paper too, and could be used for different words, how about the word Happy with birthday as a peel off, or stamped below.

Which arrangement do you like the best?

Make a scene

Yes it's another Quirky challenge and this time you need to build a scene. My scene is from Squigglefly (one of our two sponsors for this challenge, the other sponsor is Limited Runs) and I used the Japanese scene with the Japanese pack, and screen. I coloured the images with Promarkers and Trias. I cut out the bonsai, lady, fan, sandals and lamp that the lady is holding, and added them to the scene. I also decoupaged the two red garden lamps/fires to make them stand out more. I used some card with oriental characters on and die cut the scene with a Nestabilities large label 9(No 8 I think). I added some yin yang ribbon from my stash and mounted the whole thing on a red C5 card blank I folded myself. Finally I stamped the Celebration fan image and cut it out and added it to the top corner.

I will make another card using the Limited Runs image soon.

If you join in at Quirky Crafts Challenge blog and provided you follow the rules, you could win one of two prizes on offer for this challenge.

Hooked

I did it, I got back to crochet after an absence of 16 plus years! I used to crochet all the time, I made clothes, novelty and decorative items, but when I started working full time it took so long to finish anything that I gave up. Now look what I did yesterday:

I am pleased that I can still do it, and though my hands ached it was remarkably calming and relaxing.

Busy doing nothing....... working the whole day through....

This is the second week that actually feels like I have REALLY left my job, I left just before Christmas (on early release) and the holidays just felt like normal holidays, then just as I was trying to get used to the idea I got the flu, and was in bed for a most of a week and a half.

There are benefits, I have more time to craft, so where is it then? Not finished a lot yet but my craft room is messier than ever! I did make a card that I didn't photograph but I am working on some more versions of it so will photograph them when they are finished.

I have had a life laundry moment and found a whole bag of clothes to get rid of, and there are more where that came from.

I have gone up into the garage loft and found my old crochet patterns, and intend to start crocheting again, well I am going to be a Granny in May so I better get a shift on. I have some white yarn, need blue too.

Because I am home when Himself gets in and it is still light enough I have been dog walking over the fields most nights, that has got to be good for us all.

I have been doing a lot more cooking of dinners, and we have been both eating the same thing. Example below, swordfish steak, with stir fried finely sliced leeks with mushrooms, garlic and baby plum tomatoes and new potatoes.

Also I have more energy and less headaches at the weekends to go dog walking, we went to a farm to get a bag of organic potatoes (saving a lot compared to the price of supermarket potatoes) and eggs. When we were there we looked for somewhere to walk the dogs, and found this. Massive gates and a very long tree lined avenue to South Wraxall Manor. We have had two walks there, and they were very long walks. We only went half way up the "drive" to a fence, then turned round. The first time the dogs didn't notice all the trees, the second time they did and tried to visit every one, and there were about 60!

These are the gates. View of the drive from the gates, our dogs found all other dogs very interesting so enjoyed the walk. We think it might be very busy in warmer weather!

The fence where we turned round.

My excitement of the day today was trying out the new carpet shampooer, sad or what!

Now I may look for a part time job after I have had a few weeks off, I think I deserve it and I worked very hard for the last 6 months without a lot of time off. What I would really like to do is work for a craft magazine publisher, maybe in an assistant editor type role.  That would be doing a job to do with one of my favourite hobbies, papercrafts! What I don't want to do is work a 37 hour week with commuting on top. Less hours and travel would be fine though.

Quirky Silhouettes

Yes it is challenge time again at Quirky Crafts Challenge Blog. I had hoped to post before this, but I have been ill all week with flu so have been in bed a lot of the time. The Nurse Practitioner told me that I will start to experience coughing all night for a couple of weeks, so far this hasn't happened and I hope it doesn't!

Here is my card. The sponsor is Stitchy Bear and I used Sewing which is one of the many lovely silhouette digital stamps available from them. I decided to make it into a background pattern by copying it all over the page and changing the colour on all but one per row. I printed it on parchment and stitched it to some striped card. I cut out a dressmaker's dummy, reels and buttons using a Tim Holtz Sizzix die. I added thread to the reels and buttons, and a piece of pretty fabric tied round the dummy with a piece of ribbon. Finally I cut a Spellbinders Nestabilities label and stamped Birthday Wishes from a Debbi Moore set. All ink is Memento, which I used to distress the paper and card and different die cuts. As soon as I uploaded the photo I realised I had forgotten to use some special ribbon that I had been going to use, so I will have to make another version! I also want to decorate this inside. It reminds me of when I was at home with young children and I used to make their clothes and toys, and even did a City and Guilds Fashion course but only the first year. I had my own dressmaker's dummy then.

So hop on over and see what the others have done, and enter your make to win a Stitchy Bear voucher.

I have entered this in the following challenge(s):

ABC H is for Happy Birthday closing 5th Jan I think.

Ist Quirky Challenge of 2012 and Happy New Year

Happy New Year to everyone, I hope you have less troubles and more joys this year.

The first challenge of the New Year is here over at Quirky Crafts, and was set by Diane, it is Food Glorious Food!

We have two sponsors so two chances to win a prize, and the image is by our exciting new sponsor Bugaboo, the other sponsor being our favourite ribbon sponsor Crafty Ribbons.
I used Bugaboo image JJ Housework Eat Out with her sentiment. I coloured the image with Promarkers and Trias, and die cut them with Nestabilties. I used a Martha Stewart punch to punch the English Paper Company paper. and finally added a white on black chiffon polka dot ribbon by Crafty Ribbons.

What a great image for a non cook, or someone very houseproud.

I also picked up a great free image from the Bugaboo site today, which I hope to use soon.

I have entered this in:
Daring Card Makers challenge Spots and Stripes.
I Love Promarkers anything goes.
Pollycraft - Punch It

Birthday mice

It is my son's birthday today, and he really wanted a particular kettle so I thought this card would be good with the teapot!

This is a very sweet House Mouse stamp, used for the first time and easy to colour. I coloured the image with Promarkers, cut out with a Nestabilities large labels die, cut a panel with the same set and embossed it with a Cuttlebug embossing folder. I added a different label for the letters Son to go on, the letters are a Sizzlet alphabet called Bounce. I added one small mouse and some Crafty Ribbons polka dot ribbon. I also love this very bright green card that I used for the card base and the letters. My son said he wouldn't fancy the tea with those two in it!

I just found the perfect challenge to enter this into: House Mouse Challenges Warm and Fuzzy and Passion for Promarkers Celebrations.

and another Quirky steampunk card

This image is called Three Christmas Trees from Stitchy Bear Stamps, and the cog snow has been added by me using Serif to copy the cogs from the Steampunk Corner, I hope they will forgive me! I cut these out with Nestabilities, and coloured them with Promarkers. Sentiments are from a mini Hero Arts set.

 I don't know why I cannot take a straight looking photo, I have the card standing in a mini photo studio with a flat floor, the camera is on a tripod and the spirit level says it is level, the guides I can see when I look through the viewfinder appear to be lined up straight and yet I had to straighten this more in PSE, and I still can't get it just right!

I have entered this card in the ABC F for Frost challenge.

It's a Quirky Steampunk Challenge from me

Yep, it is challenge time again over at Quirky Crafts Challenge blog, our sponsor is Stitchy Bear Stamps and the challenge is Steampunk Christmas or New Year. I used Big Ben silhouette with Steampunk Corner printed on acetate fixed to a panel of card embossed with a Tim Holtz Sizzix embossing folder, and dabbed with Distress Ink, and I die cut Distressed Clock by Tim Holtz which is a Sizzix Bigz die, from grungepaper and coloured with Distress Ink. The acetate is fixed with four brads, and the whole thing is fixed to a swirl pattern card dabbed with distress ink. Finally I typed Happy New Year  and added some cogs form the steampunk corner then printed it, and die cut that with a Nestabilities label die, also dabbed with distress ink, and I added one real cog to the corner of the sentiment label.

Its Quirky Snowing

Well it is according to Lyn who set the challenge! My first card is made with a Limited Runs digi called Snowman on the Cupcake, I love it.  Coloured with Promarkers and Trias and a little glitter glue to finish. Die cut with Nestabilities and the sentiment comes singly and in sheets ready sized to cut out with Nestabilities circle dies, how cool is that! The ribbon is by Crafty Ribbons and is exclusive to them, and the snowflake is cut from Create a Flake set by Spellbinders, the tiny snowflakes are punch waste.

My second card uses an image by Paper Pretties called Frozen Frog Legs, it is too funny! I coloured the image with Promarkers and Trias and put the image behind a Snowflake Frame from a Spellbinders set, which also contains the snowflakes, two of them are from the Create a Flake set.

So you have probably guessed it - we are sponsored by the two sponsors above and have a first and second prize over at Quirky Crafts Challenge blog this time. You better hop on over to see the other great makes by the team and join it, got to be in it to win it!

Baby Boy cards

I made a couple of baby boy cards last night, don't faint! I should be making Christmas cards really!

 I found this paper in a DCWV stack, and used Spellbinders dies to cut and emboss the shapes, mounting them on Nestabilities squares and rectangles and finally added some buttons. Simples!