A few florals

I bought a new Forever Friends stamp last week and have been having a play colouring it in with Promarkers.
I really enjoy colouring this little bear as he is so easy to get into some simple shading. I'm still learning with my promarker pens, but have found a combination of colours I like for these images. I've teamed him up with papers from K & Co and some fabric flowers and brads. The flowers in this first one and the papers, I think, were a gift from Lynn. I know she'll correct me if I am wrong.

This last card uses a stamp I bought way back in October but has just had it's first inking. I can't remember the make but she is coloured with Promarkers. Again it is teamed up with paper from the same Sparkly Sweet designer pad by K & Co. The bench from Magnolia I know was from Lynn as I think were the flowers with their shiny beaded centres.

Any of these cards , but particularly the last one I think is suitable for the 'Blooming Gorgeous' theme on the Cute Card Thursday challenge blog this week.

Crafter's Companion Challenge #1

This is a completely new Challenge blog and all you have to do is make a card following the sketch below, all they ask is that you use some product from Crafters Companion, it can be papers and toppers from one of their Cd's, or you might have some of their lovely stamps that you would like to use, You must have something visible on your item from the Crafters Companion range.
This weeks prize, donated by Crafters Companion, is one of their new Popcorn stamps,

This weeks sketch Challenge is designed by Wendy

I don't have any stamps by Crafter's Companion so I used backing papers from the Cute Companions Cd Volume 1 and layered them up with a stamped image from Penny Black which has been coloured with Whisper brush pens. The ribbon, flowers and brad are from my stash and the greeting is a peel-off.Nip on over to the Crafter's Companions Challenge blog and check it out.

NRC challenges

A group of ladies from the Bubbly Funk forum took themselves off on friday for a long weekend of crafting fun, those of us left behind were not to be forgotten as Kathy arranged a last minute Non Retreaters Crop. Referred to as the NRC.

I have combined 2 of the challenges in this little book. It is just over 4 inches square, covered in paper from K & co, fastened with a length of ribbon and decorated with fabric flowers and funky star brads.

The first is a 10 minute mini book and the second a photo challenge.

10 minutes my ar*e it took me longer than that to choose my papers! Add 2 phone calls from Sallie and Mick arriving home from work.

It is a very easy book to make though and all the papers are from K & co. The photo challenge was set by Hazel who gave us a subject matter every couple of hours during saturday and sunday. The initial letters of which were B.U.B.B.L.Y.F.U.N.K.

Sallie was here and took part in some of them and we had great fun both looking for old pictures and taking new ones.

I printed them all out and combined them into this book.

BLUE - my slippers.

UNDERNEATH - my crafting workspace.BEAUTY - Faith in her frilly pink dress. BOTTLES - the booze is hidden behind the soft drinks!LEATHER - Sallie wearing her stripey socks with my shoes.YOURSELF WHEN YOU WERE YOUNG - me aged 20 on holiday in Spain.FACES - Sallie and Me this Easter in Barry Island.UP ABOVE - the snow seen through the conservatory roof earlier this year. NATURE - the view from our veranda in the Dominican Republic a couple of years ago.KNITTED - a couple of garments i've just finished for my niece's baby boy.
I did the writing by hand (can't you tell!) on white card cut into ovals with Nestabilities.

2 for Dad

We are going up to the Midlands on wednesday to see the family and take cards for events this month and next.
These are cards I made for my Dad for his birthday and Father's day.
This is for his birthday - he always wears a shirt and tie when he goes out so it's very suitable for him. The image is a stamp from Funstamps called 'Gent's shirt'. I ve coloured the stripes with Whispers pens and decoupaged the cuff, collar and tie on the blue one and added a blue brad for the cufflink.
The shirts are in pink, green and blue which fits in with the theme on the Lilli of the Valley challenge site. This second card is for Father's day, which is 2 days before his birthday.
I've stamped an image from the Daisy and Dandelion collection by Design Objectives onto brown paper and again coloured it with Whisper pens. The letters have been stamped and glittered. Multi layered flowers with brad centres complete the card.
This fits in with the challenge on Cute Card Thursday to include letters or numbers on a card.

Spring Flowers.

2 cards here using the same Sarah Kay stamp. They have been coloured with a combination of Stampin' Up markers and watercolour pencils. The backing card mounts for both is from DCWV. The stamped greeting is from Personal Impressions. This first one has the greeting embossed in pale blue which shows better IRL. It has 2 layers of flowers and some spotty white organza ribbon held together with a brad.

This has the greeting embossed in purple and is decorated with flowers and brads. It also features an oval cut with my very first set of Nestabilities.

52Q Challenge

Over on the Bubbly Funk forum a group of us have taken up the challenge from Emily Falonbridge to answer a question a week about yourself. Hence the 52Q title of the challenge. The idea is to answer the set question on a seperate card each week, many people use playing cards for this but mine are going to be a bit bigger as i'm using the computer to print out my backgrounds and answers.

These are my covers for the book I will make when they are all finally completed in a years time. I covered thick card and punched holes so that the whole thing can be bound using my Bind it All when the time comes.

The papers are from Hot of the Press Citrus pack, the spotty ribbon is from Ribbon Oasis. The lace, letter tiles and cream plaque are from Kaz in the secret advent thingy. I used fabric flowers from my stash and the brad is a tiny glittered one from Papermania. The letter and numbers are stamped and embossed in purple on pale purple card and painted with shimmery watercolour paints.

It's strange how purple and lime green have become my favourite colours, when Sallie suggested them for her bedroom about 9 years ago I thought it a very odd combination. I suppose after living with it for so many years it grew on me.

Twins

I have twin neices who celebrate their 18th birthdays soon. They are totally different to each other and at this age don't need things to be the same but I still wanted to recognise the fact that they are twins so used images from the same Cd for each.

The images are taken from Walk in Wonderland Cd by My Craft Studio.

The first one has the addition of a couple of flowers and glitter glue on the dragonfly wings. The other has a scattering of small flowers and glitter glue on the flower centres. I have printed inserts in a paler shade of each to make them a bit more special.

Family cards

This is the card that I have made to give to my parents and Mick's mum for Christmas.

It took a long time to make as I had to do the computer wording on scrap paper first then get it positioned to print onto my backing paper. The 'C' & 'W' were traced in gel pen using a light box and then glittered. Done straight from the computer the spacing was all wrong because of the different sizes.
I have only completed one so far but the next will be much quicker now I know what i'm doing and have the wording already done.

The A5 card is in soft cream and has the whole of the front covered in red holographic card. A green mottled card with rounded corners is layered on top of this. The greeting is on pale green paper mounted onto the same red holographic card, both with rounded corners. The words are printed in red with the first letters picked out in gold ultra fine glitter.

The flowers are fabric poinsettias which have been taken apart, glittered and put back together with a gold star brad and green sequin flower. The fern is cut from a much larger spray.
They have been attached using silicon glue.

I will have to make some kind of box to put them in, luckily they don't need to be posted.

80th Birthday

Mick's Mum has asked me to make a card for her sister's 80th birthday next month which meant I also needed to make one from us as well.

This is the one I made for us to send, I used glitter board, brads, peel-offs and base card from my stash but the whole of the topper is made from freebies from Making Cards magazine with a little bit of glitter glue added.

I bought some Joanna Sheen stamps a couple of months ago when I was first asked about this card as I knew the look I wanted for it It is from the Happiness Oval set of Victorian Doylie range and has been stamped and embossed in pink on cream pearlescent paper.The 2 background papers are from Joanna's Oriental Dreams Cd. I found a bunch of fabric flowers in a local shop and used 3 from it to make a spray and added an organza ribbon bow which was all attached with silicone glue. The sentiment was printed on the computer. As the flowers stand out from the card so much I had to make a box on which I will stamp the name.

Doiley stamp card

Today i've been trying out my new stamps from Joanna Sheen.

I've done an A5 sized card and layered onto it a piece of blue background paper from Joanna Sheen's Oriental Dreams Cd.

Onto this is layered an oval of white glitter card. The stamps are from Joanna's new Victorian Doiley range and I have used the oval and diamond shapes from the Happiness Oval set. I stamped them with versamark and embossed them in blue onto vellum. Both shapes were cut out and the diamond layered onto the oval. 3 fabric flowers with bead centres were attached with silicon glue.

A stamped sentiment from the same set was embossed in blue onto a piece of the backing paper and layered onto a mat of white glitter card.

Daisy Baby Book

I have been working on this book for the past week now so that I can give it to my daughter, Sallie for her birthday next month.

I have taken as my inspiration the Little Kitchen Fairie named 'Oops a Daisy Fairie' and decided to use lots of my daisy stamps and embellishments.

The cover uses my baby wipe backgrounds and I have used far too many items from my stash to name them all but the stamps are:- Tildas from Magnolia, Personal Impressions and Anitas.

The book is held together with knotted organza ribbons and fastened with an organza bow.

These first pages feature a photo of the figurine which sits in my kitchen window and my daughters name.

A Dufex image alongside Tilda with bouquet.

Skeleton leaves, fabric flowers and organza ribbons.

Peel-offs and a stamp by Anita.

Tilda with basket alongside a dufex panel andflowers.

Embossed paper, fabric daisies with stamp by Personal Impressions.



A further photo with lots of tiny daisies and letter stickers.

I have learned a lot whilst making this book, making lots of mistakes along the way but I have had fun using diferent techniques and materials. I'm sure Sallie will love it and treasure it, as it is something special between the two of us.

Kathy's challenge

Kathy over on the Bubbly Funk forum has just passed her 40,000th visitor to her blog and to mark the occasion has set a challenge to make a card using this sketch. I thought it would be a good opportunity to make my Dad's card for either his birthday or Father's day, both next month and started off with the appropriate colours but somehow I got sidetracked when I rediscovered this stamp from Personal Impressions. I've only used it once before and that was well over a year ago. I'm not sure when I will use the card but it was nice to use the stamp again and work within someone else's guidelines.

I used a square white hammered cardstock and onto this layered a square of blue textured card, from a stack by DCWV, and onto that a piece of pale blue glitter card. The patterned card is some I had in my stash from a few years ago, as is the ribbon which is navy edged with gold thread. The white card is the same as the base card, the smaller piece being cut with a deckle edge and trimmed with a baby blue inkpad from Versa Colour. The fabric flower is held in place with a small brad. It was still a man's card until I searched for an image to put on the large white area. The fairy stamp caught my eye and had to be used, with black Stazon and shimmery watercolour paints. Gold peel-offs complete the card.

Get Well Card

I heard through the Stamping Mad forum this morning that a friend is not feeling too well so I decided to send this card I made yesterday.

The image is one which was very kindly sent to me a few months ago by Lynn from the forum.

I cut around it and coloured it by taking colour straight from a pencil using a waterbrush. It was layered onto an oval of card from a sample of soft lime paint by Crown paints. I gave the wings a touch of glitter glue applied with a brush.

Down one side I used a strip of Chloe Awning paper in lilac and greens from K & Co onto which I added a couple of fabric flowers held together with small brads.

A simple peel-off greeting finished the card.



I went down to the post box at lunchtime so hopefully with a first class stamp it should arrive tomorrow.

Birthday card

I can post this now the card has been received, I made it last week for a friend on the Bubbly Funk forum.

I created the background for the topper using a fabric baby wipe and either poster or watercolour paint (not sure which as I raided Faith's art box) The paint was dripped onto the wipe and blasted with a heat gun to set it and then left to dry naturally.

I wrapped a piece of the background fabric around a piece of card. Onto this I added a couple of fabric flowers highlighted with a small brad.

The card is cream with textured gold paper and cream handmade paper with gold dots layered onto it.

It's finished off with a greeting layered up the same way.