The letter K

Hi everyone, just a quick post for the Alpha challenge as we are off to sunny climes on Monday and I won't be posting anything for about 10 days:) I can't wait to feel the sun on these old bones!!
Back to the matter in hand and the letter this time is K,  not an easy word, it must be one of the shorter chapters in the dictionary. I was clearing up the detritus on my desk when I espied two cocktail sticks and a length of string, BINGO! So here is my page, what do you think?

Not easy knitting with cocktail sticks, I can tell you! Took me back to my college days when I made several handbags, knitted in string and lined. It's a killer on the fingers! I added a little bead to each end and the rest is fairly obvious:) 

Just thought I'd leave you with a couple of pics of Charlie from the weekend:)

Thanks for taking the time to visit and hopefully leaving a comment and I will catch up with you all in a couple of weeks.

Hasta la vista!

Less is More week 119-one layer!

Hi everyone from a wet and windy London town! We had a lovely couple of days with Charlie and had him all to ourselves for the day yesterday, great fun all round:) He is so responsive now and understands everything! I got my first kiss too:)
Anyway back to crafty matters and this weeks challenge over at Less is More is as follows:

This week it's everyone's favourite.. One Layer Cards and this week we would like you to use a

Coloured Card Blank

Yes that's right, none of your boring, white, ivory, black or kraft card blanks we want to see you add some colour.

I very rarely use coloured card , except maybe for Xmas cards, so I don't have much to choose from but I found this lilac card and here's what I came up with:

The stamp is from an old oriental Papermania set and is stamped and embossed in black. The symbol means Love. I added white highlights with a gel pen and a frame using a black pen to create dots.

I had two baby cards to make last week for my friend who has a new baby grandaughter who had a bit of a shaky start but is home now and doing well, her name is Primrose:)

I stamped some flowers onto card and cut out a bodice and pleated another piece for the skirt. I added some ribbon and made a little hanger.

This one is using a cuttlebug EF and a ribbon with a rolled flower.

Thanks for visiting and hopefully leaving a comment:)

Artist in residence:)

Morning everyone hope you have a lovely weekend to look forward to? We are quizzing tonight and then off to Portsmouth for some Charlie sitting:) Such a trial as you can imagine!! Anyway here I am last minute (seems to be a pattern this week) for the Alpha challenge which is A.
I've been dithering over what word to use and then when my CS magazine arrived there was a great stamp on the front with a jar and paintbrushes etc so I thought I'd go with ARTIST. So last night I prepped my page and got all my embellies together and guess what? I can't find the stamp anywhere!  The craft fairies have hidden it somewhere so my page is not exactly as I wanted it but I quite like it so come and see:

Fairly self explanatory, I made an easel and a picture to go on it which I framed with a peel off.

Thanks for visiting and hopefully leaving a comment:)

Less is More week 118-colour

Hi everyone I'm running a bit late for this week's LIM challenge which is as follows:

Colour Challenge 

This month we would like you to choose TWO opposite colours from this Colour Wheel

I couldn't make up my mind on any combination, it's strange because I have used a colour wheel all my working life to colour correct hair when it's gone wrong!! So to me opposites cancel each other out:) Anyway I eventually decided on violet and yellow and here's what I came up with:

I also made a card using the same colours but I didn't think it was CAS enough for Chrissie and Jen so went with the first one:)

I'm also putting my 2nd card in for the MMM challenge which is Anything that flies

Thanks for visiting and hopefully leaving a comment as I love to read them!

Embossing and texture.

Hi everyone, I hope you are experiencing lovely bank holiday weather? It's certainly warm here with lots of sun but a quite a bit of cloud. I saw the challenge this month over at Stamping Sensations is to create  a card with any type of embossing and texture. Kylie had a lovely card on her blog for the ATSM challenge and I wanted to case it so come and see how I interpreted it:

I used a brick effect ef , tore the edges and inked with DI Pumice stone. The window is a MB die and I stamped a scene, watercoloured it and put it behind . I used a scrap of pattered paper to create a roman blind adding a ribbon and paper bead for the pull.  I scored a piece of card for the window box and popped it up with pinflair and added some creata flower dies coloured with PM's. I've added a close up below. The sentiment is a WOW one added as a tab.

                                   I'm also linking this to the challenge over at Get Creative-flowers

Thanks for taking the time to visit and hopefully leaving me a comment, I love to read them:)

Enjoy the weekend!

Less is More week 117-sketch

Wow another glorious sunny day and we are jet washing the garden and tidying up but I had to come in and post my very late card for the LIM challenge:)

This week we have a sketch for you drawn by Jen.

It's simplicity itself, so to add a little constraint, we ask that the card stays in this orientation.  Remember we still want to see plenty of white space.

I was sorting through my stamps looking for one that appears to be MIA when I came across this set. It's part of a vintage set from Stamp Addicts and I love the ruined archway. So come and see what I made:

I stamped and masked the frame and then stamped part of the archway in black memento. I added a little colour to the foliage to give depth with an aqua brush. The banner was stamped and fussy cut around the image and the sentiment printed with my digital print runner. I coloured her in and added some black paper pen as faux pearls.

Hope you have enjoyed your visit:)

Happy Birthday!

Hi everyone, are you enjoying the gorgeous weather which may last for the bank holiday weekend!!! We were Charlie sitting last weekend and the weather was soooooo cold! It brightened up on Monday and we took Charlie for a walk to the park where they have a mini domestic zoo which he loved. I put his reins on and he walked for 40 minutes:) He quite liked the slide but refused to get in a swing:)

Today is my sister Karen's birthday and as she is an avid crafter I try to find something a bit different card wise for her. Come and see what I made:

 

I saw this technique on Ruth Hamilton's blog and loved the design so here is my take on it. Ruth's post is pretty long so scroll down until you find the deets if you fancy having a go:)
I used an SU embossing folder and some Prima botanical paper for the contrast and I made the candy buttons from the same pad.

Tomorrow is my great nephew's birthday, he will be 17 and I find it really hard to make cards for teenagers. I've kept it fairly minimal using a MB die and some hand cut clouds. I sponged through the waste for some interest on the insert.

Thanks for taking the time to leave any comments and a big hello to Deepti and Sandie who are new followers. They are new members of the ATSM DT which I have just resigned from as we have a busy few months coming up and there are some challenges that I have missed out on because of DT commitments:) 

Apologies for lack of commenting I hope to catch up soon:)

Fancy folds and circles!

Evening everyone I'm just back from Rock choir and thought I'd do a quick post to cover the MMM and the Alpha challenge as I'm away for the weekend:)
The MMM challenge is Fancy folds and that's something that really appeals to me so come and see what I made:

Apologies for the photo quality the colours are a bit off! I like the way this card folds and I used core'dinations sage green card and some Prima botanical for the front and insert. I embossed the front flap and added some gold paste to highlight it. Ifanyone is interested I can let you have the details on how to make it, it's very easy:)

The Alpha challenge this week is the letter W and we had to incorporate circles. I chose WESTMINSTER as my word and used a CI stamp onto a background of distress inks. I added some clock faces and punched out a few circles.

Thanks for taking the time to visit and hopefully leaving a comment:)

Addicted to Stamps & More -challenge 42 Make your Mark

Morning everyone and welcome to a new challenge here at ATSM and it's Make your Mark. So using your pens, pencils, watercolour markers etc we'd like to see your wonderful creations!
 Last week was a bumper one and the DT are going to have a major struggle to choose the top 5:)

This week we are once again sponsored by the fabulous Heather Ellis.

http://www.heather-ellis.co.uk/

Heather will be giving our Top Addict two digis of their choice from her collection

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I have to confess to not being enamoured with "colouring in" but you can do as little or as much as you want. Come and see what I came up with:

I've used an old Papermania stamp that has several parts that you build the flower with. I coloured it with PM's and added some glossy accents. The EF is called Manhattan Rose I think! I added some liquid pearls to the centre.

Do pop over to the blog and check out the rest of the DT who have used some of Heather's digi's and  their cards are gorgeous:)

Looking forward to visiting your blogs to see what you come up with.
Oh and before I forget, a big wave to Darnell who has become a new follower, hi Darnell!!

Less is More week 114-CASe it

Hi everyone are you enjoying the lovely weather at last! We are off to Portsmouth next weekend and hoping for good weather but Charlie enjoyed himself yesterday on Portsdown Hill with daddy:)

 A very happy little man who loved watching the birds and getting dizzy!

This weeks challenge over at Less is More is to CASE either Chrissie or Jen's card. 

This week we are having a challenge not previously employed at "Less is More".

We have only two sample cards this time as we would like you to choose one (or both if you feel so inclined)  and CASE IT/them.

There could be a variety of ways that this could be achieved... ie use of the colours, the layout, the subject matter, technique or the complete card. Please state the inspiration for your CASE.

  

I decided to have a go at Chrissie's technique but may come back later to case Jen's card as I love the label with the banner:)

Anyway come and see what I came up with:

I used SU Everything Eleanor stamps (my favourite) with grey versamark and Su Perfectly Plum. The letters are a sizzix die cut. Three pearls to cover up a tiny splodge!!

Thanks for visiting me I love to read your comments:)

A brown study in moody blues!

Hi everyone I was having a little play this afternoon with some new stamps that I got at Ally Pally and realised that It would fit in with this weeks challenge over at Make My Monday. The theme is to use Blues and Browns and the stamps I used are the tiny Majestix ones from Card-i-o, come and see what I made:

I also used the birdie footprints and banner that came free with a Debbi Moore magazine.

Thanks for taking the time to visit and hopefully leaving a comment:)

Addicted to Stamps & More #41 Anything Goes

Morning everyone and welcome to week #41 at ATSM where our challenge is "anything goes". Once again our sponsor is

                                          

http://www.heather-ellis.co.uk/

Heather will be giving our Top Addict two digis of their choice from her collection

I can't wait to see what you all come up with it's great to be able to indulge in whatever it is that floats your boat:)

I love cards that have unusual folds or are a bit quirky so come and see what I came up with:

Here is a template that you can use to make the flowerpot:

I cut mine freehand but this is a good template. I created the insert before stamping and cutting out all the pansies. The stamp is one of the first I ever bought and I tend to use the flowers individually as it is a large botanical wooden stamp. I coloured them with PM's and arranged them on the insert with a few leaves for interest.

Please check out the blog for the DT inspiration, there are some lovely cards using Heather's images.