Week 43 - Recipe - A bit of bling!

This weeks challenge from Chrissie and Mandi over at Less is More is:


                          A BIT OF 
                             
I decided to use an old stamp that I bought at Ally Pally 15 years ago but it has no name on it! I think I got it from Stamp Addicts so it's probably Judikins. I inked and embossed in gold on red card and dry embossed a frame around it. I added red and white pearls for the holly and mistletoe berries and used glitter for the leaves and poinsettia. I matted with gold mirri and mounted it onto a pearl base card having already dry embossed a frame for it to go in. Then disaster, I got an inky smudge on the left corner so now you know what my little robin is hiding!!! He is a SU punch.

Just off to peel a few potatoes to go with the lovely casserole that my son Dom has slow cooking in the oven :) We had a great afternoon singing in Hampstead and our audience went wild, probably because they were mainly family and friends!!! We may be on youtube later :)
Thanks for visiting and please leave a comment so I can visit you.

Recycling challenge

Gill's challenge at Creations by Gill McCall this week is one  to get your creative juices flowing.


 We want you to create a project using nothing but recycled items - you can however use a new topper, stamped image or such like but all the other materials MUST be recycled items.

As it's so close to Christmas I decided that would be the way to go! I made a crossover card with pearl card and covered the left side with a piece of card cut from one of last years cards. I used a punch to cut out the sentiment from the same card and glittered the edges and the M and C. This I attached to the inside so it is visible  when the card is closed. The gold bow is from a box of chocolates.

I hope you like my recycled card but please pop over to Gill's blog and check out the rest of the DT offerings and hopefully you will have a go and I'll get to see what you create:) Please remember that to take part you need to be a follower of Gill's blog and mention it when you do your posting. Good luck!

MMM Week 25

It's still Christmas over at Make My Monday, but this week they want to see more Christmas with the added extras of

FLOWERS, FOLIAGE OR SNOWFLAKES.

I'm a bit behind this week as we had another long weekend away (not that I'm complaining!) and we are singing this Sunday in Hampstead at the turning on of the Christmas lights and I needed to rehearse:)

Anyway here is what I came up with. I've used my new EF and window die to create a scene and just added some colour with DI and some glitter! The snowflake is a Whimsy die and the sentiment is from the SU Pines and Poinsettia set. The foliage is from Stamps by Judith.

Thanks for taking the time to visit and hopefully leaving a comment so I can visit you as well:)

November RAK card

Just a quickie to showcase the lovely card I received from Sabina showing the things that make her happy! Presents, yellow and alcohol inks;)

Thanks for visiting and please leave a comment so I can visit you;)

Less is More Week 42 Theme

Chrissie and Mandi at Less is More have set us a theme this week and the theme is:

Silhouettes

 n. A silhouette is the image of a person, an object or scene consisting of the outline and a basically featureless interior, with the silhouetted object usually being black.

I couldn't find anything in my stamps that inspired me so I checked through my digis and images gathered from the internet and came up with a silhouette of the Paris skyline. 

The only thing I added was glossy accents to the silhouette and  gems in the corners. The font is Scriptina. I love the simplicity of the skyline. 

I decided to have a go at another card and chose a bridal theme.

I matted the image onto silver mirri and glittered her jewellery and bouquet. The base card is pearlised and I added organza ribbon and a pearl spray and a pearl for the dot on the i on a slightly crooked sentiment! I need a stamp-a-majig, hope you're listening Karen!!!!

Less is More week 41 Leaves

This weeks challenge over at Less is More is LEAVES. Now if only Chrissie and Mandi had waited a couple of weeks my French Foliage set would have arrived!!! Karen said I could use hers while we were there at the weekend but inspiration didn't strike and I was all crafted out:))

I inked up the leaves on a hydrangea stamp from Papermania with  Big n Juicy spice and stamped them randomly across an A6 card.  The sentiment is from an old See Dee set using the same ink.
I scored lines either side of the sentiment.

This card used the same ink on a Rubber Stampede stamp which was one of the first stamps I bought. Similar format as the one above.





I much prefer the my first card but thought I'd post both anyway:)

Thanks for taking the time to visit and leaving me your thoughts:)

MMM Week 24

With the continuing theme of Christmas this weeks challenge at MMM is to
Make a CAS Christmas Card with emphasis on the Sentiment.

CAS means Clean and Simple, minimal layers and no bulky embellishments - we want to see lots of White Space.

I have used a Denami  whole page stamp with gold ink and cut it down to a 4" square and then into 4 x  2" squares.

I edged the squares with a gold leaf pen and popped them up on foam dots.The Christmas sentiment is from the Pines and Poinsettia SU stamp set embossed with gold EP, cut out and mounted. I added the pine cones from the set as well because I just love it!! One embellishment too many maybe, but hey ho, I like it:)

Thanks for visiting and leaving nice comments they are much appreciated:)

Craft Barn Blog Candy

Shhhh don't tell anyone but the Craft Barn are giving away the most amazing blog candy to celebrate reaching over 600 followers! The candy is over £200 worth of crafting goodies:)

Check out the details here and if only you and I enter we have a great chance of winning!!! You have until November 25th to enter.

A CRAFTILICIOUS weekend!

Hi everyone I'm back from my crafty weekend! It was amazing, a whole day of stamping with the fabulous Jenny Moors (Stamping Up demonstrator) and then the following afternoon spent at the Taunton craft fair:)
It was a full on day and the results can be seen in the photos. Jenny makes the day really special by personalising name tags, bottles of water, matching notepads, pens and gift boxes with chocolates and sweets!! We used the stamp set Pines and Poinsettias and were given them to keep as well.

Very conveniently my sister Karen provides fabulous B&B:)

3 Christmas cards and a gift bag which can be seen below

The tin in the middle holds 9 Christmas tags, 3 of each design that can be seen in front.

 We made a topper for the lid with pleated card to form a rosette and the pine cones.




The piece de resistance is the box frame below. I loved making this and thought how adaptable it could be for different occasions, weddings, births etc! You know what I'll be doing soon:)

Thanks for visiting me and I look forward to seeing what you think:)

MONOCHROME - CARDS FOR MEN / BOYS

Hi everyone and welcome to the second challenge this month at Creations by Gill McCall. This challenge is to create a monochrome card in the theme for boys/men so anything goes.
I've been quite taken with anything to do with steampunk lately and as I had a card to make for my BIL Noel I chose to use this theme.

I used kraft cardstock with a grid design on it for the base card. I embossed some packaging with a Tim Holtz EF with clocks and cogs  and sponged antique linen and frayed burlap DI over it.
The penny farthing was a freebie from BTFC that was inked with the same inks and I added a plastic dome and a watch part.
The corner decoration is embossed kitchen foil with a hole punched in it and an eyelet added. I then inked the edges and cut around the clock face and inserted the topper into the cut. The other image of cogs is a freebie from KLdezign. I finished off with ribbon, a sentiment and my BIL's name.


Please check out the rest of the DT inspirations and remember that to take part you need to be a follower of Gill's blog, link it to the challenge and mention the challenge in your posting. Good luck with the challenge and thanks for taking the time to visit me:)

Lest we forget!

Just a quick posting today for 2 reasons, it's exactly a year today since I started my blog and I have had a great time making many friends along the way and learning so much from you all. I would like to thank the crafters who follow me and leave such lovely comments they are much appreciated:)
The second reason relates to Remembrance Day. I was looking through a box and came across a lot of old postcards dating from the turn of the 20th century and all family related. One of them was an embroidered Xmas card that was sent from France to my grandmother from her brother. It's beautiful and I may try and use the photo to make a digital scrapbook.The flap lifts up to allow a little message to be put inside.


Hope you like it and many thanks for supporting my blog during the last year. I hope you will continue and allow me to visit you:)

This was the back of the postcard.

Just came across a few more! The small cards were the inserts.

Birthday Boy!

It's my BIL's birthday today and we are off to Somerset for the weekend to visit them, mainly because my sister Karen and her friend Anne have arranged another SU stamping extravaganza day and I am taking part. The last one was in July and I had a fabulous day and this time we are making Xmas cards.
I digress, here is the card I made for Tony.

Tony is somewhat fond of a glass of white wine and I made this card from the Wine buffs cd rom. I used it once before for another male card but as often happens the "want" for this cd was not a "need" and so it languishes in my cupboard:)
I printed out the image and mounted it onto dark card, folded it in half and punched two holes and added some ribbon. The labels were printed separately and stuck on. The back is a mirror image.
My next post will be all about my SU stamping day, can't wait:)

Thanks for visiting and all the lovely comments you leave, much appreciated:)

MMM - Week 23 - Christmas

The theme this month at MMM is CHRISTMAS, chosen by Suzi B.
And the  first week's Christmas challenge   is

VINTAGE / TRADITIONAL

I have to say that this would be my choice for any Christmas card as I love all the vintage images.

Anyway this is my interpretation of the challenge but do go and check out the DT inspiration as their cards are beautiful.

 I covered my base card with paper from my stash  and stamped randomly around the edges with a spruce stamp and dots from Stamps by Judith. The main image is a La Blanche stamp, stamped with memento and coloured with PM's. I added some glitter to the snow but it's not showing up in poor light! I wrapped green ribbon around the card, matted the image onto gold mirri and attached to the base card with foam strip. I punched some holly out from the BPand added some glitter to the berries. The snowflake is a die from Whimsy Stamps which I sponged with bundled Sage. The sentiment is a digi but I don't know where from and I sponged that as well and added a gold edge with a krylon pen.

Thanks for visiting and you know I love to read your comments:)

Less is More Week 40 colour challenge

The challenge this week for the Limettes is a colour one based around the bonfire night theme.

Our first week of the month is another Colour challenge and redolent of bonfire flames we have chosen

Red and Orange

Check out the wonderful inspiration on the blog that Chrissie has created. Orange is not a colour that I use and I was a bit stuck as to what to do. After several attempts using different stamps and getting ink everywhere I cleared my desk and found this stamp lurking at the bottom of a pile of bits and pieces!! 

I used a square base card and masked off a triangle and sponged colour in with spiced marmalade DI. I inked the stamp with SU rose red and also the sentiment. I coloured a brad to match and attached the sentiment with foam dots. I'm quite pleased with the outcome but still wouldn't use this colour combo by choice:)

Thanks for visiting and the lovely comments that you leave they are much appreciated.

MMM Design team call and CAS-ual Fridays CF27

I've only recently come across the MMM blog and their challenges and I was lucky enough to win a fabulous prize in September with my steampunk entries. I love the way there is a continuous theme throughout the month and also different techniques highlighted in the mid week motivation. Anyway they are now looking for more people to join the design team and so I thought I would have a go. My favourite thing is stamping but I also love using my digital Craft Artist package and now my Silhouette!

I would love to be part of the DT as I find them creative and inspirational and hope that I would be considered good enough to join them. To be in with a chance I have to submit a card based on Celebration. Well goodness me that covers sooo many things!! 

I finally decided to make a card using my new silhouette and this is what I came up with. I am also entering it for CAS-ual Fridays which is to Create a Clean And Simple card with a panel or design element that goes Over the Edge of the card front.

I cut the card, heart and butterfly on the Silhouette and used some Debbi Moore pearlised linen paper to highlight the design on the bottom. I threaded ribbon through the heart sponged the edges with mauve chalk ink. I used the same ink on the butterfly and overstamped with a Clarity corner stamp. I added some jewels and a sentiment.

Fingers crossed and thanks for taking the time to visit me:)

MMM Challenge 22 - AUTUMN LEAVES

This is the final week of Autumn challenges over at Make My Monday and this week it is autumn leaves. I've been away quite a lot lately and and have not been able to take part in the challenges but I love leaves and the DT samples are lovely.
So here is my card:

 I stamped my base card with a judikins leaf cube using versamark and heat embossed with clear EP. I sponged ink over using Bundled Sage, Spiced Marmalade and Mustard Seed DI and buffed the resist with a tissue. I inked a piece of card with the same inks and stamped the leaf several times with Bundled Sage and cut them out. I added highlights with the other colours and used silicone glue to attach and shape them onto the card. The sentiment is computer generated and sponged with inks, raised up with silicone and has another leaf as decoration. I added glossy accents to the leaves and finished with a jewelled brad.
Thanks for visiting:)

Less is More Week 39 Lucky Dip - Stars # 2

Sorting through an old See Dee set of sentiments I came across this stamp and thought of  this weeks  LIM challenge! This is my second card this week but a very quick one. I used a small square base card and stamped with black Memento ink and added some ribbon and a pearl! Easy peasy:)

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