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.

Less is More week 115-one layer

Well here we are again at Less is More with the dreaded "one layer" challenge only this time there's an evil twist!! Chrissie and Jen have surpassed themselves with this one, here's what they want:

This week we have a fun challenge for you.

It must be 

ONE LAYER

The subject of your cards this time should be inspired by

A FILM

Any film will do, but preferably one that most people will have heard of.

We'd obviously like you to tell us the title of your film and not keep us guessing.

I had several ideas but they didn't look right as a card and eventually this is what I came up with:

My husband got it right away but his mind isn't always in tune with everyone else:)

 It's A Clockwork Orange, a Stanley Kubrick film starring Malcolm McDowell and released in 1971. I don't think I have to explain how I created it but the stamp is an old freebie from Craft Stamper. Oh just to say that to get the blank clock face I used the image on the acetate panel it came with, cut out the centre and placed it in the centre of the stamp before I inked it.

I made one more card  using a freebie from a Creativity magazine and the crown is one of the stamps that came with the Anna Griffin self inking stamper. Can you guess the film this time?

It's The Queen starring Helen Mirren, released in 2006.

I'd just like to welcome Bev as a new follower and thanks to anyone else that takes the time to visit and hopefully leaves some feedback:)

ps: just found out that Create & Craft is starting on Virgin tomorrow, hooray!! 748 if anyone's interested:)

The Limette Lovlies on a day out!

Well here I am, almost penniless after a great day out at the Big Stamp and Scrapbooking fair at Ally Pally! The best bit was catching up and lunching with Chrissie(Lady Lim), Jenny (crafting in the Country), Anne (Stargroves) and Sylvie(Gibmiss). We had a photo but Sylvie was missing at the time so I added her in:)

And here are the results of my purse, which refused to stay shut!!!

Here's hoping the weather improves soon, it's very wet here.

Wish I was there!

Morning everyone and welcome to this week's challenge at Addicted to Stamps & More. Once again and for all of this month we are sponsored by the wonderful Heather Ellis.

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

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

This week we have a photo challenge for you and here is your inspiration:

Wouldn't you just love to be there? Come and see how I was inspired :)

Recipe:

Square base card

House Mouse stamp coloured with PM's

Old SeeDee sentiment

Fiskars punch

Dry embossing

I do hope you'll join in and for more inspiration checkout the rest of the DT on the ATSM blog.

Good luck:)

Less is More week 114-colour

Morning everyone I'm back again this time with my card for this week's LIM challenge which is:

a colour challenge.

For this month our colour choice is 

LIME & BLACK

We are delighted to have a new sponsor, 

Stephanie 

from 

Clearly Besotted Stamps

Such a striking colour combo but I was struggling to find anything remotely lime and I didn't want to go the digital route so here is what I came up with:

Recipe:

DL base card

Marianne matching stamp and die

Lime Green Promarker

Memento black ink

Black paper pen

Black ribbon bow

Wow sentiment

Not so sunny today but the barometer is staying up and it's not so cold:)

Thanks for visiting and hopefully leaving me a comment so I can visit you:)

Woven page

Hi everyone just a quick post to show my latest dictionary page for the ALPHA challenge over at The Craft Barn. The letter this week is R and I chose RIBBON as my word. I missed the last letter but my M page is on the wall of fame at Craft Barn, woo hoo!!
RIBBON is defined as:

I applied acrylic paint over both pages and when it was dry I added some distress inks and on the left side I added strips of ribbon woven and stamped flourishes over the page. I also used paste on a stencil and added glitter and some glimmer spray.

I took two different backing papers, cut them into strips, wove them together and cut a heart out of the finished weave.

Sorry for the cropped photo but otherwise my thumb was in full view:)

We had a beautiful day here today and it was so nice to feel the warmth of the sun. Didn't stop me booking a week away in sunnier climes though:)

Thanks for taking the time to visit and I love to read your comments. I'll be back tomorrow with my LIM card:)

Scallops!

Hi everyone, hope you all had a good Easter break and didn't over indulge:) Although it was cold it was bright and Tuesday was up to 8 deg! Today we have snow, what is going on? Anyway it was nice to get back to my craft room after a very bust weekend. Keir, Lara and Charlie came on Thursday evening and my sister, Karen, and her husband came on Saturday and we had an open house buffet lunch for 14! We had lunch out on Monday which was nice not to have to cook anything:)
I threatened you all with photos of Charlie but I was so busy playing with him that I forgot!

So back to the reason I started this post and that is this week's  LIM challenge which is SCALLOPS. My first thought was shellfish and then realised it was a shape that Chrissie and Jen were looking for:) 

So come and see what I came up with:

Recipe:

Waltzing Mouse stamps

SU inks, Marina Mist and Soft Suede

Hobbycraft sentiment

Candy made by me

Scallop scissors used to cut around stamped images.

I also had a New Home card to make for my best friend who moved yesterday. We have lived next door to each other for 35 years and our children grew up together, definitely the end of an era. She has only moved about 3 miles away to a retirement flat and we will still see each other as we go to Rock Choir together and socialise regularly:) Our houses are part of a small terraced block of 8 Victorian Town houses and I took a photo of her house and created a paint and pen effect in Craft Artist.

I embossed core'dinations paper with a Tim Holtz brick EF and sanded it back. I added ribbon and some branches and a bird from the SU punch. The text was added in Craft Artist.

Thanks for taking the time to visit I love to read your feedback:)

Addicted to Stamps & More-CAS

Morning everyone, here we are again with another challenge at ATSM. I hope you all had a wonderful Easter weekend and I will no doubt be boring you all with photos of Charlie on my next post:))
This week we are sponsored by the wonderful Heather Ellis who is offering 2 digis of their choice to our Top Addict!
Heather's images are gorgeous and wonderful for colouring and or paper piecing.
Our challenge this week is to create a CAS card, so not too many embellies and lots of white space. Here is what I came up with:

I used some gorgeous paper that came with a Debbi Moore magazine and cut a piece to attach over the spine and punched the edge with an Anna Griffin punch. The stamps were part of a set that came with the magazine and I stamped with Chocolate Chip and Early Expresso SU inks. I love the birdie footprints as it made a great frame:)
I hope to see lots of you entering this week so that I can visit your blogs. For more inspiration check out the ATSM blog for the rest of the DT cards and good luck with the challenge.