Silver and black

Hi everyone, well I'm keeping up with my resolve to make a Christmas card each week and helping me do this is the CASE-ing Christmas challenge. I like the freedom it gives me just to take any element from the DT card and create my own, come and see:

This is Mynnette's DT card and from that I chose trees silver and black:

On a white base card I stamped a snowy image from La Blanche and glittered it up with a versamark pen and some WOW embossing glitter. Unfortunately it doesn't show up well and I got fed up taking photos from every which way!!!!

 The die cuts are from Xcut, cut on matt silver and black card and the sentiment is SU Greetings of the season.
No snow here yet although it has tried but 28 miles up the road there was several inches. Hope you are all safe and warm.

Love is in the air!

Hi everyone just a quick post to show a card I've made that fits in with 4 challenges this week! Come and see:

I took the photo from 2 amgles to show the depth of the heart which is made from paper clay and then a heart stamp, which was a freebie from Craft Stamper, pressed into it. when it had dried I swiped it with versamark and added gold detail ep.

The banner is a matt gold card matted onto cream card and then I placed the heart stamp where I wanted the aperture, drew round it and cut it out. The heart embellishment was stuck down and the sentiment is a WOW one.

I was inspired by a beautiful card on Florence's blog, do check out her fabulous work:)

I am entering my card in the following challenges:

Less is More where the challenge is a sketch

TIME OUT where the theme is Valentine's Say with a twist of optional hearts

The Card Concept the theme is Love and I have chosen CAS

Uniko Studio where the theme is Love and Friendship

Let it snow!

Hi everyone, wow another week over and time forthe latest challenge over at CASE-ing Christmas. The card this week has been created by DT Rocky:

I chose to go with diagonals and snowflakes come and see:

I inked Tumbled Glass DI through a patchwork stencil from Stamps away and using the scrap negative from a snowflake die I spread Imaginations Sparkle Medium through it which gives a fabulous raised effect. The sentiment is an SU one stamped and embossed with fine detail gold ep,  and popped up on foam pads.

I'm enjoying this challenge and now have 3 cards ready for Christmas 2016!!

Friends

Afternoon everyone, well this week's challenge over at Less is More is the theme of FRIENDSHIP.
I decided to go with a digi stamp of children that I've had for ages. It's an illustration by Susan Beatrice Pearse and I used my new Chameleon pens that Karen bought me for my birthday and Christmas, to colour it in!

The base card is embossed using an Imagination stencil and lightly dusted with Spun Sugar DI. I cut out the image with a scalloped die and dusted that with the same ink. The sentiment is an old SeeDee one cut out using a matching smaller die and a pearl added. I'm also linking my card to the latest challenge over at Uniko Studio which is Love and Friendship.

It was a friend's birthday on Tuesday and I don't have a very good photo of her card but thought I'd share it just the same!

No blue involved just buff and chocolate using Sue Wilson dies for card shape and flowers and Tonic for the sentiment.

I've just heard that I have been chosen as one of the winners over at CASE-ing Christmas with last weeks card and am now officially one of Santa's Helpers :)

2 down 50 to go!

Afternoon all from a cold but bright London town! It's time for the 2nd challenge over at CASEing-Christmas and here is the card from DT Judy:

I decided to go with the colours and here is my card:

Tattered Lace Winter wishes die cut from matt gold card and then cut from the centre of the dark green card and the gold sentiment inlaid. It was backed onto red card and the base card is bright green. I stamped a Bo Bunny holly corner in versamark and added berries with a paper pen. 

I'm liking this challenge as it gives a lot of choice, do go and check out the blog for all the inspiration.

Hope you're all having a good weekend :)

One card, 3 challenges!

Hi everyone, well I got around to making a card for this week's challenge over at Less is More and remembered I had to post it on the NBUS challenge on Darnell's blog. Thought I'd better check in case there was a twist and guess what ? Darnell is GD over at CASology and the theme is NBUS!
For any NBUS virgins this means "never before used schtuff".

So here we go with the LIM theme which is:

It's back to 

One Layer Cards 

once more and this time our theme for your cards is 

New Beginnings.

Come and see what I made:

This months Creative Stamping magazine had a large freebie set of stamps called New Beginnings, how coincidential was that? I was going to use the baby stamp but my sister, Karen beat me to it so I settled for this, cute eh? I used NBUS cardstock, NBUS stamps and an old Anna Griffin ef which allows me to enter it in the combi challenge of Darnell and CASology.

Check out both blogs for inspiration. Off to get changed for Aquafit and tonight is our first night back at Rock Choir :)

Ist Xmas card of 2015!

Hi everyone I'm cutting it really fine today as I wanted to join in the challenge over at Less is More and a new challenge that Mynnette is running. I'm going to try and make a Christmas card each week ( yeah, yeah I hear you all say! ) and that's what Mynnette's challenge is all about but first here is the theme over at Less is More:

We have a super
  Colour Challenge
for you this time... with a little personal choice for you too!

BLACK, METALLIC + ONE

DO  keep your designs uncluttered and remember to include that white space!

                                                                Here is my card:

I embossed a piece of lilac card and matted it onto black and silver card and cut it into a banner.

The bauble is a MB one that I cut twice in black and silver to give the shadow effect and the flourish is a Marianne one. The sentiment is an SU one and I added a tiny bit of glitter to the embossing.

Mynnette's new challenge is :

Hello, friends!  Welcome to CASE-ing Christmas!  We are a weekly challenge devoted to the holiday season--year round! ;)  How does this challenge work?  It's easy!  We give you a card to CASE and you CASE it!

If you've never CASEd a card, here's what you need to do:

1. Look at the CASE card photo.
2. Be inspired by some element of the card.  This could be colors, layout, image, etc.
3. Make a card based on that inspiration.

See!  Easy peasy!  We cannot wait to see what you have for us this week and each week this year!  Are you ready for this week's CASE card?!  

Here it is...

This is a card by Pat on the DT

So I think you can see where I was going with my card :)

Have a good weekend and I'd like to welcome Mary who has kindly joined my followers.

Stamping Sensations

Morning everyone and it's an exciting one for me as I was invited to be Guest designer this month on the Stamping Sensations challenge blog as part of the prize that I won back in October!

The challenge this month is to incorporate dies and or punches in your work. This should be very popular as we all seem to use dies to embellish our cards.

Come and see what I came up with:

I used a Tonic verso die with a matching topper called Pansy. The stamp is part of my prize from Imagination crafts and it's a decoupage one called Waterlily which I coloured with PM's and stamped again to create the decoupage. The topper then gets tucked in to the centre of the large diecut and I put blue card behind to enhance the design. I added a few tiny dots of cosmic shimmer glue to the lily and the dragonflies. The sentiment is a very old SeeDee one.

I do hope you'll pop over to Stamping Sensations to check out the fabulous inspiration from the design team and to join in the challenge this month.

I am also entering my card into the January challenge over at Imagination - Crafts  as their theme is Anything Goes and I have used their fabulous stamp!

Boo!

Hi everyone sorry if I scared you, I know it's not 4th January but I decided to make a card for the latest challenge over at Less is More which I haven't participated in for a while. The theme is FAMILY and as I couldn't find anything suitable in my stamps I made a card using Craft Artist.




I have a cute digi kit called Woodland animals and this is what I came up with:

Happy New Year to all my folowers and blogging friends :)

Happy New Year!

Hi everyone, hope you've all had a good Christmas and I'm here to wish you a very Happy, prosperous and crafty New Year !!
We had a lovely time in Portsmouth with Charlie and thoroughly enjoyed seeing him understand all about Christmas this year.
It's been nice to make something other than Christmas cards, although I am going to try and make one a week, that's my resolution for 2015 :) So here are a couple of cards for different occasions that I've made with some new dies:

Couture border die and MB butterfly

Tonic verso frame

Tonic verso and matching sentiment die

As above

Just off to get ready for the evening, we are off to a local hotel for a dinner dance with our usual crew of three other couples, we've been friends for 36 years ;)

Once again, happy new year and I will see you on the 4th when I will be posting my GD card for Stamping Sensations.

MerryChristmas

Hi everyone I hope you are all surviving the stresses and strains of the Christmas preparations and avoiding the awful germs going around!
Jim has managed to pick up a dreadful cough and cold and has spent 3 days in bed, men always seem to take it to the extreme :) I'm ok thank goodness although I did have a poorly day on Sunday but just dosed myself up and away it went!
I thought I'd show you a photo of my friend and I at the BBC doing the news, it was a brillinat tour and I would highly recommend it:



We had a lovely weekend with Charlie and got to visit the Christmas market at Winchester which was very festive.
I have managed to finish all my present wrapping and Christmas cards are all sent! We should have been in Somerset visiting my sister Karen but because Jim isnt well we have had to postpone until the weekend and then we are off to Portsmouth on Wednesday for Christmas. When Charlie heard we were all coming down he said "hooray".
Here are a few of my cards that I have been making:

A box card for Charlie

A Xmas tree for Keir & Lara

I have a few more but they are being given out on Thursday and I don't want the recipients to see them :)

It just leaves me to say Merry Christmas to all my blogging friends and I hope you have a wonderful time and a happy and prosperous New Year!

Celebrations!

Hello everyone I'm just popping by to show you a few cards that I have made lately for various celebrations :)
Yesterday we were up in Bilton and Grandborough (Rugby) for a great niece's baptism. It was a lovely day, both weatherwise and celebratory and we were able to catch up with family. This is the card that I made for Niamh:

I diecut a shaped card and I created a book like topper by diecutting 3 different sizes for the leaves. The edges were all inked with Spun Sugar DI and the cross was originally gilt so I inked with versamark and embossed with silver and hung it from a ribbon. The flourish is a Memory box one cut down and the letters are from Tattered Lace.

Last week was our last Rock choir till the New Year and I was asked to make a card for Christina, our leader from all of us. Our finale at the turning on of the lights in Hampstead last week was a Christmas medley including Let it Snow so I thought this was appropriate, come and see:

Lots of matting and layering and the central die is a Sue Wilson one which I glittered along with the Whimsy snowflake die. I embossed the front of the card with a snowflake ef after I had cut out the Let it Snow. I finished off with a couple of crystal gems. 

Finally it was Dominic's friends birthday and being a plumber I wanted to make a fitting card for him. I couldn't find a digi stamp so I went with an image I found on line and created the card in Craft artist and decoupaged the image to give depth:

I have a busy week coming up, it's my birthday on Tuesday and tomorrow my friend is treating me to lunch in Mayfair and then we are having a tour of the new BBC centre where we get to read the news and weather. How exciting is that?!!! Then I'm being taken out for lunch on Tuesday by some other friends and we are off to Portsmouth on Thursday for 4 days and I hope, weather permitting, the Christmas market at Winchester Cathedral. 

I've already received my first Christmas card so I need to get a move on and get mine finished and ready to post!! 

Catch up!

Hi everyone, goodness it's been 3 weeks again since I posted but I haven't been entering any challenges lately so less cards to show!

One of the last challenges I entered I won a prize, so exciting!! I entered it in the LIM challenge and also Stamping Sensations and it was there that I won £35 to spend at Imagination Crafts online store. What a generous prize and I managed to spend it without any problem :) I got some stencils, decoupage stamps, Sparkle medium and a couple of other bits! Also I have been invited to be GD in their January challenge. Here is the card that I won with.

In the meantime it was my BiL's birthday and he is a train enthusiast so this is what I made him:

I downloaded a photo of a train that was part of a steam experience that he had been on and changed it to a pen and ink drawing. I printed it out twice having digitally removed everything except the engine which I was then able to decoupage making it appear as if it was coming out of the card. I was busy practising my rock choir songs and went a little overboard with the pearls dots, but hey ho he probably didn't notice! The sentiment is a freebie from Netty.

It is my Sil's birthday on Friday and I'm hoping she doesn't read this before then but we have a very busy weekend on and I won't get the chance to post it otherwise!

Another box card I'm afraid but I just love them and they are always so well received. For this one I used Craftwork cards Paris pad and just cut out various elements to build up the box. The cartouche stamp part of a large freebie set from Creative Stamping magazine and the Cafe de Paris stamp is a Darkroom Door one.

Last Saturday we saw the Kinks musical, Sunny Afternoon, amazing and would definitely recommend it to anyone and then on to Browns for a fab meal! Yesterday my friend and I went to see Mr Turner at the cinema and that is also a must to see, beautifully shot. 

This weekend we are singing at the turning on of the Hampstead lights, which is a very big affair and often with celebs watching us:)

Thanks for staying with me on this fairly long post and hope to catch up with you all soon.

Birthday celebrations

Hi everyone just a quick post to show a couple of birthday cards that have now been received. The first was for my friend Michele, whose birthday was yesterday and what a lovely day it was, unlike today!

 

I made a centre step card and used a create a card die for the frame and inked through with Victorian Velvet DI. I added embossed card for the side panels and centre and the sentiment topper is a Sue Wilson die. I finished with cosmic shimmer pearl glue and a bow which matched perfectly although it doesn't look like it in the photo!

This next card was for my BiL whose birthday is today:

I used a matching stamp and embossing folder from Couture Creations with SU Crumb Cake ink. The butterfly is one of the matching dies to this set.

Finally it's time for the latest Less is More challenge which is as follows:

 This week we have a COLOUR  challenge for you to follow.

NON-TRADITIONAL Colour CHRISTMAS CARD

SO.....

NO red, NO green

You may use metallics and neutrals but please avoid any red or green.

This is a freebie stamp from Creative Stamping which I stamped with SU Soft Suede and used PM's to add some colour and a few cosmic shimmer pearls. I love this stamp and it's only one of a large set that came with the magazine and they are all fab!

 Hope you've all had a good weekend, I have a busy week ahead with a big choir evening in London on Tuesday and our usual choir practice on Wednesday and then Charlie is coming on Thursday for 4 days :) He is also bringing his Mum and Dad too :) We are having friends over as well on Saturday so it's all go!

Oh and I've just noticed that I have a lovely new follower, Joan of night time stamping, a fab creative blog! Welcome Joan :)

Less is More week 195-Recipe

Morning everyone from a grey and rainy day in London! Can't believe how fantastic the last two days have been and now this but at least it takes the guilt out of crafting :)
I have not entered any challenges for a few weeks and I've missed the LIM ones so here goes with this week's challenge over at Less is More:

There's just one vital ingredient in our recipe this week, which is

NEWSPRINT

There can be a lot or a little, but as ever, the card MUST be Clean and Simple. Please remember that we like to see areas of white space, few layers and minimal embellishments.

Very simple and speaks for itself really! 

I will be back later in the week to show you a couple of birthday cards, once the recipients have opened them :o)

Anniversary wishes

Hi everyone from a lovely warm and sunny day in London! Hope it's good with you too. I haven't blogged for three weeks but I have been making a few Christmas cards and some birthday cards that I I can't show you just yet:) One that I can show you is an anniversary card that I made for my sister Karen for her anniversary today. Lots of you will know her from her blog, Serendipitydragonfly, and the beautiful creations that she makes. Here is the card that I made for her and Tony:

I diecut a shaped card and added a fancy die on the front with a patterned paper behind.  The edges are all inked with Spun sugar DI and the flowers are cut with Sue Wilson's poinsettia dies on co'redinations card. The sentiment is a freebie from Netty who has a lovely blog with loads of freebies, please check her out :) I attached it with a matching brad and added pearls using cosmic shimmer pva glue.

I'd like to welcome Victoria, the latest recruit to my blog, thanks for choosing to follow me:)

Less is More week 192-colour challenge

Af'ternoon all, wow it's wet and windy now after a lovely morning and early afternoon. Definitely autumnal which is very appropriate for this week's challenge over at Less is More:

For our Colour challenge this month we have chosen 

Autumn's Bounty

Sounds kinda poetic doesn't it...

so we'd love to see autumnal shades in your cards.

Don't forget to make them CAS of course!

Love the colours that autumn represents, come and see what I came up with:

I was inspired by a card design on Loll's wonderful blog, check it out if you're looking for 

inspiration :)

The centre panel was coloured with Mustard seed, Bundled Sage and Spiced Marmalade and stamped with Walnut stain using SU French Foliage stamp. I cut two plain panels and popped them up either side of the centre panel. I decoupaged two leaves on the centre panel not easy to see in my photo!

The sentiment is an old SeeDee one stamped onto the waste card.

I am also entering this card into Stamping Sensations October challenge which is Warm Autumn Colours.

Celebrations!

Morning all we are back from a lovely weekend of celebrations in Portsmouth.Friday was our wedding anniversary (44 years!) and Saturday was my DIL Lara's 30th birthday. We were met with Champagne and a lovely meal that Keir had cooked for us and here is the card that I made for Jim:

I used a create a card die and sponged through it with lilac ink and backed it with lilac card.  The little hearts were the waste and the metal love charm came from The Works.

We went out for a lovely lunchon Saturday at a mill house overlooking an estuary with lots of swans and in the evening we babysat while Lara hosted a dinner and dance evening at a restaurant in Port Solent.

This is the card I made for Lara who absolutely loves an afternoon tea 

Created using some diecuts and freebie toppers from my stash.

We went to Finchdean on sunday for a big family lunch with all the in laws, aunts and uncles and the weather was lovely so Charlie enjoyed himself in the large garden 

This weekend was also the birthday of my goddaughter and a very good friend and these are the cards I made for them:

A bit of triple stamping using SU French Foliage stamps

Just a simple diecut card with some ink sponged around the edges

Enjoy your week and before I forget a big thank you to my three new followers for choosing to follow my blog