Seeing Red

I have taken advantage of the travel caos this weekend to encourage my younger daughter to stay at Uni for the weekend instead of coming home with the ulterior motive of getting her Christmas card made. She saw the one I had made for her sister using the same image and liked it so I figured I couldn't go wrong if I used it for hers! The image is one if my sister's which you can find over here. They are on sale at the moment so go and have a look. I coloured it with Promarkers and used a snow flake stamp I have had for ages firstly on card for the big one and then on shrink plastic for the smaller ones. The pearls were actually cream ones but I coloured them with the Promarkers to match. I am entering it in the following challenges;
Wag's n Wiskers -snowflakes
Saturday Challenge -Christmas
Delicious Doodles -use a Digi
Sew Many Cards -snowflakes
Southern Girls -anything using heat
2 Sisters Challenge -sparkly Christmas
Stamp Something -Christmas colours

Another Christmas Card

Well it is the weekend again but I knew I would have no time to craft so I have managed to spend some time during the week making a card using another of Jenni's fantastic digi stamps. It really is so easy to just print out an image from the computer and colour it in. The image is called snow baby and it is really cute, can you guess what is in his present!

I made the card with the challenge over at Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge in mind which is red and gold but it also fits with the following;

Christmas Card Challenge

Crafty Little Place -red  white and green

Digital Tuesday Challenge -digi stamp and never used stash (image and ribbon)

Buttons

So this weekend, not that I'm bitter, my beloved husband was supposed to be off on a mountain biking trip to Wales. I had planned to spend the whole weekend, and this should have included Friday, pleasing no-one but myself. Eat when I want, watch what I want, craft all I want, are you sensing a ' but' yet? Yes you guessed it at the last minute he didn't go and all my plans crumbled. Ok perhaps that sounds a bit melodramatic but I was looking forward to not cooking, watching Strictly and the X Factor without having to Sky+ etc etc!

Anyway I did get some crafting in so I will have to settle for that. I have made this card for the challenge over at Simon Says Stamp which this week is All White. Not the easiest to follow I discovered and also not the easiest to photograph!

I used the image called Buttons which you can find over at Card Mad Fairy Creations along with lots of other Christmas Digi stamps. Then I dug around for ages trying to find anything I had that was white, which it turns out wasn't a lot! The background paper is actually wallpaper which I have had for years and the glitterboard is from Southfield Stationers.

The greeting is a doublesided peeloff which I embossed with sparkly embossing powder and the snowflakes were made with two different punches with sticky pearls added.

I am also entering the following challenges:

ABC Christmas Challenge -winter wonderland

Charisma Cardz Challenge - with love at Christmas

Raise the Bar -use curves

The Stamp Man Challenge - masculine and Christmas

Craft your Days Away -all white

Another Card Mad Fairy Creation

Here is the second DT card I have made using one of Jenni's fantastic digi stamps which you can find over here. This one is called Christmas Owl and I decided I wanted three of them, a bit like the three wise men!
That's what I like about digi stamps, you can play about with the size to suit yourself. I coloured them with my Promarkers, luckily I had the right colours to match the background paper which is one of Dovecraft's I think. I went to visit Jenni last week for a few days so I could visit our Mum who has just moved into a care home and I got total Promarker envy when I saw her collection! Definitely need to get more colours. The ribbon is one I picked up years ago from a street market and I am glad I remembered it as I think it ties in just right. You can find this image and lots of others over at Card Mad Fairy's Creations. Please go and have a look.
I am entering this in the following challenges:
Digi Doodle Shop's Best -anything goes
Bee Crafty - Christmas
Secret Crafter -anything that flies
Gingerloft Challenge- buttons
Stamps R us Challenge -buttons and bows

Exciting News

Exciting news indeed! My very talented big sister Jenni has been making beautiful card to sell for many years using other people's images. Recently she started drawing her own and selling them on her website Card Mad Fairy. In order to promote her work she decided to put together a design team and I was extremely flattered to be invited to be a member. Please go and visit either of her blogs to see her beautiful work.

I have used the image Christmas Carol to make a card which I will give to my daughter Emma. As I have said before Emma is a singer so any image of someone singing is appropriate for her.

She also loves the colour purple so you can see why I chose that colour! Apart from Jenni's Digi image all of the other elements have come from my stash and I have had them so long I have no idea where they are from although I have a feeling the snowman paper is from Dovecraft.

 It also fits the following challenges:

Incy Wincy Designs -lace and pearls

Papertake Weekly Challenge -sparkly and bright

ABC Challenge -glitter

Paper Pretties -square card

Stampavie and more -Christmas

I couldn't Resist.....but now I can!

My first effort at felting using a resist. I am actually quite pleased with it considering I have only seen the technique being used on a fantastic tutorial from Felting Lessons, well worth a watch and much cheaper than a felting course. I am now feeling confident enough to make a much larger bag using the same technique. Wish me luck!

Because I felt like it.

Where did the Summer go!

I can't believe there is only 1 week of the school holiday left and all the things I wanted to get done will have to stay on the list until next time.

I did make sure I had time to do some crafting and this card is for a friend who loves her garden.

I used a set of free flower stamps to make the main image and coloured it with Promarkers.

The main background paper is Basic Grey and I think the orange one is Papermania. Everything else is from my stash.

I am entering the following challenges:

Pocket Full of Posies - Winged Things

Magical Monday Challenge - Flowers

Stamping for the Weekend - Anything Goes

I also spent the past week making a variety of felt objects. I started making things out of needle felt last year but really wanted to have a go at wet felting but was a bit worried about the mess! However I found a really good website with some excellent videos and decided to give it a try.

I have to say if you need to deal with any frustration or pent up emotion then wet felting and especially Nuno felting are just the thing. There is something very satisfying about slamming a piece of wet felt into a sink over and over again and having an imaginary conversation with whoever has annoyed you. And you actually end up with something beautiful when you have finished. How good is that!

I'm Ba-ack!

Well here I am at last. A few very busy months and a passion for Zentangling have left very little time for card making but now that the summer holidays are here and my beautiful daughter Rachael is away in Edinburgh taking part in a Fringe show I have got some crafting time on my hands.

The card I have made is for my other beautiful daughter Emma's 22nd birthday next week. She doesn't read my blog so I should be safe posting it early! She lives in Manchester but is hoping to come home for a few days, which is lucky as I wasn't sure how I was going to be able squash the card into an evelope to post!

To make the card I combined three challenges. The first over at Simon Says, Sing It Baby fits very well for Emma as she loves to sing and I had already chosen this image for her card. The song going round my head as I made it? ' Happy Birthday To You' but the Stevie Wonder version of course. I combined it with Fab and Funky's Spotty, Dotty and Stretchy Stripes and Creative Inspirations Recipe, 5 Flowers, 3 Papers and 1 Ribbon.

I don't know the name of the image as it was given to me by my sister Jenni but the papers are all Basic Grey.

Life Through a Lens

I was really pleased to see this weeks challenge from Scrap the Art as I needed to make a card for some neighbours who are moving this week. They have lived just along the road for 14 years and my husband Steve particularly will miss them as he and Dean share an interest in scooters and spend hours out in the garage working on them (actually they are usually just gassing!). Gives me time to craft uninterrupted though! ;0)

The stimulus for the challenge this time is a picture by M.C. Esher called Hand with Reflecting Sphere from around 1935. My sister Jenni has made a card with a beautiful flowery take on it over here.

As soon as I saw it I thought of looking into a crystal ball to see the future, which connected with the idea of moving house. I also wanted a chance to use a Zentangle on a card and this really graphic picture with all the different reflections seemed like the ideal opportunity. If you are not sure what a Zentangle is have a look at this blog, it is really relaxing and fun to do. Basically it is just doodling, something anyone can do but I love the effects you can create.

I am also entering these challenges

Polka Doodles - Monochromatic

Saturday Challenge - Distressing

PaperPlay Challenges - No Patterned Paper

Scrap the Art Challenge

Hi just back from an emotionally draining trip to my Scottish homeland. Well actually I'm half English but as all of my childhood was spent north of the border I feel Scottish. It wasn't the happiest trip I've had as my Mum is not well and is starting to need lots of help. It is hard to come home and carry on as normal knowing that my sisters are having to do my share. It means I will be spending all my school holidays going north to help out but at least I will get to spend more time with my sisters who I usually only see a couple of times a year.

The card I have made (mainly to cheer myself up) is for the challenge over at Scrap the Art. My sister Jenni is on the design team and she has made a beautiful card which you can check out on her blog. This time the artist Paul Klee is the inspiration, specifically his 1922 work entitled Secenio.

One of my favourite colours is orange so it wasn't hard to be inspired. The sort of eyebrow in the painting reminded me of flower petals and recently I found a tutorial on You Tube for making this style of flower which I wanted to try out. I used my deckle edge scissors to cut out all the squares to make them more petal like and drew on the stamens with a Jelly Roll pen. I found a button in my box which looked like the eyes so I was really pleased with that. The lace I have had for years, the flourish is part of a larger one by Tim Holtz and I topped the metallic flowers with half pearls.

I am also entering the following challenges

Divine Diva Challenge ~#26

Allsorts challenge ~ Petals and Pearls

Cute card Thursday ~ Touchy Feely

SophistiCat Challenge ~ So Distressing

Coals to Newcastle!

Today's card is one that I have made for my sister Jenni's birthday. I am hoping that it has reached her in time for her birthday today but if not ,because of the bank holiday yesterday, here is your card Jenni. Happy Birthday!

A few of the cards I have made previously have featured the same papers by Dovecraft which Jenni has commented on so I have used them again on her card. I decided to follow the challenge over at Simon Says which is 'It's so Distressing'.......which it was, as I had to make the card in record time to get it in the post! I edged to image and the papers, which I distressed with scissors, with Tim Holtz Tattered Rose Distressing ink. The flourish is also one of his made of Grungeboard which I coloured with a promarker. The butterflies are stickers I got from Lakeland years ago, the flowers are a mixture from my stash as is the lace. Both of which I think give it a vintage feel.

I am also entering the following challenges:

Papertake Weekly -open theme

Crafts and Me -wings and things

Creative Card Crew - vintage/aged

Retirement

My husband, who only ever buys cards for me, went to see our doctor the other day. He surprised me when he came home by stating that as our doctor (of 20 odd years) is retiring we should send him a card to thank him for all his help. Ok I thought I'll just buy one, but then I had a bit of spare time and fancied the challenge of making my first male card. I had a look at some challenge blogs for inspiration but most of them seem to be about Easter or spring at the moment so I plumped for Stamp Something's Doodle challenge as it isn't too specific. Luckily I know the doc plays the guitar in a band so that gave me a focus. I found some Basic Grey paper that reminded me of a fret board and attatched it to some circles and then added some embroidery thread as strings to make part of a guitar. Then I found some male papers in my stash which had a sentiment that fitted the theme of retirement. The button is one I found in my mother-in-law's button box a while ago when she very kindly said I could take what I wanted and the doodling is the musical stave at the bottom.

Orient Express

I haven't had much time to craft lately (no more days off work with colds) and when I could be crafting I really should be doing my annual accounts. Something I always put off until the last possible minute and then some! However I did want to use this fantastic image by Mo Manning on a birthday card for a friend. She is in Japan at the moment visiting her daughter who is spending a year out there teaching English, and her birthday is on Sunday, the day she flies home. I had already coloured the image some time ago without really thinking about what papers I had to match so was pleased to find a couple in a mixed batch of Basic Grey I ordered from craft superstore recently. I used a trusty Promarker to edge the papers and make them stand out, a technique I borrowed from my sister Jenni, also edging the flowers to tie the colours in. I didn't have time to find a challenge to enter before I started so I was really pleased to find three different ones it will fit into.

They are:

Colour Create Challenge -Your Choice of Pastels

Pile It On -Furry Friends

SophistiCat Challenge - Mint green,lilac & one other colour + flowers

I hope she likes it!

Another week another virus!

Stuck at home again with another cold, only just having got over the last one! The only good thing about it was I had been asked to make a card for someone who is retiring and I was running out of time. The cards I usually make in those circumstances are A2 size so they can take a while! No sooner was I finished that than I remembered my Aunt's birthday on Friday so I quickly found a challenge to do. I really liked the sketch over at Simon Says and literally threw this card together. It was a really easy sketch to follow. It did ask if poss to use Magnolia stamps but I wanted to use this one by my sister Jenni as it reminds me of my aunt, who used to make us cuddly toys when we were small. I coloured it with Promarkers and as I didn't have a suitable patterned paper I used a little teddy stamp to make some. The other bits came from my stash.
I am also entering it in The Color Dare Challenge and Cupcake Craft Challenge.
Now back to bed so I am fit for work tomorrow!

Mother#2

Wait a minute, I hear you cry, you already made a card for your mother but of course there is also my lovely mother in law to think of and I don't think her son is going to make a card any time soon! I looked at some of the many wonderful challenge blogs out there and decided on

the I love Promarkers challenge as I wanted to try out a new technique I learned at the Make It show at Farnborough a few weeks ago.

The challenge is to make a card which is a different shape to the normal square or oblong so I have made a mountain fold which I did at a workshop with Dimention Fourth who make unmounted stamps. The alphabet stamps are theirs which I over stamped with a flourish and then covered with clear gloss. The image of the bird is a digital one from my sister's shop which you can find over here it is of course coloured, as are the letters, with promarkers and the papers are digital ones but I can't rememember who by.

Mother

Thank goodness it's the weekend! The end of a stressful week worrying about various generations of my family, not that the problems are resolved but at least I can relax a bit and enjoy some crafting. First I have made a card for my mother using a digi stamp by marvelous Mo Manning. The image really reminds me of my mum as she has loved books all her life even having some of her work published. I am entering the card in two challenges, the first is My Time To Craft which is to make a card 'Just for Mum'. Secondly I am entering the Digital Tuesday Challenge which is to use scallops.

The Sugar Bowl

Got the bug now, in more ways than one, and luckily or not I am off work with a streaming cold so I have found a challenge which definitely appealed as it is appropriately entitled 'The Sugar Bowl', something I tend to turn to when I am unwell! I wouldn't have had time to join in if I had been at work as the deadline is tomorrow but it is a friend's birthday soon so I grabbed the opportunity.
I think I have fulfilled all the criteria, my third flower is actually the button but as you can see it is flower shaped.

First Challenge

This is the first of what I hope will be many entries in some of the fantastic challenges the blogging world has to offer. I am hoping this will give me the incentive to do more crafting as I am unfortunately the type of person who works best when a deadline is looming! I have chosen this challenge over at Scrap the Art to start with, as the painting 'Starry Night' which is the starting point is one of my favourites by Van Gogh.
I have used one of Mo Manning's beautiful images as the main feature, I absolutely love her images as they have so much character in them. I coloured her with Promarkers and backed her with sparkly black glitter card from Southfield Stationers which I also used in the middle of the flower, behind the sentiment, which I printed on my computer, and as a border round the blue background. I used an embossing plate on the bottom section as it reminded me of the shapes of the buildings in the painting and went over the raised parts with silver Rub and Buff and some turquoise Mica powder. The starry paper, the flowers and the ribbon are from my stash.

Tutorial

Today I am in not so sunny Scotland having a much needed lesson in all things Blogging from my vastly more experienced sister Jenni. The image I have used is one I doodled myself , the background paper was stamped using a Blonde Moments stamp and all other bits are from my stash.

Blogging begins

Well here goes, how to start?

Having lurked for the past year and travelled round the world visiting many fantastic blogs belonging to the most amazingly creative people I have finally plucked up the courage to join in!

The first card I would like to share is going to be for my daughter's 19th birthday which is later this week. I followed the sketch on Tuesday Morning Sketchers but I haven't a clue how to link to it at the moment! Watch this space 'til I find out....

The image is a digi one created by my very clever sister Jenni who you can find over at jenni's crafty journal (again apologies I am hoping she will talk me through the linking process).

Everything else came from my stash... (in other words all the bits and pieces I have stuffed into various cupboards and drawers....sound familiar?