twice in one day!

Well what about that, nothing for weeks then 2 cards in 24 hours! This one was for a particular challenge that i wanted to enter, i really struggled to stop at this as i really wanted to keep going and add more, but had to rein in the urge :-)

To make this card i have used my new card-io stamps - Gerbera Garden, they are one of three sets i got recently, but this is my first attempt at using them...it certainly won't be my last, i love the little bee. I used a variety of inks, distress, memento and papermania, the bees were coloured in with a promarker and the wings and flower centres were highlighted with Kuratake's wink of stella pens. Sadly my camera is dying so i couldn't get a better picture and pick up on the sparkle...but they really do 'wink' as you move the card.

I would like to enter this into the following challenge:

Charisma Cardz - challenge 33 negative space

It's been a long time

since i have posted, mostly because i couldn't access blogger but also because i have been so busy. Not that being busy has stopped me crafting and i have loads of new cards made, including some for Christmas....i don't normally think about Christmas until after hubby's birthday in November, but that was before i started crafting lol.

Anyway, here is a card i made while awol. Originally i made it in green but then i was asked to make it in peach for a wedding card, it was quite a challenge to find peach tones papers but i found them eventually. The flowers are handmade, the ribbon is a scrap of paper put through a Marianne die cut, the butterfly was one of several sent to me by a friend that i coloured with pro markers and then i added lots of glamour dust. The leaves are from a Crealies die cut that i absolutely love.

I would like to enter this in the following challenges:

creative card crew - hand made flowers

Try it on tuesday - anything goes

paper creations ink - show us your flowers

flutter by wednesdays -challenge 167

beautiful butterflies

A few weeks back i invested in this lovely butterfly die after using one belonging to a friend, it's inspired me to make lots of pretty cards but this is one of my favourites. I used holographic card for the butterfly and tail, then i taped velum to the inside of the card which i cut diagonally and folded back through the aperture, the points are held in place with some brads from my stash. Pretty lilac backing paper to cover the inside and tone with the brads really makes the butterfly stand out and it was all finished off with some little silver peel off corners.   

I would like to enter this card in:

One stitch at a time - things with wings

Make it monday - Anything goes

Fathers Day approaches

With Fathers Day fast approaching i thought i should get crafting, i wanted to do something a bit different to a standard card shape, but wanted to stay fairly masculine, so using peel offs. promarkers and a couple of backing papers i came up with this. 

I would like to enter this into:

C.R.A.F.T Challenge - Fathers Day
Craft us crazy - Fathers Day and/or Masculine Colors/Theme
Delightful Sketches - Fathers day challenge
Paper Play Challenges - Fathers Day/Man's card
Ambers Crafts and Stuff.com -Special man
Crafting for all seasons - Fathers Day
The Sisterhood of Crafters - Celebrating dad/man in your life
The crazy challenge - Fathers Day
Lexis Creations - Fathers Day or mans card
Creative Inspirations Challenge - Fathers Day
Here come the boys - Fathers Day/Hubby/Partner
Sparkles forum challenges - Fathers day

iris folding

I had a go at iris folding a few weeks ago using this pre-cut sail boat card, it was really fun to do using paper scraps and quite relaxing, however i was unsure what to do with all the white space on the card. Then i got introduced to chalks and thought the soft focused two tone blue made a really nice sky and sea background without actually detracting from the lovely effect on the sails. I will definitely be giving this technique another try, i just need to find some card blanks that i like and then i'm away :-)

Flowers and peel offs again.....

after my play around with black peel offs on my black and tan card i decided to do a busier, more colourful card, and this is what i came up with.  The backing paper, ribbon and candy were from stash and the flowers and sentiment were coloured using pro markers 

I would like to enter this into -

Crafty Creations - May flowers (flower, patterned paper and ribbon)
Paper Pretties - flowers
Claudia and company -girls birthday card
Clear it out challenge - Colors

A great give-a-way......

if you are not already a member Crafters Digital Art Centre then you may not be aware of what a great site it is, or of the great giveaway that is currently running.
Please see the links on the side of my blog and go and have a look, you won't regret it :-)

The Black and Tan effect

I recently got some black peel offs to play around with and with this card i decided to keep it simple by mounting the hat silhouette onto white then bronze coloured card that had been cut out using nesties. I then mounted the flower peel offs onto white card, cut them out and coloured them with promarkers to tone with the bronze card. To keep with the bronze theme i then added tiny bronze coloured gems on alternate scallops to bling up the card. I haven't added a sentiment as i didn't think the card needed one and this way i can make it relevant on the inside when i want to use it.

I would like to enter this into - 

Card Cupids - No patterned paper

Penny's Paper Crafty - Anything goes

Creative Inspirations - Glitz & Bling

The Paper Shelter - Black + White + One

new look and new cards

After a busy couple of months ( i became nan to a gorgeous little boy in March) i have finally found time to sit down, create some cards and give my blog some attention. To mark the return i have updated the look and name, what do you think?

I've made quite a few cards over the past few weeks so will try and get them on here at a steady pace rather than all in one go. The first is a diamond fold card i made this week.

The sentiment and central topper were given to me, so i don't know where they came from but i really liked playing with such a different shaped card and will definitely make more.

I would like to enter it into :


One Stitch At A Time - Fancy Folds

a good luck card for a friend

This lovely little Mo Manning image called Sprout is part of the Help for Katie package that Jak Heath is running in aid of a lady with cancer. I thought it was perfect for a friend at work going into hospital for a mastectomy, she loves her gardens and i thought the little seed starting to grow represented the start of her beating her own cancer battle.

I coloured Sprout in with Promarkers and used a backing paper from the Wedding collection from Paper Cellar. The ribbon was two different ones from Crafty Ribbons that i doubled up to give the rusty pink colour that i wanted. The flowers were from stash and also coloured with Promarkers.

another birthday card

I love this card that i made for my teenage neice. The backing paper was freebie in a magazine, the topper was made from white card i inked up with Tim Holz distress inks which i then stamped and coloured using my Promarkers, i  mounted it on glitter paper from Hobbycraft. The handbag, silver shoes and sentiment came from candy i won last year.

my poor neglected blog :-(

Things have been so busy at home that i haven't got round to updating my blog for far too long, but i have been busy making cards and crafting.
My camera was poorly so all pictures posted today were taken on my mobile, hence the poor quality. It's fixed now so the next lot will hopefully look better.

This card was for my youngest brother, known for his love of fishing.

and this one was for his young son who loves all things skate board related.

Both cards were free digi images that were coloured with Promarkers, and mounted on card and papers from stash (which were kindly donated when i started crafting)

Playing with alcohol inks is messy....but oh so much fun :-)

I made this card for a work colleague to say Thank You for doing something really kind for us this week.
I made the image by blending two colours of Rangers alcohol ink and the silver mixative, then overstamped with a tiny rubber stamp i picked up in a sale using Stayzon ink, i mounted it on card stock and decorated with ribbon from Crafty Ribbons. The sentiment is another stamp from a sale, i wasn't 100% happy with the way i stamped the edge so i cut it down using my Big Shot and a scalloped circle nestie. Unfortunately the metallic look hasn't shown up too well in the photo but i was really pleased with it.


I would like to enter this card into the following challenges


Crafty Catz Challenge 65 - Thank you
Delicious Doodles  - Use 3 colours
Fairy Knolll Challenge - Thank you

it's catching this craft bug....

my 12 year old has never shown any interest in craft and his drawing is limited to badly drawn stick men, however on seeing my Christmas cards he wanted to have a go and fell in love with some Manga art books in Hobby Craft. So Santa got crafty and bought him a big 'how to draw Manga' book, some ProMarkers and paper (as well as a box to keep it all in).

His first attempt was the weapons.....not my aim for him, but a start, then a character.... and my husband and I were completely stunned at how good it was.

He then decided he wanted to make his brothers birthday card by drawing the same figure but smaller and in a football strip with his age as his shirt number. He decided how to lay it out and i helped him just a little bit with the stamping. His brother was really impressed and so were we, so much so i am posting it on here even though it wasn't my work.

Didn't he do well :-))

Happy New Year...and happy birthday

Happy 2011 :-)

For me a new year means my eldest sons birthday on the 2nd, so a challenge was afoot to make a non Christmas based card.

As he is football mad i was really grateful to be sent this digi image of a little footballer by a good friend. I used a free backing paper from a disk i received with a craft magazine and the sentiments came from my favourite shop, Hobby Craft. I coloured him with ProMarkers to match my son's team and outlined the picture with Glamour Dust. The card i mounted it all on came from stock.

He was really pleased with it :-)

just a little bit more of Christmas.....

Well it's over with for another year, i hope you had a good Christmas.

Before moving on with new cards and ideas i wanted to just add a few more photos of cards i made for Christmas, these are some of my favourites.