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Thursday 9 December 2010

Warmest Wishes

I'm not usually one for adding posts at this unearthly hour of the night but I kept forgetting to take a photo and then once I had taken the photo forgot to download it. The morning will be the usual rush around for school and I knew I must get this done before bedtime or it will be too late for the challenge at this rate and I really do enjoy this one when I get time to join in.


My card is for the Penny Black Saturday Challenge where you must stamp onto anything but white card. I am somewhat behind with the Christmas cards and decided to use my Fantasy stamp to make another Christmas card.  I used some kraft type card that I bought from the Papermill Shop a little while ago and thought I would use red and green shades as these are usual Christmassy colours.


Started off using my Hero Arts Old Letter Writing stamp and stamped it in Peeled Paint Distress ink in 3 places. Then stamped the Fantasy image in Barn Door distress ink.

Also used the Barn Door ink to give the edges around the card a distressed look.
 Used some bright red ribbon and added some snowflakes punched out from the kraft card with one of my Tonic punches and coloured with the Peeled Paint ink again.

Added loads of red self adhesive gems to finish and stamped a Hero Arts greeting from my Holiday Sayings set.

The card has a true vintage look and feel and I was really pleased at how well the colours go together. Phew! Another one done.

Thanks for looking.

Sue x

Sunday 21 November 2010

Baubles & Snowflakes

Well, all is calm on the kiddie front so I may actually get chance to finish this post before we have some lunch and then I'll try and persuade the kids to do a bit of homework.

Bought my daughter a new pair of boots yesterday and she cannot wait to get to school tomorrow to show everyone. She's so chuffed with them they were on as soon as she got out of bed this morning and she came in to me in nightie with new handbag across shoulder and boots on. She's been trotting round in them ever since!

My son bought himself a new XBox game yesterday so I can hear distant grunts and complaining (when he's losing) but apart from that he seems quite happy with his purchase too.

Now then, I have made a Christmas card which was inspired by Jillian Foster's card here.



The baubles, snowflake stamps and sentiments are all from the Hero Arts stamp set Magic of Christmas (CL462).


The baubles, snowflakes and outer edge of the card were all inked with Tim Holtz distress inks in various colours: Wild Honey, Brushed Corduroy, Walnut Stain and Antique Linen.

I cut the bauble stamps out 4 times and pieced the centres after inking them. The baubles were highlighted on the stripes with some Prismacolor pencils in co-ordinating colours.


Finished off with some co-ordinating self adhesive gems and some lovely brown ribbon.

I have decided to go potty this week and enter this card for several challenges:
Creative Inspirations - anything Christmas or winter related
The Stamp Man - Tim Holtz
2 Sisters - snowflakes
Crafty Calendar - Winter Snowflakes

Thanks for looking and enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Sue x


Thursday 11 November 2010

Christmassy Tree

Morning and welcome. I am pleased to say that you can now see the white bits on our dog Tyson again. We decided in a moment of madness to give him a bath on Sunday and I was actually very surprised. He stood perfectly still in the bath while my daughter stroked his head. He was then quite happy to be wrapped in my son's old Batman towel, complete with hood. To top it all, he laid down on his blanket in the lounge while we blow dried him! That was a relief as it's not the height of summer and he could have been wet for a long time. Our last dog Buster, would have run the minute we even tried to coax him into the bathroom and would certainly not have entertained my hairdryer!

I have managed another card - shock horror. I am entering this for 2 challenges: Penny Black Saturday Challenge where the theme is 'Let It Snow' and Penny Black at Allsorts Challenge which is 'It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas' .



Background stamped with snowflakes from Hero Arts sets Magic of Christmas CL462 and
Sending Holiday Cheer CL464
Colours used are Versacolor cubes Amethyst, Lavender and Atlantic Blue
Main image: Penny Black Fantasy stamped with Versamark and embossed in white
Self adhesive pearls in co-ordinating colours from The Hobby House
Sentiment: Hero Arts Holiday Sayings CL343

 

Sorry the pictures are a bit dark, I was struggling to get some decent light with this lovely weather we're having!

Thanks for looking. Sue x

Wednesday 3 November 2010

Penny Black Saturday Challenge - Zigzags or Triangles

Good morning. Have just polished off my Rice Krispies and now finishing my cup of tea before I start the mad rush to get the kids ready and out of the door for school. Incredibly my daughter has eaten all of her breakfast this morning without me having to nag her to put her dolls down and concentrate on the matter in hand!

It has been soooo long since I managed to get my act together to do a Penny Black Saturday Challenge and I'm glad to be entering this week. I had already started this card and added the zigzag ribbon so now it fits the bill.



I have used the sledging image from the Christmas Critters clear stamp set and created my first little 'scene' on a card. There was a bit of fiddling about to do the hills and get the trees on but I was quite pleased with my first attempt.  I put some Bazzill Basics swiss dot paper in blue call Poolside for the sky. The sentiment is Hero Arts from the Holiday Sayings set of Christmas clear stamps.





I added white glitter for the snow on the hills and under the sledge and Stickles Frosted Lace to the trees and bobble hats for a bit of an icy look. The trees are from the Hero Arts set Sending Cheer and are stamped with Versacolor cube Olive.



The hedgehogs are coloured with Prismacolor pencils.

Thanks alot for looking and have a fab day.

Sue x

Monday 1 November 2010

Spooky Witches on Your 6th Birthday!

It's the 1st of November and it's my niece's 6th birthday today so HAPPY BIRTHDAY ISOBEL! We hope you have had a lovely birthday and received lots of wonderful presents. We bought a pink ZhuZhu hamster and some accessories and were thrilled to hear that Isobel took them to school with her today. After seeing the pink hamster and the various bits and pieces that you can buy to go with these marvellous creatures, my daughter has now taken an interest in them too.  I think this may just be added to the never ending list of items that we are hoping to receive from Santa!


Of course I made a card for Isobel and as Halloween was only yesterday, I went for a card on that theme. I thought it would be a bit different for a birthday card at this time of year.

It was an easel card and the images used for the witch and the bats were digital downloads from Pink Cat Studio - Lily Witch and Halloween Value Pack. 


The backing papers were another download from Polka Doodles called Polly Witchydoodles.




The sentiment was computer generated using the Matisse ITC font.

The image and bats were coloured using Prismacolor pencils. I added some glossy accents to the bats' eyes so that they looked effective.

Thanks for looking!

I have actually managed to make a card for this week's Penny Black challenge so I'll try and get that posted tomorrow.

Sue x

Monday 25 October 2010

Oh Well, Fluffy Bunny It Is!

It was recently my brother-in-law's birthday and he is a keen cyclist. I tried to find a picture of a road cyclist and even put out pleas for help on the Docrafts forum. I had some wonderful offers back but nothing I felt would be spot on. Found some images on searching the internet but they were photo images and I am a keen stamper and like to colour the images myself. 

After a lot of umming and ahhing I decided to opt for something else, wait for it..........a fluffy bunny. Can you believe it? What came over me? What grown man wants a fluffy bunny on his birthday card for goodness sake. By the time I had been searching for an image his birthday was looming so I had to make a quick decision or there would be no card at all. (That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it).


Here is the finished article:


The image is a download from Bee Crafty Downloads, coloured with Prismacolor pencils.
Sentiment is from a Stampendous set called Petals Plus.
Added a button threaded with some natural jute.

I know that he liked the present as it was something he actually asked for so at least that went better.

I have to say I am very excited as I have made a card for my niece for her birthday and it is a bit different. Can't share it on here yet as my sister is a follower and may get an early peep. Shall post it once the birthday has gone.

Thanks for looking.

Sue x



Sunday 26 September 2010

Yummy Cupcake 2

Well, after I stamped several images of my cupcake the other day when I made the card for a friend, I thought I should make good use of them!


For this one I used the same sentiment but with an added ribbon and some different backing paper.
 


Card blank: Craftwork Cards
Image: Hero Arts Giant Cupcake
Coloured with Prismacolor pencils
Backing Paper: NitWits Never Not freebie from Simply Cards & Papercraft issue 73
Bazzill Basics Pirouette swiss dot card
Sentiment: Pink Petticoat Tiny Alphas
Pink knotted ribbon
Diamond Stickles

Thanks for looking.

Sue x

How Old!

I have suddenly become as busy as a bee! With Dad's birthday on Tuesday I had another card to make this weekend....and here it is!


For Father's Day I used one of Di's Digi Downloads for Dad and I went back and bought this one for his birthday. It's called Gardening Pop.

I really enjoyed colouring the image and was really chuffed with it!


I have been rather cheeky and put 'How Old!' as Dad is 81 this year.  Although it is a male card I wanted to make it bright and cheerful as although Dad is in his eighties I am sure he doesn't feel it!

Background: Hero Arts Branch Background
Tim Holtz Distress Inks: Broken China, Wild Honey, Barn Door, Peeled Paint
Edges touched round with Wild Honey
Picture: Gardening Pop - Di's Digi Downloads
Coloured with Prismacolor Pencils
Woodware chipboard letters coloured with Distress Inks above
Button and twine from stash

Thanks for looking!

Sue x

Friday 24 September 2010

Yummy Cupcake

Hi there. Totally dreadful weather here today. To say it's blowing a gale is to put it mildly! Only plus point is that the rain has stopped temporarily.

I have been so wrapped up in kids doings and shop stuff that I have had little time for ages to make any cards. However I managed to finish one today for a friend's birthday! I bought the Hero Arts cupcake cling stamp absolutely ages ago and although my kids have used it, this is the first time for me.




I have found that I am becoming a regular purchaser of Simply Cards and Papercraft magazine just lately. Well, what actually happens is I buy a copy and then every time I go to Tescos or the like I am looking for the next issue, even in the knowledge I have only just bought the previous one! I am not saying that I am becoming obssessed with card making but hubby will no doubt disagree. I tell you what though, it comes to something when you go out somewhere and hubby starts poining out possible card making materials that might interest me!

Anyway, the backing paper was a freebie from issue 73. The collection is called Never Not from NitWits. The paper was layered onto Bazzill Basics swiss dot Pirouette paper which is a lovely pink.  



The image is coloured with Prismacolor pencils to match in with the paper and some Diamond Stickles were added to make it all sparkly and girly. The sentiment is made up of Tiny Alphas from a Pink Petticoat download.

 

The card blank was from Craftwork Cards.
 

A side view to finish showing the 3D effects!

Thanks for looking! Have a great weekend all.

Sue x

Saturday 24 July 2010

Row of Trees

Morning! Looks like it's going to be another lovely day with the sun shining and not a cloud in sight here in Lincolnshire.

I thought I'd share one of the teacher's 'thank you' cards with you. I bought a set of Hampton Art clear stamps recently called Tree (SC0183). The teacher is quite young (compared to me anyway!) and I wanted something clean and contemporary looking.



Stamps: Hampton Art 'Tree' clear stamp set (SC0183)
Ink: Versacolor cubes in Cinnamon, Bamboo and Cocoa
Card Blank: Craftwork Cards
Brown card: Piece of recycled card from the back of a pad in the shop!
Button and Twine from stash
Woodware corner rounder used for some cornersSentiment: Stampendous Perfectly Clear stamp set called Petal Plus
Thanks for looking and have a lovely weekend.

Sue x


Thursday 22 July 2010

Have a Great Time in Australia

It was a happy yet sad day yesterday. It was the last day of the school year and both my kids move up to a new class in the Autumn.

Thank you cards were made for the teachers and regrettably my daughter's teacher is actually leaving to go travelling in Australia.  She has been absolutely fantastic and we couldn't have wished for a better teacher for our daughter's first year at school. We bought her some pressies and wished her lots of happiness and I made her this leaving card:



I downloaded the Summer Time Sandals digi stamp from Whimsy Stamps (a Meljen Designs stamp).
Sentiment: Computer printed before decorating card
Background: Verve Stamps - Petals & Stems clear stamps coloured with Versacolor cubes in Magenta and Lime
Scalloped card: Craftwork Cards
Sandals: Coloured with Prismacolor pencils
Finishing touches: Diamond Stickles and some clear gems


I masked out the surrounding detail on the stamp so I only got the flip flops for my card as I wanted to do my own floral background. Although she was leaving, I wanted the card to be bright and cheerful so I focused on the positive side of her leaving rather than going for a 'sorry you're leaving' style doom and gloom card!


I notice that the theme for the Bee Crafty Downloads Blog this fortnight is 'At The Beach' so I thought I would enter this card.

Thanks for looking!

Sue x

Tuesday 20 July 2010

Fun at the Summer Fair

It was our village Summer Fair on 11 July and I have been meaning to put this post on since.

This year there were various competitions for various age groups and I encouraged my kids to join in. I thought it would be great if they won something although the taking part is great fun. They both created a 'scene in a box'. My 5 year old daughter is Polly Pocket mad and decided to opt for a beach scene. She made the flag and umbrella and added her own glitter effects to them! We made a little rock pool and she added some Polly Pocket chairs and a picnic box.

My lad is 9 and he went for a winter scene. He decided to use my Penny Black Fantasy tree stamp for the background and added some diamond Stickles for added icy effect! The snowmen were cotton wool and stick on gems.

I was 'challenged' by one of the Mum's at the school to enter the knitting category. A 'small knitted item' was the requirement. I haven't knitted for 15 years but I thought this would be a bit of good fun. I haven't got any of my knitting patterns so I scoured the internet. I have never been good at knitting clothing so I thought I would try and find a small toy or something like that and I remembered I had used Jean Greenhowe's patterns in the dim and distant past. Well! What a treat, I found a free pattern of hers on the internet for some small cakes. You can find it here.

I'd left it all a bit til the last minute but bought my wool etc on the Friday and by Sunday morning I had knitted a small selection of icing topped biscuits and cakes, plus one piece of shortbread that my son asked me to do.

We took all the entries down to the village hall on the Sunday morning as they were all being judged before the start at 2pm.

Well we went down about 2.30pm and boy were we chuffed! My daughter had won 3rd place, my lad had won 2nd place and I had won 1st!. We all had a rosette each and we had a good chuckle as my prize money was £1.50! Not to be sniffed at though. 

We bought some lovely scones and cookies while we were there and had a go on all the other stalls.

There is an Autumn Fair too, so we'll have to see what competition categories come up next time!

Thanks for looking.

Sue x

Wednesday 7 July 2010

Red, White & Blue Penny Black Saturday Challenge

Good afternoon and hoorah! I managed to complete a challenge this week.

The weather has been gorgeous again and there is a lovely breeze here today. Haven't seen much of the weather though having been in the shop but the weekend is a-coming. Enjoyed taking the kids swimming last weekend and had a chuckle covering hubby in the shop on Sunday as he went to Santa Pod to a Jap Car Show. I don't usually do Sundays.

Anyway, back to the matter in hand. Here is my card for the Penny Black Saturday Challenge this week:


Scalloped card blank: Craftwork Cards
Pale blue backing paper: cannot remember brand name
Penny Black stamp: Constellations (3867K)
Butterflies: Verve Stamp set - Petals & Stems
Distress Inks: Broken China and Fired Brick
White embossing powder
Versacolor Vanilla ink cube 
Glossy Accents
Red craft wire
Sentiment: no brand name
Red organza ribbon

Now this week I decided to try a new technique for me. I did some embossed resist stamping. I had been looking at Jennifer McGuire's blog and decided to have a go as her cards looked stunning but not over complicated for the likes of myself to try!!

I stamped my image using the Versacolor vanilla ink cube (I don't have any white or I'd have used that) and then covered it with white embossing powder and put the heat gun to it. After cooling I used the Broken China distress ink and just rubbed the ink pad all over it then left it to dry. I have to say I was really pleased with the result and loved the colour. 

To add the red, I attached my image to some red card.


Then I decided to use some of my Verve stamps and stamped a couple of butterflies with the Fired Brick distress ink. I left them to dry and just cut out the wing parts. Folded them up at the centre to give some dimension and made some antennae using some red craft wire which I wrapped round part of a safety pin to get the curly bits. I attached these to the back of the butterflies using Glossy Accents as it dries really well and holds things really tight.


I punched a little hole in my sentiment tag and added a piece of red ribbon. Then, I stuck all the bits on and voila!

Thanks for having a look.

Sue x





Friday 2 July 2010

Petals & Stems - my first Verve Stamps purchase!

Wow! Hasn't the weather been just fabulous here this week. It's lovely to be able to walk the kids to school in the morning without fear of a heavy shower. It also makes everyone so much happier seeing some sunshine.


Well, I was on that famous auction site the other day looking for bargains, as you do. I spotted these beautiful stamps and it said they were by a company called Verve. 


I had never heard of Verve Stamps but thought they were so pretty. I then found myself on the trails of Verve Stamps and found that they have a website here in the USA. Unfortunately the stamps are not stocked here in the UK at the moment but you can buy online from their website. They are absolutely fab. Right up my street.

Whilst looking I went to their blog which is full of inspiration. I found a challenge called Sketch For You To Try (SFYTT). So, I thought I'd give it a go. I don't get time to do many challenges but I thoroughly enjoy them when I do.

Here is my card:


Colours: Versacolour Cubes Amethyst and Lime Green, and Spiced Marmalade Distress Ink
Sentiment: Craftwork Cards
Ribbon: Lime green satin ribbon
Fiskars Threading Water Punch used on purple strip

Thanks for looking! Have a fab weekend.

Sue x

Tuesday 22 June 2010

Happy Anniversary to my hubby!

Happy Anniversary to my husband today! We've been married 14 years now. Gosh! Where does the time go. Actually, alot of people comment as we run the shop together but we do quite well working as a team. I'm surprised we're not sick of the sight of each other!
It's another digi stamp this time from Bee Crafty Downloads called Whimsical Girl Th Kiss. It's such a versatile picture and so clean and simple. I coloured it with Prismacolor pencils.

I used some red card punched with Fiskars Threading Water punch and then used a small heart punch to punch out some Tiny Typed Alphas printed from a Pink Petticoat download. Finished off with some lime green ribbon from Poppicrafts.

Gorgeous weather out there again today. Long may it continue! Have a fab day.

Sue x

Sunday 20 June 2010

Happy Father's Day Pops!

Morning or should I say nearly afternoon. Long time since my last post. We went to Cornwall for a week before half term and then I took the kids down to Mum and Dad's for half term near Worthing. Since we've been back I don't know where the time has gone! Haven't even had chance to pop a Penny Black challenge card together but have enjoyed looking at everyone else's entries.

My sis ordered some more cards for birthdays so have been busy doing some of those, which I enjoyed very much.

I made an A5 card for Dad (also known as Pops in the family) for Father's Day. I was looking on Beth's Little Card blog and from there noticed that there are some digi stamp challenges. Went through and found some fab sites where you can buy digi stamps. As a result I bought this image from Di's Digi Downloads. What a fab blog.

This image is called Back In Ten. My Dad is not into fishing or beer or footie so this was just perfect. All Di's images look great for colouring and of course you can re-size them to your requirements.

Used prismacolor pencils for colouring, MME bloom and grow papers on brown card (similar to Bazzill bling) and the tiny typed alphabets are from a Pink Petticoat download.
Recently had a birthday and my hublets agreed to buy me the Prismacolor pencils. When I told him the price he was quite shocked that I would want some mere pencils for that kind of money and offered to pop to Smiths for some deluxe felt pens! He was happy though as I was happy and he knows I'll use them.

This is my first card with them so hopefully with practice I'll improve somewhat! Have tried out a few ProMarker colours and I seem to be a pencil kind of girl at the mo. Can't get on with the pens.

It's our wedding anniversary on Tuesday so hopefully I will get a picture of the card I am making for hublets and will post it asap.

Have a great Sunday!

Sue x

Thursday 13 May 2010

Penny Black 100th Saturday Challenge

Well, I have finally completed my card for this week's Penny Black Saturday Challenge. You wouldn't believe that I started this last weekend and it has taken me until today to fit time in to put all the bits together! This week's challenge is a special one because it is the 100th challenge set.

I bought a lovely Penny Black stamp last week called 'Greetings' (3706H) and decided to use it for my card this week:



I used a Craftwork Cards blank. The papers are set on Bazzill Basics 'Pirouette' card. Not sure about the paper at the back with small daisies on as it has no brand on the back. The papers to the front and around the image are Bright Grey 'Green at Heart'.

I added some pink gems and the sentiment is an English Stamp Company clear stamp (bought for me by my dear sis).


I'm chuffed I managed to complete another challenge! Thanks to Jackie for the inspiration I got from her beautiful card.

Sue x







Sunday 2 May 2010

How Much Fun Was That!

Do you know, I love to look at the cards made by other bloggers each week for various challenges and some of them really are fabulous. This week I have finally plucked up the courage to join in the fun and have a go myself. I have looked at the Penny Black Challenge this week - Let's Get Punchy and I have made the card below.



Actually, as I type this I'm thinking to myself the first challenge will probably be trying to link this card to the Penny Black Saturday Challenge site so that it can be seen by anyone! If I can't work it out quickly this may take a few days to accomplish!



This was the first outing for my Penny Black Constellations stamp (3867K). I stamped it using Brushed Corduroy distress ink and also distressed around the edge of the card.




The backing paper is K&Co but not sure of the design. I used a Fiskars Threading Water punch on the pink strip behind the image. I punched 2 flowers using an XCut and a Tonic Studios punch and put pink self adhesive gems in the centre.

The Craftwork Cards sentiment has been distressed with Brushed Corduroy and I punched out 10 small pink hearts and fixed them on the back with the points sticking out to look like petals.


For the corners of my image I made 2 pink photo corners and put 2 chocolate candy pieces from Craftwork Cards.


I really enjoyed having a go at the challenge and wish I'd tried one sooner! Let's hope it's the first of many to come. After making the card I felt there was something missing so I added a touch of glitter and then wasn't sure that I liked it with the glitter! Never happy!

Thanks for taking the time to look and have a great Bank Holiday weekend.
Sue x

Tuesday 27 April 2010

My First Commission!

I think it's going to be a hot one today. Just let the dog out and it's getting warm already! Glorious sunshine here in Lincolnshire and not a cloud in sight.

Now, over the Easter hols I went down to visit my Mum and Dad with the kids and also saw my big bad bro and little tiny sis and their families. Always love to get together with them all. While I was there I was absolutely thrilled when my dear sis asked me to make not 1 but 2 birthday cards for her. I was really chuffed to be asked! My sis liked the easel cards and they were both for two young girls and she wanted them personalised so here's what I came up with:


The background papers are from a Pink Petticoat download. I printed the swirls in one colour first and then put the paper back through the printer and printed a paler pink plain design so the background behind the swirls was lighter. I used a Fiskars Threading Water border punch for the panel behind the angel. The swiss dots paper is Bazzill Basics in Plum Pudding.
The pretty angel is a Rachelle Anne Miller stamp which I coloured with watercolour pencils and added glitter to the wings and tiny heart. I really love these stamps.


Used some Craftwork Cards candy to act as stoppers to prop the card up. The message is computer generated and cut out with Spellbinders Nestabilites Labels. The present is a die cut from a Quickutz die I used through my Epic 6. Added some punched flowers and small self adhesive gems to finish.

Both cards were the same design and I absolutely loved doing them. I was even more overjoyed when my sis said how pleased she was with them!
Have a great Tuesday.

Sue x