I thought it was about time I started seriously getting on with the job of making my Christmas cards for this year. I am so late starting them this year, that I shall have to really get down to it very soon. So, for this one I used one of my newly acquired vintage santa image stamps from Crafty Individuals. I stamped the image on to bristol board using memento ink in tuxedo black. I then used distress inks to both colour the image and add distressing around the outside edges of the image layer. After it was coloured, I sprayed it with two layers of Crafters' Companion Spray and Shine varnish and one layer of CC Spray and Sparkle (unfortunately the sparkle effect doesn't show up too well on this picture). I embossed a layer of red mirror card in one of my snowflake Cuttlebug embossing folders and layered the stamped image onto this. The BP is from Grahicus which I received as part of my membership of the Graphicus Guild. The flowers were punched from the same red mirror card with punched snowflakes added on top. I used the layout from the Let's Get Stamping sketchie challenge for last week over on Craftbubble so this will be one of my entries for the challenge.

Autumn Beauty

This is my entry for the current challenge on the Faerie Song Art Stamps forum over on Paper Craft Planet. I rotated the sketch to better fit the shape and size of the image I used. I coloured this delightful FSAS image with my ProMarkers with touches of Stickles Diamond glitter glue aded to her wings and the bubbles (although they don't sparkle in this picture like they do in real life!) and just a little more on the leaves. The BP's are from A Pocketful of Posies paper pad from DCWV. I dragged a brown chalk ink pad around the edges of all the layers, to distress them a little. The leaves were cut with punches and the tiny flowers were punched from a scrap of the BP. The butterflies were coloured with Spica glitter pens. A very simple layout with the image taking pride of place on the card.

Hugs for Dad

I wanted to share this card with you as I made it for my Dad. As I live so far away from him, I wanted to send him lots of hugs and let him know I am thinking of him at this difficult time for our family. It will be a year since Mom passed away on 31st of October. This little Popcorn Bear stamp was a free gift with purchase from Crafters' Companion recently, and I felt he was just the right image for this card. I used the sketch from the Let's Get Stamping challenge over on Craftbubble this week. I chose these colours as they are subdued but not morbid and it felt right to use them. The image was coloured with ProMarkers, cut out with a circle nestabilities die, then mounted on to a layer of metallic purple card cut with a petite scallop circle nestie die. The background papers are from my stash and I punched the small flowers from a scrap of purple card. I hope you've enjoyed looking at this card and it would be lovely if you could leave me a comment.

Sent with Love

I'm gradually getting started on making my Christmas cards for this year (late again!) I have about a dozen finished now, but need to get 'a wiggle on' if I'm going to get anywhere near enough made in time! This sweet little image was sent to me by a crafting pal and I think she is just adorable, the stamp is called 'Snowflake' and she is from Sugar Nellie, although I can't see her for sale on the Funky Kits website currently, so she may be temporarily out of stock. I used my ProMarkers to colour the image with touches of Spica glitter pen in purple and green on the snowflakes, spots on her coat trim and bows on hair and hat. The little snowflake charm came in the blog Candy I recently won on NG Cards and the ribbon and lace are from my stash. The BP is from Graphicus, which I received as part of my Graphicus Guild membership pack. The flower was cut using my pal Annie's Quickutz Squeeze and the fronds were cut using a Martha Stewart punch. Thanks to my pal Cherry for letting me know about the Creative Card Crew Challenge, I think this card may well fit the bill for this week's challenge which is 'snowflakes' so I shall enter it.

If you visit my blog I'd love it if you could leave me comments, it is great to read them and makes me feel less like I'm talking to myself out here in cyberspace !

Surprise Gift

I recently got this adorable stamp called 'Surprise' - she is one of the new set of Elisabeth Bell for SCACD Special Edition Ornament Collection stamps which are now available in the UK through Quixotic Paperie. All the stamps in the collection are adorable, but this cute puppy in a box image had me reaching for the ink as soon as I opened the package. I coloured the image with ProMarkers and added a few touches of red Spica glitter pen on the puppy's bow, ribbon on the gift box and the bows on her dress. The DPs are from the Deck the Halls paper pad by Papermania, which was part of the Candy I recently won on the NGCards blog. The flowers were punched on my pal Annie's Quickutz Squeeze diecutting machine, which she brought around when we had a crafting get together a couple of weeks ago. I added gold brads to the centre of each flower and punched out some fronds from a scrap of green card using my Martha Stewart punch. This card is my entry for the October challenge on the SCACD forum over on Paper Craft Planet and I followed the sketch for this very simple but effective layout. I am pleased with how it turned out and shall use the layout again, I'm sure.

Get Well K.I.S.S.

I created this card for a dear friend of mine who is due to go into hospital to have a knee replacement operation in November. I though't I'd try to get myself organised well in advance of the event so that I won't be racing around trying to get a special card made at the last minute! This really fun image was sent to me by another crafting friend, she makes me smile just to look at her, so I hope she will cheer my friend up. I coloured her with my ProMarkers with touches of Spica glitter pen added to her shoe laces, hair and spectacle frame. I also added a little glossy accents so there appears to be glass in her spectacles. I used Diamond Stickles on her wings, wand, crystal ball and the centres of the larger flowers. The large flowers were made using a stamp from the Papermania 2009 limited edition clear stamp set for the Marie Curie Cancer Care Charity, stamped on scraps of pink and aqua card and cut out. The sentiment was stamped on the same aqua card and cut out with a petite round nestabilities die and mounted on a slightly larger piece of the pink card, again cut with a round nestie. I then punched out two small flowers from the pink card and added these to the sentiment circle. The DP came free in a magazine and I punched a strip of the pink card with my EK Success border punch for across the middle. Finally I punched some fronds with a Martha Steward punch and added them under the flowers. Once completed, I thought this card would fit well with this week's K.I.S.S. Monday challenge over on Annie's blog which asks us to use handmade flowers, then this evening I read on Annie's blog that the Simon Says Blog challenge this week is to make a Get Well Card, so I'll enter it for that too. A really good value card with 3 functions - result!

Birthday Bunny

This is one of my entries for this week's Let's Get Stamping sketchie challenge over on Craftbubble I changed the placement of some of the elements of the sketch to fit in with the image I used, but I did manage to add some embossing to meet the requirements of the challenge. I coloured the adorable Pringle from Sugar Nellie with ProMarkers and added a lttle glossy accents to his eyes and nose and spica glitter pen in purple to the ribbons on his parcel. The sentiment is from a set of clear stamps which came free with a magazine some time ago and the flowers and ribbon are from my stash. The BP is from a pad of Papermania papers which my pal Annie gave me a while ago. The two layers under the image were embossed with my swirls Cuttlebug embossing folder in my Cuttlebug machine. The embossed silver card is amazing stuff, it picks up a rainbow of colours when photographed. I bought it at the craft show at Westpoint earlier this year and am sadly getting towards the bottom of my supply.

Exciting News!

I just had to share my exciting news with you all. It has just been confirmed that I have been selected as a member of the Queen Kat Designs Whimsical Ink Sisters (WIS) Design Team :o) So you will see me posting up projects using these cute stamps in the weeks and months to come. I am so excited and looking forward to being part of this team and working with the rest of the WIS starting in November.

Spooky Sweetie

I thought I'd finished all the Halloween cards I was going to make this year, but when my new Cuttlebug embossing folder, with all these lovely pumpkins came in the post, I just had to make another one! I also had this delightful Belles & Whistles by Elisabeth Bell stamped image just waiting to be coloured up and used. So, put the two together and add The Bubble Club challenge for October over on Craftbubble.com using brown, orange, reds and golds and a Halloween theme and another card just came together. The image was coloured with ProMarkers and cut out with an oval nestabilities die. The flowers were punched from some scraps of orange and peach card and mustard coloured flower shaped brads added to the centres. The three orange buttons are from my stash, with a little string threaded through and tied in a knot.

Manga Christmas Fairy

I used this little cutie to get started on my Christmas card production for this year. The layout is from a sketch over on the Let's Get Stamping sketchie challenge on Craftbubble . I used the 'hangover' method to cut the image out with an oval nestie, so that her legs and feet pop out of the layer. This was then attached to a larger layer cut out with a scalloped oval nestie. The shiny silver squares were embossed in my Cuttlebug with an embossing folder. I added punched snowflakes to the silver mat squares and the sentiment was cut with a scalloped oval nestie. A really quite simple layout, but with big impact I think. I will probably use this layout again for more of my Christmas cards.

More Halloween Creations

I thought I'd continue in the Halloween theme and share a couple more cards I made recently for friends. This cute witchy tilda was a recent acquisition and I think she is soo... cute :0) I coloured her with my ProMarkers, then brushed on a little pink glitter glue on the hem of her dress and her wings. I then matted her on to a piece of core-dinations card embossed with the swiss dots embossing folder in my Cuttlebug and sanded down a little to reveal the spots in the core colour. The BP was from my stash and the pumpkins stamp is from the Whiff of Joy Autumn Kit, again coloured with ProMarkers then a little diamond glaze added. The large purple flowers are by Prima and I put them through the Cuttlebug in the swiss dots embossing folder, added smaller silk flowers to both, a white rosebud to the top one, all from my stash. I attached the cute toadstool charm to the lower flower with a silver coloured brad, added some fronds cut from black card with my Martha Stewart punch. I used my new EK Success border punch down the righthand side of the black layer, the multi-sized holes allow the BP to show through to give an interesting effect. I continued the theme on the inside of the card (second picture) with another piece of the BP, once again adding one of the purple flowers with a small flower punched from a scrap of orange paper in the centre and more black fronds. I added a piece of white card on which to write the greeting, cut out with a nestabilities die and matted this onto a piece of purple card cut with the slightly larger nestie. The third picture is a little folder I made ready to put in some stamped images to send to a crafty friend. This also fitted the requirements for one of the Let's Get Stamping weekly sketchie challenge over on Craftbubble, where there was a sketch to follow with the added twist of having to include some paper weaving. For this folder I used one of my 'precious' hAnglar & stAnglar images sent to me by a great crafting pal. I coloured her with ProMarkers, cut her out and layered her up on top of the paper-weaved circle, which was cut with a circular nestie, both matted on to a square of black card. I added more of these lovely pumpkins from the WoJ Autumn kit to finish off the layout.

Cute Card Thursday Challenge #82

I created this card as a surprise gift for a crafting pal. The image is one of the new Elisabeth Bell stamps from Belles and Whistles and isn't she a real cutie? I coloured her with ProMarkers and added some diamond glaze to the pumpkins then cut the image out using one of my new nesties. I then cut a scalloped round mat from a scrap of orange coloured paper from my Dovecraft Abstract Prints pad then layered the image on top of this. The base layer is a sheet from a pad of Papermania Amethyst Infusion Creative Tones DP. I cut squares of purple cardstock then embossed these with an embossing folder in my Cuttlebug. I punched the large flowers from a leftover scrap of the same orange paper and the small flowers from scraps of the purple card. I then added some amber gems from my stash to the centres of the flowers and added fronds cut with a Martha Stewart punch from a scrap of green card. I punched the sides of a square of lilac cardstock with two different EK success border punches. Finally I added some tiny star gems from my stash around the stamped image to give the impression of a starry night and added small touches of Spica glitter pen on the band and bow of her hat just to give her a bit of witchy bling!

As the theme on the Cute Card Thursday Blog Challenge #82 is Spook Fest, I thought this card just fitted the bill as my very first entry ever for a CCT challenge!

Blue Swing sketchie/K.I.S.S. #3

I created this card as a further entry for this week's Let's Get Stamping sketchie challenge over on Craftbubble. I have to confess that I took liberties with the sketch for this entry, but followed the 'monochrome with a touch of colour' rules. The image I used is 'Rope Swing' from Whiff of Joy stamps, coloured with ProMarkers and then cut out. The BP is from a Papermania Black and White Inspirations paper pad, I added a touch of pale blue with a ProMarker to the flowers to tie in with the colour theme and added the image in a way to give the impression that the swing is attached to the tree branch on the BP, with a hand made flower cut from turquoise card to 'lift' the image from the background. The sentiment is also from Whiff of Joy which I stamped and cut out with a nestabilities circle die and layered on to a piece of the turquoise card cut out with a petite scallop nestabilities die. The sentiment was then added to a strip of the turquoise card. I punched out some tiny flowers from from the same card and added touches of spica glitter pen to the bows on her shoes and the centres of the flowers. So, this fits in with both the sketchie and Annie's K.I.S.S. #3 challenge - result !

I just returned from walking my little dog Tilly on Plymouth Hoe. It is such an absolutely glorious day I just had to write about it! The sea was really calm and there were just a few wispy clouds in an otherwise clear blue sky. Even at 10am this morning, the air had just a little freshness and the sun, although low in the sky held a promise of more heat to come. The sun's rays were glinting off the water, where a few boats were lazily skimming across the water. Truly a day to give thanks for our blessings, I know how blessed I am to live in such a beautiful part of the country.

Now, to my latest card, shown above. This is my second entry for this week's Let's Get Stamping sketchie challenge over on Craftbubble. I decided to stick with the same monochrome theme with a touch of red, that I used for my first entry. So, this little Greetings Farm image was coloured with ProMarkers in various shades of grey (who would dare to suggest this might hint at a self-portrait!!) with a tiny amount of red used on her bow, to tie in with the red Prima flower, brad and luscious red strawberry charm, which I bought from Elaine over at Quixotic Paperie. I followed the sketch quite losely this time, using the flower as the circular element and black ribbon in place of the tag, with a touch of crystal glaze to highlight her bow. No glitter or sparkle on this card, and no sentiment on the front so that it could be used for any occasion.

I won great Candy !

I am so excited to be able to tell you that I have just heard that I won the yummy Candy over on the NGCards Blog :o) What a lucky girl I am !

Monochrome Sketchie Challenge

This is my entry for this week's Let's Get Stamping sketchie challenge over on Craftbubble, with not only a sketch to follow but also with the added twist of creating something in monochrome with just a little added colour. The image is a stamp from Sugar Nellie called Demure. The DP on the first layer is from a 6"x6" Papermania black and white Inspirations paper pad. I coloured the image with ProMarkers in various shades of grey with just a touch of red on her belt, flowers and the bow in her hair. I then cut the image out using a deckle edge rectangle nestabilities die with my Cuttlebug. I layered this up on to a piece of mat patterned silver card. I also cut a scalloped circle from red mirror card and over this I added a plain circle of grey/black DP from the same Papermania pad, both using nestabilities dies. For the tag element of the sketch I cut out a small piece of black card which I embossed using the Cuttlebug Swiss Dots embossing folder then trimmed into a tag shape. The sentiment was one I had ready stamped in my stash and I cut the small red flower from more of the red mirror card using my small flower punch, added just to tie in with the touch of red theme. The sentiment was layered up using foam pads.

K.I.S.S. Monday Challenge #2

This is my entry for the K.I.S.S. Monday Challenge #2 over on Annie's blog. The usual rules apply, keeping the whole card Sweet and Simple with very few layers and no embellishments other than personally hand made ones. Additionally, for this second challenge, we are asked to use texture in our creation. I decided to use one of the new embossing folders I bought recently at Westpoint and which work in my Cuttlebug. It is a very simple tree, but I felt it worked well with this lovely Victoria Case for SCACD stamp which has lots of flowers and is quite busy. I love the adorable faces on the VC stamps and wanted to hang on to summer just a little while longer, especially as it was such a warm and sunny day here in Cornwall yesterday, when I was creating this card. I split the single background layer between the embossed tree and a piece of craft coloured card which I put through a Martha Stewart lacy scallop border punch to give a pretty edge. The image is coloured with ProMarkers with a few touches of Spica glitter pen added here and there. The sentiment is one that I stamped up from a set of Hero Arts sentiments belonging to Annie, when we recently had a crafting get together. I am enjoying this new challenge and do hope you might consider joining me on future K.I.S.S. Monday Challenges, I am sure Annie would be happy to see lots of your creations.

Sugar Bowl Challenge #20

I've created this card as my entry for the Sugar Bowl Challenge #20. Following the sketch provided and incorporating some paper piecing, I used Arthur as my image. This adorable stamp was part of the lovely Sugar Nellie Candy I won a little while ago, what lucky girl I am! I stamped Arthur on white card which I cut out with an oval nestie, I then stamped him again on some paper from a pad of Dovecraft Abstract Prints. All the papers have rich golds, browns and reds on them and I thought this particular one was very appropriate for Arthur. I coloured his balloons with ProMarkers then added some Diamond Glaze. I coloured the strings of the balloons with a green Spica Glitter Pen. The red metallic mat under the image was embossed using an embossing folder I purchased at the Westpoint Craft show last month. I used the Fiskars Threading Water border punch on the top and bottom edges of the red layer. The gold ribbon is from my stash and I created the flowers by layering up punched flowers, I then added some leaf sprigs punched from gold card using a Martha Stewart punch.

Pink & Black Tilda

Today I thought I'd share with you this card I made recently. I belong to an image swap group on Craftbubble.com and from the selection sent to me, I chose this really cute Tilda from the 'Yummy for Your Tummy' collection. There was also another challege started on the Paper Craft Planet Magnolia Lovers forum with a black and pink theme. Thirdly, this layout is based on a recent sketch for the Sketchie Challenge over on the 'Let's Get Stamping' forum at Craftbubble. So, I achieved a triple whammy with this card!

I used ProMarkers to colour the image, the sentiment is one of the Susanaments stamps from Susana's Custom Art and Card Design, paper, brads and flowers are from my stash. I used my new EK Success border punch - which I think looks like swiss cheese - bought at Westpoint, to cut a design in the layer on which Tilda is sitting - and also used my Martha Stewart lacy scallop border punch to add a pretty edge. I placed this punched layer over a piece of black card to help the design show up as it wasn't really visible placed straight over the first layer of patterned paper.

First K.I.S.S. !

This is my entry for Annie's newly launched K.I.S.S Monday. challenge - Keep it Sweet and Simple. Annie is offering lovely Candy for the winning entry, so do stop by her blog for the details and join in the Fun.

Annie started the challenge this week and it certainly made me think in order to comply with the strict rules!!! As the rules require minimum layers and preclude using any bought embellishments, flowers, brads, gems or ribbon, I hurried off to the box of crochet flowers I made recently and selected these three which were created from variegated thread. I think they turned out to be very pretty and a perfect addition to this DCWV Pocketful of Posies paper. I punched out some fronds using my Martha Stewart Punch and also some tiny flowers from the same acqua coloured card which I added to the crochet flowers. I used the Inocence stamp from the Pollycraft's Woodland Elves range for my image, I think she is so cute. She was coloured with Polychromos pencils with a touch of glitter pen added as highlights, mounted on a mat cut from the aqua card I had in my stash using my trusty old deckle edge scissors (which haven't seen the light of day for many a month!). I hope you like this Annie and thanks for starting up this challenge.