My No 1.....

Today I'm sharing the card I've made for my Hubby's birthday.  It's the Big Day on wednesday and I think we are heading out for a nice steak dinner in the evening. 

I've used the fabby Papermania Portobello Road paper stack, some Platinum Stickles, gold mirror card and a sentiment created on my computer for my design.

With the forthcoming Olympics everywhere we look at the moment, the design idea I came up with was to create a gold medal effect. 

I diecut a spikey circle using a nestie and some gold mirror card.  I then added faux spirelli using my Hougie Board, finishing the 'medal' with the sentiment I created on my computer.

The background Union Jack layer is one of the sheets from the paper stack, the shaped layer is a diecut from the same stack which I added over a square of blue paper, also from the stack.

I finished the layers by adding Platinum Stickles around the edges of the shaped diecut and the square layer. 

Nice and simple but I think Hubby will like it.  I'm safe to publish his card on here early as he rarely looks at my blog !! 

Thanks for taking the time to check out my project today.

A Picture Paints a Thousand Words

Happy Monday everyone !  Welcome to my little crafty space, I hope you had a great weekend.

The project I'm sharing with you today is my entry for this week's Sketchie Challenge over on the Craft Mad and Loving It group on Craftbubble.  The lovely Cherry set the sketch and theme this week, providing us with an inspirational picture of some story cubes. 

At first glance this week's theme was a bit daunting, but a quick look through a few stamps and the idea for my card popped into my head. 

For my design I used a deckle edge C6 cream base card, Botanical Print stamp set by Papermania, Antique Linen Distress Ink, Promarkers and a sentiment created on my computer.  I matted the main text image over a scrap of shabby chic style brown polka dot paper, stamped then cut out the butterflies from the stamp set and coloured them with PMs.  The bodies of the butterflies were created using some tiny sparkly gems and I added touches of Stardust Stickles on the wings to give a little subtle bling.

I added some 'Arty' effects to the photograph just for fun - hope you likey !!

Happy Birthday Jacqueline

Happy Birthday Jacqueline ! I hope you have a lovely day and that you like the card I made for you.

I'm a great fan of  'clean and simple' (CAS) designs and decided on a black and white theme for the card. 

Tools and materials used were: sentiment stamp from SU!, Cuttlebug embossing folder, scalloped oval nestie, EK Success border punch, Spellbinders Persian Accents Shapeabilities and some tiny black gems from my stash.  I added a few touches of Stardust Stickles around the edge of the sentiment and on the Persian Accents border. 

Thanks for taking the time to visit my bloggie today.

Emperor Swan

Welcome to Wednesday, hope you're having a great day everyone.  I'd like to say a huge welcome to my new Followers, thanks so much for joining and I hope you'll drop by again from time to time to see what I've been up to in my crafty space !

This week over on the I Love Promarkers Challenge Blog we have a White on White theme for Challenge #112 and our prize sponsor this week is Di's Digis.

I really love WoW it's great for any occasion even Christmas.  For my DT card I decided to use my Promarkers in a different way than colouring in stamped images.  I've used one of the new colours from the limited edition Spring Collection, this one is 'Fresh Meadow' and I just love the colour.  I cut an oval the same size as the centre diecut image, using a nestie, then coloured it all over with the PM.  I really like the slightly mottled effect it created so didn't add more layers to even out the colour this time.  The coloured oval is a great contrast and shows up the intricate design of the white diecut image, giving it a sort of 'Wedgewood' effect.

This is the first time I've used the new dies by Cheery Lynn Designs which I bought a few weeks ago, I've used 'Emperor Swan' and 'Victorian Romance Flourish in the design.  The edges at the sides were cut using an EK Success border punch and the embossed background behind the image was created using a Cuttlebug embossing folder.  The gems have been in my stash for some time, I find clear gems are always useful to have in stock as they can be coloured with PM's to match a project. 

I'm still staying with my Dad at the moment to help him during his recovery from the recent hospital stay and surgery, should be home in a few more days now that he is getting his strength back, thank goodness.   

Thanks for dropping by today, I hope you enjoyed today's project.

A card at last !

My life has been in such a whirl for the past few weeks that I just haven't had the opportunity to get on with any cardmaking.  I've done some knitting in odd moments, but that's the extent of my crafting recently. 

I created today's card as my DT project for this week's I Love Promarkers Challenge #111 - this week's theme is 'Springtime'. 

I've used this cute Lili of the Valley bunny as this image makes me think of Spring.  Our prize this week is sponsored by Joanna Sheen.  I've used nesties and a number of Marianne's dies to diecut the various elements, coloured the image with Promarkers, of course, and added touches of Stardust Stickles on his tail, paws and tummy (although this isn't showing up in the pic).  The background papers are from 'Pocketful of Posies' by DCWV.

Now a few details of what's being going on in my life:

This was the view I saw each morning for two weeks as we headed out to Spain for a break, which was just what I needed in my post-surgery recovery.  We were very lucky with the weather as it was lovely and warm and sunny every day.  It was so nice walking in the fresh air and enjoying the sun on my skin. 

Sadly, during our time away my Dad was taken seriously ill and has been in hospital ever since.  Today they fitted him with a Pacemaker which has already increased his very slow heart rate.  We are all hoping this will help stabilise him and give him chance to recover.  We are anticipating he will be discharged from hospital on friday and I shall be going to stay with him to look after him for a week, so may or may not have more creations to share with you over the next few days.  Mind you, he does have a great craft stash himself, so I may well raid it for goodies to use !

Whilst I was away, I did do a some knitting and managed to finish these lacy cowls.  They're cosy to wear and easier than tying a scarf in the neckline.

My plan is to get well ahead with making handmade Christmas gifts this year and this is a good start.   It's a nice pattern to knit and I shall go on and make a few more in different colours I think before starting on other gifts.

Botanical Print Tag

I've something quite different from my recent projects to share with you today.  I found a pack of Papermania Kraft tags in my stash and thought I'd do a tag design for a change.

Firstly I prepared the Kraft base tag using some Antique Linen and Picket Fence Distress Stains plus a Rhubarb Stalk Memento dewdrop ink pad dragged around the edges.  Using a TCW 'Splats' mask and Memento Paris Dusk ink, I created a random design, then applied some Viva 3D Glitter Gel in Gold randomly in patches over the base layer.

Using the Papermania Botanical Print stamp set, I stamped the script image on to the tag using Rich Cocoa Memento Ink and the flower image using Paris Dusk Memento at the bottom.  I also stamped the scalloped butterfly and script stamp on to a scrap of Kraft cardstock with Rich Cocoa and added a little extra colour with Copics.  Inking just the largest butterly on another of the stamps with Paris Dusk Memento ink, I stamped this onto a scrap of Kraft cardstock. 

I then cut out the scalloped image and butterfly and attached them to the tag after tying a length of fancy thread around and through a small charm.   Finally I added a little more of the 3D glitter gel on the butterfly and scalloped layer to finish off with a bit of sparkle.

Hope you've enjoyed seeing today's project, thanks for dropping by to check out my Blog.

Times to Treasure

I'm loving the sweet Marianne's Designs die sets I recently bought, sweet little birds, birdhouses and a great picket fence are among them and I've used a few for the elements on today's card.

I coloured this sweet Lili of the Valley image with my Copics whilst at the fabulous Craftathon held in Bristol in February - where a number of Craftbubble members got together for a weekend of crafting and socialising - but I hadn't used it on a card until now.  There's Glossy Accents on the book to give it some dimension and Stardust Stickles around the edges of the image layer. 

The grass, fence, birds and birdhouse were all cut with Marianne's dies using my Cuttlebug and bits of Stampin' Up cardstock and the background papers are magazine freebies which are just perfect with the floral theme and colours which match those I used on the image.

Sail Away

My lovely pal Lauren set the saturday sketchie challenge over on the Craftbubble 'Craft Mad & Loving It' group this week with the theme 'Sail Away'. 

I do love this Lili of the Valley stamp, he's a real cutie and perfect for the challenge.  I coloured the image with my Copics and added Glossy Accents to the boat to give it some dimension.  The background papers are from the Papermania Portobello Road pack and I tied some natural twine around to secure the button.  The sentiment was a diecut from a Goody Bag I received in a Secret Santa gift at Christmas. 

A Nice clean and bright design for this one, not too fancy or fussy so ideal for a guy's card, after all no matter what age they are all still little boys I find !!

Playing with Pastels and Lavinias

I'm loving playing with my new pastels, creating pretty backgrounds and using masks.  I was thinking I hadn't used my lovely Lavinia stamps in a while, so thought I'd combine them with a pastel background.

I firstly created a mask by cutting an aperture using a nestie die and my Cuttlebug.  I then used a mixture of colours of pastels to create a background scene through the scalloped aperture onto a blank card.

The Lavinia toadstool houses and small toadstools images were stamped using black chalk ink over the pastel background.  I then tried a technique I'd seen in the latest issue of Craft Stamper.  After stamping the images lightly, I used a black marker to roughly draw over the top to give it a hand drawn effect.  The sentiment is by Stampin' Up! and again was stamped using black chalk ink.  Finally I added touches of Stardust Stickles to give the design a little 'Fairy Dust' effect.

I do enjoy the challenge of creating a one layer card, and my new pastels are just perfect for this type of work.

Thanks for dropping by, I've more projects to share in the next few days.

With all My Love

I must apologise for not posting anything up here for such a long time.  What with the building going on in the house installing the kitchen and refurbishing the ensuite, the house has been in such a state that I couldn't find much of my stash or get a space in which to craft.  I'm still battling the dust but at least the kitchen and ensuite are completely finished now and I'm really pleased with how they've turned out.

I'm pleased to say that my health is now very much improved and in fact I saw my surgeon last tuesday and he is happy with my progress and doesn't need to see me again - Hurrah !  I do feel so much better now and am working on increasing my stamina and getting back to normal.

The other reason I haven't been blogging lately is that my Mojo had just totally disappeared - didn't have a single design in my head for a project, nada, zilch !  It felt like I might never craft again as I didn't know where to start, but I decided yesterday to sit down and make something, no matter how it turned out, even if it was only good for the bin at the end of it ! 

It's a while since I made an entry for the Less is More Challenge so I decided to check out this week's theme and use this for my first project in ages.  We've to use script on our projects this week and make a one layer card. 

I received some money for my birthday recently and was wondering what to spend it on, so I got myself some pastels to play with.  I created a background using pastels and a TCW butterfly design mask.  I then used a couple of stamps from the Papermania Botanical Print set, one of which included some script in the design and the other was this pretty little butterfly.  Both were stamped with Rich Cocoa Memento ink straight over the pastel background.  I then hand doodled a frame around the main image with a brown marker pen.

Clean and Simple and I hope it fits into this week's LIM challenge OK. 

Thanks so much for dropping by today, now I've started crafting again, I hope I'll have more to share with you over the coming days.