Rainbow Birthday

Rainbow Lady's Challenge Blog #193 this week was to make a card including a dog or dogs.

I went very CAS with this... I've been meaning to try the repeat sentiment thing for a while - so I used papermania ink to stamp the sentiment (Daisy and Dandelion) in all the colours of the rainbow - and the little dog at the bottom was a freebie stamp I got in a magazine (I think it was Homemade...) stamped in red.

White On White

Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge #174 this week was white on white. I've never done a white on white card and if I'm honest the idea terrified me a little, but I have seen some absolutely stunning ones out there so I decided to give it a go.

I combined that with this weeks Fussy and Fancy Friday Challenge #57 - More that Words (create a card using a long sentiment or a verse) and came up with the card below.

I used a 5x5 card base, ran a slightly smaller piece of white card through the cuttlebug with swiss dots folder. Then cut a plain and scalloped square from more white card with my nesties and used a very pale silver ink to ink a flower and embossed it with clear powder onto the white square. I used my nesties again to cut the vellum with the verse (it was in a magazine I got about 2yrs ago... and stuck that over the top of the white square. Added ribbon and pearl hearts from my stash and layered it all up.

For my first attempt at white on white (except for the verse obviously...) I don't hate it. I think it could make a very nice card for an engagement/wedding/anniversary depending on the verse I put inside.

Purple Flowers

If there was ever a day where craft-therapy was necessary it's today! My morning has been the biggest *head desk* moment... it's really a good job I'm largely a pacifist.

This card is based on a fab sketch from The Sweet Shop #147.

A very simple card, I love the CAS look of the sketch and immediately knew what I wanted to do! Two pieces of card from the papermill to layer, in mid-purple and lilac. I then stamped the sentiment and a variety of flowers in three different shades of purple papermania and added a few embellishments to give it a little bit dimension.

I used stamps from a variety of sources and I can't remember where they all came from... I know at least one was stampin' up... also can't remember where the sentiment came from... the embellishment flowers came from bargain books craft bin.

I'm also submitting this too:

Kaboodle Doodles Challenge #108 - Shades of Purple.
Everybody Art #182 - Monochrome
Creative Inspirations #152 - Anything Goes
Simon Says... Anything Goes

MUM

Today I decided to sit down and make my Mothers Day Card for my Mum. I'm actually going to be away from home over Mothers Day (I have actually just realised this and I don't think Mum has yet, oops...) but I'll leave the cards behind for her and my Gran.

I had a lot of trouble deciding what do to for this card... but in the end, I turned to the challenge blogs and put a few of them together to design the finished card.

I used Wild Rose Studio's 'in love with Japan' papers. The image is Lily of the Valley, coloured with Promarkers - lavendar, cornflower, duck egg, sandstone, mustard, china blue, sky blue, amythyst, lilac, caramel. The buttons, ribbon and charm all came from my stash (and mostly from the discount craft bins in bargain books - I love that place! lol!)

The challenges I used/am submitting too are:
Paper Play Challenges '12 - Week 8 - For A Mother (I didn't use the optional 'paper charm' part of the challenge)
Colour Create Challenge Blog #90 - Lilac, Blue, White and Kraft
Delightful Challenges - Use Pattern Paper
My Mum's Craft Shop - Buttons and Ribbons
Allsorts Challenge Week 143 - It's Your Choice
Party Time Tuesdays - Anything Goes
Crafty Catz Weekly #121 - I Spy with my little Eye... Something beginning with B (Bear, Bow, Buttons)

Mojo Monday #230

I can't believe this is the 100th post I've made on this blog - which is I think 98 cards! My tags list tells me another 15 will hit 100 challenge cards too! My mind is a little explode-y at that idea since by far the lions share of them have been in the last two months.

This card comes from the Mojo Monday Sketch #230

I decided to go for the round card, which isn't something I do a whole lot! And work with the colours from The Play Date Cafe #120.

I cut the card base and scalloped circles with my nesties, used some freebie papers I got in a magazine - I've forgotten which one! - and the birds in a nest stamp was a freebie as well! The flowers and ribbon came from my stash. The sentiment is stampin' up.

I'm also submitting this for:
Cute Card Thursday - Things With Wings


In other news - I'm so excited to have been selected for the VIP Top 3 at Party Time Tuesdays with this card.



It's the first time any of my cards have won anything - and the first time in a loooooong time I've won anything personally (I couldn't win an argument with a paperbag!) so thank you so much to the team over at PTT! You made my week!

Freshly Made Sketches #23

Cutting it fine with this one, less than 3hrs to the deadline, but I've been babysitting all day (although really should have done it yesterday instead of lounging around reading... lol)

This sketch is from Freshly Made Sketches #23 from Tui Nathan.

I used a digi stamp from Pollycraft (Flo), coloured with promarkers - duck egg, buttercup, honeycomb, Lime Green, Cool Grey 3, Pear Green, Chestnut and Slate and some scraps of card - no idea where they came from... the sentiment is stampin' up and I finished it with some gems from my stash.

"Less is More": Week 56

Today's "Less is More" challenge is a nice easy one.

///This week we have a simple recipe for you to follow which is to use some of those left over bits and pieces we all tend to keep so this week
Don't Scrap it!///

I love using bits and pieces of scraps from other projects, so that makes this my favourite Less is More challenge to date (since I started following...)

I used some scraps from papermania's birdsong set - which I just love - and some of the last bits of kraft card I have until I can get some more, to layer it up. The sentiment is stampin' up, in moss green papermania ink which I also used around the edge of the white card and I used a few pearls to finish.

Sweet Treats

Sliding in at the last minute on the Our Creative Corner challenge for: Black and White with a Splash of Colour.

Another very simple card... thanks to my camera's annoying habit of turning reds into pinks, you may or may not be able to tell that red is my 'splash' colour... I used some freebie stamps (from Quick Cards Magazine I think...) coloured sparingly with a ruby promarker. The sentiment is from Stampin' Up. I very simply layered on black card and drew in some lines (with a ruler, I'm not that good at drawing straight lines, lol) to frame.

CAS-ual Fridays: CFC41 - Take 2

Another card for this weeks CAS-ual Fridays challenge because it amused me!

CFC41: Jest for the Pun of it. Use a pun, or a sentiment in a silly way to create a joke, on your Clean And Simple creation.
**a pun is a humorous play on words.

Another one that took longer to think up than it did to make. I used a digi from Beccy's Place coloured with promarkers - sandstone, caramel, buttercup, rose pink. Some scrap card made a craft for the circle. The setiment was computer generated - I used a font called 'Candy Randy' and layered it on a bit of card the same colour as the frame. Placed off center and cut the edge of the circle and used dimensionals to place the sentiment I finished again with another few gems (what can I say, I love gems!)

CAS-ual Fridays: CFC41

It's Friday and that means CAS-ual Fridays has a new challenge!

CFC41: Jest for the Pun of it. Use a pun, or a sentiment in a silly way to create a joke, on your Clean And Simple creation.
**a pun is a humorous play on words.

I used a fabulous digi from Whimsie Doodles that came with the sentiment and coloured - sparingly - with promarkers. A bit of spare textured cardstock in grey, some pearl darning thread in white, grey and pale brown and a few gems to finish took me much longer to decide what to do than it did to do it!

Make A Wish

Todays card comes courtesy of the need to not take out some frustrations with a craft knife and some card after a morning spend fielding phone calls from idiots (data protection is all well and good until you've got two different groups both with their own data protection polices refusing to share information with you or each other because it's 'against their policy')

I used sketch saturday sketch #195

I used a lovely little digi stamp from Sliekje Digi Stamps coloured with promarkers - caramel, chestnut, slate, black, almond, red, cornflower, rose pink and buttercup. The papers are We R Memory Keepers Travel Light, layered on green card from the paper mill. I can't remember where exactly the stamp is from, I think it might be papermania... I masked it off and stamped it so it fit in the circle. And the ribbon and gems came from my stash.

Am also submitting this for:
The Crafty Pad - #158 - Blue, Red & Green
Crafty Catz Weekly - #120 Favourite Things (Gems, Ribbon, Cats)
Moving Along With the Times - Lots of Layers
Willow Sketchie Challenge - Anything Goes

"Just Us Girls" #124

"Just Us Girls" had a colour challenge this week with some lovely spring colours.

The gorgeous digi stamp came from Beccy's Place, coloured with pencils (except the skin, which was coloured with a blush promarker). The paper is Soft Nostaliga from Hot of the Press, it was a freebie in a magazine and I used pale green card from the paper company to layer the image. I used the cuttlebug swiss dots folder on the top half of the card. I don't remember where the sentiment came from... but I think it might be a papermania one... and I finished with ribbon and gems from my stash.

Mothers Day Flowers

Thinking ahead a little, I decided to do a mothers day card.

I used cardabilities sketch #49 for my layout...

I largely picked the colours based on the fact I saw a bit of purple card sitting on top of my scraps box and went 'oh that'll do' lol. The purple cardstock is from the paper mill, the pink paper was a freebie in a magazine, it has a very, very faint pattern on it, but it's almost impossible to see normally, let alone in the image... I used petaloo flowers and coloured them with dusky rose, rose pink, lilac, lavender and amethyst promarkers. The flourish is a sizzix die cut from a scrap bit of paper and the sentiment is stampin' up. I finished it with pearls from my stash on the flowers.

I'm also submitting this to:
Cute Card Thursday #204 - Flower Power
My Mums Craft Shop Challenge 44 - Swirls and Pearls
Saturday Challenge #173 - Bingo Card
- I used swirls, flowers and pearls.

Bear-y Happy Birthday

I really need to stop attempting to pun...

Crafty Creations Challenge #157 Warm & Cuddly Teddy Bears... I'm a big fan of teddy bears - when I was a kid, in fact probably up until around 13, I had a metric ton of the things on my bed (it's really a wonder I could fit on there...) - so I couldn't not join in :)

I combined this with Creative Inspirations Challenge #150 to use Brown, Blue and Cream on your project. And Aud Sentiments Challenge Blog challenge to use the word 'Happy'.

I used Little Bear Blue from Beccy's Place, coloured with ProMarkers - Caramel, Chestnut, Sandstone, Cornflower, China Blue and Ruby. The cardstock is from the Paper Mill, the design paper was a freebie in Crafts Beautiful Magazine.

I forget where the sentiment came from (it might have been Daisy and Dandelion, but don't hold me to that!), but it's stamped in brown papermania ink. The ribbon was another 'freebie' in that it came wrapped around the PJ's my sister got me at xmas... and I finished off with some pearls from my stash.

Get Back On Your Feet

The card I'm sharing this morning is actually one I'm very pleased with. It just came together exactly how I wanted it and that is so very rare!

I don't often make masculine cards - although I've gotten better at it! - so any excuse is a good one and Creative Card Crew #4 was for a masculine card, so I knew I had to do it!

I used a digital stamp from Birds Cards, coloued with Promarkers - Marsh Green, Pear Green, Caramel, Sandstone, Cornflower. The papers are BoBunny, the cardstock from the Paper Company. I ran the digi through my cuttlebug using my Spellbinders Nesting dies and did the same with the brown paper and blue card to layer it up. Adding ribbon and buttons from my stash to embellish, the bow is done with paper 'twine' because I don't have any actual twine (a terrible oversight I really must see too!)

I'm also submitting this for:
- Party Time Tuesdays #55 'Get Well Wishes'
- Truly Scrumptious #74 - All Creatures Great & Small
- Moving Along With the Times - Says Get Well Soon
- Inky Impressions - Use Punches or Dies
- PaperPlay Challenges '12 Week 7 - Critters
- Totally Paper Crafts #104 Ribbons and/or Bows
- Pollycraft Monday Challenge #128 - Ribbons and Buttons
- All Sorts Challenge #142 - Anything Goes

Bring on the Cake

My Time to Craft Challenge 173 this week was 'Bring on the Cake' - and who doesn't love cake!

I used the Freshly Made Sketches, Sketch #22.

And The Play Date Cafe colours from this weeks challenge #119.

And this is the card I made:

I used some black cardstock on a white card base and the two panels of pink paper are from the Born to Shop range. I'm not sure where the cupcake stamp came from... but the sentiment is stampin' up, all stamped with papermania ink... and a few gems to finish just because I love gems.

"Less is More": Week 55

The "Less is More" Challenge this week was to use Punches or Die Cuts on your card.

I don't have a lot of choice with either, I need to build up my collection of die cuts and punches, so I had to 'resort' to using my nestie dies.

I used the scraps from papermania hampstead, cut with my square nesties along with a square of red card stock. Cut a circle with my nesties for my sentiment, and a scalloped circle to layer it. Stamped the birdhouse from a freebie I got in a magazine - coloured with duck egg and pear green promarkers, and the sentiment from Daisy&Dandelion, using a few pearls from my stash to finish it off.

CAS-ual Fridays: CFC40

It's Saturday, which usually means I've done the CAS-ual Fridays card already, but being busy with other things I'm 'behind' myself (omg so behind on cards I wanted to do... *head desk*)

CFC40: With Mardi Gras in a few days we thought it would be fun to have a gallery full of Clean And Simple Party cards with ribbon.

I used a bit of scrap paper left over from something else - it was a magazine freebie but I've forgotten where from exactly. Then used some red ribbon from my stash (my camera really needs to learn to recognise the difference between red and pink, but it is red...) and a pink button. to make the flower, another bit of ribbon across the card and a few gems. The sentiment is I *think* Daisy & Dandelion.

This is the first time I've made a flower with ribbon... I'm not 100 percent pleased with the end result, but it's not terrible, so I count it a win! :)