One of my first stamps!

This poor stamp has been tucked away for a very long time..... I bought it when I first decided I would start stamping..- bought it, looked at it and until today it's never seen any ink! It's called Floral Collage and is made by 'Stamps Happen'.

I coloured the image with promarkers (even the background 'cos like a fool I'd stamped it onto bright white card.....lol). After tearing the edges I used a mixture of Antique Linen distress ink and Dove Grey stazon around the torn sides and then mounted it onto card that I think Lawrence Llewellyn Bowen had a hand in designing. (Do you remember him - he painted walls and ceilings the most dreadful colours and used MDF everywhere!)

The paler background paper is by Artylicious.

I re stamped the dragonfly and coloured it then highlighted with glossy accents before 3d'ing it. (Please click on the picture to view it full size to give honest opinions about my colouring in and shading!)

Button (which is a sumptuous sludgy green and doesn't show up very well on the pic) and flower from my stash.

Now for the challenges -

Tuesday Taggers - Bugs. This week's challenge here is sponsored by The Craft Barn - go visit!

Passion for Promarkers - 2 images (which I did with my dragonfly layering!)

Corrosive Challenges - Spring

Papertake Weekly - Open theme

Charisma Cards - Spring

The Bicycle

Here's the second 'man' card of the weekend.

Talk about struggle! Anyways, it's not the best I've ever made but am afraid it will have to do! I cannot get away from the fact that there's always something missing from these cards - would love to pop on some 'sparklies' or similar - don't think they would go down well though.

I have tried to keep the design straightforward and as plain as possible without the card looking austere. I don't know if I've succeeded or not!

Gentleman stamp is by Elusive Images and is from their Eccentric Edwardian theme plate.

Sentiment is from Inkadinkadoo (used because it was circular and reminded me of a bicycle wheel...lol).

Background paper is K and Co.

Stamp Something has a theme of 'Doodles' this week and as the background paper fits, I've submitted this for the challenge and over at Quixotic Paperie the challenge is 'Monochromatic' so the colour scheme of blacks/greys fits too.

Moments

Just managed to get this posted in time for the challenge at Cards For Men, which is simply 'Happy Birthday'.

I have made 2 men's cards today both for birthdays we'll be celebrating tomorrow night after the Monday Night Bowling Madness.

Don't most of the men you know look at their cards, say 'That's nice, thank you' and then put them to one side? Or they display them on the mantlepiece/window ledge for a day or two until the 'cleaner' moves them? Trying to find a balance so that the card doesn't look like it's just been thrown together nor too flowery/frilly/girly is not an easy trick - I think that's why so many fellow card makers I know find making cards for men so difficult!

So here is one of todays 'not thrown together and not too flowery/frilly/girly' cards ....(I hope!!!LOL)

Background paper is Basic Grey, sentiment is from Paperartsy, Clock paper and single clock (highlighted with glossy accents) from Paper Pizazz and I used one of my (few?) purchases from the NEC in the form of the Martha Stewart punch! The sentiment inside is another Paperartsy stamp which says 'Enjoy the Moment.'

Paris Nights

A couple of weeks ago I got completely and utterly hooked on the beautiful 'Marie Antionette' style shoes. I spent hours trawling through blogs of people who made them and even managed to make a couple myself!

The first effort in pink you will have seen if you've been following my blog.... this one I made for Maureen (in case she wore out her shoes whilst wearing out the zip on her purse yesterday at the NEC! lol).

Some time back Maureen gave me some seriously strokable papers called 'Paris Nights'. I loved them and couldn't bear to use them.... until now! I only used two half sheets though.... the rest has gone back in the drawer to be taken out at regular intervals and gazed over!

The paper across the top of the shoe is a cream background with black flocked design. It feels very luxurious!! I used the co ordinating striped paper for the inside.

The ribbon is cream velvet and I added suitable amounts of bling in the form of black sequins and clear sparkly gems across the top of the shoe. Inside, I placed a small bundle of fabric, lace and pearls tied with a big cream organza bow. The tag is made out of the same flocked paper and i coloured a fabric flower with a black promarker, layered it with a cream one and attached it to the tag using a pearl brad.

I'm so glad Maureen liked it!

Over at 'The Character Cafe' this week, the challenge is 'anything but a card'.

You can't beat a good caffeine hit!

Aptly demonstrated here by Maureen - who is taking a few minutes rest from her 'shop till I drop' quest and her sole purpose of relieving her bank account of whatever there was in it........

The caffeine intake (in the form of a bottle of a well known brand of pop) also assisted Anne who made it her mission to buy up every new Tim Holtz Distress Ink at the ridiculously low price of £3...... by the time the rest of us got there there were none left..................................

Now Val.... Val is demonstrating how to pace yourself for the serious business of craft stash shopping by sipping water and taking some time out from the rigours of fighting to the front of stalls!!! LOL

Lovely day had by all...... my feet are killing me!!!!

Before I go to put the tootsies in a bowl to soak away the pains of the day I have to say a big thank you to Anne who arrived bearing gifts of a huge box of her gorgeous cards for my Charity. Although Anne and I have known each other 'on line' for a while, this was the first time we'd met in person.......Crafters never cease to amaze me with their generosity and thoughfulness and Maureen and Anne are no exception.

I really appreciate my crafting friends' help in my effort to continue to raise money for Breast Cancer Campaign. Thank you so much. xx

George

I have a letter from my Mum to explain my absence for a week....LOL! The time has just whizzed past since my last post - have been working on a small project which once finished will post.

In the meantime to prove to you all that I have been making a few cards, here is George the Friendly Giraffe. Have no idea why I called him George.... but it suits him I think!

The image was a digi freebie from Meljen's and I coloured him with promarkers. I sponged the background of the digi image with some Whispers orange ink. I thought the bright papers background might be a bit too much but once I added the cream layers and the ribbon, tag and the tiny gems I thought the card had a more balanced look.

'George' was only one of a few cards I've made over the last week and once this annoying internet speed gets back to normal and doesn't take forever to upload I'll post some more!

The challenge at Totally Gorjuss this week is Ribbon so George has gone in!

I'm off to the NEC tomorrow with Maureen and we're meeting Anne for coffee to recharge the batteries before the afternoon stall onslaught!! No doubt I shall be completely 'spent out' by the time I get back on the train home!

Black and White

Here is a presentation box made from a template kindly supplied by Jo. The box uses one complete sheet of A4 card with minimal cutting out and very little waste and I thought it might make a nice small present for someone with a couple of notelets inside. Jo's put a great tutorial on her blog so if you fancy having a go, pay her a visit.

I used card covered with Artylicious paper for the box and just added some gingham ribbon and a white scalloped border as I felt the paper made quite a statement!

I made 3 plain cards retaining the black and white theme - the box is big enough to hold 4 so perhaps I'll add another.

The two stamped cards were done by using white embossing powder onto black card - the larger one is a new stamp that I had not yet used so this was a perfect opportunity! The other card was done using a cuttlebug folder. I added gingham ribbon to all 3 and a couple of black gems on the larger stamped image.

Stampin for the Weekend has a current theme of Monochromatic, so this has become my entry!

Oriental Miss

I love this real pretty image from Mo Manning. I think her facial expression is beautiful!

I coloured her using promarkers and am going to add a teeny amount of stickles onto the flower in her hair. I haven't yet decided if I shall leave this card as it is or put a greeting on it.

The background papers are from My Minds Eye and the oval frame was done using Coredinations paper, a Nellie die then the frame put through the cuttlebug using one of the Asian folders set and sanded.

I didn't have any flowers matching the kimono colour in my stash, so opted to colour the flowers with the promarkers.

I am entering this card into the following challenges -

Cupcake Crafts #81 - Flowers

Crafty Cardmakers - A Feminine Celebration (where you had to use a female form somewhere on your card)

Shamrocks

Another card made for my charity stash.

Image was a digi freebie from Tiffany's Garden.

I printed it out onto inkjet watercolour paper for texture (which doesn't show up very well in the pic!) and coloured with promarkers, then just used a corner punch to give the edge a bit of decoration.

I think although this is a plain card, it's quite a nice one! (Even if I do say so myself!!LOL)

Card submitted into these challenges -

Shirleys 2 Girls

Tuesday Taggers

Cute Card Thursday

Tellens Place

which all have a 'green' theme and the challenge over at One Powerful Hour is Luck.

Birthday Card 2

Another man's card for last night!
Don't they look 'something missing'????? I have to really resist the urge to add some embellies, like flowers, organza frothy ribbons etc to cards! Having said that, I was reasonably happy that this was a suitable manly type card when it was finished!
The stamps are from Elusive Images done in Timber Brown Stazon and the background sponged lightly and randomly with Antique Linen distress ink. The main image matted onto brown then moss green card from the DCWV Neutrals stack (well it was out on my desk from the previous card!!). The striped paper came from Maureen again (thank you Maureen!) and this time I used MY new Martha Stewart punch for the lattice border!
The card fits a couple of challenges -
Quixotic Challenge - Leaves
Allsorts Challenge Wk 42 - Cards for Men

Birthday Card 1

Card made for one of the men at the Bowls Club who celebrated his birthday yesterday. I cannot get by the struggle to find themes for men's cards!

I printed the tiger image onto inkjet watercolour paper. This is the first time I've used this paper which is quite substantial and gives a lovely textured finish just like a watercolour painting. I sponged distress inks Dried marigold and Spiced Marmalade across the paper, then matted it onto black card.

The background paper is from DCWV Neutrals stack matted onto black card and the black fancy border was sent to me by Maureen who as you can see has recently acquired a Martha Stewart punch set (amongst other things!). I added a couple of sparkly squares to the back border.

This is my second submission to Pollycrafts 'Distressing' challenge.

A girl can never have too many!

I have been desperate to try and make one of these shoes after seeing so many beautiful examples on other blogs. Have to say though I didn't find this easy to do... think mainly because of the quality of the card/paper I used. My first attempt (which ended up in the bin) was done using quite heavy cardstock. This was real difficult to work with as I found it not pliable enough. Then I went to the other extreme and used ordinary scrapbook paper - too flimsy, no body at all and that too was consigned to the increasing large pile of paper accumulated from the attempts in the bin!

With increasing frustration, I resorted to basic white card and covered it with paper from the Papermania Regency range. As I started to assemble the shoe I remembered I had some slightly thicker pink card which had a lovely sheen and was covered in a rose design - I used this for the sole of the shoe which made it more substantial. I had a small round piece of foam about 1/2 inch high so I covered it with some stripey pink ribbon to make a heel!

The rose motif on the front was bought at the NEC - think it's one of those that you're supposed to iron on to something but it fitted well and I added a small pearl heart shaped button. The ribbons and lace were in my stash. I put together a small bundle of pretty lace, ribbon and fabric a pearl heart button and a pearl spray and tied it with an organza bow and slipped it inside the shoe as a small present. I finished the shoe off with an antigued and distressed tag with a French theme.

Close inspection shows that perhaps I could have been a bit tidier with some of the edges of the sole but overall I am happy with how this project turned out eventually.

If you want to see close ups of the front and the heel of the shoe they can be viewed on my Flickr account here.

Creative Inspirations is predominantly a card making blog but does allow other projects to be submitted, and their challenge this week is Lace, Pins and Pearls so have entered this. and over at Paper Sundaes the challenge is to use the colours Hollyhock, Crystal Blue and Sweet Leaf (or as near as you can!) - the rose decoration has 3 similar colours and there's also some ribbon in the pressie stash containing those colours so I'm hoping my entry will be accepted and finally Ooh La La's theme this week is open!

The Writing Desk

It's been such a long time since I've made anything using a vintage theme - so this week with some spare time I made this card. I think this much under used Inkadinkadoo stamp was one of the very first I bought - it's quite big so if you want to use the whole stamp the card or project has to be large too - which probably explains why I haven't used it much! But to me, it conjures up the elegance of a bygone era, when ladies sat at the writing desk and scribbled in their diaries about everyday things like love and life!

Image stamped onto cream card and then distressed used Antique Line, Tea Dye and Tattered Rose inks. French script stamp used on other bot of cream card, then both torn and edges distressed using Antique Linen. Those who know me are aware my sewing skills are not the best but practice makes perfect (or so they tell me!) so I attempted to stitch! I matted the main image onto dark red card and stitched it into place, then stitched the K and Co background paper (albeit not very straight!) onto the card before adding the main image and script paper. I'm hoping that the less than perfect stitching adds to the cards overall 'shabby' look? The vintage lace, ribbon, flowers and buttons are all from my stash.

I have submitted this card for a few challenges

Allsorts - Card for Mothers Day or someone like a Mum to you

Pollycraft - Distressing

Totally Papercraft - Mothers Day

Stamp Something - Designer paper, Ribbons and Buttons

Stamptacular Sunday - Back In Time

Gingersnap Creations Spicy Supply 42 - Lace and fibres

Secret Crafters - Stitching

My Time to Craft - Something for Mum

Flowers.

This card is for my Mum to send to a relative. I used Kay and Co papers, the Sarah Kay image was a freebie from a crafty friend and I coloured it with promarkers. The greeting is an Inkadinkadoo stamp which I stamped once onto white card then onto pink and cut out the pink and stuck it onto the white base. The lacy edges were done with a Martha Stewart punch.

The card fits in with a couple of challenges -

The Pink Elephant - add Green to your colour combo

Digital Tuesday - Use scallops (hope the greeting is scalloped enough!)

Cute Card Thursday - Use Ribbon

OSCC - Optimistically Pink

Simon Says Stamp - Girly