Stylishly Fabulous 40!

Had a day of just pleasing myself today after a small bit of paperwork this morning. So as usual when I have any time for me, I spent it making a mess!!!

Don't you just love paper, glue, stamps and ink everywhere????? One of the downsides about having a craft room cum office which is away from the house is that you tend to forget there is housework - hence the thick layer of dust which is covering all my furniture...lol... on the upside though is because I am not in the main house I can make as much mess as I want, then happily shut the door and go into the (dust laden) house without a backward thought!

So today I set to and finished this card which is a commission for a lady at the Club who's daughter is (in her words) "very chic and modern and has a succesful career".

I really like this bold colour combo and hope she will too.

The stamps I confess are not mine.... they belong to Maureen and I stamped them out when she was here last year  and despite my best efforts to hide them when she was leaving she managed to halt all my attempts at theft -  Maureen also made the paper scrunchy flower (which I absolutely adore but don't have the patience to sit and make!) and it started life on another card but I rescued it and recycled it!

I used black cardstock layered with bright yellow and white then some black and white spotty paper. I used a MS punch then stuck it over some yellow card and found a small piece of yellow spotty ribbon which luckily stretched just enough! Image and the flourish coloured with Promarkers and I used three tiny gold pearls were from my stash. The 'Fashion Fades' sentiment I had to print out on the PC as I had used up the orginal stamped ones. 

The wording on the base were also PC generated and I tried to match the font as near as I could to one of the original stamped sentiments which I used on the box lid.

I made the box from the same black cardstock used for the card and used the last scrap of the spotty ribbon for a little bit of decoration.

Please let me know what you think!

Challenges -

The Crafty Pad - Bold and Bright

Pear Tree Designs - Stamp Something 

Little Darlings - Favourite colour combo (one of many!)

Dream Valley - Ribbons

Finally can post this card as it was given to the recipient yesterday!! It was meant as a bit of fun really - ther gentlemasn concerned has been known to laugh (occasionally) but he is fondly known as 'Grumpy' at the Bowls Club. (Grumpy or not, he is VERY good at serving the odd glass or two......)

I know it's been over a week since I put anything on here and I am beginning to think all my faithful follwers will have deserted me - it's been a ridiculously hectic week and I am finally glad to get a couple of days where I don't have to be rushing off to a bowling green or a meeting.

OH and I have today spent a whole day doing what WE wanted - in the form of meeting up again at Trentham Gardens with Maureen and her long suffering, having a picnic lunch (and no, it didn't rain), a wander round all the lovely shops (I bought - she didn't - HIGHLY unusual - lol), and having a giggle and a seriously relaxed time.

Back to the card -

Image is from Bugaboo (I bet all of us know someone like Gus here - LOL) and I coloured him with Promarkers, papers are from My Mind's Eye and the 'Grump' quote is from TLC.

Have had a quick trawl through blogland and found the following challenges -

Digis With Attitude (and boy has Gus got attitude!) - Anything Goes

Rainbow Lady - Use a Digi

I Love Promarkers - Anything Goes

Sisterhood of Crafters - Male themed

 

Lazy Sunday Afternoon

Not for me it wasn't as I was catering at the Club!!

But on Saturday night I did manage to make this card for the seriously low 'man card stash' - (Actually seriously low is an understaement - non existent would be more apt....)

The whole 'man card' thing always frustrates me as I have terrible serious urges to put bows, flowers, and any other embellies imaginable onto the card - and because I know my OH would look at me really strange if ever I gave him a card with a bow or heaven forbid a flower on it, I consequently think all my attempts at man type cards are plain, boring and downright uninteresting!
Here's the latest offering for the 'pink box' - black and white themed with a LOTV image of someone having a little snooze under a leafy tree. I dusted the image with some 'Bundled Sage' (for the grass) and some 'Tumbled Glass' (for the sky) and added some black pearls (see - couldn't resist a bit of embellie could I?????). The flourish was coloured with a black promarker and the sentiment was PC generated.
Lots of man challenges about so here's a few-
2 Sisters - For a Guy
Phindy's Place - Black and White
Wags N Whiskers - For the Boys
Fashionista Friday - For Men
Dream Valley Challenges - Fathers Day/Man themed

A big thank you to all my blogging buddies who sent me cards and wishes for my birthday - my Club team played on the night so after the game we celebrated a 'skin of the teeth' win and the birthday with some cake and cups of tea (well they drank the tea - I had a glass of plonk!).

I bet by now you're all saying 'Not another Wedding Card' - trust me I'm also saying it! I have had so many requests for the same type of card using this LOTV stamp that I now have firmly placed it away in the drawer - am hoping the 'June Wedding' syndrome is nearly at an end!  I have always tried never to make more than one of any design but as these are orders I suppose I can break my cardinal rule a little bit.

Used the usual heavily textured cardstock, brushed over with Tumbled Glass Distress Ink, my Grand Nesties which after dusting I edged with Stickles for a bit of bling, the LOTV stamp coloured with Promarkers and some Frosted White Stickles on the bride's dress. 

Inside I printed the sentiment on the PC and again dusted over all the card stock with distress ink. The heart punch formed the base for the prop for the easel and I also decided to decorate the hand made box with a die cut flourish and some silver rings.

All the embellishments/flowers etc are from my stash.
I found a couple of challenges -
ABC - 'W' for Weddings
The Craft Garden - Something Old (LOTV stamp, pearl hearts), Something New (Embossing Folder), Something Borrowed (Heart Punch), Something Blue (Ribbon and Flowers and of course the Distress Ink!)
Prairie Fairy - Weddings

Here comes Summer????

Not if you look at our weather today! Summer is a long long way from here - it's wet, windy and miserable.. oh and COLD!!! So that's a good enough excuse to spirit myself away in the craftie space and do some catching up on unfinished projects!

Here's the first one finished - an easel card made using one of Ange's fab Tatty Button stamp designs

I used some paper from an old stack I had by K and Co called Daisy. OK I know Tatty is watering a sunflower but use your imagination a bit!


The green trellis paper was layered onto yellow cardstock, distressed and stitched. I used my usual Promarkers and watercolours to colour and matted Tatty onto green card then layered onto the yellow cardstock punched out with a MS trellis punch. I made some paper flowers and found the teeny green and yellow ladybug in my stash. Finished the front with some pearls and a small sentiment stamp from Papermania
The prop for the easel inside was made using the same MS punch (with the scalloped edge cut off) and I layered yellow trellis paper from the same paper pad  onto green and stitched again. I added a circular scallopped green and yellow layered nestie for a greeting space.

Challenges - 
The Crafty Pad - Just Because You Can
Paper Sundaes - Girly Girl

 Spoonful of Sugar - Here Comes Summer

Totally Papercrafts - Summer

Totally Gorjuss - Flower Power
Stampin For the Weekend - Lemon and Lime
Stamp Something - Something Punched

Crafty Ho's - Summer

Be Quick!

It's amazing how people who don't craft think that I'm like Hermione Grainger and can just wave a black stick about and create something in five seconds... I wish!!!
At about 9.30pm last night someone said - 'It's my husband's Birthday and I can't get out without him to buy a card, please do one for me? He likes steam trains and aeroplanes and things....'
'Ok' says me, 'Not a problem, when do you want it for?'
'Well' she says, it's his birthday at the weekend'
Aghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh ! Got home at 11pm last night and had a lot of running about to do this morning and I also have another 3 unfinished projects on my desk and am out all day tomorrow............

I had a quick look round for the magic wand but obviously the card fairy had stolen it.

So there lies the story behind this basic effort - (and basic it is but if anyone asks me I'll say it's'Clean and Simple' - LOL)

The card is larger than I usually make - it's 7" x 5" . The herringbone paper is from the DCWV Natural stack and the steam train is an old rubber stamp which I have had for absolute eons... and the card fairy found it for me whilst I was looking for something else! So her magic wand worked after all (well, a little bit....)

Have no idea who made the stamp - I think I bought it on e bay from Malaysia or somewhere equally exotic -but it stamps up quite nicely with some Versafine and I put it onto textured cream linen cardstock. .

I added some metal brads in the corners as I thought it looked too plain and used 3d foam pads to lift it from the front of the card. The sentiment both outside and inside (Wishing you a Wonderful Day)  is computer generated. Not one of my more startling efforts but time beat me - hope she likes it enough to give to her dear Husband!
Challenges -
Craft Us Crazy - Masculine
PaperPlay -  Man's Card
Fab n Funky - Magnificent Men
Here Come the Boys - Fathers/Hubby/Man

Finally.....

finished this card!

I borrowed this Birdcage stamp from Maureen before I went on holiday - and today I forced myself to sit down and finish the card. I had stamped the image direct onto several pieces of cardstock and then left them!

So as I have had a couple of hours free this afternoon I tried to make them up.

The background is brushed using Tumbled Glass and Spun Sugar Distress Inks and the branches around the edge were done by masking off part of an Elusive Images Stamp. I decoupaged the birdcage and coloured it using Petrol Blue promarker then after layering it up applied some Glossy Accents. It's really shiny in 'real life' and I am happy with the result!

I used a scrap strip of silver beads for the hanger of the cage and coloured some white flowers with the same promarker, finishing them off with some tiny gems.

The sentiment is by TLC.

I had a little trawl in blogland today and found the following challenges-

Shopping Our Stash - Unfinished Objects
Paper Sundaes - Let's get Sentimental
Charizma Cards - Something That Flies
OLLCB - Happy Birthday

Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes