Ducks!

A quick post with a quick card - off for an eye test then a trip down the M6 - overnight stop in a nice hotel in Leamington Spa ( courtesy of a free voucher given to us by the hotel from a previous stay and it includes a 2 course evening meal!)

Lots of Spring and Easter themes about - just wish our weather would realise it is Spring - perfect for ducks at the mo with all this rain!
Card really is quite basic but I liked the image and the stripey papers were out on my desk!

Image from A Day For Daisies, coloured with Distress Inks, papers and twine from my stash, a couple of punched out flowers with pearls and a punched scalloped border all made with the leftover snippets - job done!

Challenges -

MTTC - Easter Animals
Crafty Boots - Easter
OLLCB - Easter
Challenge up your Life - Easter.
Glitter n Sparkle - Easter
Crafts 4 Eternity - Easter

That's it - got to dash - on the way out am popping into the Playground to say goodbye before I go on my little trip! Thanks for dropping by today. x

Spring has disappeared!

We've gale force winds and heavy rain this morning - what a contrast from Wednesday when it was such a beautiful warm Spring day - my poor daffodils in the tub outside are being battered to death in the wind!

It's a while since I have managed to submit anything for the Less Is More Challenge but during the week I promised myself that today I would enter the challenge - Mr Mojo has stubbornly refused to be co-operative this week so have made very little, although thankfully there are a few in the drafts folder made for the Macmillan day which I've not yet shared and this 'case'd' card was one of them.

We could choose 3 previous challenges so mine are

Week 212- Wings, Week 194- Little Creatures and Week 173 - Add a Die Cut

The stamp is from SU's Simply Sketched coloured with Distress Inks and the dies are from the fancy rectangle set.

I love this little bird - and have used it a lot! 

Sympathy Cards are those kinds of things we hope we never had to send but I always have some in my own stash box.

Other challenges -

Whimsy Stamps - Use a Die Cut

Time Out - CAS

Addicted to Stamps - Make Your Mark

Hope the weather is being kind to you - have a great weekend. x

Eggstra!

A choccie type post today and not a card!
Saw this  on Pinterest - made these from a template by Mel - found here. She has tons of fab templates for everything imaginable! She made one of these to give to a friend who was moving into a new home - and she filled the inside with bird seed for her friends new bird table - Thought that was a really nice idea and  think that it could be adapted for anything with the right filling.

'Cos it's nearly Easter I filled mine with mini eggs. I sold quite a few at Macmillan Day but have two left - the eggs are looking at me so I'm probably going to eat them........LOL
The 'houses' are made from one sheet of card. The left overs of the sheet after cutting out the basic shape I used to make the 'boards' for the front. The roof pieces are 3" wide offcuts from A4 card which I had used to make a set of small notecards with - so am hopping across to the Playground this week.

I used a crackle stamp on the 'roof' in a sepia colour - it really doesn't show very well in the pics but I didn't want anything too overpowering, but think it would have been OK in a darker colour.
Like Mel advised I ran a white ink stamp along the edge of the 'boards' on the front to give a slightly weathered look.
The sentiment stamp for the tag was a freebie from a mag some time ago and I simply cut it with a label nestie die.
Used a different variety of string, ribbon and twine to make the bows on the tops to secure. 

They were really simple to make and made a change from cards - if I have one comment though - I had a devil of a job making the 'roof' stick properly - tried everything - glue, double sided tape, tiny cut and loop velcro pieces. In the end I stuck (excuse the pun) with the double sided tape - wasn't perfect but I figured that it would be getting ripped off soon enough anyway to get at the contents! (You know your own tricks best don't you???? LOL)

Challenges -
All Crafts - Anything but a Card
Not Just Cards - Anything Goes
Fresh Brewed - Eggs
Challenge up your Life - Easter
Choc, Coffee and Cards - Something Yummy
Simply Create Too - Easter
Dream Valley - Easter
Papertake Weekly - A cut above

It's a really weird day here - rain and grey skies first thing this morning, then sunshine, we have just had a SNOW shower would you believe and now we have a bright blue sky! 
Thanks for looking in - have a great day. x

Fly

If you managed to get a look at the eclipse this morning in your part of the world I am envious - we had lots of very thick cloud here so all that happened was it went a little darker!
Quite cool too which is such a contrast to yesterday when I had an hour out minus a jumper and in a 't' shirt!

A man card to share done in super quick time.
Blue cardstock randomly stamped with a really old diamond background stamp inked in Versafine Majestic Blue.
Image is from a 'man' set of Vintage transport by Flonzcraft, same ink and layered onto the offcut of the background card.
The banner is a piece of ribbon -  I wanted to use it as it was the only piece of bright coloured dark blue ribbon that I had in my stash - but it was too thin so I simply stuck some double sided tape down one edge and joined two pieces together to make a wide piece!

Challenges -
Crafty Catz - No Designer paper
Crafting by Design - Masculine
Crafty Creations - Stripes or Chevrons
Cardz 4 Guyz - CAS
Time Out - CAS
Southern Girls - Boys

Thanks for looking today - it's raining here now so a perfect reason to sit in the craftie space and have a little trawl through blogland! xx

Is Spring finally here?

A lovely day here today - and why is it that when the weather is good you always perk up and seem to have more energy??!!

To mark the start of what appears to be Spring (finally) in my little corner of the world, here's an Easter/Spring type card!
This was a quick one made for the Macmillan stash.

A bit of a mish mash here - images from several different places, two coloured with promarkers,one pre coloured digi and a computer generated sentiment.
White squares are snippets of textured linen and to make sure I cut them all the same size I used a small square nestie - my straight cutting is not the best even when measured with a ruler!
Just layered them all onto  snippets of green card.
The background green gingham paper is another old one from the stash layered onto the same green card.
Before mounting it all onto the base card I used up the last bit of this lovely green ruffle ribbon  then once glued added 3 green pearls.
Snippets used so another visit to the Playground for me!(Well the sun is shining isn't it!)

Challenges -
Clear It Out - Easter/Pastel
Creative Card Crew - Easter Critters
Ribbon Girls - Going Green
Passion 4 Promarkers - Check It Out (Gingham etc)
Dream Valley - Easter
Fantastic Tuesday A/Goes and Square
and over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday's Challenge  there is a gorgeous Inspiration picture which I am having the WORST time trying to show here - so please follow the link!
Hope the sun now stays out for a few days wherever you are! xx

Relaxing Sunday

After a whirlwind (but brilliantly enjoyable) 36 hours across Friday and Saturday - I am having a 'chill out' day!Lovely pre-wedding meal at a fab hotel on Friday night, then a very early start Saturday morning for a civil ceremony within the stunning setting of St Georges Hall at 10am, followed by pastries etc back at the hotel before the newly married couple hopped into a taxi on the start of their trip to the Maldives.
A very small and intimate affair, just 7 of us altogether (them, us, the grooms 2 grown up children and a girlfriend!) -  it was all the more special for that. They're having two small celebrations with their respective families  who live a considerable distance away from each other when they come back!
So here's my share for today -

The papers are very very old - that old I have no idea where they're from!
The darker green piece is two off cuts and I just juggled about positioning it with it so that I got a larger piece to the right and little teen scrap peeping out from the left.
Used some scrap hessian for a 'rustic' feel (cheated a bit with this too cos it's in two pieces - the space is hidden behind the image!)
Highlighted the LOTV image with promarkers and matted onto green card then punched two holes and added metal eyelets.
String threaded through and tied using a metal rimmed clock button for the bow centre.
A tiny metal fish charm tied from the string and positioned onto the top of the sentiment (a freebie from TLC) which was printed onto Kraft then die cut. Two corners punched using the remanants of the die cut piece.
Popping into the Playground this week (been absent but have good excuses which I hope Miss will accept....LOL)

Other Challenges -
Di's Digi's - Green
Challenge Up Your Life - Masculine
Crafting When We Can - Hobby/Activity
Cardz 4 Guyz - Hobbies
City Crafter - Keys/Time

 Oh and of course I couldn't finish the post without a couple of pics from yesterday!

Have a great day whatever you're doing. x

Layers of Pink

A vintage frothy pinky creation to share today.
Base is normal white card and the papers are from Raspberry Road all printed onto linen textured card.
I overstamped the background with Tattered Rose DI using a flourish stamp from the Stempelglede Vintage Garden set.

The floral background was overstamped with a large script stamp from Indigo Blu in Versafine Smokey Grey, stamping the first time onto a scrap then stamping again onto the rose paper to give the faded look.
Both distressed, Tattered Rose DI used then stitched.

A piece of hand dyed ribbon across the middle before adding the metal pendant. The centre of the metal pendant is a resin cameo style rose.
I added two scraps of scalloped lace to the card and then placed the main image on top after wrapping a bit of pink trim round.

Maybe it would have been nice to be dressed so elegantly like this lovely lady instead of my usual t shirt and jeans although am not sure I would have liked the undergarments which pinched in your waistline quite so much!
A couple of my normal pearls to finish and the papers continued inside.

Some friends are tying the knot on Saturday - they've been together for a long time but decided to make it legal! (Very)small wedding, them, us and their grown up children - that's it! Looking forward to enjoying a pre wedding dinner party on Friday night at an upmarket (and very posh!)  hotel), an overnight stop then an early morning ceremony before they fly off to exotic climes for a long honeymoon.... if I can sneak into their cases I will!!!
The lovely pic of the roses is the Inspiration Photo from the Shabby Tea Room challenge this week

Other Challenges -
Crafting Musketeers- Ribbon/Pearls
Inky Impressions - Special Lady
In the Pink - Special Lady
Digi Galore - All About Her


Some friends are tying the knot on Saturday - they've been together for a long time but decided to make it legal!
(Very)small wedding, them, us and their grown up children - that's it!
Looking forward to enjoying a pre wedding dinner party on Friday night at an upmarket (and very posh!)  hotel, an overnight stop then an early morning ceremony before they fly off to exotic climes for a long honeymoon.... if I can sneak into their cases I will!!!
Have a great weekend whatever you're doing. x

Another week!

The days after my last post were busy just finishing off bits for the Macmillan Coffee morning at the Club on Saturday. Just 2 hours Saturday morning saw us raise £480!
So added to donations already received we've now just over £1,000 and with two more events (both bowling comps) in July and September still to come I am hoping for a mega amount by the end of our season and our Charity year.

A little pic of the specially bought hoodie which is going to be worn a lot this year - the pic was taken whilst I was setting up the table.
I have a quiet couple of days before our friends wedding at the weekend and will be catching up with what I've missed over the last few days!

Card to share -  I have used this Day for Daisies image such a lot - just think it is serene (and I need some of that after a manic few weeks!)
I coloured it with Promarkers and rubbed some pastel chalk in a light beige/pink colour around it to remove the stark white.
Simply stitched onto a co ordinating piece of card.
White base card, then the same colour card then stitched the patterned paper (from my stash).
Wrapped some lace round another scrap piece from the stash box, added a paper doily then the main iamge.
The flowers are some old stash secured with a couple of brads and some punched out leaves.

The bird cage charm was a 'must' addition and it also had to have the smallest shoestring ribbon bow and the usual pearls! Sentiment is from TLC and inside decorated to match.

Challenges -
Fussy & Fancy - Ribbons and Lace 
RRR - Flowers and Ribbon
Lil Patch of  Crafty Friends - Anything Goes
Buckwells - Flowers
Ecletic Ellapu (Pink team) - Anything Goes
Sentimental Sunday - Lace and Pearls
CAGI - 3embellies(flowers,charm, pearls), 2 papers, 1 image

Thanks for calling in, have a great week. x

Silent Woods?

I was delighted to be asked to do another Guest DT spot over at Crafting by Designs for this 'Anything Goes' challenge after being featured in their January spotlight. I hope that you will come along and join in.

Regular visitors will know that I make all kinds of stuff ranging from the 'Clean and Simple' to the 'Pile On As Much As Possible'.
This card is the latter (although I COULD have added more but restricted myself!).
I used Cream base card instead of my usual white and have had this stamp for a while but this is the first time it has seen ink. As Spring is technically almost upon us it seemed apt to use it!

I coloured it with Distress Inks then just cut round the edge.
The background paper is from Raspberry Road, stitched and distressed with Antique Linen DI.
I added some lace from my stash and a paper doily before putting the main image on.
The flower started it's life as cream coloured but it was too pale so I coloured it with Scattered Straw and Wild Honey DI.
The leaves were cut from some lace and coloured with Shabby Shutters.

The wooden birdcage is from Maya Road and again was dyed with DI - Walnut Stain. I plaited some twine for a hangar and finished off with some pearls and then decorated the inside to match.
The sentiment is also from the Raspberry Road 'Simply Amazing' collection.

Other Challenges -
Thanks for popping by today. Have a great day whatever you're doing. x