Guest Designer at CAS on Friday

(if you are visiting to see my card for CAS Stencil, please scroll down to the next post!)

I was delighted to be asked to join the CAS on Friday team this week as their Guest Designer.

The theme for this challenge is 'Baby'.

I don't have call to make a lot of Baby cards and coupled with having to make it CAS was, I confess, a bit of a challenge!

I thought a bubble or bokeh effect might work well whilst keeping the card CAS so chose a Pink and Grey colourway for the Bokeh circles.

I used a stencil I made myself from some acetate for another project and  just used the smallest circle.

The pink colour is Spun Sugar and the Grey is a Metallic Silver (which really doesn't show up very well in the pic- but has a really pretty subtle shimmer to it in real life.)

Did a few ink splatters with the Spun Sugar ink.

I stamped our little elephant (from Lawn Fawn) in the same silver ink and clear embossed then coloured her in, before cutting her out with a stitched circle die.

The teeny heart is from the same set and the sentiment is LOTV.

The very talented design team have made some wonderful examples this week - I am honoured to be in such talented company! 

Sharing my little baby card over at
Creative Moments - A/Goes 
AAA - 1 image

A Commission!

Over the last couple of years I have rarely made any commissioned cards due to lack of time but a few months ago a close friend asked me to make her a baby card.
Her daughter had given up all hope of ever becoming a Mum so it was much excitement and trepidation all round when they got the news that she was expecting -  not least because in the normal course of things she was considered 'past the age' !!!
(In her 40's! -positively ancient 😲😲!!)

Baby Zach entered the world yesterday so I now can share the card.

I opted for a relatively simple card using an old image from Sugar Nellie - I have had this for a long time and it is one of my favourites - not least because I am pretty useless at shading and this stamp already has it.

Pearlised card used for it all - the embossed background was a piece I had cut out at some time and never used so I just tidied up the edges.
The oval (another odd piece of card!) is of course a Spellbinders die, and I inked the edges in Tumbled Glass DI.
Baby was coloured with Promarkers

The sentiment and the corners also inked were cut from some snippets of pearlised card.
The lace, ribbon and heart charm all from my stash.
Oh and here's Zach!

 Popping over to the Playground to see what everyone has been up to.

Also joining in at  
TIOT - Something Old (Image)/New (Baby!)
PB&M- New beginnings
Fab n Funky - New Beginnings
Cupcake Insp - New

We are having 2 new external doors fitted today - woke up to thick frost this morning - the poor workmen are frozen.... me - I'm tucked away in the Craftie Space at the top of the house with the heating on!! 
Oh and here's Zach!

Have a good day whatever you're doing! x

Just Hangin' Around

Flags and bunting out!!! It happened!! I got to spend a few hours today in my little craftie space! Not that I did much - LOL
Did a DT card so I am still a couple of months ahead with these (just so I don't get into a panic- or even worse get too busy and away too much to fulfil the commitment) and generally then just mooched about!
Am thinking of taking some stuff with me this trip away cos I am away for the whole month - even if I just colour some things up it will give me something to relax to?
So here is a little make

and 'cos I used some snippets for the branch and the flowers I'm going to the Playground! See all this spare time ( 1 whole day) has gone to my head...

Back to the card.
I used plain white cardstock and sponged a little blue ink on the top.
The embossed bottom was done using an embossing folder which I think was free with a mag, then just dabbed a little green ink on the grasses.

I cut the branch from a scrap of brown card then punched out the tiny flowers from pink scraps.

The image is of course LOTV, layered up onto foam pads and positioned over the branch.
Sentiment also LOTV.

Weather here has been awful today - I am hoping it improves for the month of the National Championships which start on Saturday (hence my being elsewhere for the month of August!)

Challenges -
Glitter n Sparkle - Use the letter 'B' (Baby, Bunny, Branch, Blue)
Crafty Sentiments - Baby
Fab n Funky - No Patterned papers
Aud Sentiments - Anything Goes with a sentiment
Fantastic Tuesday - Anything goes but Make it feminine

Thanks for visiting - off to do the ironing!Have a great time until I get chance to call in on you all (whatever you're doing!!) xx

Another Baby!

Have done a few different things the last couple of days - Mr Mojo went walkabout for a day or two so made a couple of CAS cards which I will share another time (sometimes it is easier for me to just do something plain and simple when my brain will not handle layers and layouts) and also once Mr Mojo put in a (very short) appearance, finished off the baby cards.

This LOTV image is from their 'Babies' Art Pad - (I have found these images a little 'foggy' for me so when ever I use one I always end up with the Distress Inks or promarkers out and colour them again!)
I cut the image out with the fancy oval dies then coloured the background with pastel chalk, I then decoupaged the baby and coloured it using the aforementioned DI's!
I added a wee bit of glamour dust to the bottom of the dress and to the Cross.
The Guipure lace was a Christmas present from a crafting buddy - it's so pretty and has a lovely shine to it.

The backing paper is from my stash (I think a Prima pad) as are the flowers and pearls.
Used a tag die for the sentiment and finished with a tiny white shoestring bow - and of course used up more papers to co ordinate the inside.
Challenges -
Creative Inspirations - Finished with a Bow
Crafters Cafe - New
Crafting By Designs - Anything Goes
S.O.S - Use something new (my lace)
Die Cut Divas - Anything goes (w/die)
Lil Patch of Crafty Friends - Anything Goes
Rubys Rainbow - What Santa Brought (Lace)
Inspiration Destination #15 - Anything Goes

Another CAS day I think for me today! Hope you all are having a great day. x

New

I am intending  to stick to my promise about no more paper buying and keep using up what I have use up what I have. I am not averse though to printing paper!!! But am not going to buy any as I have far too many paper packs which are largely unused and have decided that the less I spend on paper the more I can spend on stamps and other stuff!

Have been able to have crafty couple of days and am trying to swell the 'Pink' box - which for a lot of this year will be 'green' cos we've adopted  Macmillan this year as the County's charity, so I am intending to split the proceeds from the sales 60- 40  with the larger portion going to Macmillan for this bowling season. 

I have had a bit of a 'baby fest' as these are for the 'box' and here's the first of 3 finished yesterday.
I used some pastel chalk to take the white glare from the background and hopefully little 'rocking baby' stands out a bit more! He has been highlighted with Distress Inks and Promarkers to give the colours more definition.

The papers are by Nitwits (from my stash) and I found the letters in another (unused) paper pad! Attached them with a little wooden peg and popped on 3 blue buttons.
Finished off by continuing the papers inside (in an attempt to keep using!)
 Challenges -
Buckwells - Anything Goes
Cute Card Thursday - Anything Goes
That's Crafty - Blue
Gem of a Challenge - Something New
Dragons Lair - New Beginnings
Crafty Catz - Anything Goes

Another day in the crafty space for me today - have a great day whatever you're doing and if you've left me a comment or just called by, thank you! xx

Debby's Fave 5 and a time to reflect

Following from the Fave 5 Christmas Cards as always there is Debby's Fave 5 of the Year. If I thought choosing 5 from Christmas was bad choosing 5 from the year has been worse!! But here they are (and there's a special message from me to you all at the end of the post).
Am also joing Mynn over at 'On a Stampage'.

First up had to be this baby card (original post here) - am not a 'baby' person really but do like frilly and fancy (sometimes LOL) so when I was asked to make a card for a special arrival I turned to Pinterest (again!) for some inspiration and this was the result

Next is another fussy one! I love this sentiment - think it's so true-  original post here

Ok - so this one isn't a card - but it does rank amongst my faves so have included it! - original post here

A 'man' card - unusual for one to be amongst my faves - cos let's face it, we all hate making them! - original post here

  I have this year made quite a few CAS cards - out in blogland many have perfected this art of CUSP ('Completely Understated and Strikingly Perfect'!!) and I have become an avid follower of several blogs who make these gorgeous cards. Here is a 'case' from one - original post here

So that's it - another year has gone past. I hope 2014 has been good to you but if it hasn't may 2015 be better. For me it has largely been a good one, some lows but many highs. 

Sad today as it would have been my darling Mum's birthday - I miss her every single day and it's particularly hard when you can't share the 'highs'  - maybe that's why the sentiment on the second card means so much to me - it IS the little things (like sharing a cup of tea with your Mum) that make life so big.

Thank you for visiting me this year and I wish you all a 2015 filled with the 'little things'. xxx

Oh baby!

Have been working my way through a few commissions this week and this is one (can show it as the recipient doesn't do blogland!)

I had HUGE trouble taking a pic of this as it looked very peachy when in fact it is definitely PINK! And lots of it at that!

I stitched the polka dot paper with a zig zag stitch- am getting better with the sewing machine - albeit slowly!
The wide lace was from my stash and I've had it for absolute eons - stitched that then added a smaller picot edge lace to the right.
Hid the join with the pink ribbon which I wrapped round and tied into a bow.
Stuck it all down onto the white base card.

The shoes were made from a template downloaded from the internet and the card was inspired by a similar one I found on Pinterest.
I cut a base from the same paper, layered the inside with white then popped  up the top with foam pads which gave them a little dimension. Slightly distressed the top and bottom layer of the shoes edging in some Spun Sugar DI/

A pearl centred brad and a little lace finished the shoes and they were then glued onto the card.
Completed the card with some flowers from my stash, a few pearls and decorated the inside to match.

The new arrival- Xsara- is the latest addition to a family with two boys - I really liked the sentiment - 'One tiny baby, many happy hearts' - thought it fitted perfectly and I printed it out on the PC.

Challenges -
ABC - P for Pearls
Alphabet - L for Lace
Fussy & Fancy - Words
Deep Ocean - Lots of Layers
Bunny Zoe's - Stitching/Pearls/Sentiment
Whoopsi Daisy - Lots of Pink
Crafty Catz - Anything Goes
Fantastic Tuesday - Anything Goes

Thanks for taking the time to call in today - and I hope the sun is still shining where you are! x

Cluck Cluck!!

I suppose you can all be forgiven for thinking I am becoming the proverbial 'mother hen' as this will be the second baby card in as many days...........Now those that know me know how I feel about 'little bundles of joy' - great - as long as they belong to someone else and I can view pictures only....... so the title of this post is NOT a reference to me being broody I can assure you! LOL

THIS is how I like my babies - on a rubber stamp!!!
In an attempt to even up the scales after the blue card yesterday here's a pink girly one!
I actually do adore this little LOTV baby stamp - think it's a real cutie complete with a comfort blanket and this card is another for the 'Pink' box.

I paper pieced the blanket, hat and little body suit and coloured the rest with promarkers.
I randomly sponged some Spun Sugar DI on the background and also on the nestie 'frame' as although the white looked OK I wanted to try and achieve a softer effect.
The sentiment is also from LOTV stamped in Victorian Velvet DI
An embossed background and some pink/white Bakers twine and a tiny pink button finished it all off.
CAS but not too bad I think?

Challenges -
Love to Create - Buttons
SFC - Embossing
LIM  (2nd go!) - Baby
Little Red Wagon - CAS
Nutcrafters - CAS
Totally Papercrafters - Paper Piecing
Crafting By Designs - Get your Girl On

So that's all the baby gooey stuff from me for a while I think! Thanks for popping in! x

New!

This may not be the only post today - you have been warned!! LOL
I had a quick flurry yesterday and made some CAS cards - a lady at the Club bought a lot of cards from the 'Pink' box on Saturday -  I needed to make up the stash - so a few quick makes were in order!
It's not often I used coloured card as a base as I always think that my makes look 'flat' but decided to give it another go.
So I made a Baby card (well a few actually but am only sharing one at the mo!) Others will no doubt follow later......

Just a plain simple little new baby boy card done in pale blue cardstock and some scraps of patterned and spotty paper from the snippets pile.
(So will be popping this into the playground this week).
I added a shoestring bow and the sentiment is from LOTV stamped in versafine ink.
The pram was a clear stamp but no idea where I got it from!
I popped a tiny pale blue pearl in the centre of the flower and then die cut and layered it using foam pads.
One of the quickest cards I've ever made I think - am still unsure about the plain background. Think that as I've got used to using linen textured card for CAS I am missing the depth it gives. I considered embossing but ended up leaving it plain!

Challenges -
Less Is More - New baby
ATCAS - New
Stampavie - New Beginnings
Creative Creations - Less Is More
Kaboodle Doodles - Use Blue
SOS - Winter Blues
TIOT - Celebrations

Thanks for visiting! x

New Arrival!

I was asked to make a couple of cards for a new baby - one though was with a twist.... instead of the card being for the parents/grandparents it was for the new arrival's older sister. I thought this was a lovely idea!
The little girl could then also feel that she was well and truly included in the excitement of the happy addition to her little family and also could show off her own card along with those received by her Mum and Dad.
Having done the 'fussy and fancy' OTT bit with the parents card, I opted for something a little bit simpler  - (and much quicker!)

Using a white scalloped edged card, I tried to continue the scallop theme with the addition of the punched border at the top, layering it onto pink and then tying some of my new pink and white Baker's Twine around.
The greeting was computer generated printed directly to card.

The digi image I bought in one of those 'that'll do for a rush job' moments last year and was printed out a few times, decoupaged and I added a tiny bit of glamour dust to the stars. 

Annabelle's new sister has now arrived safe and sound I am told - and more to the point Annabelle was more excited about showing off her 'very own' card instead of the family's new baby!
Challenges
A Gem of a Challenge - Something New
Crafty Sentiments - New
Oldie but Goodie - New Beginnings
Digi Makeover - Something New
Use your Stuff - New Beginnings
Come & Get It - Something New

Weather here has been too bad for me to take any photos of other completed projects so am hoping that the clouds disappear for a little while tomorrow! Thanks for your visit - appreciate it. x

Cutie

Quick post from me to share a commissioned New Baby card.
And also to apologise if I don't get round to visiting you over the next 2 weeks - cos today is the day we leave this wet and windy weather and fly off to HOT, HOT, HOT!!!!
Will try and pop in from time to time, as am sure I'll be wanting a little bit of shade at some time in between the drinks with umbrellas in and sleeping on the hammock!!

This image just makes me smile every time I see it - I am in NO way maternal but there's something about the 'folds' in baby's skins isn't there - squidgy hands and feet!!

Coloured with promarkers and cut out with the Radiant Rectangles dies, layered onto blue cardstock before assembling onto spotty and striped background papers.

All the dies were cut from pearl white card and as usual cut some corners with what has to be my most used die set!
Lace and ribbon rose trim from my stash.

The sentiment was computer generated and I added a few pearls (as always!!) and followed the theme into the inside, using the same papers.

Challenges -
ABC - V for Very Cute

Clear it Out - Boys/Dies
Just Inspirational - Die Cuts
Oldie but a Goodie - Dies
Cutie Pie - Cute for Boys

Well that's me done - some posts for my DT scheduled whilst I'm away so fingers crossed Mr Blogger behaves and loads them for me!
See you in a couple of weeks! xx

Hello Baby!

I've had a real nice week - been away for a couple of days playing - first in York then on to  Cumbria for the Ladies Festival. The weather was hot but bearable (just!), had lots of laughs with my teamies and we won the Fours competition on Tuesday! Sadly, though playing Monday and Tuesday did nothing for the neck and shoulder condition and although I gave it another go on Wednesday I have suffered since! So have spent today doing not a lot at all. (Any excuse.....)
All in all though despite all the aches, pains and crunching of bones one of my better weeks!!

I also found time before I went away to do a 'rush job' on a new baby card for one of my team mates to give to a work friend. 
Done in a mega hurry don't think it's turned out too bad! And she thought it was fab!

As time was at a premium it had to be CAS - Basic white linen card ran through the favourite and much used Swiss Dots embossing folder then layered onto pale pink.
The pram was inspired by an idea over on Pinterest (where else???? LOL) and is simple to do by just cutting two different sized nestie circles and chopping them in half!

I edged both with some pink and white lace from the stash and added a couple of fabric roses.
The wheels were also cut using a scalloped edge nestie, a circle punch and a tiny flower punch. Layered them all together and popped a pink pearl in the middle.

Handle of the pram was a nestie label die which I chopped up to get the required shape!
LOTV stamp greeting and some pink organza ribbon finished it all off.
AND - as I used up the 'left-overs' from the main piece of card after embossing for the pram I'm sneaking over the wall into the Crafty Playground very late this week..... and tip toeing past the swings before I get locked out!

Challenges -
CRAFT - For the Girls
Milk Coffee - Emboss It
Paper Crafting Journey - Punches and Die Cuts
Die Cutting Divas - Twice is Nice
ALBC - Die-ing for it  

Hope you've all had a great week! Off now to catch up with you all. x