Another birthday...

I'm still not getting any free time to make cards for fun yet and still haven't inked up my new Magnolia stamps yet, but I did have to make time to make this birthday card a few days ago:

For this card I followed a sketch from the Papertake Weekly Challenge blog:

As the image was quite large, I used an 8" x 8" card blank. The image is a House Mouse stamp that I bought from the Big Stamp Show at Alexandra Palace, it was coloured in with Lyra Polycolour Pencils. The papers are all from Pink Petticoat and I printed them all in the same colour. The blue circles are Card Candy from Craftwork Cards, as is the sentiment.

Lili of the valley challenge!

I am back with another card as it was my nieces birthday this week. I bought the Lili of the Valley stamp of a horse and girl especially for her card as she loves horses. I decided to follow the sketch of the Lili of the Valley challenge blog to make the card as it saved me having to plan it first! I haven't entered a challenge for a while so it's nice to get the chance.

The stamp is from Lili of the Valley and it was coloured in with Promarkers. Unfortunately the sketch had an oval image but I wasn't able to get this image into an oval so I hope the rectangle will be okay! I mounted the image onto pink pearlised card cut with a scallop rectangle Nestabilities die. The patterned papers are from a 6"x6" Making Memories pad and the scalloped border was cut with an X-Cut Border Punch. The flowers are all Prima with a small yellow brad in the middle and the pink dots are Craftwork Cards Card Candy.

Finally, here is the sketch I (mostly) followed:

I do have an excuse...!

I am so sorry (again) that it has been far too long since I updated my blog. I have really missed my craft things in the last few weeks and I have several new Magnolia stamps to play with too! I shall share my excuse with you in a minute, but first I have one more card to share from April.

I made this card for my Mum and Dads Anniversary. It was a bit rushed so I kept it quite simple. The stamped image is a Penny Black rubber stamp called Good Cheer that I bought from The Glitter Pot. I coloured the image with Lyra Pencils and blended the pencil with Zest-it. The lilac and blue cardstock mats are Core'dinations card, the hearts edge was made by a Martha Stewart border punch called Valentine Lace, and the purple dots in the corners are Craftwork Cards Card Candy. The patterned paper is unknown I'm afraid as it came with a scrapbook kit. Finally, the sentiment stamp is also a Penny Black one.

Now, here is my reason for being so busy lately...

Meet Harry, our 11 week old Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Puppy! He is wonderful but it's like having a toddler, we have to watch what he's up to all of the time! This photo is him eating grass in the garden, usually he tries to eat stones in the garden or dirt. I am from a family of cat lovers so owning a dog is a new experience for me. We looked into different breeds of dogs that could be a companion for our children and were amazed once we found out about Cavaliers, they are so friendly and were bred to be companion dogs so they are perfect!

"Dad" Birthday Card

Two weeks ago it was my Dads birthday and I hadn't made the card in advance so I had to make it on the day. There was a bit of pressure as I had to make it by a certain time but I soon decided on the Chef and Cake stamps and they were luckily easy to colour quickly so it wasn't too bad in the end. When I look at the card, I feel as if it's missing something, but then again, my Dad isn't really into pretty things so I couldn't add flowers or too many gems!

The stamps are Magnolia Chef Edwin and Cake. I stamped them and coloured them with Promarkers before cutting them out. I mounted them with foam tape to a background cut with a Nestabilities die, which I coloured with a blue distress ink pad. The harlequin background is a piece of blue Core'dinations Whitewash cardstock which I embossed with a Sizzix Texturz Plate then sanded to reveal the colour. The mat of blue cardstock under it is Core'dinations. The letters that spell "dad" were cut with a Sizzix Embosslits Pink Lemonade Alphabet die and the sentiment is a Craftwork Cards message. Finally, the glitter dots are from a Papermania pack.

Boys Football Card

Finally for the cards I made in March is one for my nephew who loves football:

I used a 6x6" square card and used an Elzybells rubber stamp for the footballer, which I coloured in with Copics. I matted the image onto red and black pearlised paper which I embossed with a Cuttlebug embossing folder. I used a Martha Stewart rings border punch to cut a decorative strip for the middle of the card, which I wrapped striped ribbon around. I used a football sheet of 12x12" paper (cut to size!) for the background but this is quite old so I don't know who made it! I then finished the card with an "8" candle cut with a Quickutz Die, corners cut with an EK Success punch and a Craftwork Cards "Oh my Words" Sentiment.

I'm back with a catch-up for March!

I have been a bad blogger, sorry! March flew by quickly, the I had an operation last week so have been recovering. Anyway, I thought I would post the cards that I made in March first to catch up...

It's not a great photo I'm afraid but it's the only one I took. I made some cards for the Do-Crafts cards for Cancer Research UK. I tried to make fairly quick and simple cards as they are being sold for £1 so I didn't want to use very expensive embellishments. On the pink card I used a Penny Black rubber stamp and a Craftwork Cards sentiment. On the lilac card I used an Anya stamp from The Greeting Farm and a Craftwork Cards sentiment for speed.

These two cards were also put into the Do-Crafts charity bags and taken to my local Cancer Research shop. The brown squares card was from a Papermania boxed set of cards. I used a Funstamps rubber stamp for the bear and coloured it in with Copics and the sentiment was a rubber stamp too. On the blue card, the image is from an Elzybells rubber stamp, coloured with Koh-i-noor pencils, and the border is cut with a Martha Stewart Deep Edger Punch.

Mothers Day Card

For the second part of the March catch-up, here is the Mothers Day card I made for my Mum:

I started off with a large 8" x 8" square card from Craftwork Cards. The image is a Lili of the Valley rubber stamp, it was coloured with Lyra Polycolour Pencils and was cut with an Oval Nestabilities Die. I then cut a mat for it with a Scalloped Oval Nestabilities Die. The pattered paper is from the Forever Friends Pink Parfait pad and the card is Bazzill Dotted Swiss and textured. The pearls are Prima e.line and the flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts (they were white and I coloured them to match the card).

What a week!

Again it feels like I've neglected my blog but I just haven't had the time to craft! We had a hectic week as we had a Tribunal this week against the education department to get a place for our son at a special school in another county. It went really well and we won!

I couldn't even get near my workspace as it was too untidy but last night I spent a few hours re-organising my craft cupboard so everything would fit in and be easy to grab too. So now I should be able to squeeze in a bit more craft time in between sorting out the house and changing furniture!

Anyway, to give me a head-start, here is a card that I made last week:

The card is a 5x5" size and had to be made as once I mounted this cute stamp, I had to stamp it and colour in the image! The image is C.C. Designs Swiss Pixie called "Miss Rosalie with Roses" from Quixotic Paperie. I coloured it in with Promarkers which is a change for me and added some stickles glitter glue to the roses which doesn't really show here. I used a Martha Stewart edger punch called Hydrangeas to edge the card and brushed a little Distress Ink on the sides. The sentiment stamped on the tag is from Whimsy Stamps, also from Quixotic Paperie.

Valentines Bag

I am a bit late for this post, I made a Valentines Bag a week ago for the Elzybells challenge to create a Valentines treat/gift but I have been neglecting my blog a bit as there's still so much to do in our new home!

I made the bag using two nestabilities scalloped hearts. I cut a strip of card and scored a line along each side before folding it into a v-shape. I then added double sided tape along the scored edges and attached the hearts. I then used my Martha Stewart punch to make the handle and finally cut a Nestabilities heart for the front of the bag.

I used all Elzybells stamps on this; the Mini Tags clear set for the tag and sentiment; the heart was from the Hey Cupcake clear set; and the flowers are the very cute Mini Daisy Trio.

Valentines!

I made this card yesterday but added a touch more colour to the image today as it looked a bit lost on such a bright card! It is a Valentines card, but the "Happy Valentines Day" sentiment is on the inside as I had to use the sentiment on the front that worked well with the image.

The Stamps are all Penny Black. The main image is from a new Penny Black clear set called "Piece of My Heart" from The Glitter Pot and is coloured in with Lyra Polycolour Pencils. I used a 6x6" card and used a mat of black smooth cardstock with some Karen Foster "My Heart" 12x12" paper from Whoops a Daisy. I then used some more Bazzill 12x12" smooth card in red and black which was just 35p, again from my local craft shop called Whoops a daisy.

The mat for the image was cut with a circle Nellies Multi-Frame Die and the heart borders were cut with a Martha Stewart Valentine Lace Border Punch. I added Prima e.line pearls in red and black and a heart pin from my blog friend Jane (thank you Jane!) that is threaded through hearts which are cut with a Martha Stewart Scalloped Heart Punch.

This card hopefully qualifies for two blog challenges this week (I am on a roll for me!!)... First of all, the challenge this week on Penny Black Saturday Challenge is to use "Pins and Pearls". Secondly, on the Lily of the Valley Challenge Blog, the theme is Valentines, unfortunately I didn't own a LOTV stamp that was suitable for my husbands Valentines card, but luckily it's not essential.

Whiff of Joy Baby Love

Here is the card I made yesterday. This week on the Whiff of Joy Challenge Blog the theme is "Love" and I thought this stamp shows so much motherly love (the most important kind!), hopefully it will still count so I can enter.

The image is from a Whiff of Joy Stamp called Willow Holding Baby. I think the image is so pretty and elegant. I coloured the image in with Copics and mounted it onto a pink mat from a Making Memories 6x6" pad that co-ordinates with the background. I cut a lattice border with a Martha Stewart String Lattice Edger Punch and added some Making Memories ribbon. Finally I added some Prima Flowers called Painterly Petals and some Prima e.line pearls.

Fairy Happy Birthday!

After making the monochrome card, I went for a cute one. The stamped fairy is a stamp by The Greeting Farm called Fairy Chloe. I cut it out with a Circle Nestabilities die and mounted it onto lilac card cut with a Scalloped Circle Nestabilities Die. The background papers are from a Making Memories 6x6" pad, the gemstones are from The Hobby House and the sentiment is from a Whiff of Joy set called Fairy Useful Sayings.

Now I'm up to date with last weeks cards, I will have to take a photo of the card I made yesterday and bring my blog right up to date. Maybe I'll try and squeeze in another card tonight too!

Monochrome

I received my order of some new Quickutz Dies recently so I decided to try out a card with the Ballerina. I didn't have anyone specific in mind for this die but I'd liked it for ages so thought I should make a card with it soon to warrant the purchase!

I cut it out on some Papermania adhesive velvet to make the silhouette so then went with a monochrome theme. I used a 6x6" card and some Pink Petticoat papers (so it didn't look too messy, I actually lined up the swirls on the black and white papers). I then added Prima pearls and gems, black cord, 2 white bows (thank you Jane!), and a Craftwork Cards sentiment.

New Baby Card

First of all, I have a baby card to share with you. Our neighbours had a baby girl almost two weeks ago and this is the card I made for them. Sorry I'm so late posting it!

I used a Forever Friends baby stamp, I think this was coloured with Derwent Coloursoft pencils (I cheated and used one from my box of images coloured in!). I mounted it onto Craftwork Cards pearlescent papers which are then on a 6x6" card with pink pearlescent paper with a panel of DCWV baby cardstock and a border of pink cardstock cut with a Fiskars "Threading Water" border punch. I finished the card with four pink pearls on the image and three flowers in the corner which were from a cheap pack in The Range with a couple of leaves punched with an EK Success punch.

Time for a catch-up!

It's been far too long since my last post, I am so sorry! We moved house 10 days before Christmas and there has been so much to do and being so busy really took it's toll on my M.E. and I've been exhausted. Anyway, a few days ago I finally got round to making my first card in our new house and it was so good to be back!

First of all though, it's time for a catch-up with the Christmas cards, so here goes...

First of all, this is the Christmas card I made for my husband. I loved this stamp so I bought it especially for this card. I might just have to use it for several years to make it worthwhile though!! The image is a Magnolia stamp and I bought the matching Magnolia Mistletoe paper to go with it. I used an A5 card blank as I like this size and a little green glitter paper to break up the background. The image was coloured with Lyra pencils and I used a Penny Black "Merry Christmas" stamp for the sentiment. The flowers are Prima flowers and the hearts border was made with a Martha Stewart "Valentine Lace" edger punch.

Next, I made this Christmas card for my daughter. She loves lilac and sparkly things so it had to have glitter card and lots of lilac. The image is an Elzybells rubber stamp that has been coloured in with Copics. I went around it with a blue chalk pencil afterwards. The sentiment is also from Elzybells. The tree border along the bottom is white glitter paper cut with an EK Success slim edger border punch.

Finally,this card I made for my son at Christmas. The image is from a Lili Of The Valley rubber stamp. I *Love* this stamp! It had sold out when I first tried to buy it so I was really pleased to get it in the end. I coloured it with my Lyra pencils and blended it with Zest-It which has now replaced my Sansodor as I found that the bottle can get a bit messy. The green paper was from a Papermania pack I bought the year before, it's so handy as I feel that I don't need a sentiment stamp when using that. I felt that the card turned out a bit too grown-up but in the end didn't have time to make a new one from scratch so had to give it to my son.