Thursday 30 May 2013

There's always room for more birthday cake

The theme today at As You Like It Challenge is to use your favourite rubber stamp.  The idea is that we all tend to forget our old favourites sometimes, and so this is a great excuse to dig out that stamp you cannot possibly live without, and remind yourself why you love it!

I've gone back to my stamping roots, as my first introduction to rubber stamps was Penny Black and so I always have a soft spot for these critters.  My favourite characters are the hedgehogs and mice, so I've chosen an image that features one of each character.

I've softly water-coloured my image with my Distress Ink reinkers, and I've used my favourite papers (again) from Papermania (Lucy Cromwell), (current) favourite nestie (floral ovals), and two of my favourite dies (Lavish Branch and Corner bow).


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Wednesday 29 May 2013

Kept Safe

The theme today at ABC Christmas Challenge is Kept Safe, so I've had to dig down to the bottom of my Christmas stash box to find something long forgotten!

I did find a few things that I've not used for a while, and amongst them was a small bag of resin holly leaves that I have had for years. Unfortunately I had ripped off the top of the bag which presumably had the manufacturer's name on it, so I can't tell you who makes them, but I think they are 'Dress it Up' buttons.

I've kept the card quite C&S (this is C&S for me anyway), but couldn't resist adding a big red bow held on by one of my favourite pearl brads.  Unfortunately I didn't have the right shade of red card for the matting layers, so I used white and coloured them with R05 Copic to get a lovely bright red for the die cut border for the green spotty panel, and also for behind the image, edged with green ink pad.



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Tuesday 28 May 2013

I've Fallen Under Your Spell

The theme today at Top Tip Tuesday is numbers.

It was my wedding anniversary last week, and hubster is most insistent that when I make him a card I should not put any kind of cute bear on it whatsoever.  (he spoils all my fun!!).

So, this card has no bears.  I've also kept it C&S so it doesn't have much else on it in the way of embellies either!!

Unfortunately for me, hubby likes zombies, collecting vintage razors, and fantasy / sci-fi books.  Since I think neither zombies or shaving are very romantic for an anniversary card, my card has a fantasy / magical theme.

My typed sentiment says 'I've fallen under your spell' which was the most romantic spell-themed sentiment I could conjure up !!

'Conjure', get it !?

I'll get my coat......


Now as it happens, hubby (who can never remember my birthday but is usually very reliable at remembering when we got married) forgot it was our wedding anniversary until 10pm the night before.  By then the local petrol station / Spar shop was shut so he had to admit that he'd not got me an anniversary card to give me the next day.  He seemed more upset about it than I was, probably because I had already assumed he had forgotten because he'd not mentioned it.  Although I was secretly hoping he was going to surprise me with something nice!!!)

Anyway, he was so upset that when he got home from work the next evening (our anniversary night), he spent an hour at my craft desk using my stuff to make me a card using an image he'd found on the internet.

So when I got home from work later that evening, knowing I like pink and blue (and bears) he handed me this:


He said that colouring it took him ages, and also made his eyes "go funny", so he doesn't think he'll be doing it again.  But he was rather proud of it as a first attempt at card making, especially when I said I'd rather have him make one than buy one from the shops.  :0)




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My Card Recipe (sorry I've no idea where hubby's image comes from to give credit):
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Monday 27 May 2013

Star Struck

OK, after the last could of attmpts at C&S over the weekend, I'm back to my normal style with a 'just for fun' card today using Mimi Stars from StampFairy.

I've used papers from my favourite pad, and have been practising my water colour painting with my DI reinkers again.  I think I went a bit mad with the yellow, but at least it brings some sunshine into the colour scheme!  She's also printed in grey to soften the lines of the image.

I tried to complement the blue and yellow of the image with the colours of the flowers too.




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Card Recipe:
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Sunday 26 May 2013

Basketful of Love

Today's card for The Stamp Basket features another Molly Blooms stamp, but this time it's a real C&S style.  I've just used an image, papers, some pearls and a bit of flowersoft.  The papers were so pretty and ornate that I wanted them to form my background for the image.

It kind of feels unfinished, but hopefully you'll like her.



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Saturday 25 May 2013

Day Dreaming

My card for The Stamp Basket today features one of the new Molly Blooms images and some gorgeous springtime papers.

I started off by trying not to cover up most of the paper with embellishments, and I think I failed miserably! (pop back tomorrow for another attempt!)

Just to let you know too that there's a Party Celebration going on at The Stamp Basket for the Bank Holiday weekend, so pop over to take a peek at the special offers on until Tuesday 9am.




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Wednesday 22 May 2013

JIngle Bells Pickle

It's the mid way point of the 'Jingle Bells' challenge at ABC Christmas Challenge and I've got a cute  pingu card to share with you.  I've wanted this stamp for ages, after seeing it quite a lot last Christmas.  I finally got it from The Stamp Basket and this it its first inking.

I've kept the card quite simple, water-colouring the image with my DI reinkers, adding some glamour dust, a ribbon, some twine and a couple of dies.  The jingle bells are actual bells tied on with the twine and I've doodled some stitching around the edge of the image and sentiment panels.



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Tuesday 21 May 2013

Mimi Stars Box

Stampfairy are sponsoring Tuesday Morning Sketches today so I've made a card to support the theme.  It's also the mid way reminder of our challenge at Top Tip Tuesday which is Boxing Clever, so I've made a matching box to go with my card using the same backing papers.

I've painted my image in DI reinkers.   I've tried to create a soft wash of colour rather than bold colours as the papers were quite pale too.

Here's my card:

Here's the box using matching papers:


And here they are together so you can see the respective sizes:


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Card Recipe:
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Monday 20 May 2013

Metal Mania

The theme at Incy Wincy today is Metal Mania, and I'm joining in as a Guest Designer for StampFairy who are sponsoring the challenge this week.

My metal is the brad that I've used to hold on my flower.  It looks a bit like a screw, but I thought the colour was perfect for this card.

I got the gorgeous papers when I visited LOTV at Easter and this is the first time I've used them.  They look a bit shabby-chic, and I really love the rich chocolate colour scheme.



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Sunday 19 May 2013

Walkies !!!

I'm sharing a new image for The Stamp Basket today, called Walkies.  I've not used a Molly Bloom image before, and this one is kinda cute.  I've also used some beautiful papers from Graphic 45 in a gorgeous soft purple.  The text on the papers is just so pretty, I love it.




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Saturday 18 May 2013

Cherry Blossom

Yay, it's Saturday, so I've got a card to share for The Stamp Basket.  I've used my favourite Saturated Canary Rubber called Cherry Blossom, and painted her with my DI reinkers.  It gives a really soft appearance but does appear to make her hair grey rather than black!  For my first attempt at painting this image I was actually quite pleased with the result on the dress, face and tree. Might need a bit more practice on hair though.



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Thursday 16 May 2013

My Favourite Colours

We were bowled over with 200 entries for our first challenge at As You Like It.  Thank you to everyone who joined in and entered our DT call.  We'll announce the new team shortly, but we're already onto our second challenge, and the theme this fortnight is to showcase your favourite two colours.

Well, anyone who visits me often knows that I love pastels, and especially pink and blue (although purple would be a very close third choice).

I've made a card and matching gift pouch using my favourite colour duo.



I've used some new cute bear stamps that just happened to fall into my basket when I visited the LOTV shop on my holiday travels to York at Easter.  I think they're really great on this C&S themed project and I used a different image on each item in the set.

Here's a close up of the little gift pouch which is a template from our sponsor at the As You Like It Challenge this week, Shape EZ.




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Card Recipe:
I've been inspired by:
  • Anything Goes - Not a Square - do you remember the cream card bases, Lynne !  ;0) 
  • Sweet Stampin' - C&S
  • Papertake Weekly - The Sound Of Music 'These are a few of my favourite things' :
       - Two favourite colours (pastel pink & blue),
       - Favourite rubber stamp company (LOTV),
       - Favourite digi paper company (Nitwits),
       - Favourite animals (teddies),
       - Favourite colouring medium (DI reinkers)
       - Favourite style (cute and cuddly!)
Happy crafting.

Wednesday 15 May 2013

Jingle Bells

The theme today at ABC Christmas Challenge is J for Jingle Bells.

I've used an adorable image from Wiff of Joy of Maya with Kitty drinking Hot Chocolate (with cream and marsh mallows of course!).  The little kitty had a teeny bell on his collar, but in case that is not enough jingle to qualify, I've also used a jingle bell die cut in sparkly blue at the top.


Whilst I've got your attention, I'd like to let you know that there's a Special Promotion on at the Stamp Basket for the next week, ending on Tuesday 21 May so get your skates on and pop over to see the bargains.



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Tuesday 14 May 2013

Boxing Clever

The theme today at Top Tip Tuesday is to make a box, and there's also a tutorial on how to make a 6-sided box.  So I've had a go at making one.  It's a bit different and really looks great when it's made. It's also much more simple to make than it looks as the template is quite easy to make.

Hope you like my purple gift box.




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Monday 13 May 2013

Clean and Simple Barry

I've got a 'just for fun' card today using a cute image from Stampfairy called Barry Spring.  It's a nice clean and simple layout, and I've painted my image with Distress Re-inkers.



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    Sunday 12 May 2013

    Mariella

    Today's card for The Stamp Basket features Mariella from Crafter's Companion.  I've used a pretty pink and blue colour scheme to match the papers, added some blue ribbon and a blue button and also some new dies.

    I've used Arianna Sprig, Dancing Butterflies and Forest Snail from Memory box, and also my new La La Lands Heart fence which I've coloured with some brown streaks to give it a wood grain effect.

    Don't tell anyone, but I didn't have the right shade of blue for the flower sprig die, so I cut it out in white and coloured it with my Copics!!




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    Saturday 11 May 2013

    Amy's Room

    My project for The Stamp Basket today is something a bit different, and it's not a card.  I've made a door hanger in some lovely pinks, and of course some gorgeous dies!

    The hanger is a large piece of chipboard and I've threaded some ribbon through holes at the top to hang it by.  I used some really teeny circle dies to make some re-inforcers for the holes.  The sentiment is typed in Word in white text with a purple background, and then cut out with my Bistro Label die.




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    Friday 10 May 2013

    Bad hair day?

    I've got a rarity today as I'm posting a 'just for fun' card that I made.  I've also been making a lot of items other than cards this week, so it's been fun to make a card again!  I tried really hard with my colouring on this image, and I don't think the dress is too bad, but I'm not keen on her hair.  I think that I need to print her out larger next time (although this is quite a big card base so she probably looks smaller than she actually is anyway!)




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    Wednesday 8 May 2013

    Advent Wreath

    We're half way through our inspirational Christmas Wreath photo challenge at ABC Christmas Challenge so I've got a midway reminder project for you.  I've used the same idea as last week with a circle frame wreath, but this time I used circle dies to create the gold frames.

    Unfortunately my numbers went a bit wonky half way around so 15 to 23 are not crooked! (could you just tilt your head when you look at it please, so then they will look level !)

    The little gold disks are actually the left over bits from cutting the smallest circles.



    Here's the inspirational photograph for the challenge:

    ornament wreaths


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    Tuesday 7 May 2013

    Moving Times

    It's the mid point of the 'moving parts' challenge at Top Tip Tuesday and I've decorated a clock.  My bear is watercolour painted with DI reinkers and I've decorated the clock with LOTS of dies.



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    Sunday 5 May 2013

    I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles ...

    My card for The Stamp Basket today features Felicity from Crafter's Companion (and a couple more new dies!).   I love the party lanterns and have cut it out on checked card and inked the edge a bit to give it some shape.  The 'thanks' sentiment is die cut and then given a dose of Stickles and the little snail and flower have been added to the lower corners.  Unfortunately most of the pretty floral paper panels have been covered up.


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