Thursday 29 September 2011

If friends were flowers...

Hallo! Well I stand corrected on my last post about the weather!! Yep, it is lovely and sunny and warm!! UK weather can be bizarre at times!!

Just a quick birthday card post for you today...

Here is "contenttobeabella". I've coloured her with my usual mediums and paper pieced her top and the flower. I added glitter to the flower in her hair and sponged pastel pink ink around her whilst in the circle nestie. Papers are by Basic Grey- Hello Luscious- one of my fav BG pads of all time! Sentiment is also by Stamping Bella. I've raised up the central image using 3d foam pads.

I'd like to enter this into:
Stamping Bella- use pop dots
Belli Challenge- paper piecing
Simon Says- anything goes
Kaboodle- layers
Sweet Stampin Challenges- anything goes
Dutch Dare- bingo- Paper piecing/flowers (in image)/bling (glitter and nailheads)

Usual close up!

Crafty stash used: Stamps (Stamping Bella); Lyra & watercolour pencils; Copics; Nesties; Papers (Basic Grey); Assorted cardstock; Stickles; Nailheads (Josy Rose)

Monday 26 September 2011

Dream Big!

Hi everyone! Hope you had a lovely weekend. I'm sitting at my desk in my craft room looking out at the gloomy weather and am extremely dubious that it's going to reach temps of 28 deg. by the end of the week!!!

Anyway, onto today's card. You know sometimes you make a card and you think, "you know, I really like this one!" well today's card is one of those!! I think maybe it's cos I LOVE this cutie stamp by MFT, it's definately one of my fav's of their's and I also LOVE this paper by Echo Park!

Apologies for the photo which I'm really annoyed with but it's just too gloomy here and I haven't got an extension cable for my photographic lamps yet!

So as I said the stamp is an A La Mode by MFT called Dream Big. I coloured with my usual mixture of colouring mediums. I paper pieced her PJs and the moon. I cut out with nesties and sponged with pale pink ink from Stampin Up. All papers by Echo Park (Happy Days). The scalloped edges are a MFT die.

I'd like to enter this into:
Sweet Stampin Challenge- anything goes
My Mum's Craft Shop- boys or girls
By the Cute and Girly- all things bright and beautiful
Make It Monday


Isn't she just adorable?! I love her sweet face and her little eye-mask! Sooo cute!

Crafty stash used: Stamps (MFT); Watercolour & lyra pencils; copics; Papers (Echo Park); Assorted cardstock; Nesties- round & stars; scalloped border- Dienamics by MFT; Nailheads (Josy Rose)

As I've had ongoing health issues, I've been feeling a bit sorry for myself. What does that mean? Well that usually means I treat myself to a few knew craft items of course!!! The word "few" kind of tends to take on a new meaning but whatever gets you through, right??!
So here is my new paper stash. I bought 4 MME pads, a Jillibean soup (Dutch Mustard soup) and a Pink Paisley (Vintage Vogue). Am v excited to use these!

I also bought these new papers from Echo Park called Little Boy. I wanted to get a 6x6" pad but couldn't find one so ended up buying some 12x12" instead.

Hope you've enjoyed stopping by today! Have a fun week! x

Friday 23 September 2011

Just a quickie!

Hi everyone! Hope you're enjoying a fun week. Unfortunately I'm still not feeling great. Have managed to do a little crafting but am trying to cut down on PC time so quick post today.

Here is a card my sis asked me to make for one of her friends.

She picked Huggybellas from Stamping Bella. I did some paper piecing as usual and coloured with usual watercolour/lyra/copic combo. I sponged some ink around the image whilst it was still in the nestie. Papers are by MME.

I'd like to enter this into:
Stamp With Fun- anything goes
Moving Along With the Times- 3 dps, 2 types of embellies- nailheads & butterfly, 1 image

Close up! Can you see the flower gem I added to her hair (on the left)? I recycled this from an old birthday card I received.

Crafty stash used: Stamp (Stamping Bella; Copics; Watercolour pencils; Lyra pencils; Papers (MME); Assorted cardstock; Flower strip (K & Co); Nailheads (Josy Rose); Sentiment (Craftwork Cards); Butterfly; Flower gem (recycled)

Tuesday 20 September 2011

Anything Goes Challenge- Anything Goes!

Hi crafty folks! Sorry I haven't been around much but I've not been too well. Luckily I had this challenge covered a little early!

So it's Tuesday which means it's time for another challenge over at Anything Goes Challenge! And well, it's a nice and easy one for you, it's.....Anything Goes!! :0)

So I made these little post-it note holders for stocking fillers for Christmas presents. When I got my Bind-It-All last Christmas, I was determined to make some little gifts with it so here they are! Post It Notes are so useful but pretty boring looking so I thought this would jazz them up a bit. They can always be easily refilled so become a nice long-lasting gift recipients can use time and time again.

I got some inspiration by looking a videos on You Tube and then kinda did my own thing.

So I made these using chipboard which I covered with MME and Echo Park papers. I kinda had a little production line going as I thought it would be easier to create them all with the same design. Firstly I came up with a little "sketch" I was going to use for the cover, this made planning alot easier! The stamps I used were from the Papertrey Ink Take Note set which I hope to use for many more gifts like decorated notebooks etc.

I'd like to enter these into:
Stamp With Fun- anything goes
Allsorts- alter/recycle- I altered chipboard

Here is a closer look at one of them. You can see how I added a paperclip. I thought this added texture and was quite visually pleasing. There is a little paperclip stamp in the Take Note set but I thought a real one would work better. I also added a bit more tactile-ness (!) but adding buttons and twine and tied ribbon around the binding.

Another look at all 3. I rounded the corners of my chipboard using a Zutter corner rounder which is meant to cut all sorts of materials, it easily cut through this chipboard.

Another close up! These are great for using up scraps of papers.

And a quick look inside!

Thanks for looking today, hope you liked this project, if you have any questions about how I made them don't hesitate to ask!

Do take a look at the rest of DT's samples as they're gorgeous as always! Don't forget Lynne atThe Craft Den has all sorts of chipboard for altering like I've done here and lots and lots of other altering goodies so do check them out! x

Crafty stash used: Stamps (Papertrey Ink); Chipboard; Papers (MME, Echo Park); Bind It All; Corner rounder punch (Zutter); Post It Note pads; Ribbons; Paperclips; Buttons & twine

Thursday 8 September 2011

What's the story?...

Hello crafty folks! How goes it? Hope you're all well. Today's post is a bit different for me ie a bit more traditional/less cutesy! My Mum asked me to make a card for my Auntie's birthday in September so I thought these Morning Glories from Papertrey Ink would be perfect!

I used Morning Glories stamp from the Year of Flowers which I coloured with watercolour pencils and outlined with a warm copic. I cut out using the Button card die from PTI. The front panel is stamped and cut using the Garden Variety stamp set and die. The mini fork, trowel and sentiment are all from the same set and I used the matching die for these. The background paper is Basic Grey.

I'd like to enter this into:
Passion for Papertrey- design team inspiration, inspired by Betsy Veldman's post here
Daring Cardmakers- morning glories/asters
Creative Card Crew- anything goes
Crafty Creations- anything but square card
The Paper Variety- use a stamp!
Charisma Cardz- inspired by a song- Morning Glory from What's the Story Morning Glory by Oasis


Close up of the Morning Glories. Surprisingly these took a while to colour even though it's a small image. Sometimes I wonder if I put too much detail into my colouring when the image is small and wonder whether the recipient would notice it!!

Just wanted to show you this cute little stamp my sis bought me whilst on her travels with work. It's from Docrafts. I thought it'd be so cute for stamping on the back of Christmas card envelopes, kinda like a seal! What dya think?!

Crafty stash used: Stamps (PTI); Watercolour pencils; Copics; All dies (PTI); Paper (Basic Grey); Cardstock (Stampin Up); Bakers twine; button; pearl

Tuesday 6 September 2011

Anything Goes Challenge- Shabby chic/vintage

Hi everyone! It's Tuesday so that means a new challenge over at Anything Goes Challenge blog. The challenge this week is shabby chic/vintage. I know this is a look we all like to create so we're hoping to see lots of lovely entries! We also have our new members of the design team so do pop over and see all the DT samples.



I wanted to make another card for my Christmas stash and decided to go for something fairly simple as I wanted to image to be the total focus.

I used this cute House Mouse stamp (you can buy your House Mouse stash from Lynne at The Craft Den) which I won in a challenge and coloured with usual watercolour/lyra/copic combo. I then used my Tim Holtz distressing tool to distress the image and the mount. Paper is by Dasher Basic Grey. Sentiment is Elzybells (I miss Elzybells!) Lace I won in a blog candy ages ago.

I'd like to enter this into:
Stamp with Stampavie- Christmas in Summer
Divas by Design- Christmas
Charisma Cardz- anything goes
Basic Grey- celebration
Sweet Stampin- anything but birthday card
Stamptacular Sunday- anything goes
Kaboodle Doodles- use lace/fabric/ricrac


Colouring close up! Don't they look all snuggly?!

Craft stash used: Stamps (House Mouse, Elzybells); Watercolour & lyra pencils; Copics; Paper (Basic Grey); Assorted cardstock; Lace; Pearls (Wild Orchid Crafts)

Thursday 1 September 2011

Patience!

Hi everyone, quick post today! This is my first Mo Manning image! I got it as a freebie from a big Stamping Bella order I placed a while back. I have to say, I really like colouring them in!! They're great, you can really get your teeth/pencils stuck in!
This is actually a little girl image but I needed one for a little boy and I thought with boyish colours and if I masked out the heart that is normally on the trousers I could get away with it- I think I have!!

Coloured with my usual mediums! Papers are by October Afternoon, stars are Die-namics with some Papertrey Ink twine. Sentiment is Craftwork Cards.
I'd like to enter into:
Charisma Cardz- anything goes
Simon Says- anything goes
Creative Card Crew- anything goes
Crazy 4 Challenges- male

A better look at my colouring!

Crafty stash used: Stamp (Mo Manning); Watercolour & Lyra pencils; Copics; Papers (October Afternoon); Assorted cardstock; button; twine; Star dies (Die-namics, MFT); Sentiment (Craftwork Cards)
Have a fun crafty week! x