Sorry.....

.. no card to share today - apart from having my family to stay for the past few days I have also been spending most of my online time uploading all of my digi stamps to the Stitchy Bear Stamps store - no easy task I can assure you! Although it did get easier as I worked my way through the 40 images. Anyway it's all done now and I'm officially a member of the Stitchy family so please pop over and have a look at what's on offer from all the talented artists there.

Crafty Cardmakers Callenge 26

The challenge this fortnight at Crafty Cardmakers is a great recipe:

Use a punch or stickers
Use colour orange or yellow and
Use an animal or fish

For my card I have used a cute giraffe from Meljens Designs and coloured him with Promarkers. I then mounted the image on to orange then yellow card, the edges have been punched with a Stampin Up scalloped border punch then trimmed with some gingham ribbon. The ticket style sentiment was also punched with a Stampin Up punch and edged with ink, the sentiment itself comes from Creative Cafe. My backing papers are both K&Co. We are sponsored this time by Chelsea at Gurlee Girl Craft Store

Also entering the card for the challenges at:
Twisted Thursday - Use orange to make it Hot
Daring Cardmakers - Layer it up
Allsorts - Baby or child
Crafty Creations - Happy or sweet

Creative Inspirations challenge 39

Anything Goes is our theme for this fortnight's challenge and as our sponsor is Whimsy Stamps we were given some of their fantastic new digi stamps to work with, mine is called Great Day to Fish and I really enjoyed colouring it up.
I coloured my image with Promarkers, used a felt border along the bottom which I received from a friend a while back, the buttons came from my stash and the paper I've used is K&Co Hopscotch..
Sorry it's such a short post today - have tons to do before my Sis and her husband arrive for a week's visit this afternoon, hope all you crafters are having a great weekend and thanks so much for visiting :o)

Also entering this card in the following challlenges:
Scrap'n'stamp Saturday - Buttons
I Love Promarkers - Buttons
Stamp, Scrap & Doodle - Digis
Creative Cottage - Touchy, Feely

A big birthday

My brother in law Douglas hits the big 65 next week which for him means the first day of the rest of his life! He plans to set sail around the world alone - a dream he has had for many years so I have made this card for him. I based it on today's sketch from Friday Sketchers and used my distress inks to make the background to both of my stamped images.

Also fits the challenges at:
If the Shoe Fits - Vacation (extended one!)
No Time to Stamp - 2 of something (images)

Today's card is my first Christmas card since January, I totally meant to do a few every month so that I'd have a good stock by the time the festive season rolls around again but there you go - once again it's going to be wall to wall Christmas cards for the last 3 months of the year!

I followed the sketch at MAWTT and used some of my patterned paper scraps as per the Digi Doodle Shop challenge. The papers are Papermania and the image is from Sugar Nellie.

This is also suitable for the challenges at:
Oohh La La Creations - Christmas in July
and
Cute Card Thursday - Get a head start

Crafty Cardmakers Spotlight on - Easel Cards

Today I have to share my very first DT project for Crafty Cardmakers where this week the Spotlight is on easel cards and to make it more interesting wthe DT were asked to make shaped cards if possible. I have only ever made a square one before so this was a bit of a challenge for me.

I used my largest labels Nestability die to cut the top part of the card and decorated it with K&Co designer paper cut with the next size die, then a die cut oval piece of cardstock. I stamped and coloured the bird image from Dimension Fourth then cut it out and stuck it with foam pads to the cardstock. I then used another piece of card folded to C6 and decorated the bottom half with more die cuts but this time I used them horizontally instead of vertically which made a nice tab to hold the upper part of the card, I rounded the corners to echo the shape of the labels. The sentiment is a Stampin Up one and the flowers are Petaloo. The die cut leaves are from a Little Claire die.
























I think my card also fits the challenges at:
For Fun - Favourite colouring technique (Promarkers- of course!)
Creative Craft - Summer loving
Cutie Stampers - Summer
Allsorts - Summer Days

Hope Jacare in rubber!

The lovely and very talented Claire better known in blogland as Hope Jacare is having some of her fabulous designs made into rubber stamps by Polkadoodle Creations and she is offering a choice of stamp to one lucky blogger - go on over and leave her a comment to join in!

Still working from my laptop while I wait to get the IMac repaired so please forgive the short posts, I find it very ucomfortable working like this!

This card is for the Sugar Bowl challenge following a sketch by Lilian, I have used the image Go Fetch by Mary Hall and coloured it as always with Promarkers. The embossed patterned paper is the Bloom & Grow set but I'm afraid I've forgotten the maker of the blue one. The ribbon came from Dot com gift shop and the buttons from a mixed bag I bought on Ebay.


I'm entering the card for the following challenges:
Stampavie - Anything Goes
The Stamp Man - Anything Goes
Papertake weekly - In the garden
Crafty Sentiments - 2 different papers
Totally paper crafts - 1 x image, 1 x ribbon, 2 x papers, 3 x embellishments
C.R.A.F.T. - Babies/children

Trouble with computer :(

Today's card was made for the challenges at Stamp with Fun - Fairies and Sweet Stampin - Things with wings. I followed the sketch at Stamptacular Sunday using papers from Blonde Moments and K&Co along with a scrap of paper received in a swap (my circle).

I used a digi stamp which I printed off from my IMac last week, since then, on Sunday, we had a power cut and when the power came back on the IMac didn't! A new mother board seems to be on the cards so while we are shopping around trying to find someone who can fix it at an affordable price I'm having to use the IBook and I don't have any of the digi stamp info stored on here so have no clue where this lovely image came from. Anyway, I coloured the image with Promarkers and used Stickles on her wings and also added some to the flower and to the swirls on the backing paper.

I finished the card off with some little flat backed pearls and a sentiment from Elzybells - so sorry to see that they are closing their online shop but go check it out - they are having a half price closing down sale and have some fab designs and sentiments.

Also entering this one for the challenge at Totally Papercrafts - Swirls and Pearls

Now know that the image is HuggABugg from Tiddly Inks Digitals - thanks so much Christy!

The oldest thing in your stash

The Creative Inspirations challenge this fortnight, set by our ex-teamie Gini, is a bit tricky, she wants you to use the oldest thing in your craft stash to make a card, an ATC or a scapbook layout.

When I first started getting into making cards I made a friend via a craft forum who was an American girl married to a Scot and she lived close enough for us to get together on a few occasions. After I'd known her for a couple of months though she decided it was time to go home to Arizona and she asked if I wanted to buy some of her Stampin Up sets - she had had them shipped over along with all her craft stash (which was substantial) after coming to Scotland five years earlier but didn't want the expense of shipping the whole lot back again. I bought what I could afford at the time which started me off on rubber stamping which is now my favourite craft so thankyou Carrie!

The old stamp I have used on this card is the lace border and although it must have been in my possession for ten years now I still use it on cards and LO's fairly often. The image I have chosen for the card is Cuthbert - For You , a digi stamp from Pollycraft. I have coloured the image with Promarkers and a little touch of Sakura Stardust for some subtle sparkle on the flowers. The designer paper is Basic Grey and the backing paper I made myself with Distress Inks, glossy card and a spritz of a mix of water and Pearl Pigments from Blonde Moments.

I based the card on this week's sketch from Sketch Saturday and finished it with some gingham ribbon and a sentiment which I die cut using one of my Nellie Snellen dies.

I'm entering the following challenges:
Basic Grey - Gingham
Just us Girls - Ink, spray & smash technique
One Stop Craft - Monochromatic
Creative Card Crew - To die for
Stamp Something - Recipe 1 designer paper, 1 ribbon & 1 image

A card for Lynsey

My lovely daughter Lynsey had her birthday on Wednesday and today's card is the one I made for her. The Sugar Nellie image takes me back to the goth style which she was into from her teens onward, she always favoured black with some red thrown in.

She is actually much more sophisticated these days and has embraced a bit of a vintage style which really suits her looks and fabulous slim figure.

I used a leftover scrap of a 12 x 12 designer paper for the backing but the name/make had been cut off so I'm not sure where it comes from. I embossed a piece of black core'dinations cardstock and distressed the surface and the edges, I also distressed the edges of the white cardstock and added some pink ink.

The brad in the centre of my punched circle 'flower' is from Basic Grey and I finished it off with punched leaf from Little Claire, the sentiment is Studio G and I used a Stampin Up punch on the edge of the pink card.














I'm entering it for these challenges:
I love Promarkers -Distressed
One Stop Crafts- Distressing Doh just missed the cut off on this one !
Digi Doodle Shop- Textures

Just got time to share a new card before heading off to work today, this one is for the challenges at:

Anyone for Anya - Anything Goes
Cuttlebug challenge - Doilies & Lace
One Stitch at a Time - Lace, ribbons & bows
Cute Card Thursday - School's out for Summer
Totally Papercrafts - One for the Girlies
Your Next Stamp - Flower Power

Card Recipe -
Designer Papers - Basic Grey
Lace - Dot.Com.Giftshop
Image - Greetings Farm: Miss Anya Collection
Flowers - Petaloo
Sentiment - Woodware

So many children!!

After a very busy day at the library - all the kids in the area seem to be up for the summer reading challenge and were in choosing their books today - I'm too tired to do more than share today's card. I made this one using my own digi stamp Flirty Fairy and following the sketch from Sketch Saturday.

Also entering the following challenges:
Daring Cardmakers - Ruby
If the Shoe Fits - Spread your wings
Fairy Fun Friday - Anything goes
Magical Crafts - Flower Power
Whoopsi Daisy - Hot vibrant colours

It's official, need to move on!

Well after yesterday I am giving up the local craft fair/country market, I'm so fed up hanging around for 3+ hours waiting for the crowds to arrive, it's just not happening. So I need a new plan - thinking cap is currently on and I'm scouring the internet for alternative venues/possibilities, anybody know of a well attended but not too expensive fair/market in the Edinburgh area please let me know :o)

Today's card is my DT card for Scrap the Art. Our inspiration for this fortnight is

ART NOUVEAU

An international movement and style of art, architecture and applied art - especially the decorative arts - that peaked in popularity at the turn of the 20th century (1890–1905). This style of art was characterized by a belief that all of life was art, and as a result, all of life should be treated as an art form. Characteristics:
* flowing lines (graceful, sinuous lines, rarely angular)
* violent curves (rhythmic patterns and curvy lines)
* organic subject matter (flowers, vines, leaves, insects)
* resistance to classical restrictions (make everyday objects into pieces of art)

Our inspirational piece of art is:

La tournée du Chat Noir avec Rodolphe Salis (1896)

I have always liked this particular poster artwork and had it in my collection of cat illustrations which I accumulated when I was in my twenties. For my card I didn't want to do the obvious and use a cat stamp, instead I decided to go for a floral theme. I found a set of stamps that I won a while back on one of Clare Curd's challenges which have an Art Nouveaux feel and used them to create a flower. I did this by stamping a series of petal shapes onto orange paper which I then cut out and covered in versamark ink and then triple embossed with Ultra thick embossing powder. I used a plain yellow paper for the background and inked the edges with an orange inkpad then stamped a swirly stalk for my flower in black ink. I glued my individual petals to the card and finished the flower off with a brad, which I think came from a Basic Grey set (although I can't be sure about that). The sentiment came from a grab bag I bought on Ebay some years ago and have never used before.


Our sponsor for this fortnight is Softpencil so if you'd like a chance to win some of their lovely digi stamps why not enter a project of your own for the challenge.

Craft Fair Today

I'm off to a craft fair this morning and as they have been particularly poor so far this year it may well be the last one at this particular venue. I don't know whether it's the recession or just the fact that it's not in a particularly affluent area but business is way down on last year and it's quite disheartening. I love crafting and to be able to afford to keep creating I have to sell some of my creations. So I may have to find another venue or even a different way to sell - if anyone out there has any bright ideas don't hesitate to suggest them!! :o)


The card I have to share today is a nice summery one I have made for this week's Pear Tree designs challenge - Summer Loving. The image is LOTV and has been coloured with Promarkers and glittered up with some Stickles. I have used my Martha Stewart border punch on the edge of the white base card and then I added some yellow cardstock behind for contrast. The backing paper is K&Co and the ribbon which ties in perfectly (just by chance) I've had in my ribbon box for ages just waiting for the right project. The butterfly embellishment is a metal one and the sentiment is from Stampin Up.

I'm also entering it for the following challenges:
Bunny Zoe's - Nice & Girly
A Pocket full of Posies - One for the Girls
Stampavie - Sparkling
Corrosive - Flowers
Charisma Cardz - Metal Mickey (butterfly)