Tuesday 30 April 2013

High Hopes - Paper Piecing challenge


This week's challenge at High Hopes is Paper Piecing - if you've never had a go my teamie, Aaemie did a great tutorial on it last week - here.  Play along with your High Hopes stamps and win a new one of your choice!

You don't just have to paper piece clothing ... I've paper pieced EVERYTHING on my froggy image, his body, hat and flower!  My top tip when paper piecing is to cut in the middle of your line, that way if you're cutting multiple parts they will always fit together.

All stamps from High Hopes: image: Buggy frog  and sentiment: You're Unfrogettable (I thought this image would be good for a belated Birthday!)

Other Challenges
A Gem of a Challenge #77 - going green
Sketch from Less is More #117
CASual Friday CFC99 - CAS Birthday
Simon Says ... anything goes




Monday 29 April 2013

90th Birthday Card

This card is for a friend of my Aunt.  Do you think it looks wonky?  Maybe it's the twine in the central panel is making me think so, wish I'd just stuck it on straight. Or maybe it's just my card-making-OCD kicking in LOL!

Image from Lili of the Valley - coloured with pencils and sparkly stickles added to flower centres.

The Corrosive Challenge #173 - Mother's Day / Special Lady
Pile it On #17 - April Showers bring May flowers
Sketch flipped from Sweet Sunday #183
Simon Says ... anything goes

Sunday 28 April 2013

Time for Tiffin


Heee, the only thing missing from these wee girls' table is a big sticky cream bun!  Preferably with fresh cream. Yum.

Image is an oldie from Lili of the Valley.  Coloured with pencils and white enamel accents added.  Little silver mirror dots from stash (sorry, no idea what they're actually called!)

Sketch from MFTWSC121
Simon Says ... anything goes
Crafts 4 Eternity R#21 - Perfect papers
Sister Act #4 - anything goes
PolkaDoodles + Studio 12 #17 - birthdays with bling
Oldie but a Goodie - make it girly

Doggy Birthday & Wedding cards

Sunday evening already! And nearly the end of April ... wish someone would tell the weather!  We'd sunshine, heavy showers and hailstones today, so no mission of getting those weeds sorted yet!  "Drip, drip, drip, little April showers" it most definitely wasn't!

This card was inspired by Kadie's card at The Pink Elephant #196- I copied her main layout and use of washi tape, but used a different image and DPs.
Simon Says ... anything goes
Charisma Cardz #16 - polkadots
The Squirrel and The Fox #42 - furry friends

I finally got my wedding order finished this weekend.  Wouldn't fancy making them as a living, too boring making 50 the same!!  The main card was in a pocket style, the card has a lovely sparkly shimmer to it, but I've no chance of picking it up with my camera.

  

Friday 26 April 2013

Wedding Card #2

Sorry I've been M.I.A. all week, busy in work and no mojo left over to play!  But hurrah for Friday evening, looking forward to my weekend off, lots to do and I need to get stuck in to my order for 50 wedding invitations and get them finished.  Don't think I'll be doing much outdoors anyway, it's such a cold evening here, definitely needed a hat and scarf on my walk with Ruby-doo.  Me, that is, not Ruby.  She hasn't got a hat and scarf.  Yet.  Ha!

Still in wedding mode, but at least it's another one off my list (still have another 4 or 5 to go!!)... sort of the same as the last, but different colour and made on a smaller card base. I hadn't quite planned to add the wee butterflies, but I managed to mark the card with my finger nail or something so had to disguise it!

Stamping for the Weekend - die cuts and/or punches (I used flower and butterfly punches)
Simon Says ... anything goes
Fab'n'Funky #168 - Love is a many splendoured thing
Everybody Art #233 - 2 colours (I used duck egg blue and black)
Creative Card Crew #34 - hand made flowers
Stamping Sensations April challenge - special occasions

Sunday 21 April 2013

Lilac Wedding

Spring has sprung!  And so have the weeds in my garden!  We'd some lovely sunshine (between the showers) and I finally got out into my garden to tackle the worst of the weeds that are sprouting up like mad.  And there's plenty of slugs having a good munch there too ... yeuch (they give me the heebie-jeebies!!)

Wedding season is approaching and I've quite a few cards to get made, so you'll probably be seeing this LOTV image again, and again, and again!!  I really struggle with 'lovey dovey' cards, but quite like how this turned out.
Coloured with pencils, purple bits highlighted with some stickles and wee dots are pale lavender pearl drops.  My flower ribbon has been in my 'too nice to use' stash for a while, so thought it would be nice to use up on a wedding card.

The Corrosive Challenge #172 - life's special occasions
Totally Papercrafts #163 - monochrome
Lili's Little Fairies - seeing double
Everybody Art #232 - glitter / bling
Stamping Sensations April challenge - special occasions
Sparkles April challenge #43 - hearts

Saturday 20 April 2013

Chick Chick Chicken


I was tidying my stash earlier (much needed!!) and came across another oldie stamp, this time from Whipper Snapper.  I also came across a bag of scraps, for some reason I'd been keeping this tiny square of red card!??  Not sure why, but it was perfect to use up with this week's sketch at The Sweet Stop.

The Sweet Stop SSS207 - sketch with a spin - Birthday
Allsorts #203 - a passion for flowers
Divas by Design - butterflies / birds
Creative Card Crew #34 - handmade flowers
Simply Create Too #35 - use your stash
Papertake Weekly - one paper taker



May Calendar


This is next month's page for my desk calendar in work.  Its not unknown to have 'one of those days' and I thought this would give me a laugh and remind me that there is bigger things in life to worry about!!
These stamps are oldies ... the kitty and sentiment are from Eat Cake Graphics (I think!), and the sun is from High Hopes.  Popped the cat and sun up on dimensionals and added googly eyes to the sun. Chalked sky.

Creative Inspirations #210 - anything but a card
Crafty Creations #218 - no patterned paper
Penny's Paper Crafty Challenge #123  -use a sentiment
Charisma Cardz #15 - inspired by the colours of a flag (I chose Brazil)

Tuesday 16 April 2013

Designed to Colour Challenge


High Hopes are the sponsors of the new challenge over at Designed to Color, so some of the High Hopes Dream Team are joining the DTC team with their sketch challenge.
(I'm feeling a bit out of my depth with my colouring skills amongst all this talent though, so please be gentle with me!!)
:-)
Hope you'll play along with the Designed to Colour Sketch too - there's a fabulous prize of a $25 CAD High Hopes gift card to be won!  (You can use any image and colouring medium you wish)

Colour Medium: Derwent Colour Soft Pencils and blender pencil
Skin: Peach, Blush Pink, Pink Lavender
Trousers/braces: Black, Light Green
T-shirt - Red
Hat & Water: Grey Green
Fish: Bright orange
Rod: Pale Brown

Other: 
ImageDads Catch from High Hopes
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Elements: Echo Park 'Paradise Beach' papers, twine, silver anchor charm, corner punch, silver stickles, frosted lace stickles (on water), dimensionals

High Hopes Border challenge


Our new challenge at High Hopes is to Add a Border, so a nice easy peasy challenge!
I've used one of my favourite images, Heidi and Mattie - coloured with pencils and popped up on dimensionals.
I added a border to the entire panel, and then thought I'd punch out a grass border ... and then proceeded to cover most of it up. Doh.
Sentiment is an oldie from Lili of the Valley.
Back shortly with details on how you can win a $25 CAD High Hopes gift card!  (ETA: post up here)

Other challenges:
There She Goes #203 - Just Because
Totally PaperCrafts #162 - get Krafty
Cupcake Craft #238 - cute and cuddly

Sunday 14 April 2013

April Showers

We've had all sorts of weather this weekend ... cold, rain, gales and even some sunshine!  Great weather for getting the washing dried on the line, downside of course is the dreaded ironing LOL

Anyway, just a quickie post - I like to do some of my cross stitch on a Sunday eve.  I'm at the boring outlining bit at the minute, and there's lots of it to do!

Image is a Little Suzys Zoo stamp that I was lucky enough to win on Joanna Sheen's blog a few weeks ago - coloured with pencils.  Dienamics scallop border die.


Layout from Sweet Sketch Wednesday #201
Simon Says Stamp - April Showers and /or flowers
Die Cuttin Divas #110 - pastels
Divas by Design - flowers
Polkadoodles #15 - April Showers
Joanna Sheen - Spring into Spring

Saturday 13 April 2013

Pelican's Post

Now, you might think to look at this card that it's a nice easy CAS one!  Not so!  It took a couple of hours to make when you count in a couple of hitches along the way!  First off I had my main image (Pelicans Post from High Hopes) coloured and then I made a hash of die cutting it!  Next effort I was in the middle of paint splattering my BG and was a bit heavy with the splodging and ended up smearing it across the paper!  Third effort was splattering my BG again and managed to get some on my pelican (if I'd stuck down my mask a bit better it wouldn't have happened LOL) so I had to recolour another one and pop it up on dimensionals.  Ah well, I like the finished effort!



Home is where your heart is

I won this stamp set from Simon Says Stamp ages ago, don't use it very often, but when I do I love it!  Lots of paper piecing on this card, and absolutely NO colouring :)  Couldn't get a decent pic of it though, it's much nicer IRL!

sketch from MFT Wednesday Sketch Club
Sister Act #2 - anything goes
Creative Inspirations #209 - anything goes with optional heart
Stamping Sensations April challenge - special occasions

Thursday 11 April 2013

Gnome Wishes

Just a quickie post tonight ... I'm so behind in visiting my bloggy buddies!

This wee card is based on the current Paper Smooches SPARKS challenge.  My little guy is coloured with Copics and popped up on dimensionals.  Touch of sparkle added to his wee hat.   I also punched out a couple of layers of grass, but it doesn't really show up in the pic.
I saw some doodled lines and bows in blogland recently but can't remember where ... so if it was you - thanks for the inspiration! :)


Copic Marker Europe - card for a man
Creative Card Crew #33 - clouds
MarkerPop #20 - anything goes
Totally Gorjuss #178 - anything goes with sparkle

ETA: Featured card at Paper Smooches SPARKS!

Tuesday 9 April 2013

Grow Garden Grow

Our new challenge at High Hopes is
Grow Garden Grow
You need to use a High Hopes stamp and your creation can be anything that you could find in a garden ... critters, flowers, bugs, etc.
I've used Bunny Blooms on my card - coloured with pencils and popped up on dimensionals.  I added some white flowersoft to her fluffy tail and red stickles and clear gloss to the tulips.  I've been on a mission to use my neglected stash, so out came my washi tape!  I also added some white enamel dots just for a wee bit of extra interest on the white panel.

Other Challenges:
Use it Tuesday #53 - sticky situation (washi tape)
House of Gilli #51 - anything goes with flowers and/or ribbon
Critter Sketch Challenge #159 - washi tape
Joanna Sheen Challenge - Spring into Spring
Sarah Hurley challenge #79 - projects with character

Sunday 7 April 2013

Think pink

This wee card was a bit of a disaster in the making.  First off, I had coloured my image and thought it looked really well, went to die cut it and managed to set it on top of a die that I hadn't tidied, and sliced the whole thing in bits!  Grr.  So I tidied up and started again!  I then managed to stick down my image panel wonky and spent the rest of my time trying to hide it!
There's bound to be some trick to sticking these odd shaped Spellbinders dies down straight ... so if anyone has any tips please share!  
I've also used a super-old-sadly-neglected Marianne swirls die and fancy Memory Box corner die.

Sketch from Die Cuttin Divas #109
Papertake Weekly - anything goes
Top Tip Tuesday #98 - girls and boys come out to play
Moving along with the times - let's get krafty
Sarah Hurley #79 - projects with character
Crafty Catz #177 - anything goes

Saturday 6 April 2013

Get Well Bunny

I've had a real fun day today.  Me and my Sis went to see the Full Monty at the Grand Opera House in Belfast, what a laugh, the tears were flying out of me!!  The stage play is based on the film about some unemployed steel workers who set up as a bunch of male strippers and it's absolutely hilarious.  Though I did feel sorry for the 3 or 4 men in the audience who seemed to have been dragged along by their wives, the rest was 99.99% screaming women!  If you get a chance, go see it - I think it's on tour for the next few weeks before they go to the West End.  (Oh and yes, in case you're wondering, they do go the full monty!!!)

Anyway, here's a wee get well card using a cute bunny image from Lili of the Valley - coloured with pencils.  I did start off with 'monochrome' in my head, but a wee bit of colour crept in, oops, so I hope it still qualifies!

Natalie and Amy #08 - monochrome
Sweet Stampin - look at the scallops
Pink Gem #74 - animals
Crafty Creations #216 - flowers or fairies
Papertake Weekly - anything goes
My Mum's Craft Shop - Easter colours
Divas by Design - Spring Colours
Sarah Hurley Challenge #79 - projects with character

Wednesday 3 April 2013

Googly Friends

It's been a beautiful sunny day, it actually felt like Spring (yes I know I said that about a month ago!)  I got loads of work done outdoors - though I stayed to the sunny side of the garden (on the shaded side it was still about minus 5 LOL)

This week's Paper Smooches SPARKS challenge is a trend watch of butterflies - and this little tiny butterfly is the only one I could find in my PS stash!  I did loads of paper piecing on this card, and gave my squirrel and birdie some googly eyes.

Papertake Weekly - anything goes
Sparkles monthly challenge #42 - birds
Crafts 4 Eternity R117 - cute as you like

Tuesday 2 April 2013

High Hopes #168

This week's challenge at High Hopes is to
Go Sentimental
Easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy!
(If you don't have any High Hopes' sentiments, that's OK - just as long as you use at least one HH stamp somewhere on your creation)

Mine uses sweet little Brayden and Kick up your Heels sentiment I masked him off to make my splattered BG, and then coloured him with pencils.


Other challenges:
Simon Says Stamp - anything goes
Kaboodle Doodles #165 - 2 different DPs
Lexi's Creations #87 - punches/dies
A little bit crafty #1 - anything goes
Pile it On #13 - handmade flowers