Tuesday 31 May 2016

Dogs and bones

Apologies, it's blogger overload here these past few days ... I'm making hay while the sun shines (and while my mojo is co-operating!)
Having said that, I hope you'll pop back tomorrow for my X-rated naughty DT card for Naughty or Nice ;)

My image in my first card is from Eat Cake Graphics:
8016-E Lewis and Trudy's wild ride
Coloured with watercolour pencils.  Clear gloss added to the wheel hubs, chrome and windows.  Spectrum Noir sparkle added to the red paintwork.  I've stencilled up my BG with chalk ... I hadn't intended to do this but managed to make a dirty mark that needed hiding!   A doodled border and some clear bling to finish.

My 2nd card is supposed to be a masculine one, but I think I've gone girlie again ;)  
Doggy image and bone from Katzelcraft - coloured with watercolour pencils and popped up on dimensionals.  Clear gloss added to the dogs nose, eyes and bone.

Try Stampin on Tuesday DT card

Time for a new sketch over at Try Stampin on Tuesday and this is #273 - you also have the added option to add butterflies if you like.

I found this ice lolly DP in my stash, so just had to use this cutie from Eat Cake Graphics ...
1137-M Unselfishness (MMM-ice cream)
I reckon one lick from that pooch and the ice cream will be history ;)

Coloured with water colour pencils.
Dienamics embroidered frame die.

Monday 30 May 2016

Baby Bunny and Shona's Birthday card

Ahhh we've had the most glorious sunny day today, makes such a chance to have decent weather on a Bank Holiday!   I spent all day yesterday painting the fence, so today I just chilled in my garden, didn't do any weeding or digging and just relaxed ... well except for loads of washing, (the ironing mountain has been reinstated LOL).

My cute bunny and ted are from my favourite MFT set - coloured with watercolour pencils and
Spectrum Noir clear sparkle added to his t-shirt and to the teddy.  Both popped up on dimensionals.  Red sequins/heart from Taylored Expressions.

My second card is for an old friend.  Well, when I say 'old' she's a year older than me, so she's not 'old old' ;)

My stamp is from Lili of the Valley from maybe 5 years ago or so - I think I need to give her skin a bit more colour, reckon she's been sitting in the shade with her factor 50 suncream on LOL.   I tried to give her blond hair, but don't think it quite worked out either! Spectrum Noir sparkle added to the butterfly and flower.  Silver stickles added to the dots on the butterfly and her t-shirt.  Cuttlebug floral embossing folder.  Oh, and there's that Taylored Expressions bling again :)

Sunday 29 May 2016

Goosey Goosey Gander

Here's a quick card for you ... or should that be quack card?  Though now I think of it, she's actually a goose and they honk! LOL

In case you don't know the nursery rhyme:
Goosey goosey gander,
Where shall I wander?
Upstairs and downstairs
And in my lady's chamber.
There I met an old man
Who wouldn't say his prayers,
So I took him by his left leg
And threw him down the stairs.

Delightful,eh?

This is Sadie Goose from Eat Cake Graphics - coloured with watercolour pencils, clear gloss added to her beak and legs, and then popped up on dimensionals.  I chalked my BG using an MFT stencil and heat embossed a sentiment.  Doodled border and some bling/sequins to finish.
This card is also posted over at A Sprinkling of Samples and Techniques blog, where you'll find lots more loveliness from Eat Cake Graphics

Wednesday 25 May 2016

Mum's June calendar page

Or rather should I say, this is MY calendar page for June!  I wasn't happy with my squished dates on this one and the chalked background didn't quite turn out as imagined, so I'm keeping this effort for my own calendar in work ;)

On both pages I've used some stamps from Eat Cake Graphics:
1034-K Auntie Daisy enjoys freedom
7001-E Row of little flowers
and the second calendar also uses:
5039-C Daisy Mouse
Ha, I've just noticed they're both called Daisy!
Coloured with watercolour pencils.  Clear Spectrum Noir sparkle added to her dress, and silver stickles to the flower centres.

So this one is for Mum!  Much more CAS and much easier on the eye!  I almost ran out of room again for my hand written dates but just about got away with it ;)
ETA: Winner at Crafty Creations :)

Monday 23 May 2016

Those sneakers again and a cute bunnie

My last sneaker card didn't last long in my stash, so I made another!  For this one I had a leftover strip of this DP so that decided my colour theme.  I added some purple chalk to the BG of the image, but it kinda faded out the black bits and didn't look right.  So I restamped my sneakers on another bit of card and decoupaged them (and another layer for the boot in the foreground).  But then the sneakers were too black against the chalked layer, so I added a black sentiment and some die cut stars.  Looks much better now!
I managed not to add any bling or sparkle in an effort to be more grown up LOL.  Sneakers coloured with a grey watercolour pencil and a bit of purple added to the logo.  Couldn't get a decent photo though, it's not quite as dark and gloomy as it looks in this pic!

My 2nd card uses this cuuuuute bunny and bear from MFT - I fell in love with this Snuggle Bunnies set as soon as I saw it in the previews and had to treat myself! :)
Coloured with watercolour pencils.  Clear gloss and lots of glitter added to the bunny's tail, and his jumper covered in Spectrum Noir clear sparkle.
Taylored Expressions bling.

Sunday 22 May 2016

A 2nd Birthday and some Christmas Penguins

It's been a day of two halves today ... sunshine and gardening in the morning and heavy showers and crafting in the afternoon!

This is a special request card - I'm hoping she's got the name right as I've never seen Anabel spelt like that!
My stamp is an oldie from CC Designs that I don't think has seen ink before! Coloured with watercolour pencils and swimsuit paper pieced.  Clear gloss and glitter added to the '2', her lolly and flowers on her sandals. Sentiment and number popped up on dimensionals.

My second card uses these fab penguins from Eat Cake Graphics ...
coloured with watercolour pencils and clear gloss added to their beaks and feet.  Penguin in foreground popped up on dimensionals.
Simon Says Stamp falling snow stencil, and christmas sentiment die.
Sentiment and corner accent cut from shiny silver card.

The inside of my card was inspired by my bloggy buddy Cheryl's gorgeous card here :)
I used an old cuttlebug embossing folder, but I managed to leave a mark so used a silver strip to cover it up.

Saturday 21 May 2016

Some boys cards

I've hardly any boys cards in my stash, one of the type I struggle to make .. probably because I'm mainly drawn to cutsie images!

Anyway, card 1 uses these fun robots from Eat Cake Graphics
1053-S The Boys (stick robots)
Coloured with watercolour pencils; clear gloss added to their eyes and highlights of sparkle.

Card 2 uses this fab Woodware stamp that I won recently - Awsome Footware
It may well be the only stamp I have suitable for a teen boy and it's great when the image does all the hard work for you!
Coloured with watercolour pencils.  Clear gloss added to some of the elements and a purple Dienamics star in bottom corner.

Wednesday 18 May 2016

A cycling stencil

This card was inspired by Patti from Stationery Styles beautiful cycling card here ... if you haven't been to her fabulous blog before you should go visit!

I'd hankered after a bicycle die for ages and bought this one from Joanna Sheen a while back, and have used it ummm maybe once!  Don't know why, I just find it difficult to use!
Anyway, I die cut my bicycle and used the off cut to stencil my background with blue and purple chalks.  Of course, then I proceeded to cover most of it up with my central panel  Doh ;)  Plus I think I should have been braver and went much darker with my stenciling, I think if I didn't tell you those were bicycles in the background you might not notice!  Ah well, I had fun making it!  Thanks for the inspiration Patti!  :)

ETA:  Showcase pick at Die Cuttin Divas and DT favourite at Tuesday Morning Sketches :)

Tuesday 17 May 2016

Some old tulips

I enjoyed making the background to my Naughty or Nice DT card and thought I'd have another go :)
I've used this ooooooold tulip stamp from Penny Black dated 1999 ... I wonder how many stamps have that staying power eh?!!
Coloured with watercolour pencils.  Clear gloss added to the tulips and glitter added to the pink ones.  Hand doodled border.

Try Stampin On Tuesday DT card

 It's Tuesday, so it's time for a new sketch over at Try Stampin on Tuesday with the optional extra of "It's a Party"
For my effort I didn't do any stamping other than my sentiment.  I really struggled with the TSOT challenge this week and blame this DP, every time I use it I'm never happy with the result.  And this one is version #2, number 1 went in the bin ;)
I used my Dienamic star dies, no idea about the maker of the sentiment - it's from a really old set.  Bit of bling to finish.

Anyway, hope you'll play along with this week's challenge ... I'm sure you'll make a better job of it than me ;)

Sunday 15 May 2016

Sick as a pig

LOL I think my piggy has got the measles ;)

Hindsight is a great thing, I'd just started to doodle my border when I wished I hadn't touched it, plus it meant my centre panel looked a bit washed out against it, so had to doodle it too!  Wish I left well alone.
Ah well, I still like how it turned out, and of course, googly eyes always go down a treat :)
Stamps from MFT.
I'm down to the very last snippets of this pretty pink Taylored Expressions DP :(  I never buy 2 paper pads the same, but think I may have to make an exception!

Cupcakes ... Naughty or Nice?

Oh wow, we're half way through May already! Our weather has been beautiful this past week or more, lots of sunny sunshine!  A week of sunshine and no rain is always a bit of a shock to us in Northern Ireland ;)  So there's been some gardening done, some power hosing, a bit of tidying up and lots of washing (and a huge pile of un-ironed clothes LOL).

Anyway, this is my debut card as a DT member with Naughty or Nice and our theme for May is 'hello cupcake' ... basically show us your cupcake stamps and if it's a bit cheeky all the better ;)

For my card I've used an oldie stamp from Art Gone Wild.
I watercoloured the background and then splattered with matching paint - I love the effect of this colouring technique :)  
My image is popped up on dimensionals and then the icing/candles decoupaged.  I also added some Spectrum Noir clear sparkle to the icing.   A few sequins and a bit of bling and job done! 











I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:

Saturday 14 May 2016

A Thank You and a Thirtieth Anniversary

I was very lucky recently to win a Woodware voucher from the Crafty Cardmakers challenge, so this is one of the lovely stamps I chose :)

I've coloured this with my regular pencils, I haven't used them for aaaages!
I added glossy accents to the green / pale blue / yellow bits and then glitter to the yellow bits only.
Some bling and a doodled border to finish.  Nice and easy and quick!

My second card is a special request for a 30th wedding anniversary.   My little LOTV doggy was still on my desk (yip, I haven't tidied up for a week LOL), so he was my stamp of choice ;)
Coloured with watercolour pencils and Spectrum Noir sparkle added to the roses.  Silver peel offs from stash.  I remembered in time that the 30th Anniversary is Pearls, so I had a root round in my stash and found these.  Paper Smooches accent dies.  

Monday 9 May 2016

Baby Bear

Another beautiful sunny and warm day today ... my rhododendron has suddenly produced the most beautiful blossoms, and the weeds in my driveway have shot up too! Boo, it's a back breaking job.

My card this evening uses this sweet bear from Elzybells, now sadly closed.  I coloured him with my watercolour pencils, paper pieced his parachute and then popped him up on dimensionals.  Dienamics scribble dies and Lawn Fawn cloud die.  I used the last snippet of my dotty pink DP on this :(

Sunday 8 May 2016

Cards for Katie and Emma

Ohh we had the most beautiful sunny afternoon today, felt like a touch of summer!  I got loads of tidying up done in the garden, geraniums planted and some beetroot seeds sown.  I haven't tried growing beetroot before so we'll see how that goes :)

Couple of special requests cards tonight ....
Card 1 tonight is for a 30th Birthday.  I used this sweet LOTV doggy - I left it white so it kinda looked like Ruby, and then coloured my flowers with watercolour pencils to match my snazzy DP.  I also added some Spectrum Noir sparkle to my flowers.  Sparkly number stickers from stash.


My second card is for an 18th Birthday.  I've used this party girl from Stamping Bella - coloured with watercolour pencils.  Clear gloss added to her crown and shoes, glitter to the icing and Spectrum Noir sparkle to her bow.