Best Big Sister

I've a rake of special request cards on my list to make, so I need to get a move on!
This one is for a workmate for his sister - I've stamped 'Thank You' on the inside.

I soooo love this LOTV bunny, especially this time of year with those fab daffodils, but I've been known to make them different colours at other times of the year and let on they're something else!!  Still gutted that LOTV aren't doing rubber stamps any more, I might have to have a look on ebay to see what's up for grabs there ;)

Bunny popped up on foam pads and clear gloss added to the daffs.

• Through the Craft Room Door - anything goes
• Moving Along with the Times #69 - springtime
• Stamping Sensations April - one for the girls
• Sweet Stampers #19 - Too Cute
• As You Like It - favourite colouring medium - mine's my Derwent Inktense Watercolour pencils. I love how you can build layers of colour and still add texture - for my bunny I colour him in brown first, and then for the fur I just take the colour from the nib of the pencil with my wet paintbrush and dot it on.

Naughty or Nice - Birthday Fishes

Well this is my last ever post for Naughty or Nice :(
I've had a lovely time playing along with all the Naughty Girls and it's been a pleasure to have been on the team.  It's our very last challenge this month and the theme is to pick a previous challenge, so there's 49 to choose from!!  Hope you'll play along too, there's goodies to be won :)

I've kept with the fishy theme of our challenge graphic - it would fall into challenge #2 Birthdays or #23 Let's Get Silly

I've used my old Avery Elle stamps - coloured with watercolour pencils and popped up on foam pads.  I also stencilled in some water with chalk, but it doesn't show up great in my pic.

• Crafty Cardmakers #209 - water
• Addicted to Stamps #287 - make your mark
• Seize the Birthday - vibrant colours
• Classic Design Team Open - April
• Through the Craft Room Door - anything goes

Good Luck Bunny

We'd the most beautiful Spring day today.  The birdies are nest building and everything's starting to bud and grow in the garden. I even managed to get my washing dried on the line and the grass cut.  Great to see it!!

The daffodils in my garden are nearly over, but here's some in full bloom.  I've used my LOTV stamp - coloured with watercolour pencils and clear gloss added to the daffodils.  If I'd been paying attention I would have placed him slightly higher up so he wasn't hiding the text just so much ;)
My old MFT swirls dies which don't see much use and a few bits of orangey bling just to add some interest to the BG.

• Creative Inspirations April - Spring time
• Allsorts #463 - Spring flowers
• That's Crafty - going round in circles
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - add texture
• As You Like It - favourite colouring medium - mine was always copic markers but I got so fed up with them running out unexpectedly and the price of them, so I've learned to love my watercolour pencils!  Much more reliable and a lot cheaper too! 

Birthday flowers

Well I'm back to work ... and still going through my emails!  I'll be lucky to get them all sorted by the end of the week!  Ah well, it's much better than being at home with the flu!

Just a wee quickie card tonight while I was making some vegetable soup for my lunch.
I've used this lovely Prima stamp - coloured with watercolour pencils and sparkle added to the longer purple blooms.
I've stacked up my 'birthday' die to give it a bit of dimension.
I hadn't quite intended to have as many enamel dots, but those dirty fingers made an appearance again ;)

• General card theme inspired by Tracey's lovely card over at the Muse challenge #261
• Creative with Stamps #25 - CAS + sentiment
• Get Creative #68 - no pattern paper
• Love to Scrap #108 - May flowers
• Simply Create Too #137 - use die cuts

A blast from the past

Well I'm starting to feel much better, def not 100% but getting there :)  Back to work tomorrow to have a look at a gazillion emails probably!

I found this dude in my stash on a recent stamp hunt, I think I bought him years'n'years ago at the craft show in Belfast and he's never ever seen ink!
I've combined him with my Gummiapan burlap stamp and Eat Cake Graphics trees.  I would have had a longer strip of grass but I only had the tiniest snippet of this lime green card left.

• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - Happy Birthday
• Pixie's Snippets Playground #323
• Craftaholics R Us #14 - birthday cards
• AAA Cards #112 - another one with my favourite technique - fussy cutting and popping up on foam pads - great for adding dimension and also if you're using coloured cardstock :)

This one uses a really really really old Penny Black stamp - dated 1999, so it's great that it's still in good nick and still seeing ink!
I added sparkle to the blue pot and clear gloss to the tulips.

• Pink tulip theme from PINspirational challenge #212
• Penny Black Saturday April - spring flowers
• Sparkles challenge #102 - spring is in the air
• CASual Fridays # 196 - spring fever

Chicks and Hedgehogs

I've a few quickie cards tonight, just trying to get back into the swing of cardmaking after our flu.

The lovely DP on both these cards does all the hard work!

I'd originially bought this Gummiapan stamp for my Easter cards, don't ya love the expression on their faces!  I reckon they're all a bit concerned about the pink dude!!
My lovely flower die is a newbie and I'm lovin it (also Gummiapan brand from Swedish House Crafts)

• Layout from Atlantic Hearts #258
• Crafty Cardmakers #208 - bunnies, chicks or eggs
• Pile it On #141 - think small
• CRAFT #462 - get well soon

This one uses a really old Penny Black Stamp - sparkle added to the flowers and clear gloss to the centres.

• Crafting by Designs #April - anything goes
• Penny Black Saturday #April - anything goes
• Love to Scrap #108 - April showers bring May flowers

Naughty or Nice - final challenge!

Hi all!  Sorry I've been on the missing list ... after evading the flu all winter it finally caught up with us and we've had a sick house this past few weeks :(  Still not 100% but a helluva lot better than we were!

Boredom has got the better of me, so I figured I should get my post up for the Naughty or Nice challenge.  Better later than never!
Sadly it's our last challenge this month, and the theme is to pick one of the older challenges .  We've goodies to give away too - and if you're not in you can't win!

For my card I went all the way back to challenge #4 Furry Friends
I've made a simple CAS card using this oldie bunny from High Hopes - coloured with watercolour pencils and popped up on foam pads.   Sparkle added to the tulips and clear gloss/glitter to his tail.  I'm lovin my new burlap texture stamp from Swedish House Crafts :)

• CASual Fridays #196 - spring fever
• Cupcake Inspirations #443 - bunny
• Creative Inspirations April - Springtime
• AAA Cards #112 - favourite technique - mine's definitely fussy cutting images and popping them up on foam pads.  Don't reckon I've any 'matching' dies, I'd rather spend the ££s on more stamps ;)

Bunnies Galore

Happy St Patrick's Day!  And what a cold cold day it's been, the odd flake or two of snow too.  Though I wasn't worried about going anywhere as we were glued to the Ireland/England rugby!!  I won't rub it in as to who won  :) but I'd say there'll be a few sore heads in the morning with the Grand Slam on top of St Patrick's Day!

I don't know anyone who sends St Patrick's Day cards in Ireland, so next batch for me is Easter.  And I reckon I'll be using my Mama Elephant bunnies for most of them!

For this one I inked up the BG and then fussy cut the bunny layer.  Gorgeous sparkly blue card for my sentiment.  Square dies from Elizabeth Craft Designs

• As You Like It - favourite Easter character - the Easter Bunny of course!  What other critter will bring you chocolate?!! ;)
• Simon Says Stamp Monday - I used the bunny from the inspiration pic
• Cuttlebug Mania - springtime
• Word Art Wednesday #326/327 - anything goes
• Stamping Sensations March - forest friends 

For this one I used up some scraps of paper on my table and some of my gold glitter card; I'm not sure if these bunnies work in the circle or not.  Maybe I should have added an extra layer to the frame to make it stand out a bit.  I also added in some score lines to the blue layer to give it a wee bit of interest.  Unfortunately I don't do straight, and the ones at the bottom were waaaay off, so I moved my orange panel lower than I'd intended which left the bottom blue bit with no lines at all.

• Layout from CAS(e) this sketch #263
• Creative with Stamps #24 - bunny
• CRAFT #459 - animals

Naughty or Nice challenge reminder

We're on the drink this month at Naughty or Nice!  Hope you'll play along too :)













My card is the drink that nobody wants ... medicine!!  (though some medicine does taste delish!!)
I've used my new LOTV stamp - I had to go for an emergency shop once I heard they're discontinuing their rubber stamps and going down the digi route.  Shame, as they're one of my favourite brands :(
Coloured with watercolour pencils; clear gloss added to the bottle.

• Layout from Try Stampin' on Tuesday #359
• Word Art Wednesday #326 - anything goes
• Classic Design Team Open #23
• Happy Little Stampers March anything goes with dies

The Hobbit and a Golden Anniversary

I'd spotted on Dotty Jo's blog a new challenge - based on library books.  I'm a huge fan of our local library - I go through about a book a week on the bus to work, so if I was paying for them they'd cost me a small fortune!!

Anyway, challenge #2 at the Library Challenge is The Hobbit and I just had to play along!  I did it in school and I think I almost lost the will to live. It probably didn't help either that it was about 9000 pages long and it instilled in me a lifelong dislike for fantasy books.  I've even tried watching the movie - I mean, how could you not love a film with gorgeous eye candy like Orlando Bloom, Aidan Quinn, and the rest!  But no.  I'd nearly rather clean the oven.

I didn't have any spare hobbits in my stash, reckon this gnomey dude from Paper Smooches is the closest I was going to get ;)
MFT village die.  Coloured with watercolour pencils.  Gnome popped up on foam pads.

• Simon Says Stamp Work it Wednesday February - green
• Layout from Sketch Saturday #504
• Simply Create #136 - use green
• Happy Little Stampers March Watercolour challenge - anything goes, option - home

And following on from yesterday's silver anniversary, we have a Golden one (for their parents!!)
I've used my gorgeous sparkly card again and kept the sameish layout as my Mother's Day card.  Image from LOTV coloured with watercolour pencils and popped up on foam pads.  Personalised by adding their names to the book.

• Make My Monday #66 - gold or silver
• Addicted to Stamps #282 - make your mark
• Crafty Creations #361 - anything goes
• Crafty Catz #407 - layer it up

Mother's Day & Silver Anniversary

Well it's been an icky damp old day today, but at least the birdies think that Spring is on it's way ... the blackbirds out our back garden were having a great sing off earlier!

So it's Mother's Day tomorrow - this is card #2 for my Mum.  I decided I didn't like my first effort so made this one instead!
I've used a LOTV image - I'm gutted that they're going digital as I LOVE their stamps.  Coloured with watercolour pencils and clear gloss added to the flowers.  MFT heart die.

• Heart die / layout based on Anita's card over at the Muse challenge #256
• Fab'n Funky #384 - Mother's Day
• Creative Kockouts #235 - dies / punches
• Cute Card Thursday #520 - Mothers

This one's a special request.  Hmmm, not sure about it!  I've been struggling with my mojo and think this might be one of the dodgy ones ;)

It's maybe because I tried to squeeze the names into the design?

Love my sparkly silver card though!

Image is an oldie from Art Gone Wild.












Oops, just realised that I forgot to add in some shading to my birdies after the base layer. 

• Make My Monday #66 - gold or silver
• Time Out #104 - bold

Purple is the new Blue

Well Monday again!  Hope wherever you are that your snow is on the way out - normal service has been resumed here and we're back to rain!!

So this is one of those cards that looked better in my head, but it's warts and all on this blog!  ;)  It was an excuse really to play with my new MFT town die!  I've no idea why it ended up purple - with that sentiment I'd intended to use blue cardstock.  I think it would maybe have looked better with the darker purple on the base with the snip of lighter purple.  Who knows!!
I'm very mean with stuff that I love - so my purple glitter card was a teeny snippet that got added as it all looked a bit boring!
Penny Black stamp.  Clouds chalked in BG.

• Simon Says Stamp Monday - whatever the weather
• Pixie's Snippets Playground Challenge #321
• Addicted to Stamps and More #281 - anything goes
• Penny Black and More March - feature a creature
• As you like it - single or multiple layers - I rarely make single layer cards, mainly because my cardstock isn't the thickest and I think it warps quicker than one with a couple of layers to butch it up a bit.  Plus I like to use my dies and add dimension with foam pads!

Birthday balloons and cute critters

Oh BrrrrBrrrrBrrrr that has been one cold week! We managed to miss most of the snow, even compared to Belfast 20 miles away where it was a winter wonderland!  The wee bit of snow we did have was quite dry, wispy, drifty stuff, and it's mostly melted today - Ruby will be devastated next time she puts her nose outside not to have any snow to stick her head in ;)

I think the cold weather has frozen my mojo, it took me ages to make this simple wee card!  Not helped by me sticking the front panel down wonky first time and then having to peel if off without totally destroying it.

Anyway, my stamp is an oldie from Whipper Snapper.  MFT stitched dies.  Coloured with watercolour pencils and clear gloss added to the balloons and glitter to the 'Pop'.

• Layout from MFT Wednesday Sketch challenge #374
• MFT Birthday Project - up up and away
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday- anything goes
• Just Us Girls #430 - balloons

And then I made this one from the leftover scraps!  Stamps from Paper Smooches - coloured with watercolour pencils.  I also stamped some little paw prints over the BG but they don't really show up in my pic.

• Layout from Paper Smooches March sketch
• Craftaholics R Us #9 - sequins
• That's Crafty - I heart you

Drink Up with Naughty or Nice

We're on the drink this month at Naughty or Nice!  Hope you'll play along too - you can go down the tea/coffee route if you don't fancy a sore head ;)

So I know it's a school night, but who's for a wee one?  I have Lime Mojitos, Strawberry Daiquiris, Bailey's, Screwdrivers, Blue Lagoons or Tequila Sunrises!   (In reality I could do you a beer, or I'm sure there's a bottle of wine from Xmas at the back of the cupboard!!)

All I could think of when I was making this card was one year on our hols in Turkey, me and a friend discovered the cocktail board and gradually worked our way down it.  We'd an absolute blast of a night.  Next morning was not pretty though ;)

• Layout from Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge #253
• Through the Craft Room Door - anything goes
• Allsorts #456 - beginning with B - Booze!

A Purrfect Day

We've excitable weather men on the go again - this time for the Beast from the East!  That just sounds like a scary movie eh?!  A cold snap from Siberia is on it's way which may or may not bring a dump of snow, it's definitely a tad chilly out there tonight. 

I've just a wee quickie card tonight using one of my new dies from MFT.  Well, a quickie once I'd decided what I was making, the original card in my head looked nothing like this LOL.  If I'd made it to this design instead of the old one I would have had my heart a little higher.

• Layout from MFT Wednesday Sketch Challenge #373
• Cute Card Thursday #518 - cute critters
• Addicted to CAS #130 - cat
• Penny Black and More February - love, hearts +/or flowers
• Happy Little Stampers February CAS challenge - hearts

Bye Bye Bunnies

Ooops, I've accidentally been stamp shopping again ;)  I love this range of the Mama Elephant stamps, I nearly bought the snowmen and then the dogs, but settled on the bunnies!
This card is for a friend in work who's leaving us so I've made it in the company colours of purple and green.
For such a simple stamp it takes a surprising amount of time to colour! I kept missing either blush, or noses or ties!
I popped the little flower and carrot (on the brown bunny) up on foam pads.  Couple of gold stars from stash to finish.

• As You Like It - favourite way to add a sentiment - I prefer to stamp mine as it's easier to get it in the right position, and less scary doing it now that I have my TH stamp platform!
• Crafting by Designs - friendship
• Pile it On #139 - 3D embellishments
• Crafty Creations #360 - anything goes

Disqualified from the Olympics

Are you enjoying the Olympics?  I'm loving it, but the time difference is a bit crap and the only bit I get to see is the hourly catch up in the evening.  Reckon if I won the Lottery, I'd be off to one of the bobsleigh runs - I'd need a big hunk or 3 in beside me though, there's NO way I'd be having a go at the skeleton run!

Anyway, while the Olympics were on telly I thought I'd have a go at the MFT Olympics challenges.    But DOH!  The closing date was yesterday evening :(
This one was for the timed challenge - I cut it fine, my time was 19:43! A whole 17 seconds left over.
Lesson learned from this card - don't leave a finished card beside my water pot when I'm colouring another one.  I managed to add some water splatters to this one, so I'll have to have a think how to cover them up.

• Layout inspired by Kim's fab card over at Muse challenge #254
• Creative Knockouts #233 - anything goes

This one was was to be for the MFT Winter challenge.  My lesson learned from this one is that, when I want to colour elements in my image to match my cardstock, to actually pick card that I have the colours of!  It was a right pain in the derriere to mix my colours to make that salmony colour for my fishy cocktail!  

Coloured with watercolour pencils and sparkle added to the fish and the cocktail.

• Layout based on the sketch at Try Stampin on Tuesday #357 - I went for a square shape as my scrap of blue card was too small for the circular die I would have had to have used.
• Simon Says Stamp - add a die cut
• Pixie's Snippets Playground - challenge #320
• Sweet Stampers #17 - things with wings

Birthday Balloon

This bit of DP has been knocking round my table for a few months now, so I figured it was about time I got it stuck down and used up!

I was looking for an image with a balloon for the MFT Birthday Project challenge - up up and away - and this cutie from Tiddly Inks was the first I came across.
Coloured with watercolour pencils.  Clear gloss added to the balloon and glitter to her pompoms.  Little pink stars from stash.

• As You Like It - favourite way to add a sentiment - well I've no printer, my handwriting is awful, and I've only a couple of sentiment dies, so my only other option is to stamp it!  Definitely made much easier too with my TH stamping platform :)
• Craftyhazelnut's Patterned paper challenge - February

Strawberry Daiquiri anyone?

Here's one hot off the press, the glue's not even dry yet!  I'm lovin my new Newton's Nook drinkies set from Simon Says Stamp, I've been after a set like this for ages :)  Only thing about it though ... I'd LOVE a wee lime mojito now!

Coloured with watercolour pencils and clear sparkle added to the drinks, and clear gloss to the fruit.  Gold stars from stash. Also using up some unloved orange card, I embossed it to give it a bit more interest.

• Layout from MFT Wednesday Sketch Club #372
• Word Art Wednesday #322/323 - anything goes
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - add a die cut
• Less Is More #365 - dry embossing

Naughty or Nice challenge reminder

 Just a wee reminder about the Loved Up challenge over at Naughty or Nice.  You can use either the colour combo, the love theme or both if you like!

My card is Greg's Valentine :)
Sometimes though, crafting is waaaaay more stressful than it needs to be!  The whole point of this card was that I used an image big enough that I could stick one of those wobble thingys on (found in my recent tidy up).
So off I went, colouring, cutting, sticking and sparkling.  And then I went to put my hand on my wobble things and .... gone!  So the next {insert swear word} 45 minutes were spent looking for them.  Nope! Nowhere to be found. Grrrrrrrrrrrr.  Anyway, my bunny's now popped up on foam pads and what Greg doesn't know won't hurt him ;)

• Simon Says Stamp Work it Wednesday January - love
• That's Crafty - I Heart You
• Layout from Atlantic Hearts #251