Froggy Get Well

I decided I needed to make something bright and cheery on this very dark and wet morning - been raining steadily since well before I got up. I know we are supposed to need rain but surely not all at once!!

This frog character is from Docrafts Diggity Dog range.  Backing paper is from my stash and I just had to use my first Memory Box die - I've managed to resist buying any of these so far but I must say this one cut beautifully so I may be tempted with more.  Most of them are quite finely detailed and I'd imagined they would be difficult to remove from the die but fortunately this wasn't the case - came out so easily.

Three Challenges

I've had to do something this week which I very rarely do and that is to cover three challenges with one card - I really prefer to do separate cards for each challenge.  Needs must but it actually took quite a bit of thought to co-ordinate my ideas to to do this which surprised me somewhat.  I'd just realised that this week was galloping away from me at an alarming rate so I'll try to do better next week!
The challenges covered are Forgotten Friday, Funky Hand and Make My Monday - fortunately the last two are both autumn themed and Forgotten Friday needed me to use something from my stash which had been neglected or forgotten.

Forgotten Friday - the neglected item is the Nestability die set with the spikey circles which I've hardly ever used although I really needed it at the time.

Funky Hand - their monthly theme is autumn and I've used papers from the Craft The Year Away CD and the  bird is also on the same disc - he has been paper pieced with a jewel for an eye.  I chose papers from the Orange October collection (seemed appropriate!!).

Make My Monday - again an autumn theme for the month and this week they were looking for orange and black.  I suppose the obvious thing would have been Halloween but as I don't have anything much for that and don't really 'do' Halloween I just used the colours.  A Spellbinder die cut border across the centre, a computer sentiment some matching card candy and there it is - one card covering three challenges.

Pick a Pattern

The challenge for May on the St Luke's Challenge charity blog is to pick a pattern (or more than one) and I've used  Funky Hand spots and stripes papers left over from a card made recently but have also printed them both again in reduced sizes  for matting and layering and for a punched tab embellishment. The image was from a Forever Friends set by Papermania and was coloured with pencils.  The sentiment was printed from a Funky Hand CD. although it looks as though it might have been made using a label maker. I hope I've managed to include enough pattern here!!

Cute Rabbit

I think these rabbit images by Craftwork cards are probably intended for Easter cards but as I don't really make those I've used Warren for a birthday card. Background paper is from a Basic Grey pad which I've had a while, the image was coloured using Copics and the embossed border was cut using one of the new border dies from X-cut. I reckon Spring is on the way at last.

Owl

This owl is from Craftwork Cards and has just had a touch of colour added using Copic pens.  Background paper is from Papermania with some pieces from stampin Up edged with a Martha Stewart punch.  Flowers with card candy centres are also from Craftwork Cards.  A Sizzix swirl and computer sentiment complete this card.

Twenty First

Apologies for not posting much this week but my excuse is that I've been preparing samples for demonstrations I'm doing soon and I am wanting to keep these under wraps for the time being. However time flies as they say and I've just realised we are almost at the end of March and my grandson has a birthday so here is the card I've made for him. The image is Paul Texting digi image by Mo Manning coloured using Copic pens. Background papers are by Papermania, the numbers were cut using X-cut dies which I think are now discontinued and I also added some card candy from Craftwork cards which happen to match the dotty paper.

K for Kraft

The final challenge from Craftwork Cards is K for Kraft - using their kraft range of products. I scored and pleated some of their kraft paper and added some punched borders of Ritzy card and more kraft paper. Background paper is also kraft and the flowers were punched and assembled using a mixture of kraft and ritzy with some card candy and a pearl.

Build a Pansy

Papermania have from time to time been producing sets of stamps on the Build a Flower theme and the latest is a lovely pansy. The petals were stamped and coloured with Copics and then formed into the flower which is actually quite large at around 2.5 inches so not too fiddly to make. Background paper is from my oddments box but I think it is by Artylicious and the flower was mounted onto a Nesties oval. The card was finished with a Spellbinders border, some ribbon and card candy from Craftwork Cards coloured to match the flower.

Watch this space for a card using a rose which has many more petals than the pansy so takes longer to colour and make up.

Ritzy

Craftwork Cards challenge has reached R for Ritzy which is their range of pearly card which I have embossed and used on this card. The stamps used were from one of their clear sets and the background is another piece of Artylicious paper from my oddments box.

Craftwork Ovals

Craftwork Cards challenge has reached the letter O for ovals and I've used two of their colour me ovals - coloured with Copic pen - mounted onto their scalloped ovals also coloured using the same pen. Background paper is from Joanna sheen's Eastern Treasures CD and the flowers are made from Craftwork pearlised card die cut flowers which have been put through a cuttlebug embossing folder. The addition of some ribbon; a punched leaf; silver peel-offs and some small flowers with diamante centres from my stash complete this challenge card.

It's a Wrap

Craftwork Cards challenge has reached the letter W for wrap and I've used one of their plain white wraps for this card. It was sprayed with Glimmer Mist and then put through a Cuttlebug embossing folder. Details on the owls were painted using the same spray, and the scalloped oval and the butterfly sentiment were coloured in the same way.

Templates

The challenge at Craftwork Cards has reached the letter T for templates and I've used one of their template sheets to draw and cut these hearts from paper which was in one of their Goody Bags. Background papers, sentiment and butterfly are also from Craftwork Cards. The butterfly has been coloured with a Copic pen to match the papers. Lacy border used a Martha Stewart punch.

Bluebirds

As usual my workspace has shrunk to a very tiny space yet again so I felt I must actually use some of the odd images, die cuts, stamped pieces and scraps of paper rather than just tidy them away where they could be forgotten. This is a card I made using some Sizzix die cuts with a stamped image using a sentiment from Elusive Images. The branch and birds were die cut from white card and coloured with Copics.

A few pieces less on my desk but plenty more to go!!

Holly

The challenge at Bah Humbug this week is holly and I've used an image from Joanna Sheen's Cardmakers year CD and taken the liberty of naming the little dog 'Holly'. Background paper is from the CD, message made on the computer and ribbon and card candy have been added to complete the card.

Valentine

Challenge 4 at Polkadoodles is to produce a non traditional Valentine - ie no pink or red so I've used papers from their Love and Cherish to make this one although I'm not sure I actually need a Valentine card!! Definitely no pink or red here.

Flower Challenge

The challenge at Craftwork Cards has reached F for flowers and as a friend had asked me to make a 70th birthday card I thought I would use this idea for her card. The flowers from Craftwork Cards have been embossed with a Cuttlebug swiss dots folder and the centres are hand made flowers by Flora Doodles. Background paper is from Hot off the Press; sentiment is stampin Up; numbers are X-cut diecutss layered onto a Cuttlebug diecut.

Bluebirds

These bluebirds were a free download from Pollycraft and I thought they would make a cheerful get well card. Image was coloured with Copics, faux stitching was done with a fine line pen, greeting produced on the computer and punched with a Stampin Up punch. Border strip used a Fiskars threading water punch and I added gingham ribbon and some card candy to match.

Acetate

The Craftwork Cards Challenge is up to the letter A for acetate and I've used a small piece stamped with one of their flower stamps. I then added some double sided adhesive and some gilding flakes and put the resulting square behind one of their embossed frames which has been highlighted by spongeing with ink. Background papers are by Craftwork cards as is the butterfly greeting. Some card from my stash has been cut using Fiskars border punch. Some ribbon and card candy completes this card.

Ribbon

The second challenge at Craftwork Cards is R for ribbon and luckily I still had a small piece of ribbon left in my goody bag. The background papers, sentiments and flowers are all from the same bag with just the addition of a couple of punched leaves and a small punched flower with, of course, some card candy.

I noticed that at least two of my blogging friends have the same goody bag!!

Quirky Flowers

These quirky flowers have been cut out and layered onto a Nellies die cut shape and background paper by Polkadoodles. Card finished off with a ribbon and some card candy from Craftwork Cards.