Banner with Roses

Today's card combines some banner die cuts made using Sizzix banner framelits dies (from Stampin' Up) and some roses stamped using their two-step stamp set called A Rose is a Rose - the flowers had to be cut out with scissors of course.  Colours used are Regal Rose and Rich Razzleberry with a couple of greens for the leaves (Certainly Celery and Wild Wasabi).  Backing paper is from my stash and the sentiment was a clear stamp of unknown origin but it fitted the little tag strip quite nicely.

Mischievous Mice

The card I'm sharing today is one sent recently to a lovely online friend who occasionally has mischievous creatures on her keyboard making typos - I'm not mentioning any names as that would be unkind but thankfully she saw the joke!!  There seems to be no end to the lovely images around of these sweet House Mouse characters - something for every occasion I'd say.  A Fiskars border punch and some card candy were used.

Literature Challenge

The challenge this week at Make My Monday is another one inspired by literature and this time it is a book I've not come across called Garden Spells and fortunately we've been given a brief idea of what is within the pages.  I decided to go along with the floral theme suggested by this but of course didn't have any stamps of the flowers mentioned so have had to improvise by using what I had.  The daisy stamp is from Crafty Individuals and the other flowers are from my stash with the addition of a couple of die cut swirls.  Various oddments of card  have been used to add the embossed panel with a punched border and the sentiment is a Stampin' Up stamp popped onto a Spellbinder die cut. I have to admit this is very loosely connected to the theme but inspiration seems to be failing me this week - I did say before that literature isn't really my thing and I hope this will be acceptable for the challenge.  The synopsis provided did conjure up various ideas in my head but somehow they just wouldn't translate into anything workable with what I have in the way of stamps etc.and believe me I have plenty to work with - maybe too much and that could be the trouble!!

Forgotten Friday 55

During the week I was trawling through my many A4 boxes of bits and pieces of paper and card searching for a particular colour when I came across a partial sheet of  uncoloured digital images.  I usually print several to fill a page when I want just one and this sheet had been put away and forgotten so it fits in well with Judith's Forgotten Friday challenge.  The image has been coloured with Promarkers and Coloursoft pencils, then cut out with a Nestabilities die.  Background paper is from a K & Co pad which has been lying around for a long time together with a scrap from one of the bits boxes.  The die cut border, corner and backing for the greeting were cut from scraps of blue card and a matching ribbon bow has been added. The curly strip and corner were cut using a die set from Lea'bilities, the greeting was produced on the computer, punched out and popped onto Cuttlebug die shapes.  Three more images left to colour in now and that will be one less piece in my 'bits' collection.

Bah humbug Challenge 29

My lovely owl punch arrived from Stampin Up and I really wanted to have a play so I worked out a way to incorporate owls and the requested BEADS for the Bah Humbug challenge this week.  I turned two of them into Santa owls and sat them on chimneys - fine but how to use beads?  Then I had the idea of die cutting and embossing some trees and decorating one of them with tiny beads so now these two Santas are sitting on the rooftop with their own tree relaxing after delivering all the presents.  The sentiment is from a set of Joanna Sheen owl stamps which I remembered I had lurking around somewhere - I do love owls!!

Sunshine and Flowers

This cute bunny digi stamp comes as a freebie from Pink Gem Designs and their site is well worth a visit for digis or regular stamps and other goodies.  Image was coloured using Copics, background papers are from Kay and Co; I've added a lace border cut with a fiskars punch; a Cuttlebug fancy corner and a sentiment produced on the computer.

Say it With Flowers

My friend Anne is a guest designer for a new challenge - St Lukes Hospice and the first one was 'say it with flowers' to ease us in gently as most people have flowers in some form which can be made into a card.  There is a Freepost address on their blog so that if you wish you can send the actual card to them to help raise funds.The image on this card is a stamp from Hobby Arts on Kraft card and coloured with Polychromos pencils, background paper is from Polkadoodles and I've added a punched border, some ribbon and a greeting

Vintage Vogue

It is inevitable when one has lots of stamps as I have that some (or many in my case) get neglected from time to time so I decided to dig out this Vintage Vogue set from Stampin Up and make a card. Background paper is also theirs and for the sentiment and corners  I used  SU punches. I masked an area with the cut out waste from a Nestabilities label before overstamping and adding the flowers. I stamped some extra flowers while I had the stamps out on my desk and these will need to be cut out at some time and used up (not left lying in a box unused!!).

Stickers

My friend Anne has been using some Penny Black stickers on her cards recently and this reminded me that I had a sheet of them lurking somewhere in my stash. The background paper is from My Minds eye with oddments from my box, I added some gems and punched butterflies which were glittered with Glamour dust.

70th Birthday

I've made this card for a friend who collects pigs - not real ones of course but she does like them to look realistic.  I remembered there was this piggy image on Joanna Sheen's Jane Netley Mayhew CD so printed off an image with one of the background papers, added a punched border, a matching flower and some card candy.  I hope she likes it because another friend said "you just cannot send a card with a picture of a pig" but I'm sure it will be OK.

Bah Humbug Challenge 30

Well at last my decorating work is finished and all that remains is for me to put back all the books and other things onto my shelves and into cupboards.  I'm going to try my best to de clutter a bit and get rid of items which I've not actually looked at in ages but who knows how successful I will be?? Things  are looking quite minimalist at the moment which isn't really me!

I've taken time out to make a card for the Bah Humbug challenge this week which is is 'Through the Window' using an image and background paper from Joanna Sheen's Enchanted Christmas CD set which can always be relied upon to come up with wonderful pictures for seasonal cards. A Fiskars border punch and Quickcutz corner dies have been used as well. As we are at week 30 this must mean I have at least 30 cards ready for December - this was such a brilliant idea - thanks BH team!!

Bah Humbug Challenge 27

The challenge at Bah Humbug this week is stockings and they jokingly started by suggesting we stitched an actual Christmas stocking so I couldn't resist adding a picture of  'one I stitched earlier' as well as the card I've made this week.  I can hardly believe I have 27 Christmas cards made already - well ahead of the game this year so thanks to the team for coming up with this great idea.  The background paper is by Artylicious and the image was printed on acetate (from My Craft Studio Snowflakes and Sparkles), layered onto a piece of glitter hand made paper.  The same image was also made into a border using MCS and one stocking cut out and popped into the centre of the greeting which was made on the computer using Word. I used a Cuttlebug embossing folder on a piece of silver card and added a little glitter to the tops of the stockings.

Pollycraft Freebies Challenge

What's this you say - two posts in one day and includes stamping this time (at least digi stamping) which I've coloured using pencils. The folks over at Pollycraft are asking us to 'flash our freebies' that is use one of their many free digi images to make something and they will send entrants another freebie in return which we have to keep secret awaiting further instructions.  If you pop over to have a look you can read the full instructions.
Background  papers are from My Minds Eye in a pad which came free with Cardmaking and papercraft magazine this month - a  very nice free gift I thought. Daisies were punched using two sizes of punch and the leaves are made using an X-cut embossing leaf punch; I added some lace and gems together with a computer sentiment popped onto  Stampin Up punched ovals.

Bah Humbug Challenge 24

The challenge this week at Bah Humbug is 'Santa' and my first thought was to get out my Joanna Sheen CDs because there are some lovely images there.  However I decided to use a stamp which I've had for many years and it came in a 'grab bag' of unmounted stamps long before UMs became almost the norm.  I think this is a cute image and has been coloured using pencils.  Background paper is from K and Co, ribbon is Papermania -  both from a couple of years back and the flowers were purchased recently from Wildorchid Crafts.

A Baby Owl

I've been trying to address the problem of some gaps in my stock of cards - here is a baby girl card which will fill one of those gaps and keep the baby boy cards company. I can't understand why I have several boy cards and no girl ones - just one of those things I suppose. Background is some pink gingham card which I just happened to have in my stash, the image and sentiment are from a set of Joanna Sheen stamps and I added a punched strip and die cut daisy with embossed and punched leaf. Colouring was done with Copics

Challenge

When my friend Anne and I met up last week at our local craft shop for coffee and a crafty chat we both bought the same pack of papers and some cream lace which were new in and she said it would be an idea for us to make a card using these items with a Hobby Arts stamp which is a favourite with both of us. It will be interesting to see which papers each of us has chosen from the Hampstead collection from Papermania and just what we have done with them and the stamped image. My image was coloured with Copics and the large flower cut out and layered . All circles were cut with Nestabilities and the greeting is mounted onto a Nellies die cut; a Fiskars border punch was also used. Do pop over to Anne's blog too as she is posting her card today.

I finished making my workshop bear yesterday so will be taking a photo later to post tomorrow so watch this space.

Pansy

Well another bright and sunny day here and it still feels very warm - I'm posting reasonably early today as I wouldn't want to cause another panic LOL!! This card uses the build a pansy design stamp set from Papermania and the layers have been stamped, coloured with Copics then cut out and layered up to form the flower. Their latest one in the series is a sunflower which I'm just itching to try. Background paper was some from my stash which was given away with a magazine a while ago and I doodled round the edge. Fiskars punched strip, ribbon and a greeting using a Nellies die.

I have to stay in this morning to await redelivery of something 'too large for my letterbox' - I hope it is something crafty!!

Polkadoodles Challenge 12

The challenge at Polkadoodle this week is to make a card following a sketch and also to use black and white with just one other colour. Background paper, border and image are all from Back to Nature and I also used Nestabilities, Cuttlebug embossing and a Stampin Up punch for the sentiment. The cute cow was printed out in a reduced size and layered onto the circles - various punched flowers and gems were added to complete the design.

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.

Another card using the cupcake stamped images stamped when visiting a friend. This time I used the individual cupcakes coloured with Copics and cut out. I popped them through my tiny Xyron X machine and glittered with Glamour Dust. The birthday cake is from Stampin Up as is the background paper. The sentiment from the cupcake set has been cut out with a Nestabilities label with the edges sponged with ink.