Tatty Ted

I thought it was about time that Tatty Ted had an airing on a couple of cards - such a cute character and handy for all sorts of occasions. He, or maybe this is a female relative, has been combined with an embossed Die'sire folder) background which was highlighted with some wax and a couple of die cut shapes using a Nellie die set. Once the cutting and embossing was done this was quite a quick and easy card to put together.

Purrfect Day

I have gathered loads of digital 'stamps' over the years and indeed now have no idea where some of them came from which is a shame.  I was printing off something earlier this week and decided to fill a page with some others while I was at it.  I quite like this cat image but no idea of the source.  It has been layered onto some Spellbinder die cuts and I simply added a matching ribbon and a computer greeting on a Nellie die cut shape.

Challenge Card

Today's challenge card is for the House of Cards CUTE AND FUN theme and for September we have been given this colour scheme to use - they would like us to use at least three of the colours shown.

I've chosen a scarecrow image from Polkadoodles Seasons CD, coloured with Copics.  Backing paper is from an old Papermania pad and the central borders cut using Spellbinders dies.  Image was cut out using a Nellies die and I've added some flowers from my stash and a sprig of ivy cut with tattered Lace die.  A simple computer greeting was popped onto a stampin Up punched label.  Do take a look at what their design team have come up with and maybe take part yourslf.

House of Cards Challenge

As there are five Mondays in July the choice of style for the challenge at House of Cards has been left to us so in my 'using it up' mode I went ahead and made a card with some of the bits and pieces I had left in the colour scheme for July - wrong!!  That should teach me not to make a challenge card until the post has actually been publlished with full details!! We've been given a photograph as inspiration for this final free choice week so I had to get my thinking cap on to make something else.  The link to the photograph is somewhat tenuous because I've just used the colour of the wallpaper for the flowers on this classic style card.  During my sort out of the working space I came across a page of stamped and embossed flowers which needed colouring so I used a Sakura stardust pen and then cut them out, adding some coppery leaves (Memory Box die).  The background paper was left from a sheet I printed to use yesterday and the die cut strip and embossed panel were from the 'bits' box. A computer sentiment on punched and die cut shapes completes this card.

Here is the photo

and here is my card

Special Day

Another blue card to share today which I made using up various die cuts and a digital image all of which were lying around on my work space and are mainly either left over from other projects or were cuts made to try out dies to see how they looked when cut.  The embossed panel was part of an A4 embossed sheet and the lacy edge was the first piece I cut with this Cheery Lynne die to see how it cut and how easily it came out of the die - beautifully in both cases!.  The circular pieces were a Nellie die which I've had a long time. Image was a digital one and the central blue area is made up from part of a Die-sire set combined with a fancy corner from Marianne. I still have a bit more tidying up to do before I will be able to see and use the whole area of my glass cutting mat - it keeps disappearing under a mountain of card and paper scraps!!

One of my blogging friends Sue suggested I should enter this into the Pan Pastels challenge this week where the theme is embossing so here goes.  Thanks Sue.

Flower Card

Flower cards are always popular so I used this hydrangea stamp from Stampin' Up to make a card to pop into my box.  Image coloured with Coloursoft pencils then die cut with Spellbinders circles for the layers and a Nellie scallop circle die.  Someone gave me a packet of pretty doilies so I used part of one with an apothecary accents die (Stampin' Up) along with two more of the paper clay roses and a simple greeting. Backing paper was from a freebie pad which came with a magazine. There seems to be no let up with the hot weather so I will be carrying on with 'light duties' as much as possible.

Forgotten Friday

I have an offering for Judith's Forgotten Friday challenge today which is a mixture of 'forgotten', 'scraps', and a 'cased' idea which I saw on a recent Penny Black challenge blog. Do take a look at Judith's blog because she has a lovely card using the latest stamp set from Chocolate Baroque - fabulous sunflowers which should cheer up what is looking like another dull, wet and windy day.  Anyway back to my card - the thing I liked about the idea was the two tags with text which form part of the design so I went to the scrap box and pulled out a couple of die-cuts which I knew were lying there unused since I did a Big shot demo last year.  I stamped some text onto them and sponged with distess ink, then dug my Cropodile out of hiding (can't recall when that was last used) to add eyelets, then tied together with some baker twine and a little punched tag (Stampin' Up). Background paper was a magazine  freebie overstamped with swirls; the floral panel behind the circle is a Chocolate Baroque stamp, from the Fantastic Florals sheet and the first time this particular image has been used.  The daisy flower is from a Crafty Individuals stamp which I've had for some years but has been neglected for too long.  Both flowers were stamped onto scraps of card and the die-cut circle (Nellies Die) from a scrap of kraft card. Finally the tickets were in the scraps box too - leftovers from another project when I stamped extra ones which I didn't need at the time.

Forgotten Friday 31

It's time for my Forgotten Friday 31 challenge card to get an airing - this seems to have been a very short week somehow.  This week I've used an image from one of my many My Craft Studio CDs and although I looked at this one ages ago when I first bought it I've not used any of the artwork until now.  This cute character is Violet and the image was cut out using Nestabilities labels die, the sentiment was printed from the CD and I added a border, ribbon and flowers.

Make My Monday challenge 8

Over on the MMM blog they are still on a vintage theme but this week they are asking for lace and pearls and there are some great DT cards for inspiration if you take a look.  I've used background paper with pearl buttons, a Cuttlebug button strip embossing folder and some lace which was white so I coloured it to match the rest of the card. The image is from Crafty Individuals and I've popped it into a frame made using a Nestie with a Nellies die. The larger die cut shape (courtesy of my friend Anne - thanks) is a top note die from Stampin Up (by Sizzix) and it has been overstamped using Stampin Up Strength and Hope set which is where the butterfly came from too and I just added a few matching pearls to complete the card.

Cupcakes

Today's card has a row of cupcakes cut using a Papermania die which seemingly has hundreds of tiny pieces on it although in reality it isn't quite that many but there are several bases, icing pieces and lots of cherries, candles etc so this means putting tiny pieces of card on the die to get the various colours.  The iced sections were cut from coloured paper/card and then run through a tiny Xyron sticker maker (the X-shaped one) and then glittered. Background paper is also from Papermania as is the scalloped border (another die).  The sentiment was produced on the computer and cut out using a Nellies die.  The flowers were cut and embossed using a Nellies flower punch and these were glittered by the same method as the icing sections. This card was another of my demonstration samples.

Less is More Week 7

The challenges at Less is More seem to be getting more and more entries each week and it seems that this clean and simple style is gaining momentum. Sometimes we actually need a fairly straightforward card and making cards for men is often a problem particularly if they aren't into sports and so on so this is the challenge this week - to make a plain and simple card for a man.  I think mine comes into this category because I took a kraft DL card, die cut two shapes also using kraft card and stamped the wording - job done.  The card blank is from Papermania, the large shape was a Sizzix die and the smaller one a Nellies die.  The words are from a set of birthday words from Elusive Images ( a play on words here too as it happens!). I resisted the urge to sponge the edges of the die cuts but I did add two fancy brads.

If you pop over to Less is More you will be able to see the entries so far this week and there is also a great tutorial on matting and layering using Nestabilities to get narrower borders.

House Mouse

I actually only own one House Mouse stamp which I've had for many years and of course they are very popular nowadays having made a bit of a comeback.  This one is delivering an armful of jelly beans and he has been coloured with Copics, popped onto Nellies dies.  Background paper is from Papermania and the embossed daisies were done using a free embossing folder which came with the current Creativity magazine.  Flowers were printed from a Polkadoodles CD and have been lying in my bits box for a while so needed using up.  The sentiment was stamped using stamps from Imagine That and they are designed to fit onto the Tim Holtz die cut ticket strip.

Studio Sketches

This set of stamps was a Stampin Up Hostess gift and I realised that I'd not actually used them yet - probably another sign of an over-abundance of stamps!!  Stamped onto kraft card and coloured with Copic pens, mounted up on Nellies diecuts.  Background paper is from Papermania Hampstead range and some green card embossed with a Tim Holtz folder - I just added a stamped message and a punched tab with some card candy to finish this off. I know this still has a brown look but there is quite a lot of green and I thought it  maybe a good for a man

Another Christmas Cutie

The Bah Humbug challenge this week has prompted me to make another cutie Christmas card - this time using Popcorn decoupage, Papermania background paper and sentiment.  I added a Nellies die cut layer and a couple of card candies.

Baby Card

A baby card today - I do love this image from Lily of the Valley and it has been coloured using pencils and cut out using a Nellies die then layered up on a Nestabilities scalloped square with swiss dots embossing. The greeting was done with My craft Studio and I added two punched prams using a punch which has been in the drawer for years.

Henry Hedgehog

I'm sure I've mentioned before that I can never resist the 'free' stamps which come on the front of magazines from time to time (shame the mags often appear so 'samey').  This image is from a set of Henry the Hedgehog which was on the front of the current Papercraft Essentials, coloured with pencils.  Background paper is from Kay and Co with the addition of some oddments from my stash.  Die cuts are Nestabilities and Nellies dies, punched border made with Martha Stewart punch; the sentiment was produced on the computer and now I've seen the card on the screen I might just be tempted to add a little embellishment to the centre of the sentiment.

Pollycraft Challenge 53

The Monday challenge at Pollycraft this week is to make a birthday card - very straightforward.  The digital image has been coloured with pencils onto a circle cut with Nestabilities; background papers are by K and Co from their Sparkly Sweet range and the dots and dashes were drawn using a fine black pen. Both the image and the sentiment (made on the computer) were put onto Nellies die cut fancy circles.  The flowers and leaves were punched using Xcut embossing punches and smaller punches were used to add some layers to the flowers which also have  pearls in the centres.

Another Pepper Card

This is another of the cute stamps from Pepper and Friends coloured with pencils. Background papers are from My Minds Eye and I used Nellies dies, Stampin Up punch and Quickcuts dies.

Pepper and Friends

This stamp is one of a small set of Pepper and Friends which caught my eye recently. Background paper, ribbon, flowers and brads are by Papermania.  I also used Nellies dies, Nestabilities and Fiskars border punch.

Baby Girl Card

Well it seems as if my attempts to do scheduled posts are doomed to failure - no idea what I might be doing wrong so probably won't bother again!! Today's offering is another baby card to fill a gap in my stock of cards, this time using a stamp by Forever Friends coloured with Polychromos pencils. image is mounted onto a Nellies die cut shape, wording is on a Spellbinders die and the corners are made using a Sizzix die - background paper is from Stampin Up (I think).