Cute Hedgie

Well I've done it again - been tempted by a magazine giving away free stamps but my excuse (if I need one) is that they are really cute images from Country Companions and there was also some free double sided paper as well and a retro download  free offer inside.   I've used some of the paper here together with the hedgehog image, coloured with alcohol pens and glitter added to the dandelion clocks.  The greeting was made up from stamps in the set, cut out with Nestabilities. My stamp collection just seems to keep growing so maybe I should avoid the newsagent's shop in future!!

Make My Monday Challenge

I can hardly believe just how long it has taken me this morning to make a card - the elements here (and others) have been shuffled around so many times they must be dizzy!!  The challenge at Make My Monday is to use ribbon and buttons and I decided straight away to use the Memory Box die cut tree and some tiny Papermania buttons but it was the rest of it which seemed to cause me problems.  Eventually I settled on Nestabilities and some die cut corners combined with punched ones and a piece of spotty paper from my oddments box.  All I can say is that it is a good job I'm not paid piece work - come to think of it I'm not paid full stop!! I do this for fun.

Inspired by Literature

I must say I really didn't like the look of the challenge on Make My Monday this week where they are asking us to make something inspired by a literary classic by Jane Austen.  English literature was my absolute least favourite subject at school and although I read a great deal I must confess that  I'm never drawn to any of the 'classics'.  However, as I was working on a card this morning it occurred to me that maybe this 'sit up and beg' bicycle is maybe reminiscent of a gentler era with its slower pace of life so maybe it will fit in with the challenge.  If I have a better idea later in the week I may try again just as long as I don't have to actually read the book!!

 Background paper is from Papermania capsule collection, a Couture Creations embossing folder has been used, the bicycle is a Memory Box die, mounted onto a Nestabilities label.  Sentiment produced on the computer and the bow was cut with a Die-namics die and embossed.

St Luke's Charity Challenge

I thought it was maybe time I made a few Christmas cards and here is one made for the St Luke's charity challenge this month where they are asking for something made with COUPLES.  I've used an image from Docrafts Forever Friends range with matching backing paper and embellishments and the image is layered onto mirror card cut with nestabilities so quite a straightforward card to make.  It is worth popping over to their blog to see what the design team have made for inspiration on this theme and there is a lovely prize on offer as well.

Anything Goes

The challenge this month at Funky Hand is Anything Goes so the only requirement is to use at least one Funky Hand paper or image. For this card I've used a backing paper, digital stamp image and sentiment from their Steamfunk download, together with a scrap of card embossed using a Cuttlebug clocks and cogs  folder, some bakers' twine and a watch charm.  Once I'd decided what to do this was a relatively quick card to put together. It is worth popping along to their blog to see what the design team members have been making with Funky Hand products this month.

Haberdashery

Today's card is a result of a bit of a play with some haberdashery elements from various sources.  The dress form is a stamp from Chocolate Baroque and it has been stamped and paper pieced using a scrap of Tim Holtz shabby vintage paper; the backing paper is from Prima Nature Garden collection (no connection with haberdashery but I thought the design was just right); the strip of lace is another CB stamp from a lovely set with lots of lace; the tape measure, cotton reels and saying are from a Creative Expressions vintage sewing collection; the scissors cut with a Marianne die and finally the buttons were made using a Sizzix embosslits die from Stampin' Up. Apart from the background paper,  everything on this card  was made with odd pieces from my scrap boxes.

I hope everyone had a good Bank Holiday weekend despite the horrible weather (a good enough reason to stay in playing with ink and stamps) - of course the sun is shining from a blue sky this morning!!

For the Boys

The challenge on Addicted to stamps his week is a themed card suitable for men or boys.  I've used a Stampin' Up stamp - the sails were cut out and layered up for a bit of dimension.  Backing paper is from Tim Holtz vintage shabby range, layering is done with Nestabilities and I just added some die cut swirls which look a bit like ocean waves.

At Last!

Apologies for my lack of blogging and visiting blogs but I seem to have had one of those weeks when I've been on the go all the time but not achieved very much - hope I don't get too many like that.  I've only just come around to making a card for the Make My Monday challenge which is the final week of the colour wheel theme - using split complimentaries.

Again I found these colours a bit challenging to use together but that's what it is all about really so here is my effort using papers and an image from Funky Hand.  I've done some paper piecing with the image, added ribbon and some flowers in the right colours and that's it - fairly quick to make once I'd decided what to do and could be a cheerful retirement card maybe.  Looking forward now to see what their Design Team have for us during August.

Edited - I've just re-read the MMM post and see they are having a well deserved break through August

Make My Monday Challenge

On the Make My Monday blog we are into a new month with a new set of challenge themes and for this first one they are asking for something made using the primaries of red, yellow and blue.

I decided I'd use my Bright Blossoms stamp set which was given to us at the recent SU Extravaganza day and some of the elements have been cut out and layered. Nestabilities dies in various sizes and a Marianne die (all cut from scraps of course) have been used along with a bit of ribbon and a computer sentiment.  Backing paper is also an odd piece of SU paper from my stash but now the card is completed I'm not at all sure  of the overall effect. I think it would maybe have been better with a less busy backing paper but at least it meets the brief in being mainly in red, yellow and blue.  I might decide to slosh a few inks about and make an entirely different card using the same colours unless the rain stops in which case I will be out in trhe garden trying to tackle the over abundance of grass and weeds.

Make My Monday Challenge

Over at Make my Monday we are on the last week of the 'June Events' themes and this time it is based around Wimbledon, strawberries and cream or associated colours of red. cream and green so a very wide choice.  I remembered I had this very nice Penny Black stamp with a cat enjoying a cream tea and strawberries with a couple of mouse friends so it was an obvious one to use.  Backing paper is from Papermania with a doodled line drawn to define the edges; image was coloured with Polychromos pencils and cut out using Nestabilities; a sentiment from a collection by Cuddly Buddly and a scrap of embossed green card (still using up bits).

Simply Stampin' Week 65

The challenge this week on Simply Stampin' is another colour combination and the only one I had was the bashful blue so I've substituted another SU green and soft suede - the white was easy of course.

Backing paper is from Funky Hand and is a piece left over from a recent project and luckily it seems to be a good colour to go with the challenge ones.   I used some scraps to stamp and punch a bird on a branch and some little flowers, cut a Top Note in soft suede and used a Nestability die to cut a bashful blue layer which was embossed using a Crafts Too folder.  The bird and leaves were popped onto a white oval.  The sentiment was built up from various stamped and punched shapes (all SU) and I just had to use a piece of the gorgeous pleated ribbon and a few pearls.

If you follow the link it will take you to the blog to see what the Design Team have made this week.

Addicted to Stamps Challenge Week 1

I was introduced to yet another challenge blog, mainly because two of my friends are on the design team - it is called Addicted to Stamps and as well as a weekly card challenge, they are doing a monthly scrapbook one.   If you follow the link you can see what they are all about and maybe join in.  For the first week they have asked us to 'make your mark' - using markers to colour an image being the general idea.  In my trawl through the bits boxes I came across a stray printed digi stamp of Magnum (from Ladybug Crafts) so have coloured him and his friend Lily with Copics and made a cheery get well card. Background paper is from a pad which has lost the cover (had it for ages) and I added a Memory Box diecut border, some corners punched from scraps and a little button from a pack of cat and dog themed ones which I bought some years ago.  The little faux brads in the corners are bits of the 'waste' left over from cutting the border - don't laught Anne!!!  As this card incorporates some neglected items it should also qualify for Judith's Forgotten Friday challenge so two for the price of one this week.

Funky Hand June Challenge

The Funky Hand challenge this month is to use the sketch provided to make something incorporating their products.  I always find sketches a useful sourceof ideas when inspiration disappears as it does for all of us from time to time.  This time I've used an image, sentiment and papers from their Wishes and Kisses range to make this anniversary card.  It's worth keeping an eye on their blog because members of the design team regularly post projects throughout the month.

Simply Stampin' Challenge 64

We've been given a sketch for the challenge this week on Simply Stampin' and I've used the Bright Blossoms stamp set which was a gift from Jenny at her recent SU Extravaganza Day (a fabulous day with so many inspirational projects).  Everything used on this card is from SU apart from the Nestability die used to cut out the embossed central panel and a dotty embossing folder used on the scrap of card across the centre.  Having a set of tiny stamps like this has helped me in my campaign to use up scraps too.

Make My Monday week 54

Well I have to say the theme from Make My Monday this week really has been a challenge for me - it is MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM but luckily they qualified it by saying that anything fairy/fantasy/dream related would be acceptable.  I'm not really 'into' fairies so don't have much in my stash which is appropriate but I did remember I'd bought a Polkadoodles CD called Sugar Plum Daisy which has quirky fairy images so this is what I've used.  One of the images was printed onto pearlescent paper and mounted onto a Nestability diecut; background paper was from my stash and I put a piece of whitewash Coredinations card through an embossing folder and sanded to show up the pattern.  Butterflies were cut from scraps using a Stampin-up Sizzix die; the ticket sentiment was printed from the CD and a few bits of sparkle added here and there.  Take a look at the MMM design team work as there some lovely fairy cards to see.

Simply Stampin' Challenge week 62

There is another colour challenge on the Simply Stampin' blog this week and these are the colours we've been asked to use

Luckily I had scraps of all these in my stash and also matching ink colours to stamp up the Funky Four designs (three of them anyway). Shapes were cut with Nestabilities and punches and Sizzix embosslits die used for the butterflies.  I don't think I would have considered putting these colours together but they've certainly produced a bright and cheerful card.

Sunday Stampers week 207

Time for the Sunday Stampers challenge again - gosh the weeks do pass by quickly! This time the theme is WORDS and I've done a sort of double challenge because I actually managed to make this card without breaking into anything other than my scrap bits boxes.  Backing paper was a lucky find with illuminated type letters on it, the diamond border was a scrap left from a previous project - stamped with flitter glue using an Indigo Blu stamp and gilded with flakes.  The die cut shape was cut from a remnant of card printed with Love Letters (a brilliant download from Chocolate Baroque) using a Sizzix die; the sentiment is a stamp from Chocolate Baroque Artistic Affirmations cut with Nestabilities; grungeboard swirl and layered flower were also oddments from the boxes.  I always seem to have leftovers when I do any die-cutting in more than one colour so it was good to be able to use these up here.

Retro Flowers

I'm still managing to make something with some of my left-overs and this time it is mainly papers which were printed for a challenge at Funky Hand a couple of months ago and I only used part of the sheets.  I dug out a scrap of white card (loads of that in a box) and stamped and embossed a flower from Elusive Images (now Chocolate Baroque) Retro Vases and Flowers sheet. The wavy border was the 'waste' from a die cut  border, fancy tag was cut from a scrap of card and the sentiment punched from a page printed from the computer. On one of my previous tidy-up sessions I did actually punch or die cut various flowers, butterflies etc from the smaller scraps and save them in little boxes as I thought they would take up less space than heaps of card pieces.  This wasn't necessarily such a great idea because on the occasions when I think I need a flower or butterfly and turn to my little boxes there is often nothing in the right colours - this was the case here so I die cut these butterflies from the last scraps of these particular papers.

Forgotten Friday challenge

I've used up more of the pieces of left over Funky Hand papers  for this card and it will also qualify for Judith's Forgotten Friday challenge because the stamps used are from a Nit Wits set which came free with a magazine a few months ago and although I really liked them at the time they'd not even been out of the packet until now. They were coloured using Coloursoft pencils and cut out with Nestabilities - the flower and cotton reel were cut with scissors and a bit of faux stitching has been added in places for added interest.

The weather has gone suddenly from shivering to sweltering and takes a bit of getting used to but I hope it is nice where you are and that you enjoy the weekend.

Polkadots and Flowers

The challenge this month on Funky Hand is to produce something with POLKADOTS AND FLOWERS - not difficult with the great selection of papers available on the Papercraft Factory CDs.  The main difficulty was deciding which ones to use and I finally settled on these colourful flowers with matching polkadots from Happy Happy Birthday - the tiny flowers were punched from some of the textured plains in the same set and the cute cat image appears on Colour Me Happy.  Making this card has left me with surplus pieces of the papers and I'm aiming to try and use some of them up on another project before storing the final remnants in the bulging 'bits boxes'!!  The FH design team regularly post ideas for the challenge throughout the month so it is worth keeping an eye on them for more inspiration.