Tuesday 29 April 2008

ISMAKI sketch #17


There's a great sketch by Manue this week on the ISMAKI challenge blog and the optional extra is to use ribbons.


And here's the card I made from this week's sketch. The background papers are by Chatterbox and the image is by hAnglar & stAngler, watercoloured to match the papers. The blue and green grosgrain ribbon is from my stash, as are the buttons and brads. I stitched the buttons to the green ribbon tabs with blue embroidery thread. I added a flower to my card as I thought it looked a little bare above the ribbon tabs.

Monday 28 April 2008

Hey Baby!


This weeks theme on the Scrummy Stash Cafe challenge blog is 'Hey Baby' - make a baby-themed project.



The background paper for this card was free with a magazine. I've used my Cuttlebug to emboss the central baby motif and the white spotted strips.The tags are made from shrink plastic, stamped before shrinking with Daisy Bucket clear stamps and doodled with a black permanent pen. The flowers, brads and ribbon are from my stash. Te greeting is a rubon by Pebbles Inc.

Black and white plus one

The theme of this week's challenge on the Caardvarks challenge blog is 'black, white and one other colour'.



I chose lavender as my 'other' colour. The main image and the black and white background paper are by Pink Petticoat. I have coloured the gift ribbon lavender and the gift has been covered in Stickles to make it sparkle. I used the 'Swiss Dots' embossing folder to make the white background and a Nestabilities die to make the lavender mat. Ribbon, ribbon slide and lavender diamantes are from my stash.

Sunday 27 April 2008

The Devil Wears Prada... cybercrop class

This weekend there has been a cybercrop on the UKScrappers website. Most of the classes and challenges are scrapbooking related, but today we had a wonderful card class from the very talented Marlene. Marlene makes the most wonderful cards, please take a few moments to pop along to her blog and see for yourself. Although this was the last class of the weekend, I was determined to finish it and get it uploaded to the UKS Gallery in time to claim the points... and I managed it yay!!


Here's the card I made from Marlene's class. The background paper and image are by Pink Petticoat, everything else came from my stash. I had to adapt the class slightly to fit in with what I had available, but I am so pleased with the finished card. Thank you so much for an absolutely fabulous class Marlene xxx

Thursday 24 April 2008

I'm still on target...


Yay... I am still on target to make a few Christmas cards by the end of every month, this month I have made TEN! I'm so glad I took advantage of the post-Christmas sales to stock up on Christmas background papers, I think I'd have trouble getting a nice selection throughout the year. So far, I'm not doing too bad with my target, I have quite a few Christmas cards made already!

This month I have used this lovely sketch on the Papertake Weekly challenge blog for one of my Christmas cards.



I love all the layers in this sketch! I used three different background papers and a scrap of green card run through the Cuttlebug for a bit of texture. I watercoloured this cute Penny Black image and added a liberal amount of 'Star Dust' Stickles to the fur on his hat. For the circle, I used a scrap of vellum with glitter dots... the glitter meant I couldn't stamp directly on to it so I stamped the sentiment around the edge instead. I'm really pleased with how this card turned out, I'll definitely be using this sketch again!


Here's another of this month's Christmas cards...


I just love this background paper, another of my bargain buys! It's from the 'Wrapped Wishes' range by Daisy Bucket. The hAnglar image has been cut out this time and mounted directly onto the background paper. I added a few white glitter snowflakes which were die cut on my Cuttlebug using the gorgeous Sugar Coated Doodlebug cardstock. The greetings stamp is from the Christmas Messages set by SeeD's.


And these are the other eight cards for this month...



These tall skinny cards will be for workmates and neighbours. I've watercoloured images from Pink Petticoat and added a little doodling.The blue papers were free with a magazine and the green paper is more from the 'Wrapped Wishes' range by Daisy Bucket. I used scraps of card for the sentiment embellishments - cut with Nestabilities and the 'Dec 25th' stamp is by Stamps Away.

So there you go! I know I've only used a couple of different designs of cards... but that is still ten cards for my Christmas box!

Wednesday 23 April 2008

DCM - hot and spicy!


The theme for this week's challenge on the Daring Cardmakers blog is 'Hot and Spicy' - interpret it as you wish!



I've gone with hot, spicy colours for this card. The papers used are all from the K & Co 'Mira' range. The image has been watercoloured to match the papers and matted onto coordinating cardstock. Ribbon, flowers and brads from my stash, the leaves and flower centres were punched from paper scraps with Woodware punches.

Tuesday 22 April 2008

ISMAKI challenge #16

This week the challenge sketch on the ISMAKI blog is by Beatrix. There is also an option to use four colour co-0rdinated patterned papers. This wasn't too hard to do with double sided papers!




For this card I used up some scraps of patterned papers from the KI Memories 'Holiday' collection. I watercoloured the image, cut it out and then mounted it on matching cardstock. The Happy Birthday and the birthday definition stamps are from a set by SeeD's. I added a little scallop border down the left side of the main image and also punched some holes in the centre of the printed circles in the right hand green strip. I added some brown striped paper under the strip so that it shows through the punched holes. The leaves are by Prima.

This was a really nice sketch to follow and I managed to use up more of my scraps too! Thankyou Beatrix :)

Sunday 20 April 2008

It's been a blue weekend....


Yes... there's definitely a lot of blue around here this weekend! Not that I am feeling blue - just that I have been catching up on a few challenges and they are all blue!

Here's the first of my three challenge cards. This one is for the 'It's a Man's World' challenge on Cute Card Thursday, which is to make a card for the men/boys in your life. It's easy making a thankyou card for a girlfriend, a pretty image and a few flowers and that's fine. But what to use on a thankyou card for a man?



This cute fish is part of the 'Best Fishes' set from Pink Petticoat. The background papers came free with issue 28 of Papercraft Essentials magazine - I'm not usually a fan of free papers as they are usually shiny, but these are really nice! I just added a scalloped mat, some doodling and a simple sentiment.. a really quick card to make!

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This next card is for the 'Dragons' callenge on the Lots To Do Challenges blog. It's the first time I've done one of their challenges, they seem to be a very artistic so I hope my cute little dragon will fit in with their challenge!



This cute little dragon was sent to me in a package of stamped images from a friend. I coloured him with Caran D'Ache Supracolor soft pencils to match the papers and mounted him on a scrap of golden yellow card. The background papers are from the 'Hopscotch Boy' range by K&Co. The circle sentiment is from a set of four by Cuddly Buddly, the smaller greeting is from the Celebration Messages set by See D's stamps.

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This last card is for the 'Girly but Blue' challenge at Tilda & Co.



I love this sitting Tilda stamp, she is so cute! The background papers are from a pack by Papermania and I used my Nestabilities dies to cut the darker circle for her to sit on. The doodling was done with a white Uniball Signo pen. I just added a few flowers and dabbed some Stickles around the brads to give some sparkle. The rubon is by Pebbles Inc.

So there you go, three blue cards! I think it's time I tidied my desk and got out some pink stash!!

Friday 18 April 2008

All that glitters

'All that glitters' is the theme of this weeks challenge on the Papertake challenge blog. Well, I don't have much in the way of actual glitter but what I do have is lots and lots of Stickles! I just love collecting all the colours and I do use them a lot! My favourite is Star Dust, that's the one I've used on this card.



For this card I used a fun image from Pink Petticoat, I just love all Liz's designs :) The yummy green and black spotty background paper is by Kaiser Crafts, they have a wonderful range of papers and embellishments in so many colours and styles. I cut the black mat with a Nestabilities die and marked the white spots with a white Uniball Signo pen. The ribbon, flowers and brads are from my stash. I applied lots of Stickles to the bath bubbles, the flower on the side of the bath and also the three pink flowers. It is a very glittery card but sadly this doesn't show up too well in the photo. I had a lot of fun with this one!

Monday 14 April 2008

Stars and Stripes


Stars and Stripes is the theme for this weeks challenge at the Funky Fairys challenge blog.



I desperately wanted to use these papers from the 'Extreme Boy' range by Junkitz... but I didn't have a matching striped paper. So... I chopped up all the patterns and made my own stripes! I only had scraps to work with, but with the paper being double sided I had lots of options. The image is the 'Sk8terboy' stamp by Sugar Nellie, I thought this would be perfect as he has striped sleeves and stars on his skateboard! The image was watercoloured to match the colours in the papers. I've echoed the barbed wire stripes with a little doodling at the corners of the image and the card. I punched out three stars from the black mat to show the red paper underneath, these match the three red stars on the skateboard. I cut the large star circle from one of the papers and stuck it to some thick card, then mounted it on foam pads to raise it a little. The greeting is a rubon by Pebbles Inc.

Saturday 12 April 2008

Scrummy Stash Cafe - sketch challenge

I love sketch challenges so I was really pleased to find one on the Scrummy Stash Cafe challenge blog this morning! Here's the sketch...



And here's the card I made from the sketch...


I used a DL card so I had to squish the sketch down a bit. The background papers are from the 'Whimsical Ladies' range by Daisy Bucket, I love the purple and the brown together! The cute hedgehog is a stamp by Penny Black which has been watercoloured. I ran the image and the purple mat though my Cuttlebug machine with Nestabilities dies. The word 'Happy' was printed directly onto the patterned paper using Word. I used a scrap of brown card to punch out the circles, then applied white rubon letters to make the word 'birthday'. Ribbon, flowers, leaves and brads are from my stash.

While I was resizing the photo, I realised I hadn't finished off the little flower centres, they have now had some Stickles glitter glue applied... oops!

Friday 11 April 2008

Things With Wings


There's another great theme on the Cute Card Thursday blog this week - Things With Wings.



This cute little cat stamp by Penny Black really makes me smile! I coloured the image with Caran D'Ache Supracolor pencils and added some pen doodles on the corners. I also added some doodles to the rust coloured mat. The papers are a mix of Chatterbox and Doodlebug - they just happened to go together perfectly.. I am trying hard to use up some of the scraps in my scrap box! Flowers, spacer beads and brads are from my stash, the leaves were punched with a Woodware punch and the greeting is a rub on by Pebbles Inc.

Tuesday 8 April 2008

Arty Girlz - black and white

I love using black and white on cards, they always look so 'put-together' and I don't have to spend time looking for co-ordinating colours!


I made this card this morning for the new challenge on the Arty Girlz challenge blog. I had only last night printed the black and white papers and they were still on my desk so all I had to do was choose an image! It was very quick card to make.. but I think the black and white sets off the image very well. The papers and image are both from Pink Petticoat, the shoe is coloured with a red Sakura glitter pen and I just added some doodles and a length of ribbon.

Monday 7 April 2008

One for the boys


Funky Fairys challenge this week is 'One for the boys/men'



I sometimes find that boys cards can be difficult, especially when they get too old for cutesy teddies! This card uses an image from Pink Petticoat and while it's still cute, it's kinda cool too! The background paper is from my scrapbox, I think it was left over from an old Sweetwater kit. The image is mounted onto textured green card and I made the frame from a scrap of blue card I had left over after cutting a square scalloped mat with a Nestabilities die. Waste not want not! I added some brads and doodling to the frame before mounting it on foam pads. The stamped greeting is from a set of clear stamps by Woodware.

Planes, trains and automobiles


This weeks challenge on the Cute Card Thursday challenge blog is 'planes, trains and automobiles', but absolutely any form of transport is allowed!



I've used this cute Hanglar image of a little boy with his truck, coloured with Caran D'Ache Supracolor watercolour pencils. The background papers are by Crate Papers and the sentiment stamp is from a new set of four round stamps I bought from Cuddly Buddly.

Friday 4 April 2008

Shrink Plastic challenge


This week's challenge on Rainbow Lady's challenge blog is to use shrink plastic. Gosh.. I haven't used any of that since.. oooh, way back when! It took me a while to locate, but luckily I found a box of shapes I'd previously die cut!



Before I shrunk the tag, I used Stazon black ink and a stamp by Daisy Bucket, then added some doodle lines around the edge with a black Zig writer. I'd forgotten how much fun it is shrinking this stuff with a heat gun! For the card I used scraps of paper from my scrapbox and the image is by Pink Petticoat, coloured with watercolour pencils. A sheer spotty ribbon bow and some leaves and flowers finish off the card... oh, I used Stickles on the flowers and also on the brides jewellery and roses too.


The tag was quite large before I shrunk it... here's the stamp I used and the tag after shrinking! Great fun :)

Thursday 3 April 2008

Ooooh la la!


The challenge this week on Theme Thursday is to use black and orange. I love that colour combination!



Yesterday, Pink Petticoat released a new image stamps set called 'Cheekies'. Ooooh la la they are cheeky indeed, the most gorgeous lingerie and perfect for this girly card. Don't we all wish we had a figure like this!!!

The background paper is by Colorbok and I have used my Nestabilities dies to mat the coloured image. I added a little doodling with a black pen, some ribbon and a few Prima flowers and brads. The sentiments stamps are by Cuddly Buddly and Woodware.