I took some time off...

I took some time off from cardmaking over the last few weeks as I had quite a bit of work to do in the garden. At least it looks tidier now, the wild shrubs have been tamed and all the summer bedding has been planted. This last week I have been able to find time to do some card challenges again, I have really missed my crafting time!


This first card was made for the challenge on the Stamp Something challenge blog. The lower section of the card has a slot, along which the flower rolls when the card is tilted. I found a great tutorial for this style of rolling card on Yosemite's blog, thank you for the inspiration Yosemite! The image is from the 'Elephant Walk' black and white set by Cuddly Buddly, coloured with watercolour pencils, and the background papers are by The Paper Company Studio.



The challenge on the My Time to Craft blog this week is 'brads and eyelets'. This card uses digital papers from the 'Spring Wing Ding' digital kit by Kay Miller Designs. I printed out several flowers and cut them out to make the layered flower embellishments. In the centre of each flower I used a glittery brad and silver spacer bead.



This next card is for the challenge on the Scrummy Stash Cafe Challenge blog, the theme this week is 'Layer It!' I have used lots of layering on this card.. the background papers are layered, the Magnolia stamped image is mounted on a layered mat, the flowers are layered... even the ribbons are layered!



This week's theme on the Papertake blog is die-cuts, for which I have used my oval Nestabilities dies. The image is by Hanglar & Stanglar and the background papers are from the 'Katlin' collection by Crate Paper (I just love the colours in this range!)



This final card is for the 'Christmas Card' challenge on the Cute Card Thursday blog. The papers were given to me by a friend, I had enough to make four cards of the same design! The Sugar Nellie stamped image is watercoloured with Supracolor pencils and mounted onto matching cardstock which I tore at the bottom edge. I added some Glamour Dust for extra sparkle and also some die cut snowflakes, cut from Doodlebug Sugar Coated cardstock. The cards are very sparkly in real life!

Theme Thursday - Toys

The theme this week on Theme Thursday is 'toys'. I don't have any arty/vintage toy themed images or stamps but I couldn't resist taking part with this card.


This stamp is from the Dino Friends set by Woodware. The papers used are from the Brenda Walton 'Small Wonders Boy' range by K&Co. I used coordinating cardstock to cut the mats using my Nestabilities dies and Cuttlebug.

Arty Girlz - open theme

Arty Girlz theme this week is open, so we we free to make anything we like!

Here's the card I made for this challenge. I found these lovely papers at a local craft shop over the weekend, they are by The Paper Company Studio. The image is by hAnglar and stAnglar, watercoloured with Caran D'Ache Supracolor pencils. The blooms are from Poppicrafts and I added a flower rubon to the large green brad. The sentiment is also a rubon, from a fab new rubon sheet of greetings by Kaiser Craft.

And while I had the scraps from the first card lying on my desk, I made this quick Good Luck card, this time I used a pretty Lola stamp by Sugar Nellie.

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.

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.

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

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!

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.

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 :)

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!!

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!

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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 :)

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.

ISMAKI - sketch #13

Petra, one of the Magnolia Design Team members for Sweden, has designed a wonderful sketch this week for the ISMAKI challenge blog. The sketch shows flowers,but as I wanted to make a card for a young boy, I've replaced those with a frog and some mushrooms.. I thought the recipient would appreciate them more!



I have used another H&S image, all the little boy characters are sooo cute! The patterned papers are by Imaginisce, gorgeous as they are double sided! The cute frog and mushrooms that replace the flowers on the original sketch are by Magnolia. The 'make a wish' stamp is by Daisy Bucket and the 'happy birthday' stamp is from a set by Woodware. I have used a brown pen to dot around some of the swirls on the background paper.

Papertake - sketch challenge

This week on the Papertake challenge blog, we had a lovely sketch by Katharina to work from. I love working from sketches and have been trying to find time all week to do this one. I finally got it done.. a bit late as the new challenge is due tomorrow!


The background paper is from the Cool Dude range by Daisy Bucket. I love their papers as they are double sided so you get lots of choice. I coloured the H&S image with Supracolour watercolour pencils and used a brown pen for the corner doodles. The sentiment stamps are by See'Ds. I used a punch to cut out the centre from the round sentiment, chalked the edges and attached it to the girls hand with a small length of string.

big tree... little tree...

I am supposed to be making a few Christmas cards each month, but this month I hadn't made a single one... so the challenge on Rainbow Ladys Challenge blog this week came at the perfect time for me.

'Your challenge this week is BIG TREE, LITTLE TREE, and I would like you to make a Christmas card using this theme. Yes, I know it is only March but you will have one less to make nearer the time.'


I have used some scraps of Imaginisce double sided paper for this card. The tree images are from Pink Petticoat, coloured with Supracolor watercolour pencils. I added some doodled corners with a black pen before mounting them onto matching card. I also added some Stickles on the baubles, pot and star for a bit of glitz. The larger tree is double matted on red and green card and then on foam pads.

I must get a few more Christmas cards made over this weekend... one a month is just not good enough!!!

ISMAKI sketch 12 by Beatrix

Beatrix designed a gorgeous sketch this week for the ISMAKI challenge blog, it was wonderful to work with and I really enjoyed making this card!

The background paper is by Daisybucket - 'Marissa' from the Southern Belle Collection. I received the Hanglar image in a swap, isn't she sweet! I've coloured her with Supracolor pencils and mouted her on dark brown card... the same brown card was used to punch the small circles on the right of the card. The green pearlised card circle was embossed with the Cuttlebug 'Swiss Dots' embossing folder. Greeting stamp by See'D's, Prima flowers and leaves, the spacer beads and brads from my stash.

Tilda & Co - template challenge

This weeks challenge at Tilda & Co is a template, lovely!


Here's the card I made... I found some lovely papers by Fancypants that I'd bought at a show 2 years ago and never used. 2 years!!!! can you believe it!!! I stamped and coloured the image and double mounted it. The two side tags are make from the reverse side of the floral paper. Brad, spacer bead and flower from my stash.

My Paper World

I found a new card sketch challenge with lovely examples throughout the week of what can be created from the sketch... do check out the My Paper World blog!


Background paper used on this card is from the Crate Paper 'Blush' range. The cute owl image is from a new downloadable set by Pink Petticoat called 'Yoo Hoo'. As the owl has a scalloped edge, I used a Nestabilities die to add a blue scalloped mat to the green mat around the coloured image. I really enjoyed this sketch challenge and what a great find My Paper World is!

Scrummy Stash Cafe - Get the Edge!

Decorative edges are the theme for this weeks challenge on the Scrummy Stash Cafe blog.


The cute image is from the 'Just for Ewe' set by Pink Petticoat. I absolutely love all Liz's designs and check back regularly for new releases :) The design of this card is inspired by one I saw somewhere.. a few weeks ago... on a blog... can't remember whose it was sadly... so if it was yours please shout out so I can credit you! I love this layered look with the scalloped edges and it's worked really well for this card. The patterned paper is from the 'Small Wonders Girls' mat pad by Brenda Walton for K & Co. All the layers are only attached at the left edge, then held together with a ribbon.

Cute Card Thursday - challenge #2

Another great challenge from the girls at Cute Card Thursday this week - All Creatures Great and Small!
'This week we would like to see creatures on your cards, they can be animals, birds, fish or even dinosaurs or dragons. Absolutely any creature imaginable!'


I'd bought this stamp just last week from the new releases to the Nellie and Luca range by Sugar Nellie. This challenge gave me the perfect excuse to try out this stamp! I have no idea who the background paper is by, it's been lurking in my scrapbox for ages! I threaded some brown twine through the natural sinamay and attached it to the card with brads. The birthday definition stamp is from the 'Celebration Messages' set by See'D's.

Arty Girlz - Doodling

Another great challenge on the Arty Girlz blog this week - Doodling! Although I'm not good with swirls and complicated doodling, I do like adding dots and lines to a card.


I've used one of my scrummy Hanglar and Stanglar stamped images for this card, coloured with Caran D'Ache Supracolor pencils. The background papers are by Paper Adventures, ribbon, buttons, brads and flowers are from my stash. The Happy Birthday stamp is from a set by Woodware and I used a white Uniball Signo pen for the doodle dots.

New Sugar Nellie stamp!

I got four of the new Sugar Nellie stamps that were released last week, I've been waiting for more of the Nellie and Luca stamps for ages! These gorgeous stamps are designed by Evelina Wikberg and are available from Funky Kits.

I have quite a lot of 'girly' stamps, so was very pleased to find this footballer, a fisherman and a skateboarder amongst the new range. For this card, I used the colours of my local football team and mounted him onto green lightly patterned paper. I stamped a couple of extra footballs and mounted them on foam pads. The football pitch markings are hand drawn with a white pen - after checking with my other half that I had the correct markings!

Papertake - Weather with you!

The theme for this week's challenge on the Papertake challenge blog is 'Weather with you' - use anything associated with the weather.


I've used a cute Magnolia stamp of Edwin in the rain, I love his sou'wester and wellies! The background paper is by Junkitz... the sentiment is computer generated and I added some 'stitching' with a white Uniball Signo pen. The puddle and rainsdrops are glittered with Stickles glitter glue.

DCM - Teen Spirit

The current challenge on the Daring Cardmakers blog is 'Teen Spirit'. I made this birthday card for a fashion savvy young lady who is always on her mobile phone. I think she will like the bling too!

The image is from Pink Petticoat, this one is from the 'Lola Rose For Occasions' kit. Background paper is from the Belle range by Amy Butler for K & Co. The greeting is a stamp from the 'Mixed Greetings' set by Woodware. I've added a flower rubon to the large brad at the centre of the flower, the bling down the side of the image were a magazine freebie and I've used a tiny amount of Stickles on the girl's necklace. It's a lot more sparkly than it looks in this photo!

Cute Card Thursday

There's a fab new challenge blog starting today, Cute Card Thursday. Their first challenge is called 'New Beginnings', how appropriate is that!

'To celebrate the launch of our new challenge blog we would like you to use the theme of new beginnings or 1sts. This could be new baby, new home, new job, wedding or anything else 'new' or any other 1st you can think of. The only rules are to use or create something 'cute' and most of all have fun!'

This week I managed to buy this Magnolia rug stamp, I had thought to use it with the Thinking Tilda stamp, but I've discovered it's also perfect for the cute little baby to sit on! I used a Nestabillities die and my Cuttlebug 'Swiss Dots' embossing folder to make the mount. The baby is mounted on foam pads to give a 3D effect. The sentiment is from the StudioG baby set and I've added some flowers, leaves and Stickles to finish off the card.

Scrummy Stash Cafe - foamtastic

This weeks challenge on the Scrummy Stash Cafe is 'Simply Foamtastic' - use some foam on your project. It's taken me a while to find a scrap of foam to use on a card, it's soooo long since I used any - and I don't think I've ever used it on a card! So this was a great challenge :)



This card was so quick to make, just a punched foam heart mounted onto white card and then black card. I added a stem with a black pen and a couple of gingham bows. The sentiment is a stamp by Daisy Bucket. The central panel is raised on foam pads (more foam lol)and the hearts around the edge of the card are a stamp from a StudioG set. I used a gel pen to colour some in, then added Stickles for a bit of sparkle.