Sunday, 13 July 2025

A three-fer!

 Here's 3 cards for the price of one LOL!

I made a card for my Aunt Jean, liked how it turned out, so amended it for my card to my sister, and then Mum was looking one for her friend (also called Ruth) for her 80th.  It's not very often I'll make cards virtually the same but figured I'd get away with it as none of them were likely to see the other's cards! 

My image is an LOTV stamp, coloured with polychromo pencils and then popped up on foam pads.  I've also added some splatters to the background with silver metallic paint.  For the numbers, I stuck an extra set together to make them a bit stronger and then covered them with gloss and lots of glitter. 

 

AAA Birthday #75 - summer birthday 
Word Art Wednesday #706/707 - anything goes 

Let's Craft & Create #221 - use a die

Seize the birthday #309 - food or drink

We've had a glorious few days with wall to wall sunshine and temps kicking 30 degrees - a nice change as we're usually on the wrong side of the Jetstream and miss all the sunny weather!  Molly was a nightmare though, no matter how much shade we created in the garden she'd find the sunniest hottest spot and cook there until we chased her into the house! Here's a rare moment of her in the shade... Back to normality tomorrow though as it looks back to usual and rain due. 

Sunday, 6 July 2025

Ruth's birthday card #1

So this is card #1 for my sister's BIG birthday, requested by my BIL. 

I thought for ages and ages what I could make and then the sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches made me think of birthday candles.  I knew I had some digital images of candles from Lili of the Valley, so all I had to do was print some out. Easypeasy. Right? WRONG!!! Every time I printed them they were too small.  I must have printed them maybe 7 or 8 times - each time I'd start colouring and cutting them, only to realize they were still too small, so I'd have to go back and edit the images to make them longer. Of course I turned my laptop and printer off every time in between LOL.  I think I spent 8+ hours making this, good job I don't charge by the hour! 

Ah well it was good exercise climbing the stairs to the printer and it's done now and I do like how it turned out. 




Snippets Playground #510 - my little stars were cut from some leftover sparkly card that I cut my numbers from

Word Art Wednesday #706/707 - anything goes 

Haven't shared a pic of Miss Molly for a while, so here she is on a recent trip up the beautiful Antrim Coast road.  She absolutely LOVES the beach, the more smelly seaweed on it the better! 


Tuesday, 24 June 2025

Leaving card for Laura

 Hi all. I was asked to make a card for a student in work who has been with us these past few weeks.  Luckily I had already coloured up this cutie I'd bought from Creative Depot and the card just kinda made itself!

 I printed off my sentiment in a paintbrushy font, added some brick stencilling and some die cut flowers.  Oh and some metallic paint splatters too, though I maybe got a bit carried away with my splattering! The little tiny daisies are from a cheap nail art set that I bought on Amazon. 


Addicted to Stamps #495 - dies/stencils 

Word Art Wednesday #704/705 - anything goes 

As you like it - sentiment? - I almost always add a sentiment and the only time I don't is if I think it would be a useful one for my stash and might be suitable for several different 'occasions'

Stamping Sensations - furry friends 

Saturday, 14 June 2025

Cards for Renee, Andrea, Edmond and Shona!

Hi all! I'm caught out every year with all my June birthdays, you'd think I'd know better by now and not have such a mad rush every year!  Anyway, apologies in advance for the long post....

First up is this one for my Aunt using this Gina K stamp, which I love but it does take me an age to colour.  I hadn't intended to have sparkly butterflies but I lifted clear gloss instead of glue (they're decanted into the same design bottles), made a mess so just went for it and got my glitter out instead! 


  • Allsorts # 825 - what makes you happy - I find 90% of my pleasure in making cards comes from colouring the images
  • Addicted to Stamps #494 - any occasion 

Next up is for my Uncle's 80th birthday, using a Penny Black yacht, a couple of stencils and some sparkly silver die cuts.


Third is this Whipper Snapper cutie for my sister-in-law with a few die cut flowers to finish it off...

And lastly some Gerda Steiner chickens for my friend.  The dude in the middle is popped up and a few clear sequins to finish.  Not adding it to any challenges as it was inspired by one I saw on Gerda Steiners blog, but wanted to post it for my own record.


Sunday, 11 May 2025

Embossing 2 ways

 Hi all!  I seem to be in a blue phase at the minute, I need to get a different colour palette going LOL

First up is this little sailing boat from Penny Black - coloured with polychromos and popped up on foam pads. I've used a new slimline embossing folder that I thought would kinda work as the sea and added a few metallic paint splatters to give a splashy feel.



Penny Black Saturday challenge May - monochrome or anything goes

AAA Birthday #73 - any birthday 

Cardz for Guys #371 - body of water

This one is similar to one I made a while back, using this pretty Altenew flower stamp. I used the same embossing folder in the background along with a few white dies to use up some leftover white card.


Cut it Up #329 - so sorry

As You Like It - - soft or bold colours? - well, it depends what I'm making! For sympathy cards I definitely think more subtle colours work best

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - beautiful blooms 

And just for some brighter colour!... Here's a wee photo of my lovely Rhododendron - it usually gets hit by the frost or rain, but we're enjoying a lovely sunny dry spell this past couple of weeks so it's looking fabulous this year!! 

Thursday, 1 May 2025

Blue Sympathy

 Hi all!  Happy first of the month! I can't believe it's May already, though I absolutely LOVE this time of year with all the lovely fresh leaves on the trees and all the hedgerows in bloom.  So much nicer than the dark days of winter.

So I've a wee sympathy card for my stash to share  .  I hadn't quite planned on cutting the flower there but I thought I was scribbling on a scrap piece of card and turned out it wasn't.  Grrr.  Then I got myself tangled up with the layout, chose that corner die , stuck it down, and then wished I hadn't! Ah well, it is what it is, and the flower took soooo long to colour I definitely wasn't going to waste it.


Addicted to Stamps #491 - make your mark
Simon Says Stamp - anything goes
Word Art Wednesday #696 - anything goes 

And here's a wee photo of the fields all around our daily walk, a real sea of yellow dandelions!  


Wednesday, 16 April 2025

Happy Easter

Woops I kinda fell off radar there, can't believe I haven't posted since mid-February!! I have made a few cards but forgot to take pics, but I'm determined to do better and get back into the swing of blogging! 

So here's my Easter card, just made them all the same.  Hard luck if you love that little bunny - he's an oldie from Eat Cake Graphics and no longer available.  Coloured with polychromos and clear gloss and glitter added to the egg.  Wouldn't it be fab to get an Easter egg half your size ... closest I've seen is this one from Hotel Chocolat but finances didn't permit LOL 


inspired By ... Bunnies 

Fab'n Funky #614 - Think Spring

Sweet Stamping - Easter

Snippets Playground #504 - I've lots of snippets on this card - my bunny was small enough to stamp on a wee scrap and the white flowers and sentiment were cut from the leftover bit after cutting my base to size.

And just because it's been a while, here's a pic of Molly just back from the groomers, all fresh and white and lovely. Doesn't stay that way for long!