Chocolate Therapy

The worst thing about this card is that I'd now love a bit of chocolate and there's not a square in the house! :(

This was inspired by this week's Featured Stamper over at Splitcoast ... here's Melissa's original.  Her image made me think of a therapy couch so I dug out this ooooold stamp set from Inkadinkado

I've coloured my image with watercolour pencils.  I added some Wink of Stella clear glitter to his glasses and to his notebook, and then added clear gloss to the glasses and to the wheels on the chair.

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - anything goes
Sister Act Card Challenge #112 - anything goes
CAS on Sunday #61 - one layer
Crafty Cardmakers #141 - sentiment
Inspiration Destination #39 - anything goes
Daily Marker colouring Challenge June

60th Birthday card

I was asked to make a 60th birthday card featuring a hedgehog .... so after a root round my stash I came across this little Penny Black hedgie.

And of course I was busting to have a go with my new Lawn Fawn cloud dies ;)  I like how the little hedgehog is looking up towards the sentiment.

Coloured with watercolour pencils and some Wink of Stella clear glitter added to the welly boot and to the snail's shell.  I also added some clear gloss to the snail and to the soles of the boot.
Martha Stewart butterfly punch.
I also chalked some clouds in the BG, but it's not really showing up in my pic.

Penny Black and More June - wings
Stamping Sensations June - dies and punches
Dream Valley #109 - Girly
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - anything goes
Seize the Birthday - anything goes Birthday
Moving along with the Times - sewing and stitching
A Gem of a Challenge #147 - summertime
Daily Marker colouring Challenge June

A Wild Ride

Don't you just love it when you find the perfect DP for your image!  This transport themed DP has been in my stash for such a long time ... it's the little things in life eh?!!

My image is from Eat Cake Graphics ...
8016-E Lewis and Trudy's wild ride
I think it would be great for holiday or moving home cards too.

I've coloured my image with watercolour pencils and then used my new Wink of Stella clear glitter pen to highlight the fenders and wheel trims (I'm seriously loving this stuff!!)
Just noticed though that I forgot to colour in my doggy's nose

• Layout from CAS Colours & Sketches #130  
• Cutie Pie #88 - cats & dogs
• Bunny Zoe's Crafts June challenge - furry friends
• Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper challenge - June
• 613 Avenue Create #129 - anything goes
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - anything goes
• Creative Inspirations #319 - your favourite ... I've used my favourite stamp company and my new favourite product, my glitter pen
• Daily Marker colouring Challenge June

Teacher Appreciation cards

I've been making thank you cards for teachers these past few nights and must confess most of them were CASEd.  But with the pressure off, I thought I'd get creative with the last two.

My sentiment and apples are from a Verve set that I won a while ago, and the alphas are from Sarah Hurley.  I think I deserve bonus points for these cards for completely finishing a card stack and using up all the pretty ittybitty pieces that were too nice to chuck!  Helps to take the guilt from a recent shopping trip ;)  One of my new purchases was a Wink of Stella clear glitter pen which I coloured my apples with and which I'm absolutely LOVING!

Card 1 - 

• Sketch from Mojo Monday #403 
• Colour theme of grey, white and yellow from The Card Concept - I've gone for the clean and layered look
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - anything goes
• Allsorts #316 - use a stamp
• Clear it Out - CAS and your favourite product ... my new favourite is my Wink of Stella pen :)
• Cuttlebug Mania - use a sentiment

Card 2 - 

• Layout from Sweet Sunday #274 
• Creative Card Crew #90 - Clean and Simple
• Inspiration Destination #39 - anything goes
• Creative Inspirations #319 - your favourite ... mine is my gems and my new glitter pen 

{top 3 at Creative Card Crew}

Graduation Card

This is the first Graduation card I've made!  It's for my 11-yr old nephew who's 'graduating' from primary school and is off to High School in September.  Graduation ceremonies in schools are quite a new thing for us in Northern Ireland ... used to be the only graduates were from University!
So anyway, this is the first time I've used this Taylored Expression stamp that I've had in my stash for a few years.  Coloured with watercolour pencils in the school's colours, and then popped up on dimensionals.  I used some glossy white embossing paste on the BG to get a bit of texutre/interest.

I had another study at the MFT Summer School, so this one is for Quiet Space / White Space.

Creative Inspirations #318 - male creations
Inspiration Destination #38 - anything goes
Less is More #229 - use a stencil
Daily Marker colouring Challenge June

Leap Frog ... or should that be Leap Dog!

LOL, mid-summer's day and I'm tempted to turn the heating on ;)  It's been a chilly, showery, rainy day, definitely no need for the suntan lotion!

My card today is based on this week's featured stamper at Splitcoast - HERE's Lisa's original.

I've used some Eat Cake Graphics stamps on my card ...
2045-L   Leap frog
7034-I   Bunch of Grass
8141-C   Live a little (text)
The cat looks like he's having loads of fun as he leaps over, but you gotta feel sorry for that poor doggy!

I've coloured my image with watercolour pencils.  Sky chalked in BG.

Creative Knockouts #94 - humorous card
Cute Card Thursday #378 - add a quote
Sister Act #111 - anything goes
Allsorts #316 - use a stamp
613 Avenue Create #129 - anything goes - option summer - blue sky and grass that needs cutting ;)
The Cutie Pie Challenge #88 - cats and dogs
Bunny Zoe's Crafts June challenge - furry friends
Daily Marker colouring Challenge June

Mara Mermaid Floats

I had a spare half hour today so thought I'd have another go at the MFT Summer School ... this one is for Lesson 2: Focal Point

This card is to send with a few Euros to my little niece who's off on her holidays shortly.  My cute mermaid is from Eat Cake Graphics ...
1056-I Mara Mermaid Floats
Coloured with watercolour pencils.
My BG is sprayed with cosmic shimmer mist ... I used a waves stencil from Simon Says Stamp, but I think I shouldn't have bothered as I didn't spray enough mist to show up the stencil!  Doh!
I've used some oooooold Dew Drops on this card, haven't used any of those for such a long time!

Sketch from Splitcoaststampers SC545
CASology #151 - kids
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - favourite product (water colour pencils)
Fab'n Funky #264 - gorgeous girls
Addicted to CAS #66 - splash
Penny's Paper Crafty challenge #232 - anything goes
A Gem of a Challenge #147 - summertime
Allsorts #316 - use a stamp
Stamp and Create June - summer fun
Daily Marker colouring Challenge June

Butterfly birthday

This card was inspired by the pretty butterfly inspiration picture over at The Card Concept.  I've used this older stamp from Stamps by Judith that's been sitting on my desk for a week or two now!

Coloured with my Derwent Inktense watercolour pencils and little white dots added to the wings.

The Card Concept #37 - the butterfly effect
Papertake Weekly - ohh so pretty
Addicted to Stamps #149 - CAS
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - favourite product(watercolour pencils)
Layout from Clean and Simple Stamping FTL17

Inky Chicks #52 - butterflies
CASual Friday CFC140 - tan, white and 1 other colour
Daily Marker colouring Challenge June

Eat Cake Graphics: Main Squeeze

MFT have a Summer School this week so I thought I'd play along.  This one is for their Rule of Thirds lesson .... its a great tutorial if you get 2 minutes to check it out :)
My banner and couple are on a third, and the sentiment is also.

I've made an anniversary card ... and not a heart in sight LOL!
My image is from Eat Cake Graphics:
1016-J Main Squeeze
Coloured with watercolour pencils, fussy cut, and popped up on dimensionals.  Life's too short to colour round the dots on her dress, so I just coloured it all red and then added in the dots with a white marker.

Sister Act #110 - anything goes
613 Avenue Create - anything goes
Top Tip Tuesday - cut it out
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - your favourite technique (watercolour pencils) and favourite product (Eat Cake Graphic stamps)
Daily Marker colouring Challenge June

Embossed Ellie

This card was inspired by Marion's beautiful card over at the Muse Challenge.  I was rooting through my stamps to find something that would maybe go with Marion's theme when I came across this old cutie from Wild Rose Studio - coloured with watercolour pencils.

I also loved Marion's idea of embossing in the BG of the image panel - I used a super old mini Ellison Design embossing folder.  I love the finished effect, I'll definitely be using this technique again :)

Muse challenge #122
Crafty Creations #291 - embossing
Creative Knockouts #93 - use your stash
Papertake Weekly - ohh so pretty
Crafty Catz #283 - clean and simple
Sister Act #110 - anything goes
Stamp Ink Paper #1 - getting to know you - I used my favourite CAS style, cute image and watercolouring :)

Belated Birthday

Just a quickie post tonight - I've been out power washing all day and I'm pooped, I feel a long soak in a hot bath coming on!  Good to get it done though, it was long overdue :)

This card uses a older set from Taylored Expressions I bought a while ago.  Coloured with watercolour pencils and then a few dots from a pale grey copic marker to highlight the fleece.
Clear gloss and glitter added to the star; yellow gems from stash.

Colour theme from CAS on Sunday #60
Inspiration Destination #37 - anything goes
Penny's Paper Crafty challenge #231 - favourite embellishment ... mine is gems :)
Seize the Birthday - animal birthday
Sister Act #110 - anything goes
Layout from Sweet Sunday #273

Baby Boy Card

Whoohoo only 2 more days of work and then that's me for a whole week ... not that I'm counting ;)  It's been a beautiful sunny day today, it almost felt like summer, so here's hoping it continues!

Sorry for the rubbish pic, it was still nice and bright when I took the pic and couldn't be bothered getting out my lamp just for a photo.  In case you're wondering the baby's name is pronounced Donn-a-ha.

My image is from Lili of the Valley - coloured with watercolour pencils.  Alpha stamps from Paper Smooches.

Layout from Sweet Sunday #272

Polkadoodles #23 - anything male

Simply Create Too #87 - masculine
A Gem of a Challenge #146 - something blue
Crafty Cardmakers #140 - stitching real or faux
Papertake Weekly - something for the boys
Daily Marker colouring Challenge June

Masculine Thank you card

Ack I've no mojo this weather :(  I've been mostly CASEing cards from Pinterest in an effort to kick start my creativity, but don't like to share them here as I always feel like a bit of a cheat!  I've some time booked off work shortly, so maybe a wee lie in or two will help ;)

Anyway, I needed a thank you card in a hurry, so I used Rowley from Eat Cake Graphics as I always think he looks like a pretty happy dude!  Coloured with watercolour pencils and some star diecuts for accents.

Stamp used:
3003-G Rowley jumps yippee

Clear it Out - anything goes
Papertake Weekly - anything goes
Crafty Creations #290 - all creatures great and small
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - make it masculine
Polkadoodles #23 - anything male

Eat Cake Graphics: Santa's Doggy Welcome

It's never to early to get started on those Christmas cards, and Santa doesn't come any cuter than this!  I wonder what the little puppy is asking for his Christmas pressie?!

I've coloured my image with watercolour pencils and added clear gloss to Santa's glasses and flowersoft to his fur cuffs.  Paper Smooches snowflake dies.

Eat Cake Graphics stamps used:

1178-P Santa's doggy welcome

8041-C Bark (text)

This card is also posted over at A Sprinkling of Samples and Techniques blog, where you'll find lots more loveliness from Eat Cake Graphics :)

Addicted to Stamps #147 - make your mark
Crafty Creations #290 - all creatures great and small
Papertake Weekly - anything goes
Cuttlebug Mania - bling
Merry Monday #161 - sparkle bling and shine
Sweet Stampin Christmas - cute Christmas
Craftyhazelnut's Christmas challenge #231 - colour it
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas challenge Extra - June
Daily Marker colouring Challegne June
Sparkles Christmas challenge #53 - Christmas animal

Natalie and Amy's challenge #33 Christmas