Moo-vember calendar page

I couldn't think of what to put on Mum's November calendar page, I've been through all my stamps and nothing was inspiring me.  So I just changed it to Moo-vember and ta da! problem solved!
I've used this cute cow from an MFT set ... my masking wasn't the best but I'll not point that out and you'll not notice ;)  Coloured with watercolour pencils.  Clear gloss added to the 'MOO', and to the cows' horns and hooves.  I've lost the calendar inserts I was using, so had to hand write the dates.

• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - anything goes
• Crafty Creations #301 - colourful
• 2 creative chicks #3 - anything goes
• Penny's Paper Crafty challenge #251 - anything goes
• The Daily Marker 30 Day colouring challenge October

Golden Snow

Yes, golden snow, not yellow snow ... that's a totally different thing altogether hahahaha ;)

I used a gold peel off sentiment for this, and amongst the words were these ickle tiny peels offs ... so I added some of the little circles for falling snow, little holly stickers in a couple of the corners, and some tiny stars in the bottom right corner (but they don't really show up in the pic)

I've again used my snowman from Eat Cake Graphics ..
1193-J Snowman (assembled)
Coloured with watercolour pencils and clear gloss added to his nose and buttons.  Frosted Lace stickles for snow.

• Layout based on the Papertake Weekly sketch, though I had to flip where the sentiment was placed so that my snowman was facing into the card.  
• Time Out challenge #43 - Christmas
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - anything goees
• Addicted to Stamps #168 - holiday
• Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra - October
• Crafty Hazelnut's patterned paper challenge - October

Starry Snowman

I think you may be seeing quite a few Christmas cards over the next while as I'm so far behind!
This one uses my faourite snowman
(from Eat Cake Graphics)
1193-J Snowman (assembled)
8234-F All is calm  (text)

He's easy-peasy to colour as all that needs doing is his hat and scarf really!  I added clear gloss to his nose, eyes and buttons.  Silver stars from stash.  Wink of Stella added to the white bits of the scarf.  And it's always good to get those snippets of paper used up before they get out of hand isn't it! ;)

• Layout based on Splitocaststampers SC564
• ABC Christmas challenge - V is for Very Cute
• Simply Create Too #97 - baby it's cold outside
• Pixie's Snippets #200
• Simon Says Stamp Monday - throwback challenge - I chose Dec 14 Holiday cards
• Craftyhazelnut's Christmas challenge extra - October
• The Daily Marker 30 Day colouring challenge October

Ho Ho Ho

I normally make some Christmas cards to give to some of my workmates, so this is batch #1.
I've used my MFT Santa set and made them 3 3/4" square to fit some mini envelopes that I found in my stash ... absolutely no idea where they came from!  It's too boring for words to make any card the same as the last, so I usually change some of the details on each card.

Coloured with watercolour pencils.  Clear gloss and glitter added to Santa's hat.  Misc coloured sequins and silver stars from stash.  Doodled border.

These are based on the sketch at CAS Colours and Sketches #147
Share Joy #8 - keep it clean and simple
Polkadoodles #43 - sparkle, bling or glitter
Simon Says Stamp Monday - throwback - I chose Dec 2104 Holiday Cards
ABC - T is for Two (images)
Craftyhazelnut's Christmas challenge extra - October
The Daily Marker 30 Day colouring challenge October

A little toucan

Still working on finishing that DP pad, I'm soooo very nearly there!!

I based this card on the layout over at Less is More, but maybe I've stretched it a bit much?  I haven't used this Stampin Up toucan in forever, but felt he couldn't quite hold the page on its own so added the strip down the side and coloured the toucan to match.  Red stickles added to the hearts, and Wink of Stella to the green feathers on his chest.

• Less is More #247 - sketch
• Pixies Snippets Challenge #200 
• 613 Avenue Create - anything goes
• The Daily Marker 30 Day colouring challenge October
• Share Joy #8 - CAS

Card for Uncle Alwin

I've been waiting for some inspiration for my Uncle's birthday card, so when I saw THIS card in jamieruthp's gallery (this week's featured stamper over at Splitcoast), I knew I'd found it!
As you can see I loved her card so much I didn't change an awful lot!

I used Pelican's Post from High Hopes, and my little fishies are from an MFT set.  Silver peeloffs from stash.  Pelican's beak and fish covered in Wink of Stella and then a googly eye added.  I think my waves die is from Taylored Expressions ... I love JamieRuth's idea of adding the white edge to the waves :)


Pixie's Snippets Playground #200 - I was glad to find this bit of yellow in my snippets pile, it was just the perfect size for my sun :)
Pile it On #92 - cute / spooky
As You Like It - brights or pastels - I prefer bright happy colours
Seize the Birthday - anything goes birthday
Creative Inspirations #332 - anything goes
Polkadoodles #43 - sparkle or glitter

Birthday flowers

I'm going for extra brownie points this week .... I've almost used up a whole paper pad.  Whoohoo!  Go me!  Rarely happens in my house ... I've so many little ends of pads that just never seem to get used!


So this sketch was just perfect to get rid of quite a few of my odds and sods!  I would have preferred my orange panel to have been a bit longer, but this little bit was all that was left!
Coloured with watercolour pencils.  Orange stickles added to the butterfly.  Woodware flower punch, card candi from stash.

• Layout from The Sketchy Challenge #90
• Cute Card Thursday #396 - anything goes
• Craftyhazelnut's Patterned Paper challenge - October
• Penny's Paper Crafty Challenge #250 - anything goes
• The Daily Marker 30 Day colouring challenge October

I want a cake like this!

A 4-layered chocolate birthday cake? Yummm!  Mind you, you'd feel a bit sick if you ate that lot and you'd need a bigger dress too!  ... said she, sitting with a cuppa tea and a slice of carrot cake LOL

I've coloured my image with watercolour pencils.  Wink of Stella added to the bow on her dress and to the icing.  Clear gloss added to her crown and to the cake platter.

Stamping Bella - anything Stampin Bella
Addicted to stamps #167 - make your mark
Creative Inspirations #332 - anything goes
As you like it - I prefer bright strong colours as they're much easier to work with ... and I haven't got any pastel pencils anyway ;)
The Daily Marker 30 Day colouring challenge October

Monster Wishes

It's been a while since I tidied my craft stash ;) so used this monster before he got put away again!

Coloured with watercolour pencils.  Orange and green stickles add to the monster and clear gloss to his eyes.  I also stencilled my BG with a 'giraffe' print, but in pale blue and it looks like dirty splodges in this pic ... you'll have to trust me that it looks OK in real life!

MFT Wednesday Card Sketch #251
Simon Says Stamp Monday - monster mash
Crafty Catz #298 - monsters - spooky or cute
Cute Card Thursday #396 - anything goes
The Daily Marker 30 Day colouring challenge October

Xmas tags

Just a quickie post ... there's a beer in the fridge with my name on it ;)

For these tags I used my MFT Santa set.  On the first I added some white enamel dots for snow; on both I added lots of stickles to their hats and ribbon on the pressie.  Clear gloss added to the belts and shoes.  I haven't added any ribbon until I see what colour my wrapping paper is.

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - wrap it up
Christmas Stampin all year long #58 - set of tags

Crafty Creations #300 - dont be blue
Addicted to Stamps #167 - make your mark
The Daily Marker 30 Day colouring challenge October

Floral Thanks

I still have a few more of these Thank You cards to make.  This one uses one of my oldest stamps, I think it's from Cornish Heritage Farms but it's long since lost it's packaging.  It's also one of my 'go to' stamps, so I've definitely had my money worth out of this one :)

Coloured with watercolour pencils and popped up on dimensionals.  I also added some Wink of Stella to the flower centres and then some clear gloss too.  Background splattered with pink watercolour too.  Clear gems from stash.  I decided after I took the pic to doodle a brown stitched border round the edge but couldn't be bothered to get the camera out again to take another photo ;)

• Layout from Freshly Made Sketches #209
• Colour theme from The Card Concept 
• Sweet Stampin - antiques roadshow
• Penny's challenge #250 - anything goes
• Creative Inspirations #332 - anything goes
• The Daily Marker 30 Day colouring challenge October

Blue Thinking Of You

Here's a wee CAS card that somehow took over an hour and a half to make!  Took me aaages of faffing about wondering where I was going to stick everything!  Ah well, I like the finished effort :)

No colouring on this one, just some DP behind my MFT Scribble dies.  Leaf and teeny flower punches.  Sentiment from The Alley Way Stamps.  Clear gems from stash.

• Layout from Sweet Sunday #291
• As you like it - monochrome or colour - I normally make colourful cards, but thought I'd have a go at monochrome for this card as I wanted the focus to be on the sentiment
• Crafty Catz #297 - anything goes
• Addicted to CAS #74 - sparkle
• Clear it Out - white plus 1 other colour
• Tuesday Throwdown #267 - you have my support
• TAWS October link up

Frosty the Snowman

Time to ramp up a gear with the old Christmas cards!  Here's one for you snowman lovers, isn't he a cutie ...
(from Eat Cake Graphics)
1193-J Snowman (assembled)
8234-F All is calm  (text)

This is actually a very CAS card and quick to put together, with most of the hard work being done by some snazzy DP.
Marianne Design Christmas tree die; paper smooches stitched borders die and snowflake die.
Snowman coloured with watercolour pencils and popped up on dimensionals.  Wink of Stella added to his scarf and hat, and clear gloss also added to the hat band and buttons.
Some coloured sequins added to the tree and snowflake for some extra sparkle.

• General design inspired by this week's featured stamper at Splitcoast - Shoe Girl - here's Lisa's original
• Natalie and Amy's challenge #37 - snowpeople
• Creative Knockouts #111 - metal mode (my sequins)
• Addicted to CAS #74 - sparkle
• 613 Avenue Create #146 - anything goes
• Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Card Extra - October

Engagement Card

I always struggle to make lovey-dovey cards, and I have to stop myself sighing when someone asks for one!  Anyway, this is the effort I ended up with.  It's not quite right, I think if I'd put 'on your engagement' at the top instead of the bottom it would have been more balanced.

Image from Lili of the Valley - coloured with watercolour pencils.  DP is some super oldie stuff from my stash.  Paper Smooches single heart die.  Not sure of make of row of hearts border die .... and I'd have to get up off the sofa to check ;)

• Layout from Sugar Sketch SPDSS31
• Fab'n Funky #277 - make it square
• Inspiration Destination #55 - anything goes
• Polkadoodles #42 - use a die cut
• The Daily Marker 30 Day colouring challenge October

Autumn Fairy

I've decided I'm not buying any new stamps (well maybe at least until the January sales!) ... I've loads of lovely stamps that haven't seen ink for such a long time.  I was just checking my blog, and its been 2 years since I last used this one from Nellie Snellen.

Coloured with watercolour pencils.  Clear gloss and glitter added to the fairy's wings and to the petals of the flower.  Image outlined with little blue dots using my much ignored copic markers.

• Layout based on the sketch over at Tuesday Morning Sketches #322
• Tuesday Throwdown #266 - watercolour
• My Time to Craft #306 - Autumnal colours
• Crafting When We Can #105 - whimsical with wings
• Penny Black and More October - warm Autumn colours
• The Daily Marker 30 Day colouring challenge October

Simply Pink Thanks

I need some thank you cards for my stash and just love how this one turned out :)  And even better when some pretty DP and a couple of cute stamps do all the work!

Stamps used from Eat Cake Graphics ...
5039-C Daisy Mouse
3008-D Callie's looking down
8225-D Thanks (text)

Coloured with watercolour pencils and the little dog popped up on dimensionals.

• Layout flipped from Pals Paper Arts PPA272
• The Daily Marker 30 Day colouring challenge October
• Simon Says Stamp Monday - wonderful watercolour
• Papertake Weekly - Two by Two
• Creative Inspirations #331 - clean and simple
• Addicted to Stamps #166 - anything goes

Christmas Sweaters

Ha, I love this image, not so sure those little kiddies are so pleased with their pressies!

I've coloured them with watercolour pencils ... Wink of Stella added to the reindeers, clear gloss to the antlers and red stickles to the noses.
Oldie snowflake die from Memory Box.

Image from Eat Cake Graphics ...
1097-M Sweaters for Christmas

• Layout from Freshly Made Sketches #208
• Simon Says Stamp Monday - wonderful watercolour
• As you Like It - colour or monochrome - colour for me, I find them much more insteresting to make than monochrome
• CRAFT #333 - Christmas
• Craftyhazelnut's Christmas challenge #251 - for a child
• Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Extra - October

Stick Robots

I always struggle with boys cards, so this image from Eat Cake Graphics is absolutely perfect for me ... and so easy to colour too!  I've used my watercolour pencils and added some clear gloss to their eyes.  I also added some Wink of Stella to highlight parts of the robots, but this doens't show up in my pic.  Some staples and clear gems to finish.  Nice and simple, and I love how it turned out!

Stamps used:
1053-S The Boys (stick robots)
8147-D Happy Birthday block

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

• Less is More #246 - masculine
• Simon Says Stamp Monday - wonderful watercolour
• CASology #168 - 'You'
• Tuesday Throwdown #266 - watercolour
• Creative Inspirations #331 - clean and simple

Golfer's 50th Birthday

This is another special request card for a golfer with black hair!  I only have the one golfer stamp Retired Raymond from High Hopes, so he's now got a black moustache too LOL ;)

Image coloured with watercolour pencils and popped up on dimensionals; clear gloss added to the golf club (ha, I nearly called it a golf stick there!) and golf ball.  Paper pieced his shirt and flaps (??) on shoes.  Clouds chalked on BG.  I watercoloured my grass after marking it out with a paper smooches die but it looks a bit wishywashy here.

Somehow I managed to stick my red panel down wonky, so I made an extra large golf ball to try to disguise it ;)

Layout from Cheerful Sketches - October
Stamping Sensations October - colours of autumn
Papertake Weekly - anything goes
Tuesday Throwdown #265 - sports fans
Simon Says Stamp Monday - wonderful watercolour
The Daily Marker 30 Day colouring challenge October

Christmas is Coming

Christmas is most definitely coming and I need to get a shift on with my cards!

I've used this sweet little elf from Eat Cake Graphics:
1202-J Chrismas is coming (elf with newspaper)Coloured with watercolour pencils and popped up on dimensionals.  Wink of Stella added to his hat, scarf and mittens; flower soft to his hat; clear gloss to his shoes and belt buckle.
I also Winked up my snowflake (Paper Smooches die) so there's lots of lovely sparkle here.  Don't think I'm going to add a sentiment as the jazzy DP kinda says it all!

• Layout from Sweet Sunday #290
• Papertake Weekly - anything goes
• Creative Inspirations #330 - stars and/or stripes
• Christmas Stampin all year long #57 - lots of layers
• Polkadoodles #41 - use a die cut
• The Daily Marker 30 Day colouring challenge October

Bella buddies

I was kinda stumped by this week's challenge at Stamping Bella, but decided to use the inspiration pic as a sketch.

I used 'Felicity and Blair' - coloured with watercolour pencils and Wink of Stella added to the lace on their dresses and to the cupcake icing.  Clear gloss and glitter added to the flowers (from Simon Says Stamp), and background swooshed with glimmer mist.

Bellariffic Friday #54
Papertake Weekly - anything goes
Stamp Ink Paper #17 - floral theme
Fab'n Funky #276 - sassy ladies
Seize the Birthday - splatter
Allsorts #332 - no design papers
The Daily Marker 30 Day colouring challenge October

Thank You flowers

I've a couple of thank you cards on my list to make this weekend too, this one uses an old oldie from Cornish Heritage Farm (I think!)  It may well have been one of the first stamps I ever bought!

Coloured with watercolour pencils and clear gloss and glitter added to the flower centres.  I stamped my main image another couple of times and fussy cut them to use as my embellies.  Gold gems from stash.  Paper Smooches sentiment.

• Layout from Mojo Monday #418
• Stamp Ink Paper #17 - flowers
• Creative Knockouts #110 - thankful thoughts
• Penny's Paper Crafty challenge #248 - anything goes
• The Daily Marker 30 Day colouring challenge October

Baby Girl

Busy day today!  The weather is just lovely and perfect for getting the garden ready for winter.  Though it always looks a wee bit sad when everything's cut back and tidied away.

I've a few special request cards to make this weekend, so this is the first.  I've used an old Wild Rose Studio stamp - coloured with watercolour pencils.  Wink of Stella added to the lacy bits and clear gloss to the stamped butterflies and pink flowers.  Martha Stewart butterfly punch.  Sentiment from The Alley Way Stamps.

Layout from Sketch Saturday #382
Inky Chicks #57 - think pink
Inspiration destination #54 - anything goes
As you like it - colour or monochrome - definitely colour for me, half the fun of card making is the colouring in!
Crafty Hazelnut's Patternet Paper Challenge - October

The Daily Marker 30 Day colouring challenge October

Uncle Derek's 70th Birthday

This card is for my Uncle's 70th Birthday - he lives out in the countryside so I thought this Funny Farm stamp from High Hopes would be perfect.

For some reason my photo came out a bit 'glary' - I'd outlined my image with a pale blue copic marker and also used it to highlight the sheep's wool but it doesn't show up at all in the photo. Coloured with watercolour pencils.  Wink of Stella added to highlights on the chicken's comb, cow bell and '70', and then clear gloss added to the animals hooves and the '70' again so it really stands out.

• Layout from The Challenge #45
• Penny Black and More October - warm autumn colours
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - anything goes
  
• Cute Card Thursday #393 - masculine
• Papertake Weekly - anything goes
• Creative Card Crew #97 - masculine

The Daily Marker 30 Day colouring challenge October

It Moose be Christmas

I've a feeling you might be seeing a few Christmas cards over the next week or two, I'm soooo far behind and am determined not to have the last minute panic rush!  This one's hot of the press, so I managed to straighten my bow before the glue dried ;~)

This card uses a set from Sugar Pea Designs ... I coloured my moose with watercolour pencils and added a couple of layers of Wink of Stella to his antlers and scarf.  It's such a pity that sparkle doesn't show up well in photos!
BG is an old Cuttlebug embossing folder.  Sequins from stash.

• Sugar Pea Designs - World Card Making Day challenge
• Allsorts #331 - nature
• Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Card Extra - October
• Inspiration Destination #53 - anything goes
• Tuesday Throwdown #264 - clean and simple

The Daily Marker 30 Day colouring challenge October