Puppy's selfie

I'd a freebie day off work today, hurrah for Bank Holidays!  And it was a lovely sunny one!
I only had time to make this quickie, inspired by one I saw on my buddy Benzi's gallery and based on this tutorial on SCS for selfie cards.

For my card, I used one of the pups from the new Tim Holtz set, and my flowers in the background are from Eat Cake Graphics:
7005-I Coneflowers
Coloured with watercolour pencils.  Clear gloss added to his eyes and nose, glitter to his collar, and then my flowers also covered with my clear glitter pen.  Little stars mounted on dimensionals.

• Love to Scrap - no rulz
• As you like it - favourite shaped card base - mine is A6, simply because that's what I have the most envelopes I have and because it's the most economical shape to cut from A4 card!
• Polkadoodles #34 - beginning with F - flowers or face
• Allsorts #378 - use at least 2 dies
• Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers #66 - H is for Hounds
• Layout from Get Creative #46

September Calendar page

Hee I'm actually early with my calendar page this month :)  Though I can hardly believe it's almost September and the summer's over.  Back to crappy traffic going to work in the mornings, it's bliss over the summer when the kids are all off school!
I've used this oldie from Lili of the Valley - coloured with watercolour pencils.  I coloured my flower die cuts to match and then covered all the flowers and the little butterfly with my clear glitter pen. Background chalked using a giraffe print stencil.  Peel off 'September' and sliver sequins from stash.

• My Time to Craft #328 - something that flies
  
• Sweet Stampin - no designer paper
• Pile it on #115 - die cut embellishments
• Tuesday Throwdown #308 - make it sparkle
• Cute Card Thursday #440 - words/numbers
• Fab'n Funky #316 - anything goes
• Colour theme from Pals Paper Arts #315

Sympathy cards

Just a quickie visit to blogland tonight ... first day back at work and I'm knackered!  Mind you, most of the day was spent trying to sort through a week's worth of emails, and then of course just to improve matters my database was playing up. Grrr.

I'm cracking on with making some sympathy cards for my stash.  This first one uses this lovely Lili of the Valley hydrangea image - coloured with watercolour pencils and then I covered the flowers with my clear glitter pen.

• Layout flipped from the Sugar Pea mix it up Challenge #12
• The Craft Barn Alpha / dictionary challenge - H.  I chose:  hydrangea - noun - a shrub or climbing plant with rounded or flattened flowering heads of small florets, native to Asia and America.
• Allsorts #377 - fabulous florals

This card uses an older Whipper Snapper stamp.  Again coloured with watercolour pencils and the purple flowers covered with my clear glitter pen.

My sentiment was a bit lost amongst the stems, so I outlined it with a white pen so it stood out more.

• Colour theme from Cupcake Inspirations #372
• Crafting When We Can #126 - dies and punches
• Word Art Wednesday #244 - anything goes

Happy Snowdudes

Ahh boo hoo, my week off is over!  We did win the Lottery at the weekend, but it was only for 2 lucky dips, so its back to the grindstone tomorrow for me ;)
Sorry this photo is so pants, I should maybe have taken it without the flash on, but the dark evenings are here already.  Anyway, the inspiration for my cards came from Donna's lovely snowman card - she's this week's featured stamper at Splitcoast.  I've used some of my favourite Eat Cake Graphics stamps:
1193-J Snowman (assembled)
8234-F All is calm (text)
I've coloured my snowman with watercolour pencils and popped him up on dimensionals.  A good layer of my clear glitter pen was added to the band on his hat and to his scarf.
I'd no intentions of making 2 cards, but when I made the first (blue) one, I realised my snowman should be looking into the card so made the red one and think it looks much better :)

• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - make for the border
• Christmas at Sweet Stampin August - snowpeople
• Craftyhazelnut's Christmas challenge #295 - cute Christmas
• Happy Little Stampers August - snowflakes
• Tuesday Throwdown #307 - anything goes
• Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra August

Practising my colouring

Awk I can't believe it's Saturday already :(  I've had a fab busy week off work .... my garden is ready for inspection, not a weed in sight (for a change!), some housework done and a bit of decorating too.  I'm hoping to tackle the ironing mountain tomorrow, but we'll see how that goes, no promises.  I'll be ready for a rest when I go back to work on Monday LOL

Kerri had a great tutorial over on the Stamping Bella blog on how to colour skin tones with Derwent Inktense pencils.  I've never been overly happy with my skin colouring so it was great to have a go.  The trick is to give your paper time to dry between layering colours (which I didn't do - so there's a dark brown line to the left of her face!).
This one uses an old Tiddly Inks image - I covered the balloon with my clear glitter pen and added some googly eyes.  For her hat, I added some dark glitter to the nose and baubles.  Clear gloss to her shoes.

• Layout from MFT Wednesday Sketch Club #294 
• Cats Only challenge #9 - furrything goes
• Tuesday Throwdown #307 - anything goes
• Crafty Catz #334 - birthdays

So this is effort #2 at the colouring tutorial.  This time I misjudged my blusher and she's got a bit of a pink eye ;)

Image from Whiff of Joy - I covered her dress, hairband and letters with my clear glitter pen (what did I do before I got one of these?!!), clear gloss to her shoes, and clear gloss + glitter to her flower.

My text stamp is an oldie from Clear Stamps - I stamped it off on scrap paper first to take most of the ink off.  I wish I'd done that too with the sentiment, it's a bit in your face.

I also embossed the tag at the top for a bit of extra interest.

• General card theme based on amymay998's card - last week's featured stamper at Splitcoast
• Crafty Creations #322 - words on the background
• Colour theme from CAS Colours and Sketches #187
• My time to Craft #327 - embossing

And finally, I've no sympathy cards in my stash, so I might make a few more of these.  They're always a lot easier to make when you don't know who they're for.

I love this stamp from LOTV, it's very easy to colour too - just a dot of colour in the centre of each flower, blend it out and then add some darker highlights.  Easy peasy.  Flowers also covered with my clear glitter pen, and a few clear sequins from Taylored Expressions to finish.

• Layout from Share Joy #49
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - make for the border
• As you like it - favourite flower - I love hydrangeas, I've a beautiful one in my garden but for some reason it only produced one lonely bloom this year.  I think maybe I pruned it too late in spring?
• CASual Fridays #154 - time to colour
• Allsorts #377 - fabulous florals

What's going on?

Ohhh I think I need a new laptop - it takes mine 10 minutes of thinking about it before it recognises my camera is plugged in.  And the F on my keyboard is playing up.  I'll be merrily typing away and then have to go back to fix all the spelling.  grrrr

Then my blogger is playing silly buggers and publishing posts twice, what's that about??
Good job the F is playing up, too much hassle for a good swear word   ;)

Owls, a sleepy kitten and a card for Nicole

I remember when I first started cardmaking many moons ago, I struggled for such a long time to find my 'style'.   I only wish I'd known before I spent a small fortune on crafty stuff that it was mostly Clean+Simple!

I still find very 'simple' CAS cards like this one difficult - I've the urge to add some doodled borders or some ink splatters ;)
These cute little owls are from Catsonappletrees - I added some clear gloss to their eyes and then some googly eyes to the bigger one.  I also added some clear gloss to the kite, after covering it with my clear sparkle pen.  Bling from Taylored Expressions. Sentiment from Eat Cake Graphics:
8151-D Happy Birthday (fun text)

• General layout based on Jenni's beautiful card over at Muse challenge #179
• Crafting When We Can #125 - things with wings
• Creatalicious #97 - black + white + 1 (pink)

Now, this little kitty card just makes me happy :)  Isn't it great when a card turns out like you imagined it - doesn't happen to me very often!

My kitten, mouse and dream bubble are from MFT - coloured with watercolour pencils.  I covered the 'dream' with several layers of my clear sparkle pen, so it's lovely and glittery.  Background splattered with pink and grey, and then a few sequins/stars.  Doodled border.

• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - make for the border
• Pile it on #114 - make your own background
• Cats only #9 - furrything goes
• CASology #211  - dream

And finally .... a special request 18th card.  I need to get me some more grown up teen type stamps - any I had in my stash involved birthday cakes or drink, and on this occasion they just weren't suitable.

Anyway, I've ended up using this girl from Saturated Canary - coloured with watercolour pencils and a few highlights in glitter added.  She kinda looked like she was floating on a magic carpet, so I grounded her a bit, but it still doesn't look right.  Ah well, it will have to do.    Silver peel off letters from stash.

• Layout from Sketch Saturday #425
• Addicted to Stamps and More #207 - make your mark
• Sparkles challenge #83 - lots of layers

That's me done for the night!  I've a busy day or two planned for the rest of my week off, and then some nice shopping for my holidays (as opposed to boring old food shopping!) - so you might get some peace and quiet from me ;)

Naughty or Nice challenge reminder

 It's challenge reminder time at Naughty or Nice!  This month's theme is all about numbers, so your cards need to be age-related or have a number or numbers on them.  Anyone entering the challenge will go into the draw for a fab prize - a set of Art Impressions stamps.  



My card uses this gorgeous stamp from Power Poppy.  Coloured with watercolour pencils and then I went over the top of all my flowers with a clear glitter pen - of course, none of that fabulous sparkle shows up in my pic!  My alpa set is from Paper Smooches - I'm on the market for a more 'grown up' font which would have been better for this card.  Sparkly silver peel off numbers from stash.

• Just us Girls #356 - watercolouring
•  CASual Fridays #154 - favourite colouring medium - watercolour pencils
•  Stamping Sensations August - anything goes
• Power & Spark August challenge - Copy Steal Inspire - my card was inspired by Rhea's gorgeous card here

I have to tidy up!

I really need to tidy up and get my Tim Holtz and Avery Elle stamps off my desk, otherwise they just keep getting used ;)  No chance of a tidy up today, I've been out waging war on the weeds (they're winning!) and have a dirty big burst blister to show for my efforts.  So it's a couple of CAS cards from me tonight!

My fishies are coloured with my watercolour pencils and then covered with my clear glitter pen.  Clear gloss added to their eyes, teeth and some of the fins.  I hadn't intended to use my blue liquid pearls but had a smudge that needed covering (and my normal butterly trick wouldn't work on this card haha)
Blue strip of washi tape from stash.

• The Craft Barn - blue
• AAA Cards #71 - blending
• CASual Fridays #154 - favourite colour medium - mine's watercolour pencils
• Layout from CAS(e) this Sketch #185
• Creatalicious #96 - sea

I'm thinking the sentiment from my fish card would work just as well on this one!  I'm not entirely sure how such a grumpy, fierce looking dog can be almost cute at the same time!  

This dude is coloured with watercolour pencils and then mounted on dimensional squares.  I'd a couple of scraps of this DP left, so that decided my colour theme for me.  I added lots of bling and clear gloss to his collar and then some Ranger liquid pearls ... I'm lovin this stuff, I can see an addiction looming!

• Layout from CAS on Sunday #89
• Penny's Challenge #290 - anything goes
• Seize the Birthday - anything goes
• Pixie's Snippets Playground #242

Camp Create cards

Apologies, long post ahead ... !
Yipppeeeeee, a whole week off work for me, looks like the weather might be looking up too :)
I had a nice crafty evening in the kitchen, just me and the Olympics (which I'm loving!), so I thought I'd get caught up with the MFT Camp Create sessions.  It was one of my New Year's Resolutions to be more adventurous and try new techniques, so these are great for me!

Card 1 is for Divine Dry Embossing.  I've used this sweet little snowman from Eat Cake Graphics:
1193-J Snowman (assembled)

I've coloured him with watercolour pencils, and added Spectrum Noir sparkle and clear gloss to his hat band and scarf.
For my BG, I used an MFT embroidery stitched rectangle to cut out a template, chalked with blue and green, and then embossed the same die.  I don't know if it shows up in my pic but I slightly missed my edge for the embossing, but I like how it turns out anyway.  I also added some
sparkle and clear gloss to my snowflakes.

• Christmas at Sweet Stampin August - snowpeople
• CASual Fridays #154 - time to colour - my favourite is watercolour pencils
• Christmas Cards all Year Round August - bright colours
• Happy Little Stampers August Xmas challenge - snowflakes

Card 2 was for the Camp Create bonfire challenge - single layer savvy

I followed Stephanie's fab card layout and copied her dotty ground idea.  

My farmyard critters are from MFT - coloured with watercolour pencils.  Spectrum Noir sparkle added to the haystack and to the horse's mane and tail, clear gloss added to the cow horns and their hooves.  Little star sequins from Taylored Expressions.

• Cutie Pie #102 - work rest or play
• Happy Little Stampers August CAS challenge - masking
• CRAFT #376 - anything goes

And finally, card 3 is another new technique to me - stunning shadow stamping.

I found an old mostly dried up white ink pad at the back of the cupboard, so used it with my one and only coloured ink pad - Memento Rose Bud.  The pink base is a much nicer shade than it looks here, but I can never get it to photograph right!  My flowers and sentiment are both from Simon Says Stamp (I think).  Bling from Taylored Expressions again.

• Addicted to Stamps and More #206 - anything goes
• Creative Knockouts #154 - sew it up
• Share Joy #48 - clean and simple

So that's me with my 6 camp badges for the week!  I'm so pleased I managed to play along as there were a few of the sessions I thought "I'll never be able to make that!" :)

30th Birthday fun

This card is for a friend's daughter - she is full of fun, and I think this image is just perfect for her!  

She's from Eat Cake Graphics:

1034-K Auntie Daisy enjoys freedom

I coloured Daisy with watercolours and added some stickles to her flower centres.  I chalked some clouds in the background, but they're almost invisible in my photo :(  

I used some die cut sentiments - I double mounted the '30' and then added some clear gloss and glitter so that it really stood out. 

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

• Classic Design Team Open #05
• Crafty Calendar August - summer fun
• Stamping Sensations August - anything goes

Embossed Thanks

Just a quickie visit to blogland tonight ... Versailles is on telly and it's the last episode.  There's a lot of 'unnecessary' sexy bits, but the plot is brilliant!

This card is my effort for today's session over at MFT's Camp Create ... Remarkable Resist.  I had a snippet of this pretty DP left, so coloured my BG to match.  I only have one coloured ink pad and couldn't find my distressing-thingy, so I used watercolours instead.
I don't have many solid stamps (I don't buy them as I don't have coloured ink pads!) so used these leaves from a Simon Says Stamp set; my sentiment is from Eat Cake Graphics:
8225-D Thanks (text)

• Polkadoodles #31 - anything goes
• Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned paper challenge August
• Inspiration Destination #98 - anything goes
• Creative with Stamps #5 - geometric

An ombre Birthday Bunny

Awk, what a horrible dark photo - the evenings are drawing in already, and it's definitely NOT a summer's day out there!  There's rumours of a heat wave coming (when I say 'heat wave' I mean mid 20s!) but we'll see if it gets this far ;)

Today's project over at MFT's Camp Create is Awesome Ombre.
There was a LOT of faffing about with my BG - I'm I'm not overly happy with how it turned out, but this is about effort #5 and it will have to do!  For such a CAS card it took maybe over 2 hours to make LOL!
I watercoloured some scrap card with the ombre effect for my sentiment die, and then used the same pink in the bunny's jumper and for some splatters on the BG.  Bunny from MFT - popped up on dimensionals.  Silver stars and pink heart from Taylored Expressions.

• AAA Cards #70 - stitching
• Cute Card Thursday - sun / moon / stars (silver stars card candy)
• 613 Avenue Create #188 - anything goes

More dogs and fishies

I'm still playing with my new stamps, it's great to have some mojo back!

MFT Camp Create is back and today's theme is Monochrome.  I copied Stephanie's glitter border idea ... I've just spotted some blue glitter on Greg's face, maybe I was a bit over-enthusiastic LOL ;)  I also added glitter to my bubbles and to the top fish's eyelids, and then some Spectrum Noir sparkle to their fins so it's nice and sparkly.  Background stencilled with chalk using a Simon Says Stamp stencil
I copied my sign/hook from Sandy's card here.

• Creative Inspirations #255 - sea/sun/summer
• Inspiration Destination #97 - anything goes
• Just Us Girls #355 - water

I'm so pleased I got these Tim Holtz stamps, I'm in love with every dog in the set!  I've paired this one with a little bark sentiment from Eat Cake Graphics:

8041-C Bark (text)

My watercoloured background was inspired by the gorgeous pic over at Addicted to Stamps - for the 'do what you love' element I added some splatters, coloured enamel dots and a doodled border :)

Dog coloured with watercolour pencils and popped up on dimensionals; clear gloss added to his eyes and nose.

• Addicted to Stamps #205  
• Stamping Sensations August - anything goes
• Pile it On #114 - make your own background
• Word Art Wednesday # 242 - anything goes
• Polkadoodles #31 - anything goes

A doggy calendar and a silly fishie

 So here's August's calendar page hot off the press ... yes I know it's already the 7th LOL ;)
I was very lucky to win a Simon Says Stamp challenge a few weeks back, and the TH Crazy Dogs set was one of my choices.  I reckon you'll be seeing quite a few more cards starring those fab doggies.  I've coloured (or not!) this one to look like Ruby-doo and gave her a nice red collar.  Clear gloss added to her eyes and nose.  Usual wonky hand written calendar, one of these days I'll figure out how to write in a straight line.  I've also used some new coloured Ranger enamel accents which I'm lovin, the red one has a pinky tinge to it, but that's OK.  For my background, I used some green watercolour paint and just kinda splodged it on roughly.  And of course, a doodled border ;)

• Simon Says Stamp Work it Wednesday July - peridot colour
• Love to Craft #1 - anything goes
• Penny Black and More July - anything goes with a stamp
• CASology #209 - watercolour
• Pile it On #114 - make your own background

My second card also uses some new goodies from my win - Avery Elle's 'That Bites' set.  I've coloured my fish with watercolour pencils, added some splatters, added clear gloss to his eyes and teeth and then Spectrum Noir clear sparkle to the rest.
I die cut some waves and then covered most of them up with my stitched circle ;)

• Layout from Sketch Saturday #424
• Colour theme from CAS Colors + Sketches #185
• StampInkPaper #59 - funny or punny
• Share Joy #47 - I used tic-tac-toe option - stitching / blue / enamel dots
• Just Us Girls #355 - 'water'