SC647 Not a creature stirred

Here's the new sketch from Splitcoaststampers -  I flipped it so it fitted my image better and used a snowflake instead of panel #5.  If you'd like to play along, please link your card over at Splitcoaststampers

For my card I used this cutie from Eat Cake Graphics:
Not a creature stirring (scene)

Coloured with watercolour pencils and clear gloss added to the candy canes.  Bonus extra points for using up this oldie DP that's been on the go for a few years now!

• Christmas at Sweet Stampin May - anything Christmas
• That's Crafty challenge - feline fine
• Die cuttin Divas #319 - anything goes

Some Bank Holiday makes

Well we certainly didn't get beach weather for our Bank Holiday today ... just varying degrees of rain, light rain, drizzle and mizzle!   Not to worry though, it was nice to be off and we enjoyed a wee visit to my Sis and a lovely lunch :)

This card uses some older MFT stamps - coloured with watercolour pencils, sparkle added to the leaves and clear gloss to his lolly, beak and feet.  I had a little snippet of matching DP in my pile so gave him some snazzy shorts.

• Layout from MFT Wednesday Sketch club #334
• Pixies snippets playground #283/284
• Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers #85 - B is for beach
• Creative Inspirations #275 - anything goes

Muse have a great challenge this week, to case any of Ardyth's cards!  A tough choice as she has a fabulous gallery, but I eventually chose this one - it reminded me of this Taylored Expressions tree die that I won a long time ago and have never used .... so thanks Ardyth!

I hadn't intended on the white enamel dots, but as per usual an oops magically appeared and needed disguising ;)

• Muse card challenge #218
• Crafting when we can #145 - black, white and a splash of colour
• Sweet Stampin - use your old stash
• Word Art Wednesday #284/5 - anything goes

Bunny Flowers

Yippee for a nice long Bank Holiday weekend - I treated myself to Friday off too which turned out to be a scorchio! :) though the weather's looking a bit dodgy for tomorrow.

I've been playing with my Lili of the Valley stamps again, they're always such a pleasure to colour.  This is going to be a birthday card, but I used this 'just for you' sentiment as it was the right fit.

Coloured with watercolour pencils and clear gloss added to the blooms.  Bonus extra points for using my much unloved washi tape!

• Simon Says Stamp Monday - little critters
• Creative with Stamps #14 - flowers
• Creatalicious #115 - anything goes
• Happy Little Stampers May watercolour challenge - option, use red
• AAA cards #91 - 3rd Birthday Bash
• Tuesday Throwdown #344 - anything goes
• Crafty Cardmakers #189 - floral profusion

Birthday Pinkness

Here's this week's sketch over at Splitcoaststampers.  It's easier than it looks if you have a couple of sheets of DP that kinda go together!  If you'd like to play along, please link your card over at Splitcoaststampers.

For my card I've used these cute little mice from Penny Black - coloured with watercolour pencils and glitter added to the white dots on the pressie.
I'm no good at precise cutting and it took me a bit of slicing to get my shapes to roughly the right shape.  I hid the wonky joins with some silver peel offs so you'd never know just how bad they are ;)

Retirement card

Sunday evening already!  I've been tackling the Ironing Mountain this afternoon which had kinda got out of hand, so I'm glad of a sit down now!

This card is for a friend of my Mum who's retiring from her teaching job.  I couldn't find a Happy Retirement sentiment in my stash, so I reckoned this oldie LOTV postmark would do just the job.
Image from Lili of the Valley - coloured with watercolour pencils and clear gloss added to her beak / feet / spots on the card, and the little butterfly. Stencilled BG.

• Addicted to Stamps #242 - make your mark
• Crafting by Designs - you're so special
• Creative Inspirations #275 - anything goes
• Fab'n Funky #351 - create a background
• Creatalicious #115 - anything goes + option of stencil

Sick as a pig, or 3!

Woops, May got away from me - I'd no idea if I was coming or going this month! - and I'm a bit late with my DT card for our challenge at Naughty or Nice  It's a nice easy one ... share a smile :)  If you'd like to play along, you can link your card and see my Teamies fab creations over at the blog.

Mine's a wee quickie ... I just paper pieced my little pigs from MFT and added some doodled borders, googly eyes, a clear gem, and that was about it!

• Sparkles challenge #94 - 4 or more legs
• Sweet Stampers #7 - dots or stripes
• Creative Knockouts #193 - favourite embellishment - mine's clear gems, I use them on the majority of my cards
• Crafty Hazelnuts patterned paper challenge - May
• Crafty Cardmakers #188 - add a sentiment

SC645 Winter Chicks

So this is the new sketch from Splitcoaststampers, those swirls had me stumped for a while!  If you'd like to play along, you can link your card here.

I obviously had my wonky eyes in when I took this pic, it's straight in real life LOL.

For my card I've used a newbie Whipper Snapper stamp and those swirls became snowflakes!
Coloured with watercolour pencils and sparkle added to the fur on her hat and to their combs.
And I went over the blue scarf, ear muffs and the rest of her wooly hat with my clear glitter pen ... I reckon the more sparkle on a Christmas card the better!
Sentiment from Happy Little Stampers - I masked it off so I could stamp it on 2 lines.

• Happy Little Stampers May Christmas challenge - masking
• Sparkles Christmas challenge #76 - snowflakes
• Crafting when we can #144 - bright and colourful
• Dream Valley #156 - things with wings
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - sparkle

Some NBUS goodies

One of you lot led me astray recently and tempted me to go shopping at Whipper Snapper ;)  I bought this cuuuuute zebra, the sentiment and another Christmas one, total $21 + postage and then our lovely Customs nabbed it and charged me another £13 to get it back.  Ouch!  That's me done with crafty shopping for a while, especially after my splurge in the LOTV sale too ;)

I've coloured my zebra with watercolour pencils, went over the blue on the umbrella with my clear glitter pen and then clear gloss over the pink bit and his hooves.  I also added some faint clouds in the BG but they don't show up well in my pic.

• General card theme inspired by Tracey's card over at the Muse challenge #215
• Seize the Birthday - animals
• Sweet Stampers #7 - dots / stripes
• Always Fun #5 - for a female
• Word Art Wednesday #282/283 - anything goes

This is one of my new purchases from Lili of the Valley - I love these James bear stamps :)

Coloured with watercolour pencils.  Clear glitter added to his hat and silver glitter to the star.

I misjudged my layout so added the little white banner to the bottom to balance it out again.

Sentiment from Happy Little Stampers.

• Layout from Sketch Saturday #463
• Crafty Catz #370 - use mirror card
• Happy Little Stampers May Xmas challenge - anything goes
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - going dotty
• As you like it - favourite die - mine's this Die-namics frame, I love how the embroidered stitched edge gives an extra bit of interest

Retro - Grad

Just a quickie post from me tonight.  I'd an extra looooong day at work today out at the Balmoral Show and I'm pooped.  It was another great sunny day though - apparently we've had 10 solid days now of sunshine, must be a new Irish record ;)

I found a sheet of decoupage on a recent enforced tidy up (I've lost one of my colouring pencils!) so thought I'd go back to the good old days and give it a go!
I've added a wee pic below which kinda shows the layering.  Splattered BG and some little gold stars from stash, and my standard doodled border to finish.

• CASology #248 - commencement
• Addicted to Stamps #241 - anything goes
• Tuesday Throwdown #342 - doodles
• Inspiration Destination #127 - anything goes, twist male.
• Word Art Wednesday #282/283 - anything goes

SC644 Hoppy Birthday

Here's the new sketch from Splitcoaststampers - a difficult one for me!  If you'd like to play along and show me how it should be done, add your card here.

So here's my effort!  I've used one of my new Lili of the Valley stamps - coloured with watercolour pencils and clear gloss added to the balloon.
It looks kinda unbalanced as I'd originally intended to use a slimmer sentiment but then nothing would do but I'd use this Hoppy Birthday one instead!

• Pixie's Snippets Playground #279/280
• Creatalicious #114 - anything goes, option for a girl
• That's Crafty - Bright
• Cute Card Thursday #476 - anything goes
• Pile it On #130 - animal

A Pelican and a Bunny

We'd another sunhiney day today, and went exploring to a bit of coast we'd never been to before, and it was only about 30 miles down the road! Rubydoo had a great time prancing round some beautiful gardens and then on to the beach for a head-in-the-sand session!  Good job she's for the groomers tomorrow, we'll be getting our money worth for sure!

We've starlings nesting in the eves next door, and now that I see the enamel dots on my card, all I can think about is bird poop!  They're definitely using our car as target practice ;)
I brushoed my background and then popped up my pelican (an oldie from High Hopes) on dimensionals.  The sea behind him looks very rough, not like the sea today - it was as smooth as glass.

• CASology #247 - flow
• Crafty Catz #369 - five of something (enamel dots)
• Addicted to CAS #110 - grunge
• My time to Craft #345 - masculine

This bunny is another of my LOTV purchases :)  I hadn't intended to add the carrots but managed to get a dirty mark on the yellow card that needed disguising!

Bonus points to me for using this oldie DP that's been knocking round my stash for years! 

• Layout from Freshly Made Sketches #286
• Glitter and Sparkle #238 - inspired by a kids film - Watership Down - though I always thought it was very dark for children!
• Craftyhazelnut's patterned paper challenge - May
• Simon Says Stamp Monday - the great outdoors

Here's a wee pic of our sunny day at Kilcoan Gardens ... it's not too often you see me with no cardigan and sunglasses LOL

Emma's Birthday card

We've had the most glorious sunny week, and it's due to continue for another few days hurrah :)
I spent this morning at a flower show, and when we got back my lovely postie had delivered a parcel from Lili of the Valley .... well they'd had a sale on and it would have been rude not to go indulge!

So this card is for my step-daughter.  I've coloured my bunny image with watercolour pencils and added some sparkle to the petals.  I reckon these are supposed to be daffodils but hey, I'll make them pink if I want to ;)

• Layout from MFT Wednesday Sketch club #331
• Always Fun #4 - flowers
• Creatalicious #114 - one for the girls
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - hint of pink
• Creative with Stamps #14 - flowers

SC643 Penguin Fun

When I first saw this week's sketch at Splitcoaststampers, I was a bit stumped as all I could think of was rolling hills! I'm looking foward to seeing everyone else's creations!  Hope you'll play along too, link your card Here.

The sun is still shining, so of course I'm making Christmas cards ;)
I've used this oldie stamp from High Hopes - coloured with watercolour pencils, fussy cut and then popped up on dimensionals.   Glitter added to the trim on his hat, and my clear glitter pen over the green scarf and gloves. Sentiment from Happy Little Stampers.
Oh, and my stars are all there totally intentionally, there's actually no Oops marks that need covering for a change!

• Christmas at Sweet Stampin April - anything Christmas
• Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas challenge #331 - add some stars
• Simon Says Stamp Monday - the great outdoors
• Crafty Animals #2 - anything goes
• Crafty hazelnuts Christmas challenge extra - May

Make me smile

So in honor of the UK's National Smile Month we've a nice easy challenge over at Naughty or Nice ... just make us smile!  Hope you'll link a card over at their blog :)

The Bank Holiday weather certainly smiled on us today ... sunshine all day and dizzy temperatures of 18 degrees!  I had the power washer out and got loads done in the garden - is it just me who has pots of 'dead things' and can't remember what it was or if it's going to come back? Anyway, whatever they were they're not there now ;)

I don't get my 'naughty' side out often, but this dude will do it every time hahaha
He's an oldie from Hambo, isn't he class!  I do struggle with sentiments though, and this was the best I could come up with!

Coloured my dude with watercolour pencils and then popped up on dimensionals.  Brushos on background.

• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - anything goes
• Sweet Stampin - humour
• Inspiration Destination #127 - anything goes, option masculine
• Crafting when we can #143 - CAS
• Classic Design Team Open #14