Guest Designing for the Muse challenge

I love to be inspired by a card so I'm thrilled to be this week's guest designer over at the Muse Challenge - just pick whatever elements in my card you fancy and create away!

This is another of my 80th birthday cards - this one's for my Aunt.  I've used this oldie Penny Black stamp, coloured with watercolour pencils and clear gloss added to the roses and his nose.  Little pink stars from stash.

• Addicted to Stamps #289 - CAS
• Cute Card Thursday #527 - pretty in pink
• Seize the Birthday - any Birthday
• Cas-ual Fridays #198 - April showers bring May flowers
• Allsorts #465 - all about pets

A little Christmas angel and a Dalmatian

Happy Saturday peeps!  We'd a nice dry mostly sunny day today, still a bit of a nip in the air though!  I managed to get my fence prepped for painting, hopefully get that done sometime soon. We also managed a wee trip to our local garden centre and came home with a few less pennies - though it would have been very easy indeed to get carried away and come home with zero pennies!

I won this Gummiapian angel and die recently from Suha at Swedish House Crafts, so this is the first time I've had a chance to get her inky :)
(I don't think she's actually for sale on their website)
I only had to colour her face and legs, her dress is paper pieced with cream card to match my DP and then I just added some sparkle to her wings and popped her up on foam pads.
Sentiment die from Simon Says Stamp and a few red stars to finish.

• My card layout and design was inspired by Lindsey's card over at Muse Christmas Visions #98 - I would have stuck with her lovely blue theme too but I couldn't find my Christmas DPs, this red stuff was all I could find.
• Crafting by Designs - get ready for Christmas
• Fab n Funky #391 - Christmas
• Happy Little Stampers Christmas challenge April - anything goes

The inspiration for this card came from the Library Challenge- and this week's book is, yip you guessed it, 101 Dalmatians!!

I've used my doggy from Katzelkraft - clear gloss added to his eyes and nose and then popped up on foam pads.
Burlap background stamp also from Swedish House Crafts.  Grass from Eat Cake Graphics

• The Library Challenge #5 - 101 Dalmatians
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - anything goes
• Allsorts #465 - all about pets
• Through the Craft Room Door - anything goes

A violet birthday and some balloons

Ha, I remember the days my post titles used to be witty, now it's just 'this is what it is' LOL

I think I've 5 x 80th birthday cards to make.  So this is the first!  And what other colour would I do my flowers for someone called Violet ;)

My flowers are an oldie from Simon Says Stamp.  I haven't done this much fussy cutting for ages, but my hands definitely don't be so sore using the little Tim Holtz scissors :)

• Just Us Girls #437 - predominently purple
• Simon Says Stamp Monday - flower power
• Through the Craft Room Door - anything goes

This one is inspired by this week's featured stamper over at Splitcoast - here's Suzy's original.

My balloons are super old - I think they're originally from Creative Impressions.  Coloured with watercolour pencils and the green/red one popped up on dimensionals.  Blue stars from stash.  

• Crafty Cardmakers #210 - Birthdays
• Stamp Ink Paper #147 - colour it
• Crafty Catz #413 - anything goes

Birds and more birds

Sunday evening already!!  How does the weekend go so fast!  We'd a really gorgeous couple of days there, it almost felt like summer.  Saturday was a great day, we got loads of weeding done in the garden and washing dried on the line.  I also got ate alive by the midges who were out in full force after a bit of sunshine, and then I stubbed my toe on the kitchen door OUCH! (or words to that effect!)  It's blackening up nicely, but I don't think it's broken.
Anyway we're back to normal service with the weather today and the rest of the week by the look of it - rainy!!

This is one of those cards that didn't photograph well - the green is more green than it is here and looks much nicer in real life.  I've used my old Tim Holtz birdie which hasn't seen ink for a while - coloured with watercolour pencils and then popped up on foam pads.  Gummiapan leaf dies - little red sequins from stash.  Doodled border.

This card was based on Kim's card over at the Muse challenge

• Simon Says Stamp Monday - let's doodle
• Less Is More #369 - bring something back
• Through the Craft Room Door - anything goes
• Crafty Creations #364 - anything goes

I don't normally share cards that I've copied, but wanted to keep a record of this one for a work mate who's got a new job.  It was inspired by Marieke's much superior card  here - I'd been stuck for inspiration for ages until I spotted this!

Best Big Sister

I've a rake of special request cards on my list to make, so I need to get a move on!
This one is for a workmate for his sister - I've stamped 'Thank You' on the inside.

I soooo love this LOTV bunny, especially this time of year with those fab daffodils, but I've been known to make them different colours at other times of the year and let on they're something else!!  Still gutted that LOTV aren't doing rubber stamps any more, I might have to have a look on ebay to see what's up for grabs there ;)

Bunny popped up on foam pads and clear gloss added to the daffs.

• Through the Craft Room Door - anything goes
• Moving Along with the Times #69 - springtime
• Stamping Sensations April - one for the girls
• Sweet Stampers #19 - Too Cute
• As You Like It - favourite colouring medium - mine's my Derwent Inktense Watercolour pencils. I love how you can build layers of colour and still add texture - for my bunny I colour him in brown first, and then for the fur I just take the colour from the nib of the pencil with my wet paintbrush and dot it on.

Naughty or Nice - Birthday Fishes

Well this is my last ever post for Naughty or Nice :(
I've had a lovely time playing along with all the Naughty Girls and it's been a pleasure to have been on the team.  It's our very last challenge this month and the theme is to pick a previous challenge, so there's 49 to choose from!!  Hope you'll play along too, there's goodies to be won :)

I've kept with the fishy theme of our challenge graphic - it would fall into challenge #2 Birthdays or #23 Let's Get Silly

I've used my old Avery Elle stamps - coloured with watercolour pencils and popped up on foam pads.  I also stencilled in some water with chalk, but it doesn't show up great in my pic.

• Crafty Cardmakers #209 - water
• Addicted to Stamps #287 - make your mark
• Seize the Birthday - vibrant colours
• Classic Design Team Open - April
• Through the Craft Room Door - anything goes

Good Luck Bunny

We'd the most beautiful Spring day today.  The birdies are nest building and everything's starting to bud and grow in the garden. I even managed to get my washing dried on the line and the grass cut.  Great to see it!!

The daffodils in my garden are nearly over, but here's some in full bloom.  I've used my LOTV stamp - coloured with watercolour pencils and clear gloss added to the daffodils.  If I'd been paying attention I would have placed him slightly higher up so he wasn't hiding the text just so much ;)
My old MFT swirls dies which don't see much use and a few bits of orangey bling just to add some interest to the BG.

• Creative Inspirations April - Spring time
• Allsorts #463 - Spring flowers
• That's Crafty - going round in circles
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - add texture
• As You Like It - favourite colouring medium - mine was always copic markers but I got so fed up with them running out unexpectedly and the price of them, so I've learned to love my watercolour pencils!  Much more reliable and a lot cheaper too! 

Birthday flowers

Well I'm back to work ... and still going through my emails!  I'll be lucky to get them all sorted by the end of the week!  Ah well, it's much better than being at home with the flu!

Just a wee quickie card tonight while I was making some vegetable soup for my lunch.
I've used this lovely Prima stamp - coloured with watercolour pencils and sparkle added to the longer purple blooms.
I've stacked up my 'birthday' die to give it a bit of dimension.
I hadn't quite intended to have as many enamel dots, but those dirty fingers made an appearance again ;)

• General card theme inspired by Tracey's lovely card over at the Muse challenge #261
• Creative with Stamps #25 - CAS + sentiment
• Get Creative #68 - no pattern paper
• Love to Scrap #108 - May flowers
• Simply Create Too #137 - use die cuts

A blast from the past

Well I'm starting to feel much better, def not 100% but getting there :)  Back to work tomorrow to have a look at a gazillion emails probably!

I found this dude in my stash on a recent stamp hunt, I think I bought him years'n'years ago at the craft show in Belfast and he's never ever seen ink!
I've combined him with my Gummiapan burlap stamp and Eat Cake Graphics trees.  I would have had a longer strip of grass but I only had the tiniest snippet of this lime green card left.

• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - Happy Birthday
• Pixie's Snippets Playground #323
• Craftaholics R Us #14 - birthday cards
• AAA Cards #112 - another one with my favourite technique - fussy cutting and popping up on foam pads - great for adding dimension and also if you're using coloured cardstock :)

This one uses a really really really old Penny Black stamp - dated 1999, so it's great that it's still in good nick and still seeing ink!
I added sparkle to the blue pot and clear gloss to the tulips.

• Pink tulip theme from PINspirational challenge #212
• Penny Black Saturday April - spring flowers
• Sparkles challenge #102 - spring is in the air
• CASual Fridays # 196 - spring fever

Chicks and Hedgehogs

I've a few quickie cards tonight, just trying to get back into the swing of cardmaking after our flu.

The lovely DP on both these cards does all the hard work!

I'd originially bought this Gummiapan stamp for my Easter cards, don't ya love the expression on their faces!  I reckon they're all a bit concerned about the pink dude!!
My lovely flower die is a newbie and I'm lovin it (also Gummiapan brand from Swedish House Crafts)

• Layout from Atlantic Hearts #258
• Crafty Cardmakers #208 - bunnies, chicks or eggs
• Pile it On #141 - think small
• CRAFT #462 - get well soon

This one uses a really old Penny Black Stamp - sparkle added to the flowers and clear gloss to the centres.

• Crafting by Designs #April - anything goes
• Penny Black Saturday #April - anything goes
• Love to Scrap #108 - April showers bring May flowers

Naughty or Nice - final challenge!

Hi all!  Sorry I've been on the missing list ... after evading the flu all winter it finally caught up with us and we've had a sick house this past few weeks :(  Still not 100% but a helluva lot better than we were!

Boredom has got the better of me, so I figured I should get my post up for the Naughty or Nice challenge.  Better later than never!
Sadly it's our last challenge this month, and the theme is to pick one of the older challenges .  We've goodies to give away too - and if you're not in you can't win!

For my card I went all the way back to challenge #4 Furry Friends
I've made a simple CAS card using this oldie bunny from High Hopes - coloured with watercolour pencils and popped up on foam pads.   Sparkle added to the tulips and clear gloss/glitter to his tail.  I'm lovin my new burlap texture stamp from Swedish House Crafts :)

• CASual Fridays #196 - spring fever
• Cupcake Inspirations #443 - bunny
• Creative Inspirations April - Springtime
• AAA Cards #112 - favourite technique - mine's definitely fussy cutting images and popping them up on foam pads.  Don't reckon I've any 'matching' dies, I'd rather spend the ££s on more stamps ;)