Drinks and Skiing

Oh brrrrrr it's been a wild old day today.  Me and Rubydoo headed out for a walk earlier as she loves a good windy day - started with blue skies and not a cloud in sight, and then 5 minutes later it was a total blizzard so we had to make a hasty retreat!  So the rest of the day was spent crafting, snoozing and cooking!

This first one uses a set from Newtons Nook.  I masked off and inked up the bottom 3rd - I'd a bit of a raggedy edge so added the silver peel off strip just to neaten it up.  Glasses popped up on foam pads and sparkle added to the booze.

• AAA Cards #132 - up to 1/3 and masking
• Time Out #127 - Inspired by words - I went for the drinks section!
• Simon Says Stamp Monday - alcohol

And this one's for my buddy Jo's Christmas challenge - this fortnight's theme is 'Bundle Up'.  Though I think I might use this one to put some Euros in for my nephew who's off on a school skiing trip shortly, so it's not even going to make it into my Christmas pile!

My monkey is an oldie from High Hopes and my DP is probably as old too!  

• Christmas Kickstart #2 - bundle it up
• Cute Card Thursday #566 - critters
• Love to Craft #30 - anything goes
• Pile it On #150 - land animals

Congrats x2

I've had no mojo recently and my stash is nearly empty of everything but girly Birthday cards, so I made myself sit down this evening, and this is what I came up with.  Its blowing a gale outside straight from the North Pole so its definitely a good evening for crafting, wouldn't want to be heading out that evening!  Though the North wind always seems to find his way through any nook and cranny in our house and loves to create a good draught - its not too often we have every window shut and every door closed!

I found this little car in a set I normally use for baby cards and thought it was time it saw ink.  I coloured it with my polychromo pencils and added clear gloss to the windows.  MFT DP and Town die.  For my sentiment I double mounted it on sparkly card and it ended up a bit sticky on the top, so covered it with clear gloss.

• Cardz 4 Guys #211 - trains / planes / automobiles
• Crafting by Designs - layer it up
• Layout from MFT Sketch challenge #421

And here's a wee baby card using one of my 'go to' stamps from LOTV.  Coloured with watercolour pencils and sparkle added to his onesie and the triangles on the drum.

• Your Next Stamp #421 - colours of winter
• Word Art Wednesday #370/371 - anything goes
• Layout from Try Stampin on Tuesday #392

More dancing hippos - for Alex's 9th birthday

Just a quickie post tonight.  It's movie night and Jack Ryan is on the menu.  I've read a few of the books and enjoyed them, so hope the movie lives up to them.  Mind you, it will be easy to watch with Chris Pine and I love Kevin Kostner and Kenneth Brannagh anyway, so I think we're on a winner here ;)

When I saw the sketch over at Less Is More I immediately saw the 2 triangles as a spotlight, though I'm hoping all those splatters don't take my card out of CAS!  I've used my new hippos from Clearly Besotted again - coloured with polychromos, clear gloss/glitter added to their tutus and popped up on foam pads.  Gummiapan sentiment die.  This card is for my niece whose favourite animal is a hippo!!!

• Sketch from Less is More #387
• Word Art Wednesday #370/371 - anything goes
• Die Cuttin Divas #403 - birthday
• Cute Card Thursday #565 - banish the blues

This one uses an oldie from Lili of the Valley, a freebie embossing folder and a snip of DP found at the bottom of a pile on my desk!  I've popped the image panel up and added some spearkle to the butterfly and flower.  My DP is brighter and matches my little girl better in real life!

MFT wonky circles die.  

• Sketch from MFT sketch challenge #420
• Tuesday Throwdown #423 - embossing
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - CAS
• CAS on Friday #149 - flowers

Thank You Roses

I had a bit of a lazy old day today, and part of it was watching some videos on YouTube about how to colour roses with polychromos.  I'd bought this stamp recently from Clearly Besotted and figured it needed inking.

Of course I decided to colour it in a shade that I don't have any matching DP or card!  My card didn't look 'finished' so I added these little semicircles in the same colour and it seems to have pulled it together a bit.  I also added some sparkle to the roses. Still wouldn't be my favourite card of all time though!

• Get Creative #76 - anything goes
• Cute Card Thursday #564 - what's new (my pencils)
• Crafty Creations #382 - anything goes
• Simon Says Stamp Work it Wednesday December - try something new

One card. Two friends. Six hippos!

OK so there's a bit of a story behind tonight's cards.

Once Upon a time ... there were 2 friends.  One sent the other a birthday card, and she loved it so much she crossed her own name out and sent it back to her friend on her birthday.  Her friend sent it back again the following year, and so on and so on.  This carried on for 15 years!  But now the card has been lost :(
So my mate in work asked me to make a card for them....

I've used my lovely new hippos from Clearly Besotted (Jo, that shopping trip was your fault!)
Coloured with watercolour pencils and clear gloss / glitter added to their tutus.  Stripy DP from MFT.  Flower die was a magazine freebie.

So then when you flip the card over, Jenny's is an orange version of the same card.

And in case you don't get what I've done, here's the unfolded card ...

• Daisy Chain #26 - add some sparkle
• Stamping Sensations January - fabulously feminine
• Simon Says Stamp Monday - something new (my stamps)
• Word Art Wednesday #368/369 - anything goes

Pastel sympathy card

Here's just a quickie Sympathy card this evening, I've none in my stash and like to have a few to spare.

I've used my new polychromo pencils again, I think I need to spend some proper time studying on how to colour flowers!  I had a tough time with this colour theme too, but that was my own fault for picking such a pale pink as my base.

Di from Pixie's Crafty Workshop had a great tip recently from Alison on her blog recently - to add dimension by sticking snippets behind the image.  Di ... thank you for posting this!  I have such a huge bag of white card snips as I cut an A4 sheet to size for these square cards so I've always leftovers that I struggle to use up, I'll be able to play in your snippets challenge from now to eternity hahaha ;)

• The Flower Challenge #28 - pink and grey
• Pixie's Snippets playground #343
• Crafty Calendar January - make it flowery
• Simon Says Stamp Work it Wednesday - try something new (my pencils)

Christmas Card #1

It's been a horrible icky damp drizzly and dark old day today.  I think we've had the lights on all day, so other than housework and making soup for lunches I did very little else!

So I took the opportunity to join in my buddy Jo's new Christmas Kickstart Challenge - I'm definitely going to try to play along each fortnight.  I find that come Christmas I have a few nicely designed cards and then it's a mad rush for the others, so I'm hoping to avoid that this year!

 My little reindeer is from Hunkydory Crafts - coloured with polychromos and popped up on foam pads.  Lots of clear gloss and sparkle added to his nose and antlers.  My stripy DP is a dark navy, not sure if it just looks black here.

• Christmas Kickstart Challenge #1 - Rudolph and friends
• Layout from Freshly Made Sketches #369
• Tuesday Throwdown #422 - Winter Sparkle

And here's Mum's calendar page, oops, only 6 days late ;)

I used some black and red glitter card for lots of sparkle.  Not sure of the make of the fireworks.

• Penny Black and More January  - new beginnings
• Crafting by Design January - anything goes
• CRAFT #496 - 'new'

Friends and Thanks

Happy Saturday folks!  I've had a busy day doing some spring cleaning and clearing out.  I think everyone else had the same thought as there was a queue into the Recycling Centre for the first time ever!

Anyway, this first card was a special request, thus the odd sentiment!  I've coloured my girls with my polychromo pencils and added a little Gummiapan butterfly die.

• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - something new (my pencils)
• Word Art Wednesday #368/369 - anything goes

And this one is based on this week's sketch over at Splitcoaststampers.

I've used this oldie from Whiff of Joy, coloured again with my polychromos.

And I've used my favourite technique of splattering the background, love this - so easy and instantly effective.

• Stamp Ink Paper #180 - thank you
• Crafters Castle #13 - anything goes