Greg's Christmas card and Mum's Birthday card

 Well the last card of the year, as per usual, is for DH.  It was actually handed over a couple of days ago, pressies all wrapped and delivered and cards all posted a while back (not holding out much hope for Royal Mail actually delivering them though!) So I'm ahead of the game for a change!!  

I've used these snowdudes from Simon Says Stamp on 90% of my cards this year and will be sad to put them away for a while.  And yes, that is me, him and Molly 🤣 The little dog was from a really old set from Little Claire Design. 

Paper Craft Challenge #89 - deck the halls 

Christmas Kickstart #69 - if it's Christmassy link it up

Cut it Up #267 - Christmas projects 

And this is Mum's birthday card from last week, using a Penny Black stamp.  I think it's a winter rose but not entirely sure.  Lots of sparkle and shimmer on this but sure it doesn't really show in the pic.   I think it would maybe have been better with twine going vertically instead of horizontally.

Penny Black Saturday - December anything goes

Crafty Calendar - December anything goes 

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - party

Hope you all have a good Christmas and a very happy New Year.  Thanks for all your visits and crafty friendship all year 😍

Sandra's Birthday card

Hi all, I've been such a bad blogger this year, deffo need to put it down as one of my New Year Resolution for 2023, not much hope for the remainder of 2022 LOL

Anyway I have a wee Birthday card to share for my friend in work, using this cutie from Lili of the Valley.  Coloured with polychromos, glitter added to the cupcakes and clear gloss to the jelly.  Some little snippets of leftover purple card to finish.  I won't confess how many attempts and how much time it took to tie the cord hahaha!!!

 

Layout from MFT Wednesday Sketch #620

Snippets Playground challenge #441

Sweet Stampin 13th Birthday challenge 

Allsorts #703 - anything goes 

More Snowy Snowdudes

 Hi all!  We had such a lovely bright Autumn day today, so nice to see it as it feels like we've had nothing but rain recently!  Halloween night was pretty much a disaster, we had the grand total of 5 youngsters at the door ...  a bit of rain wouldn't have put me off getting free sweeties when I was a kid! 🤣. Mind you, we were only allowed to visit 3 or 4 houses, none of this visiting the entire neighbourhood and definitely not knocking the door of folk you didn't know! 

Anyway, I've been trying to get my Christmas card count up.  This one uses my Simon Says Stamp snowmen yet again. 

I was on a shopping trip recently at Creative Depot and splashed out on some of these lovely paints after seeing one of their DT using them - wow. I'm so impressed!  They give a real metallic shimmery finish and I think I'll use these a lot!  I've splattered the silver one here for my snow and it looks fab in real life.  

• As You Like It - favourite Christmas image - I have a total soft spot for snowmen and have an ever growing collection of snowman stamps!  Plus they're always quick to 'colour'!!  (these dudes just get the faintest lick of pale blue watercolour at the edge)
• Your Next Stamp #191 - midnight 
• Colour theme from MFT Colour Challenge #199

A little snowdude tag

 Hi all, I'm here for my final post as Guest Designer for the Just Us Girls challenge, and this week's theme is...

I always run out of tags when I'm wrapping my pressies so it will be good to have some of these ready and waiting!  My tag was really quick to make and all from little scraps so that's always good!!  I only assembled one of the tags as I'm waiting on the postie delivering some snow-effect paint and wanted to try it on these.   

Hope you'll play along too.  And if you need some inspiration, pop over to the JUGS blog to see the DT's fab makes.

Hello Friend

 I can't believe the clocks change this weekend and that Halloween is here already!  We've been practicing battering the door knocker in preparation for the Trick-or-Treaters next week so Miss Molly doesn't have a meltdown LOL.  She seems to be OK with the fireworks thank goodness, wee Ruby was always terrified of them.

Anyway, I rediscovered this oldie from Eat Cake Graphics when I was on the hunt for something else...

Coloured with my watercolour pencils for a change.  I had just enough of the blue card left to cut three wee fishies from Simply Graphic (I think that's where they're from, wouldn't like to swear to it)

Layout from Moving Along with the Times #147

Snippets Playground #439 - use a snippet (my fish)

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - anything goes 

A trio of Poinsettias

Hmm I wonder what's going on with blogger?  This past few days I keep finding comments in my spam folder... and they're all from 2014!!  Odd!

Anyway, I haven't played in the Christmas Kickstart challenge for a while, so here's 3 for the price of one!! 

I was very lucky to win a recent Simon Says Stamp challenge and bought this lovely poinsettia stamp with my winnings.  It does take me an age to colour with my pencils (about 2 hours each) but I do love it.  I think the green one in the centre is my favourite.  

Christmas Kickstart #67 - poinsettias and posies

The Flower Challenge #73 - use a sentiment 

Fab'n Funky #559 - Christmas greetings 

And here's a wee pic of Miss Molly out on her walk with a 'wee' stick she found and carried/trailed all the way round!!  Daftie!

Let it Snow

 I'm back with another card for my guest stint at Just Us Girls and this week's challenge is inspired by this photo..

Hope you'll play along too, pop over to see the cards made by their DT, they're such a talented bunch!

For my card I used these cute snowfolk from a Simon Says Stamp kit earlier in the year.  I added sparkle to the trees and their scarves but it doesn't really show in the pic.  I don't think I've ever used this colour combo on a Christmas card before, but I do like how it turned out! 

ABC Christmas - U is for unusual Christmas colours

As you like it - traditional or contemporary - most of my Christmas stamps are these cutie type so I guess that puts me in the contemporary camp!

Birthday Bear

Hi all, I'm back with another Guest Designer post for Just Us Girls, and this week it's a colour challenge.  Pop over to their blog for lots of inspiration and hopefully you get a chance to play along too!

For my card I've used this oldie from Penny Black - he's a bit bigger than my frame but I think I got him squished in ok 😉. Coloured with polychromos, sparkle added to the ribbon and glitter to his pom-pom.  The scrap leftover from cutting my frame was just big enough to cut my sentiment and stars which always pleases me LOL

 Seize the Birthday #249 - faces, human or animal 

Cardz for Guys 306 - teddy bear

Word Art Wednesday #565 - anything goes 

Penny Black Saturday October - anything goes 

A little cow note!

Here's a wee card just hot off the press, the glue isn't even dry yet!  I'd rediscovered this old Penny Black stamp a while ago, and spent an absolute age this evening looking for my "moo-chas-grassias" stamp but the box I keep my small wooden stamps in is nowhere to be found.  Reckon I need to have a good clear out of my craft cupboard.  Unfortunately it's shared with the dog's treats, so anytime I'm in it poor Molly thinks she's getting something nice! 

I added clear gloss to his wellies, horns and flower, and covered his black splodges with my glitter pen.

 

Layout from Freshly Made Sketches #557

Colour theme from Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - I used the colours from the pic in the bottom right corner 

Sweet Stampin - anything but a birthday card 

Penny Black Saturday October - anything goes 

Going CAS!

 Week 2 of my guest stint at Just Us Girls, and this week's challenge is...

Most of my cards are CAS so that was a nice easy challenge for me 😉. Pop over to the JUGS blog for lots of inspiration from their lovely DT, and hopefully you'll get a chance to play along too!

For my card I just stamped these lovely flowers from Pinkfresh Studio, slapped on a bit of watercolour paint, and added a sentiment.  I did add a layer over my flowers with my sparkle pen just to give it a wee bit of zing.

The Flower Challenge #73 - use a sentiment 

Word Art Wednesday #563 - anything goes 

Get your scraps out!

I'm delighted to be Guest Designer with Just Us Girls for October, and this week's challenge is to use your scraps - and if your table is as messy as mine that shouldn't be a problem LOL 😉  Pop over to their blog for some inspiration from their very talented team, and I hope you get a chance to play along too! 

I've had this lovely strip of hearts DP knocking round for a few weeks so I'm glad to get it used before it gets bent or crumpled! And the little purple edge was from a tiny scrap I rescued from my 'bin' pile, but was just the right colour and only just big enough to die cut - it's not the straightest but I tucked the wonky edge under my image and you'd never know!  Image, sentiment and bling from a recent Simon Says Stamp kit. 

It doesn't show on my card but there's lots of sparkle on this card ... gloss + glitter to the flames, the pink under my cake had several layers of my sparkle pen; it doesn't show in the photo but I also went over the '&' several times with my sparkle pen and I love how it turned out, I'll definitely be doing this again!

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - anything goes 

Addicted to Stamps #439 - any occasion 

Word Art Wednesday #563/564 - anything goes 

Snowdude in Blue

 Hi all.  Well it has been an emotional 10 days, so hard to comprehend the Queen's death.  I don't doubt I will be in tears tomorrow, all the pageantry and tradition gets me every time - I even well up when I see the Red Arrows on happy occasions!  Incredible to think of how many millions round the world will be watching the funeral!  I was in Belfast at the beginning of the week when King Charles visited, it was a real sense of occasion and the crowds about were unbelievable. 

I have another Christmas card this evening, again using my Simon Says Stamp set.  I don't normally used this glitter card as my base as it's a pain to get anything to stick to it! I've loaded on the glue and crossed my fingers 😉

Sketch from Inspired By (though I'm not entirely sure if I was supposed to also use their unicorn theme)

Colour theme from MFT Colour Challenge #196

Word Art Wednesday #561/562 - anything goes 

And finishing with a wee photo of Miss Molly - she loves a bit of David Attenborough and Frozen Planet is her new favourite programme! 

Snowy Snowfolk

Hi all!  What a lovely Autumn day we had today, really calm and sunny 😁  I spent it cutting back a load of stuff in the garden and another session of fence painting before the weather changes - I had the bright idea of changing the colour of our fence (from brown to sage) and I'm now 3 coats in!  It was a good idea at the time but I'll be so glad to see it finished!!  

Anyway I'm here this evening with a quickie Christmas card.  These snowdudes are from a Simon Says Stamp kit I bought at the start of the year, and the sparkle paste stuff I used for the snow was in it too.  My silvery sparkly sentiment was a bit lost on my card so I cut another 2 from some scraps of black card and double mounted it.  Pops more now in real life. 

Simon Says Stamp Monday - die cuts

By

Layout from MFT Wednesday Sketch #611

As You Like It - glitter or metallic card - I love a bit of sparkle so it's glitter card for me! 

ABC Christmas - S is for Snow

If I knew you were coming I'd've baked a cake

 Hi all!  Sorry I've been MIA, my mojo dipped below zero so I've taken a bit of a blogger break.  Need to get back in action though with autumn already here and lots of Christmas cards needing made!

So this card is a special request from my aunt for my cousin, not my best effort ever, but it does look better in real life!  Definitely need to get my daylight lamp out for these darker evenings - the icing on that cupcake is actually bright white! I've used this cupcake stamp from Honey Doo Crafts, sparkle added to the icing, clear gloss to the cherry and glitter to the sprinkles.  Die cuts all cut from silver glitter card, so there's lots of sparkle on this!!

Word Art Wednesday #559/560 - anything goes 

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - stamp it

The Male Room #166 - song title.  I've chosen "If I knew you were coming I'd've baked a cake"... Well if my aunt knew you were coming she most definitely would have a cake ready and waiting 😋 so I knew I had to put one on her card! 

Time for tea?

LOL I'd love a cuppa this size, I do have a bit of a tea addiction, even better if it comes with a wee choccie biscuit 😉😋. This little lady was a recent purchase from Stamping Bella - I always struggle to colour pleats but this one turned out OK (not sure why or if I could do it again LOL). My card looks better with darker colours in real life, reckon it's time to get my daylight lamp out!

My Time to Craft #488 - beverages

Addicted to Stamps #436 - make your mark

Word Art Wednesday #557/558 - anything goes 

Cut It Up #258 - it's all about me

We had a milestone birthday during the week ... Miss Molly turned one!  We went down to our local pet shop to buy her a birthday cupcake, unfortunately they didn't have any but could order us a cake for her ... for £20!!! Umm I don't think so!  So she just got extra treats instead.  Here's a few pics of her with a strawberry!  She will eat little bits of yours but she didn't quite know what to make of a whole strawberry to herself ... the daftie ate the tiniest bit and then ended up playing with it in the garden for ages! 

Cactus thanks

 Hi all!  Well we finally got a wee share of summer, lots of sunny sunshine and not a cloud in the sky all week!  A good week to book off work!  Though I have to confess the high 20's are plenty hot enough for me, I definitely couldn't cope with the temps they've been having in the south of England.  Looks like normal service will be resumed tomorrow with heavy thunder showers due and warnings of flooding!  The farmers won't be happy - we were out for a drive during the week and every farmer in the land was either on the road or going full ding getting their crops harvested.  I'm sure they would have been glad of another few dry days!

I got a few images coloured while I was off, and this is one of them - a really old Nellie Snellen stamp.  My heart die is from MFT, though by the time I stuck my image down I'm not entirely sure you would know it's a heart!

Layout from MFT Wednesday Sketch #606

Colour combo from Make The Cards #61 - pink, green, orange, white

Allsorts #688/9 - anything goes 

Miss Molly loved all the sunny weather, and spent most of her time snoozing or playing in the garden.  While we were in our local park I thought I'd take a pic of her to share with you.  Nope, this pup is not interested in the camera, not one decent photo out of the lot of them LOL

Baby Bunny

 Hi all!  I see blogger must have done away with the follow by email option, so apologies to anyone who used it on mine!

I was delighted to see that Just Us Girls challenge this week is to CASE a favourite designer, so here's mine!  I have been a long time admirer of the beautiful cards that Iris makes over at stempelideen.blogspot.com and have frequently been inspired to go shopping because of her!  Have a look at her much superior card here and you'll see what I mean! So here's my version of her card...

Stamps from Creative Depot, butterfly dies from Penny Black and new scalloped die from Pinkfresh Studios.

 Just Us Girls #643 - CASE a favourite designer 

Addicted to Stamps #435 - dies +/or stencil 

Word Art Wednesday #555/556 - anything goes 

Get Well Bunny

Hi all!  Well that was a bit of a damp grey day, definitely frizzy hair weather!  And the first evening in a while that I've needed the light on to craft.  

I've had my new stamps from Craft Depot out again. My first effort was using my watercolor pencils but I think I need to relearn how to use them!  I ended up starting again with my polychromos and just used the watercolours to highlight the stem of the toadstool.  DP from MFT.  My sentiment looks wonky here which I hadn't noticed before now, so I'll have to check it to see if it needs fixing.  Hopefully not as I'm down to the last scraps of this green card. 

And just to share, here's the original watercoloured bunny!

Layout from MFT Wednesday Sketch #604

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - anything goes 

Word Art Wednesday #553/554 - anything goes 

Jelly and cupcakes

 Hi all!  Well, I'm not sure what is going on with blogger???  Apparently my blog has been giving some folk a security warning and today I've had about a dozen emails from Blogger saying they've deleted some of my posts which either contravene their guidelines or have malware issues!! They're all from 2011/2012 (so far).  Anyone else getting these?  I don't know if I should be concerned or not, or if there's something I can do on my side to sort it out!   I did run a scan and it came up with no malware issues, maybe it's something in a challenge link?  And some folk who have been leaving comments on my blog for years are now slipping into my spam folder.  Urgh, too much for a Monday brain 😉

Anyway here's my other new stamp from LOTV - I see they have a new release (including actual stamps) for Christmas, so that could be slightly dangerous to my bank account LOL.  My little heart border is from Creative Depot.  Coloured with polychromos and glitter added to the icing and clear gloss to the jelly & cherries.  

Word Art Wednesday #553/554 - anything goes 

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - for a child 

Addicted to Stamps #434 - any occasion 

Little Bunny

 Hi all!  I've been shopping in an effort to kick-start my mojo... yes I know I already have loads but there's nothing like fresh ink on a new stamp to get you colouring!  This little cutie is from Creative Depot, a German store that has some lovely stamps and even lovelier dies!  My EF was a magazine freebie a while back.  Bunny coloured with my polychromos and popped up on foam pads.

Layout from Sketch Saturday #705 

As You Like It - fur, feathers or scales - well looking at my stamp stash I'm definitely in the 'fur' camp.  I do have a few bird and fish stamps but 90% of the animals are furry critters

Let's Squash It #22 - keep it simple 

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - for a child