Greg's Christmas and Mum's Birthday cards

Well that's Christmas over and done with for another year!  We had the usual gathering and family feast down in Mum's... dinner always tastes better when someone else cooks it haha 😜.  I'm off work now till the 4th and so looking forward to recharging my batteries, clearing out cupboards and wardrobes, scoffing all the chocolates and, of course, a few movies in my PJ's!!  I'm also hoping to get time for some colouring classes, so we'll see how that goes! 

Anyway I've a couple of cards to share this evening.  Last card of the season was as usual for Greg.  I made variations of this for most of my cards, but had to add a little Molly to Greg's.

Simon Says Stamp Monday - let it snow

Allsorts #760/1 - cold and ice

And this is Mum's birthday card, very pink! Flowers from Altenew and I think the dies were from Creative-Depot; gold metallic paint splattered for the background and also to colour the butterflies.  I fussy cut the flowers and popped them and the main panel up on foam pads.

Snippets Playground #470 - anything but Christmas.  I don't get to play with the Snippets challenge as often as I like so I'm pleased to get this one added.  Lots of snippets on this... the butterflies and the diecut background (which is 3 small panels) are all cut from leftover white card

Word Art Wednesday - annual blog hop

And finally, here's a wee pic of Miss Molly.  Despite only being a good girl some of the time, Santa did bring her a lovely cosy winter coat, a squeaky Christmas tree and pressies from her Aunties and Uncles!  The doggy chocolates were a definite big hit! We were pleasantly surprised that she didn't bother with the tree, decorations or presents, a bit of a initial sniff and that was her happy!

Catch up!!

 Hi all, sorry I've been missing in action again, I just never seem to have time for blogging and the old mojo isn't being particularly co-operative either! Anyway I've lost to post this evening ...

I'm waaaay behind in my Christmas cards and the overseas ones should have already been away so they're going to be very CAS this year!!  

I cut an aperture for this one, blended the background and then stencilled in some snowflakes.  Polar bear stamp from Creative Depot.

Layout from MFT Wednesday Sketch #674

Colour theme also from MFT Colour Challenge #224

CAS on Friday #271 - Christmas 

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - anything goes

And a few more just for my reference as some of them are a bit samey to others I've done ...

Katie's 21st, using a Stamping Bella stamp

Baby Padraig (the Irish version of Patrick) using an old Lili of the Valley stamp

Sandra's birthday card using a Penny Black stamp. 

Andrew's wedding card and Jack's birthday

 Hi all, here this evening with yet more special request cards.  This wedding one is for a workmate and I've included his lovely little doggy on it too.  And yes, they do all have the same colour of hair LOL

Image is an oldie from Lili of the Valley and the puppy is from Eat Cake Graphics. Computer generated sentiment.

Simon Says Stamp Monday - text it 

Word Art Wednesday 617/618 - anything goes 

And this one is for a friend of mum's for her grandson.  Image from Penny Black.  I've used some bronze shiny card for the diecuts.  Background stencilled and bear popped up on foam pads.  The first effort at this was completely different and I didn't like the finished version, but at least I was able to cut out the bear and reuse him!

Penny Black Saturday October - anything goes (not sure why, but Inlinkz wouldn't give me the option to link the right card)

October calendar page and Lauren's birthday

Hi all, here this evening with Mum's calendar page (just a tad late!) I can hardly believe these calendars started as a one-off Christmas gift in 2015 and I'm still making them LOL

I've used a couple of oldies from Eat Cake Graphics and stencilled in some grass and clouds.  

I added some sparkle to the red part of his cape, shows better in this pic...

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - stencil fun

As You Like It - fairies or Halloween - I LOVE all the spooky Halloween images and always wondered why Halloween cards have never really been a thing here!

Daisy Chain Challenges #79 - Halloween 

And this card was a special request, similar to one I've done before, so just adding it for my own reference

Ryan's birthday card

 Hi all, back again, and now the darker evenings are creeping in I'm determined to get back into my cardmaking!  And I mean it this time 😉

I've dug out this oldie from High Hopes, he's always a pleasure to colour.  I inked in a touch of green for the background and then stamped over it with this lovely burlap stamp from Gummiapan that doesn't see ink often enough!

Cutie Pie #186 - birthday 

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - use a background stamp

Word Art Wednesday #613/614 - anything goes 

Addicted to Stamps #454 - any occasion 

And here's a wee photo of Molly as I haven't shared one for a while.  She absolutely LOVES balls and will steal any she comes across , so she was delighted to find this one when we were out for a walk.  Unfortunately for Molly it was actually a potato!!  One ball she didn't bring home 🤣

Christmas Poinsettia

 Hi all!  I've totally got out of the way of blogging and have been really bad at visiting all my bloggy buddies, I'm so sorry! My crafty mojo has been totally missing too... I'm blaming our miserable summer when it seemed to rain almost every day!  The sun has finally made an appearance so I'm hopeful my mojo does too 😉

Anyway, I'm here this evening with a wee Christmas card with some freebie stamps from a craft magazine.  I'm not 100% loving it ... if I was making it again I'd move the poinsettia down a bit and maybe decoupage another flower on top (I might still do this).  Coloured with polychromos and clear gloss added to the flower and glitter to the berries.

Simon Says Stamp Monday - stamp it

Word Art Wednesday #611/612 - anything goes 

Moving Along with the Times #158 - Christmas 

CAS Snowy Snowman

Hi all!  Such a dark drizzly day we've had today, it's definitely not a summer's day!  Indeed we've had no summer at all this year, the wettest July on record and not looking much better for August.   Storm Betty is due to hit this evening, so I'm glad I'm home in my PJs and not heading out anywhere! 

I've my Creative Depot snowdude out to make this little CAS card ... the 'CAS-ness' definitely does not reflect the mess on my table it took to make it 😂

Layout from CAS Colours and Sketches #518

Simon Says Stamp Monday - use your favourite technique - mine is definitely colouring and I do love to add splatters too

Snippets Playground #460 - my snippet is a leftover bit from fussy cutting the snowman that was just the right size for my snowflake die

Christmas with the Cuties #72 - something green

Cards for Anna and Charlie

 Hi all! Sunday evening already! Though we had a good weekend at our town festival watching Punch & Judy, magicians, trapeze artists, musicians and then today at a food and craft event, which we ate our way round LOL. We managed to miss the showers but yesterday afternoon must have been a total washout as the rain was torrential.  It feels like we haven't had a dry day since mid-June!!  On the bright side, I guess it's good crafting weather! 

I've another couple of special requests, but I love making kids cards so I enjoyed making these.

First up is this cutie from Lili of the Valley - coloured with polychromos with a sunburst stencil added to the background.  These little Penny Black butterfly dies were definitely a good purchase as I use them all the time when a card needs a wee something.

• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - anything goes 
• Word Art Wednesday #605-606 - anything goes 

Next up is this birthday bear from Penny Black.  I added gloss and chunky glitter to his hat and finer glitter to the ribbon.  Brick stencil for the background.

• My Time to Craft #513 - shades of blue 
• Penny Black Saturday July - the great outdoors 

Some special request cards for Jennifer, Ruth and Myrtle

 Hi all.  I'm here this evening with some special request cards, which you know I love to make.  Not. 😉

So first up, a Ruby Anniversary card.  I knew my stamps would be too big for all the words I needed to add so had my first go at printing a sentiment after designing it in Canva.  If I was making it again I might print it a tad smaller.  Penny Black stamp, coloured with polychromos, and popped up on foam pads

(For my own records I made one the same as Jennifer's card for Alan + Alison)

• Penny Black Saturday July - the great outdoors/ anything goes 
• Addicted to Stamps #451 - make your mark 

Next, a wedding card.  This Lili of the Valley stamp does all the hard work - I just added a sparkly heart and strip and some clear gloss to the roses.

• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - anything goes 

And finally, and I think this one's my favourite, an 80th birthday, using another Penny Black stamp.  This took quite a bit of faffing and this is actually version #3! Thankfully I've learnt my lesson about not sticking things down till I'm happy 🤣

• AAA Birthday #51 - butterflies 
• Word Art Wednesday #605/606 - anything goes 

Snow dude in purple

 What?! Two cards in two days! It's well seen it was another indoorsy-type of day here!! Though I definitely shouldn't complain when you see the extreme weather all round the world on TV. It's all a bit scary. 

I've another Christmas card for the pile while my Creative Depot set was on my table.  Stripey blue DP from My Favorite Things.  Coloured with polychromos and large glitter crystals added to his hat. I also went over my purple die cuts and his scarf with my clear glitter pen, you can never have too much sparkle on a Christmas card! 

Layout from MFT sketch #654

Colour theme also from MFT Colour Challenge #215

Cardz for Guys #326 - Christmas in July

Addicted to Stamps #450 - dies +/or stencils

Pink Polar bear

I figured seeing as our weather was being so un-summery I'd get another card into my Christmas stash.  This is only #3, so I'm just a tad behind schedule 😉

I've my bear from Creative Depot out again - there were a few images in this set so I'm hopeful the one set will do all my festive makes for the year.  I'm also on a mission to use up some of my coloured card, thus the pink theme!  Stencil was from a Simon Says Stamp set.  Flower gems added to the centre of the glittery snowflakes to give them a bit of zing; glitter to the little present ribbon and clear gloss added to his nose and footpads.

Layout from Freshly Made Sketches #594

Snippets Challenge #458 - my snippet is the white card for my bear - when I cut A4 card to make this this square size I always have leftovers that I keep and is handy for small images or die cutting 

Christmas with the Cuties #71 - fur or feathers

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - shimmer and shine

Silly Seagulls!

 Hi all! I've a few days off now for the Twelfth holidays and treated myself to Friday too, yippee!  Here's hoping the weather wises up a bit, it has been so showery and un-summer like!  Having said that, we had the most terrific thunderstorm on Sunday, I've never heard thunder so loud!  Wee Molly was fine for most of it but one HUGE rumble scared her a bit.

Anyway, here this evening with an old MFT set.  I hadn't intended to add the clouds but got a bit over eager with my blending and needed a cover up 😉. The sentiment is a really old Lili of the Valley postmark set that hasn't seen ink for a while.  Remember the good old days when you went on your holidays and had to send postcards to all your family! I couldn't tell you the last time I got one thanks to Facebook and WhatsApp! 

 

Inspired By  - sea decor

Word Art Wednesday #603/604 - anything goes 

Ruth's Birthday card

 Hi all!  I'm trying to get back in the way of making cards (instead of faffing about on Facebook and the internet!) and the weather has been a bit rubbish this past while so I don't have the garden as an excuse!  Hopefully those few lovely weeks in June will come back again! 

So here's my card for this evening, it will probably be my card to my sister.  I've used this little girl from Creative -Depot, coloured with polychromos and clear gloss + glitter added to the flower centre - I might gloss up the petals to make it pop a bit. 

Layout from CASEing Tuesday #414

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - anything goes 

Colour theme from MFT Colour Challenge #214

As You Like It - plain or patterned papers - i used to have a huge stash of patterned papers but find myself more and more drawn to plain colours now, especially as my style is much more CAS than it used to be.  I much prefer to add stencilling or embossing instead.

Lots of Thank Yous!

 Hi all!  Sorry I've been in the missing list for a while ... A combination of COVID finally catching up with us (and totally flooring me), a major lack of mojo and a blogging break, and a week's holiday thrown in for good measure!  But in the mix was a wee order for 60 Thank You cards, which I have to confess was a bit of a struggle!  I couldn't face making 60 the same so made 4 batches.  Apologies in advance for the extra long post!!

First up are made with my lovely floral stamps from Penny Black.  I added some pale blending to the background in various colours though it doesn't show in the photo.  Die is an oldie from Gummiapan.  Flowers coloured with polychromos and popped up on foam pads. 

Penny Black Saturday June - anything goes 

Daisy Chain challenge #75 - no designer paper 

Allsorts #733 - blooms, bees or butterflies 

Fab'n Funky #575 - use a sentiment 

Next up uses a real oldie from Neat & Tangled - i always find him difficult to colour which is probably why he doesn't get inked often!  I have a bit of pale stencilling and some splattered orange metallic paint in the background, not sure where the dies are from, possibly Creative-Depot.  

Another Penny Black stamp for this batch, probably the quickest made as there was no faffing about and no fussy cutting! 

And lastly, and 100% inspired by the MFT Design Team! ....

And just to finish, a wee photo of Molly at Waterfoot beach during my week off, as per usual refusing to look at the camera.  And what a week it was ... wall to wall sunshine with neither a coat nor umbrella in sight!!

Snowflake Snowdude

 Hi all.  Here this evening with a super quick Christmas card, the glue on the sequins isn't even dry yet!  I added a few layers of sparkle to the snowflakes and to his hat trim; clear gloss to his nose.  Snowman (from Creative Depot) popped up on foam pads.  Easy peasy lemon squeezy!

Layout inspired by the sketch at MFT Wednesday Sketch #644, though I've maybe gone too far off piste with this one!

My Time to Craft #507 - monochrome 

Addicted to CAS #237 - monochrome 

First Christmas card of the year!

 Well that was definitely a day for TV, it would have been fantastic to be in London!  I love all the pomp and ceremony of the Royal celebrations and was so pleased to see it all go off so well.  I'm sure they were all glad of a sit down and a cup of tea (or something stronger!) after it was all over.

I used the time while I was watching it to make a wee Christmas card, first of the year so I'm well behind schedule!  I stencilled my background, added some silver metallic splats, snowflake die cut (covered in gloss and glitter), and then a few little stars to finish.  Bear from Creative Depot popped up on foam pads.  

Addicted to Stamps #445 - dies/stencils

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - no patterned paper 

Cards 4 Guys #321 - get messy - inks and splats

Word Art Wednesday #593/594 - anything goes 

And here's a wee pic of Molly in our local woods, I think we hit it just at the right time for the peak of the bluebells display they were absolutely fabulous!

Sunshiney Flowers!

 Hi all!  I've been struggling with my mojo (yes, again!) so I was pleased to see the challenge over at Just Us Girls was to CASE a designer.  I used these pretty daisies from Penny Black that don't see ink often enough.  Coloured with polychromos and then masked off the flowers and added some metallic ink splats.  The sentiment was a total faff ... it's actually orange card stock but didn't look right and even double mounting and then adding another black layer, still looked 'meh'.  Then I remembered my buddy Cheryl painting dies with her metallic paints so I gave it a go and now have a gold sentiment!! 

Just Us Girls #677 - I chose Lisa's beautiful card

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - anything goes 

Word Art Wednesday #593/594 - anything goes 

Snippets Playground #453 - bit of a different snippets for me this week - my scrap paper I use over my craft mat to keep it clean was just about to head for the recycling, but I ended up using it to cut the masks for my flowers