Pink Poinsettias and colourful stars

It's been a horrible old wet day today, I think it maybe stopped raining for 10 whole minutes!  Rubydoo has been having a super lazy Saturday and has hardly shifted off the sofa all day!   It's a dogs life.

Mr Mojo has been on the missing list for a while now, so I'm taking my inspiration from blogland and pinterest - I fell in love with Trina's card a while back so bought the same sentiment die and used it here with some shiny silver card. My poinsettia stamp is an oldie (from Art Gone Wild I think). I added some pink stickles to the flower centres and some white enamel dots.  Coudn't get it photographed right, it's very drab looking here.

• Layout from CAS(e) this Sketch
  
  #293
• As You Like It - CAS or fussy and fancy - I'm definitely a CAS girl.  It took me many years and lots of unused and unloved stash to find this out though! 
• CRAFT #486 - Christmas
• The Flower challenge #25 - add sparkle

This one's a specical request - I don't know anything about him other than he likes football, but I don't have any grown up football stamps so just went for a starry theme.

• JUGS #462 - celestial elements
• Time Out #120 - ccolourful
• Moving along with the times #82 - for a man

Weddings and flowers

Well I had a nice couple of days off work, we've been busy out in the garden finishing off our new fence and then I taught myself how to re-grout paving (yay for YouTube!) so I've been doing that too.  I'd make a good builder's mate if I wasn't so knackered! At least it's a bit cooler than it was, much easier to work in.  Anyway back to my real work today for a wee rest hahaha - don't tell my boss I said that ;)

I've quite a few special orders in that I need to get cracking on, and this wedding one is the first.  I just kept it nice and simple using this oldie from Art Gone Wild.  Coloured with watercolour pencils, clear gloss added to their beaks, and sparkle to his grey jacket.  Love my little flower die from Gummiapan.  Red heart sequin from stash.

• My Time to Craft #375 - Wedding
• Simply Create Too #140 - no patterned DP
• Penny Black and More July - things with wings

This one uses my new flower stamp from Impression Obsession.
I went over the flowers with my clear sparkle pen, and then got a bit carried away and added clear gloss and glitter to the flower centres too!  Fussy cut and mounted on foam pads.  Brick stencil for background and then lots of clear bling to finish.

• Simon Says Stamp Monday - add a little sparkle
• Allsorts #476/477 - flowers all over
• 
  

Mother's Day & Silver Anniversary

Well it's been an icky damp old day today, but at least the birdies think that Spring is on it's way ... the blackbirds out our back garden were having a great sing off earlier!

So it's Mother's Day tomorrow - this is card #2 for my Mum.  I decided I didn't like my first effort so made this one instead!
I've used a LOTV image - I'm gutted that they're going digital as I LOVE their stamps.  Coloured with watercolour pencils and clear gloss added to the flowers.  MFT heart die.

• Heart die / layout based on Anita's card over at the Muse challenge #256
• Fab'n Funky #384 - Mother's Day
• Creative Kockouts #235 - dies / punches
• Cute Card Thursday #520 - Mothers

This one's a special request.  Hmmm, not sure about it!  I've been struggling with my mojo and think this might be one of the dodgy ones ;)

It's maybe because I tried to squeeze the names into the design?

Love my sparkly silver card though!

Image is an oldie from Art Gone Wild.












Oops, just realised that I forgot to add in some shading to my birdies after the base layer. 

• Make My Monday #66 - gold or silver
• Time Out #104 - bold

Love Birds

Just a wee quickie card tonight featuring these two love birds - a really old stamp from Art Gone Wild.  I've had this one for years and it still gets to see some ink now and then!

I've used my gorgeous new square dies again, I love the added bit of interest with the stitching and pierced dots :)
Image coloured with watercolour pencils, clear gloss added to the bow tie and flower and a little bit of bling to the centre of each too.  Dead easy and quick, and oh so cute!

• Simon Says Stamp Monday - love is in the air
• Crafting by Designs - things with wings
• Penny Black and More February - love hearts and flowers
• AAA Cards #108 - all you need is love

Daily Marker colouring challenge

Bath time!

Oh brrrr, we'd a fall of snow today!  So far it's not as bad as the weather men were getting excited about, so hopefully the buses will be OK for work tomorrow.  And if they're not I'll quite happily have a crafty day at home!  Though the last 2 Snow Days I got from work, the first day the entire town's electric was off for most of the day, and the second day we ran out of oil!  Reckon I'm better in my work ;)

For Day 2 of the Daily Marker Colouring Challenge I've another baby card.  I picked this stamp to practice my skin colouring after studying a few videos on YouTube.  I reckon I need to invest in some watercolour paper - I'm always put off buying it as any 'white' stuff I've bought before always has a creamy tint to it.  I'll have to have a proper look.  Or if anyone has any recommendations ....!

Old stamp from Art Gone Wild.  Bubbles covered in clear gloss and glitter. Soap covered with my clear glitter pen.  I managed to accidentally wipe the pink across the bath when I was colouring the soap, but I didn't try to fix it as I thought it kinda looked like a reflection!

I recently won a Tombow sand eraser from Di at Pixie's Crafty Workshop -  Di, your eraser is amazing!! I managed to smudge in the Y of the baby stamp with my inky fingers and your eraser worked like magic! :)

• Pixie's Snippets Playground #315/316 - I used the snips from my die cut to brighten my boring blue base card.
• Layout from Stamp Ink Paper #133
• PINspiration #207 - baby
• Cardz 4 Guys #186 - January Blues
• That's Crafty - feeling blue

Some Kitties and Mum's Birthday card

Yippeee I'm finally finished my Christmas cards!  And, for a change, ahead of schedule!  I'm still usually covered in glitter on Christmas Eve ;)

This kittie card uses an oldie from Eat Cake Graphics - Kitties in the window
Coloured with watercolour pencils and popped up on foam pads.
Background stencil from MFT (I think)

• Layout from Splitcoaststampers SC675
• Fab'n Funky #375 - anything but Christmas
• Penny Black and More December - CAS

And this is Mum's birthday card, bit close to the wire with this one, her birthday's tomorrow!!  I kept waiting for inspiration and then had to just get stuck in! 

I've used this oldie from Art Gone Wild - coloured with watercolour pencils and then the flower in the bottom corner popped up on dimensionals.

Golden stickles added to the flower centres.

• Time Out #98 - I used the red/green theme from the photo
• Stamping Sensations December - winter flowers
• Sugar Pea Designs SPDMIU38 - anything goes
• Word Art Wednesday #312/313 - anything goes
• Addicted to Stamps #272 - make your mark

Drunken Ants and Loved up Birdies

Anyone for a Mojito?  mmmmmm I could go one of these just now, but I'll just have to make do with a biccie and a cup of tea while we decide what movie we're watching tonight ;)

This stamp is an oldie from High Hopes - coloured with watercolour pencils, though I'm not overly happy with the colouring on my ants.  Glitter added to the edge of the lime and I went over the ice cubes and the bubbles with my clear sparkle pen.  I also outlined my sentiment with a white pen as it was a bit lost in my image.

• Make My Monday #51 - monochrome
• Simon Says Stamp Monday - food/drink
• CASology #260 - juicy
• Daisy Chain #11 - anything goes

And here's a wee quickie wedding card, using another oldie from Art Gone Wild.  Again coloured with watercolour pencils, and gloss added to her flower and his bow tie.  I was trying to get the effect of confetti, so added some pale pink and pale blue splatters in the background.  Little clear sequins from stash to finish.

• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - splatter it
• Word Art Wednesday #294/295 - anything goes
• Moving Along with the Times #51 - things that fly

Wedding birdies

Oh BRRRR it's been such a cold few days!  We've had an Arctic blast from the North Pole with wind and light snow flurries!  You wouldn't think it was Spring not that long back!  At least it's not meant to last, so hopefully the weather will smarten up for the Bank Holiday.

I've made a quickie wedding card as a special request for a work colleague.  I had originally stamped my letters in black, but it was a bit 'in your face' so I tried again in grey ink and like it a bit better.  I hadn't intended to have so many of those little hearts, but after stamping all those letters I had VERY inky fingers ;)  The card I used for my backing and the heart border has a lovely sparkle in it, but of course doesn't show up well here!

• Stamp Ink Paper #96 - CAS Wedding
• Stamping Sensations April - anything goes
• Sweet Stampin - flying high
• Always Fun #3 - CAS
• Word Art Wednesday #278/279 - anything goes

Poinsettia Christmas

Apparently today is National Poinsettia Day (according to Simon Says Stamp), who knew there was such a thing!  Maybe it's the optimal day to buy your poinsettia and still have it alive on Christmas Day (it would still be a bit dicey in my house LOL)

I needed to make a Christmas card that wasn't too jolly and didn't say 'happy Christmas', so this is what I came up with.
My poinsettia stamp is an olide from Art Gone Wild (I think).  I'm not convinced about the sentiment, it may or may not change!
Coloured with a red watercolour pencil, gold stickles added to the flower centres.

• Sweet Stampers #02 - anything goes
• Word Art Wednesday #260 - anything goes
• CRAFT #393 - winter
• Crafting when we can #134 - Christmas
• Dream Valley #146 - Christmas

Penguins and Poinsettias

Well it's certainly not summer here (we've had lashing rain, thunder, sunshine and rainbows today!) so I thought I'd make a couple of Christmas cards!

My first card was inspired by Rita's fab penguin card (this week's featured stamper over at Splitcoast).   I used a load of Eat Cake Graphics penguin stamps for mine ....
5074-E Looking up penguin
5075-D Sliding penguin
5076-E Left foot up penguin
5077-D Right foot up penguin
I used a promarker to colour my BG, but didn't have any black markers for my penguins so used a pencil instead.  Liquid white enamel dots for snow.  Clear gloss and glitter added to their beaks and feet for some sparkle.

• Christmas Cards all year round July - anything Xmas
• Inky Chicks #69 - Christmas in Summer
• Merry Monday - Christmas in July
• Stamp Ink Paper #56 - Christmas in July
• ABC Christmas - N is for No rules
• Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Card Extra July

My second card was inspired by Muse Christmas Visions and the beautiful card by Chriss.

My stamp is an oldie from Art Gone Wild (I think). I coloured my poinsettias pink with my watercolour pencils and added some pink and green splatters to the background.  Pink stickles for the flower centres.  Simon Says Stamp sentiment die, cut from silver card. 

• Muse Christmas Visions #53
• Simon Says Stamp Monday - flora and/or fauna
• Word Art Wednesday #239 - anything goes
• Addicted to Stamps #202 - make your mark
• Fab'n'Funky #313 - add a sentiment
• Creative with Stamps #4 - ink splatters

The Daily Marker 30 day colouring challenge 

Sparkling Jellyfish and a Birdie Wedding

Well our sunny sun returned today Hurrah!  And it was a scorcher!  Too hot for gardening and I only did a bit of crafting as the kitchen was the coolest room in the house.  Though I'm NOT complaining!


This card uses an old oldie from a Stampin Up set 'Fishy Friends'.  Coloured with watercolour pencils and his main body popped up on dimensionals and  then sparkled up with a Spectrum Noir pen.
Background chalked with a Simon Says stencil.  A doodled border and some sequins and bling to finish.  Nice and quick!

• Simon Says Stamp Monday - monochrome
• Crafty Cardmakers #165 - monochrome
• Cupcake Inspirations #363 - under the sea
• Inspiration Destination #88 - anything goes

Card 2 is a quickie Wedding card.  I've used another oldie stamp, this time from Art Gone Wild.  Coloured with watercolour pencils and clear gloss added to their beaks.  I also watercoloured my background and then masked off my birds to add some matching splatters.  Red bling from Taylored Expressions.

I love how this card turned out :)

• AAA Cards #66 - watercolours
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - mask it
• ABC Challenge - I is for Important
• Penny's challenge #280 - anything goes
• Stamping Sensations June - feature a creature

Cupcakes ... Naughty or Nice?

Oh wow, we're half way through May already! Our weather has been beautiful this past week or more, lots of sunny sunshine!  A week of sunshine and no rain is always a bit of a shock to us in Northern Ireland ;)  So there's been some gardening done, some power hosing, a bit of tidying up and lots of washing (and a huge pile of un-ironed clothes LOL).

Anyway, this is my debut card as a DT member with Naughty or Nice and our theme for May is 'hello cupcake' ... basically show us your cupcake stamps and if it's a bit cheeky all the better ;)

For my card I've used an oldie stamp from Art Gone Wild.

I watercoloured the background and then splattered with matching paint - I love the effect of this colouring technique :)  

My image is popped up on dimensionals and then the icing/candles decoupaged.  I also added some Spectrum Noir clear sparkle to the icing.   A few sequins and a bit of bling and job done! 

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:

• Stamp Ink Paper #47 - one element wonder
• Penny's challenge #277 - anything goes
• Seize the Birthday - colouring
• Penny Black and More May - anything goes
• Creatalicious #91 - anything goes, option no DP

Good News!

My good news this evening is that I've joined the Naughty or Nice team as one of their new troublemakers :)
This month's 'cupcake' challenge has just started, so get your naughty or nice stamps out and play along!  (I'll be posting my first DT card mid-month)

Anyway, first up tonight is a nice and simple Get Well card.  I've used this pooch from Penny Black - coloured with watercolour pencils and popped up on dimensionals.  Clear gloss and glitter added to the bees wings.  Some faint clouds chalked in the BG, but they don't show up well in my pic.  Snippet of DP from Taylored Expressions and some staples and bling to finish.

• Simon Says Stamp Monday - show us your metal
• Addicted to Stamps #191 - anything goes
• Layout from Retro Sketches #213
• Less is More #274 - CAS and designer paper
• Pixie's Snippets Playground #227

My second card is another quickie!  My general card layout is based on Jenni's beautiful card over at the Muse Challenge #163.
I think my stamp is from Art Gone Wild - coloured with watercolour pencils and then covered with Spectrum Noir sparkle.  Old Cuttlebug embossing folder.  Clear bling and silver peel off lines from stash, and that's it really!

• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - anything goes
• Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge #279 - anything Christmas
• The Glory of Christmas #83 - stamp or digi
• Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas card challenge extra - May

A three-fer

It's been a dark dreary old day today, but on the bright side the drop of snow that arrived on Thursday has long gone.  Hurrah.  A day or two of that nonsense is enough for me ;)
Anyway, I've had a busy card making day and have rediscovered some old oldies  ...

Card 1 - Wedding Birds
Now why haven't I used thise cute birdies from Art Gone Wild before now? ... I've no idea!   I added a touch of watercolours to my birds, and clear gloss to the beaks, and Wink of Stella to his bow tie and her flower.  Simon Says Stamp heart die.  My DP is an odd shade (sort of a sagey geen/grey) but I love how this card turned out!

• Layout / love theme from Share Joy #18
• Die Cuttin Divas #248 - bird
• Sweet Stampin - things with wings
• Bunny Zoe's challenge January - hearts
• Crafty Cardmakers #155 - 'new' baby / home / marriage etc

Card 2 - doggy theme

I bought this stamp ages ago thinking I'd use it loads, but I think this is maybe the second time it's been inked. I added some watercolouring to parts of the image (from Great Impressions) and then popped the little doghouse up on dimensionals.  Clear gloss also added to the bowl, bone and paw print. I also managed to use up a few snippets lying around my table :)

• Layout from Mojo Monday #430
• Cards 4 Guys #102 - male birthday
• Tuesday Throwdown #276 - add dimension
• Pixie's Snippets #212

Card 3 - card for Marlene

Using up some DP here ... I reckon it should have been horizontal rather than vertical, but beggars can't be choosers and it's good to get this used up.  Whipper Snapper image - coloured with watercolours.  Clear gloss added to the flower centres and mouse's nose.  WOS added to flowers.  Simon Says sentiment die - it was kinda lost in my snazzy DP, so I covered it with clear gloss and it looks much better.  New wonky stitched die from Die-namics.

• Get Creative #30 - something new (my die)
• Creative Inspirations #342 - florals
• Layout from The Sketchy Challenge #93
• Penny's Paper Crafty Challenge #260 - anything goes

CAS Baby

I'm so glad I enjoy making CAS cards .. my stash is almost non-existent and I've still quite a few Christmas cards to make!  Ah well, I've a few days off next week to tackle my Christmas shopping and hopefully squeeze in a few cards too :)

This card uses another oldie stamp, this time from Art Gone Wild.  Coloured with pencils.  Sentiment from The Alley Way Stamps.





I followed the colour theme from the 10 minute craft dash which I haven't played in for a while, total time 9 min 27 sec.  Most of my time was taken colouring in the image ... the rest of it is just a few die cuts.  I later added some glitter to the bubbles, but this would have taken me over the time limit so I'm adding the pre-version for the challenge.

Layout from MFT Wednesday Sketch Challenge MFTWSC151
Sister Act challenge #34 - anything goes
Sweet Stampin - a celebration