Happy Easter

Woops I kinda fell off radar there, can't believe I haven't posted since mid-February!! I have made a few cards but forgot to take pics, but I'm determined to do better and get back into the swing of blogging! 

So here's my Easter card, just made them all the same.  Hard luck if you love that little bunny - he's an oldie from Eat Cake Graphics and no longer available.  Coloured with polychromos and clear gloss and glitter added to the egg.  Wouldn't it be fab to get an Easter egg half your size ... closest I've seen is this one from Hotel Chocolat but finances didn't permit LOL 

inspired By ... Bunnies 

Fab'n Funky #614 - Think Spring

Sweet Stamping - Easter

Snippets Playground #504 - I've lots of snippets on this card - my bunny was small enough to stamp on a wee scrap and the white flowers and sentiment were cut from the leftover bit after cutting my base to size.

And just because it's been a while, here's a pic of Molly just back from the groomers, all fresh and white and lovely. Doesn't stay that way for long!

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

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 

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!

August calendar

 Hi all! Happy Sunday, can't believe the weekend whizzes past so fast! Its just a quickie post from me this evening as there's a few programmes on telly I fancy - for a change, the TV is generally rubbish!

I haven't shared one of my calendar pages for Mum for a while, I actually made it on time this month 😉.  I've used this old but cute stamp from Eat Cake Graphics, it always makes me think of my niece and their big Labrador!

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - anything goes

Just Us Girls #595 - anything but a card

Word Art Wednesday 501/502 - anything goes

Addicted to Stamps #410 - dies and or stencils - I made my own cloud stencil with a die cut 

A new challenge in memory of Rubydoo!

 Today is a very special day!  My good buddy Di is starting a new challenge today in memory of our much missed wee Ruby, what a lovely thing for her to do!  

You'll find all the details over at Pixie's Crafty Workshop and all you need to do to play along is to use up a snippet or scrap of card.  Hope to see you there!  Even if you're not playing along, you should pop over to see her dog, Dudley, he's sooooo cute!

For mine I've used this oldie from Eat Cake Graphics.  I had just enough green DP leftover to cut my hearts and the orange scrap was just perfect for what I needed 😊

• Layout from Try Stamping on Tuesday #492
• Creatalicious #204 - anything goes
• Simon Says Stamp Monday - love/hearts

Sparkly Skeleton

We'd a gorgeous autumnal day today, dry and sunny with a wee nip in the air.  Perfect weather for getting a few buckets of leaves swept up and dead stuff pruned.  It's not too often the weekend co-ordinates with the weather and the inclination to get busy ;)

So this is probably the only Halloween card I'll make (for my nephew and niece).  I'm gutted that we don't really send Halloween cards here as I love to make them!
My stamps here are from Eat Cake Graphics, sentiment from a Stampin Up set and my tree die was a win ages ago from Taylored Expressions and rarely used.  I fussy cut my skeleton, popped him up on foam pads and added loads of glitter to his bones.

• Your Next Stamp #125 - trick or treat
• Stamping Sensations October - trees, leaves, autumn
• Crafty Cardmakers #243 - sparkle
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - Halloween

Butterflies and critters

Well that was a bit of an icky damp dark old day.  Every time we thought we'd take Rubydoo out for a walk it started to rain, and our little princess puts the breaks on if a raindrop hits her nose!  
Good weather for spring cleaning though - I got lots of 'silly' stuff done that doesn't quite fit in to my normal cleaning routine.  And it cleared my conscience for some crafting this afternoon so I didn't feel one bit guilty using my day off work to colour in and faff about hahaha.

This first card uses an oldie from Eat Cake Graphics.  Hopefully we get more butterflies visiting our garden than last year, they were definitely few and far between.
I usually just colour my butterflies all the same shade, but Mr Google kindly supplied some pics of beautiful butterflies to inspire me.  I've added a Gumiapan butterly die and little punched ones too.  If I was making this card again I'd flip my base and have the darker shade for the frame.

• Stamp Ink Paper #198 - wings of wonder
• Make My Monday #95 - wings
• Your Next Stamp Fun Friday #113 - how does your garden grow
• Tuesday Throwdown #431 - frame it

So for the rest of the afternoon I went YouTube-ing to look at polychromo tutorials and found a couple on skin and hair colouring.  So this little LOTV girl was the result.  I need lots more practice - she has a bit of a 5-o'clock shadow thing going on there ;)

I added in a little metal heart and red metallic embellishments.  Clear gloss to their noses and glitter to the girl's hair baubles.  Elizabeth Craft square dies and (I think) Gumiapan sentiment die.

• Layout from Die Cuttin Divas #419
• Simon Says Stamp - Work it Wednesday April - pet project

Christmas Kitty (and a sneaky dog)

My buddy Jo's Christmas challenge this fortnight is Festive Felines, but I had a rummage through my stamps and I couldn't find any Christmas Kitties on their own!  Guess I'm a dog person (Ruby will be glad to hear LOL)

This stamp is an oldie from Keep Cake Graphics - coloured with polychromos.  Glitter added to the serving dish and sparkle to the 'milk' (mines a bit blue as I haven't quite figured out how to 'colour' pure white!)
Snowflake dies are oldies from Paper Smooches and I've no idea of the make of my corner punch.

• Christmas Kickstart #3 - festive felines
• Layout from Stick it Down February 
• Allsorts #506 - winter sparkle
• Addicted to Stamps #327 - make your mark

Daily Marker 30 day colouring challenge

Visiting Librarian at the Library Challenge.

I'm delighted to be the 'Visiting Librarian' for the new challenge over at The Library Challenge - one of my favourite challenges ... books and stamping, what's not to like!

Anyway I was the lucky one who got to choose this week's book and I've gone for The Woman in the Window.  Have you read it?  It would be great if you played along in the challenge - you can be inspired by the cover or the story or the title, whatever takes your fancy!

As you can see I took my inspiration from the lit window and the bricks on the cover.  I've stenciled up a brick background and then used my cute kitties from Eat Cake Graphics.  I used sparkly card for my sentiment and then finished with some gold star sequins.

• Fab'n Funky #409 - all creatures great and small
• Crafty Creations #375 - anything goes
• Word Art Wednesday #354/355 - anything goes

Camping and cows

We'd a lovely Spring day today, sunshine and a bit of heat in the air.  It's looking good for the bank holiday weekend :)   It's great to see the garden starting to take shape again after such a long wet autumn & winter.

Anyway, this is a special request card for a little girl who was going camping for her birthday and was going to be toasting marshmallows!  Which is fine, if you have camping type stamps!  I luckily found this unloved DP in my stash which was perfect.  I used the fire from part of an old High Hopes stamp; my bunny is from Eat Cake Graphics and then I drew on a stick with a marshmallow!

• Tuesday Throwdown #390 - critter crazy
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - animal magic
• Word Art Wednesday #332/333 - anything goes
• Through the Craft Room door - anything goes

This one was a challenge ... Penny Black Saturday this month want to see your favourite Penny Black stamp.  Which is a bit of an impossibility as I love all my PB stamps!  I paper pieced her wellies and added clear gloss to her horns.  Gummiapan flower die.  Not sure of make of embossing folder, it's another oldie.

• Penny Black Saturday May - use your favourite stamp
• Fab'n Funky #392 - embossing
• Layout from Your Next Stamp #88 - I misjudged the length of my central panel, so added a little pink scrap at the bottom to balance it a bit better.
• CASual Friday #198 - April showers bring May flowers

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

A Naughty or Nice Snowdude

I'm sure you're all well into your Christmas cards by now, so you'll be glad to hear we're making winter scenes this month over at Naughty or Nice - hope you'll play along too :)

I see the weather men are predicting a hard winter for us this year, hopefully its just them getting a bit excitable as they're prone to do!  Though there was definitely a real nip in the air today, I was out at a funeral this morning and we were foundered!
'foundered' is a great word that we use all the time in Northern Ireland, basically just means you were really cold! 

My card's so hot off the press, the glue's not even dry yet ;)
I don't have any boozy snowmen (unfotunately! - I've a few friends who would appreciate one!) so I took the easy option and got my Penny Black Snowy inky again and Row of Pine Trees (from Eat Cake Graphics)
A wee easy peasy lemon squeezy card!  Just how I like them ;)

• AAA Cards #102 - ink blending
• Tuesday Throwdown #367 - watercolour
• Through the Craft room Door - anything goes
• Word Art Wednesday #306/307 - anything goes

Bat bat Batty

Hope you're all ready for the Trick or Treaters tomorrow night!  We never quite know how to judge the sweetie stash ... some years it's a constant stream of youngsters to our door and other years there's hardly any about!  With a bit of luck we'll not run out of treats and have to turn the lights out to pretend we're not home ;)

I don't make many spooky cards (we're not really into cards at Halloween here!), but this one is for Mum using some Eat Cake Graphics stamps:
Bert Batula
A little bite (text)
Skully flowers

I inked up my background, added some cloud effects and then some orange and black splatters for good measure.  I used the inlaid die effect for my moon - though I'd had a clever idea of cutting through the white card at the same time as the base and it left a bit of an imprint.  A few silver stars and that's it really!
Of course I had to take my picture before my gloss on their eyes was dry and managed to drop it! grrr.  Though I didn't re-do it as I kinda like the effect.  Lucky eh?

• Addicted to Stamps #265 - make someone smile
• Creative Inspirations #282 - Halloween
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - anything goes
• As You Like It - people or animals - I've definitely waaaay more critter stamps than people.  I find them more versatile, and easier to colour too! 
• Creative Kockouts #217 - Halloween

Something Spooky for Naughty or Nice

It's been a bit quiet here as I've been off on my jollies ... to Alicante in Spain for some sun, sangria and sightseeing.  The weather was absolutely gorgeous, such a pleasure not to have to lift a coat, cardigan or umbrella when you headed out the door!  But it's back to normality now and back to the grindstone on Monday.

I'm always a bit shocked when the first of the month comes round, it kinda always feels like where did that month go!!  So it's time for the new challenge at Naughty or Nice and this month it's ...

For my card I've used these goodies from Eat Cake Graphics ...
Count Bitesalot
Bert Batula
A little Bite (text)
The Count and the bats both coloured with watercolour pencils and popped up on

I also used my old Cuttlebug embossing folder - I just wish they were a tad bigger to cover the whole card!

• Addicted to Stamps #261 - anything goes
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - anything goes
• Cute Card Thursday #497 - trick or treat
• Love to Scrap #102 - frightfully fun
• PINspirational #200 - anything goes

Naughty or Nice ... On the Move

Our theme this month over at Naughty or Nice is 'On the Move' ... so maybe holidays, road trips, new job, there's lots to choose from!  Oh, and an optional colour theme too!

For my card I've used this sweet little stamp from Eat Cake Graphics ... Lewis and Trudy's Wild Ride
Coloured with watercolour pencils and sparkle added to the red car.  In an effort to make my card look less boring (reckon it's that DP that doesn't agree with me!) I added some blue ink splatters, and then, not content, went a bit OTT with my text BG stamping ;)

• Word Art Wednesday #292/293 - anything goes
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - anything goes
• Just Us Girls #404 - old = my stamp; new = my DP
• Layout from My Time to Craft #351

Arthur Alooishus at the Beach

Here's a wee row of beach huts for you - we don't really have them here at any of our beaches in Northern Ireland, but I loved seeing them when we holidayed in Devon and Cornwall.
I've had this beach hut stamp in my stash for years now, and think I've only used it once!  Bad me!  But I've paired it here with Arthur Alooishus from Eat Cake Graphics and they work well as a background stamp :)

Coloured with watercolour pencils.  Chalked clouds.  Arthur popped up on dimensionals.
Sentiment also from ECG: Happy Birthday (fun text)

This card is also posted over at A Sprinkling of Samples and Techniques blog, where you'll find lots more loveliness from Eat Cake Graphics

• Pile it on #132 - beginning with S - seaside
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - anything goes
• Crafty Creations #346 - anything goes
• Craftaholics R Us #29 - anything goes
• Addicted to Stamps #252 - make your mark

SC649 Kitty Birthday

This is the new sketch from Splitcoaststampers - if you'd like to play along please link your card here.

And here's mine ... hot off the press, the glue isn't even dried ;)
I've used Sebastian from Eat Cake Graphics, coloured with Watercolour pencils.  Silver stars and peel off border from stash.  Bonus extra points for using up the silver peel off corner that's been in my folder for years :)
And lovely DP courtesy of my sister-in-law ... thanks Andrea!

And confession time ... it was only when I went to upload my card that I noticed that the strip was at a diagonal - this is the original version I'd made!  So the update is just a bit the same but different ;)

• Sweet Stampin - monochrome
• Crafty Animals #3 - anything goes
• Daisy Chain #9 - monochrome
• Happy Little Stampers June - anything goes with dies

SC647 Not a creature stirred

Here's the new sketch from Splitcoaststampers -  I flipped it so it fitted my image better and used a snowflake instead of panel #5.  If you'd like to play along, please link your card over at Splitcoaststampers

For my card I used this cutie from Eat Cake Graphics:
Not a creature stirring (scene)

Coloured with watercolour pencils and clear gloss added to the candy canes.  Bonus extra points for using up this oldie DP that's been on the go for a few years now!

• Christmas at Sweet Stampin May - anything Christmas
• That's Crafty challenge - feline fine
• Die cuttin Divas #319 - anything goes

SC642 Gwen and her kitties

So here's the sketch for this week's challenge over at Splitcoaststampers - if you'd like to play along, please link your card here.
Though I've just noticed I completely forgot about panel #7, oops!

For my card I've used Gwen and her Kitties from Eat Cake Graphics.  Coloured with watercolour pencils, and that's about all I need to tell you!  Nice and easy!  My lovely DPs were a bargain a few months ago from The Range (in Ballymena)

• Cupcake Inspirations #404 - animals
• Crafty Cardmakers #187 - pearls or gems
• Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper challenge - April
• Creatalicious #113 - anything goes, option birthday
• Word Art Wednesday #280/281 - anything goes