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. 

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! 

Happy Jubilee!

 Hi all!  Well I achieved my all time worst record of ONE card blogged last month!!! So I've given myself a double boot up the derrière and am aiming to do much better this month. So I'm kicking things off with June's calendar page for Mum in a Queen's Jubilee tea party theme!  I don't think I have any Queen stamps so this little Miss from Stamping Bella was the next best thing! 

Simon Says Stamp Monday - up in the air 

Card Concept #176 - red, white and blue 

Word Art Wednesday #545/546 - anything goes 

I've had a lovely couple of days off work for the Queen's Jubilee.  We were out last night for our beacon lighting event, complete with town councillors, Deputy Mayor and local photographers!  And a squillion midges too!   

And then today we were off to my sister's for a lovely Jubilee lunch, complete with Corgi biscuits and Royal cupcakes!  Oh and personalised Jubilee themed place settings from my niece too!

Summer bees and weddings

Wow, I can hardly believe we're nearly at September already!  Our summer weather has been absolute pants, we could do with another wee blast of sunshine before it gets too late!  Plenty of bees and wasps about though!

I had a version of this card in my head, but of course the bee stamps have buzzed off somewhere.  I ended up using a mix of Paper Smooches and Janes Doodles stamps instead.

• Layout from CAS(e) This Sketch #387
• Your Next Stamp #146 - keep decorating ... I love a bit of bling and sparkle
• Simon Says Stamp - anything goes

I hadn't realised this was such a rubbish photo of this special request card, but it's away now anyway.  I kinda got a bit stuck with this one for a few days as it just didn't look right, but then I glued on my heart border and considered it finished, couldn't figure out what else to do to help it anyway!  ;)

• Word Art Wednesday #454-455 - anything goes
• Watercooler Wednesday #286 - all about occasions

Sparkly birthday cake

Happy Easter folks!  A different one than usual, but sure aren't we blessed to be fit and healthy, a roof over our heads and food in the cupboard.  We've had a lovely bright and sunny weekend - it was t-shirt weather out in the garden yesterday but we were back to our cosy coats for our walk this evening and I was wishing I had put on my hat and gloves!

This evening I have this cutie from Stamping Bella, she's a pleasure to colour but I always kinda struggle with her curly hair.
I also struggle with adding bling!  I reckon there must be a trick somewhere on how to do it, it always takes me aaaages to decide on where mine is going!

• Sweet Stampin - the great crafty bake off
  
• Word Art Wednesday #434-435 - anything goes
• Fab'n Funky #476 - birthday
• Moving along with the times #117 - diamante embellishments

Getting ready for Easter

Evening folks, hope you're all fit and well.  Strange times we're living in, and definitely not an experience we'll be looking to have again!  I guess I'm lucky that I'm able to work from home - it's such a strange experience working away in the spare bedroom in my slippers and comfy joggers!

I've had zero mojo but figure we're in this for the long haul, so I've been making myself colour in the evenings and got down to putting some of them together today.
This first one looks so much better in real life!  These little Stamping Bella stamps are the ones I'll be using for this year's Easter cards.  Coloured with polychromos and glitter added to the lighter stripe on the egg.  The greeting is also cut in sparkly card.

• Sweet Stampin - make your own background
• Cute Card Thursday #627 - Easter
• Simon Says Stamp - anything goes
• Word Art Wednesday #432/433 - anything goes

And here's the same wee cutie, I think I might draw in a bit of grass or something to ground her a bit.  The dazzle at the top is a little silver heart that objected to the camera.   I've no idea where my 'Happy Easter' stamp is, so I'll be using this die cut for the time being.  Doubtless it will turn up after Easter ;)

• Addicted to Stamps #382 - make your mark
• Layout from Freshly Made Sketches #428

Spring daffodils and a massive Easter egg

So that was another weekend of pretty rubbish weather courtesy of Storm Jorge, of course the sun came out this afternoon when it was too late to go anywhere!
I did manage to get a wee break in the showers to get my winter pansies and primulas deadheaded, it's good to see that spring is most definitely here.  It won't be long now till my daffs are blooming, so I thought I'd use them on one to add to my sympathy stash.

This image is from Clearly Besotted, coloured with polychromos - I'm not a massive fan of poetry but I always think of William Wordsworth's host of golden daffodils when I use this stamp!

• Addicted to CAS #179 - symmetry (though my image isn't 100% symmetrical!)
• As You Like It - favourite flower - I have loads of favourites but I love to see daffodils as it means the longer days and better weather (fingers crossed) are on the way
• Penny Black and More March - spring flowers

And here's a fun Easter card using one of my new Stamping Bella images.  I've popped her up on one of these little boingy spring things ... I bought some recently after not being able to find the ones I already had, and then spent about half an hour this evening trying to find the new ones that I'd put "somewhere safe".  It drives me absolutely crazy looking for stuff!  

• Layout from Freshly Made Sketches #424
• 
  

Clearly Besotted Colouring Challenge Day 1

Foxglove and a fox

Ooops I've accidentally been shopping again and this cutie from Stamping Bella was one of my purchases.  I've been eyeballing her for a while and just couldn't resist any longer! Unfortunately there's a few others in this set that I will have to resist for another while ;)

Coloured with polychromos, sparkle added to the foxgloves, clear gloss to her wellies and glitter to the leaves in her hat.

• Layout from MFT Wednesday Sketch #477
• Addicted to Stamps and More #377 - make your mark
• CASology #362 - tall
• 
  

This little cutie from Neat & Tangled was the cause of my shopping trip!  Love him!
I need to have a bit of a practice at my colouring though, I reckon he should probably have a more reddish tinge to him.
Coloured with ploychromos and clear gloss added to his eyes and nose.  I masked off my edges and used my sunburst stencil for the background.  Fox popped up on foam pads.  Sentiment added from a different set.

• Penny Black and More February - animals, birds, butterflies
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - add a sentiment
• Word Art Wednesday #426-427 - anything goes

Baby boy and an Elf

So this is my first effort on colouring a darker skin tone.  I'm not sure what that says about ethnic diversity in Northern Ireland, but we're definitely a gazillion times better than we used to be!!

Image from Stamping Bella - coloured with polychromos and sparkle added to his little flower hat;  Clear gloss added to the bigger heart.  And that's it really! Nice and simple.

• Allsorts #539 - boys to men
• Less is More #405 - sparkle and gloss
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - anything goes

This one followed the MFT Sketch challenge but, not for the first time, I've missed the deadline.

This DP is from a never ending Christmas pack that I bought a few years back, I'm kinda looking forward to it running out!

MFT Elf; Paper Smooches snowflake dies.

• Word Art Wednesday #405-407 - anything goes
•  Simon Says Stamp Monday - get ready for Christmas

Falalalala

Ack I've no mojo at the minute, back to that scary blank card mindset and what to do with it!!  I reckon it's our weather ... we'd some 'summer' last week and it was just too nice to be sitting crafting.  Though we were back to thunderstorms and hailstones yesterday so normal service is resumed haha.  Anyway, my card stash is reasonably healthy for a change so I've gone for Christmas today.

This cutie is from Stamping Bella - coloured with polychromos.  I glossed up his nose, added glitter to his bauble and went over his song sheet with my glitter pen, so it's lovely and sparkly.  Paper Smooches snowflake dies; can't remember the make of the sentiment.

• Layout from Sketch Saturday #570 free choice - I chose sketch #306
• Christmas Kickstart #13 - glitter, sparkle and shine
• Crafting by designs June - get ready for Christmas
• Word Art Wednesday #392/393 - anything goes

Card for Deirdre and some Birthday flowers

Oooh we've a hint of summer about the place, yesterday was a gorgeous sunny day and there's rumours of a heatwave heading our way for the end of the week.  We'll see!  Hopefully the weather smartens up a bit for The Open when it hits Portrush next month or the whole world will think it does nothing but rain here haha ;)

This card is for a friend in work, she's a great baker so I had to make one with the biggest cake I could find.
Coloured with polychromos; gloss and glitter added to her crown, shoes and the jam in the cake.  The heart and banner is cut from the silliest little bit of sparkly card, you'd laugh at some of the tiny snips I put back in my pile!

• My colour theme was inspired by the lovely pic over at Inspired By
• Layout from CAS(e) This Sketch #327
•  Pixies Crafty Workshop #355

This one uses an oldie stamp from Concorde & 9th.  Coloured with polychromos.  The central flower is popped up on foam pads but doesn't show up well on this pic.  I couldn't get a good photo of this card at all in fact - my flower is definitely pinker than you see here and my leaves are greener!

• Penny Black and More June - blooms, butterflies +/or bugs
• Cupcake Inspirations #472 - pop up
• Crafty Creations #392 - anything goes

Baby girl and Birthday cake

We've another nice long weekend again, though I always think we could kinda do without the Bank Holiday at the start of May and shift it to later in the year!  Hopefully the weather wises up a bit, it's been a dark damp old day.

Good crafting day though! We've a few babies due in work, so I need to get a few cards made.  This one uses my new Stamping Bella baby - coloured with polychromos and popped up on foam pads.  I've stencilled in some pink bricks to the background but they don't show up well in my pic.

• General design from Inspired By challenge - welcome
• Simon Says Stamp Monday - stencils
• Addicted to Stamps #342 - make your mark
• Tuesday Throwdown #432 - stenciling

This one I thought might do for a bloke, it's not easy to make 'masculine' cards when you've a box full of cutsey stamps!!

Stamp from Penny Black - coloured with polychromos and some sparkle added to the icing.

• Layout from Freshly Made #389
• Allsorts #520/1 - Happy Birthday
• Cute Card Thursday #583 - square
• Penny Black Saturday May - anything goes

Going for Gold

A couple of 'quick' cards this evening.  Well, when I say 'quick' ..... both cards I ended up taking apart and spending waaaaay more time than they should have taken!
I've been watching polychromo tutorials again, so tonight's theme is colouring Gold!

This first one I'd put my bunny in a pink circle, stuck everything down and then decided it just didn't work.  Luckily my bunny had been stuck with foam pads, so I just had to get my craft knife in under to scrape them off!

Bunny is an oldie from Stamping Bella that I bought in their sale and think I've stamped once.  Coloured with polychromos.

• Layout from Sketch Saturday #563
• Through the Craft Room Door - anything goes
• Pile it On #154 - beverage

And this one I'd originally had my central panel in white, decided it wasn't right and needed a bit of colour, and things got a bit messy in the dismantling process -  I had originally planned to have my bunny a bit higher up but his butt is covering a big ripped bit!  

Bunny and bear from an old MFT set; gold stars from stash.

• Layout from MFT Wednesday Sketch Club #436
• Time Out #135 - stars

New Goodies

Just a quick visit tonight, it's the big finale of Line of Duty and I can't wait to find out what happens.  They better reveal whodunnit or I'll be a bit P'd off if they drag it out to another series!!

Anyway, here's some more of my new Stamping Bella goodies.

This little bunny and his bear is an absolute sweetie - coloured with polychromos and some sparkle added to the white strips on his hat and glitter to his bauble.  Gummiapan flower die.

• Layout from AAA Cards #139
• Addicted to CAS #158 - contrast
• Die Cuttin Divas #418 - anything goes

I got my watercolour pencils out for a change for this one. Sparkle added to the carol sheet and glitter to their baubles.  I think I'll add in a few enamel dots for falling snow, it needs a wee something.

• Layout from Power Poppy
• CHNC #436 - any Xmas
• 
  

Baby Blooms

I've been kinda spoiled just recently with time off from work with the Easter holidays and now the Bank Holiday weekend ... didn't stop me booking off Tuesday too though, so I've a lovely looooooong weekend ahead :)

I treated myself to a wee shopping spree recently and this cutie from Stamping Bella fell into my shopping basket.  We've a few babies due in work shortly so I thought I'd get ahead of the game.
Coloured with polychromos and I added a dot of clear gloss and glitter to the centre of the flowers for a little bit of sparkle.

• Layout from Tuesday Morning Sketches #501
• Creative with Stamps #38 - Baby
• Love to Scrap #121 - anything goes
• Your Next Stamp #113 - how does your garden grow