Floral Sympathies

 Hi All!  Gosh I hadn't realised it's been nearly a fortnight since my last post.  Time is whipping by so fast.  I'm back to my actual workplace for a day this week, it will be so strange!  It will be nice to see some of my workmates but I confess I am feeling a bit anxious about it... I'm not looking forward to my 2 bus journies to get there, nor setting an alarm to make sure I'm up and out the door on time!  It has been too easy just to rock up to work in my PJs 😉

Anyway I've a few sympathy cards to share this evening.  This first one uses an old fave from Taylored Expressions, I hadn't intended to make it so green but I think it turned out OK (??)

I coloured this one yesterday, so sharing it also on the Simon Says Stamp World Card Making Day post

Layout from MfT Wednesday sketch #561

Inspired By #189 - I was inspired by the metal bucket 

Pixies Snippets Playground challenge #413 - here's a wee pic of the tiny scrap cut from the end of my sentiment that was just big enough for those little die cut dots LOL...

My second card uses my old fuschia stamp from Clearly Besotted, coloured with watercolours.  I used to use my watercolour pencils all the time before I got in to my ploychromos and have kinda forgotten how to use them!  I did touch up my shadows with my pencils to darken them a bit.

Allsorts #644 - I lOVE... colouring is most of the fun of card making and I love the effects dies can add to a simple card

AAA Cards #200 - Clean and simple

A sparkly new home

 Hi all!  Just a wee quickie card from me this evening.  Well, when I say 'quick' this was version #3 before it satisfied me, so there was nothing quick about it really! 

I won these stamps an eon ago from Taylored Expressions - they belong to a set with a big tree die that never cut right on my slightly warped Cuttlebug plates, so I never actually used the stamps before! 

The sentiment is from an old Simon Says Stamp set - if I was making this again I would centre the words more over the house.  Gloss and glitter added to the red heart and house.

Oh, and just to share, here's the duds that hit the recycling pile ...

As You Like It - favourite tip - I love to use gloss+glitter on my cards and use a little cocktail stick to sprinkle the glitter into the gloss.  It's a great way to limit escaped sparkle as you're only really aiming it at the wet gloss, the little bit of excess can just be brushed off when dry. 

Allsorts #629 - anything goes

Addicted to CAS #200 - sun

Sympathy lavender

 Hi all!  Well the good news is that I have a hair appointment booked yippee!!  Hopefully it won't be another 5 months till the next one!  Great to see our local garden centre open too, though I haven't ventured there yet while there's still a chance of frost.  And only another 6 weeks or so till my second vaccine, I can't wait!!

I have a sympathy card to share today ...

I've used this oldie from Taylored Expressions - I love inking up these oldies especially when I've a new order of goodies on the way ... my first order from France since lovely Brexit so I'm hoping it's not going to come with customs charges! 

Not sure of the make of the script background - I added some blue sharing behind the lavender and really wish I hadn't!  It kinda needed something to finish it and I had a little scrap of purple c/s left, just the right size for a few little butterflies :)

• Inspired by pic over at The Card Concept #153 - loads of lavender
• Daisy Chain challenge #51 - monochrome
• Pixies Snippets playground #401
• Word Art Wednesday #487-488 - anything goes

Sympathy cards

Well it's been a typical Bank Holiday, showery and damp.  Ah well, at least it will be a short week in work :)

I always seem to have a need for sympathy cards, so made a couple of quickies this evening.
This first one uses an oldie from Taylored Expressions.  Coloured with polychromos and clear gloss added to the little pink flowers.  Not sure of the make of embossing folder - it was a magazine freebie.

• Less is More #396 - embossing
• Love to Scrap #121 - anything goes
• Crafty Creations #391 - anything goes

This one uses another oldie, from Papermania.  It rarely sees ink as it's one of those stamps that I find difficult to use! 

If I was remaking this I'd use a different sentiment stamp, this one's a wee bit big.  Oh and I hadn't quite intended to use the gems but I dropped my pencil and left a mark that wouldn't be erased.

• Simon Says Stamp Monday - frame it
• Creative Inspirations May flowers

Got the blues

Hi strangers!  I've just noticed I haven't posted anything for a whole week.  I need to get myself sorted!  No excuses, just busy in work and then can't be bothered when I get home.  Thankfully we've managed to miss the flu (so far!) which is going round like wildfire along with a nasty stomach bug too

Anyway, just a couple of quickie cards this evening. I've been using some oldie stamps again ... I've a voucher from Christmas burning a hole in my pocket that needs spending on some new crafty goodies but I can't decide what's top of my list ;)

My sympathy card is coloured with watercolour pencils and clear gloss added to the little pink flowers.  I also chalked up the BG with my chickenwire stencil in pale pink and blue but it doesn't show up on my photo.

• Simon Says Stamp Monday - Winter blues
• Word Art Wednesday #317 - anything goes
• Allsorts #450 - no patterned papers

Looking at how this card photographed, I've decided that my immediate crafty goal is to study how to colour faces with my watercolour pencils.  Mine always end up either a bit pale and pasty or a sludgy brown!

Clear gloss and glitter added to the balloon and to the cat hat's nose.

I saw someone outlining their card recently like this, so thanks if it was you!

• Tiddly Inks #209 - anything goes
• Addicted to Stamps #274 - clean and simple
• CASual Fridays #190 - all that glitters
• Through the Craft Room Door - anything goes

Get Well and a New Home

Oh Brrrrr it's been such a cold day today and there's a hard freeze on out there this eve, I've got my cosy Xmas PJs on but reckon I need to hit the Sales for some new cosy slippers as my feet are freezing!  I shouldn't complain though when you look at the snow across the pond in America and Canada!

For my get well card I've used this sweet little piggy and fab sentiment from MFT.  No colouring on this card, I paper pieced the little pink guy and gave him some googly eyes.

• Layout from MFT Wednesday Sketch Club MFTWSC365
• That's Crafty - anything goes
• Through the Craft Room Door - anything goes

And here's another CAS card, again with no colouring (unless you count colouring my pink fence and heart with my glitter pen!) 

Stamps from an old Taylored Expressions set.  Central panel popped up on foam pads.

• Penny Black and More December - CAS
• Sugar Pea Designs Mix it Up SPDMIU38 - anything goes
• AAA Cards #105 - sparkle

Hugs and Homes

Eeek, I can't believe it's the 19th already and I still only have 1 present bought!  I'm hoping to get myself sorted with a list and scoop them all on Friday, fingers crossed!

This card used this cute image from Eat Cake Graphics - Hadley and kitty give Buddy a big hug
Coloured with watercolour pencils and clear gloss added to the critters noses and their collars.  Hugs sentiment from Paper Smooches.

• Layout from Mojo Monday #474
• CASology #224 - embrace
• Creatalicious #103 - anything goes

Day 19 of the Daily Marker 30 day colouring challenge

This one's just a wee quickie.  I re-found this old stamp set from Taylored Expressions when I was looking for other stuff :)  I just stamped it in black ink and added clear gloss and red glitter to the hearts.  Sentiment from Simon Says Stamp.

• Curtain Call November - home is where the heart is
• My time to craft #334 - no layers
• Crafty Catz #347 - anything goes with the option to use red
• Tuesday Throwdown #320 - add gems

Sympathy flowers

I think these are lavender flowers, but I don't think I've ever seen any quite as large as these, so maybe they aren't?
I did manage to stamp it slightly wonky, but think I got away with it by grounding the image.
Coloured with watercolour pencils. I cut a frame out of my purple card, and then doodled a white border round the edge.

• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - anything goes
• Share Joy #24 - clean and simple
• Penny's Challenge #266 - anything goes
• Penny Black and More Feb - stamp and a die

Day 25 of the Daily Marker colouring challenge







We had a great night at the Wets concert last night!  Fab seats, great company, a good boogie and a singalong, and wee Marty was in fine voice too! Think it was the best Wet Wet Wet concert I've been to :)
(crappy photo, my phone doesn't do darkness!)

Graduation card

It's been a yeuchy wet and very windy day today as Storm Desmond passed by.  Definitely NOT an outdoorsy type of day, so we got our Christmas tree up and I also got a few special request cards made :)

I don't think I've ever made a proper grown-up Graduation card before!  I did struggle with this one a bit (think it was my jazzy DP that kinda threw me), but then I figured I didn't need to colour in my whole image and reckon it looks OK!

My image is an oldie from Taylored Expressions - coloured with watercolour pencils and clear gloss added to the windscreen and bumper.  Silver peel off letters and stars.  Lawn Fawn cloud die.

• ABC Challenge - W is for Wishes
• Simon Says Stamp Monday - gentlemen
• Papertake Weekly - anything goes
• Inspiration Destination #62 - anything goes

Graduation Card

This is the first Graduation card I've made!  It's for my 11-yr old nephew who's 'graduating' from primary school and is off to High School in September.  Graduation ceremonies in schools are quite a new thing for us in Northern Ireland ... used to be the only graduates were from University!
So anyway, this is the first time I've used this Taylored Expression stamp that I've had in my stash for a few years.  Coloured with watercolour pencils in the school's colours, and then popped up on dimensionals.  I used some glossy white embossing paste on the BG to get a bit of texutre/interest.

I had another study at the MFT Summer School, so this one is for Quiet Space / White Space.

Creative Inspirations #318 - male creations
Inspiration Destination #38 - anything goes
Less is More #229 - use a stencil
Daily Marker colouring Challenge June

Belated Birthday

Just a quickie post tonight - I've been out power washing all day and I'm pooped, I feel a long soak in a hot bath coming on!  Good to get it done though, it was long overdue :)

This card uses a older set from Taylored Expressions I bought a while ago.  Coloured with watercolour pencils and then a few dots from a pale grey copic marker to highlight the fleece.
Clear gloss and glitter added to the star; yellow gems from stash.

Colour theme from CAS on Sunday #60
Inspiration Destination #37 - anything goes
Penny's Paper Crafty challenge #231 - favourite embellishment ... mine is gems :)
Seize the Birthday - animal birthday
Sister Act #110 - anything goes
Layout from Sweet Sunday #273

Another Get Well

Phew, I had a really busy day today ... gave Ruby a bath, which then meant I had to clean the bathroom (!!), 3 loads of washing, dried and ironed, and 2 coats of paint on my bedroom dressing table.  Wish I had that energy every day!

This is another get well card ... image from Taylored Expressions - Lavender Bouquet - coloured with pencils.  I embossed the dark purple panel, but not sure if this really shows up in my pic or not.

Layout from Taylored Expressions sketch challenge
Pile it on #37 - flowers +/or feathers
Divas by Design - anything goes
Whimsy challenge #75 - monochromatic

Get Well Wishes

I've been asked to make a load of general get well and sympathy cards, so thought I'd better make a start.  Couldn't get this one to photograph right and it's brighter in real life.  The dark nights are already upon us, I'm not sure how summer whizzzed past so fast!

Image from Taylored Expressions - coloured with copics/promarkers.  DP is oldie stuff from my stash that I'm trying to use up.  Sentiment from Lili of the Valley.

• Layout from Sketch Saturday #327 
• Sister Act Card challenge #74 - anything goes
• Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper challenge - September
• My Mum's Craft Shop #21 - dies or punches

A boy's card in pink?!!

I was asked to make a card for a guy who'd worked on the volunteer recruitment team for the Giro d'Italia - the big Italian bicycle race that started in Northern Ireland last month (if you missed my post on it you'll see the cyclists zipping past here)

Now, you might think that a cycling related card would maybe have a bicycle on it? Oh noooooooo!

My first thought was for a pink sheep. Hahahahaha
The whole of Northern Ireland went pinktastic for the Giro, and even the horses and sheep were dyed pink (I think they used beetroot juice or something)   Oh, and no, we don't normally dye our animals ;)

Apologies for the crappy photo of my card ... the pink colours didn't quite come out right and there's the usual dirty splodge in the middle too.  But I think there may be a new camera on the way for an impending birthday pressie .... yippee!!!

Image from Taylored Expressions ... white flowersoft added and then touched with a pink copic marker.  My bunting is an oldie stamp from Creative Expressions.

Fab'n Funky #220 - laughter is the best medicine
Oldie but a Goodie - Father's Day / Masculine
Stamping Sensations June - animal antics
Stamp and Create June - Thank you
Natalie and Amy's challenge #21 - four legged friends

Belated Birthday Card and Giro d'Italia pics

My good bloggy buddy, Benzi, deliberately sabotaged my craft budget by posting a card recently using this cute image which of course I couldn't resist ;)

I popped my wee sheepie up on dimensionals and added some flowersoft 'wool'.

Layout from Clean and Simple #292
Crafty Catz #230 - black, white, plus one other colour
Crazy for CAS #43 - ribbon and/or twine
Sister Act Card Challenge #56 - anything goes
Papertake Weekly - anything goes + option of no designer DP

And, as promised, here's the pics of the Giro d'Italia whizzing past ... was definitely a sight to see!  (Wish I'd kept recording though to catch all the support vehicles!)

Barrel of flowers

Hurrah, I'm off work for a few days now.  Got some of my Christmas shopping tackled this morning with Mum, an indulgent wee snooze this afternoon, and then a bit of crafting :)

This image is from Taylored Expressions - coloured with pencils and clear gloss and glitter added to the wee pink flowers (not sure how well this shows up in pic)  Not overly happy with where I put my sentiment ... it looked better there in my head than in the finished version.  The dark strip to the left is brown, but it looks kinda black in my pic.

Layout from MFT Wednesday Sketch Club MFTWSC152
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge - anything goes
Everybody Art #255 - pink and brown
A Gem of a Challenge #107 - sparkles
Seize the Birthday - welcome twins - pink and 2 of something (card candy)
Challenges for Everybody #34 - anything goes

Cards for Josh and Aunt Lucy

I've had a lovely week off so far, can't believe its Wednesday evening already!  My nephew (age 9) came up for a visit and made this card for his friend - he'd a tough time narrowing down his favourite images from my High Hopes stash, but decided on this as the robot looked like his friend.  Hahaha.

The only thing I helped with was sticking down the DP and the googly eyes, everything else he chose and designed himself.  Didn't he do a great job!!

I'd like to enter Ryan's card into the Simon Says Kids Summer Vacation challenge

Image = Wheel-ie Robot from High Hopes


My card is for my Aunt's Aunt who celebrates her 90th birthday.  Image from Taylored Expressions - coloured with pencils and lots of glitter added to the wee flowers.  Silver peel off sentiment and letters.  Taylored Expressions heart die and scallop die.  Dienamics mini tab die.

Layout from Monday Lunchtime #277
Card Crafter's Circle #89 - bright colours
Sister Act #21 - anything goes
Pile it On #34 - designer paper
Cuttlebug Mania - die cuts
Crafty Creations #237 - use a number
Fab'n Funky #182 - you can stick it

Andrea's birthday card

This card is for my SIL.  She also makes cards, so it's always a pressure to try and make her a nice one that she hasn't seen before!  She loves a party and is a great gardener, so hopefully she likes it.

Image and window and flower dies from Taylored Expressions; CC designs fence; Martha Stewart grass punch.

Creative Card Crew #37 - punches/dies
Party Time Tuesday PTT#122 - anything goes
Top Tip Tuesday #102 - numbers
Fab'n Funky #173 - for the girls
Simon Says - anything goes
Totally Papercrafts #169 - anything goes
Totally Gorjuss #186 - flowers
The Squirrel and the Fox #45 - summer or winter

Renee's birthday card

So glad I got my gardening done yesterday - we've had a whole night of lashing rain, some heavy showers between the sun and it's now chucking down hailstones!  My day off was spent out shoe shopping for a wedding, not easy when you're a half size and hardly anyone makes 'em!  So about 40 pairs of shoes later (I point blank refuse to buy shoes that aren't comfy!), I got sorted in the last shop I was going to, and actually had a choice to pick from.  Now why didn't I go in to that one at the beginning? ;)

This card is for my Aunt - using Lavender Bouquet that was part of a recent candy win from Taylored Expressions.  Lavender didn't go with my colour theme, so I thought if I coloured them yellow they might look like lupins?  Coloured with pencils, lime stickles added to the tiny flowers in the image and some green and yellow flowersoft for the grass.








Layout from Sketch'n Stash #114
Sketchy Colors #165 - lime green, yellow and white
By the Cute and Girly May challenge - flowers
Everybody Art #237 - flowers

Xmas Card #07

I've fallen waaaay behind in my resolution to get my Christmas stash made before December (ha, so unlikely!), but when I saw the sketch at Sweet Stop I knew I wanted to use one of my new Taylored Expressions stamps - Made in the Shade.  Coloured with copics and some flower soft added to the guy on the left's hat.  Snowdudes panel popped up on dimensionals.  Sentiment from Paper Smooches.

Sketch from the Sweet Stop #210
Sweet Stampin - Clean and Simple
Cute Card Thursday #268 - something blue
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Extra - anything Christmas
Stamping Sensations May Challenge - embossing / texture