Peeking over

 Hi all!  My card today is 100% inspired by a wee jaunt we took up the coast on Sunday to Waterfoot, a lovely beach and a beautiful drive through the hills.  Lots of the little lambs were having a great time racing around and many of the fields are boundaried by fab stone walls.  So the only stamp set I have that had both sheep and stone walls is this oldie from Woodware from 2008! ...

I've actually tried a new technique to me (yes I know it's been around for years!) of inlaying the sentiment - I only used 1 layer of white card beneath the greeting but I'm thinking I should have used 2 to make it pop more.  And I've just noticed I need to tidy up my sentiment, there's a few scraggly ends left from the diecutting.  Critters and wall coloured with polychromos and clear gloss added to their hooves and eyes.  (Ruth's birthday card)

Layout flipped from MFT Wednesday Sketch #587

AAA Birthday #36 - critters

Sweet Stampin - use older stash

Pupdate...

Miss Molly had a fab time at the beach sniffing everything in sight.  Doubt she's going to be a swimmer though, she barely got those paws wet (and I wasn't prepared to brave the cold ocean for a paddle to tempt her in!). Glad to say though she was exhausted after her trip and slept all the way home and most of the evening too!

A hug and some booze

Quite often when my mojo is missing I go off blog hunting, and I found THIS gorgeous card by my buddy DottyJo which 100% inspired my layout and inky background!

 I've used an oldie from High Hopes - coloured with polychromos, popped up on foam pads and gloss/glitter added to his collar.  Not sure of make of sentiment die, possibly Gummiapan

• As You Like It - favourite animal - well if I was at the zoo it would be the monkeys but my favourite 'regular' animal has to be our wee Ruby.  Thankfully she's not the size of this pup, I wouldn't fancy feeding it or the bathing or the clean up either!!
• Pixie's Snippets Playground #350 - I'd a wee snip of inked card left over so used it for my sentiment.

 I was the lucky winner of one of Di's goodies over at Pixie's Crafty Workshop a while back and this Woodware stamp was one of the lovely prizes. It's a bit wider than what I've used here, but just cut it to suit my card.

I would love to like wine and be able to sit down and 'enjoy' a glass, but I'm afraid it just doesn't do it for me.  Probably not a bad thing!  I'll just stick to the tea ;)

• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - no designer papers
• Just Us Girls #483 - off the edge
• Creative with Stamps #37 - birthday
• Addicted to Stamps #336 - anything goes

Faffing about

Sometimes I spend an age just faffing about and getting nowhere!  This was based on the Library Challenge - this week it's Breakfast at Tiffanys - another book I haven't read so I just took the cover as my inspiration.
First obstacle was my Dienamics town die -  I cut it too short first time and had to do it again.
I thought it needed a wee something so went on the hunt for a little car image I have from Eat Cake Graphics .... nope, nowhere to be found.
Then I went looking for some little wooden cars that I definitely saw somewhere recently ... nope, couldn't find them either.
So then I stamped an Alley Way Stamps car, paper pieced the body work with my gold card, decided it looked crap and threw it in the bin.
And that's why I ended up with Henry Mouse as my image - it was sitting ready and waiting after being coloured in the garden yesterday!
What a faff!!
Though I'm pleased with how it turned out in the end ;)

• Simon Says Stamp Monday - masculine
• CASual Fridays #200 - Birthday Celebration
• MFT The Birthday Project - delicious Birthday delights

And in comparison, this card for work just made itself!  Stamped, coloured with watercolour pencils in our company colours, added a bit of glitter to the little heart and some bling, and job done!

• Creatalicious challenge #139 - anything goes
• Love to Craft #22 - May anything goes

November Calendar page

LOL just a few days late with November's calendar page ;)  I was driving myself crazy in work glancing at the date, getting confused and then realising I was still at October!
I quite often get a bit stumped as to what to put on my calendar that I'd actually like to look at for a month, and then I came across this oldie from Woodware that I haven't used in ages.  I also discovered some silver peel off month stickers, though I should really have stuck November on straight!

Hope you've had a good Saturday, we have the most fabulous moon here tonight!
Woops I just looked out and I spoke too soon .... it's absolutely lashing now and no moon in sight!

• Simon Says Stamp Monday - all creatures great and small
  
• Make My Monday #58 - anything but a card
• Addicted to Stamps #266 - anything goes
• CASual Fridays #186 - anything but a card
• Crafty Creations #353 - anything goes

A Three-fer

Ack I'm stuffed with the cold, and the weather was a bit icky, all dark and mizzly, so it was a good excuse to not go too far and get crafty.  I wanted to have a play with some of the MFT challenges for WCMD anyway!

Card 1 is for their 1st challenge - colours of the rainbow.
My image is from High Hopes, not sure about the sentiment.  All coloured with watercolour pencils and clear gloss added to the sentiment and to the duck's (goose?) beak and legs.  My cloud panel is popped up on foam pads.

Other challenges:

• Just Us Girls #414 - light (as in light as air)
• Crafting by Design October - anything goes

Card 2 is for their challenge: By the Numbers
I've used this stamp from Woodware - paper pieced the numbers and popped the holly up on foam pads.  Clear gloss and glitter added to the berries.
Nice and easy and I love how it turned out :)

Other challenges:

• ABC Xmas: U for Unlimited and V for Vibrant
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - Christmas

And finally, card 3 is for Make and Mail
It's for a friend in work so I'll be posting it tomorrow.
Not sure of the make of this stamp, maybe Cornish Heritage Farm ... it was one of the first stamps I ever bought and is possibly one of the most inked :)


Other challenges:

• Layout from AAA Cards #100
• The Flower Challenge #13  

If the shoe fits ...

Wow, 1st of July .... and we have the heating on!  Guess the weather knows that the youngsters are off school now ;)
I've been busy decorating in my spare time these past few weeks, so I've been a bit quiet in blogland.  The weeds in the garden are taunting me now so they're next on my hit list this weekend!   Or I might just stay in and get crafty, well see which wins ;)

Anyway, it's time for a new challenge over at Naughty or Nice and this month it's for shoes!  Isn't that a fab graphic!

For my card I've used this oldie from Woodware.  It's not a great photo, it's much brighter in real life and my green DP kinda gets lost here against my backdrop.
Coloured with watercolour pencils and some little green metallic stars added from my stash.  I might add a 'happy birthday' banner to this, haven't quite decided yet.

• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - anything goes
• Word Art Wednesday #288 / 289 - anything goes
• Inspiration Destination #131 - anything goes

Birthday Boots

Yippeeeeee for Fridays, the beers are chillin in the fridge, so this is just a quickie post ;)

This card uses an older  stamp from Woodware.  It's quite a busy image, so I just coloured the boots, a couple of the words and the stars and added some gold glitter  and a few staples too.

• CAS Colours and Sketches #200 - blues
• Daisy Chain #2 - glitter
• Crafty Catz #347 - anything goes
• Tuesday Throwdown #320 - gems

Day 18 of the Daily Marker 30 day colouring challenge

Those sneakers again and a cute bunnie

My last sneaker card didn't last long in my stash, so I made another!  For this one I had a leftover strip of this DP so that decided my colour theme.  I added some purple chalk to the BG of the image, but it kinda faded out the black bits and didn't look right.  So I restamped my sneakers on another bit of card and decoupaged them (and another layer for the boot in the foreground).  But then the sneakers were too black against the chalked layer, so I added a black sentiment and some die cut stars.  Looks much better now!
I managed not to add any bling or sparkle in an effort to be more grown up LOL.  Sneakers coloured with a grey watercolour pencil and a bit of purple added to the logo.  Couldn't get a decent photo though, it's not quite as dark and gloomy as it looks in this pic!

• Get Creative #39 - purple + 1 (grey)
• Crafty Cardmakers #164 - stitching, faux or real
• Crafty Creations #315 - monochrome
• CAS-ual Fridays #148 - Birthday boy

My 2nd card uses this cuuuuute bunny and bear from MFT - I fell in love with this Snuggle Bunnies set as soon as I saw it in the previews and had to treat myself! :)
Coloured with watercolour pencils.  Clear gloss and lots of glitter added to the bunny's tail, and his jumper covered in Spectrum Noir clear sparkle.
Taylored Expressions bling.

• Layout from Share Joy #36
• Addicted to Stamps #194 - CAS
• Inspiration Destination #86 - anything goes
• Sparkles challenge #80 - animal magic

Some boys cards

I've hardly any boys cards in my stash, one of the type I struggle to make .. probably because I'm mainly drawn to cutsie images!

Anyway, card 1 uses these fun robots from Eat Cake Graphics
1053-S The Boys (stick robots)
Coloured with watercolour pencils; clear gloss added to their eyes and highlights of sparkle.

• Layout from Mojo Monday #448
• Creative Card Crew #113 - masculine
• CAS-ual Friday #148 - Birthday Boy
• Allsorts #364 - Happy Birthday

Card 2 uses this fab Woodware stamp that I won recently - Awsome Footware

It may well be the only stamp I have suitable for a teen boy and it's great when the image does all the hard work for you!

Coloured with watercolour pencils.  Clear gloss added to some of the elements and a purple Dienamics star in bottom corner.

• Sweet Stampin - terrible teenagers
• Colour theme from Just Us Girls #344
• Pile it On #108 - you're a star
• Moving along with the times #20 - man or boy
• Creatalicious #91 - anything goes / optional no DP

A Thank You and a Thirtieth Anniversary

I was very lucky recently to win a Woodware voucher from the Crafty Cardmakers challenge, so this is one of the lovely stamps I chose :)

I've coloured this with my regular pencils, I haven't used them for aaaages!
I added glossy accents to the green / pale blue / yellow bits and then glitter to the yellow bits only.
Some bling and a doodled border to finish.  Nice and easy and quick!

• Colour theme from The Challenge #72
• Inspiration Destination #85 - anything goes
• Simply Create Too #109 - thank you
• Sweet Stampin' - thank you
• Creative with Stamps #2 - CAS

My second card is a special request for a 30th wedding anniversary.   My little LOTV doggy was still on my desk (yip, I haven't tidied up for a week LOL), so he was my stamp of choice ;)

Coloured with watercolour pencils and Spectrum Noir sparkle added to the roses.  Silver peel offs from stash.  I remembered in time that the 30th Anniversary is Pearls, so I had a root round in my stash and found these.  Paper Smooches accent dies.  

• Layout from SugarPea Designs #52
• Crafty Cardmakers #163 - pearls or gems
• Cuttlebug Mania - May flowers
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - flowers
• Stamping Sensations May - anything goes

First Christmas card!

I'd been full of good intentions to make a Christmas card every week, but it kinda didn't happen ;)  I think every year I promise that there's going to be no mad rush again this year!
I was very lucky to win this lovely stamp from Di over at Pixie's Crafty workshop (she has some fab prizes for her challenges every week!)
My BG is embossed with an old Cuttlebug snowflake folder.  Image coloured with watercolour pencils and then loads of gloss and glitter added for lots of sparkle.

• Merry Monday #192 - berries
• ABC Christmas - D for Don't overdo it
• CRAFT #351 - Christmas
• Less is More #264 - add texture

Day 20 of the Daily Marker colouring challenge - I can't quite believe I've managed to keep up so far!

The most random wedding card ever?

I had the strangest card request that I've EVER been asked for .... a young couple who own a pizza shop, who have a baby boy, love rabbits and who are off to Australia for their honeymoon ... and to include ALL these elements on a wedding card!  Aarrgghh!

After having a major hunt through my stamps to find something suitable, this ended up being one of the biggest cards I've ever made at A5 size so I could squeeze everything in!  Here's a rundown of the stamps I used ...

• rabbit, kangaroo and hearts from Paper Smooches
• My chef is Luigi from High Hopes
• Baby from Lili of the Valley
• Mr & Mrs and sentiment from Woodware

All coloured with watercolour pencils.  Chef popped up on dimensionals.  I added some diamonds to the Mr&Mrs and chef's buttons for a bit of sparkle.

Considering I agonised over this card for a few days, I'm really pleased with how it turned out!  I think maybe the only thing I'd change if I was making this again (which I'm never likely to!!) would be to put my kangaroo under the 'Mrs' ... he kinda looks a bit odd floating there!

Paper Smooches SPARKS - Anything goes

Party Time Tuesdays #197 - anything goes

Stamp and Create April - anything goes

613 Avenue Create #120 - anything goes with diamonds

Papertake Weekly - cute
Addicted to Stamps #141 - anything goes
Cutie Pie Challenge #86 - boys

Wedding Card #2

Well March has certainly gone out like a lion today.  We've had the lot ... gales, rain, sleet, snow, hail, and all interspersed with dazzling sunshine and blue skys!  'Spring' a couple of weeks ago was definitely nowhere in sight today ;)

I was asked to make another card for the same wedding that I made a card for a couple of days ago... panic!  My repertoire of ONE wedding design had to quickly grow to TWO hahaha!

I bought these Mr & Mrs stamps from Woodware a while back after seeing the lovely Coops use them on one of her cards - I stamped them first on patterned DP and then matted up on some white card.  The text at the bottom (silver peel offs) was by request, I thought it was a bit odd myself!  Ah well, hope they like it as I'm really pleased with how it turned out.

Taylored Expressions scallop die; Paper Smooches heart die.

Die Cuttin Divas #209 - include a die
The Challenge - anything goes
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - anything goes
Clear it out - I've been hoarding this DP for ages as too nice to use, and then I went a bit crazy on this card and used loads!!

2nd Project Life layout

I'm trying to get my Project Life scrapbook going, and this is my 2nd completed page ... I've a few others on the go too, but they need need some faffing about and some mojo.  I'm hoping I discover my Project Life 'style' as I kinda feel like I'm groping in the dark with these!
I spent ages on this page this afternoon ... I originally had different filler cards and bases but couldn't get them to work, so in the end I pulled them all out and made my own using the colours of my lovely dress!  I've also {gasp} managed to use some washi tape!! Maybe it will have to be rescued from the wish I hadn't bought that pile! Hahaha.
Mr & Mrs stamp from Woodware.  Paper Smooches heart die and Marianne Designs filigree heart die.

Crafting when we can #69 - die cuts
Challenges 4 Everybody #41 - anything goes
Simply Create Too #61 - anything but a card
Stamping Sensaations May challenge - anything goes
Crafty Creations #262 - anything but a card

Mr and Mrs

Last card for the evening ... normal intermittent service will be resumed tomorrow when I'm back to work :(
Image from Woodware, and little heart charm from stash.  The 'oldie' on this card is my ribbon which has been unloved in my stash for aaaaages ... one down, about a hundred ribbons to go! Ha.

Divas by Design - charming
Cute Card Thursday #277 - good luck charm
Sister Act #15 - anything goes
Layout from Sunday Sketch and Stamp #165

Mr and Mrs

No moans from me tonight .... we've a free day off tomorrow for the Bank Holiday AND we had 'summer' this weekend!  Lovely and warm and the perfect weather for a wee visit to the garden centre.  So a few quid poorer, but my hanging baskets and some pots are finally planted and still some lovelies left to plant in my borders.  Though after doing the weeding yesterday I've got aches where I didn't know there was muscles!!

I've been watching out for a nice wedding stamp that wasn't cutesy and saw Coops using this one and of course had to have it!  I paper pieced my letters and added some bling - I hadn't planned on adding the flower to the Mr but I managed to touch it with a marker and the wee flower was just big enough to hide it.


Layout from Sweet Sunday #185 (though I just noticed I missed adding a bit of ribbon)
Papertake Weekly - if the paper fits
Polkadoodles #21 - to die for
My Mum's Craft Shop #5 - spots or stripes