Thanks Teacher and Starry Snowdude

I've been such a bad blogger recently, we've been soooo busy in work this past while and I've had zero mojo and zero energy left!  I think we've turned the corner now till after Christmas (hopefully!) so I'll be making a better effort to visit all my buddies x

This first card is a special request for a friend who's son's teacher is leaving.  I've used this sweet little bear from Reverse Confetti - popped up on foam pads and sparkle added to the apples.

• Sweet Stampin - add a pop of red
• Word Art Wednesday #414-415 - anything goes
• Allsorts #547 - thank you
• Simon Says Stamp Work it Wednesday October - Autumn gratitude

Snowman time again!  This time I've tried to give him a night time sky - there's loads of little silver stars in here but they don't really show up well in my pic.

• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - starry starry night
• Cute Card Thursday #609 - winter
• CHNC #465 - any Christmas
• Penny Black and More November - Christmas

#thedailymarker30day

Christmas mice and a Teacher Thanks

We'd a lovely sunny day today and sure what else would I be crafting out in the garden but Christmas cards! We've a heatwave on the way next week so maybe I'll get a few more made hahaha ;)

This one uses an older LOTV stamp, I'm still gutted that they've stopped making rubber stamps :(
I've coloured it with my watercolour pencils, sparkle added to their scarves, clear gloss to the cutlery and gloss/glitter to the icing on the pud.  Yummmm, I love Christmas pudding!!

• Layout based on Freshly Made Sketches #342 - I cut my panel too small for the narrow strip so used some green gems instead
• ABC Christmas - M is for Mice
• Word Art Wednesday #340/341 - anything goes
• Rudolph Days May challenge
• Addicted to Stamps #297 - make your mark

And this one is a special request from my niece for her teacher.  There's a bookmark to go with it but it's not quite finished yet!  

I die cut the frame and the apple and popped them up on foam pads.  Sentiment/apple from an old Verve set. 

• Crafty Calendar June - 3 of something
• Sweet Stampin - food/drink
• Through the Craft Room Door - anything goes

Daily Marker 30 day colouring challenge

Teacher Thank you card

I've been off all week and it has absolutely flown in!  The weather has been a bit pants, my washing was in and out today like a yoyo, but it's supposed to be a decent day tomorrow, we'll see!

This is a card for my niece to give to her teacher.  I thought it might be a bit too arty-farty for her, but it has passed muster with her OK so that's all that matters :)

I've used some of my green brushos on the background and then shadow stamped the numbers from an old Verve set.  One of the apples is popped up on dimensionals and sparkle added to the red and clear gloss to the leaves.  Some wee red stars from stash.

• Just Us Girls #397 - powdered dyes
  
  
  
• As you like it - favourite fruit - I love apples and have one most days, has to be the red ones though, green apples kill me with indigestion!
• Creative with Stamps #14 - fruit
• Dream Valley #158 - square card
• Through the Craft Room door - anything goes

A doggy shaker and a teacher thanks

Boo hoo, can't believe my week off work is almost up already, it definitely whizzes by!

This doggy card is hot off the press and is based on yesterday's lesson at the MFT Camp Create for a shaker card.
Here's what I learnt from making this card ....

1. When tidying up, make sure you put your acetate along with all your other papers ... I spent at least half an hour trying to find it, and in the end I gave up and cut a page from my pocket scrapbooking folder!
2. Add more sequins than you think is enough! I could probably have done with double what I have here.
3. Go easy on the glue! ... I'm hoping this white mess at the edge of the acetate dries to clear.

Ah well, the whole point of school is to learn eh?!!
Image is an oldie from High Hopes, coloured with watercolour pencils, popped up on dimensionals and clear gloss/glitter added to his dog tag.  Die-namics star dies (there's one placed on the inside of my card peeping through the glue mess)

• MFT Camp Create - spectacular shakers
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - animal magic
• Polkadoodles #24 - die cut
• Creatalicious #93 - anything goes, option animal

The lesson I learnt from my second card was to keep proper records!  I'd been asked to make a load of personalised teacher thanks card, created this one, and when I was putting it with the others realised I already had one made for Mrs Loughran!!  Grrr.  So I'll try to rescue this one ... maybe pick off those sequins and add her name in a separate panel.    We'll see, it could well end up in the bin!

My image is another oldie High Hopes image.  Coloured with watercolour pencils and Spectrum Noir sparkle added to the pink pencil and the eraser.  Clear gloss/glitter added to the silver bit at the top of the pencil and to the buttons on her jeans.  I also used some chalk and my giraffe print stencil again, but the pale blue bit hasn't really shown up in my photo.

• CASual Fridays #150 - thanks with twine
• Simply Create Too #111 - buttons or bows
• Inspiration Destination #90 - anything goes
• Tuesday Throwdown #298 - watercolour

Teacher Thanks

Ohhhh it's just to warm for work, there's not a breath of air on our office and I reckon my feet hit a thousand degrees today ;)  Hopefully the nice weather will continue though as I'm off work all next week Yippee!

I've been making a load of Teacher thank you cards this evening, but most of them are CASEd and this is the only one I can share.
I've used this beautiful apple stamp/die,  added hints of colour and lots of sparkle and then popped up on dimensionals.  Background watercoloured and then splattered with green and red paint.  Sequins and bling from stash.


I'd love to get a new alpha set - this one from Paper Smooches is a bit too big and I'd rather have 'normal' font lettering.  Any suggestions?

• Penny's challenge #281 - favourite embellishments ... mine's glitter and bling
• AAA Cards #66 - watercolours
• As You Like It - favourite food / drink - I love apples, I have one every morning.  Have to be red apples though, green ones kill me with indigestion! 
• Inspiration Destination #89 - anything goes
  

Teacher Christmas cards

I was asked to make a couple of personalised cards for Teachers...

Card 1
This uses my Eat Cake Graphics snowman ...
1193-J Snowman (assembled)
Coloured with watercolour pencils, Wink of Stella added to his scarf, and then popped up on dimensionals.  WoS also added to the snowdrift behind the snowman, so it's lovely and sparkly.
Paper Smooches alpha set and snowflake die.

• Layout from Freshly Made Sketches #215
• Bunny Zoe's challenge Nov/Dec - sparkle
• Natalie and Amy's challenge #39 - Christmas
• Sparkles Christmas challenge #59 - die cuts
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - let it snow
• CAS-ual Chic - snowflakes

Card 2

This one uses some Washi tape ... couldn't tell you the last time I used some of that!!  It's lovely and shiny and a nice deep red colour, but it's hard to photograph.  My images are from MFT and silver stars from stash.

• Papertake Weekly - anything goes
• Cute Card Thursday #402 - festive colours
• Christmas at Sweet Stampin November - stars
• Get Creative #29 - Holidays
• Christmas Cards all year round December - keep it simple
• Curtain Call - Santa

Teacher Appreciation cards

I've been making thank you cards for teachers these past few nights and must confess most of them were CASEd.  But with the pressure off, I thought I'd get creative with the last two.

My sentiment and apples are from a Verve set that I won a while ago, and the alphas are from Sarah Hurley.  I think I deserve bonus points for these cards for completely finishing a card stack and using up all the pretty ittybitty pieces that were too nice to chuck!  Helps to take the guilt from a recent shopping trip ;)  One of my new purchases was a Wink of Stella clear glitter pen which I coloured my apples with and which I'm absolutely LOVING!

Card 1 - 

• Sketch from Mojo Monday #403 
• Colour theme of grey, white and yellow from The Card Concept - I've gone for the clean and layered look
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - anything goes
• Allsorts #316 - use a stamp
• Clear it Out - CAS and your favourite product ... my new favourite is my Wink of Stella pen :)
• Cuttlebug Mania - use a sentiment

Card 2 - 

• Layout from Sweet Sunday #274 
• Creative Card Crew #90 - Clean and Simple
• Inspiration Destination #39 - anything goes
• Creative Inspirations #319 - your favourite ... mine is my gems and my new glitter pen 

{top 3 at Creative Card Crew}

Teacher card

It'll soon be that time of year for the Thanks Teacher rush, so I thought I'd get ahead of the game and ink up this set from Verve that I won a while back.  I've coloured my wee apple and heart with watercolour pencils and then added some clear gloss.  The numbers in the background were also stamped from this set.
My notebook edge is a Taylored Expressions die.  Green bling from stash.

• Layout from Sweet Sunday #268
• Crazy for Challenges #285 - teacher appreciation card
• Papertake Weekly - anything goes
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - get sentimental
• Penny's challenge #226 - anything goes
• Sister Act #105 - anything goes

Another Teacher card

This is another one of my Thanks Teacher cards ... the request was made for a red themed card to match the school colours.  My general layout was inspired by Beverley's fab card over at the Muse challenge #73... this turned out to be a great quick card, so I might be making more of these!!

I used pencils from a Paper Smooches set  - some sparkle added to the bit below the eraser. I also splattered some red watercolour paint and some bling for a bit of added interest.

Dream Valley #84 - monochrome
Less is More #177 - use watercolours
Charisma cardz #13 - sparkle and shine
Stamp and Create June - Thank You

Thanks Teacher

Boohooo back to work today ..  I shouldn't complain though, as I had a really lovely week off!  Not so much fun coming back to almost 160 emails to deal with though!  Ha, it's great to be popular ;)

I've had the usual last minute rush orders for some Thank You teacher cards - this one uses stamps from Paper Smooches - coloured with pencils.  I've no idea about the DP ... I'm trying to be a good girl and use up some of my unloved stash!
I added clear gloss to the apple and the land in the globe.

Layout from Paper Smooches SPARKS challenge
Simon Says Stamp Monday - I ought to use this more
Daring Cardmakers - oodles of doodles (my borders)
Crafty Girls #20 - anything goes
Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge - June

And yet another Teacher card!

This week's challenge at High Hopes is
Lots of Layers
My card is clean and simple, but at the point of the flower there are 5 layers, 6 if you count the flower, so it shows that you can still add lots of layers without adding weight and bulk to your card.  (you need to use your High Hopes stamps to play along and you could win a new one of your choice)

I love this School Girl image from High Hopes - I think it's great that you can personalise her uniform to suit - this teacher's school uniform is a yellow shirt, blue jumper and grey skirt.  Mrs McVeigh won't get another card like this LOL!
Just wish I'd stamped my sentiment better - I started from the bottom up, instead of the top down, so kinda ran out of room to get my spacing right :(

Layout from MFT Wednesday Sketch Club MFTWSC129
Sister Act #12 - anything goes
Kaboodle Doodles #177 - pastel colours
Top Tip Tuesday #104 - office supplies (I used staples)
Party Time Tuesday PTT#126 - anything goes

Another Teacher card

Another card for a teaching assistant, this time inspired by Tina, this week's featured stamper at Splitcoast.  Here's Tina's original - I kept the thank you theme and basic layout, but didn't do any embossing and had intended to have a different strip down the right side, but completely forgot.

All stamps from Paper Smooches, no real colouring required!

Simon Says ... summer fruits  (though would apples be classed as an autumn fruit??)
Stampin for the Weekend - anything goes
A little bit Crafty June challenge - something sweet
Oozak #16 - anything goes with a sentiment

ETA: Challenge winner over at A Little bit Crafty :)

Teacher Thank You card

After my cardmaking bonanza last week my mojo's been missing all week, and I'm not convinced he's back yet!  Maybe it's our 'lovely weather' ... we'd a great day today if you fancied a bit of kite flying with your wellies on LOL!

This card is for a teaching assistant, using Mouse Tales from High Hopes.  Coloured with pencils and lots of bling added to my butterflies - I'd started off with just the 3 top butterflies and then decided the bottom bit needed 'something'.

Layout inspired by Sketch Saturday #264 - using sketch #259
There She Goes #212 - anything goes
Fab'n funky #176 - animals
Sister Act #12 - anything goes

Apples for Teacher

Another special request card, this time for a teacher.  And what better for a teacher than a row of nice juicy apples!
My gingham apple was inspired by a card I saw in blogland this morning, but I can't remember where I saw it (if it was you, let me know and I'll give you the credit!)
3 of the little apples are popped up on dimensionals and red stickles added to the wee hearts.










Layout from Sketch Saturday #263
Penny Black and More June challenge - CAS
Challenges 4 Everybody #22 - anything goes

Thank you Teacher

I was asked to make a card for a teacher and I thought this wee School Girl from High Hopes would be perfect.  I've coloured her in the school colours of a green jumper and grey skirt, and the little girl giving the card has blond hair ... don't think Teacher will get another one so personalised LOL!
In the top left corner is a little pencil button from a recent candy win, how cute is that!!

Layout from Sketch Saturday #262
Joanna Sheen challenge - spots and / or stripes
Simon Says Stamp and Show - buttons
No Matter Which June challenge - bingo - I used die/buttons/bows
Stampin for the Weekend - cute

Oh, and if you've never been to Northern Ireland here's a pic of what you're missing.... (contrary to everything you read on my blog, it's not ALWAYS raining )  We went out for fish'n'chips earlier and ended up going for a scoot up round the North Coast!  It certainly tastes nicer eating them at the seaside, and the ice cream for afters was just as delish.  (not a very Slimming World friendly day though!!)  (This pic taken from Waterfoot)

High Hopes Challenge #175

This week's challenge at High Hopes is to make a
Thank You card
So anything with a thanks theme using your High Hopes stamps.
My card uses this cute Writing Mouse - isn't he a sweetie!  (He'd make a great card for a teacher too!)
For lots more inspiration pop over to High Hopes and see the fab creations from the rest of the Dream Team :)




Other challenges:
Simon Says ... anything goes
Joanna Sheen - spots and stripes
Totally Gorjuss #186 - anything goes with flowers
Pile it On #22 - stripes and/or plaid
Penny Black and More June challenge - CAS