Alex's birthday and Greg's Valentine

 Hi all, here this evening with a birthday card for my lovely niece who turned 16 yesterday. Hard to believe, it feels no time since she was a wee tot! I had to do a last minute addition of the heart border as I cut my base panel of pink totally wonky and could not get it straightened, and that kinda threw my placement of the silver 16 so it looks more squished than I had planned!  She a Valentine's Day baby, so there's always a heart or two on her card.  Stamp from Lili of the Valley, coloured with polychromos. 

Addicted to Stamps #510 - dies +/or stencils 

Word Art Wednesday #738/739 - anything goes 

We love Stamping February - hearts

And this is Greg's Valentine using a real oldie Whipper Snapper stamp.  I had gone on the hunt through my stash for a pack of red card and came across a pack of kraft card that I had absolutely no recollection of buying! The love die is from Penny Black.

As you like it - cute or elegant - I'd say 90% of my stamps are cute so an easy choice for me!

Sweet Stampin' - no designer paper

Let's Craft and Create #228 - from the heart

Crafty Calendar February - love is in the air

 

We've had nothing but rain all year so when a sunny day coincided with a day off work, we treated ourselves to a wee trip to the beach and fish'n'chips by the sea. It was absolutely Baltic though, and snow on the Antrim Hills on the way up, definitely not a day for a paddle! It must have been a very rough high tide as the beach was covered in sandy foam (and not a sinner on it but ourselves!)

Greg's valentine and a wee birthday card

Hi all. Here to share Greg's valentine card, a wee quickie as Valentine's Day just kinda snuck up on me! I think it took maybe 45 minutes to make!  I used a wee LOTV digi, coloured with polychromos and then went over the white bit with my sparkle pen.  I thought it maybe needed something so die cut a few wee hearts for the background.  We didn't do very much to celebrate the day , other than Greg cooking us some lovely steaks for our tea! 

CAS on Friday #302 - valentine

Little Red Wagon #794 - red alert

My Time to Craft #553 - hearts

It is great to finally have some mojo and actually have another card to share this evening, just a wee birthday card for my stash, using a LOTV stamp.  When I first stuck it together it was totally wonky and had to pull it apart, ripping the coloured card slightly at the bottom, so needed a rescue, thus the flower die cuts! Clear gloss added to the flowers and clear gloss + glitter to the spots on the vase. 

Snippets Playground are celebrating their 500th challenge so I'm delighted to play along.  My snippets are my flowers which I cut from a scrap after cutting my square base.

Greg's Valentine

 Hi all, here this grey evening to share Greg's Valentine's card... in my PJs, Molly pretending to sleep on my lap and a big box of choccies and a cuppa by my side!  Molly's nose twitches hopefully every time the box is opened, I think she's disgusted with us that we're not sharing the goodies.

I've used this oldie stamp from Gummiapan and paper pieced his outfit - I am amazed that this scrap lasted this long as it was the circular cut out from this card from 2021!!  For my background I used a heart diecut as my stencil.  Clear gloss added to the eyes and teeth and lots of glitter to the balloon.  Inside it just reads 'ME' and a big diecut heart.

Colour theme from CAS Colours & sketches #530

Addicted to CAS #251 - heart

Snippets Playground #473

Make My Monday #219 - love

Cardz 4 Guys #340 - love

Andrew's wedding card and Jack's birthday

 Hi all, here this evening with yet more special request cards.  This wedding one is for a workmate and I've included his lovely little doggy on it too.  And yes, they do all have the same colour of hair LOL

Image is an oldie from Lili of the Valley and the puppy is from Eat Cake Graphics. Computer generated sentiment.

Simon Says Stamp Monday - text it 

Word Art Wednesday 617/618 - anything goes 

And this one is for a friend of mum's for her grandson.  Image from Penny Black.  I've used some bronze shiny card for the diecuts.  Background stencilled and bear popped up on foam pads.  The first effort at this was completely different and I didn't like the finished version, but at least I was able to cut out the bear and reuse him!

Penny Black Saturday October - anything goes (not sure why, but Inlinkz wouldn't give me the option to link the right card)

Some special request cards for Jennifer, Ruth and Myrtle

 Hi all.  I'm here this evening with some special request cards, which you know I love to make.  Not. 😉

So first up, a Ruby Anniversary card.  I knew my stamps would be too big for all the words I needed to add so had my first go at printing a sentiment after designing it in Canva.  If I was making it again I might print it a tad smaller.  Penny Black stamp, coloured with polychromos, and popped up on foam pads

(For my own records I made one the same as Jennifer's card for Alan + Alison)

• Penny Black Saturday July - the great outdoors/ anything goes 
• Addicted to Stamps #451 - make your mark 

Next, a wedding card.  This Lili of the Valley stamp does all the hard work - I just added a sparkly heart and strip and some clear gloss to the roses.

• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - anything goes 

And finally, and I think this one's my favourite, an 80th birthday, using another Penny Black stamp.  This took quite a bit of faffing and this is actually version #3! Thankfully I've learnt my lesson about not sticking things down till I'm happy 🤣

• AAA Birthday #51 - butterflies 
• Word Art Wednesday #605/606 - anything goes 

Greg's Valentine

 Hi all! Popping by tonight with Greg's Valentine, I'm ahead of the game for a change!  I've used my Penny Black stamp again - I added gloss to all the balloons bar one and when they'd dried I glossed up the last and dropped in lots of glitter.  I used my hearts die (from MFT I think) as a stencil to make the background and some of the wee offcuts as embellishments.

JUGS #619 - make your own stencil using a diecut

Cardz 4 Guys #289 - love cards

Penny Black Saturday February - love is in the air

CAS on Friday #224 - male

Greg's Valentine's card

 Hi all, hope you had a good St Valentine's Day yesterday and that you got well and truly spoiled... and if you didn't I hope you spoiled yourself!!   I've no complaints as I got lovely flowers and choccies and a lovely meal made, but still managed to treat myself to some new Colorado Crafts stamps 😉

This was Greg's card, as usual not a lovely dovey one!   My critters are from an older MFT set and the greenery from various flower dies.  I've used 2 stencils on my background but it doesn't show well in my pic - a sunburst stencil and a waves one too - and then added some blue splatters for good measure!   I love how it turned out 😃

• Cut It Up #219 - all you need is love
• As You Like It - clear or rubber stamps - I prefer clear as they're so easy to use with my stamping platform
• Moving Along with the Times #127 - valentine/love

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

Love bunny and a confused penguin

Such a bright beautiful winter's day we had today, the sun was splitting the trees, so it was nice to get all wrapped up and get to the local park for a dander.  I couldn't believe how much their daffodils are up already! It was Ruby's first outing after a surprise visit to the vets on Thursday to get 4 teeth out, poor wee thing. But she's back to her old self now, and woofing down her dinner :)

This first card uses some real old oldies - I'm not even entirely sure how ancient my Whipper Snapper bunny is!  I've also used a partial sentiment from an old Paper Smooches set and for some reason my MFT heart die rarely gets an outing!
Coloured with polychromos, sparkle added to the big heart and clear gloss to his nose.

• Layout based on CAS(e) This Sketch #355
• Crafty Cardmakers #248 - anything goes
• Creative Inspirations January - I've gone for the 'something old'

This card got a wee bit confused in the making!  It started off as a penguin based one for the Christmas Kickstart challenge, and this little penguin was the one I chose.  So then I thought my boozing buddy would be perfect for the 'cheers' challenge over at MFT Birthday and I thought I could make it that it could also double as a winter birthday card. But now I'm not sure it actually looks like either a Christmas card or a birthday card!!  Maybe it's more of a Thank You for after Christmas?

• Christmas Kickstart #27 - penguin parade
• MFT Birthday Project - cheers to the New Year
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - use a stencil

October calendar and a pink wedding

We had a lovely bright sunny day today - a great day for getting my washing dried outside and ousting the dust bunnies from inside!  So as I was a good busy girl all day I'd no qualms about getting crafty all evening ;)  I had a serious loss of mojo recently (too busy in work combined with a stinker of a cold) so it was good to get colouring again.

 Here's Mum's calendar page, actually early for a change!  I've used my little bee again from Tracey Hey at Alpaca Pals - it's hard to remember sometimes what stamps I've used on her calendar pages so I usually use my most recent one!  Coloured with polychromos - glitter added to his wings and gloss to his nose and to the hearts.  Background chalked up with my hexagon stencil.

• Penny Black and More September - animals
• Simon Says Stamp Monday - stitch it
• Papercraft challenge #46 - no design paper

This one is a special request - and yes, I have checked that Alex is a girl LOL

I've used my good old Lily of the Valley stamp - coloured with polychromos and clear gloss added to her roses.

If I was making this again I would have moved the 'congratulations' down a wee hair, my spacing isn't quite right.  Silver hearts from stash.

• Simon Says Stamp Work it Wednesday Aug/Sept - celebrate
• Moving along with the Times #107 - wedding
• Word Art Wednesday #405-407 - anything goes

Some watery cards

We'd a real mad day for weather today, one minute it was streaming sunshine and the next lashing rain!  Poor Rubydoo was in and out like a yoyo, as was my washing!  Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day :)

Anyway, I was very lucky to win some $$ from a recent MFT challenge and this Friends with Fins set was one of the goodies I chose.  Mind you, by the time Customs got the hold of them I probably ended up paying nearly as much as they actually cost.  Grr.  Anyway, I love them, so it doesn't matter.

I've masked off my BG and used this Simon Says Stamp stencil to simulate the water.  My whale is coloured with polychromos and popped up on foam pads.

• Simon Says Stamp Monday - midsummer blues
• Your Next Stamp Fun Friday #120 - thank you
• Layout from CAS(e) This Sketch #335

This one uses a very old Penny Black stamp dated 2005, I'd been hunting for one with water in it and this was the only one I could find.

I die cut a couple of rows of hearts (I think this die is from MFT) and then popped up a couple of the leftover bits.  

• Penny Black Saturday - water
• Layout from Tuesday Morning Sketches #516
• Retro Rubber challenge #117 - anything goes

Love is in the air

I do struggle with Valentine's cards, so this set from Stampin Up is an old favourite!

I've coloured my fish with purple and pink polychromos and then blended it out with Gamsol, but I think I prefer the non-blended look.  I added some sparkle to the fish and heart and clear gloss to his eyes.  My wavy background also uses a metallic ink pad so it's lovely and sparkly :)
My scribble swirls are an MFT die.

• Layout from Atlantic Hearts #303
• Creatalicious #156 - love / hearts
• Daisy Chain #27 - have a heart
• Crafters Castle #14 - Valentine

Daily Marker 30 day colouring challenge

And this one is Greg's Valentine card.  I'm not adding it to any challenges as it's 100% inspired by Inge's card here but I just wanted to keep a record so he doesn't get something the same for next year.  

Who am I kidding eh?  He would NEVER remember LOL ;)

Greg's Birthday card and a Love Bunny

We'd a big Birthday weekend as my beloved turned 60!  I always struggle with men's cards as 99.9% of my stamps are all cuties, so this was as butch as I was able to go!  My cake and star dies are both from Gummiapan (at Swedish House Crafts).  I smooched the background and then went over the top with a star stencil and then added some silver stars for good measure ;)

• Love to Scrap #118 - monochrome
• Crafty Catz #447 - lots of layers
• Your Next Stamp Fun Friday #106 - colours of winter

And from a blue card to a pink one!  I think this bunny is an oldie Whipper Snapper - coloured with polycromos again and some sparkle added to the heart; clear gloss and glitter added to his nose and the sentiment.  Not sure of the make of the stencil.

• Simon Says Stamp Monday - love is in the air
• Word Art Wednesday #372/373 - anything goes
• Creatalicious #156 - anything goes, option hearts

Daily Marker 30 day colouring challenge

Silly Simon

Ooooh I'm in love!  I came across Jane's Doodles stamps on a recent hop and couldn't resist a wee order!  I love the pure silliness of this set (called 'Simon')  I'd been lacking mojo recently, so this was just what the Craft Doctor ordered!  I reckon I need to get another wee order in before Brexit comes and knackers our customs and God knows what else!

Coloured with watercolour pencils.  MFT wonky circles die.

• Layout from Sketch Saturday #525
• Sweet Stampin - travel
• Crafty Calendar August - dots and stripes
• Die Cuttin Divas #380 - anything goes.

This card just makes me smile.  It features the seagull dude and smiley fish from the same set.  Burlap stamp from Swedish House Crafts and then blue splatters added.  Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy.

• AAA Cards #121 - friendship
• Word Art Wednesday #346/347 - anything goes
• Penny Black and More August - I spy - B = burlap
• Stamping Sensations August - your 'current' favourite challenge (this made me laugh, my newest set is always my favourite LOL)

Weddings and flowers

Well I had a nice couple of days off work, we've been busy out in the garden finishing off our new fence and then I taught myself how to re-grout paving (yay for YouTube!) so I've been doing that too.  I'd make a good builder's mate if I wasn't so knackered! At least it's a bit cooler than it was, much easier to work in.  Anyway back to my real work today for a wee rest hahaha - don't tell my boss I said that ;)

I've quite a few special orders in that I need to get cracking on, and this wedding one is the first.  I just kept it nice and simple using this oldie from Art Gone Wild.  Coloured with watercolour pencils, clear gloss added to their beaks, and sparkle to his grey jacket.  Love my little flower die from Gummiapan.  Red heart sequin from stash.

• My Time to Craft #375 - Wedding
• Simply Create Too #140 - no patterned DP
• Penny Black and More July - things with wings

This one uses my new flower stamp from Impression Obsession.
I went over the flowers with my clear sparkle pen, and then got a bit carried away and added clear gloss and glitter to the flower centres too!  Fussy cut and mounted on foam pads.  Brick stencil for background and then lots of clear bling to finish.

• Simon Says Stamp Monday - add a little sparkle
• Allsorts #476/477 - flowers all over
• 
  

The Hobbit and a Golden Anniversary

I'd spotted on Dotty Jo's blog a new challenge - based on library books.  I'm a huge fan of our local library - I go through about a book a week on the bus to work, so if I was paying for them they'd cost me a small fortune!!

Anyway, challenge #2 at the Library Challenge is The Hobbit and I just had to play along!  I did it in school and I think I almost lost the will to live. It probably didn't help either that it was about 9000 pages long and it instilled in me a lifelong dislike for fantasy books.  I've even tried watching the movie - I mean, how could you not love a film with gorgeous eye candy like Orlando Bloom, Aidan Quinn, and the rest!  But no.  I'd nearly rather clean the oven.

I didn't have any spare hobbits in my stash, reckon this gnomey dude from Paper Smooches is the closest I was going to get ;)
MFT village die.  Coloured with watercolour pencils.  Gnome popped up on foam pads.

• Simon Says Stamp Work it Wednesday February - green
• Layout from Sketch Saturday #504
• Simply Create #136 - use green
• Happy Little Stampers March Watercolour challenge - anything goes, option - home

And following on from yesterday's silver anniversary, we have a Golden one (for their parents!!)
I've used my gorgeous sparkly card again and kept the sameish layout as my Mother's Day card.  Image from LOTV coloured with watercolour pencils and popped up on foam pads.  Personalised by adding their names to the book.

• Make My Monday #66 - gold or silver
• Addicted to Stamps #282 - make your mark
• Crafty Creations #361 - anything goes
• Crafty Catz #407 - layer it up

Mother's Day & Silver Anniversary

Well it's been an icky damp old day today, but at least the birdies think that Spring is on it's way ... the blackbirds out our back garden were having a great sing off earlier!

So it's Mother's Day tomorrow - this is card #2 for my Mum.  I decided I didn't like my first effort so made this one instead!
I've used a LOTV image - I'm gutted that they're going digital as I LOVE their stamps.  Coloured with watercolour pencils and clear gloss added to the flowers.  MFT heart die.

• Heart die / layout based on Anita's card over at the Muse challenge #256
• Fab'n Funky #384 - Mother's Day
• Creative Kockouts #235 - dies / punches
• Cute Card Thursday #520 - Mothers

This one's a special request.  Hmmm, not sure about it!  I've been struggling with my mojo and think this might be one of the dodgy ones ;)

It's maybe because I tried to squeeze the names into the design?

Love my sparkly silver card though!

Image is an oldie from Art Gone Wild.












Oops, just realised that I forgot to add in some shading to my birdies after the base layer. 

• Make My Monday #66 - gold or silver
• Time Out #104 - bold