Spring flowers calendar

Well I hadn't decided what to spend my $50 winnings on at Simon Says Stamp until I made this card.  I made a hash of stamping the yellow flowers and had to stamp them again over the top, so my winnings are going on one of the new Tim Holtz stamping platforms!  Well I always figure a 'present' should be something you would never buy yourself, and I would never have spent so much on something that wasn't a stamp or dies!
Anyway, I was so late with Mum's calendar page last month (I was at least a week late!) that I thought I'd get ahead of myself with February.  I used my Simon Says Stamp flowers and coloured them in nice bright colours to look like crocus blooms.  Coloured with watercolour pencils and then I went over my flowers with my clear glitter pen to give them a nice shimmer.  I've used my lovely MFT alpha set again, reckon this one is going to be a firm favourite!

• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - anything but a card
• Word Art Wednesday #266/267 - anything goes
• CASology #233 - glisten
• Power and Spark - Winter blooms
• Crafty Calendar January - something new (my alpha set)

Some good news and Xmas Card #1

I've had 2 lots of great crafty news today!  First off I woke up and found that I was this week's Featured Stamper over at Splitcoaststampers!  I've played in this challenge for years, so I can't wait to see what everyone creates!  If you're on Splitcoast, I'd love it if you played along too :)
AND I won the Be Square challenge at Simon Says Stamp with this card, so I've a $50 dollar spending spree coming up! Yippee! :) :) :)

It's been such Brrrrr chilly weekend that I was inspired to make my first Christmas card of 2017!  I've used Snowman (assembled) from Eat Cake Graphics, and my gorgeous new alpha set from MFT.  I'd been on the lookout for a 'grown up' alpha set for such a long time, that as soon as I saw this one in their new release I had it in my shopping basket!  I inked up my background and added some Paper Smooches snowflakes cut from a snippet of silver card that was knocking round my table.  Sparkle added to the snowman's hat and scarf, and clear gloss to his nose and buttons.

• The Craft Barn - song challenge
• Pixies Snippets Playground - weeks 265/266
• Simon Says Stamp Monday - chill out
• Die Cuttin Divas #300 - silver and blue
• AAA Cards #82 - Winter chill
• Retro Rubber #54 - let it snow (my snowman is over a year old)

Think Pink

Just a wee quickie card from me this evening.  It was a beautiful bright day and I was super busy, between shopping, housework, laundry, bathing the dog (and therefore cleaning the entire bathroom top to bottom!), and a wee Saturday snooze snuggled up with Ruby in between ;)

Anyway, this card uses these cuties from an older MFT set - coloured with watercolour pencils, fussy cut and popped up on dimensionals.  I also got out some of my old embossing folders, and this stencil was lying about my table so it got used too!

• Layout from MFT Wednesday Sketch Club #316
• CASology #232 - Cut
• The Card Concept #65 - I took my pink / orange / white / grey colour theme from the inspiration pic
• Word Art Wednesday #166/7 - anything goes
• Crafty Creations #333 - anything goes

Engagement in blue

Ack I'm struggling with my mojo this evening, this card took aaaaages to make and it's so simple!
Anyway, I've used my new Stamping Bella wedding stamp - Aileen (who has a fab blog, you should pop over!) gave me the suggestion that this could be used as an Engagement card if you colour the dress differently.  I had a scrap of blue card on my table, so blue it was!  (though I do wish I'd got up off my butt and got a better colour to work with!)
Coloured with watercolour pencils, and I used my clear glitter pen on the ruffle bit at the bottom.  Clear gloss and glitter on the roses, some splatters and a bit of bling and that's it!

• Layout from CAS(e) this Sketch #205
• Crafty Catz #354 - anything goes monochrome twist
• Simply Create Too #123 - new beginnings
• Cute Card Thursdays #461 - cool colours
• Word Art Wednesday #266/7 - anything goes

A kitty and a coffee

LOL I could do with a week off work to get my stash up to date, it's a bit sad looking after the Christmas rush!

This first one is a real quickie using Kitty Sebastian has very long whiskers from Eat Cake Graphics.
I coloured him with watercolour pencils and then added in some highlights with a regular pencil.  It's not too often my cats turn out well, but I'm lovin this guy!  Oh and bonus points for me for using some oooooooold DP!

• Penny Black at Allsorts January - anything goes
• Sugar Pea Designs #27 - anything goes
• Penny's challenge #311 - anything goes

This one is for a friend of my Mum - she's a great one for going out for coffee so I thought this old LOTV stamp would be perfect!

I also used my Lawn Fawn cloud die on this one for the fancy border.

Coloured with watercolour pencils.  Clear gloss added to the tea set and gold sequins from stash.  Simon Says sentiment die.

• Colour theme from Cupcake Inspirations #390
• Simon Says Stamp Monday - chill out
• CASual Fridays #165 - everything turns to gold
• Inky Chicks #77 - anything goes

Big birthday wishes

Wow, half way through the month already ... January always seems to be a bit of a long stretch, and an even longer stretch to Pay Day!  Anyway, it's reminder time over at Naughty or Nice - this month's theme is 'new' - so new baby, new job, new stash, etc.  Add your card over at the blog and have a peep at the Troublemakers' creations.

For my card I've used some new stash ... this fab birthday image from Penny Black :)

Coloured with watercolour pencils, sparkle added to the icing, and clear gloss to the candles.  I inked up my BG and then added a few splatters for good measure.

• Simon Says Stamp Monday - be square
• Crafty Calendar January - something new 
• Penny Black and More January - anything goes
• Dream Valley #147 - something new

A summer lolly and some bouncing

Well our weathermen were proved to be over-excitable as usual, the 'snow storm' turned out to be about an inch that's been since washed away by the rain ;)  Rubydoo LOVES the snow and had a great time sticking her head in it and having a good roll, but I can't say it's that much fun trying to get the snow dried off her - it sticks to her wee short legs like solid clumps of cotton wool!

So for a taste of summer, I've used this cute set from MFT.  I popped my little penguin up on dimensionals and added some sparkle to his shorts and to his lollypop.  I also decoupaged the leaves.  Gold peel off line and some matching gold sequins to finish.

• Layout from MFT Wednesday Sketch Club #315
• Inspiration Destination #119 - anything goes
• Allsorts #398 - wings on things (though now I think of it, do penguins have 'wings'? Maybe they're flippers?) 
• CASual Fridays #165 - everything turns to gold

I always love to colour these Tiddly Inks stamps, they have the most fabulous hairdo's!  I've always fancied having long hair, but I've always been a shortie and even when I try to grow it, it's no length before I get it whacked off again!

Coloured with watercolour pencils and I added in more highlights to her hair with ordinary pencils.  Clear gloss added to the pogo stick.

• Layout from Freshly Made Sketches #270
• As you like it - favourite hair colour - brown is my 'go to' colour and this one's quite like mine, so I'd say this is 'Dark Natural Blonde' ... or at least that's what it says on the bottle anyway hahahaha
• Sugar Pea Designs #27 - anything goes
• Get creative #54 - anything goes