Mousey Birthday

Today, while watching Wimbledon, I made this card using some mousey stamps I had for one of my birthday presents

The image was stamped in black and coloured with my Aqua Painter, and cut out with a Nestie. I made two embossed lines across the base and water coloured between them in blue with my AP, and stamped the sentiment underneath. The label was added on 3D Pads and pearls scattered on the cupcake.

I am also entering it in these challenges

The sketch is from Try Stampin' on Tuesday and they want to see something that makes you happy...........well that would be CUPCAKES then!

CAS Colours and Sketches have these lovely colours,

and, Less is More want a CAS card using WATERCOLOURS

Supplies :
Card = Wisteria Wonder, Whisper White, and white base FMS
Stamps = Madison Avenue, Express Yourself, and House Mouse
Inks = Black Archival, Wisteria Wonder, Coastal Cabana, and Crisp Cantaloupe
Tools = Big Shot, Nestabilities, Embossing Board, Aqua Painter, and Stamp-a-ma-jig
Extras = 3D Pads and Pearl Gems

Thanks for dropping by, and I hope you enjoy the tennis.

Fabulous Flowers

My card today is for two challenges

The first is ColourQ with these juicy colours,

and secondly, Mojo Monday with this sketch

This is what I made

                                                                

I randomly stamped the flowers and leaf background on the white base, and on the right hand side, finished it with some red embossed card wrapped in ribbon, and two Nesties cut in half. The green leaves were stamped on the Nestie square, with the centre ones raised on 3D pads. Two red flowers were added with their centres on 3D pads, and the other flower was stamped in Versamark on Coral card, and heat embossed with white powder to give it white edges like the others when cut out. The finishing touch was the butterfly with a Gem body on the panel.

Supplies :

Card = Poppy Parade, Calypso Coral, Tempting Turquoise, Whisper White, and white base FMS

Stamps = Fabulous Florets, and Papillon Potpourri

Inks = Poppy Parade, Gumball Green, Calypso Coral, Tempting Turquoise, and Black

Tools = Big Shot, Nestabilities, Fancy Fan EF, Bitty and Elegant Butterfly Punches

Extras = 3D Pads, Ribbon, and Gems 

Thanks for dropping by, and I'll be back soon

Blue Butterfly

My second card today, is a One Layer card that I've made for two challenges.

The first is Less is More, where I had miss read that the rules of a COLOURED CARD BLANK was also supposed to be ONE LAYER,

and the second is this colour combo from Dynamic Duos who are celebrating their first Anniversary

Here it is

The card was embossed with a double line frame around the edge, and then the butterfly and sentiment stamped within them. I find it very difficult to stop at just one layer, as I'm always tempted to add ribbons or embellishments, but you sometimes need to be tested outside your comfort zone!

Supplies :

Card = Pool Party base FMS

Stamps = Swallowtail and Verve

Inks = Island Indigo

Tools = Embossing tool and board FMS

Hope to be back soon with the other makes from today

Baby Bears

Hi Everyone, for today's card, I've fallen slightly off the SU waggon and used some bear stamps that I had forgotten about until I found them stuffed in a drawer while tidying up my study a few weeks ago.

Anyway, I will be entering it into two challenges,


 The first is Try Stampin' on Tuesday where they have this sketch,

and,  Friday Mash Up where they want a project for a Baby, and/ or, use the colours from the photo

 ( Real Red, So Saffron, Pool Party, and Neutral )




I've mixed all three to make this card

I first stamped the bears ( named Bubble and Squeak ) onto white card with Black Archival ink, and coloured them with a brown SU Write Marker, spreading the ink with an Aqua painter. The present holding bear stamp is actually holding up a flower, but I stamped a present first, masked it with a Post It, and then stamped the bear under it so it looks like it is supposed to have a gift in its paws. Once dry, these were layered onto red card, and then onto some Saffron card that was embossed with dots and stuck onto a white card base. The BABY letters and present were coloured using Write markers.

Supplies :

Card = So Saffron, Real Red, White card and base FMS

Stamps = Daisy and Dandelion, Alphabet Squares FMS, and Verve sentiment

Inks = Real Red, Pool Party, So Saffron, and Crumb Cake

Tools = Big Shot, Dots EF, and Stamp-a-ma-jig

Extras = Post It, Ribbon, and 3D pads

My Sister, Cassy, is due to have her first baby in April, so this card may come in handy ( if she doesn't see it on my blog that is! ). I will be an Aunt again for the third time, and I'm quite excited to find out whether it'll be a boy or girl!........Not long to go now Cass!!

Well I hope you've all had a good weekend, as mine was spent not far from the bathroom with an upset stomach ( hope that's not too much information? ). I am feeling slightly better today, but I'm just a bit tired.

Be back soon

Watch the Birdie!

This is my second card for today, and I'm putting it into the following challenges,

First is Stampin' Royalty with this sketch,

secondly, Color Throwdown with these
juicy colours,

and lastly CAS-ual Fridays who want to see stamped backgrounds




This is what I made

I made the bird background by punching the shape out of some scrap card, and randomly sponging So Saffron through the bird shaped hole. I then inked up a swirly flourish ( with Crumb Cake ) and stamped this through the hole as well, and this left a filigree shaped bird design. The same flourish was stamped in pink and green onto white card, and again punched with the bird shape. I love doing this technique and really must use it more. The birds were placed on pink card over a branch coloured with a green Write Marker, topped with the wings that were placed on 3D pads. These toppers were then mounted onto cream card which had an embossed line down down each side, and pink scallop border peeping from underneath each edge.

Supplies :
Card = So Saffron, Melon Mambo, White card and Cream card base FMS
Stamps = Always Elegant and Verve sentiment
Inks = Melon Mambo, So Saffron, Crumb Cake, Lucky Limeade, and Black
Tools = Big Shot, Nestabilities, Martha Stewart punch, SU Bird Punch, Embossing board and tool (FMS),
         and Post It Notes
Extras = 3D pads, and organza ribbon


Enjoy the rest of the weekend, and I hope to be back soon

Baby Blossom Inchies

Today it's done nothing but rain here, so I had the choice of housework or craft!!, of course I decided to do the chores (Not ), but I had to move my craft stuff first, and accidentally a card got created.   

I will be entering in to the Mojo Monday challenge where they have this sketch   

Here is my card

The rosette was made by scoring a strip of DSP (which also lies as the matt under the tiles ) at even intervals and concertina folding it into a circle and then the top edge was flattened and secured in the centre.

I love pinks/reds and greens colour combo's. What do you think?

Recipe :

Card = Very Vanilla, Pear Pizzazz , and cream card base from my stash

Stamps = Baby Blossoms, and Basic Phrases

Inks = Calypso Coral, Melon Mambo, and Pear Pizzazz

Tools = Big Shot, Nestabilities, Stamp-a-ma-jig, Embossing board and tool, and Marianne die

Extras = SU DSP, and green ribbon from my stash.

Thanks for looking today, and Thank you to all you kind bloggers who leave me your lovely comments.

I'm back to "Mum sitting" tomorrow, and poor Angela starts Radiotherapy on Tuesday so I don't know when I'll get chance to craft again, so please bear with me, and I'll be back asap.

Let it Snow!

Brrrrrrrrr!!! What a cold wet day outside, thank goodness I'm still putting my decorations up indoors. Now you may think that my house must look like Santa's grotto, but watch out for the photos at the end of my post and see for yourself.

Today, I've only had time for a quick card that is for the  Less is More challenge  and they want a 

ONE LAYER CARD

       This time our theme is

       Let it Snow!

So out came my snowflake stamps and sponges, and this is what I came up with

I stamped the snowflakes in Versamark across the top of the square card, and heat embossed them with white powder. The same was done with the sentiment. I then embossed 2 lines across the middle of the card and covered them with Post Its before sponging over the top area with blue inks. Gems were added for a little bit of bling.

Recipe :

Card = Whisper White

Stamps = Inkadinkado, and my stash

Inks = Versamark, Bashful Blue, and Brilliant blue

Tools = Heat gun and embossing tool

Extras = White embossing powder and gems


Thanks to my RA it takes me sooo long to do what takes a normal person only a few hours!!! but I think it makes my room look festive even if it does cause me pain to do it. 
Here is my traditional red tree ( and I've just noticed the strange pale patch on the dining room curtains, and if it's not the reflection of the camera flash from the large mirror, it's a ghost ??)

and this is my fireplace, minus the large red baubles (which I hang from the top of the garland swag, and I think must still be in the loft) and the coals from the fire as Monty likes to steal them and hide them under the dining table!!



Tomorrow I'm off to Jacqueline's to play and it may be my last chance to go round before Christmas, so I'd better get my crafting stuff ready.

Thanks for dropping by and I hope you'll call again soon.

Snowmen Smiles

Today, I've put my Christmas icicles and lights up outside, and I still have to put my indoor tree up and decorate it, but I can't get in the festive spirit yet, so I've made a card instead.

I will be entering it into the Friday Mashup challenge where they want snowmen, the colour palette of Blushing Bride, Baja Breeze, and Basic Grey, or both the snowmen and the colours.

I will also put it into the The Paper Players challenge where they are looking for a Christmas project with non holiday stamps or colours.



So here is my card with Snowmen in non traditional colours, what do you think??

I started with a white card and rounded the corners before randomly stamping snowflakes in pink and blue. I then used the BS to cut 2 Sizzix Snowmen, 1 grey and 1 blue label, and embossed the grey label with dotty snowflakes. The labels were layered, white stitches drawn on, and wrapped with a ribbon and placed on the card. The snowmen were coloured with SU write markers and had Cosmic Twinkles added before they were placed on the labels. Finally, the greeting was stamped in Versamark on blue card, heat embossed with white powder, and stuck on 3D pads between the snowmen.

Recipe :

Card = Pool Party ( I don't have Baja Breeze), Basic Grey, and White card from my stash

Stamps = Snowflakes and sentiment from a kit I've had for too long to remember where from

Inks = Blushing Bride, Pool Party, and Versamark

Tools = Big Shot, Sizzix snowman die and Texture plates, SB nestabilities labels, Heat gun, and Xcut corner rounder

Extras = Pro Markers, Cosmic Twinkles, Ribbon (coloured with Blushing Bride marker), White gel pen, and 3D pads.

Thanks for dropping by today, and I hope you liked my card.

I must let you all know that I'm having Internet problems at the moment, so if I go AWOL again it's because of that...........fingers crossed it will be ok till the new year.



Christmas in August

Hello, that's another week gone, and another week closer to Christmas, so I thought I'd better make a start on my festive cards.


Over at Clean and Simple they have joined up with Jingle belles rock this week and Christmas is also in their minds, and they have given us this sketch as a starting point. I decided to flip it onto its side for my project.




 Cas-ual Fridays challenge is to use any type of embossing, dry embossing, heat embossing or embossing folders




Combining these 2 challenges, I came up with this CAS card

I started with a white card, and used a punch to create a border in gold card, on which I layered some red card that had been through a swirl embossing folder in the BS. I then heat embossed 3 Wise men that had been stamped onto silk card and cut it with a label die before mounting on gold card also cut with a label die. I then stamped the North Star onto silk card and heat embossed it. The Star and Wise men label were stuck with 3D pads to give added dimension. For the sentiment and small stars I've used gold Peel offs as stamping on the embossed card distorted the words.


Recipe : Card = White and gold card from stash, SU Poppy Parade, and Clarity silk card
Stamps = Clarity
Inks = Versamark
Tools = Big Shot, SB Labels nestabilities, Cuttlebug Swirl embossing folder, Martha Stewart punch
Extras = gold embossing powder and gold peel offs from stash.



Sadly I've not had much time for any crafting again this week and I've had a busy weekend as we did a car boot on Saturday. It wasn't as busy as 2 weeks ago when Mum and Ali did their first one, but then the weather was a bit unpredictable with dark black clouds one minute and then blue sky and hot sun the next. I hadn't realised how strong the sun was until that night when I took my wrist splints off and saw that I had tan lines!!! I now look like I've got white fingerless gloves on ( the photo doesn't show it very well, but I'm sure you get the giste)

Well that's it for now, Thanks for stopping by and I'll be back soon.

Neapolitan inspired

Well it's Scorchio again today,so I'm in my usual position in front of the TV watching Wimbledon, but in an attempt to keep cool I bravely ventured out to the garage to the freezer ( something I don't do very often  due to all the huge hairy spiders that live in there!!),where I spied my inspiration for the colours in  today's challenge over at Clean and Simple Stamping.

Neapolitan ice cream brown,pink,and cream.

I started with a vanilla card from my stash,and then used some SU Chocolate Chip card (which I passed through the BS in a Cuttlebug swirl embossing folder) and Apricot Appeal to make the central panel which was edged with a MS punched   border. My BS and dies again came into use to cut the two smaller flowers and six scalloped circles to make the chrysanthemum out of SU Pretty In Pink.The cream flower centers were punched in SU So Saffron,and topped with gems.The Fiskars sentiment was stamped in CChip.

Take a look,and please let me know what you think

Well that's me for today,tomorrow is coffee and crafting at Jacqueline's so I may have done a card, or I may not have had the time!!!!...............please pop back to see if I was successful.

Thanks for all your lovely comments over the last few weeks, I really do appreciate the time you fellow crafters take to voice your opinions on my work.

Enjoy the sun and the tennis if you can.

Pastel Double

Well I've packed the folks off on their holiday, so I've rushed home to get another challenge done before I run out of time to enter. This card is a double whammy......the colours are inspired by Stampin Royalty and the layout by Pals Paper Arts challenges.

   

I started with 5" x 5" SU Whisper White card and layered it with a square of Pretty In Pink that was embossed in a Budding Vine folder in the BS. I then used a MS punch to make the card ribbon in Bashful Blue.Blush Blossom card was cut with the square SB Shapeabilitie and Orchid Opulence ink used  to stamp the flower from Garden Silhouettes in its center.The rosette was made with the BS in OOpulence, PIPink, and BBlossom, and Woodware sentiment stamped in OOpulence. The flowers and rosette were highlighted with pink and lilac gems.

I hope you like it.

That's it from me for now,but please come back when you have a chance to, and if you've got time, please leave me your comments.

Thanks very much, Bev.x

Bev.x

DIY Embossing Folder

Nice Duck weather again today!! so I'm just going to have to have another crafting play day..........this is one of the benefits of living alone I love !!

Anyway,I saw this technique on UTube a few weeks ago and just had to have a go.
First I got a piece of cardboard that was parcel packaging I had saved from awhile ago( about double the thickness of a cereal box),and cut it to 12"x15" and folded it in half. I then used a small butterfly punch to cut lots of shapes and stuck them to one side of the card with a glue stick.

The width of 6" is as wide as the platform for the Big Shot,if your embossing unit is different you may need to adjust the width to fit your machine.

Once the glue had dried I sandwiched some SU Real Red card in between the folder with the butterflies on the bottom, and put it through my Big Shot.The first attempt wasn't very good as the card was quite thick,so I put it through again but used the Tan Embossing mats in the sandwich mix and it came out a treat. See here

I then made a card using a large label BS die to cut the butterfly embossed card, and mounted it on a cream card from my stash that had been stamped with the flower from Organic Grace in Crushed Curry.I used a white gel pen to add some faux stitches and wrapped a ribbon from my stash around the bottom half of the label (I forgot to say this was done before it was stuck on the card, sorry) adding a bow to secure the tag printed with a CCurry Woodware sentiment. I them stamped a CCurry butterfly from Inkadinkado and stuck it above the ribbon,finishing it off with some gems for the body and white gel pen to draw some antennae.Take a look

I would think you could do this with any punched shape, so I would be interested to know what you have used if you decide to give it a try.

Good luck and enjoy playing because I certainly did.............Monty wasn't too impressed though as I was taking up quite a bit of his side of the sofa!!

Thanks for dropping by and hope you'll come back again soon. Bev.x

Whimsical Wings

Hi everybody, it's another nice day.....if you're a duck!!!, so I'll just have to do some crafting indoors. I popped over to CAS-ualfridays blog, and what a challenge they have set today.

You had to choose 3 squares in a row vertically,horizontally,or diagonally, and make a card using whatever was displayed in those squares.  I decided to go diagonally from top right hand square ( emboss ), to bottom left hand square ( buttons) through the centre ( dies or punch).

I dug out one of my old favourite SU sets,Whimsical wings,and stamped the bird and flower image in Vibrant Primary colour Big n' Juicy ink onto SU Whisper White card, and then heat embossed it with clear embossing powder. I then put this image through my Big Shot with a scalloped circle die and embossed that. This was then mounted onto a square of turquoise card from my stash which had been through the Big Shot in a Cottage Floral embossing folder and I rounded the corners before mounting on a WW 6"x 6" card. The circle was stuck down off center so that a Woodware greeting could be stamped in the same ink pad onto a smaller scalloped circle of  WW, and placed in the bottom corner,above which I placed 3 blue buttons ( there is some string tied in a bow through the middle one). See what you think, sadly it's not easy to see the heat embossed image in the photo.

It's been a disapointing day in the tennis today because of the weather, but luckily the Grand Prix is in Canada this weekend so it should not be affected...........thank goodness!!

I may do some more playing soon so please pop back if you can spare the time and have a look.

Thanks very much for your time and comments. Bev.x