A spoonful of sugar etc & guest designer news!

Well, I've had a busy few days getting organised for my eldest son's birthday, which was on Sunday, so this is the first chance I've had to upload this card. It's one that I made for my mum to give to Morgan for his birthday, following the sketch at A Spoonful of Sugar and it also fits the challenges at Charisma Cardz (Get Sporty) and Three Clovers (use a number). The image is from Digistamp Boutique, coloured with promarkers. I'm not sure where the papers are from, they've been stuck in a drawer for ages. The sentiment is computer generated - my printer has strangely started printing in red instead of black but luckily that fit quite well with this card! I coloured a strip of tulle with a blue promarker, and then added a number 7 (computer generated again) covered in red glitter, some gems and a button tied with thread.

I'm feeling a little stressed at the moment and some more hours in the day would be nice! I love getting orders, but I wonder why I can go a while with hardly any and then all of a sudden I have so many I don't know what to do first! And I only have a small amount of time each day, when my youngest son goes for his nap, and whatever time I manage to get in the evenings. I wish I was a quicker crafter but unfortunately I'm quite slow! On top of all my orders, Pav's work have been asking for some good luck cards to go in my box there, for people who are leaving... I'm trying not to panic!

I have some fab news that I'm really excited about - I was asked at the weekend if I'd like to be November's guest designer at Inspirational Card Sketches. I've been really disappointed to miss out on a few DT spots lately and have decided to give up applying for a little while as I'm starting to think I'm rubbish! So it's nice to know I'll have a whole month on the ICS team, I love working to sketches so I can't wait!

CPS Sketches & Cupcake Craft

Sorry, not the best picture again - I really want a daylight lamp! This one is for CPS Sketches following their sketch, and Cupcake Craft challenge which is 'distressing'.

This is for my son's 7th birthday, and for once I'm really happy with it - I know he's going to love it :o) I've used images from Mo's Digital Pencil and downloaded papers from Designs By Krista. I've used a large 8" square card, matted everything onto plain red card, lightly distressed all the papers and then used distress inks on the edges. The nestie circles are the same red card with lots of glamour dust! The sentiment is computer generated. It's not perfect, and I can see some things that could have been better, but it'll make Morgan smile and that's the main thing!

Felt like a change....

Decided to change my blog layout - I'm not very good at this sort of thing so I might need to play about with it a bit more! Is it ok? Feel free to let me know if I've made some obvious mistakes that I'm too technically challenged to notice :o)

Update - Aah... I've just realised I've managed to hide my followers list somehow, oops! Anyone know how I get that bit back? I said I was hopeless at this stuff lol.

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge 4

Here's my DT card for the 4th Crafty Cardmakers challenge, which is '3d elements'. Now I do the occasional bit of decoupage, by layering up parts of stamped images, but it's quite a long time since I've used a decoupage 'scene' in this way - WAY out of my comfort zone lol!

To be honest, once I'd done the actual decoupage bit - which is from the 'remember when' series which La Pashe have kindly let the DT play with - I didn't really know what to do with the rest of my card! So I decided, as the scene itself is quite large, I'd just keep the rest of my card quite simple. So I started with a large square card blank (8" square), used red coredinations and silver mirri card for my layers, added an embossed panel of mirri card (using the cuttlebug spots & dots embossing folder), and finished with some Craftwork Cards silver card candy dots.

The Fresh Batch etc

I seem to be taking ages to make cards at the moment - I sit in my craft room staring at papers, cutting things to size and then changing my mind, cutting something else and changing my mind again.... finally managed to finish something though! I've finished my Crafty Cardmakers DT card too, but I can't upload that one until tomorrow.

Anyway, this one is for the following challenges:

• The Fresh Batch (following their sketch)
• Secret Crafter (one for the girls)
• Stamp Something (use your favourite papers)
• Cupcake Craft (pearls & swirls)
• Papertake Weekly (faking it - I've used fake bows)
• Passion for Promarkers (polka dots)

The stamp is a Sugar Nellie, coloured with promarkers - I've cut it out and then stuck it (with foam pads) onto a nestie circle, which I've embossed with the cuttlebug divine swirls embossing folder, sanded back and then stuck on some flat backed pearls.

The paper is MME 'bloom & grow' which I seem to use on nearly every card at the moment! I've edged the paper with distress ink in 'shabby shutters', cardstock is coredinations. The orange spotty ribbon is from Hobbycraft, and as I'm hopeless at making 'real' bows, I've faked them.

I've not put a sentiment on yet, but I think I'll use this one for MIL's birthday in a few weeks.

ICS DT Call

Hmm, not my best card really is it? Or the best photo - the light's terrible today, I really want a daylight lamp! This one is for hubby's brother, and for the DT call at Inspirational Card Sketches. I seem to change style with each card at the moment, and this wasn't really what I had in mind when I started - it just sort of happened lol.

Anyway, the papers are My Mind's Eye 'bloom & grow', with coredinations cardstock. The 'happy birthday' sentiment is embossed and sanded back. I can't remember what brand the giraffe stamp is, but it's from Dies to Die For and was in a set called 'balloon animals' I think. I've glittered the giraffe's star with glamour dust for a bit of sparkle and did a bit of decoupage with the head, body and star, although I'm not sure if this really shows up in the pic. All edges have been lightly distressed and inked with distress inks. Finished off with some woodware buttons and tied some bazzill in stitch'z thread in a bow through the big button.

Sketch Saturday DT call

Sketch Saturday are looking for some new DT members so I thought I'd have a go! Fingers crossed!

I'd been asked for a special card for the daughter of my mum's partner so I thought I'd use this sketch and make an 8 x 8 card instead of my usual smaller square. He didn't really know what he wanted, just something girly and suitable for a 20yr old.

I've used an Anya stamp coloured with promarkers, My Mind's Eye paper (29th St Market) and coredinations cardstock embossed with the cuttlebug divine swirls embossing folder, sanded to reveal the paler colour core. I also used the swiss dots embossing folder for some of the smaller panels and for the flowers, which were cut with an x-cut punch. The flower centres are little silver bead caps, with pearls in the middle, and the leaves were cut with the woodware grass punch.

I've used a strip of lace along the bottom panel, which was originally white but didn't look right, so the lace is coloured with a ruby promarker! I've used the Martha Stewart scallop dot punch for the bottom edge. The sentiment is computer generated and cut out with label nesties, and then I've added tiny flowers cut with a small x-cut punch, with tiny pearl centres.

I decorated the inside too, but realised too late (after I'd handed it over!) that I'd forgotten to photograph the inside! Oh well, he was pleased with it anyway, hopefully his daughter will like it. I've added a few different pictures because I couldn't get one that I was really happy with, so I took some with flash and some without.

Top 3 at Pile It On

Wow, I've just noticed I got the 'top 3 scoops' at Pile It On for my 'brothers' card too. It's been a good weekend lol. Although I've been trying to finish a card to enter the DT call at Sketch Saturday for the last couple of days, it seems to be taking me ages to finish it. I doubt I've got much chance of getting on their DT but I thought I'd at least have a go. It would probably help if I stepped away from the computer for a little while.....

I made the top 5 at Allsorts!

How exciting, I made the top 5 at the Allsorts challenge for my 'brothers' card! There are some super talented people out there and I tend to think I'm not really good enough, so it's nice to get something like this. It's given me a bit of a confidence boost :o) Thank you Allsorts!

Brothers

This is my eldest son's birthday card from his brother, he'll be 7 at the end of the month and I'm actually being organised for once and getting it done a bit early. I still need to make him one from us though. Oh, and my mum asked me to make a card for her to give him too.

I've used a gorgeous image by Mo Manning which couldn't be more perfect if she'd drawn it especially for my boys! Honestly, it makes me well up a bit when I look at it, big softie aren't I? Morgan waited so long to be a big brother and there's been so much trauma and disappointment along the way, I'm so proud of him for the way he's got through it. They love each other to bits and Dex idolises him, and they can often be found looking at books together, Dex pointing and Morgan naming everything for him. There's even a duck in the picture book which is Dex's latest obsession - he's constantly pointing in books and shouting 'dooo' (duck) and 'wack wack' (quack quack lol).

I tried something different with this and to be honest I think I've gone a bit overboard with the distressing! I should stick to my usual style (whatever that is!) and not try to be something I'm not.

The challenges that I'm entering this one into are:

Digital Tuesday (It's all about the kids)
Passion for Promarkers (sandstone & blue pearl)
My time to craft (polka dot party)
Allsorts (Something for the boys)
Pile it on (Birthdays)
Our Creative Corner (Stars & stripes)
A Spoonful of Sugar (followed the sketch)

Materials/ Tools used:

• Digi-stamp from Digital Pencil Too, coloured with promarkers (background is distress inks)
• My Mind's Eye papers with coredinations cardstock, all distressed and edged with distress inks
• CCSR Happy Birthday sentiment, computer generated 'big brother' sentiment, cut out with nestabilities plain circles
• Sizzix die for the stars

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge 3

Here's my 3rd DT card for Crafty Cardmakers, which is our first sketch challenge. It's a lovely simple sketch so it's easy to add your own little touches to it! Please have a look at the rest of the fabulous DT work and play along if you can :o)

I've finally used this fabulous gorjuss girl stamp that I've had for quite a few weeks but haven't had chance to use yet, I love it! I'm still trying to improve my colouring with promarkers and this is a great image to practise on, I'm quite happy with the results but still need lots more practise. I've used both sides of a double sided paper by My Mind's Eye, called Starburst 'little blossom' dots/ brown, that I picked up in a local craft shop (Craft Haven). The image is matted on coredinations cardstock and everything is edged with distress inks. The flowers are Green Tara and the roses are from Hobbycraft - I've sprayed them with a spray on adhesive and then sprinkled glamour dust on, I also used glamour dust on the gorjuss girl's wings. I've added a little charm on a chain, fixed to the back of one of the flowers. The round sentiment stamp is by Cuddly Buddly, stamped in clear ink and embossed in white, and then cut out with nestabilities circles. Finally I added some little flower beads that I found in my stash, including one to finish off her hair.


Close up

A sparkly card

I've managed (I think!) to fit this into 6 challenges, never managed that many before! It's for Sketch Saturday (following the sketch obviously), C.R.A.F.T. (embossing) first time I've entered this challenge, Passion For Promarkers (Girly & Glittery) hopefully this is girly enough, A Spoonful of Sugar (distressing), Pile It On (anything round - circles, spots, dots) first time entering this one too and hopefully my dotty embossing and flower centres will do, and my last one is Secret Crafter (flights of fancy - wings). Phew, that's quite a list lol!

I've used a digi-stamp from Soft Pencil, isn't it cute? It's the first one I've used from Soft Pencil but I'm sure I'll be back for more. The pictures aren't fantastic but it's a very dull day and I had to use the flash, so it's reflecting off of all the glitter & the sentiment hardly shows at all - it says 'A Special Wish...' (from Little Claire Designs) and it's stamped in pink. Shows up fine in 'real life' but not in the pics.

Materials/ Tools used

• Digi-stamp from Soft Pencil, coloured with promarkers and with some glamour dust and sakura clear glitter pen added
• The backing paper is one I've had for ages & I'm not sure of the make, coredinations cardstock
• Worn Lipstick distress ink used on all the edges
• Cuttlebug swiss dots embossing folder
• X-cut flower punches, craftwork cards card candy dots, flowers edged with distress ink & sprinkled with glamour dust