Waste Not Wednesdays wk21

It's week 21 of my little Waste Not Wednesdays challenge, here to get you using all that neglected and unused stash... we've all got lots of that, haven't we?  I've made 2 cards, which also fit this week's challenge at Less is More which is 'not a square' - Chrissie and Mandi would like to see shaped cards.

These flowers are one of the oldest things in my stash - from a pack of die cut flowers that I bought before I owned a die cutter.  There's a die by Stampin' Up that looks exactly the same though, so maybe I'll treat myself to that now I've actually used these ;o)  The gem brad (which is the same colour as the little gems, although it looks darker in the photo) was also an early purchase, I've probably had them for 3 or 4 years.  The sentiment is Stampin' Up, butterflies cut with Kars punches and gems from my stash.  The shaped card was cut with the new framelits dies from Stampin' Up, and this time I've got it to stand up by cutting a little straight edge at the bottom of the back piece - see pic below... thanks for the suggestion Catherine!

And then I made a similar card using black flowers from the same pack, a red gem brad and pearls.  The cardstock for both cards is white hammered card from Papermill Direct.  I'm not overly thrilled with these cards, they're not quite working for me - not sure why though!

Do you remember my moaning last year when I let myself be pressured into having Dex's surfer dude blond hair cut shorter?  We let it grow again, but recently he's been asking for it to be cut short, so I took him today and he asked for it 'as short as Morgan's'... well Morgan's is very short... she got the clippers out and I nearly cried lol!  It's going to take some getting used to - he looks very grown up all of a sudden, but he's thrilled with it so that's the most important thing I suppose.  I'll add a photo tomorrow if he'll let me take one.

Hope you all have a lovely evening :o)

Spring sale at The Stamp Basket!

**2nd post for today - please scroll down for my Passion For Promarkers DT card**

Just a quick one to let you know about the fab Spring Sale at The Stamp Basket - loads of lovely goodies with a whopping 25% off... Pop over to The Stamp Basket blog here to see more details!

Have a lovely evening :o)

Passion For Promarkers - inspiration photo

This week at Passion For Promarkers we have an Olympics themed inspiration photo for you... you can use the rings themselves, a sporty theme or just use the colours (as I've done).  We're sponsored by Joanna Sheen who is offering one lucky winner a £10 voucher for her online store.

This card is for my auntie's hubby (the auntie who's more of a friend/ sister as she's only 3yrs older than me!) who is a bit of a BBQ king... he just got back from nearly 7 months in Afghanistan yesterday, we're all glad he's back safe.  He missed out on Christmas so it's great that he's back in time for his birthday :o)

I've used one of the very cute Chester images from Pollycraft - I've got loads of Pollycraft images and it's so sad to see that they're closing... hope Paula will decide to reopen one day!  I've coloured Chester with promarkers and flexmarkers.  The papers are some old Doodlebug ones, with black core'dinations.  Green baker's twine and card candy from my stash, the sentiment is Stampin' Up.

I'm entering my card for the following challenges:

• Simon Says Stamp - Father's Day or special male
• Forever Friends - one for the boys
• Fashionista Challenge - simply summer
• Chocolate, coffee & cards - for the boys
• Here Come The Boys - anything goes
• Crafty Catz - for a man

I'm also linking this up for the Linky Party at Pollycraft, which is running until the shop closes on 8th June.

Well as usual I'm behind with all your lovely blogs, so I'm going to spend the afternoon trying to catch up... have a fab day whatever you're up to :o)

Bella with flowers - The Stamp Basket DT

It's my day to post on The Stamp Basket blog today, and here's my little creation...

Can't add all the product links at the moment because there's a fault coming up on the shop site when I try to do it, so I'll edit this later...

I've used the very cute Bella with Flowers from Wild Rose Studio and some gorgeous Prima 'meadowlark' papers.  I coloured Bella with promarkers and flexmarkers and added some Viva pearl dots around her.  The tags are LOTV stamps, little pink blossoms are from Wild Orchid Crafts and the twine is from my stash.

I'm entering my card for the following challenges:

• Totally Papercrafts - animals
• Cooking it up with Katie - brads, twine & stamped image
• Sentimental Sundays - pocketful of posies

Apologies if I didn't manage to visit you this weekend - I seemed to spend most of it dozing!  It's the heat and the hayfever tablets, they just knock me out... so I won't be taking any during the week, I'll just have to put up with the wheezing, sneezing, headaches and sore eyes instead - at least I'll be awake lol!  

Oh, and for those who asked about my new watermark - sorry I haven't let you know before, the lovely Janet at Pink Gem Designs made it for me, and you can order yours here.  Have a lovely evening, I'll be trying to catch up with you all :o)

A little sky & cloud tutorial...

**2nd post for today - please scroll down for my Pink Gem DT card**

I've been asked many times for colouring tutorials and I have always resisted, simply because there are so many out there already doing a fantastic job and I didn't think there was really a need for me to add to that.  However... lots of people ask me how I colour my sky backgrounds, and what I tend to do is refer them to this tutorial that got me started - I adapted it first for promarkers and then for flexmarkers, and my sky now ends up looking quite different to the one in the tutorial... it's still a great one to watch though!

I don't have the facilities to make a video - actually our camera does take video but I'm not sure how successful that would be, might try that another day.  So this is just a very quick, simple picture tutorial to give you an idea of how I colour sky... (please excuse my messy pad underneath - I always work with a sketch pad under my images).  The image I'm using is Denny with Watering Can, which is Janet's current freebie at Pink Gem Designs - go and get him while you can :o)

Firstly, the colours I use are Glacier Blue, Cloud Blue, Blue Grey 2 Flexmarkers and the Promarker Blender pen.  But you can easily adapt it if you're using promarkers, just choose a light and slightly darker blue and one of the lighter greys.

Start with Glacier Blue (or any light blue) and just add some wobbly lines/ shapes - try not to think about it too much, you want it to be fairly random!  It'll be quite different each time you do it.

You can see that towards the bottom I add lots of smaller streaks, rather than big areas of blue.

Then go in with Cloud Blue (or whatever darker blue you're using) and add some random scribble over the top of your lighter blue.

Now add the Blue Grey 2 (or any light grey) to give your clouds a bit of definition.

Go over the whole thing with the wide nib of your blender pen - it takes a few minutes to settle down to the right colour so give it a little while.  If you look at this card I posted on my blog earlier, you can see how it all looks when you've coloured in the rest of the image.

Always colour your sky before the rest of the image - there's nothing worse than blending your sky into areas you've already spent ages colouring!  I would also trim this a little, and then use Antique Linen distress ink around the edges to soften the look.

I hope this helps some of you - oh, also the card I'm using for this one is Elegance Satin from Joanna Sheen, just in case you were wondering (no connection, etc)!

A Gem of a Challenge - photo inspiration

This week at A Gem of a Challenge it's the lovely Gemma's turn to host again, and she's given us a photo to use for inspiration... those of you who are regulars to my blog will know I struggle with these just a bit lol!  I'd also like to say congrats and welcome to our new Pink Gem teamies who have been announced on the blog today - so pleased for you all, and looking forward to 'working' with you :o)

Here's the inspiration photo...

And here's what I made...

I've used one of the adorable new Jodie images - this is Cartwheel Jodie, isn't she fab?  I coloured her with promarkers and flexmarkers and cut her out using my new favourite Stampin' Up framelits dies - the yellow mat was made by drawing around the die and then cutting it out, as I find with most of these fancy shapes the jump between sizes is too big for matting, for me anyway!  A bit of inky edging hides any little cutting imperfections ;o)

The card base is the front piece of a Craftwork Cards 'on the edge elegant' card blank, scored and folded in half.  The papers are from a Papermania pad, and I hand stitched the main piece with some yellow Bazzill thread.  The sentiment is LOTV, butterfly was punched using a Kars punch and the spotty flowers were punched using an x-cut punch.  Pearls and card candy from my stash and the yellow flower is Prima - meadowlark.

I'm entering my card for the challenge at I Love Promarkers, which is to use die cuts.

I don't feel quite so irritable about the heat today, but that's probably because I've not really needed to do too much in it so far... hubby wants to drag me to the park later and he's doing the man thing - talking about BBQs lol!  He's taken Dex to his mum's this morning, and as we don't actually own a BBQ I'm half expecting him to come home with one... my hubby, lovely as he is, is WAY too accident prone to be in charge of a BBQ!

Hope you all have a lovely weekend, whatever you're up to :o)

Less is More - baby or child

Ugh... did I mention I don't do hot weather?  I'm at the wilted mush stage, and I'm past trying not to moan about it... poor hubby lol!  I visited a friend this morning, we had a little walk with the kids (Dex doesn't go to nursery on Thurs & Fri) and then I popped to the shop for a few bits, and that was me finished.... apart from picking Morgan up from school I've not managed anything else, not been in the craft room at all.  It's supposed to be like this right through the weekend too... sob!

Luckily I made these cards yesterday, for this week's challenge at Less is More which is 'for a baby or child'...

They were both going to be the same originally but the boy card was one of those that sort of makes itself and this is just how it ended up!  These little padded hearts were one of the first things I ever bought when I started card making, and I've never really used them.  I decided to stitch some little buttons on them, which I think does make them look a bit better, and then made my very simple boy card with some kraft card, blue core'dinations from my scraps and a LOTV sentiment, stamped in Memento rich cocoa.  I also sponged a bit of antique linen distress ink on the kraft card.

And here's my girl card...

I made this one following the sketch at Clean & Simple, using another of the little padded hearts.  The paper is a digi one from Raspberry Rd, printed onto linen card.  The paper panel is popped up on foam pads on a mat of white linen that you can't really see properly in the photo.  Sentiment is from LOTV, stamped in Memento pear tart.

I'm also entering my cards for the 'new baby' challenge at Fussy & Fancy.

Hope all those of you who love the sun have had a lovely day today!  I'm off to carry on with my wilting...

Waste Not Wednesdays wk20

It's now week 20 (seriously?!) of my little Waste Not Wednesdays challenge, here to get you using all your neglected and unused stash.  Luckily my card also fits with this week's Less is More challenge, which is 'for a baby or child', but I've got a 'proper' entry to post for that tomorrow too :o)

I've used a Penny Black stamp from the 'Mimi in Paris' transparent set - I haven't used a single stamp from this set before... oh, apart from a sentiment, once!  I coloured Mimi with promarkers and flexmarkers, cut her out and added some glamour dust for sparkle, and a little pink gem I've had for ages on her flower.  She's popped up on foam pads and the sentiment is computer generated using Kristen ITC font.

I'm also entering my card for the following challenges:

• Oldie But A Goodie - things with wings
• Creative Inspirations - anything goes
• Cute Card Thursday - a touch of sparkle

It's been so warm today!  I don't do well in the heat, it tends to knock me out a bit, but I'm trying not to moan too much because it makes a nice change at the moment!  Those who've asked after hubby, thank you - the saga goes on I'm afraid!  He's now on treatment for his blood pressure because it stayed very high, and this morning he's been back to the docs because it looked like the pneumonia was recurring - the doc agreed and he's now back on the antibiotics... he's refusing to have anymore time off work though... grrr!

Have a lovely evening :o)

Passion For Promarkers - special challenge!

Well this morning's already off to a bad start, with my kettle going pop and blowing all the fuses lol, so I'm a bit delayed getting started here!  Anyway... (and this is a very long post, sorry!)

It's a special day over at Passion For Promarkers as we're celebrating our 3rd Anniversary.  Team 2 is back after a 6 month break, so we're all together for this week and we have a nice easy 'birthday' theme for you - with a maximum of 3 entries per person just for this challenge.  To be eligible for our prize draw you must use Letraset products (i.e. pro, flex, tria or aqua markers) and of course follow the theme.  We have some fantastic prizes from lots of fabulous sponsors... here they all are...

Letraset are offering 3 lucky winners 1 pack of Limited Edition “Summer” promarkers.

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Joanna Sheen are offering 1 prize of a £10.00 voucher to spend in her online store.

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Crafty Emma’s store is offering one lucky winner a £10.00 voucher to spend in her online store.

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Polka Doodles are offering 2 lucky winners a copy of her mini CD collection “Pretty Sweet”.

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Bugaboo are offering once lucky winner 7 digi images of their choice.

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Pink Gem designs are offering one lucky winner their digi set called “Ewe make me smile”.

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DigiStamp Boutique are offering 6 digi images to one lucky winner.

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Bearly Mine Designs are offering one lucky winner 2 digi sets of their choice.

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Whimsy Stamps/Michele R Designs are offering one lucky winner a prize of $15.00 worth of digi papers.

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So many amazing prizes and lots of chances of winning this week :o)  Here's my card...

I've used a fab image from one of DigiStamp Boutique's 'offer of the month' sets, Funtime Dan.  This one is Biker Dan and I've coloured him with promarkers and flexmarkers, adding some stickles for sparkle on all the watery bits, but my photos have made that mostly invisible!  The papers are from a pack that the lovely Debs sent me, cardstock is from Papermill Direct.  The zig zag border was cut with a MS punch and the star is a sizzix primitive star die.  Sentiment is a new one from LOTV, ribbon and buttons from my stash. I think the buttons were a bit of a mistake, I'm not keen on that bit now!

I'm entering my card for the following challenges:

• Sketch Saturday - sketch
• Moving Along With The Times - keeping it real (no fantasy figures)
• Joanna Sheen - happy birthday

It's a lovely sunny day here - seems a shame to spend it in the craft room when it's so nice out, but there's lots of crafting to be done!  Hope you all have a lovely day :o)

Dancing Tulips - The Stamp Basket

It's my turn to post on The Stamp Basket blog today, and I decided to have a play with some dies instead of a stamped image for this week's card...

Items available from The Stamp Basket

Craftwork Cards scalloped edge card blank

Memory Box - Dancing Tulips & Tulip Petals dies

Whimsy corner dies set

The Hobby House - pearls

My Mind's Eye paper - Howdy Doody

Distress Ink - frayed burlap

Sentiment stamped in Rich Cocoa Memento ink

I've used 2 separate dies for the tulips - Dancing Tulips cuts the basic tulips and leaves, and Tulip Petals cuts the flower in 4 pieces, and then you just layer them up.  I used my new Stampin' Up framelits dies (not the biggest one, this is the next size down) to cut the central shape, and drew around the die on kraft card to make the mat.  The sentiment is also Stampin' Up, stamped in Rich Cocoa memento ink.

I'm entering my card for the following challenges:

• Secret Crafter - in the garden
• Totally Papercrafts - sketch
• Papertake Weekly - in the garden
• My Mum's Craft Shop - feeling blue/ get well soon
• Simon Says Stamp - clean & simple (please delete me if this isn't CAS enough!)

When I picked Dex up from nursery this afternoon, he said "I'm going to be really nice to Morgan today... and to Daddy".... "Oh, that's nice" I said "are you going to be nice to Mummy too?"... Dex thinks about it for a while... "No, I don't think so!"  Cheeky little monkey!

Have a lovely evening :o)

GDT card for Simply Magnolia

I was lucky enough to be chosen as Guest Designer for this week's challenge at Simply Magnolia, which is 'pearls and lace'.  Here's what I made...

I got myself all nervous deciding what to make and took forever to pick which stamp to use!  I finally decided on one of my new ones as I hadn't managed to use her yet - this is Tilda unanchor... I probably wouldn't have chosen this one if she hadn't been in the selection from the Magnolia stamp club, but I'm glad I've got her now, she's very cute :o)

I coloured her with promarkers and flexmarkers, and added my usual little Viva pearl dots.  The papers are digi ones from Raspberry Rd - Life Documented and Life Documented dots & solids, printed onto linen card.  The flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts, leaves cut with a woodware punch, swirl cut with a Cheery Lynn die and the sentiment is a digi one from Pink Petticoat.  The Whimsy corner die, ribbon and lace are all from The Stamp Basket and the pearls are from my stash.

I'm entering my card for the following challenges:

• Crafts and Me - pearls & lace
• Magnolia Stamp Lovers - hip to be square
• I Love Promarkers - anything goes
• Tilda's Town - anything goes (1st challenge)
• Truly Scrumptious - anything goes
• Crafty Catz - girlie time
• Bunny Zoe's - anything goes

I was supposed to be having a crafty afternoon, but every time I go upstairs the boys find something to argue about (hubby included!), so I've given up for now... will do a bit of hopping around your blogs and then we're off to my mum's for a couple of hours.  Crafting will have to wait until this evening!  Hope you're all having a lovely day :o)

Sweet Stampin' - fairies and angels

Time for a new challenge at Sweet Stampin' and this week we'd like to see 'fairies and angels'.  We're sponsored by Emerald Faeries who are offering one lucky winner 2 images of their choice, and our monthly sponsor is Joanna Sheen who is offering a £10 voucher for her fab online store.

Stupid moment(s) coming up....

Ok, so I really wanted to use these new Stampin' Up dies, but it was only when I'd nearly finished my card that I realised it wasn't actually going to stand up... oops!  So I'll have to make this one into an easel card later.  I still love the shape though!  I've used a sweet Emerald Faerie image, coloured with promarkers and flexmarkers and added my little Viva pearl dots. I've just realised I made a mistake with the colouring too - look at her tights!  How did I not notice that before?  The gorgeous spotty paper is a digi one from Raspberry Rd, printed onto linen card.  The sentiment is from one of the new LOTV sets, cut out with nestie oval dies, and the butterfly was cut with a Kars punch.

It all looks slightly wonky in the photo, but it's not - it's because I had to prop it against something to take the photo.... really there's no hope for some people you know!

I'm entering my card for the following challenges:

• Divas by Design - tickled pink
• Simon Says Stamp - clean & simple
• Papertake Weekly - in the garden (toadstools & fairies are sort of gardeny aren't they?)
• Pollycraft Monday - photo inspiration

Well we didn't get our day in the park yesterday, didn't really get the weather for it.  So we went to one of the local soft play centres instead, and mummy got to sit drinking hot chocolate and reading the kindle while the boys ran riot ;o)

Hope you're all having a good weekend so far!

Waste Not Wednesdays wk19

It's week 19 (eeeeek!) of my little Waste Not Wednesdays challenge, here to encourage you to dig out all that unused and neglected stash and get it used :o)  It's also my lovely Mum and her hubby Andrew's first wedding anniversary today, and this is the card I made for them...

I've had this cute LOTV stamp for AGES and the poor thing's never been inked until now - no idea why not!  I coloured it with promarkers and flexmarkers and added my little Viva pearl dots.  The papers aren't exactly old - they're from a Papermania pad I bought a few months ago, but I'd only used them once and then forgot about them.  All cardstock is from my scrap drawers (yes, I have 4 drawers... and a box... full of scraps!).  The sentiment is LOTV, gems are old ones from my stash, ribbon buckle from Wild Orchid Crafts.  The Whimsy corner dies and gorgeous vintage style ribbon are both available from The Stamp Basket.  I always have to decorate the insides to match when it's a card for my mum, she complains if I don't lol!

I'm entering my card for the following challenges:

• I Love Promarkers - anything goes
• CES Challenges - anything goes
• Secret Crafter - I love you Mum (hope this counts, it's an anniversary card for my mum & her hubby)
• Craft Your Days Away - all creatures great & small

I'm really sorry if I've not managed to visit your blog for the last couple of days - I'm visiting as many of you as I can, but the school have decided that the kids will be off on Friday... apparently they have to give an extra day because the Jubilee bank holiday falls when they'll be off anyway for spring bank.  They only told us at the start of this week though, and I've been trying to get everything done so that we can spend Friday in the park... after all this rushing, it'll probably rain all day lol!

Hope you all have a lovely evening :o)

Less is More - use 3 stamps

I have before and after pics for you today, as I had a little mishap while making my card for Less is More and had to do a bit of a cover up!  This week Chrissie and Mandi would like to see a one-layer card using 3 stamps - no more and no less... I wasn't sure what I wanted to make but decided on a baby card using one of the sweet new images from Pink Gem Designs.

This is my before pic...

You might just be able to see an ink splodge next to the sentiment... It doesn't look too noticeable on the photo, but close up it's very obvious - to me anyway!

So here's my after pic...

I've included both because I'm not sure if the addition of the butterflies 'passes' as a one-layer card!

The image is from Pink Gem's Baby Set, rotated slightly in PagePlus so that it curved across the corner.  I've used a sakura clear stardust pen to 'colour' sections of the image and also the border stamp, which is from a Kelly Panacci set.  I also added some little dots of pink stickles in the flower centres but they don't show up very well.  The sentiment is Stampin' Up, butterflies cut with a Kars punch and I added some little Hobby House gems.  Cardstock is pale pink hammered, possibly from Papermill Direct but I'm not sure.

Rushing off to fit some commenting in now, hope you all have a lovely evening :o)

Bildmalarna Tulip - The Stamp Basket DT

I'm running a bit late as usual, been busy in the craft room all day and haven't had chance to do any blogging... Here's my card for The Stamp Basket blog, using a gorgeous Bildmalarna stamp - I think she's so pretty :o)

Not sure why the last photo is so blurry!

Items available from The Stamp Basket

Craftwork Cards - on the edge card blank, scallop white (size 6)

Bildmalarna stamp - Tulip

Prima papers - Fairy Belle

Whimsy circle pennants die set & matching Celebration Circle Pennants stamps

Dovecraft white flat lace 2 1/4"

Vintage style ribbon - pink

The Hobby House - 8mm pearl brads, clear gems & pearls

Prima Essential petals - Belle (under the rose)

Distress Inks - frayed burlap & antique linen

I've coloured the image with promarkers and flexmarkers and added my little Viva pearl dots as usual.  I've used Bazzill thread to 'stitch' the bunting, adding a Hobby House pearl brad at each side.  The big pink flower (under the image) is from a bag of Craftwork Cards chipboard shapes I've had for ages - I painted it with acrylic paint, distressed it a bit and then sprayed with 'spray & sparkle'.  The pink hearts are 'waste' pieces from a Memory Box border die and the pink rose is from my stash.

I'm entering my card for the following challenges:

• The Sketchy Challenges - sketch
• Truly Scrumptious - anything goes
• Paper Sundaes - things with wings
• Charisma Cardz - pink & girlie

Apologies if I didn't get chance to visit you this weekend - it's not been the best few days but I won't bore you all lol... the yucky antibiotics were a bit of a disaster and there's just no getting past a 4yr old's clamped jaw!

Oh, nearly forgot - The Stamp Basket now has a Facebook page, do visit and 'like' it for all the latest info and offers :o)  Have a lovely evening!