Everybody Art - anniversary

Hello everyone :o)

Our challenge over at Everybody Art this week is 'anniversary'.

I fancied making something a bit different for a change, so I got out my neglected alcohol inks (bought years ago, used a few times, forgotten about...) and some distress inks and had a play.  I can't seem to get the photo to show the true colours for some reason, but the panel and the background match better in real life.

Items Used

Stamp - Statement Stamps 'Congratulations' - LOTV (retired)

Stamped in Archival Ink in Jet Black

Alcohol Inks in Mountain Rose, Sunset Orange, Peach Bellini + tiny bit of Gold

Inkssentials Gloss Paper

Distress Inks in Tattered Rose, Abandoned Coral, Ripe Persimmon & Frayed Burlap

White textured card - Papermill Direct

Anniversary stamp - Wplus9 Basic Banners

Penny Black Wavy Stitch Edges die

Whimsy corner die

Doodlebug enamel heart + Craft Consortium enamel dot

I'm entering my card for the following challenges

Simon Says Wednesday - anything goes

Inkspirational - use your stash

Mix It Up - anything goes + optional inked background

MAWTT - sentiment only, no image

Thanks for popping in, hope you have a lovely evening :o)

**oops... forgot to hit publish lol!**

Sweet Stampin' - anniversaries

Happy Saturday everyone :o)

Our new challenge over at Sweet Stampin' is 'anniversaries'... I've completely lost my mojo since Christmas and seem to be struggling to make anything at all, but here's what I eventually came up with.

Items Used

Digi image - Simply Sweet Foxes (image flipped to create two) - LOTV digi shop

Colouring - copics

Sentiment + die - Basic Banners - Wplus9

Papers - Basic Grey (very old ones found in stash)

Heart die - Crafter's Companion

Silver hearts (pinched from Dex's craft box... the shame!!)

We've more or less finished Dex's new room, apart from the minor disaster of the bed that was supposed to be delivered on Monday, that we were informed by email at 10.30pm Sunday night was cancelled!  When we rang them the following day, we were informed that it was discontinued (they've had our order for two weeks, and we've had the same delivery date from the start), and that we'd have to choose a different one.  Spoke to the manufacturer instead, and it's not discontinued but out of stock until the end of the month.  So sorted a refund from the original company, ordered elsewhere, and now Dex is sleeping on a mattress for the next 2-3 weeks, poor thing!  Nothing's ever straightforward, is it?!

Thanks for popping in, hope you're having a lovely weekend :o)

Sweet Stampin' - flowers

Happy Saturday :o)

This week's theme over at Sweet Stampin' is 'flowers', and as I'd had this image on my desk waiting to be coloured for a few weeks, it seemed like a good time to use it.

The image is Tails Together Mice from Di's Digis, coloured with copics.  The papers are old (retired) ones from LOTV, the flower is from Wild Orchid Crafts, heart pins are from The Hobby House.  The tag stamp is from an old set of unknown make, and the pearls are from my stash.

I'm entering my card for the following challenges

Cute Card Thursday - anything goes

Double D Challenges - May flowers

Simon Says Wednesday - animal magic

Thanks for popping in, hope you have a lovely weekend... looks like nice weather for the bank holiday for a change :o)

Sweet Stampin' - for Dads or Special Men

Hello :o)

I'm a bit late with my Sweet Stampin' DT card, as it was our 10th wedding anniversary this weekend and I just didn't manage to squeeze in blogging.  Our theme for this week is 'for Dads or special men', so I made Pav's anniversary card using a fun new stamp I bought recently...

It comes with a few different sentiments... I've just repeated the 'love you' one.  It's also huge, so I adapted a 6" square card to fit it.  Coloured with copics (badly, as one of my pens started to run out halfway through colouring!), the papers are scraps from an old My Minds Eye pad.

I'm entering my card for the following challenges
Simon Says - anything goes
Crafty Cardmakers - special man/ boy or Father's Day
Addicted to Stamps - animals
Crazy 4 Challenges - repeat 3 times (stamped 'love you' 3 times)

Thanks for popping in, hope you have a lovely evening :o)

Sweet Stampin' - weddings/ anniversary/ love

Happy Saturday :o)

It's not my week at Sweet Stampin' but I'm joining in anyway... our challenge is weddings/ anniversary/ love, and we're sponsored by Crafts and Me.

This might look a bit familiar, as I made a similar card not long ago... I just reversed the layout and used different papers.

Items Used

Stamp - Flower Heart - Wild Rose Studio

(stamped in Memento Ink in Espresso Truffle)

Colouring - Spectrum Noirs

Papers - Petal Fresh - LOTV (discontinued)

Sentiment stamp - Clearly Besotted

MFT dienamics - By the Numbers dies

Leafy die (not sure of the name) - Memory Box

Heart banner die - La La Land

Spray & Sparkle Iridescent - Crafter's Companion

Corner rounder punch

Pearls from my stash

We've been out for a meal today at Bella Italia with the boys and Pav's family, then went shopping for a few last 'back to school' bits and pieces... managed to pick up a few tops for myself too, which is very unusual (I hate clothes shopping!).  So I'm full and tired, and wet because it's pouring down!  We should really be walking the dog now, but he doesn't like the rain - he'll wait all day until he can't hold it any longer, and then mad dash into the garden for a quick wee... the rest of the time he sits staring sadly at the rain, and sadly at us, as if we're the ones ruining his day!

Thanks for popping in, hope you have a lovely evening :o)

Flower Heart

Hello :o)

Today's card was made a few weeks ago for a family wedding anniversary, using a very cute (discontinued) Wild Rose Studio stamp that I'd never used before (one day I'll use all my un-inked stamps... well ok, probably not!).

Items Used

Stamp - Flower Heart - Wild Rose Studio

(stamped in Memento Ink in Espresso Truffle)

Colouring - Spectrum Noirs

(will add colours later, I've got them written down somewhere!)

Papers - Petal Fresh - LOTV (discontinued)

Sentiment stamp - Clearly Besotted

MFT dienamics - By the Numbers dies

Leafy die (not sure of the name) - Memory Box

Heart banner die - La La Land

Spray & Sparkle Iridescent - Crafter's Companion

Corner rounder punch

Pearls from my stash

I'm entering my card for the following challenges

Simon Says - let's go wild
Alphabet Challenge - L for Love

Critters & Creatures - anything goes with a critter or creature

Naughty or Nice - your number's up

Pearly Sparkles - happy anything with pearls

Thanks for popping in, hope you have a lovely evening :o)

Wedding card - The Inspirers DT

Hello everyone :o)

Now I know we're not supposed to moan about hot weather in the UK.... so, you know, I'm just having a good whinge about it in my head!  Give me spring all year round, that would suit me just fine.  Loving having the kids off school though... the squabbling hasn't reached 'driving me mad' volume yet, although I'm sure they'll get there eventually.

Anyway... here's a DT card for The Inspirers for Crafter's Companion.

I've used lots of spray and sparkle on this one (you probably can't see most of it in the photo) as according to my mum, who ordered the card, wedding cards must have glitter.  Never really thought about glitter and weddings, although sparkle is obviously the law when it comes to fairies or Christmas!

Items Used

Downton Abbey Classical Edge die

Sara Signature Together Forever Forever in my Heart die

Sara Signature Together Forever Celebrate die (cut 3 times & layered)

Sara Signature Together Forever Special Day stamps

Sara Signature English Country Garden Lazy Daisy die (swirl)

Sara Signature English Country Garden Floral Duo die

Sara Signature English Country Garden 6x6 paper pad

Centura Pearl Snow White Gold A3 printable card

Matt black cardstock

Spray & Sparkle Iridescent Glitter Varnish

Gem from my stash

Thanks for popping in, hope you have a lovely evening :o)

Floral Heart - DigiStamp Boutique DT

Happy Saturday :o)

I seem to be making a lot of wedding and anniversary cards at the moment, most of which I can't show yet, but I think I'm fairly safe blogging this one.

The image was one of this year's valentine's images from DigiStamp Boutique, but it works well for anniversaries too.

I printed it out twice, cut out and layered up the flowers.  Then roughly cut a heart shape around the image and distressed it so the shape didn't look too wonky!

Items Used

Image - Floral Heart - DigiStamp Boutique

Colouring - Spectrum Noirs

Flowers: GB1, GB3, GB7  Hearts: CT1, CT2, CT4  Leaves: IG4, IG6, IG8, IG10

Die'sire Essentials Lace Corner 2 - Crafter's Companion

Sentiment - Clearly Besotted

Wink of Stella (on the hearts)

Flower sequins & pearls from my stash

Can't believe there's only 1 week of school left!  This term seems to have flown... looking forward to having the boys off and getting out of the routine for a while.

Thanks for popping in, hope you have a lovely day :o)

Father's Day/ Special Man - Sweet Stampin' Challenge

Happy Saturday everyone :o)

Our challenge for this week at Sweet Stampin' is 'father's day or special man'.  Our fab sponsor is Marianne Design.

It's our wedding anniversary today, so my card is for my lovely hubby.

I've had a busy week with half term and Pav booked a few days off too, so I've not had much time in the craft room... had to quickly make my card while Pav walked the dog so he wouldn't see!  So it's quite simple, but that's often best with male cards anyway isn't it?

Items Used

Stamps - Mr & Mrs and You & I - Clearly Besotted

Doodlebug enamel dots

Wink of Stella (clear)

Thanks for popping in, hope you have a lovely day :o)

A wedding card and a new die...

Morning everyone... or, you know, afternoon (or evening?) depending on when Blogger decides to let this appear lol.

For today's card I've used another of those sneaky new dies that keep finding their way into my home...

I couldn't resist this fab curved die (and a few others that were equally sneaky) from Crafter's Companion.  I'll probably replace the sentiment with a personalised one - it's a card my mum asked me for, but she didn't have the details (it's her hubby's relative getting married and she didn't want to get it wrong).  I thought I'd get it made while the idea was in my head though!

Items Used

Classical Edge die - Crafter's Companion

Heart dies - Lil' Inkers

Leaf-filled Flourish die (cut up) - MFT die-namics

Sentiment - Clearly Besotted

Thanks for popping in, hope you have a lovely day :o)

Red, white & blue anniversary

Hello :o)

I have one of my occasional cards to blog today... roll on September (October?... dunno!), when things will hopefully be back to normal here.  I'm panicking slightly about Christmas already, will have to make all my cards in about a month at this rate!

So... this one's an anniversary card for an order, and I took inspiration from this week's challenge at Less is More, where the theme is 'red, white & blue'.  A bit last minute entering, but I got there in the end.

The little birds & branch is from the Silhouette store, cut on the Cameo, with a Doodlebug enamel heart added.  The sentiment stamps are from Clearly Besotted... the 'husband' one was embossed in detail white, the anniversary one stamped in SU night of navy ink... super simple!

Back to the tennis (go Andy!), Lemsip and tissues for me... thanks for popping in :o)

Valentine Bird Collection - DigiStamp Boutique DT

Hello everyone :o)

Apologies, I don't seem to have posted anything for a while!  I just seem to have very little time at the moment, and I don't really like anything I'm making either... this time of year is generally a bit 'flat' for me so maybe it's just that.  It would have been Harvey's (our middle son) 8th birthday on the 19th, which is generally the most miserable day of the year for me.  I'll pull myself together eventually!

Anyway, here's a card for an order, using an older set from DigiStamp Boutique, which is still one of my favourite sets... I used 2 of the images and flipped one to face the other way.

The images are from the Valentine Bird Collection which you can find HERE.

On a brighter note, I'm really loving getting out for walks with Chester... it's funny, I'd never think to go for a walk in the pouring rain if we didn't have the dog, but I've enjoyed every walk, the weather hasn't bothered me at all.  And so many people stop to chat... everyone's very friendly when you're walking a cute puppy!

Thanks for popping in... hope you're all well, and I'm sorry if I haven't managed to visit you for a while.  Have a lovely evening :o)

Craft Mojo DT card & my candy winner

Happy Saturday everyone :o)

I've used some of the gorgeous new June release MFT goodies for today's Craft Mojo DT card...

I just love this peek-a-boo heart die... it cuts dots in the shape of a heart, so you can have a different colour showing through.  So effective and pretty!  The new pierced fishtail flags are a great addition, and the Together Forever sentiments are beautiful, and stamp so perfectly too.

And now, the winner of my little stamp candy is....

No 2 - Sarah-J W

Congrats Sarah!  Please email me with your address so I can send your stamp... And if you didn't win this one, I'll have another new stamp to give away next week.

I mentioned it earlier, but there's now a sale page at the top of my blog, if you'd like to give some of my craft stash a new home!

Thanks for popping in, hope you have a lovely evening.

InLinkz.com

Crafty Little Fairies - vintage/ shabby chic

Hello everyone :o)

So... this week's challenge at Crafty Little Fairies is vintage or shabby chic, which is about as far away from my natural style as it's possible to get!  We're sponsored by The Ribbon Girl with a voucher for our lucky winner.

Here's my attempt at shabby chic...

It's fun to make something different occasionally, but I find it really hard using paler colours and all those flowers too... I have a huge tub of flowers, but I've no idea why because I very rarely use them!

Items Used

Stamp - Love Birds - LOTV

Colouring - copics

Papers - Timeless Victorian - LOTV

Sentiment Stamp - LOTV

Grand Nestabilities Labels 1

Memory Box bird cage die

Woodware leaf punch

Flowers - Wild Orchid Crafts & The Hobby House

Seam Binding - Craft Mojo

Viva Pearl Pen in Ice White

I'm entering my card for the following challenges
Fussy & Fancy - shabby chic
Allsorts - use those dies
Craft Your Passion - shaped cards
Papertake Weekly - anything goes
Penny's Challenge - feathered friends
Pile it On - floral fantasy

I've got Dex off school again... sigh!  We got all the way to his classroom door, but he suddenly went pale and said he felt sick... he didn't even get his coat off, the teacher agreed I might as well take him straight back home.  There are so many tummy bugs going round at school at the moment!  He's snuggled up under his duvet on the sofa now, watching Toy Story 3.

Might be back later with another card... Hope you all have a lovely day :o)

Bubble & Squeak - Sugar Nellie DT

Hello everyone :o)  Brrr... I'm freezing today, can't seem to warm up!

I've made a little Valentine's Day creation for my Sugar Nellie DT post today, using the super sweet Bubble & Squeak stamp...

Love the stamp, but I'm not so sure about my card... it's not really working for me!

Items Used

Card blank - Craftwork Cards

Stamp - Sugar Nellie Bubble & Squeak - Funky Kits

Colouring - copics

Papers & flower - Prima

Sentiment stamp - LOTV

Memory Box Whimsical Flourish die

MeiFlower pearl heart

Ribbon - The Ribbon Girl

Off for a catch up with some of your blogs... Hope you all have a lovely evening :o)

Edwin & Hetty - DigiStamp Boutique DT

Hello everyone :o)

I've used another of the new Edwin & Hetty elephant images from DigiStamp Boutique for today's card... aww, aren't they sweet?

Items Used

Digi stamp - Edwin & Hetty - DigiStamp Boutique

Colouring - copics

Papers - Forever Friends Kraft Notes

Whimsy corner die

Computer generated sentiment - pharmacy font

Pearls from my stash

Sooo... further to the poorly kids saga!  Morgan went back to school yesterday, Dex is still off and no sign of him getting any better so he'll be off tomorrow too.  This afternoon I had a call from school to go and pick Morgan up because he was feeling sick again!  This is the first time either of them have been off this school year though... Dex is upset that his 100% attendance is now ruined - they give out prizes for attendance, but they can't really help being ill can they?

Anyway... Hope you all have a lovely evening, I'll be round for a bit of commenting later :o)

**Enter my candy here**

Crafty Little Fairies - for the one you love

Hello everyone :o)

Our new challenge at Crafty Little Fairies is 'for the one you love' and we're sponsored by Dreamees.  I was going to make another Christmas card, and then I spotted this stamp that hasn't been inked for a while...

Items Used

Card base - Grand Nestabilities Labels 1 (again, sorry!)

Stamp - Together Forever - LOTV

Colouring - copics

Sentiment - Vintage Sentiments 'just to say' - LOTV

Papers - Perfect Pair - LOTV

La La Land Heart Banner die

Pink seam binding from my stash

I'm entering my card for the following challenges

LOTV Monthly Challenge - anything goes

In The Pink - ribbons & bows (hope it's pink enough)
Simon Says - anything goes

Hope you all have a lovely evening :o)

Bubble & Squeak - Sugar Nellie DT

Oops... I should have posted this yesterday, but it was Morgan's birthday and I hardly got any laptop time all day.  It was very late by the time I sat down so I thought I'd delay my post until today.

So here's my Sugar Nellie DT card - I went very CAS with this one as it just seemed to work.  Aren't those little mice cute?!

Items Used

Kraft card blank - Anna Marie Designs

Stamp - Sugar Nellie Bubble & Squeak - Funky Kits

Colouring - copics

Paper - First Edition

Sentiment - Inkylicious

Pav's joined the gym too now... We'll usually have to go separately but I talked my mum into having Dex for a bit so we could go together today, so nice to do something 'just us' for a change.  And Dex was very good and had a lovely time making Knex creatures with Grandma, so fingers crossed we can do the same most weekends.

Hope you all have a lovely evening :o)

Without Words - Happy Anniversary

Hello everyone :o)

It's the first Monday of September, which means it's time for a new challenge at Without Words... although how it got to be September already I've no idea!  Without Words has now been running for a year, so our theme for this month is 'Happy Anniversary'... We're sponsored by the fabulous Quixotic Paperie with a £10 voucher for our lucky winner.

Items Used

Scalloped card - Craftwork Cards

Stamp - Love Birds - LOTV

Colouring - copics

Papers - Perfect Pair - LOTV

Viva Pearl Pen in Ice White - MCH

Card Candy - Craftwork Cards

I'm off to dye my hair... in a moment of madness I bought a violet dye and now I'm not sure it's such a good idea lol... I've also got to come up with a card for one of my mum's impossible requests - for a new baby boy, but the couple are the grungy tie-dye types and mum wants it to suit them... struggling slightly... I mean, really... it's a baby card!

Hope you all have a lovely day :o)

Love Birds

Hello everyone :o)

Here's a card I made before our holiday, for an order, using the fab Impression Obsession Love Birds die... and this time I've put the wings in the right place lol.

Items Used

Papers - First Edition Up Up & Away

Impression Obsession Love Birds die (out of stock) - MCH

 La La Land Heart Banner die

Sentiment - Tiny Sweetheart Sentiments - Pink Petticoat

('on our anniversary' added in Word)

Twine - Fantastic Ribbons

MeiFlower 2mm AB Gems (for birds eyes) - MCH

** There's a fab offer on at My Crafty Heart this week - 20% off when you spend over £20 on any Memory Box dies! **

Hope you all have a lovely evening :o)