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.