A little tag selection...

Well I said I might show some of the tags I've been making, so here I am with a little selection - not too many as I don't want to bore you all too much!  I've just chosen a few of my favourites....

I made the little punched tag ones first - loads of them in all different colours, some Christmas and some birthday.  And then I had an idea for some bigger ones using plain pieces of card and the little tab punch from Stampin' Up... I really love how these turned out so I might end up doing most of my tags like this.

I had planned on getting the Etsy shop open tonight, but I started taking all my pics and the camera batteries ran out!  So I'll get all my pics done tomorrow morning instead, and for now I'm going to make the most of having a bit of 'free' time and do a huge catch up with you all - I've got SO behind with commenting, sorry!

Daddy card for an order

I thought I'd pop in and share a card I've made for an order, just to prove I'm still here and haven't disappeared under my mountain of tags!

This is from a baby boy to his daddy and I thought this sweet LOTV diecut image would be perfect, so I've just added lots of glamour dust - no colouring needed on this one.  The papers are Pink Petticoat printed onto linen card, with red card from Papermill Direct.  The big snowflake is a Cuttlebug one, with a smaller punched MS snowflake layered on top, covered in glamour dust and with a shiny card candy centre.  Two layers of ribbon from my stash and a computer generated sentiment.

I might be back tomorrow to bore you all with a selection of the tags I've made, so you can see what I've been busy with... sorry again for being a bit quiet at the moment!

Marianne Design Poinsettia

It's Thursday which means it was my day for sharing a card over on The Stamp Basket blog.  For some reason I just couldn't get in a colouring mood so I decided not to force it (the results are usually terrible when I do!) and made something different instead.

The result is very.... sensible... for me, isn't it?  I love everything I've used but I'm not completely sure about the finished card!

I cut the poinsettias from some thick mulberry paper that was bundled into a drawer and forgotten.  Because the mulberry paper is nice and soft, I was able to emboss the detail on each petal using a tiny ball tool - I think there's an embossing die that goes with the one I've got which would have done that bit for me, but the embossing tool worked fine.  The papers are from the gorgeous GCD Studios pad 'joyful peace', with coredinations cardstock, the border was cut with the MS doily lace punch and the sentiment is a Pink Petticoat one.

The following items are available from The Stamp Basket
Marianne Design Creatables 'poinsettia serrated edge' die
GCD Studios 'joyful peace' papers
Martha Stewart doily lace punch
Dovecraft adhesive gems

There are paper bargains to be had at The Stamp Basket at the moment, as Janet is having a sale on all paper packs until Saturday - 20% off all packs... shame I'm on a paper ban isn't it?!

I'm entering my card for the following challenges:

• Freshly Made Sketches - sketch
• Simon Says Stamp - anything goes

I'm still aiming at opening a shop on either Etsy or Folksy - wish I could make up my mind which to use!  I thought I'd start off mainly selling tags and I'm quite enjoying myself... yesterday I made almost 150 tags lol.  Even hubby said he was impressed :o)  So I might be a bit quieter for a little while, as I've got some orders and my little tag production line to get on with.  I'm sure I'll still be around fairly regularly though!

Less is More wk43 - a bit of bling

Today's card is one that I quite liked when I was making it, but looking at the photo I'm not so keen - I think it's a bit boring!  I made it for this week's challenge at Less is More, which is 'a bit of bling'.

I used the limited edition winter distress inks to make the background - the greeny colour is a mix of 'evergreen bough' and 'iced spruce' and then I decided to see what the bright red 'festive berries' shade would look like around the edges - it went a shade of purple!.. not what I expected (although people who know about these things would have worked it out I'm sure!) but quite pretty I think.

I stamped the tree from Hero Arts Swirl Christmas set in memento ink and then added some random bling... although if I'm completely honest it wasn't random at all - I shuffled the blimmin' things around for about half an hour before I was happy, and I still don't think it's quite right.  Can you imagine how long it takes me to decorate our Christmas tree?!  The sentiment is an Elzybells one and the teal cardstock is from Papermill Direct.

I'm also entering my card for Simon Says Stamp's 'anything goes' challenge.

I've got Morgan off today because of the teachers strike.  I ummed and aahed about keeping Dex off nursery too, but decided to send him in the end as I'd get more done with just one of them here lol... regretted it a bit though because Dex got all upset when I dropped him off.  Ooh, just remembered I'm supposed to putting a stew in the slow cooker, better go and sort that out or I'll forget again!

My candy winner!

I'm finally back to announce that my candy winner is

Entry number 10 which is the lovely...

Doreen

Congratulations Doreen :o)

Please email me your address and I'll get your stamp (and a few other goodies) posted to you.

I've had one of 'those' days today... I had the bright idea to make a load of tags to bag up and put in my box at nursery.  So I've been a one woman tag machine today... I've been making them in the kitchen so the table is piled high with bits of card now.  And I'm not even sure if they'll sell at nursery - I'm still debating the Etsy shop idea, but I wonder if it's a bit late in the year to be putting Christmas bits in an Etsy shop.  Sorry, I'm waffling again - ever feel like there's just too much going on in your head?!

If you came to see a card instead of my rambling nonsense, please scroll down to see my Passion For Promarkers DT card!  Congrats again Doreen :o)

Passion For Promarkers - sketch

Before I get on to my card - sorry I haven't drawn a winner for my candy yet!  I didn't get chance yesterday, so I'll be doing it later and will post the result this afternoon.

So, our challenge this week at Passion For Promarkers is a fab sketch created by the lovely Tracy... a sketch which made me panic slightly because there are lots of layers - well, lots for me anyway!  But I'm really happy with the result, so I think I need to start being braver with the sketches I attempt.  We're sponsored by Sugar Nellie so there'll be a fab prize for our lucky winner :o)

I've used one of the fab Maurice images from Pollycraft, coloured with promarkers and flexmarkers, with some glamour dust on his hat.  The papers are from a Trimcraft pack I think, with textured red cardstock from Papermill Direct.  I did lots of inking around all the papers for a change, added some spotty ribbon and pearls from my stash, and a Craftwork Cards sentiment.

Here's Tracy's fab sketch

I'm entering my card for the following challenges:

• Creative Craft Challenges - free for all
• Pollycraft Monday - Christmas fun
• I Love Promarkers - anything goes
• Delightful Challenges - red & green
• Totally Papercrafts - Christmas (I think this is my 3rd entry so please delete me if there's a limit)
• Here Come The Boys - for the man/ men in your life

As usual I'm very behind with commenting, so I'm going to try and have a big catch up... I should probably be doing housework but I won't let that stop me lol :o)  Back later to announce my candy winner, hope you all have a lovely day!

Quick Christmas card

I need a little selection of Christmas cards for my box at Dex's nursery, but as I'm not sure whether any will actually sell I wanted to keep most of them fairly simple.  So I dug out my LOTV die cut images - which are what I was searching for the other day when my wandering Gorjuss girl turned up - so I can make some that don't need any colouring.  I'm also trying to use sentiments that I can easily swap if someone wants a card personalising - and so that I can still use them if nothing sells!

I wish LOTV still did these little packs of cute squares, they're so handy for quick cards... although I'm considering buying some of the A4 sheets while the sale's still on, just on the off chance I get a rush of orders lol!

So the image is a LOTV cute square, with lots of glamour dust added.  The papers are Dovecraft, with dark brown cardstock from Papermill Direct.  Large snowflake cut with a cuttlebug die, small snowflake is a wooden one, covered first in glossy accents and then lots of glamour dust while the glossy accents were still wet.  I've sponged a bit of 'gathered twigs' distress ink around the large snowflake and added a card candy centre, and a Pink Petticoat sentiment to finish.

I'm entering my card for the following challenges:

• Paper Sundaes - winter wonderland
• Dream Valley - sparkle
• Totally Gorjuss - sparkle
• Crazy 4 Challenges - snow
• Our Creative Corner - O' Christmas tree
• Totally Papercrafts - Christmas
• Charisma Cardz - snowflakes
• Lili of the Valley - anything goes
• Papertake Weekly - Christmas crackers

Right, off to watch the X Factor results show that we've sky-plussed... we've not eaten yet either as hubby's been happily playing a computer game while I was in the craft room, lol hopeless aren't we!  Will be round to catch up with your blogs later too :o)