Do Something different

Hi all

Don't worry this is real! Two post in two days! I am making use of the broadband so am scheduling a few post for the rest of the week as well.

The weather has continued to be good here although it didn't really matter as I have been crafting all day!
So anyway today's card is a bit of a departure for me as I used an 8x8 card for the first time and then using a pair of scalloped scissors (another first) converted it in to a circular card (a triple first!). It all fitted in nicely with a few challenges namely:

Cupcake Craft - Don't be square
Mojo Monday - Sketch
Lily of the Valley - Here comes Summer
Simon Says Stamp - Buttons, Bows & Bling
Papertake Weekly - Do something different.

I used this very cute stamp from LOTV called lazy afternoon and seemed so apt for a summer theme. The papers were the Bobunny Flutter butter papers and a few scraps from the bottom of my craft bag. All the papers have been distressed using vintage photo ink. I made a faux button from a small scrap of paper and some Diamond Glaze and used it to represent the sun. Here is a close up:

Recipe: Stamps: LOTV - Lazy afternoon coloured with copics. Papers: Bobunny Flutter butter breeze, Flutter butter cutouts & stickers. Die cuts - Scalloped circles - Nestabilities, Martha Stewart - Punch Around The Page Edge Punch.  - Loops. Ribbon and glass beads from stash

Thanks for looking

Hugs

Be Loved

Hi Everyone

Back again with my challenge card for the day! But first I have to say a big OMG to the weather! What is going on I have roses buding in the front garden all waiting for spring yet it has been snowing all afternoon! Luckily its not been settling or we would have been in trouble as I am off to see the very talented Kim Piggott tomorrow and I would have been upset to have missed that!

So back to my card which was for the following:

A Spoonful of Sugar - Sketch
Simon Says Stamp - Photo Inspiration of a red roses in a garden
Whiff of Joy - Love
Stampin for the Weekend - Valentine
I used the very cute Melinda from Whiff of joy which I paper pieced and coloured with Antique Linen distressed inks. I used some more of the 'Be Loved' papers from My Minds Eye which are such a great colour combo and make such a nice change to use from the seasonal pinks and reds. The shapes were all die cut using my nesties and edged with Vintage Photo Distressed inks.

Recipe: Stamps: Whiff of joy Melinda blowing kisses, Stamping Up Circle of friends. Papers: My Minds Eye Be Loved  - Fond flowers, Affectionate flowers, Smitten Stripes. Nesties Scalloped, plain rectangles and hearts. Pearls and ribbon from stash finished off with Diamond Stickles!

Thanks for looking
Hugs

Life is a journey.............

Hi all
My post today starts with some very exciting news about an event by Brenda over at Floral Fantasies.

On the 1st February there will be a very special ‘One Off Challenge’………with some rather special candy as the main prize. No ordinary candy, but a really serious piece of equipment that all of us would love to have in our craft rooms.

There will be some sneak peeks of the prizes on offer over the next three weeks........yes ‘prizes’ because as well as the main challenge prize, there will be runners up prizes and a Blog Hop with prizes to be won at each stopping point.

They need help to spread the word and make this as much fun as possible for everyone ........and there is even a prize for doing that. Does this all sound fun or what ? I'm sure you will all want to get involved and join in so head off to Brenda's blog now and get your name down for the first draw. All the information you will need to join in will be found there.

Back to reality now and my card today uses some of the papers that leapt into my basket yesterday when I was at Cardcraft Plus. They seemed to fit perfectly with the theme over at Simon Says Stamp which is Shabby Chic. I also used the great sketch over at Papertake Weekly.

The stamp is one I have not used for a while called Gretel from CC Designs. I have coloured her with copics and this time I have shown the ones I used underneath. I am always amazed at how many different colours I use just for a pretty simple stamp and I have just noticed I missed two out!!

Recipe: Stamps: CC Designs - Swiss Pixies - Gretel. Papers: Bobunny - Flutter butter breeze, Flutter butter cutouts. Cardcraft Plus - Brown Pearl card. Butterfly embossing plate from Bringing Crafts-Too you. Stardust stickles everywhere!!

Thanks for looking

Hugs

Very Distressing........

Hi all

Don't panic this is crafty distressing not anything bad.....  This weeks challenge over at Just Magnolia is to distress your card. I have to admit that this is not a technique I use often, but I thought I would have a go and when I looked at the card at the end I actually realised I could claim three ways of distressing. Firstly the standard distressing with my scissors around the edge of the card and sanding the embossed snowflakes. Secondly, I used ink to distress the edges of the image and the tag, but finally the third use of distressing was........ wait for it........ colouring with distress inks...LOL corny eh!

I used the recipe over at LOTV (3 papers, 2 stamps and one embellie), the colour way at Creative Inspirations (Black and red) and the theme over at Simon Says Stamp - Thankfulness.  I don't half pack them in don't I !! LOL

Black and red always reminds me of Santa Claus so I thought I would make a thank you card that santa might leave someone who had left him some very tasty mince pies......  I remember being left little notes when I was a child, but then maybe I the only one....

The tag pulls out to reveal a mini version of the Magnolia Santa, that I just so happened to pick up at the NEC to match the full size one I bought last year.

Recipe: 214/365 Stamps: Magnolia - Santa delivering presents large & small. Papers: Imaginisce - Polar Expressions, Flannel PJ's, Red Rose coordinations, Black Pearl card. Sentiment from Craftwork Cards. ribbon from stash and finally of course a liberal slurp of Stardust stickles...

Thanks for looking

Hugs

Sara xx

Pinch, Punch..............

Hi all

.... the first of the month. Well we have certainly closed the door on summer firmly behind us. I woke up this morning to a really blustery, rainy day, the sort that usually has you reaching for a warm mug of chocolate and an afternoon curled up on the sofa reading. So thats exactly what I did.... Dean was out with some friends and all the chores were done (well the urgent ones anyway LOL).

However, I did manage to finish off this card this morning for the Colour Create challenge, which was actually to make an all white card (with the exception of the image) and I used the sketch from Mojo Monday. The stamp was the very appropriate Snow Joy from Penny Black, which made it eligible for the Penny Black Saturday challenge of 'white on white' and all mounted on glitter paper, with  a bit of bling on the sentiment which qualified it for the Simon says stamp challenge of 'all that sparkles'.

 The image has been coloured with Copics and then the snowball was given a little wash with H2O's, but this doesn't show up too well in the photo.

Recipe: 205/365 Stamps: Penny Black - Snow Joy & ...Snow. Paper: Pearlescent & glitter card from The Glitter Pot. Cuttlebug Embossing folders - both ironicly called snowflakes! Tulle from Crafts u Love. Pins by Making Memories from the Craft Range. Diamante & Pearls from stash and last but not least a liberal dash of Star Dust stickles.

Off for a nice girly lunch in Guildford tomorrow so hoping we all have a better day tomorrow.

Thanks for looking

Sara xx

Simon Says stamp - Get well soon

Hi all

Another card this time for the Simon says Stamp challenge which was to make a get well soon card. I ended up thinking this was rather apt as I have spent all day freezing in the house as the supposed Indian Summer has not arrived at Cobham & my central heating has broken down.... aaahhh. I may need to send this to myself at this rate as British Gas can't come out until tomorrow...

This card used the sketch over at Truely Scrumptious and I used a couple of stamps from Stamps by Judith to create the image, coloured it with watercolour pencils and covered it with glossy accents

Here is a close up - he doesn't look well does he!

Recipe: 200/365 Stamps: Stamps by Judith, Sentiment from Rubberneckers. Paper: Doodlebug & Bazzill bling. Ribbon from stash
Thanks for looking
Sara xx

Five for a Friday

Evening all

Well what a busy bunny I've been today. Not content with my multi challenge cards to date I have three cards tonight which cover 5 challenges..... How greedy is that? To be honest I am still at my parents so there is not much else to do and there were some great sketches that I really wanted to do despite my lack of stash and all my papers to hand. They are not my best attempts, but I am putting it down to the fact that I have only one small bag of crafty stuff rather than a whole room of things to draw inspiration from .................LOL. The first challenge was for the Basic Grey challenge. It was a bit tricky as I only had one pad with me, the Eskimo kisses.

Recipe: 185/365

Only two tiny stamps both from the Dashing Reindeer set from Woodware. Papers: Basic Grey - Eskimo Kisses. Mulberry Street Flowers from Petaloo, Candy dots by Pebbles & card candy by craft work cards.

The second card was for the Penny Black Saturday Challenge, but used the Simon says stamp sketch. I had to go out and buy the ribbon today & the buttons are from my Grandmothers old button tin, which has now found its way into my craft bag.... whoops. She was always thrifty and cut all the buttons off worn out clothes and put them in an old baby milk tin which has a best before date of 1st may 1950!

Recipe: 186/365

Stamps; Christmas Critters - Penny Black; Christmas Characters - Inkadinkado. Papers; Pebbles - Snow fun flakes, Sizzix card stock brights & vellum from Stash. Nestabilities - Blossom & Create a flake 1. Coloured with distressed inks plus stickles everywhere!

And at last here is my final card, which is for the Lily of the Valley challenge using the lovely sketch from Sketch Saturday. I really had a tough time with this card as I struggled firstly to cut into this gorgeous paper, but secondly trying to match my limited supply of red and green Inks and papers... Mum to the rescue with some ribbon and some snowflakes.....

Recipe: 187/365 Stamps: Christmas Bunnies - Stocking from Lily of the Valley coloured using distressed inks. Papers Making Memories - Icon stripe Mistletoe, Ruby Bazzill & Bazzill Dotted Swiss Card - Clover Leaf. Sentiment from Craftwork cards. Embossed using Cuttlebug Embossing Folder - Holly With Berries & candy cane stripe. Ribbon and snowflakes from my mums stash (thanks!). Finished off with some star dust stickles.

I think these new stamps from Lily of the Valley are just so cute & the great news is
they are bringing out some more in two weeks at the NEC.

Well its off to bed now to conserve my strength for a fun packed day of shopping. Samuel Taylor have their 60th Birthday celebration demos this weekend so we are off to Embsay tomorrow and it would be just so rude not to drop into the Stampman on the way back, especially when we can have a fab lunch in Skipton.

Catch you later

Sara xx

Take Boooooo

Hi all

I'm back with another go at a challenge. This time it's only for two Mojo Monday & Simon Says Stamp. I really like all these challenges as they give me a place to start. I don't have issues with coming up with ideas, its more a question of too many ideas and always trying to doeverything at once......... So using the sketch from Mojo Monday and the Spooky theme from Simon Says stamp I whipped up this little number....

I just love this little witch she does look so cute. I have raised the hat and her arm slightly although its tricky to see on the photo and coloured her in using distressed inks finished off with some stickles for a bit of bling on her hat and dress and some on the candy tots in the corners. I have had a further play with the embossing folder since yesterday and used a purple coordination paper, which I think has come out much better.
Recipe: 183/365
Little Witch with Broom by Belles & Whistles from Zoe Bunny crafts. Purple Coordination card, Black pearlized card and patterned paper - Daisy & Dandelion trick or treat & cuttlebug embossing folder - Spider web all from the Glitter Pot. Candy Dots & ribbon from stash. Punches MS - Cornice edger & EK Success - spots.
Any way have to dash I am off to a ball tonight so best get my glad rags on.....
Hugs
Sarax