Lots of Love

Of course there is lots of love around, there are only a few days till Valentine's Day.

 I love Promarkers, want to see Lots of Love. I used a Kraft card, All the papers and the main image Love Balloon are from LOTV. I have added lots of various stash for embellishments. Coloured of course with Promarkers. Have you spotted I have added a skeleton leaf. happy Valentine's Day to everyone. I have added this card to the following Challenges. 

Make My Monday - Valentines.

Crafty Cardmakers - Love, love, love

Tuesday Throwdown - Love is in the Air

Paper Piecing Challenge

My second grandson celebrated his eighteenth  birthday on Monday this week. Over the weekend I had made this card for him. He is a very snapper dresser, he loves vintage clothes, so I thought this card would be well received which I am delighted to say it was. Over at Crafty Cardmaker their theme this week is Paper Piecing which is the technique I used to dress this Kanban gentleman to give it a more fashionable appearance. I used the same papers as were used for the background. They are from a Country Gent by LOTV. I made the bunting, added threaded buttons. The Time Flies and clock with wings are one stamp from Stampendous. Enjoy the Journey is from a Creative Expressions stamp set of Vintage Transport. 

A Blue Christmas

I made this cute card a few days ago which suits several challenges.

Sweet Stampin - Feeling Blue

Here Come the Boys - A Blue Christmas

Crafty Cardmakers - Christmas Snow and Ice

The papers and image are from the CD The Best of La Pache 2012, the cute greeting is a stamp from LOTV. I have edged all the pieces with Broken China DI. Added Glamour Dust for the Snow and Ice. Thanks to all challenge groups for the inspiration from their design teams. 

Olympic Spirit

Aren't the Olympics exciting, we can be rightly proud of all of our GB competitors, whether medal winners or not, they are giving their best and in some cases beyond their best. Go GB, we are proud of you. It is so nice to see Crafty Cardmakers back after their little break. Their first challenge is Olympic Spirit, and they are also having a DT call to boost their team. For my card, I stuck to red, white and blue which of course are not only  the colours of GB but several other countries too. The background Union flag and the bunting are from Debbie Moore Shabby Chic - London CD. The athletes discs are from a free source on the internet. I stamped Celebrate, London and 2012 with a word and  alphabet stamps. I edged the card and the discs with Distress Inks. I am also entering this card into several other appropriate challenges.

Cupcake Crafting - Bunting

Squirrel and Fox - Let's make it Sporty

Craft Your Days Away Olympic Dreams

Jellypark challenges Olympic Fever

Polka Doodles Banners and Bunting  I Thought and hoped, it won't accept my picture!!!

SJ Papercrafts - The Olympics

Up, Up and Away.....

with my beautiful balloons. Don't worry you can't hear me singing it. Over at Crafty Cardmakers, Mynette has challenged us to make a project to celebrate her birthday with Birthday Balloon Bonanza. We can make anything with any kind of balloon. I used to regularly play with iris folding, it's been ages since I made a card with it. Late last night the electric light bulb went ping! An idea! this is the result - two flying hot air balloons up, up and away to say Happy Birthday to Mynette and anyone else celebrating a birthday this week. i found the pattern at www.circleofcrafters.com/irisfolding  which are free to download.

Fantasy

Crafty Cardmakers are for their second week challenging us to produce a Fantasy project, bearing in mind today is St. George's Day. I decided to take this literally and use a stamp I have only used once before, sadly I don't know who made the stamp. The red cross is a piece from a scrapbook page by Personal Impressions.
The shield is from Tandastamps which comes along with several other medieval stamps. Having 5 grandsons, I have had to buy a wide range of unusual stamps. Oh! yes I HAD to!

I am also entering this card into The Rainbow Lady Challenge  for St. George's Day. 

Easter Blessings to All

I would like to enter this card into the Easter challenge at Crafty Cardmaker's. However I would also like to wish all of my followers and  visitors, who celebrate this special time of the year, a very Happy Easter. I decided to keep my card very simple. The stamp is from Personal Impressions, I stamped it twice with Memento Rich Cocoa, coloured it in with Promarkers. From the second stamping I cut out the flowers, then laid them on top of the first stamped image. Went around the edges with a blue Promarker, matted onto white card then adhered with silicone glue to a piece of blue glitter card. The sentiment was produced from my computer.

I am also entering this card into 

The Cheerful Stamp Pad for Anything Goes

Challenge 64 Time

Over at Crafty Cardmaker's for two weeks the Challenge No 4 is Time. A precious thing is time, the old I seem to be, the faster it seems to pass. For my entry, I have concentrated on time itself. The background sheet is the remains from a previous project, where I made an A4 mastercard,  but by stamping some pocket watches and fixing some metal cogs, it bring it all together with the new topper. I first coloured it with DH Distress Inks and stamped from a Paperartsy set. I decoupaged the clock face, and added Glossy Accents
I am also entering this card into Simon Says.Stamp and Show  your own background.

Another Sketch-

Crafty Cardmaker's has long been a favourite challenge group of mine, it was one of the first I took part in, and I was a DT member last year. However, I haven't until recently enjoyed sketches, but I'm getting used to them and are actually starting to enjoy them. I think sometimes, I forget the word 'challenge' is there for a reason, it's not just a title.for a change I decided not to open the stamp cupboard but I dusted off an old CD of mine Hinny Bob's Dreamy Flowers Collection,

No Flower Embellishments

This is my second card today, please check for the one below "Birds of a Feather"-thanks.

Crafty Cardmaker's have asked us to make a card with flowers if we wish, but we aren't allowed to add any flower embellishments. Cool! Saves on postage. Stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black, the four flower stamps are in a Hero Arts set called Poetic Petals, it's an old but favourite purchase from E Bay.  Using a white wax crayon, one from a child's pack will do, I added white touches to give a resist. (Wax Resist). I then blended the background with Milled Lavender, Victorian Velvet, Scattered Straw and Mustard Seed. It's amazing how white the sections become after you have buffed with a soft clean paper hankie. Added a sentiment and a toning piece of ribbon.

Butterflies at CCM Challenge

This week over at Crafty Cardmaker's Challenge blog site we are asking for butterflies, it is well worth joining in for there will be a prize for the winner from The Stampman, so please pop over to see the wonderful butterflies the Design Team have created.  For my card the background paper is from an 8"sq. pad, but I'm now not sure which company. I stamped the butterflies, onto red vellum, each twice, the first one being stuck to the main card, the second of each are only stuck at the body section, so they appear to be in a flying position. The Tattered Butterflies stamps are from Personal Impressions designed by Lyndsay Mason. I am also entering this into Less Is More, for I feel it fits the bill of being understated and clean. Their challenge this week is to use either ribbon or a button. please pop over to check out both Chrissie and Mandi's wonderful samples and of course the wonderful support they have every week, I can spend far too long travelling around the world in awe of some of the most beautiful cards.

Embossing Challenge at CCM

The challenge at Crafty Cardmaker's for two weeks is to create a project using embossing. You can use any form of embossing. Be sure to pop over to see the varied and fabulous samples by the team. We are being sponsored this week by the marvellous Joanne Sheen so definetly worth you giving it a try.
I love embossing, for any and all of the techniques can produce wonderful instant results. For this challenge I decided to make a deeply embossed pendant. I started with a 2" sq piece of mountboard, which I coloured all over, sides included with a black marker pen. I then heated 3 layers of UTEE (Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel).
While the last layer was still hot and molten, I stamped onto it, with a rubber stamp I had previously covered in Versamark, to prevent it sticking. When it cooled, I removed the stamp, patted on more Versamark, then added two colours of mica powder using a small brush. I then patted it onto a wet wipe to add the moisture for the powders to be set. I finally added the jewelrey to complete the pendant. Full details of how I made this can be found on my tutorial blog.

Royal Wedding

Crafty Cardmakers new challenge is to celebrate the forthcoming Royal Wedding, we are given a choice, to either make a red, white and blue card, or a wedding card with red white and blue or simply a wedding card of colours of your own choice.

We're sponsored again by the lovely Joanna Sheen who is offering a £10 voucher for her online shop which is crammed full of goddies with new stock arriving all the time! Thanks once again Joanna! My Wedding Congratulations is a textured A5 card, a sheet of A4 folded in half. I stamped the image with a La Blanche Bride stamp, one of my most favourite stamps which I don't get to use as much as I would like. I have gently added colour to her skin with Ivory and Almond Promarkers and watercolour pencils for the remainder colours. Matted onto pink card and then layered onto textured silver card. I added a selection of flowers from my stash, and silver embossed Congratulations. I think she looks a Victorian bride so I added my grandmother's pearl necklace and my ear rings for a touch of realism. Once again I look forward to visiting your blogs, thanks for popping onto mine, I greatly appreciate you took the time.

Recipe Challenge at Crafty Cardmakers

The challenge this week at Crafty Cardmaker's is a recipe, kindly set by Dee. The recipe is Mainly yellow - ebellishments - ribbon - rhinestones/gems and some faux or real stitching.

Once again we are sponsored by The Stampman , with a cash prize for the lucky winner. Pop over to the blog, the team have produced some terrific creations of the recipe. A lovely spring challenge from Dee, I decided to make this tag, to send to a poorly friend. Poppy seed head stamp is from Elusive Images. The ingredients in the recipe are Mainly yellow - Mustard Seed with a touch of wild Honey TH distress inks. Ribbons to tie the tag. Stitching, on a piece of Mullbery paper in the lower corner and finally rhinestones make the dragonfly's head, body and tail. The image in the corner hopefully represents the top of a poppy seed head, made by stamping a flower, gold EP applied, onto vellum. I look forward to seeing your ideas, remember we are Crafty Cardmaker's but you can make any piece of craft on any medium, the choice is yours. It doesn't HAVE to be a card.

Special Birthdays

For Challenge 42 - Special Birthday - at Crafty Cardmaker's I made a concertina card. A friend and her husband are shortly going to Paris for a few days, during which time he will have a birthday, now that's what I call special. The card is all based on black folded card, measures 4"sq when folded up and 24" wide when open. I decided on giving it an old distressed look. The backgrounds are scrunched paper with ink over the creases. The image sheets are torn and creased, some with rolled edges. The stamps are all relevant to travelling and Paris, mainly from a Debbie Moore set of clear stamps. I have tried to keep it as masculine as possible but couldn't resist the bling for the Happy Birthday. I have left the back, plain black and told his wife, who has seen it, they could later add some small pics of their trip on the back.

Thrilled and Excited

I certainly was, thrilled and excited when I was contacted to be told my application to join the DT at Crafty Carmaker's was successful.This week is the first time that the Crafty Cardmaker's Challenge Blog and the

Crafty Cardmaker's Spotlight Challenges Blog have become two blogs. Please pop over to either to find out a lot more interesting information.This is my first D.T.offering of Crafty Cardmaker's, which is for the Spotlight Challenge of -- Design your own paper. (DP) I made my background design paper to blend with my main stamped image. I created the DP using an A4 sheet of white card, using TH Distress inks and a piece of Cut & Dry foam I added random splodges of colour to cover the card, using Mustard Seed, Scattered Straw Bundled Sage, Antique Linen and Weathered Wood. I then randomly stamped all over the A4 sheet with Flora and

Fauna stamps. The first 3 of the above mentioned inks were used to colour the main image where I used a brush to apply the inks, before I stamped with the Sanctuary stamp from the Paperartsy set HP1006. I then added a piece of DP to a yellow card, stamped the dragonfly from a Debbie Moore set Butterflies and Dragonflies coloured with above colours, added small jewels to the card.

International Woman's Day -March 8th

Wishing all ladies a happy International Woman's Day. At Try it on Tuesdays, it is our week to make a TAG, we are celebrating at Ilkado's suggestion, a special day for Women. All details are on the blog, please pop here, to see some fabulous examples from the design team.
I started with an Inklylicious silk card, using a brush. I added Old Paper to the lower section and Victorian Velvet to the upper section. I stamped the La Blanche ladie's head with Walnut Stain, masked the lady, then stamped again with Walnut Stain the words for the background. I stamped a few feminine objects, then stamped some swirls which I embossed with gold E.P. Added the lace and flower, ribbons and lace to tie the tag, I found a button with a shank which I pushed through the thread hole, secured with a little glue. I then matted it all onto a darker pink card to add some dimension. I am looking forward to seeing your tags, for this special day for Women.
Also entering this tag, with fibres, lace, and a fabric flower into the 'Fabric' challenge at Crafty Cardmakers.