PTW Challenge card - Spots and Stripes

This is my entry for the Papertake Weekly challenge which was spots and stripes. I decided to go for a masculine card, so the Dovecraft Masculine 12x12 stack was perfect. The stripes came from that pack, and the spots from the Papermania For Him stack. These are matted on white card, while the card base is slightly textured. The circles are up on foam dots and finished with a button. I cut the corner piece and again matted it on white and added some half pearls, and the sentiment is some peel off stickers. The corners are rounded to tie in with the scallops and also the inside:


Thanks for looking :)

Anniversary Card

This card was made using a digi-stamp from Grab-a-doodle-do - the pretty birds set. I coloured it using pro markers, and the ribbon was also coloured using these. The yellow is the reverse side of some SEI paper, embossed with the swiss dots folder. The bottom is the front side of the same paper and it is all mounted on pink SEI paper. The image is mounted on the same paper, embossed using scallop nesties and finished with a gem in each scallop, popped up on foam dots. The sentiment is computer generated, and printed on SEI paper (again!), and finished with some primas.

Thanks for looking

365 Cards Challenge - Something's Fishy

For todays challenge over at 365 Cards you had to include at least one fish - kinda tricky as I didn't have anything remotely fishy! I've had my eye on some digi-stamps from Pink Petticoat for a while so thought why not - and Cory can use them too. So, here's my attempt:

I haven't made a shadow box card for a while so thought I would give it another go. I cut the circle in the base cs using my cuttlebug and nesties after scoring the fold lines. The fish is between two layers of acetate, as are the rocks and weed (both free hand drawn). I used DCWV dp on the back sheet, and the blue dp on the front is American Crafts. I finished it with the greeting (part of the digi-stamp kit) and a button, and some peel off stickers that I think look a bit like bubbles. It's not a great picture as it's so hard to photograph acetate, especially at night with rubbish lighting!

Thanks for looking

Gift Box

Not a card this time, but a gift box. It's big enough to fit three travel sized bottles of bath smellies.

I used cream hammer card for the base - I'm not sure of the measurements as I made it to fit the bottles. The pink was embossed using the Framey keepsake board and finished with half pearls, and the dp is Laura Ashley. The cuttlebug butterfly was one that I got in a swap and I added some crystals to it's body. The box is tied closed with the ribbon.

Thanks for looking :)

PTW Challenge card - Perfect Pastels

Well this really was a challenge as I don't really have anything I would call pastel coloured - I tend to go for brighter colours and big patterns, but I settled for this Laura Ashley paper from an 8x8 stack, layered on the palest pink I could find. I stamped my Stampendous 'Sketchbook Dragonfly' using black Stazon, and coloured it using watercolour pencils. I cut it out and embossed it using nesties, and layered it on a pink scallop. Finished the corners with 5mm half pearls.

Thanks for popping by

Bev's Blog Candy

Bev has got some fab blog candy to give away <HERE> to celebrate her blogoversary this month. Pop over and see what's on offer!

Boys Will Be Boys

This was going to be a challenge entry, but I've decided to try another one for that, so it's here instead, just another card to add to my ever-growing stash of cards!

I used my 'Little Boy' stamp by GCS Artstamps (available at SirStampalot), another stamp that I love but don't use often enough! I coloured him using watercolour pencils* - didn't do a great job as I've not used them before, I normally use paints - but practice makes perfect as they say! He was cut out using nesties and layered on some blue paper I pinched from Cory's own craft stash (which is nearly as big as mine, lol). The other layers are Dovecraft Masculine dp, layered on the same blue paper, and the sentiment is cut out from the dp too.

* Mine were a bargain - a tin with 24 pencils for £2.80 from Tesco

Thanks for looking,

Christening Card

I wanted to keep this card fairly simple, and although it is for a church christening I didn't want it to be overly religious. I think the cross stamp (Papermania PMA10056) fits the bill, as does the writing which was created in MS Word. I mounted the cross on silver card (dull silver, not shiny), and used my ticket corner punch on both layers. I used a Debbie Moore Regency Corner stamp on each corner which was a late addition as I thought it looked a bit too simple! Finally I added some gems to the cross.

Considering it was such a simple card, it took a surprising amount of tries to get it right - I think I've managed it now!

Thanks for looking, let me know what you think

PTW Sketch Challenge card

This is my entry for this week's Papertake Weekly Challenge, a fab sketch that I will definitely use again.



I used my Stampendous Beaded Bodice stamp - one of the first stamps I bought when I started card making, and still one of my favourites now although I rarely use it. I stamped the image with Versamark, and embossed it using Ranger Antiquities Chinese Red embossing powder. It's all layered up on misc red and black card, and I've added clear gems and a sentiment created in MS Word.

I'm really getting into these challenges now, and they're really helping me come up with new ideas so you'll be seeing a lot more entries in future!

Thanks for popping by

Quilted Card

This is my attempt at a 'quilted' card - don't look too closely at the stitching... it's a new machine and I'm still getting used to having an electric sewing machine dedicated to card making. My other one is a Singer with a treadle that I don't like to use on cards as it only does one stitch - forwards!! Anyway, I used some gorgeous K&Co papers - from the Amy Butler 'Belle' collection. They were a 6x6 pad, and are only £2.50 for 36 sheets! Needless to say I have quite a few packs sat waiting to be used :)

This is the sketch over at 365cards, and I made each square 4cm x 4cm, cutting some on diagonals and leaving others whole. I assembled them how I wanted them and stitched over all the joins - not the neatest job in the world, but these fangle-dangle machines are so FAST!! The blue is Core'dinations and I finished it off with some half pearls.

Thanks for looking!

Go bananas!

This card is another challenge entry, this time the Daring Cardmakers Challenge, and the theme is "feeling fruity". Cory is getting into stamping and in his collection he had this Hero Arts stamp, so I borrowed it while he wasn't looking (he's very possessive of his stash, a feeling I think most of us can relate to!)

I stamped the image with Stazon, and added the branch freehand. They are watercoloured and cut out using nesties, layered on a Core'dinations cs scallop. The challenge being fruit related presented a problem - nothing fruit related! So I found a clip art and made my own backing paper, and the sentiment was also created using MS Word. I decorated the inside of the card using the same papers and font, just to break up the yellow a bit. The sentiment on the front is finished with a 1cm brad, but I can't remember the brand.

Thanks for looking, and let me know what you think :)

Cory's Birthday Card

It's hard to believe that Cory will be five in a couple of weeks! He spotted this paper in the craft shop the other day, and I knew it would be perfect for his card as he is so into animals at the moment.... he's decided he wants to go on Safari - not sure if we're ready for that yet!

Anyway, here's the card:



It's another digi-stamp, this time from Grab-a-doodle-do. I'm afraid I cheated a bit and used the ready coloured image as none of my markers/paints etc were quite right. So, the background is Sandylion 'At The Zoo' and it is matted on dark brown Core'dinations cs. The strip is Sandylion 'Stripe' paper, again matted on cs. I printed the image and matted it before popping it up on foam pads, and added the ribbon from American Crafts. The sentiment is typed up in MS Word, as is the number 5 which I printed the outline only onto HOTP Wild Things Giraffe print paper. This I cut out and layered on a couple of nestie circles. Instead of using brads, I used some peel off stickers (or the negatives left behind on the sheet) as I could colour them to match with peel off markers.

This card will also be entered into the Charisma Cardz Challenge and Secret Crafter Challenge for this week.

Thanks for looking, let me know what you think :)

Digi-stamped card

This card was digi-stamped using 'Vicky' from Sketching Stamper, then the dress was paper pieced using K&Co Sparkly Sweet paper (close-up below)



I layered her up on Core'dinations CS and matted it on black. The background is the same paper again matted on black and to break it up I added the black Dovecraft ribbon. The image panel is popped up on foam pads and I added 3mm Artwork crystals to finish it off.

As it turns out, paper piecing is my favourite technique (this week anyway), so it fits in with the challenge over at Charisma Cardz: "My Favourite Things". Looks like I'll be entering my 2nd challenge in as many days!

Thanks for popping by!

Papertake Weekly Challenge Entry

Well, I've been saying for ages that I'm going to enter one of the many challenges I've come across, and here it is: my first ever challenge entry!



It's an A6 card for the Papertake Weekly Challenge, and it was to include 1 circle, 2 ribbons and 3 stamps. The circle is the nestabilities, the two ribbons are small but definitely there, and it gave me the opportunity to use my MFT Punny Farm stamp set which I love, but find hard to use (in a creative sense, not literally!). I paper pieced the hat and wellies using K&Co Sparkly Sweet DP, and used another sheet from the same block for the background layer. I coloured the rest of the image using Whispers markers.


Thanks for looking as always