Thinking Of You

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INSIDE

Challenges

Our Creative Corner - Sketch

Penny Black (59) - 3 Ribbons/2 Flowers/1 Pin or Charm

Cupcake Craft (50) - Animals/Flowers/Green/Pink/Brown

Doodle Palace (3) - Animals/Fibres

On this card I have used one of my favourite papers on the base card, I love that shade of green. I cut a strip of pink card and embossed it with a Cuttlebug embossing border folder and placed it down the side followed by a stamped 'thinking of you' greeting, which I attached with foam pads. I then stamped, coloured and layered the hedgie image and attached 3 pieces of brown ribbon (fibres) to the bottom before attaching with foam pads. Lastly, I added the flower and charm. On the inside I simply edged the insert with a strip of matching paper and stamped the sentiment. I also stamped the little bird and added tumbling letters using the masking technique. I'm not very good when it comes to decorating the inside, but I had a go. Hope you like it.

Card Recipe

Stamps - Penny Black/Papermania/Daisy & Dandelion/Stampin Up

Ribbon - Anita's

Paper/Flowers/Charm - Stash

Thanks for looking.

Best Friends

Challenges

Crafty Muse - Sketch & Doodling

Cute Daisy May (22) - Friendship

Stamp With Fun (17) - Pearls

Daring Cardmakers - Bejewelled Bliss

Sadly this is the LAST Crafty Muse challenge as Sammi has decided to close it. Although I have not been on the Design Team for long I have thoroughly enjoyed working with all my other team buddies, they are a very talented bunch of ladies so why not pop over to their blogs and have a look at their wonderful creations. We would love to see you all join in this last challenge as we have a great sketch by Sarah to follow and would love it if you could add some doodling somewhere on your card, so what are you waiting for, click here to join in.

This time for my card I have chosen this lovely image from the 'Once Upon A Time' downloads, I think it is sooo sweet. The image has been coloured with Sakura Stardust pens to give it lots of magical sparkle. I backed it with layered squares of pearl and plain cardstock which I rotated to get the required shape. I then added some doodling and pearls. I did some faux stitching around the edge of the pearl base card with a Stardust pen and added some more pearls to each corner. Finally, I stamped a sentiment in the corner. I hope you like it.

Card Recipe

Cardstock - Craft Creations

Image - Crafty Muse

Sentiment Stamp - Papermania

Pearls - Stash

Thanks for looking.

Dog Roses

Our LOTV challenge this week is to follow a lovely sketch by Jacqui. For my card I have used a Penny Black stamp from a clear stamp set called 'Flower Gallery'. I'm not sure what type of flowers they are supposed to be but hopefully I've made them look like 'dog roses'. I have used Papermania papers from the 'Blueberry Hill' paper pad to compliment the image. The sentiment is also from Papermania and the flowers etc are from my stash. I hope you like it as much as I do.



I'm also going to enter this one for the C.R.A.F.T. Challenge (10) who's challenge this week is a pink & green card.

Thanks for looking.

The Sugar Bowl Challenge (15)

For this week's challenge we had to follow a lovely sketch and add ribbons and bows. I covered the base card with design paper and added a blue strip. Next I stamped and coloured the image with pencils, layered it onto a piece of embossed card and added a couple of dragonfly brads. I finished it off by adding the ribbon/bow and flower. Hope you like it.

Card Recipe

Stamp - Sugar Nellie

Paper - Joni Gray

Ribbon - Hobbycraft

Flowers/Brads - Stash

Thanks for looking.

Just Wanna Have Fun...

Challenges

Truly Scrumptious (12) - Sketch & Beads

Cute Card Thursday (70) - Eye Eye (Eyelets)

Daring Cardmakers - On The Edge (Borders)

Creative Inspiration (14) - Bling

Creative Card Crew (21) - Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

With this card I covered the base card with pretty floral paper following the sketch and then punched some borders, added eyelets and placed these across the middle. Next I stamped, coloured and layered the image and attached with foam pads. The greeting has been layered to match and finished with more eyelets. Finally, I added some flowers and a crystal bead butterfly which I added a gem to. I think this little girl looks like she is having fun on her swing. Hope you like it.

Card Recipe

Stamp - Sugar Nellie

Greeting - Lakeland

Butterfly - Recycled

Flowers/Gem/Eyelets - Stash

Thanks for looking.

A Couple Of Challenges

I have made this card for the Roses On Paper Challenge (16) which has the theme of 'Summer & Vacation'. I have covered the base card with a lovely floral paper and attached two peel-off corners. I then added a piece of silver ribbon and placed my image on top with foam pads. I finished it by adding a small rose at the top of the ribbon.

This one is for the Cupcake Craft Challenge (49) who's theme this week is 'A Christmas Card'. I have used a cute angel decoupage for this one but can't remember where I got it from, sorry, senior moment!!! I made the borders using an X-Cut punch and added gold ric-rac ribbon. The greeting is a peel-off.

Thanks for looking.

Tenth Anniversary

Challenges

Moving Along With The Times (4) - Sketch + Wedding/Anniversary

Forever Friends - Celebration

These challenges combine nicely with my nephews forthcoming wedding anniversary. I can't believe it has been ten years since his wedding, it only seems a couple of years ago, how time flies these days. The numbers and flowers were cut on the cuttlebug. By the way, Forever Friends are giving away blog candy of an image folder to this week's winner so why not have a go.

Card Recipe

Image/Papers - Forever Friends

Celebration Ribbon - From a blog candy I won

Brads - Stash

Thanks for looking.

Birthday Bliss

Challenges

Truly Scrumptious (11) - Sketch + Black/White/Other

Our Creative Corner - Triple Play

The main image on this card is coloured with pencils as usual. I had seen these papers a while ago and thought they would suit this card so I went with green as the third colour. I have kept it simple and only used three types of embellishments, flowers, a brad and some gems. The greeting is a rub-on.

Card Recipe

Stamp - Sugar Nellie

Papers - Shabby Princess

Rub-On/Gems - Papermania

Flowers/Brad - Stash

Thanks for looking

Lots Of Love

Challenges

Secret Crafter (41) - Spots & Stripes

The Pink Elephant (24) - Animals

Papertake - Take Your Pick Colour Combo

Creative Card Crew (20) - Polka Dots

For the Papertake challenge you could choose any of the following colours to play with - pink/black/white/yellow/green/grey/lilac. As you can see I chose black/white/yellow as I thought this might be a bit different. I think it has worked rather well. I used the spotty, stripey paper for the background and placed a punched paper border at the bottom with a ribbon and bow on top. I then added the stamped sentiment. The main image has been coloured with pencils, layered and attached with foam pads. Finally I punched some leaves and flowers and added roses to the centres of the flowers.

Card Recipe

Stamps - Penny Black/Papermania

Papers - Papermania

Roses - Hobbycraft

Ribbon - Stash

Thanks for looking.

Stamptacular Sunday Challenge Bonus Fun

I have just found this great challenge blog and just had to have a go as the challenge sounded a lot of fun. The challenge involves a lovely blog hop where you also gather components for building your card, what a fun idea, and so unusual. Why not pop over to Stamptacular Sunday Challenge and have a go yourself!

For my base card I used leather embossed card and added a design paper. I then cut some strips of card & paper and punched a heart border along each one and attached adding some sticky ribbon. The main image has been stamped & watercoloured with MLP pens and Sakura Stardust on the butterflies. I also added some shimmer dots to the centres of the flowers. Next I inked the edges and layered it using my Nesties. I then simply stamped and layered the sentiment. I finished the card by adding the flowers and heart charm which says "Handmade With Love".

Card Recipe

Stamps - Elzybells/Stampin Up
Flowers/Ribbon/Charm - Stash
Paper - Scrapbox

Thanks for looking.

ABC Challenge - W is for Window

This week's challenge is to incorporate a window so I have done this Wedding Shop window from a kit I bought quite a while ago from either Ideal World or QVC, can't remember which. The kit includes a template for cutting the window and decoupage sheets for the window contents, and of course instructions. Although I have made up this one the cards can be left flat for posting with the recipiant just having to tape one side themselves. I decorated it with silver peel-offs and cake decorations (bells).

Thanks for looking.

Happy Day

Challenges

Secret Crafter (40) - Sketch

Penny Black (57) - Swirls (Stamped under flowers)

Creative Card Crew (19) - Create A Scene (Masking Technique to create image)

Cupcake Craft (48) - Blossoms & Butterflies (Design paper/Punched flowers/Image)

Dutch Dare (55) - Dies/Punches (Diecut layer/Image & Punched flowers)

Paperplay (26) - Favourite Chocolate or Candy (Chocolate Caramels - Colour Combo)

Here's my lovely new Teddy again. This time I have used the masking technique to create a scene of him sat in the woods and coloured it with my pencils. Hope you like him!

Thanks for looking.

Thanks

Challenges

Allsorts (9) - Sketch

Colour Create (23) - Blue & White

Creative Inspirations (13) - Something Old/Something New/ Something Borrowed/Something Blue

Following the lovely sketch from Allsorts and using the colour combo from Colour Create I made this card to the theme from Creative Inspirations as follows:-

Something Old - Paper

Something New - Daisy Flowers

Something Borrowed - Stamped Image from a friend

Something Blue - Main Colour

Not a lot to say about this one except the daisy flowers had black centres which I removed and replaced with flower gems. The daisies come by the metre but I don't know who makes them (bought in local craft shop). The sentiment was cut on the cuttlebug.

Thanks for looking

Friends Forever/Crafty Muse Challenge

This week at Crafty Muse we have a colour challenge for you using this luscious picture as inspiration.

For my card I have used an image from the new 'Sisters & Friends' downloads from Crafty Muse. I have coloured the image using my pencils, and attached it with foam pads. For the rest of the card I cut and embossed some circles with the Cuttlebug and attached with D/S tape. I then cut a rectangle of brown card and added a cream and a red ribbon before placing it over part of the circles. I then attached the image. Next I stamped a sentiment and attached this with foam pads as well. Finally I added the flowers.

Card Recipe

Digi Image - Crafty Muse

Sentiment Stamp - Woodware

Ribbons/Flowers - Stash

Thanks for looking.

Bluebell

Our challenge this week at the Lili of the Valley Challenge Blog is 'Animals' and I couldn't resist using this gorgeous image of Bluebell from the Farmyard Cuddlies images pack. All the papers I have used are included in the pack. Why not pop over to Lili of the Valley and see the other cute little farmyard animals in the pack, they are all adorable.

Thanks for looking.

Charisma Cardz Challenge (27)

This week's challenge is to alter something, NOT a thing I usually do but thought I would have a go. I had a tube of chocolates so I just simply covered it with design paper and added lace threaded with ribbon top and bottom. Next it needed an image so I stamped a FF image and coloured it with promarkers and MLP pens and simply attached it. Not very inventive I know but it looks pretty enough. If you have any ideas how I could have improved it please leave me a comment, I would appereciate it. When I finished it and took the photo I realised I should have done a 'before' photo. Never mind, next time...

Thanks for looking.

50th Shaker

Challenges

C.R.A.F.T. (8) - Age/Anniversary (Number Specific)

Stamp Something - Pink/Green/Yellow

For these challenges I decided to make a shaker card as I've not done one for such a long time. I used a three-fold aperture card and started by stamping the balloons across the front of the card and colouring them with chalks. I then added a peel-off border around the edge of the aperture. On the inside of the front of the card I covered the aperture with acetate and attached pink paper to the back panel, adding peel-off stars. Next I used pearl paints to colour the wooden numbers which I then placed on the pink paper with foam pads. Then came the shaker bit - I went around the inside of the aperture with foam pad strips (making sure there were no gaps), placed some star confetti in the middle and carefully sealed the card panels. I finished it by adding a greeting with foam pads.

Card Recipe

Stamp - See D's

Wooden Numbers - Hobbycraft

Greeting - Lakeland

Peel-Offs/Confetti - Stash

Thanks for looking.

So Chic

Challenges

Ooh La La Creations (32) - Black & Pink

Paperplay (25) - Ooh La La Fashion

The panels on this gatefold card have a lovely spotty paper on them to match the lady's attire and I have added faux stitching down the sides of each panel. A fabric/punched flower has been added to the bottom of the card. The main image has been decoupaged and then layered onto black and pink card and attached with foam pads.

Card Recipe

Decoupage Image - From a Friend

Paper - Jak Heath

Flower/Brad - Stash

Thanks for looking.

Peacock

Challenges

C.R.A.F.T. (7) - Decoupage

Daring Cardmakers - Blue & Green

Crafty Creations (23) - Birds

This very simple gatefold card was made using a lovely peacock deoupage from the Marji Rahder Indian range. All the peacocks have been decoupaged and I have added eyelets to the main image.

Card Recipe

Decoupage - Marji Rahder

Paper/Eyelets/Peel-Offs - Stash

Thanks for looking.

The Sugar Bowl Challenge (14)

This week's challenge is to follow a lovely sketch and add 'sparkle' so I thought I would make another Christmas card with 'sparkly' snowflakes. The image is coloured with my pencils and I have highlighted the snowflakes with a clear Sakura Stardust pen to add sparkle. The Cuttlebug snowflake embossed card behind the image has been heat embossed with holographic EP. The snowflakes in the top left corner have been punched out of holographic card with gems added. To finish I added a few more gems.

Card Recipe

Stamps - Sugar Nellie/Anita's

Papers/Gems - Stash

Thanks for looking.

"I know a secret..."

Challenges

Simon Says (10) - Colour Combo

Colour Create (22) - Colour Combo

Sunday Sketch & Stamp (6) - Sketch

Papertake - My Favourite Things

I started this card by cutting a circle of paper and putting it over the corner and trimming it off. Next I cut a rectangle of card and embossed it with the Cuttlebug and placed this across the middle at an angle. I stamped and coloured one of my favourite images using my pencils and layered it onto green card before attaching it with foam pads. The ribbon was then put down the side and the greeting rub-on added. Finally I punched out some flowers, added green pearls and placed these in the corner.

Card Recipe

Stamp - Sarah Kay

Paper - Papermania

Ribbon/Pearls - Stash

Thanks for looking.

WooHoo! A card at last!

Challenges

Sketch Saturday (58) - Sketch (Red/White/Blue)

Penny Black (56) - Red/White/Blue

ABC - U is for United States

Secret Crafter (39) - 3 Ribbons

Paperplay (24) - Paper Roses (Handmade Flowers)

Charisma Cardz (26) - Buttons

The Next Level (6) - Buttons & Bows

A Spoonful Of Sugar (59) - Hearts

Creative Card Crew (18) - Ribbons

The Pink Elephant (22) - Stars & Strips

Our Creative Corner - Red/White/Blue

Well, as usual I've managed to combine one or two challenges with this card ha!ha! I have used one of my new stamp sets from Penny Black for this card, isn't he so cute? I have coloured him with my pencils and layered him with my Nesties and adding a dragonfly brad. The design paper is covered in lovely little hearts which goes nicely with the greeting. I cut a strip of blue card, scalloped one edge and attached a couple of ribbons and bows. The flowers are handmade by punching the shapes, embossing with the Cuttlebug (Swiss Dots folder) and placing brads in the middles. I finished off with buttons at the top and bottom of the card. I followed the great sketch from this week's Sketch Saturday challenge and used the colour combo of red, white & blue (an unusual combination for me). I think it turned out nicely and I hope my niece likes it (her birthday was yesterday - OOOPS!).

Card Recipe

Stamps - Penny Black/Papermania

Paper - Mad About Cards

Ribbons/Brads/Buttons - Stash

Thanks for looking.

A working holiday...

Last week I went to my son's new house for a holiday and foolishly agreed to sort his garden out for him as he didn't have a clue what to do. His dream is to grow fruit & veg and have a small Asian 'jungle'. I didn't realise just how much work there was involved! As you can see by the first picture, it has been badly neglegted for some time and was well and truly overgrown.

I spent the first few days cutting everything down to the roots and pruning the few plants he wanted to keep. I must admit this was exhausting as I was doing it in about 30 - 35 degrees and had to keep stopping to cool down. Although doing all that hacking was great fun the plants decided to fight back and my arms and legs are covered in scratches, I look as if I have been whipped!!!

Once the hacking was done the digging had to begin. Well, that was a joke! First, I discovered that the ground was so hard through neglect that you either needed a pickaxe or a JCB to break into it. After soaking it well I managed to break into a small part of it but didn't make much impression so I left the digging for my son to do, after all. he has the muscles and the stamina needed (the roots were massive and I wasn't strong enough to dig them out). While he did the digging I managed to rescue a few plants for my garden and then planted his new ones which included a banana tree, talk about exotic! The picture below show the garden as I left it on Saturday, what a difference! The start of the Asian jungle is at the bottom where my son is standing.

My son knew that he had a frog living in the garden and I was lucky enough to meet him while I was working away. I quickly noticed that he hopped off to the bottom of the garden to sit under the ivy by the fence, this area was not cut down too much, after all he needed a home. Well, we decided to make him really happy and build him a 'palace' to live in. We started off by burying an old bucket and filling it with rocks and water. We even placed the irrigation hose over it so that the water would be topped up when the garden was watered. We gave him a lovely house by upturning a conveniently broken terracotta pot and to the left, a little 'summerhouse'. We surrounded the bucket with rocks complete with diving platform. We finished it by placing a stone frog at the entrance as a marker so it wasn't disturbed. With a few carefully placed ferns and palms it will be well sheltered. I think you will agree, a palace fit for a froggy prince! Well, suprise! suprise! Before the end of the week we found another TWO froggys, quite a colony. Naturally, we gave them names - Fred, Frogmella and Freda!

A job well done! The rest of my holiday was spent craft shopping (see earlier post) and going for long walks in the evenings. The only crafting I got done was colouring some stamped images when I was having a rest from the garden.

One of the walks we went on was to walk The Ridgeway in the Cotswolds. (My son does this on a regular basis as he is very much into different outdoor pursuits). Thankfully, he did not expect me to walk as far as he does, even so, we went a long way. There are wonderful views as the Ridgeway is quite high up, very enjoyable!

Another evening my son and his friend were going canoing on the canal so we had a race, with them in the canoes and the dog and I on the towpath. If I made it to the turning point before them I would get a drink at the pub when we got back to the launch site. Ha!ha! I won!!! There and back! It was a lovely walk, so quite and peaceful with just the sound of birds and the canoe paddles.

Altogether a lovely break from the boring life I usually lead, can't wait until my next visit. I must admit I'm not looking forward to going back to work tomorrow...

Thanks for looking.

Growing Stash!

This post is a bit later than promised but I had such a busy day yesterday that I just didn't get time to blog. Iwent to my son's new house last week to give him a helping hand (more about that later). Although I was working hard I did manage to fit in a bit of retail therapy and below is a photo of what I came back with, woohoo! Underneath the stash are three A2 sheets of beautiful handmade paper which I managed to find. I'm going to use these in a scrapbook I want to make which will be my first attempt at one. I won't be able to show you the progress of it though as the recipient looks at this blog. As you can see I got a few Christmas stamps and paper so expect a few early christmas cards in the near future. I also found a delightful set of Penny Black stamps called 'Teddy and Company' and can't wait to have a go with these.


To top a great week off I came back to a parcel and guess what was in it?

MY MOTHER'S DAY PRESENT!

Below is what was in the parcel - I only had to wait FOUR months for them to arrive! I must admit we were getting fed up with waiting for them and were on the verge of giving up and cancelling the order - but now they are here I'm sure they are going to be worth waiting for. Thankyou Shaun, Carol and Sam for my lovely present.

Okay, that's enough showing off for one day, better get on and start using it all and catching up on a few challenges! Back later, hopefully with a couple of cards and photos of what I was helping my son with...

Thanks for looking.

I'm Back!

Hi everyone, apologies for lack of blogging, I've been on holiday to my son's and didn't have time to post before I went. Unfortunately I didn't have access to blogland while I was away. Mr Blogger also let me down with the previous two posts. They were both put on 'schedule' before I went but Mr Blogger didn't want to post them for some reason. Anyway, I'm off to bed now as I have had a long drive, will catch up tomorrow and let you know what I have been up to. Don't get too excited as I didn't get to craft either! - But, I DID go shopping....

Thanks for looking.

Princess Amber/Crafty Muse Challenge

This week's challenge is a lovely sketch with the addition of brads and ribbon. I have used this lovely digi download of Princess Amber and have added a design to her dress with Sakura Stardust pens and used glitter glue on her wings. I then 3D'd her onto layers cut with Nesties. I stamped the sentiments, layered them and attached with foam pads. To finish I attached brads and a bow.

Card Recipe

Digi Image - Crafty Muse

Paper - Funky Fairys

Brads/Bow - Stash

Thanks for looking.

Lili of the Valley Challenge (31)

This week we have a lovely sketch to follow. I have coloured the image with pencils and layered it using Nesties. I have stamped a little sentiment onto the image as it looked a bit bare on one side. I finished the card by adding some flowers and a vellum butterfly.

Card Recipe

Stamps - Sugar Nellie/Papermania

Papers - Montis Pixel Playground

Flowers - Papermania

Buttons/Butterfly - Stash

Thanks for looking.