I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas!

It's another Christmas card today...this one uses the adorable 'Presents for 2' stamp by Lili of the Valley. I created the background using my 'Swiss Dots', 'Snowflakes' and 'Ice Crystals' Cuttlebug folders...and used my new Papermania 'Christmas Borders' folder for the snowflake strip across the bottom. I cut out the image using one of my Nesties, and used my Cuttlebug 'Ice Crystal' die for the snowflake...I cut off the ends before coating it with Galamour Dust.

Challenges for this card:

• A Spoon Full of Sugar - Sketch 
• Double Dutch - The Easy Challenge (choose your favourite challenge...I've chosen #47 - Movie Madness...and the film title...'White Christmas')
• Papertake Weekly - Just the One (I've used just one colour)
• Pink Elephant - Mostly White

Just a quickie...

Just a quick post...I meant to blog this earlier, but time ran has run away from me today! lol
I've used another of my new birthday stamps...'Toby with Roses' by Wild Rose Studio. The papers are from the glittered 'Penny Lane' stack by My Mind's Eye, the ribbons, and flowers are from Poppicrafts, and the sentiment stamp is by Cuddly Buddly.

Challenges for this card:

• Midnight Madness - Sketch (the simple one...rotated)
• Cupcake Crafts - 2 Paper, 2 Ribbons, 2 Flowers (Oops...missed the deadline...didn't see that they'd changed it to Saturday this week! lol)
• Pink Elephant - Ribbon & Sparkles

On the Beach!

Phew! This week's Penny Black Saturday Challenge of 'On the beach' was a toughie...well...it wouldn't have been if I'd had a suitable image...but I didn't...so it involved a little bit of adaptation, and even some drawing! After a rootle through my image box, I decided to use the dog from 'Beehave!', but I cut him out, as the flowers and bee weren't really appropriate for the beach. I thought he looked like he could be sunbathing, so I drew a beach scene to place him on. The stripey paper is from the 'Offbeat' pad by BasicGrey...which I thought looked like deckchair fabric...and the sentiment stamp is from the 'Sending Sunshine' set by Simon Says Stamp.

Other challenges for this card:

• Sunday Sketch & Stamp - 'Sketch'
• For Fun - 'Water' (well I did draw some sea! lol)
• One Stop Craft - 'Summer Fun'
• Pink Elephant - 'Summer Fun'
• Totally Papercrafts - 'By the Sea'

Birthday Cupcake

I was so excited when I won Lol's House Mouse candy a few weeks ago...I love the images...and have received some in swaps and RAKs, but this would be my first House Mouse stamp! So, I thought that the first card I make with it, should be for the House Mouse & Friends Challenge, where the theme this fortnight is 'Vintage'. The stamp I got is called 'Birthday Cupcake'...perhaps not the best image to use for this thene, but I inked and distressed the edges to try and create an aged look. The papers are all from the '29th Street Market' collection by My Mind's Eye, and I made some 'lolipop' flowers using my Nesties.

I'm also entering this card into the following Challenges:

• Sweet Sketch Wednesday - Sketch
• Craftalicious - Make Your Own Flowers
• Creative Craft - Animal Antics
• My Time to Craft - 'Let's Eat Cake' OR 'Drink Up'
• Pink Elephant - 'Something Yummy!'
• Stamp Something - Photo Inspiration

Labour of Love

I seem to have developed a bit of a thing for Penny Black hedgehogs lately...I've made 5 cards with them on so far this week...this is the first one to appear on my blog...and it will be hedgies tomorrow & Saturday too! lol
The image on this one is called 'Labour of Love', and I followed the nice simple sketch on Get Sketchy...adding a simple bow underneath the image...I didn't want to cover too much of the gorgeous My Mind's Eye paper ('29th Street Market'). I'm also going to enter this card for the Pink Elephant's 'Ribbon' challenge.

Ooh La La!

This is my second card for this week's Penny Black Saturday Challenge...I told you I'd have to have a go at the other sketch! lol
I've also managed to make this card fit some other challenge themes: Pink Elephant 'Birthdays'; Creative Inspirations (Sunday) 'Distressing'; Creative Inspirations (Wednesday) 'New Year, New Stash'; and Charisma Cardz 'Anything New'. My 'new' items are the gorgeous My Mind's Eye 'Ooh La La (for Him)' papers...another of my post-Christmas sales purchases...
I've used them with an image form the Penny Black 'Hugs' set, a Hero Arts sentiment stamp, some Prima flowers, and some ribbon from Poppicrafts. I distressed the edges of all the papers, and added some faux stitching with a white gel pen.

Brrr.....Keeping Warm!

Brrrrr....it's a bit nippy out! lol
So, I've been inside, safely in the warm crafting...and have made a card for the Crafty Calendar's 'Keeping Warm' challenge. I used a Whiff of Joy image...as Willow looks nice and toasty with her big chunky jumper and hot chocolate. I followed one of the Pink Elephant Challenge sketches...to make my card for this month's friendship card swap on the Docrafts forum. The papers are BasicGrey 'Blush'...in keeping with the 'chocolate' theme, the sentiment stamp is by StudioG, and the ribbon is from Poppicrafts.

Bear & Robin

I've had this adorable teddy ('Bear & Robin' by Gillian Roberts) coloured since last weekend...and have finally found the time to put him on a card. I followed the fab Papertake Weekly Challenge sketch, and since I used my trusty watercolour pencils to colour the image...I'm also entering this card for the Pink Elephant's 'Favourite Colouring Medium' challenge. It also fits the 'Christmas' theme of the Creative Card Crew Challenge, and the 'Glitzy' challenge of Stamp Something. The papers are BasicGrey 'Eskimo Kisses', the snowflakes were cut using the Cuttlebug 'Ice Crystal' die...and have been coated with Glamour Dust, and I added some 'Polar White' Flowersoft to the fur trim on the teddy's hat, and on the ground beneath him to look like snow.


I've had the day off today...I've finished teaching for the term at the school I work at on Fridays...and had planned to get my Christmas shopping done...but, I've had a cough all week, which has been getting steadily worse, and now I have another stinking cold! :0(
I'm making most of my presents again this year, so there wasn't much to get...and instead of venturing out, I've been Christmas shopping from my bed...just have to wait for them to be delivered now! :0)

Autumn Maggie

There's been a real nip in the air first thing in the morning this week...so I decided to ink up 'Maggie' (by Sugar Nellie)...she looks so cosy in her coat and scarf! I followed the Card Patterns Challenge sketch, which I combined with a few other challenge themes: the Cupcake Craft 'Buttons & Stitching' challenge; the Pink Elephant Challenge 'Fall' theme; the Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge 'Autumn Colours' challenge; and Stampin' for the Weekend's 'Orange, Brown & Leafy Green' colour combo. I used some more of the My Mind's Eye 'Bloom & Grow' papers...I was even brave enough to tear one of the sheets! lol
I used my 'zig-zag' CutterBee Bug to make the holes for my faux stitching, added a few buttons (from Poppicrafts), a sentiment by Doodlebug, and a star shaped brad (from Tescos) on the end of Maggie's sparkler.

Pickles or Onion?

I'm busy trying to get ready for next term...so I've been limiting my crafting time this week, but I found a little time last night to use one of my new Daisy & Dandelion stamps (from the 'Birthday' set)...but I'm not sure if this cute little heffalump is Pickles or Onion? I used the Pink Elephant Challenge sketch...so I guess I should really have coloured him pink...lol...but I'd already coloured him in the 'Pink & Grey' colour combination of the Stampin' for the Weekend Challenge. I couldn't find any grey card...so I tinted the edges of some plain white card using a chalk inkpad...and used some plain pink papers I found in my BasicGrey 'Bittersweet' pad...embossing one with my 'Spots & Dots' and 'Swiss Dots' folders. Th sentiment is from the same D&D set, the flowers are from Poppicrafts, and the ribbon was part of my birthday RAK form my lovely ABC DT mate Vicky.


No more crafting for me today...I've packed all my stash to take away for the weekend...so it's back to work for the rest of the day :0(

Lazy Days

When I saw the 'Lazy Dayz' theme of this week's Cute Card Thursday Challenge...I just knew I had to use this Penny Black hedgie image...rather appropriately called 'Lazy Days'. I also followed the Sketch Saturday sketch, used the Charisma Cardz colour combo of 'Lemon, Green & Pink' and the 'Summer' theme of the Pink Elephant Challenge. The papers are from the 'Lemonade' pad by BasicGrey, the sentiment stamp was a freebie with a Docrafts mag, and the flowers were a birthday RAK from my lovely friend Carol, who also stamped the image for me. As I've used three flowers, three brads and three papers, I'm also going to enter this card into Pile It On's 'Good Things Come In Threes' challenge.

Celebration Chicken!

After a couple of days of no crafting...I just had to get my fingers inky...and have made a quick card. I followed Carol's Sketch Fun sketch for the layout, flipping it, as it suited my image better this way around. I used 'Celebration Chicken' (by Whipper Snapper) as my image...colouring him to match the Fancy Pants Designs papers ('True'). I added some buttons in place of the scalloped border, and the sentiment is from the 'Cupcakes' set by Hero Arts. I'm also entering this card for a few other challenges: Stamp Something's 'Winged Things' challenge; Everybody Art Challenge's 'Spots & Stripes' challenge; and the Pink Elephant's 'Animals' challenge.

Summer Blossom

With all of the glorious weather we've been having lately, it's not surprising that a lot of the challenges are celebrating 'Summer' at the moment, so once again I'm combining quite a few on this card: Cupcake Craft, A Spoon Full of Sugar and Everybody Art with their 'Summer/Summertime' themes; the fab sketch (by my lovely friend Cathy) of the Dutch Dare Challenge; and the 'Favourite Colour Combo' challenge of the Pink Elephant.
I've interpreted the 'Summer' theme by using bright summery colours and flowers. My image is the lovely Annie ('Blossom' by Leanne Ellis for Sugar Nellie), coloured with watercoloured pencils to match the gorgeous K&Co papers ('Amy Butler' and 'Classic K - Margo'). The flowers are a mixture of Poppicrafts and Hobbycraft, the sentiment was cut using the 'Olivia' alphabet, and the ribbon is also from Poppicrafts.

This card is going to my partner for this month's friendship swap on the Docrafts forum, where there was no theme, but I thought that a bright summery card was in order this month!

Pretty in Purple

I always think of 'Birthday Dog' (by Penny Black) as a boy...I'm not sure why...but I thought I'd have a go at a bit more of a 'girly' card with 'him', and use shades of purple...the theme for this week's Pile It On Challenge. I followed the Pink Elephant Challenge sketch...adding a few extra bits'n'pieces, and I'm also going to enter this card for the Charisma Cardz 'Anything Goes' challenge.

I don't very often use purple on my cards...it's not that I don't like it...I just don't find it very easy to combine with other colours...so I've avoided that problem here by using two shades of purple card - the lighter shade has been embossed using the 'Happy Birthday' Cuttlebug folder. The flowers and the ribbon are all from Poppicrafts, and the card candy is by Craftwork Cards.

Yummy, yummy, yummy...

...it's Henry...and multiple challenges...again! This time I've combined the Whiff of Joy Challenge sketch, the colour combo of 'Pink, Brown & White' of the Pink Elephant Challenge, the One Stop Craft Challenge 'Sparkles' theme, and the 'Something Yummy' of the Charisma Cardz Challenge.
The papers are all from the 'Bittersweet' collection by BasicGrey, the cute little sentiment stamp is by Hero Arts (from the 'Fabulous Birthday' set), the ribbon and flowers are from Poppicrafts. It doesn't show up terribly well in the photo, but I added some Stickles to the frosting on the cake, and a touch of sparkle to the flowers and candle flame with a Sakura Stardust pen.

Snowy Two in One...

I've kept my promise, and made a second Christmas card this week to make up for not getting one done last week, and have used the fab sketch from this week's Our Creative Corner Challenge. I've also used the colour combination from the Pink Elephant Challenge of 'Blue, Green & White'. I decided to give the gorgeous 'Snowy' (by Penny Black) his first inking of 2009, and papers by Pebbles Inc, combined with the 'Snowflakes' embossing folder and a few adhesive gems.

Sketch Saturday meets Pink Elephant

I've combined this week's fab Sketch Saturday sketch with the colour theme of Pink, Green and Brown of the Pink Elephant Challenge on this card. I had to rotate the sketch to fit my image - Annie...again, but this time 'Talking to the Birds' (by Leanne Ellis for Funky Kits). The (very loudly patterned) paper is by BasicGrey, and the brown panel is Core'dinations card embossed with the Cuttlebug 'Textile' folder then sanded to reveal the core. The flowers are by Prima, and the sentiment is from a set by Studio G.