Cheap Thrills

Last week one of my work-friends showed me two big paper packs she'd got from Lidl (a budget supermarket) for only £3.50 a pack. As I don't live near a Lidl , she was kind enough to pick some up for me. There are some that are almost too lovely to cut into. Here, I used two of the papers with a Samantha Walker owl cutting file. The sentiment is Alte New. I embossed the base card with a woodgrain folder and distressed everything.

I'd like to enter :
Shopping Our Stash  thanks
Aud Sentiments  die cuts

Pro-Am Showdown # 13- Old Technology

glitter shot 

This year, my self-imposed challenge is Pro-Am Showdown, where I take on a commercially produced card I've received (the Pro) and see if I can beat the professionals at their own game with my amateur card.

Here is the card that inspired me: 

These days I rarely see a classic red, British phone box, but before mobiles they used to be everywhere. In fact, when I was a teenager we didn't have a house phone and I remember calling employers.looking for my first job, from the phone box at the end of our street. 

Although it was only after I made my card that I started to wonder what phone boxes have to do with Christmas???!!!

The phone box is by Artemio; the foliage by Papermania, the sentiments are Hero Arts and Avery Elle. I used Enamel Accents for snow and fine glitter for frost. 

I'd like to enter:
The Male Room - Technology 
Just Us Girls  (moon)light 
HLS Christmas  silhouette (the foliage) 

Double Polar

glitter shot 

Here's a polar bear and a polar grid.

The stamps are all by Flora and Funa, and the polar grid is a stencil I've had for a long time and can't remember the brand.

I'd like to enter:
Casology grid
Simon Says Stamp  Christmas

Politically Inspired

'I work all night , I work all day, to pay the bills I have to pay...'

That's what it's felt like lately. I haven't done any crafting all week (which is unusual for me) and when, this weekend, I found I had the time to craft, my mojo had disappeared.

Luckily, inspiration was lurking in an unusual place - my partner's bedside table!

the book that inspired me

So, as you can see, I sort of recreated the cover of this political book!

The fox stamp is by Stampin Up - I over-stamped it in two different colours to get the foxy shade I wanted. The sentiment stamps are from Wplus9, MFT and Hero Arts.

I'd like to enter:
Less is More  hot and spicy
Make My Monday  Animal Antics

Inkspirational Challenges - One Layer Card

Our new challenge at Inkspirational is to make a one-layer-card. I seem to make a lot of these lately. 

The cat (Stampin Up) is a solid stamp and when I stamped it in orange, I didn't feel it had enough 'presence' .So I drew round the outline with a pen.  I also added pen detail to the kite (also Stampin Up) and added a doodled border. The sentiments are by Waffle Flower and the background is a Paper Artsy stencil. 

I put this card in my son's bag when he went on a five-day school activity trip. When he came back I found it with his wet clothes - the pen outline had almost disappeared and there was an orange wash over the front of the card! 

I'd like to enter:

Aloha Friday  kiddy cards 

Addicted to Stamps  make your mark 

City Crafter Challenge Blog - Shake it Up

At City Crafter  this week , Kirsty wants us to use a shaker element.

For my DT project  I made a black and white shaker card with a Mama Elephant panda.

I hope you'll join in our challenge at City Crafter- but not until after you've come over to the blog and seen what the rest of the DT have made. 

I'd like to enter 

Make My Monday  animal antics 

A Gem of a Challenge  birthday 

Stamp Ink Paper  cardmaker's Choice 

Parental Advisory - Innuendo Inside

Hi everyone. I'm just breaking off from a lovely weekend of marking students' work to post this. (I'm hoping to catch up with visiting my favourite bloggers later.) Please may I ask you not to read any further into this post if you might be offended by some slightly risque innuendo.

Still here? Okay.... my (grown-up) daughter asked me to make a birthday card for her friend who has a naughty sense of humour. We came up with this idea together. It's a big card (8 x8) with a large cockerel on it. And inside my daughter will write 'Here's a big cock for your birthday.'

The cockerel is a cutting file from SVG cuts and I added a circle of foiled paper, glitter, a red feather and a gold embossed sentiment . The base card is embossed with  woodgrain which I then covered with pale gold wax.

I'd like to enter Shopping Our Stash - Not your Momma's card - although it is my daughter's momma's card!

City Crafter Challenge Blog- Colourful Birds

Our new challenge at City Crafter is to create a project with many colourful birds on it.

Here I used stamps by My Favorite Things, and although it looks pretty simple, there was lots of masking needed to get all the birds round the cage!

I hope you'll join in our challenge at City Crafter- but not until after you've come over to the blog and seen what the rest of the DT have made. 

I'd like to enter:

Allsorts - things with wings 

Time Out  quote 

Just us Girls  photo 

Not Mushroom for Crafting

At last! Some crafting time this weekend.

This card was inspired by some challenges-  the photo at Inspired by the Little Things , the sketch at Paper Players  and The Crafty Addicts (brad).

The toadstool stamp was a freebie years ago(Woodware made it, I think)  - I coloured them with Zig Clean Colour and then added glitter to the red bit and white enamel for the spots. The sentiment is from Lil Inker.

Quick Birthday Card

I've been having a very busy time in real-life lately , so when I discovered, at short notice, that my lovely CCCB teammie Lucille's birthday was coming up, I needed a quick and easy design. 

This design only uses two stamps (sentiment by MFT, balloons by Mama Elephant), a black inkpad, two Promarkers , an embossing folder and a white gel pen for highlights on the balloons. 

The idea was to tether the balloons to the letters - I hope that works. 

My card is now on it's way to Lucille. 

I'd like to enter :

Crafty Catz birthday party 

Cards in Envy  easy 

Seize the Birthday  balloons