The Big Five-Oh

Yesterday was my sister-in-law's 50th birthday and I made this card for her. 

I used my new Concord and 9th Happy Day stamp set. I actually ordered this and a few other sets before Christmas and hid them away without taking them out of the mailing envelope. During a quiet period over Christmas, I took them out and used them for the first time. It was like a Christmas present to myself!

 I stamped the cake and then masked it and stamped the sparklers as a background (subtle in the photo, I know!) I coloured in the cake and paper-pieced the flowers and then I added shimmer pen to the flowers. I made a card base out of silver mirror card that I embossed with a flower pattern. The sentiment at the top is 'brand unknown' - the words at the bottom are from the C and 9th set - even using a Misty, they still look a bit 'home-made'!

I'd like to enter:
Double D  birthday
Watercooler  feminine
Seize the Birthday anything goes
Moving along with the times flowers 

City Crafter Challenge Blog - Colourful Dog Card

It's our first City Crafter challenge for 2018 , and Lucille wants us to make colourful cards with a dog/s on them.

For my DT card, I used a dog stamp from Stampin Up  and I paper-pieced it using some old magazine freebie paper. I added a strip of the same paper, a sentiment by Hero Arts and some enamel dots.

We look forward to seeing your projects for this challenge and I hope you'll go over to the blog and see what the rest of the DT have made.

I'd like to enter:

Crafty Animals 

Love to Scrap 

Unicorn Challenge 

Happy 2018

Happy New Year to you all!

We saw the new year in with friends and this is the card I gave them.

I die-cut a big star as the background and then added stars die-cut  from glitter paper. The numbers are 'Thickers' (pre-cut chipboard stickers , although I added extra glue as they were not very sticky). The sentiment is Hero Arts and I added sticky gems.

I'd like to enter:
Dragonfly Journeys fresh start
Inkspire Me  new year
Sweet Stampin  new
Sparkles  New Year
Always Fun  something new

Inkspirational - Stamping only

I hope you are all enjoying the holiday season.

This is my DT card for the new Inkspirational  challenge and the challenge theme, chosen by Sandie, is :

I stamped a text stamp in black ink and then stamped the polar bear (Magenta) over the top in blue ink. The sentiments are Avery Elle and I added ink spray splatters, gems and white enamel accents.

We have a wonderful Guest Designer, Laurie, and I hope you will go  over to the challenge blog and see what she, and the rest of the DT made, before entering your own stamped project. 

I'd like to enter:

Cardz4Guyz last minute Christmas 

Double D  winter 

Watercooler  masculine 

Penguins aren't just for Christmas

Here's a  picture I made as a Christmas present for a 3 year old. I was with his mum recently and she was looking at a print for his bedroom but it cost too much for her to buy at that time. The print she looked at had a penguin , a balloon and the words 'Follow your Dreams' - so I decided to CASE it and make my own version.

The penguin is a digital stamp from A Day for Daisies. The original image is holding a balloon but I wanted a bigger, rounder balloon so I googled for a balloon image and traced it in Silhouette studio. After arranging the outline images and words, I printed them onto linen effect card. I lightly coloured the penguin. I cut the balloon out of patterned paper, inked the edges and pieced it onto the picture. I cut a mount frame and then put it all into a clip-frame.

I'd like to enter:
Little Red Wagon  gift
Moving along with the Times  anything but a card
TGIF Challenges  last minute santa
Brown Sugar  anything but  a card

Happy Birthday Shauna!

Happy Birthday to Shauna, my wonderful, talented team-mate from Inkspirational.

This is the card which is now in her possession.  I used a flower stamp from W plus 9 and heat embossed it in white and then coloured it with powdered paints, (I can't remember whether I used Brushos or Lindy's Stamp Gang Magicals, or a combo of the both). It was one of those cards that's quick and fun to make and takes more time to clean up afterwards!

Have a great day, Shauna.

I'd like to enter:
Stamp Ink Paper  Say no to Christmas
Papercraft Challenges  happy birthday
Crafty Gal Challenges  anything goes

Pro-Am Showdown #19 - A Small Toucan

This cards is for my self-imposed challenge , Pro-Am Showdown,  where I CASE a mass-produced card to make my own, amateur version.

Here's the original, commercially-produced card:

the professional card

For my card I used a toucan stamp by My Favorite Things (it's the set with the girl in the grass skirt) . I masked it and stamped the circular sentiment (very old, brand unknown).  I know people usually use grey markers to colour black but I wanted to mimic the sketchy look of the original and so I used a black marker in a kind of scribbly way. The leafy paper was a magazine freebie and I finished with some sequins. 

By the way, when I came to cut out the mask, I struggled to find a pair of scissors to cut it - and I have several pairs. Either a craft thief broke in during the night or it's time for a tidy up! 

I'd like to enter:
Less is More  birds 
Cards in Envy  framed with circles 
Papercraft Challenges happy birthday 

Busman's Holiday

I think most hobbies seem weird to others. My partner chuckles when he sees me reading 'Craft Stamper' magazine, seemingly oblivious to the comedy value of 'Bus and Coach Preservation Monthly'.

He asked me to make some cards for his classic bus enthusiast friends. He found a photo in a book of a bus stuck in snow and I scanned this for the image. I used a mix of die-cuts, stamps and punches for the sentiment and embellishments and added clear gems for extra-Christmas-ness. He was really pleased with them and in fact, got me to make one more after the photo was taken.
I'd like to enter:
The Male Room  Christmas
If you give a crafter a cookie  photo
Allsorts cold and frosty colours

Inkspirational Challenges - Gift

Our new challenge at Inkspirational is the word 'gift '.

There are two small children who live next door to us and I made these novelty boxes to fill with chocolates and give them as a small gift. I used the Silhouette cutting machine and used the cutting files pretty much as intended, so there is more craft than creativity on my part. I suppose it's like using a dress or knitting pattern and ending up with the garment on the packet.

Our Guest Designer is Valentyna  so I hope you will visit the Inkspirational challenge blog to see what she's made, and also the rest of the Design Team - then enter your project.

I'd like to enter:

Cut it up Challenges  box 

Happy Birthday Carol

It's Carol's birthday! Carol is a fabulous crafter and a wonderful team-mate at Inkspirational. 

This is the birthday card I hope she's now received . I used a Stamping Bella image, a My Sentiments Exactly sentiment , Promarkers and gloss.

Carol, I hope you have a great day.

I'd like to enter:
Fab n Funky  anything but Christmas
Watercooler Wednesday occasions
Addicted to Stamps  make your mark