Can my chum come out to play?

Good morning, peeps and I hope you're all managing to keep warm!

I just love this little chap and I placed him in front of the doorway to make it look like he's calling for a little friend:

Everything on this card is from the wonderful Polka Doodles Pretty Tuff CD.  I like to print the images in black and white to give me the opportunity to colour them with my Copics and Prismas but if you're not a colouring addict like me, you can print the images out already coloured.  The great thing about these CDs is that they're so easy to use, which is perhaps as well for me since technology is not my strongest point!

You may have noticed before that I like to use stars on male cards and these Sizzix Primitive Stars are my favourites.  The buttons are from my stash and are secured with twine.  All the papers I've used are also printed from the CD, which has a fabukous selection that are all great for male cards, as are the selection of sentiments like the one I've used here.  Like many crafters, I find male cards more of a challenge.

Thank you for visiting me today and I hope you like this card.  It's one I made a while ago so I don't have any Copic colours for you but I'm posting it today because I couldn't join in the Polka Doodles Challenge this week with the rest of my Teamies because of the continuing chaos in my craft room caused by the painter (I'll blame him because he's not around to defend himself!) and which is only just getting sorted out.  I hope you can join in the challenge this week, which is to use a template for your card or project.

Hugs

Shaped Cards

Good morning, peeps!  It's nice to see a little sunshine today after all the gloom and rain yesterday so I hope you're enjoying some dry weather too.  I certainly need it here because I have a painter working on the apartment this week and the fact that all the windows are open and my craft room in total disarray are not combining to make Diane a happy bunny!  How much chaos can one painter cause?  The answer is LOTS! but it'll look great when he's finished.

I hope that my cards today will make you smile - yes, I did say CARDS, in the plural - my blog is like buses again!

I'm taking a workshop on Saturday at Samuel Taylor, Brighouse and we're going to be making Shaped Cards and here's the first one:

As you can see, they're shaped easel cards to be strictly accurate and they're made using the House of Zandra templates.  They are both available from Samuel Taylor although they're not visible on the website but you can always just give them a call.  The template I used for this card is called Matting and Layering 3 and I used Kraft Card and DPs from My Mind's Eye and Melissa Frances all distressed with Walnut Ink DI.  The image is from Nellie Snellen and she's called Dawn with Flowers and you can buy her here.  She is of course coloured with Copics and Prisma pencils, the numbers of which are lost in the chaos that is my craft room!  The flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts and the ribbon is from my stash.  The ladies attending my workshop will get the template for this card as part of the package and they may have time to make only this one but the fast workers can have a go at this one as well:

 

This template is called Matting and Layering 2 and I decided to line the blue card with the Melissa Frances DP, which is always a fiddle when you're creating a folded shape but I'm pleased with the result.  This time the image is a Gorjuss Girl (not sure if they still call them that!) from  Personal Impressions and it's called I love you Little Rabbit, again coloured with Copics and Prisma pencils.  The heart shape is cut with a really old Sizzix Original die and the flowers are again from Wild Orchid Crafts.  The distressing is done with Faded Jeans DI.

Thank you for looking today and I'll see you again soon when I can make sense of my craft room.

Hugs

Vintage Babsie

Well, good morning again!  I'm back with my card for the Polka Doodles Challenge, which this week is 'Vintage /Retro'.  A good challenge for me because I've never particularly worked with the vintage style but always admire it when I see others' work.  I always think of it as a particularly feminine style so I decided to use one of the Fairy Flutterfly stamps and this one is called 'Babsie'.

Not being very experienced with this style of card, I took my inspiration from a card that appeared in an old Magnolia Ink magazine that was made by the uber talented Hanna.  This young lady makes the most amazing cards so do take a peek at her blog and leave her some love.

Anyhoo, back to the challenge!  Babsie is coloured with Copics, Promarkers, Flexmarkers and Prisma pencils and all the distressing is done with Walnut Stain Distress Ink.  The papers are all printed from the Pretty Sweet CD, which has a wonderful selection of gorgeous, feminine papers.  As you can see, there was plenty much the punching with my Martha Stewart Doily Lace punch and I heated the ribbon to make it shrivel and look a bit more vintage-y.  The pearls are from Stampin' Up, the pearl brads are from The Hobby House and the flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts.

I will certainly be having another crack at this vintage style because it was great fun to do.  Why don't you join in the fun and enter this challenge?  Hop on over to the Challenge Blog now and see what inspiration my talented teamies have produced for you.

Well, I'm off now to a meeting then I have packing to do for our holiday in The Lakes but my lappy will be travelling with me so I'll hopefully be back again soon with more waffle and a card for you.  In the meantime, have a fantastic weekend!

Hugs

Molly in the snow

Good morning, peeps!  I hope you're all bright and bushy tailed today, thank Crunchie it's Friday and I'm off on hols tomorrow - woohoo!

Anyhoo, the challenge over at Fussy and Fancy Friday Challenge this week is 'Let it Snow' and I tried not to make this card look like a Christmas card but I'm not sure I succeeded, see what you think:

I love these Molly Blooms images and I have so many that I don't have time to use and they sit there uninked :-( ... but this cute little Molly has been coloured with Copics and Prisma pencils (of course!) and cut out with a Nestie Wonky Rectangle shape, which is such a useful set of dies.  The DPs are oldies from my stash - I think the red one came from an old Kars pad and the ribbon is somewhat anonymous too.  The sentiment is a Clarity Stamp that I overstamped with snowflakes from an old Papermania set I found in the Christmas drawer.  The flowers and berries are from Wild Orchid Crafts and the snowflake border is from Dies to Die For and is a Memory Box one.  Sad to say that I don't actually own this die, the cut-out I've used here is a sample the lovely Tracy sent me with another order but, as you can imagine, I intend to own it before I have to make another snowy card!  The leaves under the flowers are cut from a new Cheery Lyn die that I think will prove endlessly useful.

It's hard to see in the photo (click to make it larger) but I added Stardust Stickles to the snowflakes.

Colouring

Skin:  E000, E00, E01, E21, R20, R11
Hat/sweater/boots:  E30, E31, E33, E35 and 70% French Grey pencil
Trousers and scarf: G24, G28, G29 and Olive pencil
Reds:  R22, R24, R27 and Tuscan Red pencil
Snow:  C0, C1, C2, C3

Thank you for looking today and I do hope you'll join us for this challenge.  We have a new format for the New Year and you could be a Guest Designer - click on the link to read all about it.

I'll be back again later because it's Polka Doodles Challenge day too - but don't feint with shock at the thought of my posting twice in one day!

Hugs

Mardigras!

Good morning, peeps!

Are you feeling in a party mood this morning?  It's hard to feel much like a party when all the Christmas and New Year celebrations are over and it's gloomy and cold outside, so I thought I'd show you something bright and cheery to help the day along a little.

These cards were produced for the Stamping with Clarity show on Create and Craft TV last Sunday.  When the stamps arrived, I was delighted with them and I think they hold many possibilities.

This is another of my not very good photographs but I hope you can see the effect.  It gave me a good opportunity to play with my Twinkling H2Os to create the background.  They haven't been out to play since I can't remember when and I've promised myself that I won't leave it so long before I bring them out again!  To get this effect, I first painted a sheet of A4 card with pale pink and then stamped all over it in random fashion with the small mask and the harlequin stamps using Versamark. I then applied clear embossing powder and heated it.  Then out came a large-ish flat paint brush and I splodged several colours all over the top (red, pink, green, yellow, blue, purple).  At this stage, it wasn't looking so clever but then I spayed it with Pearl Glimmer Mist and the magic happened when all the colours ran and blended into one another so I finally had the effect I'd been aiming for.  Don't you just love it when a plan comes together?!  With all this colour going on I decided to keep the large mask image to just black and white and it's stamped on to Centura Pearl Card, coloured with a black ProMarker then cut out and glued on to the background.

I wanted to create the impression of fireworks, which is how the gold ribbon came on to the scene. Having found the ribbon, the problem then was how to make it curl.  The answer was to wind it round a wooden chop stick, secure the ends with little metal bulldog clips and apply the heat gun.  However, I have a tip for you with this technique - wait for the bulldog clips to cool before removing them otherwise you're stuck holding an ice cube for some time until your fingers stop throbbing, ask me how I know!!

I then used the large mask stamp with one of the Clarity Alium stamps to produce the firework effect for this card:

 

The alium image was embossed with several different shades of  Moonglow Embossing Powder.  The main image has been stamped and enbossed in gold and then painted with the H2Os.

When it came to creating a card with the Dippy Toe Lady set, I knew I wanted to have the effect of the lady in a leafy glade at sunset then, having created the sunset, I was trying out all the colours of card to mount the image when I suddenly realised that I'd used all the colours of the Mardigras background -I am slow sometimes!  Good thing that I'd created a whole A4 sheet wasn't it?  Here's the result:

Well, if you've stayed with me through this marathon post, thank you and well done!  I hope you enjoyed seeing the cards and thank you for looking.  I'll be back later in the week with some challenge cards but, in the meantime, if you see someone without a smile, give them one of yours!

Hugs

Mrs Claus

Good morning, peeps and a very Happy New Year to you all!

Well, I bet you thought Christmas was over for another year but I thought I'd just show you the card I made for my lovely husband, Brian:

This is one of those fabulous digi images from Kenny K and I chose it because Brian is often teased about looking like Santa because of his white hair and beard although both are close cropped and not flowing like Santa at all.  So I suppose this is my alter ego and it might have been 35 years ago but now I have to say that the only similarity is the red hair!  Anyway, a girl can dream.....

The image is coloured with Copics and Prisma pencils and I added Ultra Fine Flowersoft to the fur trim of her outfit.

The DP is from the wonderful Bo Bunny Father Christmas Collection - fabulous papers these in lovely traditional colours.  The ribbon is from Stampin' Up and the charm was from The Works a couple of years ago.  I'm pretty sure I bought the huge poinsettia from The Hobby House and they come in a pack of mixed red and white flowers.

Well, considering that today is the 5th, I haven't exactly made a good start in my resolution to be a better blogger, but I am working on it - 'onest, guv! so I shall be back soon with something else to show you.  I really need to do some work throughout the year on Christmas cards so you may see some unseasonal posts from time to time.

Are you busy taking your Christmas decorations down today?  Whatever your doing, have a great one and thanks for looking!

Hugs