Pinky and Porky

I can now show you the anniversary card I made for my mum and dad, I couldn't post it before as my mum visits my blog at least daily (I'm sure she's checking up on me!) we had a lovely family meal out and I'm very proud of the fact they have been together for 33 years.

I used the Penny Black stamp Pinky and Porky, an Anita's papers pack, a woodware punch, hoobycraft ribbon, WOJ sentiment stamp and edged it all with dots of pink liquid pearls.

For the inside I used the same papers and a cuttlebug heart die again with liquid pearls.

What is it with valentines challenges at this time of year??? As I'm sure your aware from previous posts I am currently single at the moment, so why would I want to make half a dozen love/ valentines cards just to remind me that I'm single?? Just to leave them sitting in a box beside me mocking my single existence?? I enjoy entering challenges and know of 3 at the moment that have a 'love' theme, how many will it be in a week or two's time? I guess I'll just have to bypass these challenges until they return to normal- am I alone in thinking this or is everyone a 'happy couple'??

Sugar Nellie CAS Card

Over on the sugarnellie blog Karen set a challenge to make a CAS (clean and simple) card with a sugar nellie stamp, so here is my try at it, its not my usual multi layered patterned papers over embellished type of card but I like it all the same!

I used Carefree stamp coloured with whispers pens mounted it on foam pads to a white card that I embossed at the bottom with a cuttlebug border embossing folder and cut round, added some purple papermania card underneath it and Anita's ribbon across it.

I have been tagged by Becky Lee, Pauline C, Helen and Vicky.

The rules are: go to "Pictures" on your PC, select the 6th album and the 6th picture, upload it to your blog and explain what its about, then select 6 people to do the same!

So here is my 6th picture, its my brothers dog Tilly, she is my most favorite thing in the world, I love her to bits and would love to steal her from him! Isn't she so cute!!!!

I am going to pass it on to Elaine, Amanda, Gina G, Michele, Kelly and Jan

I have also received this award from Gina G, Lyndsey Marie...

...and this award from Aardvark pest

Thanks so much girls its really appreciated. I am going to pass it on to the same people as I tagged so Elaine, Amanda, Gina G, Michele, Kelly and Jan

Christening card

As promised here is the christening card I made for baby Emily. The photos didn't come out too well but as I no longer have the card I cant take anymore!


I'm being really indecisive about my blog background at the moment, I cant decide if I like it white which is clean looking and easy to read or if I prefer a coloured/ patterned background, I'll probably change it again next week, I get bored with things way too quickly!!

Thanks to everyone who has entered and linked to my blog candy, if you haven't entered it yet there is still time!

I have decided to stand down from the funky fairys DT, I'd like to thank Shaz for giving me the chance to be on the team and wish all the fairies the best of luck with the DT- I'll still be keeping an eye on all your blogs!

Wedding Invites

I have at last finished the day and evening invites for my brothers wedding in April!!!

I used white and silver card embossed with a cuttlebug embossing folder and silver ribbon.

The designs and colours were chosen by my SIL to be after I made several samples for her to choose from. The save the dates were similar to the evening invitations and were sent out last summer.

Only the table plan, order of services, menus, place cards, thank you cards and flower girl cards to go!

I'm off to Wales this weekend to give all 3 boxes of them to Rhiannon (my brothers fiance) and to go to a christening (I'll upload the card I made for it when I come back as I don't want them to see it).

This afternoon I am making chocolate brownies to take with me for Andrew and Rhiannon who are putting us up for the weekend. After the success of my chocolate cake I now have an obsession for baking!

Forever Friends Docrafts project of the week

I have done another project of the week for the DoCrafts website and it is now showing. Its using the new Forever Friends Decoupage, not what I would normally choose to use, but I think it turned out quite well and love how they have photographed it!

for more info on how its made and products used, or to leave a nice comment (quite often people feel the need to criticise the docraft designers cards of the week and leave negative comments, everyone is entitled to their opinion I suppose but I might cry if I get too many horrid ones!) please go here.

I've just finished another one for February for them using the new papermania flower stamps so keep a watch out for that.

Sugar, Sugar, Sugar

Here is my card for this weeks Sugarbowl Challenge, this weeks challenge is 3 and you can only use 3 different patterned papers and 3 different types of embellishments. If you use 3 different Sugar Nellie stamps you get 2 entries.

The embellishments I chose to use are flowers, buttons and ribbon. The stamps I used are Cheddar, Braveheart and Pringle from the soft centres range.

This is the front:

And the back:

The papers are by k&co. I cut the swirls on my slice and with a sizzix die, I didn't count them as embellishments as you are allowed to use coloured card and I cut them from coloured card. The sentiments I did in MS Picture It! Publishing.

And some close ups:

Watch Out Nigella!

No card for you today as i have been busy making wedding invites.

Today I made my first cake!! A normal person might try fairy cakes or maybe a plain sponge cake for the first ever time they make a cake, oh no not me, I though 'how hard can it be' and made a huge chocolate cake!I think cooking is going to be my new hobby, I had so much fum making it, in fact there was more chocolate on me than in the bowl at one point!

Its all in the preparation they say, well I had all the ingredients prepared in front of me and read in the recipe that I needed an electric whisk, so a quick trip to my nans house and I was once again ready to rumble. Ahh so how do I know how much 100g is hmm well in the absence of scales I just guessed and I think I must have guessed right as its delicious!!!

Sorry for the bombardment of photos of what is to some just a regular cake, but for me this is a monumental occasion, I'm so proud of it that it seems a shame to eat it! Considering I live on my own and am meant to be on a diet I don't know who's going to eat it, anyone for a slice....?

Thank you to Elaine and Semsee for this award. On her blog Semsee says 'Sarah ... Sparkle Cards (the very first blog I followed! The fabulous card she made for her mum's birthday was the catalyst for me starting card making - thanks Sarah!)' How lovely is that! Its the second person today who I have heard that I have inspired to start card making, I made a card last year for someone who's sister saw it and started making cards because of it. I feel so amazed that people would look at my work and are inspired by it. I also am amazed at the lovely comments people have left recently, I appreciate them so much, thank you.

Sugar Bowl Challenge

Here is my card for the Sugar Bowl Challenge, which has an amazing prize of 3 sets of pro markers!

I used Pen Pal stamp from Sugar Nellie, papers from K&Co, card from DCWV. The image is coloured with whispers pens and the flowers are primas, I also added gold Liquid Pearls to the edges of the blue card.


I also decorated the inside

I have received this blog award from Pauline and Lisa, thanks girls its really appreciated. Thanks for looking x

New York Socialite

Something a little different, a step away from 'cute', something sophisticated? Hmm not too sure about the sophisticated part but I am sure that I love this card! I think its my favorite...

I bought this stamp a while ago, its called New York Socialite and is by Stamps Happen, and knew I wanted to do something with feathers.

I used this weeks Sketch Saturday sketch, it is under all the embellishments I swear! Its also for the new Charisma Cardz challenge which is pink.

I used papers from DCWV, Prima flowers, Papermania brads, sizzix swirls die, the rest is from my stash. I enjoyed making it so much I may have to buy some more stamps from this range, I was looking at the Paris one when I got this one ...

Question Time

You know when you say a word over and over it loses all sense and meaning, well the same goes for making bows, by the time I had finished this lot I couldn't even tie a bow and had to give up, my mind just went blank!
I still have the other half to do! They are for my brothers wedding invites.
Thank you for all your comments on my cards, I would like to answer some questions left on the comments on the last couple of posts, so:
Amanda asked:

Q: 'What watercolour paper do you use?’
A: I use WHSmiths watercolour paper, just the standard type, nothing fancy. I prefer to use watercolour paper as it allows for the ink from my whispers pens to be moved around a bit more freely than on plain card.

Claire asked:

Q: 'How do you find the time to make such wonderful creations?'
A: This may have been a rhetorical question but I will answer it as at the moment I am finding that I am busier than ever with crafting. I work full time as a civil servant (VAT Inspector, but we'll let that pass!) so I tend to craft in the evenings, even at weekends I find I am most creative in the evenings. I'm a bit of a night owl so will stay up till the small hours crafting away. However I don't have a family of my own and live on my own so my free time is just that, all mine to do whatever I please with. At the moment I have just finished 2 articles for Creativity! magazine that took me quite a while, the write up was the hardest part as I'm not that great at putting what I want to say in an entertaining format, but it was enjoyable and an experience I hope to repeat in the future! I am also making my brothers wedding stationary, which is taking up quite a lot of my time.

Amanda asked:

Q: 'Could I ask what adhesive you use to stick things such as your string of bead flowers?'
A: I stuck the flower beads on with normal double-sided tape as they are flat backed. Sometimes I use silicone glue to stick buttons on but most of the time I just use DS tape or foam pads, so far I've not had any embellishments fall off!

Vicky asked:

Q: 'Can I ask you, how do you manage to get your ribbon threaded through your button holes??'
A: I tend to poke it through with a craft knife or a needle. I have found that its best to go from the top side of the button through to the underneath of the button and then up again to the top side as you use the same end of the ribbon for threading through so if it frays a bit you only need to cut off one end as waste.

Sorry if I have missed anyone else’s questions, if anyone wants to know anything else about my work just leave me a comment and I will do my best to answer!

Double Take

I made this card for the Magnolia Vs Stampavie Challenge blog sketch challenge I used DCWV Vintage card stack (I've used the ones I got for Christmas so much already!) a new Tilda stamp called Well-dressed Tilda, chatterbox ribbon and prima and papermania flowers along with some I had in my stash.

I realised after I finished it it was meant to be a thank you card, well I guess you could send a thinking of you one for thank you, as in thinking of you in thanks or something err maybe not...

I like it so much that I also made a desk calender for my desk at work! This time I used a Sarah Kay stamp called My Sweet Lili, but used the same layout, papers and embellishments. Its very unusual for me to actually want to make the same card twice but I really like the colours of these ones.

Yes I know I still haven't finished my main calender yet, I still have December to do but am all Christmas'd out so really don't have the enthusiasm to do it yet!

Sweetheart

I have no idea who I have made this card for so I guess it will just stay in my craft room! Anyway I got this Sarah Kay stamp for Christmas from my mum, I think its really sweet that she went to the glitter pot site and chose some Penny Black stamps and this Sarah Kay one as a surprise for me, I think she is getting bitten by the crafting bug and will soon be 'stroking papers' that are too good to use!

The stamp is called A Kiss For Chloe and I have watercoloured it with Whispers Brush Strokes pens on watercolour paper. The paper and card is again by DCWV and is from the love card kit. The flowers are a mixture of prima, a bead one and one from my blog candy from Jill. I have used a pearly button in one and brads in the other two. the button in the corner has lace tied through it (and I think I stuck it a bit high up on the card). I also used my new oval nesties that I got for Christmas from my brother and his fiance (he could not understand what they were or why I wanted them and thought I was mad). I have added a string of pearly flowers to the bottom corner of the oval and a sentiment sticker from the DCWV kit.

Its such a sweet stamp, I love the whimsyness (did I just make that word up?) of the image and distressed the papers and card with a brown ink pad to give it a vintage feel.

Another Joan Elliot Stamp

I love the Joan Elliot images! Here is my second new Joan Elliot stamp by ladybug and friends.

I have used a DCWV card kit, Prima flowers and an old sketch from a previous Sketch Saturday challenge.

Marie asked on my last post what I use to colour my images, well I use my trusty whispers brushstrokes pens on water colour paper, I have contemplated buying some copics or pro markers but the water colouring is the most enjoyable part of making the card for me so I don't think I would like using the copic pens. I tend to colour the image directly with the pen where I want the darker shading and then use a brush and water to drag the colour out to the lighter areas, I also colour onto an acrylic block and take the colour from there to the image with a paint brush sometimes.

An Update at Last

Happy 2009 everyone, I hope you all had a good Christmas and New Year.

I have finally managed to start using my new stash bought before Christmas! I also got loads of new stuff for Christmas and won a blog candy, so I have loads to be playing with at the moment.

I have used a sketch from Friday Sketchers for this card but have rotated it 90°. Its also for the Daring Card Makers challenge which is to make a thank you card.

The stamp is from Ladybug and Friends and is by Joan Elliot, the papers and card are from DCWV Thank you card kit in a stack, the flowers are Prima and the swirl is from a Sizzix die.