Have A Cheesey Birthday

Hopefully not though!  I made this card for my teenage nephew for his upcoming birthday, so apart from four pearls, there isn’t a bit of bling in site, and certainly no flowers!

The image is from a Joanna Sheen unmounted HM set but I can’t for the life of me find the name of this stamp.  It’s no longer listed on her website and I can’t find it on the official House Mouse site either, so if anyone knows what it’s called please help me out cause it’s driving me nuts!

Anyway, I watercoloured the image with Marvy LePlume markers and distressed around the edges with DI Antique Linen and Vintage Photo.  The entire card came from the scrap box including the card base which was cut from kraft card.  The papers are Recollections Friends Forever My Clique (the backing piece) and We R Memory Keepers Grandma’s Kitchen (the vertical pieces).  The image and sentiment were matted on to the back of the Grandma’s Kitchen paper as it’s double sided, patterned on the front and plain on the back.  The sentiment was generated on the computer and distressed with a little of the Antique Linen, and the pearls are from Michaels.  The LO is based on the current sketch over at Sketch and Stash and I’m using up my old scraps of papers that I’ve had forever.

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Challenges:

HM&F Monday Challenge ~ Let’s Have A Party (can someone bring the wine, I’ve got the cheese taken care of!!)

Sketch & Stash ~ Current LO plus old papers

Pixie’s Crafty Snippets Challenge ~ Use Up Your Scraps

Simon Says Stamp ~ Anything Goes

Easter Wishes

Penny Black Saturday Challenge are looking for Easter cards this week.  I decided to go along the flowery route for this one, and not the cute critters with eggs route!  I have a lovely and much underused PB stamp called Efflorescence, one of those arty brush stroke stamps of tulips, so I decided to go with a very clean and simple approach using pastel colours.

The inks were Versamagic Chalk Ink in Spring Pansy and Lime Green , and I mounted the image on to plum coloured card from an old DCWV stack.  The sentiment is from an Easter set I have from Toodles and Binks and I stamped it in the same Spring Pansy ink.  And that’s it, couldn’t be more simple!

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Challenges:

PBSC – Easter Eggstravaganza

Simon Says Stamp ~ Anything Goes

What’s On Your Workdesk Wednesday – 147

*** Yes, I know the link at No.2 is bad, that’s why I’ve relinked at No.30!!  If you came form No.2 and found me anyway, thanks for persevering!!***

 

 

The brief version!  After the essay I wrote last week, anything would be considered brief.

Yes, it’s Wednesday again, time to head on over to Julia’s, add your name to the list and start working away at the linky list of desks to visit.

Things couldn’t be more different here this week, for a start, the bikini is back in the drawer again after our 30C days turned into -2C nights!!  Oh the poor blossom, oh the poor Magnolia (flowers are all brown), oh the poor daffs, etc, etc!!  That slowed them down a bit I can tell you, slowed me down a bit too, especially getting out of bed in the mornings!

So what’s a girl to do when it’s that cold again?  Why, craft of course, so that’s what I did….

I got the Cuttlebug out and worked up a warming glow cranking the handle multiple times!  I cut out lots of those rolled posy flowers and made them all up, used a few on a project and put the others to one side for use whenever.  After that I cut out other shapes that might be useful to have on hand, like swirls and leaves.  They’re now in a little box just waiting for the right project to adorn.

See, I can be brief!  Off you go, more desks to visit!!

Mix It And Make It

Morning peeps, hope you’re all well this fine Monday morning.  Brass monkies weather in Michigan today, all of 1C at the moment, a far cry from our 30C of last week!  So I stayed in doors and crafted all weekend!  And I have another super sweet Lily of the Valley card for you today, it’s called Mix It and Make It.

 

 

 

Isn’t that a sweetie?  I won this stamp last year from a Critters challenge blog that is no longer going unfortunately, I found it again just after Christmas and had just enough of the foam mounting stuff to mount it up.  I water coloured the image with Marvy Le Plume markers and distressed around the edges with Antique Linen DI.  The papers are DCWV and I punched some of the elements from kraft card, everything was edged with Vintage Photo DI.  The sentiment was free with a UK card magazine, a Humphrey’s Corner stamp set I think, and the flowers came from a UK Pound shop.  The LO is based on the current one at Lili’s Little Fairies, a LOTV challenge blog that I came across,

 

Card Recipe:

• Card: Blank from Michaels ~ The Paper Company Kraft
• DP: DCWV Neutrals & Citrus stacks
• Stamps: LOTV Mix It & Make It ~ Humphrey’s Corner Sentiment
• Ink: Versafine Black ~ DI Antique Linen & Vintage Photo
• Embellies: Marvy LePlume Water Colour Markers ~ Flowers from UK
• Tools: EKSuccess Photo Corner Punch ~ McGill Fern Punch

 

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Challenges:

Lili’s Little Fairies ~ Sketch plus LOTV Stamp

Do You Stack Up ~ Use Plaid

Cute Card Thursday ~ Anything Goes

Baubles To You!

Every month on the 25th there’s a little party over at Sandras‘, it lasts for a whole week and the only requirement is that you bring a Christmas card or two with you and add yourself to Mr Linky.  It’s called Rudolph Day you see, and you have a week to make a Christmas card, link it up and join in the fun too!

I’ve made a couple of very simple little cards today, for this and a couple of other challenges too.  This is the first:

It’s a single layer card, clean and simple.  The little pine branch is in an Inkadinkado set and I stamped it four times with Brilliance Cottage Ivy and Coffee Bean inks, the pine cone is from a Tapestry Peg Set, it was also stamped in Coffee Bean.  The bauble and the sentiment are both from a The Paper Company Studio clear set called Christmas Glamour and they were stamped with Memento Rhubarb Stalk and an Inkadinkado Gold Ink Dot.  I put a little Frosted Lace Stickles on the pine cones and added a few red gems.

Challenges:

Stamping For Pleasure ~ Rudolph Day

Winter Wonderland ~ Picture Inspiration

One Stop Craft Challenge ~ Clean & Simple

The second card is along a similar theme, and I made it predominantly for the current Less Is More Challenge, which is to combine at least three of their earlier challenges, the choice is entirely yours on this one.

The pink bauble is two dies from Memory Box which creates the solid bauble and the fancy overlay separately, so you can choose to combine them or use them individually.    The pink organza for the bow is from JoAnn, the gems came from Michaels and the sentiment was in a clear set from Recollections, Michaels own brand.  The LIM challenges I revisited to make this card were Week 1 – Pink, White & Black, Week 43 – Bit of Bling, Week 55 – Punches or Diecuts & also Week 56 – Don’t Scrap It (the baubles were made with bits from the scrapbox).

Challenges:

Less Is More ~ Pick 3 Challenges

Stamping for Pleasure ~ Rudolph Day

Pixie’s Crafty Snippets Challenge ~ Use Up Your Scraps

One Stop Craft Challenge ~ Clean & Simple

Lily of the Valley ~ Pink and Girly

I think that this card just might qualify for the pinkest most girliest card I’ve ever made!  It took me almost all day to do it and I’m seriously out of my comfort zone I can tell you!!  But I persevered and I do like the end result which is often a bonus these days!

I water coloured the image with Distress Inks, adding a copious amount of Crystal Stickles to her wings, her wand and a bit on the flowers too.  All the papers are from a Pink Petticoat pack free with a magazine.  The card is a mix of DCWV, The Paper Company and Penny Black, all from the scrap box.

The flowers are all handmade with two Memory Box dies, one plain the other scalloped.  I’ve had them for a couple of weeks but this is the first time I’ve used them, a bit fiddly at first but I got better with them.  I added clear gems in the centres of the smaller ones.  The other little flowers were cut with a punch.

I made a gatefold card, using pink organza ribbon to tie the sides with.  I’ve left the bow and tails long for now, until I decide to use the card, then I’ll tie the bow better and trim the tails too.  I’ve even decorated the inside of this one, which is something I don’t usually do, other than an insert to write on.

I love this sentiment stamp from Studio G, goes so well with the beautiful LOTV image.  Oops, just realised the flowers on the inside don’t have the little gems on them yet!  I edged all the paper and card with DI Worn Lipstick and the sentiment is stamped with a Martha Stewart ink.

Card Recipe

• Card: The Paper Company ~ Penny Black ~ DCWV ~ Bazzil
• DP: Pink Petticoat Quite Contrary
• Stamps: LOTV  On Tiptoes ~ Studio G Sentiment
• Ink: Memories Black Dye Ink ~ Distress Ink Worn Lipstick, Victorian Velvet, Festive Berries, Milled Lavender, Tumbled Glass, Peeled Paint, Antique Linen, Frayed Burlap, Vintage Photo ~ Martha Stewart Hibiscus
• Embellies: Crystal Stickles ~ Gems from Michaels ~ Ribbon from JoAnn
• Tools: Memory Box Small Posy ~ Scalloped Posy Dies ~ EKSuccess Punch ~ Cuttlebug

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Challenges:

LOTV National Craft Month ~ Pink and Girly

Cute Card Thursday ~ Anything Goes

Pixie’s Crafty Snippet Challenge ~ Use Up Your Scraps (Everything apart from the DP came from the scrap box)

Top Tip Tuesday ~ Mother’s Day/Stamping Buddy (Make something girly)

Handmade Flowers

Hello All, back with another card.  I’ve been wondering what to do with those tissue paper flowers I made a couple of weeks ago and saw that the One Stop Craft Challenge was to use handmade flowers in your creation.  I also used the current sketch at Sketch Saturday for the LO.

Quite a busy card I must admit!  The backing paper is MME, free on a card magazine, the smaller flower, butterflies, tag and purple mat were all cut from scraps.  The dragonfly is from a Hero Arts stamp that I’d stamped the other day and didn’t use, there’s Crystal Stickles on its wings and small pink gems on its back; the background plaid and the flower stems are also Hero Arts stamps.  I made a tutorial for these tissue flowers if you’d like to know how they’re made.

Card Recipe:

• Card: K&Co Card blank ~ The Paper Company ~ Penny Black ~ DCWV Glitter Card
• DP: MME Quite Contrary
• Stamps: Hero Arts Large Plaid Design Block, Dandelion & Antique Engravings ~ Molly Blooms sentiment
• Ink: Brilliance Cottage Ivy ~ Versamagic Pixie Dust &Purple Hydrangea
• Embellies: Crystal Stickles ~ Gems from Michaels ~ Embroidery Floss ~ Button from stash
• Tools: Martha Stewart Border Punch ~ McGill Tag Punch ~ EKSucces Flower Punch ~ Memory Box Butterfly Delights border die

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Challenges:

One Stop Craft Challenge ~ Handmade Flowers

Sketch Saturday ~ Current LO

What’s On Your Workdesk Wednesday – Number 146

Yes it’s Wednesday again, shocking I know, but here we all are ready for the start of the desk hopping marathon, presided over by the gal with the starting pistol, aka Julia @ Stamping Ground.  Head on over for all the details.

Some of you mention that when Wednesday comes around that the world has rotated a bit on its’ axis and here we all are again.  Well, last Thursday our world was definitely left spinning after an extremely early and extremely rare EF3 tornado barreled its way into town, not 25 miles away from where I sit typing this up, and a mere 15 miles away from where I work.  Apparently all the tornado sirens in the area were activated at about 5:15 and security locked the building down putting all my work colleagues still in the office in the basement and not letting anyone leave until 7:30 at night!!  Luckily I get in early so was out the door by 4:15 heading home!  We only got some rain and a bit of thunder and lightening where I live, but the little town of Dexter took a direct hit, take a look at this, amazingly no-one was killed or even injured:

So, on to nicer things!  The weather has stayed unseasonably warm, which is why we ended up with thunderstorms and tornadoes in March, and we have now got most of the garden clean up complete and Andrew is busy working on cleaning and re-staining the deck.  In just one week there’s a tremendous amount of things that have flowered in the garden, including a Magnolia Stellata, Cherry Tree, Spirea, Forsythia, Hellebores, Dwarf Willow, Crocus, Grape Hyacinths, Siberian Squill and the daffodils too.  Last week the daffs were one inch high, this week they’re 10″ – 12″ high and in flower!  The growth spurt has been amazing.  We’ve also left the 70’s behind and are now topping out at 80F – 85F, right now as I type this at 8:10pm Tuesday night it’s 76F outside!!  Back to cooler weather at the weekend though, not freezing, just closer to where it should be at this time of year!

Indoors, most of the tomato seeds and some of the pepper seeds from last week have sprouted, one of my orchids has huge buds on it and is going to flower any day now, and also out of season, my Amaryllis decided it was time to flower too…

And, finally, upstairs in the spare bedroom I have a desk to show you…

A little dark again because of all the sunlight coming in the windows, you can click on it to make it bigger…. but you can see a ribbon holder a Penny Black WIP, with the stamp I’d used towards the back, some scissors (I can see three pairs and the pointy bits of another pair!), my tub of Marvy Watercolour markers, some scrap paper for masking, a little pile of ribbons that’s been there forever, my stamp cleaning pad and fluid as I finally cleaned off a bunch of dirty stamps that had been on my desk for ages, and just behind that, a set of Tapestry stamps in their plastic container.

Phew, long post this week, like the Spring Bunnies I’ve been seeing in my garden, I’m off to hop around the desks!!

Tapestry Stamp Card

Just popping in with a quick make from last night.  I got three sets of Tapestry Peg Stamps for Christmas and was itching to give them a go, one of them was the Pine Cone Border set so I decided to make another card for the ABC Christmas Evergreen challenge.  This is my first attempt with these stamps and I was very pleased with the results, a little more practice won’t hurt, but at least my first effort didn’t end up in the bin, lol!

It started out as a circle honest!  In fact I followed a tip from Di, I think it was, who said to trace round a circular object (I used a Nestie die) with an embossing tool to emboss a light impression on to your paper.  You do this on the back of the paper to be stamped and end up with a nice template on the front of your piece to stamp over to give you the basic outline.  And if you don’t press too hard, it doesn’t show up once you’ve done your stamping.  Genius!

I used Versamagic and Memento Inks, the backing papers were from the scrap box and the sentiment is part of a Penny Black one that says Joy To The World.  The little red branch is actually from an old See-D’s set and I used it to add a bit more Christmas colour to the composition.  Some of the pinecones have a little bit of Crystal Stickles on them too.

Card Recipe:

• Card: The Paper Company Kraft ~ Mats from the scrap box
• Stamps: Tapestry Pine Cone Border ~ Penny Black Caroling Penguins ~ See-D’s set
• Ink: Versamagic Brilliance Pearlescent Ivy,Pearlescent Olive & Coffee Bean ~ Memento Rhubarb Stalk
• Embellies: Crystal Stickles

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Challenges:

ABC Christmas ~ Evergreen

Pixie’s Crafty Snippets Challenge ~ Use Up Your Scraps

Just Because….

A quick make yesterday afternoon when I got tired of working in the garden so bunked off indoors for a little crafty play!  Four of my favourite challenges had themes that meant I could combine them for , I think, the first time ever.

To set this up I stamped the sentiment from an The Paper Company Studio set in Versamagic Mango Madness chalk ink and then stamped it again on a bit of scrap to act as a mask, and over stamped with the lovely Garden Poems from Penny Black.  I also stamped the flower heads and leaves again on a scrap of water colour card, colouring them in with Marvy LePlume markers in (from the left) Pumpkin, Crimson Lake and Butterscotch.  The flower heads were a bit fiddly to cut out but worth it I think, here’s a close up, I also added three colours of Stickles to the centres in Fruit Punch, Candy Cane and Copper, but you can’t see the differences on the photo.

The leaves were coloured on the card with another LePlume in Peppermint, I’d coloured the second stamping of leaves too but then decided not to decoupage them after sticking on the flower heads, thought it looked a bit more dramatic like that.

The edge of the panel was distressed with DI Bundled Sage and edged with DI Tumbled Glass.  A little strip of red ribbon was added and then mounted on to a pale green card base which was a freebie from a UK craft magazine.  Obviously all those hours spent in the garden this weekend really inspired me!!

Card Recipe:

• Card: Recollections white card ~ Canson Watercolour card ~ Card base free from craft magazine
• Stamps: Penny Black Garden Poems ~ TPC Studio Floral Collage (sentiment)
• Ink: Versafine Black ~ Distress Ink Bundled Sage & Tumbled Glass ~ Versamagic Mango Madness
• Embellies: Ribbon from Michaels ~ Marvy LePlume markers ~ Stickles Copper, Fruit Punch & Xmas Red

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Challenges:

Penny Black Saturday Challenge ~ Anything Goes

Less Is More ~ Masking Technique

Allsorts ~ Three In A Row

Penny Black @ Allsorts ~ Spring

Pixie’s Crafty Snippets Challenge ~ Use Up Your Scraps

Joanna Sheen Monthly Challenge ~ Spring Is In The Air