Fun Decoupage Cards

Nikky, the owner of Polka Doodles sent me these cute diecut decoupage sheets to play with, they were such fun, really bright modern images, they make the cutest cards very quickly

Isn't this one perfect for a footie fan? The happy birthday football paper is her design as well

As for this one - well, there are a number of chaps of my aquaintance that this would be perfect for. What's better than a pint in the pub with the paper and a bag of crisps? I left this one quite plain, as the image speaks for itself

Go to the website to see more of these decoupage sheets at Polka Doodles

I am a drooling, dribbling mess at the moment, having just returned from the dentist where I had, at huge expense, two fillings replaced. I can tolerate the dentist quite well, and mine is a lovely guy, but I hate the hygeinist thing, all that water gushing around makes me feel I am drowning. It doesn't help when she chats away asking me questions 'have you been on holiday this year dear?' when my mouth is full of steel implements 'arghhh mmm lobl ghh' I reply, and she nods wisely and says 'yes, we love it there too'. Is part of their course learning to interpret goobledegook speak? Or is there really some far flung tropical island called arghhh mmm lobl ghh?

I spoke to a very nice person at the Glitter Pot yesterday afternoon, made an order, and it arrived this morning. What a great service, and they have a fantastic website with goodies to drool over, even if you haven't been to the dentist

Moo-chas Grassias for Cute Daisy May, and Flowerpot for BBTB

On Cute Daisy May this week, the challenge is animals. You don't have to use a CDM image to take part, any old animal will do :) I used this cute cow, the circles are cut with the pointy nestabilities and the papers are by We R Memory Keepers. I did the sentiment (corny isn't it?) on the computer.

And on Bitten By The Bug this week, the design team were asked to use the flowerpot from the Garden of Words cartridge. I cut two out and ran the pots through the cuttlebug. The blooming wonderful day sentiment and the scallop card base is by Craftwork Cards, I do love their stuff, I doodled on the flowers, then dropped blobs of glossy accents on them to look like dewdrops.

The brads in the flower centres aren't brads at all, but card candy, domed paper circles that you stick on with a dab of silicone glue. I love them, and most of all I love the price, you get about 250 in a bag for £1. These are from Craftwork Cards as well

I really like this blobby glue technique................

I made another online craft order last night - well I was bored, what else was I to do - and was wondering this morning what strategy to use when the parcel arrives. I could do the crafty equivalent of 'THIS old thing?, I've had it for ages' (as you twirl around in a new designer top), and say 'Oh good, my free samples have arrived' as I struggle to carry a huge box into the house. Or maybe it's time to lie in wait for the postman behind a tree, and jump out on the poor unsuspecting man, almost giving him a heart attack, to retrieve your parcel............... The ridiculous thing is, I have the most tolerant and generous husband, who looks at me with a quizzical smile when I go through these antics, but I still do it. It's a game..........

Wedding Card for Caardvarks Challenge

The challenge over on Caardvarks this week is to make a window card. I have had this idea floating around in my head for a while, so decided to have a go and see if it would work. I don't have design studio, so my cricut is just the basic cut and stick. I put a scalloped card base (craftwork cards) on the mat, and using the navigate buttons bought the blade down about an inch, then using the glasses from the Wedding cartridge I cut the shape out of the front of the card using the blackout feature. I practised all this on a sheet of copy paper first.

I edged the glasses and the scallops with gold krylon pen, then ran a square of vellum through the cuttlebug, using the d'vine swirls folder, which I stuck on the back of the aperture. I tied a big blue organza bow at the side to hide the fact that I hadn't exactly centred the glasses, dotted a few pearls and prima flowers around and I was done. I am pleased with the result, as you know I am super-critical of my stuff, but occasionaly a card comes along that makes me think 'not bad' - this is one of those!

New Funky Hand Download - Wedding Books

Anice has done it again! Her new download is for wedding word books, and is full of the most gorgeous papers in yummy shades of taupes and creams, very neutral so that you can add the wedding colours to it. I made this book just using the initials of the bride and groom and the ampersand sign. I printed my letters out, then put the card back in to print on the other side, so that the pages are double sided and coordinating. The download comes complete with a page of gorgeous sentiments to print out too, which can be used on cards as well. The download costs just under £5 ($8 USD, 5.75 euros) so is a bargain buy. This whole book was so easy and quick to do, it took me about an hour.

I added the butterfly which I used when I designed Phil and Lucy's invitations (QK die), and dotted lots of pale pink pearls around. The book, even though it only has 3 pages will hold quite a number of their favourite wedding snaps, I know they will love it.

Go to the Funky Hand site to see other examples, the DT have made some beauties. Other ideas for the books are Mr & Mrs, Joined, Love......loads of ideas over there.

Pink and Orange for Polka Doodles

Here is my card for the Polka Doodles challenge this week. The design team were asked to use pink and orange, and two buttons. The buttons are tiny ones in the centre of the two smaller flowers. Everything on the card, paper, flowers, etc are downloads from the new Sugar Birdies CD. I sprayed the flowers with water as a bit of an experiment, and when it was dry it left quite a pleasing pattern of watermarks on the paper. I love those sentiment circles too, have a look on the blog and you will see that they can be printed out in different sizes too. Why don't you have a go this week, Nicky is going to be sending a freebie download as a thank you to everyone who enters a card in the challenge. The sketch is below.....

I have just bought these pens, they are advertised as Copic glitter pens, German, and waterbased not alcohol based. Gorgeous colours, and very reasonable too. you get a copic multiliner, (perfect for doodling) in the pack. I saw them on a blog and made a comment, and got the link from Cass, thanks Cass, and couldn't resist buying. Free postage in the UK, and super fast service. They even sent me a freebie of 3 gel pens. Cult Pens is the company, take a look, they do copics too.

Look, you can see the sparkle even in a photo.......

I had a phone call yesterday "Enfys, you haven't forgotten I asked you to make a card for my mother's 85th birthday?" "Of course not" I lied "remind me, when is it?" "Tomorrow"

YIKES! I have a master list of commissions waiting to be done, and I have lost it. Now the list isn't in a nice altered notebook, or even pinned up somewhere, it is a scrappy bit of paper that sort of hangs around getting dog-eared, and now it has gone AWOL altogether, probably swept up with the rest of the scraps off my table. I really need to go on a course 'How to keep track of lists you have made' or even 'tidy tips for dummies'. In the meantime, I can expect a lot of similar phone calls in the next couple of months.

A Car and a Circle........

The DT on Bitten By The Bug were asked to use the car accessory from Paper Dolls this week. We were also asked to use lime green. Ooops. Forgot about that, so here is my offering. The car was cut at 3" and then paper pieced. I did the sentiment on the computer, the HI circles are from the Sugar Birdie CD. If you have the paper dolls cartridge, why not have a go. It doesn't even have to be lime green........................ :)

The challenge this week on Cute Daisy May is to use a circle on your card, I used the doily circle card from Wildcard as a base, the sentiment oval (which you can't really see) is from Craftwork Cards and the flowers are Prima. Why not have a go at the challenge, you don't need to use a Cute Daisy image, just make sure there is a circle on your card.

Time to bring the rat saga to a conclusion - Mike is home from sailing looking tanned and well, and was immediately despatched to find a pair of rubber gloves.....it was a squirrel, not a rat. I don't know why I find that so comforting, a dead rodent is a dead rodent, but it was spooking me to think of rats so close to the house, squirrels we know about, they gambol about the garden all day. The amazing thing is that I have not seen any squirrels for a few days, and as soon as their mother/father/brother/cousin was removed, back they came, not to sit reverently on the fence having a moment of silence in memory of their dear departed, but eating my plants as usual.

Lily-Boo Cards

Love this cute hedgie image that is a download from Lily-Boo's Boutique. They cost £1.99 a sheet of 6 (about $3), and I just love these digi stamps, not just because of the wonderful designs but as space is at a premium they are so handy to keep tucked away on your computer. Coloured with copic markers, and I printed it out again onto the pattern paper and cut out the big comfy ol' armchair. The sentiment and little coffee cup are by MFT stamps.

I thought this little chap sitting with his fishing rod would be a great card for a boy, and also maybe for a boy to send to a parent or grandparent. I printed the image quite big, as I didn't want to add flowers or anything to it, keep it simple for once..... I stamped the happy happy sentiment from a set by Hero Arts, and stamped the birthday wishes circle from the same set. Punched a hole in the middle of this, and inserted a brad backwards through the card and bent the prong upwards to look like a hook, then hung the sentiment circle on this. Papers are all by DCWV.

If you look on my sidebar, I have added photos of Milo and Monty - both doing what they do best at the moment, sleeping. Milo was 2 weeks old at the time the photo was taken (he is a month old today), and the one of Monty was taken today as he slept on my lap, at the grand old age of five days. The photos of Kiki and Max are both recent. They are growing so fast!

Yes, the floating rodent is still floating (my sister tells me I will get typhoid fever if I leave it there for much longer, she is such a comfort....)

Polkadoodles - Sketch 4

The sketch on polkadoodles this week was certainly unusual.........see the design teams take on the challenge and get a freebie download to join in. I made this flowerpot card, the insert slots into the pot and the flowers sort of hang over the top. Isn't the ladybird cute? All the papers are from the sugar birdies CD. Nikky is going to be taking it to Create and Craft TV in July.

My car broke down yesterday, it made a strange noise, then the steering went, luckily I had just left the motorway and was only a mile from home. It was towed to the garage, leaving me carless and helpless - I really don't know how to even inflate the tyres on a car, how pathetic is that. Anyway, a friend's husband came round and sorted it, and whilst we were waiting for the tow truck, he wandered around the garden. 'You've got a dead rat in your water feature En' he said chattily, now he is a bit of a joker, so I laughed merrily - until I looked into the terracota pot that is supposed to send trickles of water cascading gently over the sides onto the pebbles below. There is a BIG bloated ratlike thing in the water - it's still there, the tow truck arrived and we were diverted. I keep going and looking at it in fascinated horror, trying to pluck up courage to do something about it. A rat! The water feature is only about 6 feet away from the house. Did he have a wife and little ratlets? If so, where are they? Was it mass suicide? Are more drowned rats going to rise like Ophelia from the deep? What is it with me and wildlife? Regular readers of this blog will have seen me dealing with snakes, large black pigs, poisonous orange furry caterpillars.................now rats.

Sneek Peek at a Papercraft Inspirations Card

Here's a peek at one of the cards in this month's edition of Papercraft Inspirations. The commission was to make a male card, using fruit. I used left over letter stickers for the word 'husband', and the papers are by making memories. Plain and simple, it was for the Quick Cards section of the magazine.

I have been busy with a couple of commissions, a word book with the letters spelling out FAMILY, and by golly, it's taken me forever to do. I can't photograph it as it's full of someone else's photos, you will just have to take my word for it that it looks quite good.

Turtle Card for Inspirational Card Sketches

Isn't this a cute little turtle? You can grab him for free over at Inspirational Card Sketches this week. I printed him out twice and decoupaged the head, flower and feet. Colouring done with copic markers. The papers are by Debbie Mumm, from her baby boy stack.

According to my son's mother-in-law, Kiki seems rather unimpressed with the baby - 'can he kneel?' 'not yet', 'can he sit up?' 'not yet', 'can he have a sandwich?' 'not yet' .........boring. 'Shall I give him one of my sweets?' NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Welcome to the world Monty

No craftiness in this post, I just wanted to tell you all that Kiki's baby brother Monty (Montgomery Thomas) arrived safely last night, weighing a hefty 9lbs. 13ozs. I haven't seen him yet, but will be going to pay homage later in the week.

George Flower for BBTB and Pink and Green for Cute Daisy May/Daring Cardmakers

This week on Bitten By The Bug there is a new contest sponsored by Shortcuts - be sure to pop over there to get the details. We were asked to use the flower from George, and I was sent some acetate to use. The papers are from the Que Sera Sera range by K & Co. I cut the large flower at 3", first in paper, then in acetate and added a sentiment circle and some metallic thread. I ran around the edges of the acetate flower with a krylon pen, then cut three similar little flowers at 1".

The challenge on Cute Daisy May this week is Pink and Green, the label shapes were cut with my Go-Kreate dies and the image was coloured with copic markers. This fits in nicely with the dare on daring cardmakers, which is Weather.

Gift Box for Polka Doodles

Another lovely sketch this week over on Polka Doodles. I decided to make a notecard holder (didn't have time to make the notecards though, but you get the idea). The box pattern is from The Cutting Cafe, and all the papers and embellishments are from the Sugar Birdies CD now available on pre-order from Polka Doodles. Pop over and see the gorgeous DT samples and join in the fun.

Wedding Card - Mojo Monday

I made this wedding card following a sketch on Mojo Monday. The scalloped card blank and bronze paper is by Craftwork cards, distressed with bronze cats eye ink. I stamped the flowers, from an old set by Stampin Up (mixed bouquet) in embossing ink then brushed with gold perfect pearls. The butterfly was cut at 2" from the storybook cartridge, first in gold and then cream, which I ran through the cuttlebug using swiss dots, and brushed with the bronze ink pad, then added a few swirls of pearls to finish it off. I made the tassel myself out of some metallic thread, thought it made a change from a bow.

I have had computer problems today, and spent the whole day sorting it out, I have been on the phone to Indian call centres for most of the day, then had to dash out and buy a new router. Now bear in mind that I have only a very hazy idea of what a router does, and Popeye the sailor man is still cavorting around the Greek Islands, so this was not an easy task. I discovered that standing looking helpless in the middle of the shop doesn't work any more (oh, where did my youth go, and when did I become invisible.....) Then I came home to call India again, only to find that I had bought the wrong thing. Back to the shop to give the spotty youth who served me a ********** (insert your own expletive here, it will be one I used I promise), and finally with much help from some patient internet thingy called a wizard (why not a witch I wonder..), got back online, but only the one computer works, the laptop should pick up the router signals and doesn't. I give up.

I have added a little search button to the blog, so if you are looking for a particular card, try typing in a word or two that you think describes it and it may bring it up for you, although I have my doubts about that - let me know if it works.

Cute Daisy May - Embossing

More papers from the We R Memory Keepers stack for this one. The challenge this week is to use embossing on your card, so of course, out comes my trusty cuttlebug. I think this folder is called tiny bubbles. The label shapes were cut with my nestabilities and the birthday letters are from a box I got on clearance in Michaels - it was all sellotaped together, and when I opened it there are about a dozen different alphas in there, hundreds of letters all crammed in, so what a bonus. To join in with the Cute Daisy May challenge, you don't even need to use a Daisy May image, just make sure there is some embossing on your card. Sorry about the flash on the card, bright light and photography doesn't go together for me.
There is a blog hop going on at Bitten By The Bug this week, blog candy being given away at loads of the design team sites, join in and have some fun, and a good chance of winning some goodies, plus some fabulous cards to see along the way. I didn't join in with this one, as I am 'on call' to dash down to London when my new little grandson decides he is ready to make his appearance into the world.

In the meantime, to save my nervous 'jumping out of my skin every time the phone goes' I am off to jetwash the patio. I LOVE using a power washer, it's so satisfying to see all that grunge wash away, must be pretty much on a par with the job satisfaction a dentist gets, although on balance I would prefer to blast stones than teeth.............