Daisies and Scrolls

The inspiration for this card is totally down to the lovely Julie Hickey, head of the design team over at Craftwork Cards. I saw a card of hers at the NEC with a split centre, and couldn't wait to try it out.

I covered the front of a 6 x 6 card with paper from Wild Raspberry (K & Co), then chopped about 1 1/2" from the middle. The daisies are from the Walk in my garden cartridge, cut at 2" and layered, and the scroll is from storybook - one of the borders.

The sentiment was just cut from the paper 'happy days filled with summertime and you...........'

So I just joined the two halves together again with the scroll and daisies, it holds together surprisingly well. I coloured the pearls to match just by running a copic marker over them
Would you believe that it's snowing in Scotland and the north of England? Apparently we can look forward to arctic blasts of icy winds for the rest of the week. Hey weather, this is supposed to be Spring

I have been busy catching up with challenge and team cards, I am up to date now for this week, and feeling all virtuous.

Paisley Purse for BBTB2

The challenge over on BBTB2 today is to use one of the handbags from the Paisley cartridge. Well since I have had such a hectic weekend, it was lucky that I had this one already in the bag so to speak....it's one of the cards from this month's Papercraft Inspirations quick cards.

The base card is 6 x 6, the bag was cut at 5" and run through the cuttlebug. Spotty paper is Making Memories, and I added a few beads threaded onto silver wire

Be sure to pop over to BBTB2 to see what the team did with the challenge, and join in with the blog hop

Well I had a blast at the NEC on Saturday. I started the day by meeting up with Lou (LoopyLou), Kat and Nikki from the Cricut message board for a coffee and a giggle. Whilst I was waiting to meet them, there was a rather bizzare line of Star Wars characters walking around - stormtroopers, Darth Vader, Chew Bacca, the lot really. Turns out there was a Memorobilia exhibition in another hall.

So I was standing next to two elderly ladies who were looking a bit bemused

"what are they supposed to be Mary?"

"Don't know. Don't think it's anything to do with making cards though"

long, long silence..........................................

"They look a bit uncomfortable to me"

Well yes, I don't suppose clanking around in white plastic armour all day is the most comfortable job in the world - so here I am cheering up one of the stormtroopers.................

After that, it was downhill all the way, I met up with my blog buddies Kath, Carol, Lynda and Dawny (Pink Piggy) who seemed to know everyone in the place, we meandered along to the pub and spent most of the morning there chatting and laughing, a bit of shopping, then back to the pub................and so the day went on. I met Jacqui (Cat's Whiskers blog), Kim Piggot, the lovely peeps over at Craftwork Cards, .............oh it was all so much fun. Kath was staying with us for the night, so in the evening Lynda and Mark joined us for a curry and Kath and I stayed up gassing until 3am.......................
So it was lovely, thank you all so much for your company, fun and a lot of laughs.

NEC Craft Show Video

I went to a craft show today at the NEC (National Exhibition Centre), which is quite close to my home. As so many of you who come to visit me here are not from the UK, I thought you would like to see some of the fabulous card samples that were on show there. They are all UK companies, apart from Magnolia, who hail from Sweden. Sorry if the video is a bit shaky and with a lot of background noise, it was incredibly crowded there. Needless to say, my purse is a bit lighter tonight than it was this morning! I will be there again tomorrow, but this time mainly to meet up with some pals. The trouble is, they will have found something fantastic on a stand that I overlooked, and of course I will have to have one as well, so the old bank balance will probably have another bashing.

Two Max Cards.............

Two 'Max' cards today, this first one is for his third birthday, which falls in May while we are away. the monkey and papers are all from the Paper Boutique CD by Polkadoodles. Needless to say, the sentiment is perfect for him, he's as lively as a cartload of monkeys!

With this CD, you just type in the sentiment you want on a tag and print it out, so great for personalised cards......

This second one is Max by default. It is another Papercraft Inspirations quick card, I was asked to make a birth announcement, the cork letter stickers were perfect for the job, but this was the only name I could make from the remnants I had............ well, there is always an X left over isn't there?
I cut a 4" circle out using my george cartridge and cricut machine, and cut away 1/4 of this to form the pram shape. Two 1" circles for the wheels, a strip of punched border and a hand doodled scroll for the handle. All the gorgeous papers are from the Dreams Come True CD from Funky Hand
I haven't been very productive this week, I have a very sore inflammed eye, and have been given strict orders to rest it. How can I rest it? Everything I like to do involves using my eyes. I might have to resort to a pirate-like patch, I could alter it with sequins or something to make it a bit more attractive, I might even start a new fashion trend, although that is very unlikely.

Stand Out From The Crowd.............

I used my new forever Young cartridge for this one - sorry about the sunlight and shadows on the photo

I cut lots of girl outlines in black at various sizes, then cut the main image at 5", and cut her dress from a rd spotty paper

the happy birthday sentiment is by Craftwork Cards, and I cut a triple layered border with Martha Stewarts Doily lace punch. The other sentiment was done on the computer
I think I am going to get a lot of fun with this cartridge

Well, the welcome sun has vanished, and it has drizzled all day today, but the clematis has big fat buds on it, and some unspecified green shoots have appeared in one of the pots on the patio - obviously something that the squirrels find unpalatable, otherwise they would have eaten them when they were finished with the crocus and daffodils....

Tweet for Daring Cardmakers

The dare this week for Daring Cardmakers is Tweetie Pie, so here's my bird card, combining my two great loves, my cricut machine and stamping.

The birdcage was cut from the Serenade cartridge, and the bird was stamped and cut out, then dotted with gems.

Birdcage - Cricut Serenade cartridge, cut at 3 1/2"

Bird - Inkadinkadoo, stamped with black memento ink

pattern papers - My Minds Eye

Scallop border punch - Martha Stewart

Gems - Papermania

Sorry about all the shadows on the photo, the sun is really shining here this morning, and my camera is confused. My camera is confused? I am confused, I need time to adjust to this springlike weather and sunshine. Off to potter in the garden now, got to make the most of it. They promise rain for the rest of the week. There's a novelty!

Male Six Pack Card

Here's another peek at a Papercraft Inspirations Magazine card. The brief was a male card with a drink theme............ so I got Mike to drink his way through a six pack (he moaned and groaned about this assignment, but did it for the sake of art :) - and saved the ring pulls

Papers - cafe stack by DCWV

Circles cut at 2 1/2" using George cartridge and Cricut machine
Sentiment - computer generated

I met a friend for coffee, it was nice enough to sit outside in the town square. Our girly chat was interrupted by a pigeon with only one foot. She was hopping along quite happily, foraging for crumbs on the ground. By the size of her, she was quite accomplished at this. Anne however was quite overcome by this sight. 'I can't bear it' she cried, almost sobbing into her latte 'she won't be able to perch, she'll fall out of the tree'. Well frankly, looking at Miss Hopalong, she was more likely to fall out of the tree because the branch would break under her weight than because of her disability. I was a bit worried that Anne was about to make an emergency call to a vet, so I diverted her with the news that Marks and Spencer were having a mid season sale.............that did the trick.

Another Owl........

Here's the sketch for today's Polkadoodles challenge, we were asked to use blue and brown for this sketch

So here's mine. I used the owl from the new Paper Boutique CD, he's very layered and looks quite dimensional on the card. The blue paper was printed from the Back to Nature CD, and the tiny letters are by Making Memories, the hoot letters are chipboard by Papermania



Instead of strips of paper, I did some random stitching on the card, once again I was too lazy to thread the machine, did the stitching then joined the dots with a brown pen. Pop over to see what the rest of the team came up with, and why not have a go at the challenge yourself?

Is anybody going to the Craft Show at the NEC next weekend? I am going on both friday and saturday, and if anybody is around I would love to meet up for a coffee..............I have already arranged a few 'meets', and my lovely buddy Kath is flying down from Scotland on saturday, so I am finally getting to meet quite a few blog buddies in real life. I will take photos, including some of the stands, so you folks from across the atlantic will get an idea of what we get up to at the big craft shows over here........

Fantasy Art

Here's two more of these images by Ching Chou Kuik - Fantasy Art , I find them rather fascinating, and they are a delight to colour, especially the hair, I mean, you can't give purple hair to many images and get away with it.

This first one uses papers from Papermania UK, love that purple lace effect. The nestability labels are ones I bought by mistake, they are rather odd, just rather random wobbly edges, but somehow they suit this card. I inked white flowers and added silver ric-rac and thread

For this one, I used Basic Grey papers from the Boxer collection. The prima flowers have gold wire twisted around them, which doesn't show up in the photo.

So there you go, not my usual sort of card at all, but I am enjoying the challenge that these stamps present.

See you tomorrow

Happy Easter for Papercraft Inspirations

Here's a sneeky peek at one of the cards I did for this months Papercraft Inspirations magazine, on sale now in the UK. I was asked to do a quick Easter card and came up with this

Thi circles and ovals were cut with my Cricut (george cartridge), the flowers were doodled freehand onto some pink spotty paper (making memories), and I gave him a spotty ear as well. Some more doodling, a cotton ball for his tail and there you go......quick and easy. The sentiment is a stamp by Great Impressions

I have had a major blog fest here, catching up on visiting everyone, and clearing my emails - it was a bit of a marathon I can tell you, but now I feel all virtuous and almost ready to tackle the pile of filing that needs doing. Mike and I have very different attitudes to this chore - he would let the pile reach the size of a small mountain, then painstakingly file it, page by page, all in it's proper place and in chronological order. Me? Well the pile of papers drives me mad, so I quickly and haphazardly shove them into the drawer, so that when the car needs insuring, you are quite likely to find the paperwork in with the water bills. Which explains why I found a pile of papers tucked under a chair. 'I hid them' he said simply 'so that you wouldn't file them'. Oh goody, that's another job ticked off my list then.......

Deer for BBTB2

Over on BBTB2 this week, we were given these lovely little deer stamps from Technique Tuesday to use, together with the flourish 3 cut from the Stretch Your Imagination cricut cartridge (page 77 of the manual).

I decided to use the negative of the flourish, and backed it with coordinating paper.

the paper flowers have a blob of cream liquid pearls in the middle. If you like a challenge, why not have a go this week? Technique Tuesday is sponsoring the challenge, and if you don't have SYI, you can use any cricut flourish on your card

Cream scalloped card base - Craftwork Cards
Deer stamp set - Technique Tuesday
Beaded button - Crafty bitz
All papers - Dill Blossom by SEI

I hope everyone here in the UK had a lovely Mothering Sunday yesterday. I didn't get to see any of my brood, but had lots of lovely cards, phone calls and flowers. Max was with his Daddy when he called me (from a supermarket), and was very busy with his new passion - waving at himself on the security cameras. 'Come and say hello to Ma' said my son 'lello Ma, I wavin at me'
Which made me think.................have you ever gone out shopping, thinking you look rather smart, nice gear on, hair looking good, then you look up at a security monitor and see this bedraggled creature standing there. It isn't until you scratch your nose or something that you realise the sorry looking sight is YOU. A friend of mine once did a dash to the local mall with her daughter, as they walked along, she saw a woman walking towards her, 'look at her' she whispered to her daughter ' you'd think she would have made a bit of an effort before coming out'.................it wasn't until she practically bumped myopically into the mirror that she realised that the woman was her. 'When did I get so old?' she asked mournfully. Incidentally, she isn't old at all, but a fabulous looking woman in her prime. she just caught herself on a bad mirror day...................... we all have them, unless you are 2 year old Max of course.

Chocaholic Card

I made my first version of this card about three years ago, and to my chagrin saw an almost identical version appear in a magazine some months later. Hey ho, there is nothing original under the sun..............

I simply cut out a rectangle and some squares from brown cardstock, and rounded the corners of the squares. The squiggles are done with pebeo fabric paint, liquid pearls would do just as well.

Scallop card base, background paper and sentiment all from Craftwork Cards

Squiggles on chocolate - Pebeo fabric paint

Script paper for chocolate wrapper - DCWV

Well, we are home from London. Alex's flat is gleaming and freshly painted, we are freshly exhausted. Does anybody have a good tip for removing oil based brilliant white paint from

a. hair

b. eyebrows

c. fingernails

d. elbows

e. toenails - how did that happen? I was wearing boots!

Don't bother with tips for getting the paint from clothes, I threw those away!

Fabric Card tutorial

I've had loads of requests for a little video on how I make fabric cards. So without further ado -- ta da!

I am in London at the moment, sprucing up Alex's flat. I had fond ideas that I was going to waft around like Ann Maurice (you know, that house doctor...............), carefully placing a potted plant here and there, maybe a spot of gentle de-cluttering. Alex however, had other ideas, she had made a list. So here I am covered in paint, honestly, it's everywhere, my hair has gone white in a single day. Today the kitchen and bathroom, tomorrow the sitting room.

Aquamarine for Daring Cardmakers

Over at Daring Cardmakers, it's March's birthstone this week - aquamarine. I love this gemstone, so had fun doing this card.

I found these stamps on someone's blog and fell in love with them, I am really sorry but I can't remember who put me on to them, but her card was fabulous enough for me to go straight to the site and order a couple. They are the fantasy Art collection by Ching-Chou Kuik, and I got them from Sweetpea-Stamps

Coloured her in copics, I rather like her blue rinse!

I added some glitter to the wings
The beaded flower is a ready made one I found on clearance (Crafty Bitz)

Look what I found in Aldi - I love Aldi, you never know what you are going to find there. This is meant to hold nails and screws, but I knew it would be perfect to hold all my bits and bobs (well, some of my bits and bobs). I sorted my flowers and beads into colourways, and they all have their own little drawer, and I can see at a glance where everything is. It was only £7.99 - bargain. I may go and get another one to take back to the US with me, I seem to remember my flowers being a bit of a jumbled mess over there

The Ikea trip was uneventful believe it or not. I clung to my list, Mike trailed around after me, looking a bit miserable. I felt a lot of sympathy for the Queen, this is how she must have felt for all these years, Prince Phillip always a step or two behind, looking a bit down-in-the-mouth. A plate of meatballs cheered him up a bit though (Mike, not the prince.............)

See you tomorrow

Two for Polkadoodles and blog candy winner.......

The challenge on Polkadoodles this week is

WINGS

now we were supposed to use stamping as well, but my polkadoodle stamps are in the USA, and as I am here in the UK, bit of a problem. So I ignored that bit.

I was asked to make a 70th birthday card for a male, so here is Mr Twitty, from the Paper Boutique CD, in A4 size. I typed the sentiment onto a tag, which the CD allows you to do quickly and easily. The specs were printed onto vellum

here's his backside!

Then I turned to the Back to Nature CD and printed out this wonderful peacock paper. I cut a few of the peacock feather tips out and pop dotted them on. Sprinkled a lot of glamour dust around, inked the edges a bit, and there you go, done in a flash


Now on to the BBTB2 blog hop, the name out of the hat (well random thingy, but I forgot to take a photo) is



DEBBY4000

Congratulations Debby, email me with your address, and I will get your goodies in the mail

We are going to Ikea tomorrow, some of you may remember our last trip there. I certainly do. I think I may park Mike in front of a plate of meatballs and collect him later. I have made a list. Did I ever tell you how much I love lists? My daughter has inherited the list gene, that's my girl. I buy her these magnetic list things you put on your fridge, she USES them. I have been known to make lists of lists I have to make. Oh yes, I frequently put something on a list that I have already done, just for the satisfaction of putting that tick by it, and when my list gets too untidy, I make a new one. A touch of the OCD appearing here I think..............worrying isn't it?

Sketch Challenge for Penny Black

Its a sketch challenge over at Penny Black this week, this is my effort, I rather like these really bright cards with a mix of colours and patterns. Of course, I forgot to copy the sketch, so you will have to hop over there to see if I did a good job.

I paper pieced the stamp, cutting out the chair in the yellow stripe paper

Papers - DCWV
Black dots - Glitterations by Anita
Happy Birthday sentiment - glitterations alphas by Anita
Dad sentiment - Papermania Chipboard

Today is the first day I have felt 'normal' after struggling with this flu like cold for a week, how nice to have some of my bounce back..............
The sun is still out, the squirrels are playing tag along the fence, there are birds flying around with bits of twigs in their beaks, obviously doing a bit of nest building, and I saw a solitary crocus yesterday. Could Spring be springing?

Sunshine Card for Daring cardmakers

Over at Daring cardmakers this week, they want a bit of sunshine - bright cards with sunshiney colours, just what we all need after this long hard winter.

I cut the cloud and rainbow from the Hello Kitty greetings cartridge, at 5 1/2", and then cut away the front of the card around it

The papers are by Papermania UK and the sun is another cricut cut, but I'm blowed if I can remember the cartridge

Now I know that the rainbow stripes aren't in order, but hey, this is a card and I used artistic licence (and some paper scraps) here.

I did manage to find little gems in the colours of the rainbow, and stuck them onto the back of the card, jazzes it up a bit.

my favourite making memories tiny alphas, and the sunshine word is Papermania chipboard
Today is gloriously sunny here, it feels quite springlike, and true to form, hardy Brits everywhere are embracing the wintery sunshine, I saw two girls trotting along in sleeveless tops and mini skirts with bare legs. Brrrrrr!

Funky Hand Challenge and BBTB2 Blog Hop

The start of the week, and a new month........ that means, first of all it's Funky Hand's monthly challenge. This month, Dolly set the challenge, and asked us to go all girly. I covered this box (bare box by Papermania) with papers from the Dreams Come True CD, after painting it with antique white acrylic paint.

I went a bit mad with the bow, it's got satin, organza, antique lace and pearls.............

the flowers are my favourite George cartridge flowers, layered up, and with some feathery fibers threaded through buttons. the ribbon on the top is raffia lace by Paper Cellar UK
Go HERE to take part in the challenge, and to see all the fab samples the design team have made. As usual, you have a whole month to join in, and the winner gets a £20 Funky Hand gift certificate (about $30)


Next, it's on to Bitten By The Bug2's monthly blog hop. This month over on the main blog, we are giving away a Sweethearts cricut cartridge and a gorgeous pack of SEI papers - donated by Joy and Melanie over at Holidays with the Cricut. Leave a comment, and become a follower of BBTB2, and you are in with a chance to win it
Our challenge was to use the cupcake from either Doodlecharms or Celebrations - mine is one of the celebration cakes. I used my gypsy to weld two cake shapes together at 5", then cut tw0 layers for the topping and cupcake holder. I cuttlebugged the icing, using the d'vine swirls folder, and doodled around the bottom. The cherry is from the Hello Kitty greetings cartridge, cut at 1 3/4". I drew some white highlights, and covered the whole thing with glossy accents



the sentiment is a clear sticker by Papermania UK. I added sequins with a gem in the middle to the 'icing'.




Here is what I am offering for the blog hop

A pack of 11 clear flower stamps by Making Memories
A pack of 32 pretty poppies diecut chipboard tags by Autumn Leaves
Two packs (red and blue) of zingz - raindrop type drops by fiskars





Just leave a comment below this post, and I will draw a winner on thursday at 9pm UK time

Good luck

Now you need to hop over to my pal Jeri's blog, to see what goodies she has for you, and to get the next link
Enjoy the hop