Man Flu

Another fab Challenge on the High Hopes Challenge, this week its a Mans Card, yes I know they're hard but they have to be done and High Hopes stamps have loads of stamps suitable for them.
So I've used this fab stamp designed by Dustin Pike for High Hopes, I may have to improve my black colouring cos it looks a bit too grey.
The papers are Pink Paislee and buttons out of my stash, although the camera doesn't photo it that well the fish has some stickles on and the bubbles glossy accents.
Now you must check out the team and not forgetting out guests there is some fabulous creations and great ideas.

Hanging on

Now for a break from the Christmas cards over on Everybody Art Challenge is a Monochromo card using Brown.
I love how this card turned out, things weren't working out so I was playing with the Martha Stewart Cherish  punches to see how much space was inside a rectangle. To start with it was too long even for a tall card and I didn't line up the bottom that well. When I saw how good the PB mice looked inside I chopped off the bottom of the mat and used a ribbon so it looks like it was done on purpose not.
The papers are scraps, the flowers and sentiment are from Hero Arts.
Do check out the rest of team and we have a fab prize this week.
Hubby has another day off, for some more Christmas Shopping hopefully we will be more successful than one present.

Wonders shall never cease

So here's the quickest cards I've made to date, another PB stamp I brought it last year, do you see a pattern here. Any way I used the sentiment in the corner it reads:

Miracles

shall follow miracles and

wonders shall never cease.

Embossed half with snow folder from the Cuttlebug, a couple of MS snowflakes and a ribbon with the fiddly bows. Add a gem to the snowflake either in red and white and check they go through normal post. Result 10 cards.

Here's a close up, well it was a successful weekend in the end I made a total of 31 cards, a record for me who usually makes one or if I'm really lucky two a day.

Pretty in Red

I've made a few cards this weekend with some coloured images I had ready and most of them are of LOTV including this one.
I have used this weeks sketch over on Friday Sketchers, the paper is Glitz, snowflakes are Martha Stewart. Do I spy the cherish MS border too. I really like how this little card turned out.
I made another 10 cards yesterday and I feel that I'm seeing the end possibly just a few flat ones for posting and job is done.

Not so Quick and Simple

I brought this Penny Black stamp last year with the idea in mind it would make a quick and simple card. It was so quick I didn't use it, so this year I was going to make sure I used it.
I had the idea to use a brayer, yes I do have one. I keep it nice and clean in a box and its a bit like a vampire never sees daylight!
First one in the bin, second same place, changed cardstock and binned that one too.
So out came the blending tools and distress inkpads, I know I have them too.
I tried various combinations of stamping, masking and just when I thought I cracked it I had the idea of snowflakes in the corners. My DD came in the room as I was attempting this and said "Don't you do that first" yep she goes to craft shows and watches demos too.
I used the Crystal Wreath on the corners and embossed them with clear powder and used it also on the white card stock to follow the pattern through.
 I used a PB sentiment of a transparent set before I embossed the white card and rubbed an embossing tool over the sentiment to flatten any embossing.
After three hours I had my sample and them made seven more in a third of time.

In total 8 not so quick cards but I made up for it with the most simplest of cards but thats for another post.

Scrumptious Anniversary

I had to make another Anniversary card for my Niece, I decided last weeks one I'll save till next year since its her 1st Anniversary I'll give her a cute one instead of a cheeky one.
So I used the Truly Scrumptious sketch and the sweet Sarah Kay image. The papers have been cut into and not sure of the make.
Sorry but you will be seeing a lot of the Cherish MS punch until I get it out of my system and like the Magnolia swirl that may never happen.
My Christmas Card weekend didn't start well, first I cleaned up my desk and then I started playing around with the boxes on the shelves, sounds like someone was trying to avoid making cards.
Anyway the idea in my head, didn't work, in fact it didn't work several times, but I'm waiting for daylight to take a pic so you can see the final result.
Whoops just got the link for the challenge and the extra option is for a Birthday Card, don't tell anyone.

My favourite things

Well this is the card made in a rush yesterday, usually I make my PB challenge card at the beginning of the week and yes I did but its for next weeks challenge and No I'm not telling what the challenge is.
But lucky for me this weeks Penny Black Saturday Challenge is My Favourite Things so I just got out all the tools I love to use.
So first of I had to chose a Mice stamp, this isn't because I love mice in real life but they're the first PB critters I could colour that I was actually pleased with so now Teddies, rabbits and any other animal that I can get away with, gets coloured with mice colours.
Next I love my Martha Stewart Border punches and my fave at the moment is the new Cherish around the page punches. I don't have a lot of round the page punches but I think this one may get worn out.
Then of course there is my corners and Magnolia swirl cut out using the cuttlebug and last is my funky/retro flower punch.
I couldn't find a space for a bit of ribbon and then I love my nestabilities, embossing folders, flowers, buttons....................
Don't forget to check out the team, always a joy to see what they've create and we also have Debbie back with another Tutorial for Promarker, we have a set of Letaset markers that she has used for a prize along with a voucher of $20 for 1-2-3 Stitch.
So now I've got to tidy my craftroom up a bit and get down to making some quick and simple Christmas Cards, well I hope the idea in my head will be quick but you never can tell.

Bags of Style

So who stayed up really late last night to buy the new girlies from LOTV, I confess I didn't by 10 o'clock, I was falling asleep so my first job this morning was to order the pretties.
Well there's a massive blog hop going on at the LOTV challenge and this weeks challenge is Anything Goes. So this little Missy was coloured and waiting, I originally coloured her for a Thank you card but they're all done now so she become a Birthday card.
The sketch is from Magical Mondays but you have to use a fairy image but I still wanted to use the sketch, the papers are My Minds Eye and my favourite flower punches.
The Christmas Card Weekend may end up as a day, I'm behind in my commitments and it didn't help that I made a DT card for the wrong week and I still have one more to do, they may have to be my version of clean and simple.

Beer Monster

While looking for a DT I found my Beer Monster by Pink Gem Designs, I thought I had put him on my blog but it appears he hasn't.
I've used various circles punches to match the paper and I thought this would keep it thin enough to go through normal post then I promptly forgot to make a fiddly flat bow and tied a knot instead and the Beer Monster is well and truly stuck ontop so I couldn't change it.
Well he's already for my BIL birthday.

It's a Cracker

I actually made a card yesterday using the sketch from Papertake Weekly sketch this week and since I used my Martha Stewart snowflakes I can enter it into A Spoonful of Sugar too.
You may get fed up with James from LOTV since I've several of him coloured and ready to be used.
The papers are from Kaiser, Craftwork cards sentiment and one of those fiddly flat bows. I was hoping it would go through the normal post but my cracker is a bit fat otherwise it would of done.
Whoops noticed one of my dots as been missed when I stickled the snowflakes.

Prince Charming

The challenge this week over on Simon Says Stamps Challenge is for Prince Charming, a mans card and using a charm.
So I've used the fab James the bear, the papers are Echo Park Everybody loves Christmas and the little charm came in a set. They all available from Simon Says Stamps along with the MS punches.
My sentiment I made on the PC and means I can the tick the Christmas Card for Hubby off my list.
Now don't forget we have a fabby prize each week of ;

And check out what the fab Design Team have made too.

I don't think my plans for a Christmas Card Weekend are going to work out, I had an awful day yesterday and I suspect I've another cold on top of the one I'm already trying to get rid off.

High Hopes Buttons

It's my turn to host the challenge on High Hopes this week and I've chosen buttons, one because I have so many and I hope for lots of entries so you can help to inspire me on how to use them and I thought it would help me to make my BIL birthday card.
Don't you just hate Mens cards luckily High Hopes have fantastic images for them and this Fisherman from Dustin Pike is one of them. I've used the Fine and Dandy papers and lots of threaded buttons, with a touch on glitter on his fish.
Don't forget to check out the High Hopes Divas plenty of inspiration.
I shall be especially busy the next few days getting all my DT work before the weekend.

Fluffy Tilda

We have a fabulous sketch this week on Everybody Art Challenge, my card look fine till I decided to turn Tilda into a poodle. I thought using flower soft was a good idea but for this Tilda I think I will stick with glitter. The chimney stack is a magnolia too but it was a bit tall so I had to chop a bit off the bottom.
The papers are Cosmo Cricket but from last year.
I was having issues with light when I photo this card probably due to the awful weather we're having at the moment but its made Tilda look wishy washy and thats not helping with the poodle look.
It was a bit of unsuccessful day in a Christmas present way since we only brought one. We decided to go to Gunwharf Quays cos we hadn't been before, then stopped off on the way back to Whiteley Village and Hobbycraft at Basingstoke.
How come buying things like glue, tape and googly eyes etc cost so much.
Don't forget to check out the DT, their cards are fab and not one of them looks like my poor poodle.

Abundance of flowers

I still have a couple of thank you cards to make and with the help of the challenge on LOTV one for the girls and the fab sketch on Friday Sketchers I have one less to make.
The papers are from My Minds Eye Tickled Pink and  I've used the sweet LOTV image not one of the new ones I'm still sulking about them but patiently waiting for Friday.
I decided to use made flowers instead of my own simply because I've so many and the little Quickutz corners to finish off.

Sweet Ellie

We have a fabulous sketch this month on A Gem of a Challenge, its from Christine and I have to be honest I'd forgotten the optional extra. So I quickly checked the blog to see its for Nontraditional colours, thank goodness I used the scraps of Kaiser Christmas paper from last year which are blue and pink.
The sweet image is Ellie one of this years Christmas Pink Gem Designs, itsn't she cute and the little sentiment is a Pink Gem too.
One of the wonderful things about making Christmas Cards is that the embellishment are easy to do especially with the Martha Stewart punches they certainly do make life easier.
Now don't forget to check out the team, wonderful cards to help get over any Mojo block.
Yesterday my Niece had an open house selling Cosmetics and toiletries and I met up with family and friends as well.
The cold is coming along nicely and when we got back I caught up watching X factor and coloured some images for the weekend. I plan to have a weekend at home making Christmas cards.
Today we off to try and do some Christmas shopping, was thinking of going to Swindon outlets since I've been made aware there's a scrapbooking shop at a craft village not far away but typically they're closed on Mondays and my Hubby is incredibly happy.

Mostly White Tilda

Apolgies for the photo but I took it quickly before it got dark and didn't check that it was straight, now it is a perfect square card, its because of the rubbish photographer.
The last of my new Tildas and how simple she is to colour and here's the last bit left of  the embossed patterned paper.
I've been enjoying using lots of white detail and I love the Marianne trees which I still think they look like Magnolia trees.
The corners are cuttlebug die, the snowflakes and snowflake border both from Martha Stewart, to finish a Craftwork Cards sentiment.
Now there's an easy challenge over on Just Magnolia, Anything Goes with the option of beads, I did get my beads out but ended up putting them back without using them.
I had a brilliant day at MJ All day Crop but we did have to leave early as we were going to a little party to celebrate our friends Ruby Wedding and hand over the Secret Project, a Scrapbook filled with pics that we managed to get our hands on.
The sore throat has progress nicely to a very blocked up nose but other than that I'm my normal boring self.

Snowflakes Saturday

Now this is a challenge you're going to love and tis easy peasy, Let It Snow is our challenge on Penny Black Saturday Challenge. Lots of white card, snowflakes and glitter what could a crafter want.
I embossed my white card using a Scor-pal I'm afraid it rarely gets used but the lines are at 1/2 inches apart and perfect for cards. The pattern paper is embossed but not sure who makes it but I've this bit and another bit which I used yesterday on another card. Love my MS snowflakes they will be worn out by Christmas, all have been glittered.
Now I've had to schedule my post today, I'm going to at an All Day Crop at MJ and the PB challenge post is not complete yet but I do know there is a fabulous PB stamp for a prize and some promarkers too. I do believe that Debbi is our Guest Designer and will be having a tutorial on her blog how she coloured her image but don't hold me to that. I do know that there is some fantastic cards made buy the DT so don't forget to pop over to the blog to check them out.
Off to get a nice hot honey and lemon drink I've been struggling all day with a sore throat as yet no runny nose but considering DD has had a grotty cold all week looks like she hasn't kept it to herself.

A touch of Purple

I still need three more thank you cards and maybe this is a bit too girly but it still cute and can easily be entered into the LOTV girly challenge this week.
The papers are I think Chatterbox that I've been storing for ages and the fiskars apron punch works well with the new nestie. I do have issue with this card I moved those flowers must have been a dozen times and when I did stick them down I still wasn't keen so want did I do, add more flowers so now maybe the flowers are a bit OTT. I'm still debating whether to put even more flowers on it but I've stepped away from the card and have to accept that the job is done.
So anyone been to the NEC and picked up those gorgeous new stamps from LOTV.

Fine and Dandy Thursday

So it was all stop yesterday so I could use this gorgeous punch around the page punches, isn't it gorgeous. It's called Cherish and I ordered it from Simon Says Stamps and when it arrived it had to be used straight away. Can you image a 12 inch layout using it, they will be in my tote bag on Saturday when I go to MJ All day crop.
The top secret parcel, well all I can say its a good job a brought a bulk lot of easi-mount at Ally Pally.
May be not the best card in the world but I didn't want to hide punched mat, the papers are My Minds Eye Fine and Dandy. The swirls are EK Sucess punch, leaves Leone-em punch, some flowers, a bit of lace and a sentiment, job done. The image is one of Mo Manning's but this one is actually a Stampavie stamp.
I didn't really have a challenge in mind when making this card but I think there enough embellishments to be able to enter in A Spoonful of Sugar this week.
I had a wonderful e-mail asking me to be on one of my favourite challenges DT, it was one of the hardest things I had to do to say no. I promised my other half not to take on any more DT, on this rare occasion he is probably right, still it was really really hard to do.
Then I found out my Dad is quite poorly he looks after Mum really well but though its a dreadful thing to say its probably a good job she is still in hospital.
No time for card making today.

WOYWW

My desk for WOYWW doesn't look so bad when you photo it but really it was a mess. I hadn't tidy up my square work surface ready for the next card and I had decided to ink some stamps so I can colour tonight.
I don't use the brilliance ink pad for images but I find they're the best for word stamps and they dry fairly quick too.
An expensive way to stick cards together is with Repositional Herma but I try to keep for those tricky bits when you want to stick down in a something that looks like a straight line otherwise I'm a double sided tape girl as much as possible.
But all good plans came to an end when not only the UPS van-man brought me an amazing parcel which is top secret but the Postman brought me my order from Simon Says Stamps and I have an amazing round the page set of punches that I love so much I have to use straight away.