Penny Black Sunday

I'm still trying to make more manly cards and I'm not sure if it quite works, its finding embellishments other than flowers thats the prob. I fairly sure that this fab PB image works OK for a mans card, this stamp was out of the bargain box a few months back. The papers are My Minds Eye its a huge paper stack and these papers are earmarked for another card too. The sketch is from Penny Black Saturday Challenge designed by Domi and I had to alter the circles, two didn't work and I'm not sure three does either and now I'm not sure if works as a mans card now. Gosh I sound like a moaning minnie.

I would love this stamp from WOJ and I wouldn't have any trouble using that card pack either but in order to win this candy I have to let you all know its on offer at Rach's blog.

I had a fabulous day at The Craft Barn I do love the varied demo's and although I can't do arty I love watching it being created and I think we all brought Beatrice from Katzelkraft christmas unmounted rubber stamps.
Received a huge hug from both Sandra and Chris and they were demo their brand new stamps.
Chris had amazing cards and was interested to find she mainly colours with distress pad reinkers and Sandra had some fabulous cards with her stamps too, slider cards, pop up cards and all lovingly coloured. Daft thing that I am, I should have asked Sis to take a pic of us together why do I think of these things when we in the car on the way home.
We decided to have a Pub lunch which was a brilliant idea we sat outside cos it was lovely day. We arranged to meet FairyKaren and her friend so we were quite noisy but nothing new there.

Cosmo Cricket Tilda

The weekend wouldn't be right if I didn't do a card for Just Magnolia but this card just didn't go right from the start. First I coloured Tilda in to match the Cosmo Cricket papers but I feel I used the wrong yellow colours.
Then I started to use the sketch that Heidi has done for Moving along with the times and tried to use a piece of Embossing for the large mat but it looked too much, so while checking the sketch I suddenly read Sketch and THEME whoops what theme would that be.
Well this card is most definitely not Christmas and now everything didn't work. So then I went with the flow, still disappointed with the yellow and to add insult to injury poor Tilda looks a bit under weather with her wishy washy face.
But the papers are fabulous.

Card for a Teenager Lad

Now you know cards for fellas are a challenge and a card for a teen boy is an even bigger challenge but you know you've got to do them and to help you this weekend is the challenge on Secret Crafter "A card for Teen Boy" so pop over there to check out the DT cards for a bit of inspiration.
My card I've used the Freedom Kit on Summertime Designs and the image is from Little Claire Designs. The sentiment is a Hero arts and the stars are various punches.
Looking forward to seeing everyones cards cos I need inspiration too.

A Little Extra

I had this sweet Sarah Kay coloured and just waiting for the right sketch which I found on Stampin' for the Weekend, although my interpetation sort of went it own way a bit. The papers are My Minds Eye which have nearly all gone, flowers are from Wild Orchid, the white flowers had a yellow thingy in it which I didn't like so I popped a rose in the middle instead, the gold satin ribbon is from there too I can't believe how much ribbon I get for such a cheap price, yards and yards. The sentiment is from a Woodward set and of course Stampin' up punches.
I'm really sad that my counter has lost thousands of hits but at least I'm not alone but have noticed that I've nearly 500 followers that must be a reason to celebrate, good job I'm going craft shopping tomorrow.

Teal and Orange

Mmmm not sure if the blue is teal enough for the challenge on WOJ but there's plenty of orange. I love this WOJ chair its brilliant to paper pieced and the this WOJ image was perfect candidate for sitting on the chair. I've also used the fab sketch on Papertake Weekly and maybe I've gone a bit overboard on the flowers, the papers are a download from Sweet Shoppe Designs, Zoe Pearn's Forget me not and I only print them quick draft in hope I haven't used too much ink.

Definitely going to the Craft Barn, Lingfield tomorrow, so an early start it takes just over an hour to get there.

LilyKate Angel

When I saw the pic of inspiration on Basic Grey Challenge I immediately thought of LilyKate papers and I had just E-Z mount this angel from Lily of Valley, so she was crying out to be used.
I used the sketch from Mojo Monday although my oval should be a rectangle. The flowers are EK punches and not forget MS doily punch.
I think its very inconsiderate of my Sis to have a birthday so I've been making cards that I can't blog for a couple of weeks.

The Engineer

This is the first digital image that I've coloured, usually prismacolours, sansodor and inkjet ink don't mix, they smudge and it annoys me a lot. I've read that if you clear embossing immediately after the image is printed works, so I gave it a try and it does seem to work or at least with this image.
But I'm a lazy crafter and by the time opened word, insert the images so I could 3d, I know I only have to do this once, print, then go out to my craftroom, put some clear embossing powder on, plug in and use my heat gun I could've have stamped half a dozens of images and more.
So the image has to be exceptionally for me to go through all this bother and this is one of them .
Mo's drawings are stunning and this one is perfect for those dreaded Men's card and the Pebbles patterned card with A spoonful of Sugar sketch all goes perfectly together.

A bit of Cherry Blossom

I think I may have to list Oriental in the things I don't do along with distressing and mens card.When I saw the Oriental challenge on Simon Says Challenge I could not think of what to do, I knew I would use BG papers some of their papers always look a bit oriental and I've a whole family of these little dolls from Simon Says Stamps.
The cherry blossom stamp I think is Stampendous and I think that could be a new cuttlebug folder, I stamped the image first before running it through the bug and as I was 3d the flowers the bumps in the image didn't matter. Added some tiny pearls, a bit of ribbon and all layered with gold paper, maybe it doesn't look that bad after all.
Look another fab award this time from Nanaseaside aka Christine

Tuesday's Mouse

I give my cards to my Sis who tries to sells them for me but she was moaning that there is hardly any mens cards, well that would be cos I don't like making them. This was the closest I could get to making one.
The sketch is from Sketch Saturday, to start with I wasn't sure about it but I love the frame and once I decided to use pinwheel flowers it all fell into place. The papers are Pebbles and the flowers are a template from Craftwork Crafts. Of course the stamp is Penny Black he accidentally fell into the basket to make my total postage free, I'm pretty sure this is a false economy but I think he will be useful for Mens cards.
This cute award is from Pati.

Fern's candy is now on her new blog here
Another fabby award this time from Alison aka Tillymint.

Hearts

The challenge on Penny Black Saturday is Hearts, another excuse to get out my MS heart punch. If it's Penny Black challenge than first I look for a mouse stamp that suits, cos I can colour them better than the rest of animals. So this pair were perfect and I found various size heart gems to go in place of the coloured in ones.
The papers are My Minds Eye not much left but I still think I can stretch the scraps for a couple of cards yet. I've used Sketch and Stash sketch or at least it started that way, a couple of funky flowers and sentiment using stampin up punches.
I didn't make the crop but there is always next month and MJ is in a couple of weeks, I hoping that Sis is free one day this weekend so we can go to The Craft Barn demo. It's usually brilliant there's always a varied programme to suit everyone, from distressing and vintage to cute and pretty.

Warm mug of Tea

I have some Cosmo Cricket 6 inch pads and instead of drooling over it I've decided to use for the sketch on Friday Sketchers and because the colours are Autumn like I've used this sweet Sugar Nellie stamp whose wrapped up warm on these chilly days. I've added a touch of ribbon on the corner because it looked bare and the sentiment is from Woodware.
Not sure if I'm going to the crop today, lets just say I'm coming back as a man!
I hang my head in shame that I forgot to pop this award on my blog from Renata, hope she forgives me.

Trio of Spiders

I so loved making the spiders on the card the other week, I wanted to have another go and when my dippy goo MS punch arrived it was a perfect opportunity to use both.
Just add the sweet Guy Fawkes Milly from Pink Gem, some download papers from DigiChicks Designs and using Iris's fabulous sketch this week for Simon Says Challenge, this is how it turned out. I've used the last of the tiny eyes so will have to look out to buy some more.
I've just used outline squares the mats in the sketch that way you can still see the words on the paper.
Now don't forget to enter the Simon Says Challenge there is an awesome candy to celebrate Heidi's Birthday.

Hearts and Flowers

Its Hearts and Flowers for the challenge on the Secret Crafter, so a nice romantic card is the order of the day. I love the Sarah Kay couples I do think they're cute and of course this one has a lovely big hat to 3d.
The papers are from Fiskars cloud nine and I used MS heart border punch, a touch of ribbon and various flowers. That just left the right hand corners which look bare and it needed something. In the back of my mind I remembered the little hearts punch that I've had for years, its not really a corner punch but I don't think I did too bad lining up the punch.
Not much in happening at the mo, have the Scrapbuddies Crop on Sunday where I will be probably be working on my secret project.

In the Pink

There is a great sketch over on Just Magnolia from Mina who just so happens to be the Guest Designer on Simon Says Challenge too. My ingredients are as follows;

Papers-My Minds Eye
Flowers-EK punches
Swirls- Quickutz die
Corners-Cuttlebug die
Leaves-Leone Em punch
Pearls and ribbon out of my stash.

Did you know that there are new Cuttlebug folders and the new Christmas Sarah Kays now available from various craft shops. I'm not having a particular good day so some retail shopping might make me feel better.

Distressing!

Well Summer is well and truly over and taking photos in daylight is becoming a pain, I see trouble ahead. After grappling with the camera so my photos don't look like I'm on the Titanic, I'm sure this card is now slightly out of focus but I've taken so many pics of it to make it straight I give up, again.
As soon as I saw the sketch 102 on Mojo Monday I knew I wanted another go at using my butterflies and used only two layers which I think work better when they are this small. I inked every edge I could find even the ribbon so I could enter this card in the Spoonful of Sugar Challenge of stressing, oops I mean distressing.
The papers are Cosmo Cricket Early Bird but the 6inch pack, the sweet image is Belles and Whistles. I've used the stampin up punches for the Hero Arts sentiment and a cuttlebug die for the corner.

Babe in Arms

So originally I coloured this image for Cute Card Thursday challenge for new beginnings and then discovered there is a fabulous sketch on WOJ challenge by Bev, so I don't think anyone would mind me combining both challenges. The paper is Fiskars Cloud Nine I don't seem to have contrast paper for it which is unusual for me I try to get a couple papers of the same collection to mat and layer with. No I haven't got my old doily punch to work this is the replacement and the fab bit of lace I got from Bunny Zoe's Crafts.
I don't advise trying to sort out craftrooms or try a bit at a time, at one point I had made more mess than I cleared. But it is now back to working order, just need to work out where I put everything.
Would you believe it I'm still trying to catch up from last week and this award was sent to me by Christine aka Nanaseaside.
Also from Jayne too.

House-Mouse

There's a brilliant sketch from Iris to follow on Simon Says Challenge but the DT had an extra challenge, Heidi from Simon Says Stamps sent us some goodies to celebrate her birthday and to use for this challenge too. When I opened mine there was a wonderful gift box full of goodies and my first ever House Mouse stamp even though they are bunnies. I'm quite please how many of Heidi's goodies I managed to use, the stamp, ribbon, flowers, pearls, book plate and on the clear set of stamps I used the sentiment.
To follow the sketch I had to make a large card so it might show up better if you click on the picture to make larger.
This weeks challenge has special prize to celebrate Heidi birthday so don't miss out and join Simon Says Challenge this week.

Pretty in Pink Mimi

This time I left the flowersoft in its box and used Glamour dust instead, not sure if I should of left the edges of Mimi's jacket white rather than colour it all in pink and I did think her trousers were the wrong blue but it helped them to stand out from the blue patten paper. The papers are a download from Sweet Shoppe Designs by Zoe Pearn, I think its called Little Joys, the snowflake is a sizzix die and this card was the perfect excuse to use my MS icicle punch. The image is of course Pink Gem, isn't she cute.
Saskia had this gorgeous candy on her blog here

Latest news

The new stamps from dream2stamp have released over the weekend and Stephany still wishes to make cards for her company so I look forward to receiving to the new stamps hope these two are in my package.
Caryn over on Glitter me Silly blog has the most wonderful candy perfect for those Christmas cards we going to making over the next few months.
And if you're running short on paper Carol has some paperstacks candy.

Wisteria Tilda

Thank you for the lovely comments about Belle and red inked flowers, guess I'm too critical about my cards and need to chill a bit.
This card was made for the fab sketch on Sketch Saturday this week, again I'm not to sure about the flowers but they are well and truly stuck down. The papers are BG wisteria most of the pretty colours are all used, only gold colours are left but they might come in hand for Christmas. I've some teeny tiny gems from PaperMania and they are a perfect size for the necklace and bracelet on Tilda.
So yesterday once I managed to get in the Van, getting out was much easier, Sis and I chilled in the afternoon and had a fabulous meal in ASK in Fleet. Now I'm ready for the awful task in front of me My Craftroom. Its in a terrible muddle and needs a good sort out.