It's a Blog Hop

It's a blog hop with Mo's Dream Team and guess whose the host, that would be ME. I chose the theme because I had an ulterior motive I so wanted to use this image and it just wouldn't be right if there wasn't a bit of this involved so  A bit of Verdigris (green to you and me).

 

You can see I've used the adorable Little Irish Dancer and the papers are Echo Park Country Drive. I've used the sketch from Friday Sketch Challenge which I think worked out perfect for the little dancer. I've paper pricked around the edges thats as close to sewing as you will get, used my favourite lace with some prima flowers to finish.
Now lets get down to the HOP there's a couple of prizes to win but to be in with a chance you need to comment on all the blogs on the hop and from my blog you have to jump to the amazing blog of

Heidy

Fingers crossed I managed to schedule this post and not publish it like I did last month.

WOYWW

So rather my WOYWW I'm showing something that my Hubby is scared will become another addition Orchid plants! After rescuing one (the one in the middle) and it has survived for over a year, he brought me lemon one for Christmas. I managed to snag another from him recently which is the purple one.
Of course the dining room table is home to images I've already coloured and are waiting to be turned into cards. Maybe some post from Simon Says Stamps that hasn't found new homes yet. I'm impressed with myself because the Stamping Up paper  I've matched some bazzill with it so I could scrapbook with it straight away.
No scrapbooking today but do have a couple of quick cards.

This is using the MFT Teapot set comes with stamps and a dies. I've just used the die with some papers that were left over from a card and that was in front of me. I do feel that I needed to mat the large white mat with black card but not a lot I can do about that now that ribbon is well and truly stuck.

Have I confessed to having the repeat order from QVC for some Martha Stewart punches, well if I haven't this is the latest set. I had to use the square anywhere punch, this was punching so much better than the others, since this was the first attempt and it didn't turn out too bad. So I put some pink spotty paper underneath and some daisies using the Woodware Daisy punch. Finishing with the stamping up sentiment, nice and quick.

Simon says a little bit of Green

Time is racing along and once again its Wednesday and time for Simon Says Challenge, this time for A bit of Green. The team are showcasing Hero Arts, spot my mistake, yep someone didn't use Hero Arts and there's no one to blame but me.

Still I have used Penny Black Nose to Nose and the fabulous Echo Park It's a boy Life. The Martha Stewart zig-zag punch which always comes out when I make a Boys/Mens card. I used the star nestablilities, I first use then to cut out the star and then using the die I draw round it on a contrasting colours, this gives me a smaller border than using the next size up. The sentiment is from a clear set that has long lost its packaging so can't tell you where from.

Now don't forget to check out the team who have show-cased  Hero Arts and if you want to join in you don't have to use Hero Arts and of course there is an amazing prize for one lucky winner.
Fingers crossed I have better luck at reading next weeks challenge, in fact I better check.

Easel card

Everybody Art Challenge has a fabulous challenge this week its for a easel card.  The only problem with easel cards is how to photo them.
I've used another sweet new Sarah Kay image and what a perfect image for a Mother's Day Card. I've used Victorian garden from Echo Park and the sentiment is made up with Stampin Up punches and a Craftwork cards sentiment.
The flowers are from the awesome collection of Prima flowers from Simon Says Stamps with some large pearl brads . Some lace, ribbon and the pearl sprays to finish.

There is another problem with easel cards I have to make a box that better be my first job today before I forget and have to make one last minute.
Do hope you able to join us this week and don't forget to check out the team.

Dancing through Monday

What a beautiful day here in the south east of the UK yesterday, can you believe we ate lunch in the garden cos it was so warm in the sun. I also felt a lot better and spent some time in my craftroom.
It meant that I finally used this cute girl  from Mo called Georgia, she had be coloured now for ages and even though she looks like she has quite a few layers she was still a delight to do.
I've used the sketch from The Sketchy Challenge and the papers are Love and Bloom from My Minds Eye. I've used the EK success funky flowers and the do-craft tinky flower punch too. There is a memory box border hidden under all the layers and all fininshed with a peach ribbon that I had to distress because it wasn't orange enough.
I've had a couple of questions in my comments lately so here's the answers hopefully.

Do I colour my images underneath the layers.

Yes I do, if I'm colouring a pink jumper I make sure the pink jumper underneath is the same colour but I don't bother to colour shading. The reason for doing this is when the layer is slightly raised and may be slightly out you won't see white which would stand out.

Can you link to the sentiment one a Cup of Tea post.

I've been over to the website and I don't think its made anymore maybe you can e-mail them.

Are the corners on the Cup of Tea post are they a punch or a die.

They are a die from Quickutz and again I've checked around there doesn't seemed to be many people who sell this make and I wonder if they're are no more.

I've also been given this amazing award, I need to find out what the rules are but many thanks to the lovely
Amanda, Vicki and Sue for the award.

Cup of Tea

Oh this card gave me awful trouble, I was moving papers around for ages and the whole thing took forever to make and I've no idea why, although after I made this I had a migraine so maybe that was why.
My Hubby and I are lucky that both our Mother's are are still alive although they have some medical problems seeing that they are both in they eighties its not surprising. So my card today will be off to MIL before next weekend.
Of course the image is another Sarah Kay and I think she may become a favourite too, the sketch is from Cute Card Thursday. The papers are My Minds Eye, MFT swirl with some tinky EK success flowers and the sentiment is from Clevercut layered on mats made by the nestabilies with two strips to make a rosette.
It's going to be a beautiful spring day today here in my part of the UK and Hubby has he's gardening togs on.

The Young Ones

The Penny Black Saturday Challenge is called The Young Ones and we would love for you to make a card for a child. In my case I decided to make a girly girl card and used  a lot of pink.
So the papers are First Edition Spring Drop and of course my stamp is Penny Black. The flowers are the EK success punches. The deep edge Doily punch from Martha Stewart made the scallop frame round my circle mats.
A bit of ribbon and a Craftwork sentiment and job done.
We would love for you to join us and we have a prize from one of sponsors for a prize.
Sorry for the short post but I'm a bit under the weather, guess I've been pushing myself too hard again and my body isn't have any of it.

Winter fairy

Oh don't you love this beautiful Winter Fairy Talva from Mo and it most be cos I was high with the success of the cards I made yesterday that this card turned out so well too.
First off I used the Sweet Sketch Wednesday and the papers are Magic Happens from Kaiser I think. Then I went a bit mad with the Memory dies Catalina Wreath, Frostyville border and Snowflake corner and they were all glittered with glamour dust. Because I layer my images I was able to place the wreath on my underneath my layers. Pearls were place in flowers and any circle like shapes as well as the corner to follow the sketch.
I used glossy accents on the ice on her wings and then put glitter on it while it was white, liquid pearls for her dress and yet more glamour dust. To finish some lace and a ribbon, wouldn't be surprised if she didn't make one of my favourites at the end of the year.

Here's the sketch I've used.

Paper Piecing

As soon as I soon this stamp from Woodware I knew it had to be paper pieced as well and while I had the papers out for the neutrals Less is More I might as well use this stamp as well. You could use pinks too and add some flowers. All I did was to stamp on three contrasting colours and cut the letters, not forgetting the holes in the letters. I use the Xyron X sticker thingy saves making a mess with glue and it sticks to the edges.
I did use a sharpie to make some matching doodling round the edge of the card and job was done another great simple idea to use for those pesky men.

Patchwork Balloon

Don't you love it when the idea in you head not only works but it actually works out better than you thought. I love how this turned out, the Woodware patchwork balloon stamp designed by Francoise Read is perfect for a mans card, the stitched clouds from the same set means they stand out on the white cloud. I've paper pieced the balloon, even the zig zags and the strips in the last panel.
Since the challenge on Less is More is for neutrals and I've been sitting not literary on a Stampin Up pad of neutrals it almost broke my heart to pull out some pages. The scallops is a Stampin Up punch too and so is the sentiment with my awful doodling but it wouldn't stand out unless I did that.
I'm posting another post with another LIM card, well while I had to those papers out I might as well use them.

WOYWW and Scrapbooking Wednesday

I think you can work out some work in progress this WOYWW and I've actually pulled out 3 pages out of Stampin Up pad of 12 by 12 paper that I've had for months was close to hyperventilating at the shock.
Mmmmm some Woodware stamps and a Brilliance inkpad which gave me awful trouble stamping last night when I realised that it needed reinking. I don't use it for stamping images but when I paper piece (there's a clue) or stamping sentiments I much prefer the depth of colour with the black or coffee bean brilliance pads.

Here's a few scrapbooking pages I've done recently I had these pics of J for ages. I made a kit with the papers I wanted to use but it still took forever to actually make the layout.

I'm giving my Sis 10 out 10 for her photos of J here and I tried to match the rope at the top to give an impression its all one rope, Kind've tricking your eyes well it does for me!

The crate papers that I've had for sooooooo long are perfect for these photos, going to have to make the most of these photos cos he's not keen on photos being taken now.

Simon says For a Special Someone

When I made a boob boo the other week for Simon Says Stamps Challenge I coloured up Gretel from CC Designs just in case I had time to make another card but our lovely challenge leader altered the challenge so I waited for the Girly card challenge that I knew was coming soon.

I've also used the gorgeous Spring Drop papers from First Edition and the fence behind Gretel is a Martha Stewart Picket Fence border punch which I knew I had to use when I saw Gretel. The corners are a Cuttlebug die that comes with others but this is my all time favourite. Flowers are punches from EK success and bit of ribbon to finish.
Well we had an loads of entries for last week challenge over 1100 that is truly amazing. This weeks challenge of Mother's Day which is due in a couple of weeks here in the UK or card for a special lady hope we get just as many entries. Don't forget that if you do you're in for a chance of wining this fabulous prize and with March being National Craft Month there are some great offers in Simon Says Stamps Shop.

I managed a couple of cards yesterday just need a couple of more for the design teams then its my time to play.

Paperbag art

I love the ideas the DT have for challenges on Everybody Art and this week is no exception Paperbag so rather than make one which you could do I've decorated one of a few I had. I got them in a kit to make a paperbag mini book but they never got used. Gosh all I do is moan about my photography skills and this time its because the light was too bright, guess we're never happy.

I used some Kaiser papers and a Stamping Bella image you know I love these cup/mug girls. It was a great excuse to use some larger flowers and of course the Doo Hickey swirl had to been used.
I folded the top and made a catch using buttons so pleased this worked out but it was bit fiddly.

All in all I pleased how this turned out.
Do pop over to the challenge blog and check out the team and would love for you to join us.

sketch and stash

I've just noticed the interesting coloured ribbon seeing as its suppose to be a pretty green in real life and not the dirty looking one.
I can't believe I had this image coloured and ready to use for ages and it was only when I saw one of the DT use it with the Sketch and Stash sketch made me finally use her. So of course I used the sketch and with some Nitwits download papers. A few retro flowers and a Craftwork sentiment.
Well I had a fab time at Sir Stampalot on Friday and I met the lovely Louise from Just Love to Scrap, spent quite a few pennies and even hubby brought me a set of Francoise Read stamps.
We spent a couple of days with MIL before heading home, it will be a couple of days before I recover but I'm still on a bit of high knowing of the fab goodies I have to play with.
Today I shall settle down in a comfy chair and catch up with everyone blogs.

Papertake weekly sunday

I should be on the way home today so this will be my last schedule post and I couldn't not use the sketch from Papertake Weekly. I know my DD will love this image from Saturated Canary and I love layering the layers to bring her to life.
The papers are Kaiser and you know I love my Cuttlebug corner dies. Managed to use all three rolled roses but have managed the large one yet looked a complete mess. I the swirl die is MFT but I do have to cut this one to make it fit where I want it to go.
Sorry if my schedule posts are badly written tend to write these in a rush and forget to check for errors must do better next time.
I shall be having a extra large glass of red wine tonight to celebrate Hubby's and mine Wedding Anniversary today. It's so many now I had to think twice but its 34 years does make me chuckle when everyone thought it wouldn't last.

Pinterest

Another card cased from a card found on Pinterest, I seen a couple similar to this one. I'm not keen of Kraft card so I didn't want to use it and rather just copy I thought I would used the Stampin Up Vintage Vogue love this delicate stamp and I used Pear something inkpad. Cut into strips and used the square punch to make the tails. The sentiment is Stampin Up from a set I won in workshop raffle.
Memory box border die along with the scallop border punch from stamping up to make the top strip with a bit of ribbon and a bow to finish.

This time I wondered what it would look like with flowers and I've added another strip making the gaps a bit smaller. This time I used the Scrolls border punch from EK success,  flower is out of my stash with a large pearl brad, I had to add the ribbon just wouldn't be right.

Case it - Domi

Lucky for me I managed to get the Cricut to cut out this circle card before it had a hissy fit but I can't use my Gypsy on it till there's a new download for it. This week on Penny Black Saturday Challenge we're Casing Domi's card which is why I needed a circle card but obviously forgot to chose a image that would fit rather then this out size one but I decide to use it anyway cos it will stop the circle card from rolling.
I've sort of kept to the layout on Domi's card but had to move a flower.

Domi Case it Card

Hope you can join us and don't forget to check out the team for inspiration.