Another male card

This week seems to be mainly about male cards. And god knows they are far from my favourite and I usually struggle a lot to come up with ideas :-(
But hey, they needed to be done and here's my latest, for a 14th year old relative. I know he likes rugby but for the last few years I have made rugby related cards for him, so I could just simply not do another one. Plus his parents were recently telling us how his "interests" are shifting slightly, like any teenager I guess... he has started developing an interest for...yes, you got it right... girls... LOL!

I hand cut several stars in different sizes, matt them and mounted them on 3D pads. Some other stars were punched/cut so that the (green or white) cardstock underneath could be seen. I stamped the sentiment HB2U to make it look "cooler" :-) and I finally added a piece of twine for extra texture. Paper and cardstock are leftovers I had in my stash.

My card enters:
AiFactory - Punch/die cut
Dutch Dare - Clean and simple
Pixie Dust Studio - About men/boy
Cute Card Thursday - Antyhing goes

Have a nice weekend!

Friendship card

This card is quite special - it is for my very good friend Wendy, whose birthday is today (yeahh!! Make sure you leave a Happy Birthday message on her blog! ;-)) It is not just a birthday card, but a friendship card too, because for the last year this mad South African lady has been a fabulous friend to me. So I just wanted to say: Thanks for everything, Wends! And Happy Birthday! Love ya! xx :-)
The image and sentiment are (once more) from TLC creations - and I just LOVE them! The minute I saw the cute little girl and her friend the Teddy playing on the see-saw I knew this was the perfect image for my birthday card to Wendy. It didn't even need much colouring. And then the sentiment, which goes so well with it! The card is quite vintage looking and defenitely my kinda colours and style. Hope you like it as much as I do.
This is the outside:

 And the sentiment inside:

Both the image and sentiment are from TLC; the image has been outlined with Pastel Beige Promarker and some beige chalk. The rich damask backing paper is from DCWV, The Luxury Stack; the different cardstock (brown and earthy tones) are Coredinations, embossed with Cuttlebug folders, distreesed and with some of the edges chalked; ribbon and pearls from my own stash; Labels Nestabilities.

I would like my card to enter the following challenges:
Wag'n'Whiskers - Friendship
Daring Cardmakers - Topaz/Friendship
Kaboodle Doodles - Vintage
Scrap it with a Song - You've got a friend
Passion for Promarkers - Colours of Old photographs
Take time for you - Monochrome
Sisterhood of Crafters - Birthday
2 Sisters - Birthday
Lexi's Creations - Anything goes

Thanks for your comments!

A birthday card for a Chef

I cannot take all the credit for this card because my son, nearly 6, coloured the digital image with his own crayons. You see, this birthday card is for my youngest brother, his uncle, who is a chef, so my son wanted to participate in the making of it. And fair play to him, he helped me a lot! I am sure my brother will be very chuffed with such a creative card! ;-)

If I am not mistaken the chef image is from Bits of Cheer, coloured as explained by my son with his own crayons and highlighted with Stickles, mounted with 3D pads for dimension; the yummy ice-cream and cupacakes backing paper is a download, EHI Make a Wish; the sentiment was created in Word; Cuttlebug Happy Birthday embossing folder; Nellie's and Spellbinders die cuts.

Some challenges:
Crafty Cardmakers - Dry embossing
CRAFT - Dry embossing
One stop craft - Embossing
Top Tip Tuesday - Image/Sentiment
Sisterhood of Crafters - Birthday
Party Time Tuesdays - Photo inspiration
2 Sisters - Birthday
Cupcake Inspirations- cupcakes
Crazy 4 challenges - Square card
Fairy Tale - Anything goes
Lexi's Creations - Anything goes

Male card

I remembered only this morning about my friend's birthday on Thursday! Doh!
Because he lives in Amsterdam and the card needed to be on the post by this afternoon the latest, I momentarily got into a bit of a panic - the job could have ended in disaster with all the rush; however, I must admit I am pretty happy with the result. I actually feel it is a double winner: a quick AND a male card that I am satisfied with!? It must be a first ;-)
I think the reason why I feel so comfortable with the result is because of the great TLC image and sentiment I decided to use. Make sure you visit Paulette's wonderful blog, Create with TLC - she has LOTS of beautiful, funny and vintage images and sentiments, many for free!!

It is yet another CAS card, by far my favourite style; the lovely stripe paper, distressed, was a present from my good friend (non-blogger) Christine; the blue and green cardstock are from my own stash, as is the blue ribbon; image coloured with Letraset Promarkers, mounted on 3D pads and highlighted with embossing fluid for a bit of dimension.

There are a couple of challenges I can enter this card onto:
I used the Paper Tree Design sketch for this week; on Crazy 4 Challenges they are looking for Square cards and the ladies on Ladybug Crafts Ink want to see ribbon.

So that's it for me for today! Wrap up well! It's cold and windy out there! :-)
Thanks for your comments!

Autumn in the Park





Quick Bugaboo birthday card

The card I am showing you today features a super cute Bugaboo image. It is for my friend's 2 year old daughter - isn't the turtle a cutie?! The little girl's birthday was last Friday and since I had a couple of appointments and other bits that day, I kept it all fairly simple. 

Bubaboo image, coloured with Letraset Promarkers and highlighted with Embossing fluid; Labels Nestabilities; Cuttlebug polka dot embossing folder; sentiment created in Word; ribbon from my own stash. 

Onto some challenges:
Catch the Bug - Bugaboo image, Anything goes
My Time to Craft - Quick and cute
Stampin'Bees- Animal in a die cut
7 Kids - Birthdays
Stampin'Royalty - Colour challenge
Craft Challenge - Dry Embossing
Dutch Dare - Clean and simple
Fairy Tale - Anything goes

Blog awards

It was a miserable start of the day - rain, wind... but my dear friend Wendy cheered me up with a sweet suprise. She treated me to not 1 but 2 Blog Awards!!

The first one is the Beautiful Blogger award. The rules for this Award are to tell 10 unknown things about yourself and to pass it onto 10 more Beautiful Bloggers. Let' see:

- One of my biggest regrets is not having spent more quality time with my father, listening to his stories, understanding his life.

- I am really really scared of illness and death, not seeing my child/ren grow up.

- I was 11 years old when I had my first hair cut.
- After a dodgy henna tattoo while visiting Morocco I developed an allergy to PPD and will probably never be able to dye my hair as a result :-(
- I am also allergic to peppers (chillies, jalapenos...all sorts!)
- I would have loved to have blue eyes
- I suffer from the "travel bug"; I love travelling and am "itchy" unless I have some sort of trip planned soon.
- I wear my watch on my right wrist and my ring always on the middle finger.
- The first name given to me (i.e. registered) at birth is completely different to the first name I carry (officially) now (political and personal reasons, in case you wonder).
- I do not like reptiles and I am terrified of snakes in particular.

I have chosen the following 10 Beautiful Bloggers, for different reasons:

- Lisa Jane (because she is super talented and has offered me positive comments from day one)

- Faye (because she is super talented, as well as very funny! and always ready to give positive comments)

- Doreen (because she is talented, dedicated and a very supportive team of the OLL DT)

- Snehal (because she is talented and a sweet follower, always ready to learn and leave positive comments)

- Debb (because she is one talented lady)

- Elaine (because she is another very talented lady)

- Heloise (because I wish I could work with beads, felt and fabric like she does)

- Geraldine (because she makes beautiful embroidery embellishments)

- Judy (because although I do not really know her, she's often left kind comments on my blog, and more importantly, I've noticed that she always taks the time to give thanks for any freebies and tutorials available in the blog world, a rare and admirable thing!)

- Chupa (one of those blogs I visit often because of her inspirational creations)

- Melissa (an Australian talented crafter and super mama!)

The second award is the Cherry on Top award; the rules for this one are to share 3 things that you enjoy doing and then to pass it on to 5 more wonderful bloggers.

So what do I really enjoy?

- I love snuggling up in bed with a good book or a good film and a cuppa at the end of a long day.

- I love going out for a lazy lunch/dinner with my partner and son on Sundays somewhere different.

- I love arts and crafts with passion and the first thing I do in any place I visit is to look for a crafts market and/or crafts shops

The 5 bloggers I have selected for this award are:

- Lisa Jane

- Faye

- Snehal

- Karenika (for her inspiration and beautiful creations)

- Paulette (for her beautiful creations that she kindly shares with other bloggers)

If the recipe works...

Isn't that what people say...? :-)
You have probably seen a few cards of mine with this same image, Born to Shop by Docrafts, but the feedback has always been so positive that I think the cool funky lady must really work for this sort of card - another commissioned 40th Birthday card. LOL!

(I apologise for the bad quality of the photo; the weather has been so miserable today that it had to be taken with artificial light; the colours are much more vibrant and bright IRL)
As usual I coloured the image with Letraset Promarkers and highlighted some bits with Diamond Stickles. I matted it with red cardstock; the backing papers are leftovers from other projects, can't remember where they came from, edges all distressed with red ink; the dots stamp is Inkadinkado; the border punch is Fiskars; the red paper flowers from my own stash; the sentiment created in Word.

My card enters the following challenges:
Basic Grey - a sketch by Heather
PaperTake - sparkly and bright
Creative Inspirations - Glitter, Glamour, Girlie
Inky Impressions - Flowers
Simon Says - Punch them
ABC- G is for Glitter
Aly's Sunday -  Distressed
Sentimental Sundays - Birthdays
Clean and Simple - Happy Birthday
Inktegrity - Anything goes
Craft Your passion - Anything goes

Thanks for your comments!

Ooh La La challenge # 66 - Remember Remember

Good Monday morning to you all!
November already!!?? Phew, time flies when you are having fun! :-)

Here's my creation for the OLL challenge # 66, Remember Remember - a corner bookmark.
When given the theme a few weeks ago my thoughts went directly onto a bookmark. Why? you may wonder... Well, simply because most of the evenings I am so tired that I end up falling asleep after a few pages and the following day I can hardly remember where my reading ended! LOL!

 Front:

 Back:

My bookmark was decorated with Pattern Paper 27 and Spot paper 15 from the Ooh La la Silhouette Magic CD, as well as the Ribbon Border 10 from the Fleur d'Imagination CD. I also used a border Fiskars punch, oval and scalloped punches and scalloped scissors. The sentiment ("This is where we left it") and quote ("Some books are undeservedly forgotten; None are undeservedly remembered") were created in Word; purple organza and satin ribbons. I finished the bookmark with a few beads from my own stash.

I would like my corner bookmark to enter the following challenges:
Your next Stamp - Bookmark it!
Mami Doodles - Anything but a card
My Time to craft - Pocket (my corner bookmark has a "pocket")
Crazy challenge - Tones of shapes
A Spoon full of Sugar - Let's get punchy
Simon Says Stamps - Punch them
Fab'n'Funky - Clean and Simple
Ann's Creative Nook - Think Pink
One Stop Crafts - Anything goes
Paper Players - Anything goes

Happy Monday!

Another batch of CAS Christmas cards

Hello! Hope you are enjoying the last few hours of the Halloween weekend.
Did you remember to change the clocks around your house this morning, or like me, realised you could have had an extra hour to sleep by 2pm??! Doh! :-)
Here's another batch of CAS Christmas cards.

Polka dot embossing folder; Labels Nestabilities; I think the stamp is Papermania; green dotty paper from Docrafts; green ribbon from my own stash.

I would like my cards to enter:
Magic in the Air - Die cuts
Fab'n'Funky - Clean and simple
Stampavie - Christmas
Bee Crafty - Christmas

Thanks for your comments!

More CAS Xmas cards

Keeping it simple in order to achieve the 50+ Christmas cards I need to get ready for this year :-) here's a batch of Red and White cards that I finished last night.

The polka dot paper is a freebie (it may not be clear from the photo but all the dots are covered in glitter, as are the snowflakes die cuts); the white ribbon is from my own stash; the sentiment is I believe from Papermania, stamped in Red Docrafts Ink; the oval die cut is Nellie's.
Dots, snowflakes and sentiment border are all glittered up with Diamond Stickles.

My Red and White batch of Christmas cards enters the following challenges:
Craft Your Passion - Glitter
There's Magic in the Air - Die cuts
Frosted Designs - Die cuts
Pals Paper Arts - Bling
Southern Girls - Glitter it up
Totally Gorjuss - Sparkle
The Lollilop Ladies - Strawberries and Cream (my design does not include any image of strawberries or cream, but I believe the colours on the card are very relevant to the theme)
Thanks for your comments!

Clarification

On my post from Wednesday Oct 20th I featured a card with a super cute image of a little girl with a wheelbarrow (Soft Pastel Birthday Card). Unfortunately I could not remember the name of the stamp/designer so I asked for help.
Fellow crafter CraftBunny has very kindly clarified that the stamp is from Alota Rubber stamps, and you can find the particular image I used for my card here. Thank you very much for the information, Lisa. :-)

Black and White Xmas cards

Good Sunday to you!
Yeps, I keep working on my Christimas cards - 3, 4, 5 a day maybe, different designs, different colours... I seem to get easily tired of repeating the same over and over so I try to come up with quick, clean and simple yet effective and varied designs and cards every day.
In the last 3 days I have managed to finish over 20 Christmas cards, not bad :-) One of the finished sets was these Black and White ones. Unusual, I know, but why not? Black and white happens to be one of my favourite colour combinations. And it does not always have to be red and green for Xmas, right? I actually quite like them.

So here it is, another batch of Christmas cards, which I would like to enter into the following challenges:
Annabelle Stamps - Black and White
Crazy Amigo - Black and White
Stampin Royalty - Ribbons
Sarah Hurley - Xmas cards with no red or green
Oh Alice - Chessboard (b&w, rows of images)
Meljens - Anything goes
Dottie's World - Xmas Anything (please see their page for the chance to win fabulous candy: a gorgeous kit from Bo Bunny with 18 12" x 12" sheets of premium quality double-sided designer paper, including journalling card paper, and one 12" x 12" sheet of coordinating cardstock stickers! You have til 7th November to enter!)

The backing black and white Christmas paper in my card is a free download from Docrafts; black ribbon and black cardstock from my own stash; sentiment created in Word, mounted on 3D pads; Circle Nestabilities; white pen.

Procrastination

Last week I made a necklace with turquoise stones for a lady who turned 40, you probably remember. It worked like that: I needed a gift, got my tools together, looked for the right beads and material, got to work and - done in a matter of hours! Easy!
Today, however, I -f-i-n-a-l-l-y, yes, I hear you, Ana!- fixed this other turquoise necklace. You see, I made this particular necklace probably a year or two ago for one of my best friends, and when the clasp got broken a few months later she asked me to fix it... Reluctantly I must admit that the poor necklace has gone from one shelf to another, from one excuse to another until today, when my good friend asked me about the status of her turquoise necklace... Oh, the guilt! So I got working and managed to re-make it and fix the clasp. Proud of myself? Well, I could be, I did fix it, eventually! but I feel so ashamed of my procrastination... :-)

Announcement

Today I can finally share some fantastic and exciting news with you: I was recently asked to join the Ooh La La Design Team and of course I accepted! :-)

Ooh La La Creations offers a great range of CD's for all your papercraft masterpieces. Each CD comes with a wide variety of design sets, papers, toppers, inserts, decoupage, etc. You can find more information on all OLL CDs available on this site. They also run great challenges every fortnight, and the winner gets the chance to choose a couple of pieces from their OLL shop! So what are you waiting for? Go and have a look! And don't forget to visit the DT's members' blogs for great inspiration!

The theme for this fortnight challenge (#65), my first one as part of the OLL DT, is SCARY STUFF, and here is my scary design, using OLL papers and images:

I would like to enter my easel card onto the following challenges:
The creative cottage - Halloween
Moving along with the times - Halloween
2 Sisters - Halloween
Bee Crafty - Halloween
One Stop Craft - Halloween
Stampin' for the Weekend - Halloween or Fall

Stamp Something - Halloween
Inktegrity - Halloween or Fall
Double Dutch - Scary Halloween creation
Crafts and Me - Halloween
Stampin Royalty - Halloween
Fussy and Fancy - Halloween
If the Shoe Fits - Holiday
Really Reasonable Ribbon's Ramblings - Halloween with ribbon
Easy Craft Projects - Halloween
The Latte Lounge - Fall or Halloween
Creative Craft Challenges - Trick or Treat
Inky Impressions - Anything goes

Thanks for your feedback!

I won last weeks Little Paper Shop challenge!

With this birthday card, featuring challenge LPSC88, a Sketch by Pam! Yeps! And I am delighted!
Thank you so much, Pam and the Little Paper Shop team!

Turquoise necklace

One of the ladies in my son's school is turning 40 this week and some of the mothers have decided to give her a surprise party on Saturday evening. She is a really sweet girl, always ready to give anyone a hand, so I jumped to the opportunity to celebrate the big day with her as soon as I heard. I think the plan is to go to the local Chinese restaurant and to the pub for a few drinks afterwards.
I will be making a card this evening or tomorrow for her; however, since I have a few busy days ahead, I needed to get started with a present today. The usual problem - what should I get/make for her? I do not know her that well but all girls tend to love jewellery, right? so I ended up making a turquoise necklace.
What do you think?

Thanks for your comments!

Stampin FluffnStuff Sugar Rush

Stampin FluffnStuff will be 1 next week and Faye is offering some candy to celebrate. What do you need to do to be in the draw?
- Become a follower of her blog, if you're not already
- Display her button on your sidebar if you don't already
- Put a quick post up on your Blog about the Sugar Rush and link back
- Add your name to Mr Linky.
- Candy closes at 8pm GMT on Wednesday 20 October

Nice treat, eh? Well, what are you waiting for? :-)

Halloween Tag

I am not a big Halloween fan, I must admit, but when crafting, one gets into the swing of the season, whatever that season might be, and right now, it is Halloween!
So here's my creation for today, a Halloween tag - not sure about its usage, but it was fun making it and it is fit for a few challenges :-)

Simon Says Stamp - Halloween

Aud Sentiments - Halloween sentiment

Paper Romance - Halloween

Stamp Insanity - Trick or Treat

Tree House - Spooky colours

Fussy and Fancy - Halloween

Bee Crafty - Halloween

3D - fruit (are pumpkins a fruit or a vegetable? lol)

Aifactory - Embossing

Moving along with the times- Anything but a card

Fairy Fun Friday - Tickets or tags

CES - Create a tag

Inky Impressions - Anything goes

Ellephantastic - Anything goes

Black cardstock; Labels Nine from Nestabilities; Cuttlebug embossing folder; Luna Bitterfrost's Pollycrafts digital image, coloured with Letraset Promarkers and mounted on 3D pads; Hebbie Jeebie sentiment printed on orange cardstock; spiders handrawn with white pen; orange ribbon from my own stash.

Thanks for your comments!

Sketch and a few challenges

Hi there!
It's been over a week since I produced a card and posted on my blog - sorry, but life has been fairly busy and I hardly got a chance to read mail or comment on other blogs for days!
This morning I created a birthday card for my partner's niece, who will be 10 next week. Hope you like it.

I used FairyCakes' Little Musing digital image as a centrepiece, coloured with Letraset Promarkers, highlighted with Diamond Stickles and mounted on 3D pads; Nellie's die cut oval frame; circle and scalloped punch; Fiskars border punch; polka dot Cuttlebug embossing folder; the flower paper is Daisy and Dandelion; blue cardstock and ribbon from my own stash; the sentiment created in Word.

I would like this card to enter the following challenges:
Little Paper Shop - Sketch by Pam
Pink Elephant - Childhood
Sweet Stampin - Punch it out
Flutter by Wednesday - Fairy/angel
Stamps fun = Creativity - Embossing
Creative Inspirations - Birthday
Fab'n'Funky - Digital image
Incy Wincy - Sparkly glitter
A Spoon full of Sugar - Sparkle and shine
Paper Playtime - Ribbons, buttons or gems
Digital Tuesday - Ribbon, buttons or bling
Stamp, Scrap and Doodle - Anything goes
Glitterbabe - Glitter and Anything goes

Thanks for your comments!