A few more challenges

Two posts in one day?! :-)
The following challenges are about spring: Charisma cardz, Fun 2 stamp and Crafty Cardmakers; these are about flowers:  Quirky crafts and Stamptacular Sunday challenge, while this weeks Everything but the Kitchen Sink challenge is about string. Oh, and Stampavie and More are doing friendship (thanks for the tip, Lisa!). And here's my card which enters all the abovementioned challenges. Hope you like it.

Flower stamp by LittleClaireDesigns; sentiment stamp from Dimension Fourth; coloured with Letraset Promarkers; the die cut is a Nellie's multiframe; cardstock, paper, string and ribbon from my stash.

40th Birthday cards and Stamp Something challenge

I was commissioned to make not one, but two! 40th birthday cards in the space of a week. While the design, look and colours for one of them were clear in my head (the client had given me even a photo to include, etc), I had no idea how to tackle the other card. So I left it for a bit, only to remember about the card the evening it needed to be delivered! So unlike me! Anyway, here are the two cards - and I am glad to say that both customers were delighted, even if one card was delivered at the very last minute!

This weeks challenge over on Stamp Something is Doodle Something - and since there are doodles in one of my cards, I might as well enter the challenge! :-)

London and Birmingham

I have been re-discovering London recently. What an amazing city London is! So much to see, to do, to eat :-) This time it was a very short escape, 48 hours really, but it is was worth the trip. The weather was fairly mild and the city was buzzing with great atmosphere; I enjoyed myself very much.

And after London, to Birmingham for 24 hours of pure craft indulgence! The Hobbycrafts fair was on in the NEC (well, still is until tomorrow 28th afternoon). I won't bore you with details of what I did and purchased, but here's just one photo of the ribbon I got - nice, uh? ;-)

What a lovely lady...

My generous friend Wendy posted the digital image of an elegant lady as a freebie a few weeks ago - what a beautiful stamp, she is so talented! Today I finally got around to finish my little card, here it is - open and closed.

The paper is from one of Laura Ashley collections; silver organza ribbon; scalloped oval Nestabilites; coloured with Letraset Promarkers; flower from Papermania; Anita's 3D embossing fluid.

Leave me a comment if you visit! Thanks

Lack of posts

Well, I am away for a few days and won't be blogging or checking comments. I will as soon as I get back :-)

It's a Bird-day card

My card today enters two challenges:
Daring Cardmakers - Tweetie Pie
Stamp Something - Distressed something

The paper (distressed) is from a scrapbook collection from Ikea; X-Cut border punch; circle Nestabilities; button from my stash; sentiment stamp from Hero Arts.
Thanks for visiting my blog!

Easter easel card

So this card I made last week seems suitable for a few challenges.

Let's see:

Paper Sundaes - Easter/Spring Card

Stamping for the Weekend - Easter

Spoon full of Sugar - Easter

Totally Gurjuss - ribbon

Pile it on - pastel colours

Daisy Doodles - artist choice

Wow! I am shocked I can enter so many challenges with just one card!Let's see if I get lucky ;-)
The cute digital image is from Piece and Joy. Thanks!

Vintage Album

I am nearly finished with this album which celebrates the life of my late father. It has been quite an emotional journey for me and has taken me a good few months to finally put it together.
One of the few embellishments I used was lace, so I am entering the album in the My Time To Craft challenge of this week. I will post pictures of the album once it is completely finished.

Summer Dress

As I have probably mentioned before, I am trying to get back to sewing and other crafts I learnt as a child. This is a summer dress, the pattern for which I found on the internet a while back - check it out here (thank you, Amy Finlayson).
It is easy to make and with this colourful fabric from Ikea I think it is ideal for a little girl to wear on a hot summer day. Initially I was not sure about the reds and pinks and oranges and stripes, but I like how it turned out - do you find it too colourful? I am planning another 3 of this to make as presents - nieces, friends' daughters, etc. But since summer is not quite here yet :-( I reckon I still have plenty of time to finish them all :-)

Go mbeannaí Dia duit!

  Happy St Patrick's Day!

Over on Simon Says Stamp they have a new challenge for this week- A splash of green.
The cute image in this card is from Dustin Pike; coloured with Letraset Promarkers; stickles, Embossing fluid.

3 in 1

The card I created today fits 3 challenges:
Sketch and Stash - sketch # 31
Creative Inspirations - Male card, challenge 29
The Secret Crafter - Anything Goes!
All the papers used are scraps from old projects; Footballer rubber stamp by Papermania; football, goal and sentiment stamps from the Daisy and Dandelion collection (Onion Plays Footie)

All Sorts challenge

Guess what? Talented Lisa Jane (check her blog for beautiful creations!) has just told me that this week's All Sort challenge is Pink, Black and White! What a coincidence, just like the colours in my Kool Tent card I created today!

So I will use my post from earlier today to enter the All Sorts challenge. Thanks for the tip Lisa! :-) x

Here's a closeup of the card, see my earlier post for details on it.

Kool Tent card

Last week I didn't get a chance to make a tent card and enter the Just Magnolia challenge, so I was left with the wish to try and create one. And then I found this cool image from Pollycraft on Friday, and so wanted to use it! [Cards for teenagers are hard to create, in my experience - after male cards, of course; teens do not want to be seen as kids, they are not adults either; have their own style and fashion, they are independent... I was delighted to come across this digital image of a teen girl, looking cool yet sweet and feminine. It is a gorgeous stamp - thanks Paula!]

So today I decided to leave other challanges aside and concentrate on these two items in my To Do list. In the end I incorporated both in one card. Hope you like it. Rather than having the image "hanging" in the tent, I opted to use acetate. The sentiment stamps are from G Studio, the image was a freebie from Pollycraft from last week; coloured with Letraset Promarkers; circle Nestabilities, heart punch, scalloped circle punch, badge from a local accessories shop; not sure about the paper :-).

PS. By the way, Tales from Pollycraft are having a DT call: As a DT member we would like you to create samples for the shop gallery, and fortnightly for the challenge (we are having 2 teams doing alternate weeks for the challenge). Sounds good!!

To all the mothers out there...

...who work hard to keep the family going, who unconditionally love their children - Happy Mother's Day!
xox

My Time to Craft + Delightful Sketches + Fun with Shapes challenges

Today's card fits 3 challenges:

My time to craft - Kidz Kardz

Delightful sketches - Kids

Fun with Shapes and More - Happy Birthday

Stamp by Swiss Pixies (Liesel and her wheelbarrow); coloured with Letraset Promarkers; Fiskars border punch; Nestabilities Labels.

Thanks for your comments!

Stampavie challenge

For today I have selected a card with orange to enter the Stampavie and more challenge of this week. (I am afraid the photo is not great, sorry.)

This is an old card, I made it last spring to thank a very generous couple who looked after me and my family over a weekend; used Spellbinders - Nestabilities scalloped ovals and Shapeabilities Nested Bird; Cuttlebug embossing folders and Ornamental Die cut.

I hadn't realised how much orange I had been using lately in my crafts until I had a browse around my photo folders... interesting, never thought of me as an "orange" sort of girl :-)

Thanks for your comments

Mojo Monday + Stamp with Fun challenges

This is my entry for two of this week's challenges:

Mojo Monday - sketch 129

and

Stamp with Fun - challenge 49, Spring

I am in love with these papers from K&Company; the beautiful flower pot stamp is from Fred She Said; coloured with Letraset Promarkers.

Shoulder bag

Over the last year I have been practising with small sewing projects, trying to improve my sewing skills in order to be able to incorporate fabric in my designs. Last October I found a beautiful pattern for a shoulder bag and decided to give my rusty sewing skills a go. I learnt to sew as a child, but hadn't touched a needle or a machine for years. My sewing skills are still far from great now, but I must admit that this was a fairly straight forward pattern, lovely to work with, and I am delighted with the result.
Now, I only need good weather to go with the flowery bag! :-)
Let me know what you think.

Bag pattern and design by Elizabeth Hartman from http://www.ohfransson.com/

Flag card

This card was created for a 60th birthday request. I wanted to come up with an elegant, sophisticated design, and equally distinguished colours and look, so I was delighted to find in my stash gorgeous purple cardstock, lilac vellum and glittered papers from K&Company (Pad's Life) which I got from Joann's a few months ago.

With regards the design - Just a few weeks ago I was teaching some fellow crafters how to make a Flag album and only last week I came across this card by the talented Paula Pascual. A flag card! (well, not sure how Paula calls it, this is what I would call it anyway). I love flag albums {I am nearly finished with my third one actually :-)}, and I simply adored the idea of using a similar design to create a card. So I decided to give it a go and I came up with this card, using flag albums and Paula's card as inspiration. Hope you like it.

ABC Challenge

The challenge this week/fortnight is P is for Paper Piecing - and here's my card, using Honey And Hugs clear stamps from Papermania, Inkadinkado sentiments, Olive Essence and Citrus Designer papers also from Papermania, ribbon from Michaels, Anita's 3d Clear embossing liquid.

Stampavie + The Pink Elephant Challenges

For the next challenge, Stampavie and more, I want to show you this spring theme card: the digital image and sentiment were a freebie from Pollycrafts a couple of weeks ago.

And since there is a touch of green in my card, I decided to also enter the Pink Elephant Challenge with this same card.
Coloured with Letraset Promarkers; Sweet Treat ribbon; Papermania Citrus Design paper.

Simon Says Stamp + All Sorts Challenge

Mother's Day is around the corner and many blogs are chosing this theme as a challenge this week.

Simon Says Stamp: Mother's Day/Girly card

and

All Sorts Challenge: make a card/ gift for Mothers Day or for someone who is like a mum to you.

For my entry I used a cute digital stamp by Sarah Kay that I got from this site. It is such a motherly image, don't you think?

Coloured with Letraset Promarkers; used different pieces of cardstock (orange, beige, turquoise), Versamark, Pebbles Inc Earth Tones chalks, background stamps by Rhonna Ferrer, Inkadinkado and Hero Arts, buttons from my own stash.

Everything but the Kitchen Sink challenge

This was a different challenge organised by EBTKS- You are welcome to use fabric scraps you have, but we'd also love for you to think of fabric you have around the house.

So I checked my fabric drawer and found a small piece of this beautiful heavy floral fabric I used last year to make a handbag and a strip of silky green. I thought they worked well together with the sentiment (which I got from a stamp swap); brads from craftworkscards.com. Hope you like my entry

Mojo Monday Challenge

This is my entry for the Mojo Monday Challenge (128).

Both stamps are Inkadinkado (Classic Favourites); different tones of own cardstock, paper and vellum, all from leftovers; newspaper distressed with two different purple shades of ink; Cuttlebug embossing folders and Nestabilities; gems, Stickles.

2 Sketches 4 Y challenge

2 Sketches 4 Y is doing challenge 47 this week.
The deadline is Saturday March 6th. The card is based off the sketch provided and can be of any theme. The winning card will be announced as the Card of the Week on Sunday, March 7th. International Cardmakers are welcome to enter.
And here's my entry:

the digi stamp is from Pink Petticoat; the sentiments from Papermania Clear stamps; Offray ribbon; Blazing Red Staz On; own cardstock; Nestabilities, Stickles and Letraset Promarkers.

Colouring

I bought some more Letraset Promarkers at the weekend... could not resist the Lime Green, the Amethyst, the Denim Blue... such beautiful colours!

Magnolia challenge

Well, there has to be a first - and this is my first time entering the Just Magnolia challenge; since I rencently made a few birthday cards using the lovely Magnolia stamps, I thought it was the perfect opportunity to go for it!

You can see more of my cards using Magnolia stamps here.