Newborn card and Album

Hi there
I finished this commissioned job last night: a card and an album for a cute newborn (the photo has been blurred a bit for privacy reasons).
I played with cream, blue and olive green colours in both the card and throughout the album (the album has 12 pages, which have been decorated with punches and stamps and have room for the parents to include photos of their new baby). The die cut frame is Frameabilities Spellbinders; Circle and Scalloped cricle from Nestabilities; alpha stamps from StudioG and the baby's details were created in Word; the digital giraffe image was coloured with Letraset Promarkers.

I would like to enter my project onto the following challenges:
Creative Belli Blog - Numbers
Lexi's Creations - Picture perfect
Pear Tree Designs - Celebration
Create with Connie and Mary - Anything but a card (my project consists of a card AND and an album, so I hope that's OK)

Thanks for your comments!

First batch of Christmas cards 2010

Some of you may have all Christmas cards for this year made and ready to be posted, but I don't ever seem to get started with them until October or November the earliest. So given my record, this year I am doing pretty well! I guess I know I will be busy in a few weeks time and need to get going :-)
I don't receive many orders for Christmas cards to be honest, I think people tend to buy them in bulk at very cheap prices, especially in the last few years with the recession, so it is not usually a busy season for me card wise. As a family, we usually send about 50 or 60 cards to friends and then I make another 10, very special ones, for the closest relatives. I tried to design 5 or 6 different sets every year and keep them as CAS as possible, while the family ones are usually bigger, more ellaborate and often have a photo.
So this is my first (small, I know, but hey, it's a start!) batch of CAS Christmas cards, which will go to friends.

I used dark green cardstock, which I embossed with the Snowflakes Cuttlebug folder; the candy image is digital but I do not have the name of the designer, apologies; coloured with Letraset Promarkers, layered with 3D pads and highlighted with embossing fluid and Stickles; the sentiment stamp is Stampingbella, and the pretty holly ribbon is from Craftyribbons.com, bought during my visit to the Crafts Fair in the NEC in Birmingham last year.

I would like to enter my Christmas cards onto the following challenges:
Sentimental Sundays - Dimension
Craft Your Passion - Clean and simple
Squigglefly - Favourite embellishment (ribbons for me, thanks!)
Christmas Stampin - Photo inspiration
Stampin'B's - paper piercing
All sorts - Plain and Simple
One Stop Craft - Snowflakes in September
Scrap and Stamp - Embossing
Stamp Insanity - Embossing
Charisma Cardz - Anything goes
Incy Wincy Designs - Anything goes

Thanks for passing by!

Delicate lilac card

Good morning! It's been a busy week and didn't get much time to post. I am hoping to catch up with a few bits today, so let's start with posting one of the cards I made recently.
For this order (a birthday card for an elderly lady), I wanted to give a delicate look, so I chose the beautiful Geranium from LittleClaire stamps. The light purple and lilac colours, together with the use of chalks in the background give a soft feel to the card.

I coloured the image with Letraset Promarkers; Manuscript Background stamp by Hero Arts, one of my favourite, stamped with Versamark and coloured with lilac chalk; Fiskars punch; oval Nestabilities; I believe the sentiment is from Docrafts.

My card enters:

Cute card Thursday - sketch 131

Sisterhood of Crafters - Birthdays

A spoon full of Sugar - Anything goes

Charisma cards - Anything goes

Tuesday Taggers - Anything goes

Aifactory - Anything goes

Have a fabulous weekend!

Funky birthday card

Here's the second part of yesterdays order - a much funkier birthday card, with a much younger feel to it.

I wanted to play with vibrant colours, and I really (over)did it?! But I like the result. In fact, I liked it so much that when I received another order for another birthday card from another client this morning I decided to follow a similar formula, use the same stamp and finish the paper I had left from the previous card! :-)

The sketch is slightly different, but the image in both cards is the Born to Shop from Docrafts and coloured with Letraset Promarkers; I remember printing the backing paper but I don't remember where I got it from; I also used Nestabilities, circle punch; red and orange ribbons and  green cardstock from my own stash; the sentiments were created in Word for one card and from Inkadinkado in the other. 

I would like to enter my card(s) into the following challenges:

Stampotique - Birthday

Totally Papercrafts - Happy Birthday

Sarah Hurley - Polka dots and circles

Inktegrity - Anything goes

Have a nice weekend!

Easel birthday card

Last night my neighbour and her mum asked me to make a couple of cards for them, a last minute job since they needed the cards for this evening (but I kind of like challenges, it pushes my limits and usually gets the best out of me :-))

Both cards were to be for the same lady, a relative of theirs who is turning 40, but mother and daughter wanted different styles. The mother preferred a more classic look and a more intimate message. And here's the result, from the mother to her cousin.

(Since this easel card is bigger than your average square card, I had to make the envelope too. I chose green cardstock which matches with the paper and contrasts with the pink that dominates the card.)
The beautiful butterflies paper is from the Summer Bloom collection, Docrafts; I also added small punched butterflies; Dahlia Nestabilites; Nellie's oval die; pink gems, ribbon, flower and button from my own stash; the sentiments were created and printed in Word.

I would like my easel card to enter:
Everybody-art-challenge: Other cardform
Crafts and Me - Easels
Flutter by Wednesday - Buttons and Butterflies
Cute Card Thursday - bird or Butterfly
Our Creative Corner - Fun with Folds

It's been a busy day craft-wise, so I am off to read and bed with a cuppa soon. I will try and post the second birthday card of this order (the funky one :-)) tomorrow.

Good night!

Purple

Good morning
I received a request for a birthday card last night, so I started working on it straight away... and for some reason I found myself rummaging through purple - purple papers, purple ribbons... :-)
Here is the result, a girlie and soft square card, sort of vintage looking, all very purple!!

The vintage image is from Digital Two, coloured with Letraset Promarkers; the beautiful purple paper is from the Capsule Collection, by Tina Higgins, Papermania; Lilac and purple cardstock; Nellie's multi frame; Fiskars corner punch; lilac ribbon from my own stash; I am afraid I can't remember where I got the sentiment from.

Some challenges:
Stampin for the weekend - Shabby/vintage
Your next stamp challenge - Anything goes
Die Cut Dreams - Sweet Little girl
Daisy Doodles - Keep it simple
Paper Romance - Clean and Simple
Tellens Place - Anything goes
Gingerloft - Anything goes

Leave me a comment if you are passing by!

Glittery Cupcakes

Here's todays card (which has been commissioned): a CAS birthday card for a Spanish girl.

The stripe backing paper is a leftover from my stash, as it is the pink cardstock; the digital image is from Little Musing, coloured with Letraset Promarkers; Xmas Red, Diamond and Platinum Stickles; Polka dots Cuttlebug embossing folder; Label Nestabilities; pink gems; the sentiment was created in Word.

I would like to enter it into the following challenges:
My time to craft - Jewelled
Passion for Promarkers - Sweet treats
Stamp Something - Spots and Stripes

Crafts and Me - Gems and sparkle
Cutie Stampers - Glitter
Crafts your days away - girlie and glittery
Aly's Sunday - Sparkly and glittery
Fab'n'Funky - Whateva!

Happy Sunday!

Little Snippets

Look what the postman delivered this morning!!!

Aren't they the most beautiful embellishments?

Geraldine over on LittleSnippets was offering blog candy a few weeks ago and I won 2nd prize! So thanks a million Ger for the beautiful snippets! I am already thinking how I am going to use them! ;-)

Little Knight

This card is for my friend's son. I purchased the SugarNellie stamp last winter in Birmigham but the poor thing never saw the light until last night, I guess it was difficult to find the right "environment" for the brave little knight. But yesterday I remembered about this castle entrance by Dustin Pike and it seemed perfect for a young boy's birthday card.

I would like to enter my card into the following challenges:
PaperPlay time - Castles, knights and damsels in distress
3D cards - Children and layers
Stamp something - Cute
Challenge up your Life - Celebrations
Little Paper Shop - Clean and simple

Knight stamp by Sugar Nellie; digital Castle entrance by Dustin Pike, all coloured with Letraset Promakers and layered in 3d foam pads; sentiment created in Word, coloured with chalks and distressed.

Recipe box

With the credit crunch I try to hand make as many gifts as possible. It's not always an option because sometimes you know the recipient is the type of person who does not appreciate handmade gifts, but for all those who I believe do appreciate them, I try making the present and save myself a few quit at the same time :-)
For my friend's birthday I made this card the other day, but I wasn't sure if I was going to have the time to hand make a present too. Last night I could not sleep and got thinking about a tutorial I came across a few days ago for a recipe box; since my friend is a great cook a recipe box seemed like the ideal handmade gift for her. So I got started this morning and this is the result:

For measurements and instructions on how to make this recipe box, see Just Give Me Stamps Blog. Laurie Shmidlin is very talented and the tutorial is very easy to follow. I had some interruptions so I can't tell you how long it really took me from beginning to end, but the box itself is only a matter of minutes. It takes, as usual, much longer to decorate it: finding matching papers, ribbon, punches, images, etc. :-)

I used 270msg red and white cardstock for the box; the paper is from DCWV, Spring Stack; the images are all digital from Clipart and coloured with Letraset Promarkers; alpha stamps are Gstudio; ribbon from my own stash; Circle, Oval and Scalloped Nestabilities; scallop scissors; Red Versamagic ink.

I would like to enter my recipe box to the following challenges:
Digital Tuesday - Gift Set
Double Dutch: I choose Challenge #41, Box it up
Ooh-la-la Creations: Stripes
Creative Friday - Monochrome + sketch
CowGirls Sunday Stamp'en - Anything goes
Timbroscrapmania - Free theme

Thanks for your comments, have a nice week!

Colour Throwdown + A Spoon Full of Sugar challenges

Good Friday morning!
My birthday card for today's post (another commissioned one) enters a couple of challenges that are on this week and which I found interesting:
A Spoon Full of Sugar are inviting you to follow Paola's sketch, while Color Throwdown's 108 challenge is about using kraft, saffron and chololate chip colours.
See my take on these two challenges below; do you like my card?

I would also like to enter my card in:
Fab'n'Funky - Living in a material world (I used ribbon and corrugated/recycled cardstock)
Cute Card Thursday - Material girl (materials as above)
Alphabet - S for scallops

The cute elephant digital image featured in the card is from Bugaboo stamps, coloured with Letraset Promarkers. All cardstock and ribbon from my own stash; Card candy Chocolate drops; Cuttlebug embossing folder; Oval and Scalloped Nestabilities; corner punch; Studio G alphabet stamp set for the sentiment.

Thanks for your comments! Have a nice weekend!