Singing in the rain...

My Time to Craft had 'Under my umbrella!' as their challenge so I dug out this Woodware clear set that I have not used for ages. I painted the image with a combination of watercolour pencils and pearlised watercolours, taking my colour pallette from the free download papers from Papercraft Inspirations. The layout comes from Friday Sketchers and was great for this card- giving me the perfect opportunity to use the umbrella charm.

Karate Kid!

This card has been made using the sketch at Charisma Cards this week. Cupcake Craft asked us to use either digi papers or images- all the DP for this card are from the lovely free download 'A year to shine' by Summer Driggs. 'Teen Terrors' was the challenge at Cute Card Thursday- I thought this image by Sugar Nellie would work for a teenager and that the star could have silver peel off numbers in it if needed.

"While shepherds washed their socks by night!"...

...as children down the generations have found it hysterical to sing in place of the real words to this traditional hymn!

Allsorts challenged us to make a card inspired by the words of a Christmas carol this week. I had to have this Jolly Nation stamp when I saw it because having been a primary school teacher for 17 years I have fixed more than my fair share of tea towels to shepherds' heads! It was very simply made from some embossed gold Merry Christmas card from my stash and mats cut and embossed with the Labels 8 Nestabilities.

The image has been watercoloured with brushmarkers scribbled onto an acrylic block and painted on.

Having a week away...

Hello folks! Just thought I would put up a quick post to say that I won't be crafting this weekend because we have rented a cottage near Scarborough for half term. The weather so far has been quite showery but we didn't expect fabulous hot sun at the end of October! It is just good to have some family time away. If anyone knows any good craft shops in the area please leave a comment- I may not be crafting but I'm always on the look out for more stash!

My first Christmas card...

I was mulling over the challenges as I went to bed on Saturday night and before I got off to sleep I knew one thing and that was that I was going to dig out my Pink Cat Studio QT Hooty stamps in the morning! I did not set out to make a Christmas card- in fact I was thinking of using the 'get well' image! -but when I started looking for papers I was really drawn to these colours. They are a free download by Summertime Designs called Winter Gifts.
I could not resist using my new nesties- I had the ovals but have just bought the scalloped circles and ovals and the plain circles. I have less time to craft now that I'm working full time but more money to send off for goodies!
ABC have F for Flying as their challenge which is what set me off thinking about QT Hooty. Secret Crafter have 'Dig Deep'- to find an old stamp or image- I got this set for Christmas last year and have used some of the set, but not this image yet, and have not had them out for a while. Just Us Girls have Aqua, red and vintage cream as their colour combo this week. This was what got me searching for papers in my downloads and I loved the crisp look of this set. The DPs have been printed onto a shimmery pearly paper which has not come out in the photo at all and they look much less stark and white in real life!
Getting a photo of this card was a real problem. I finished it on Sunday night and it was too dull to take a picture before work so I ended up taking it to school and nipping outside my classroom to take the photo at lunchtime!

Not blogged in over a month!

I could not believe I have been AWOL for over a month now and not only have I not blogged but I have not been making cards either! There was one card, but I could not put it on my blog because it was a photo card which a colleague had asked me to make for her. Weekends are over in no time now that I am teaching full time and evenings are either taken up with work or I am too tired to make cards. I have resolved to be a better blogger from now on!
It seems ironic that the last card I posted was for my son's friend Jamie and so is this! When I bought this Elzy stamp I thought it may come in handy one day with having a boy (and it was on offer!) but I did not expect to be using it so soon. Jamie has broken his elbow and is in hospital at the moment waiting to find out if it can be set or if it needs operating on so Matthew wanted to send him get well wishes. They are both into playing 'army' at the moment so he chose these free download papers from Summer Driggs called Courage. I paper pieced the t-shirt, trousers and sling and painted the rest using brushmarkers. The Coredinations has been embossed with my new Christmas Stars folder and sanded.

The card is based on the sketch at Papertake Weekly, but I could not fit in the ribbon. Stamp Something have 'brown plus something' as their challenge, where you are allowed to use other colours but brown must be predominant. I have just discovered a new challenge blog called Just Us Girls and they have paper piecing as their challenge so I am entering this card as I have paper pieced his clothes. As these papers are a download I was able to re-scale the papers used for the piecing in Photoshop before printing which is great for getting small enough prints.

Skateboard birthday...

Some of you may have read in my recent posts that I have just changed from working 2 days a week to full time teaching. Because my son has just gone back to school he had a couple of party invitations with very little notice because they were early September birthdays. I managed to find a card in my stash for the first but did not have a card for the second so *Shock, Horror* I decided that we would just have to buy one from Morrisons- well, the choice was dire and I just could not do it!!! So out came my stuff and, after saying I would keep it very simple, I got carried away and was still at it at 11.45pm! Sorry the photo is a bit dark but I took it at about 7am so he could take the card with him to school today!

This card hits loads of challenges, which is a good thing due to my lack of crafting time right now! The layout is from the Spoon Full of Sugar sketch and it was a really nice one for these papers and this card. The papers are from Shabby Princess and are a free download so long as you are not using them to make cards to sell. These papers cover:-
Cupcake Craft- red, white and blue
My time to craft- polka dot party
Our Creative Corner- stars and stripes (with the die cut star from the red paper)
Stamp Something have 'Favourite Stamp' as their challenge- hard one because I love all my stamps but Jolly Nation are some of the first stamps I bought and I still keep coming back to them. I love the simplicity and how they just seem to look like people you know! (They also had an option of die cuts which I hit with the star.) The image is coloured with watercolour pencils and a brush. The ABC challenge this week was 'D is for Die Cuts' so that is the sizzlet star! Last but not least, Allsorts had 'Something for the boys' which I was fine with because having a son I do have the stamps and get lots of practice. I think I will need to build up my stash of boys cards again to avoid more midnight crafting!

Hope, Believe...

I made this card for one of my colleagues at school who is going through treatment for breast cancer. I found out just over a week ago and wanted to make her a card but was finding it hard to know what to make, so had not got started. Liz at Pink Petticoat has just posted this kit as a free download and it could not have been more perfect- thank you Liz and God bless you for giving this. Seeing my comment on the PP blog about not knowing what to make a kind blogger called Chris contacted me with a link to her fab card saying I was welcome to use it for inspiration. Do get over to see it if you can and I am going to try to get the stamp she used for a later card.

Most of this card was made from the PP kit. I glittered the large letters and raised them on foam pads. The ribbon background paper, 'newsprint' word paper and Believe sentiment have all been inked around with a pearlised pink Brilliance pad. I find grosgrain ribbon frays so I cut it then ran the ends through some glossy accents to seal it. I inked the flower a little and found the pearl brad in my stash. I have to confess this ribbon and flower 'o' was not my idea, but the way Liz designed the kit.

I followed the sketch at Friday Sketchers for this card. Charisma Cardz are asking for 'Swirls and Curls- with added hearts'. I think the ribbon designs can count as this and the Believe is dotted with a heart. I have also stamped 3 hearts on the back of the envelope and the same inside the card.

An award!

It was so lovely to check my blog while away visiting my parents in Wales to find that Sarah had kindly given me my first award! My mobile internet connection was dire so I decided to wait until I got home to post it on here. Thank you so much, Sarah- great to have a blogging friend who is also a teacher- making the most of those last seconds of holiday!

The terms of this particular award are:-

1. Make reference to award and publish it on your blog
2. Share 5 things you like to do
3. And share with 10 blogs
4. Inform each blog
   

I like to:-

1. Cover the dining room with my stuff and make cards- obviously!
2. Spend time with my son- soon to be in KS2- where did the time go?
3. Visit my parents who are nearer now than they were when I lived in London but still too far away.
4. Chat with my husband and son at the dinner table each day. [Yes, the craft stuff gets put away for every meal- Oh for a craft room!]
5. Get 'happy mail', of the crafting sort! [My list of shops in my favourites grows ever longer and my wishlist far exceeds my salary!]

I'm giving this award to:-

Summer at Summertime Designs for sharing her wonderful free digi scrapbooking kits which also print beautifully for cards.

And to the following blogs that I follow and who follow me for sharing their cards and taking the time to leave kind comments:-

Julia at {The PerkyPig Gets Creative!} .

Denise at The Crafty Den .

Debby at A scrapjourney.

Tara at Happily Ever Crafting.

Jan at LilyPuss Cards.

{ I know that's only six but I really have to get the tea on now so will have to leave it at that!}

Ruby fairy...

Well, my son and I have been in Wales for a couple of weeks visiting my folks and I can't believe how fast the summer holidays have gone! I am back at school on Tuesday and the Head has asked me to go full time in year 2 until one of our staff is able to return from illness. He has indicated that it may go on until Christmas. This will obviously have an impact on my 'work/life balance' but I hope to keep on posting cards, if not quite as frequently as before!

Allsorts had a tough challenge for me this week- no rubber stamping! Rubber stamping is what I do! However, back in July I was lucky enough to win the prize over at Stamp Something Challenges which was $10 worth of digital stamps from Fred She Said. I have never used digi stamps before so decided that this was the push I needed. Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge was 'flights of fancy- anything with wings' so I have used the Little Miss Bitty Fairy image.

As I said I'm a total novice with digi images and as I printed on an inkjet I was rather worried about the ink running when I coloured. I decided to paper piece the dress by also printing her onto this Pink Petticoat paper. I coloured her skin and hair with brushmarkers but the effect looked really flat so I braved watercolouring them onto her cheeks and hair for more shading. I was desperate to use my shimmering watercolours for her wings so went for it and was pleasantly surprised when I didn't ruin it! Any hints on colouring digital images or links to useful info would be very welcome!

In keeping with the challenge, the sentiment has been computer generated then cut out and embossed with my wonderful new Spellbinders ribbon tags dies.

The colour combo of 'ruby, cream and gold' comes from Colour Create. Great opportunity to use this sumptuous red cardstock which is coated and embossed with swirls and circles along with this lovely matt gold and hammered cream- all from the local Pay-per-box. I used a few scraps of the printed paper and gold to decorate the inside.

Mummy-to-be card...

I'm really not sure if I like this card! It has taken quite a while coming together. I printed the front papers when I saw Colour Create's combo of pink, orange and green. They are a free download called 'Happy Mothers' Day' by Summertime Designs. But they have been sitting around for over a week because I was helping out at our Church Holiday club last week and, although we all had a fantastic time, I was too tired to craft in the evenings!

The design started to come together when I saw Friday Sketchers challenge. There were lots of curves which made me think of this Elzybells stamp, which I have had for ages but just not got around to inking up yet! I decided to follow this sketch and round the front of the card which meant I needed to go back to my DP and print a paper for the inside as it would show. About a week ago I persuaded my husband to answer loads of the things I wanted to do with Photoshop but couldn't and he even showed me some things I hadn't thought of! Refering back to my notes, I was able to lighten the pink by altering the opacity and overlay the flowers at the bottom and top corner before printing- I even impressed myself!

I had been thinking about Stamp Something's challenge to use a charm on your card- I don't have any charms! I decided to have a go at making one, so used a little bootie stamp from a Woodware clear set to stamp on shrink plastic. I used a hole punch to make the hole before cutting them out. I knew they were going to end up tiny because they were pretty small before I started but also because I checked them with my shrink plastic ruler (see end of post). They were so small that my heat gun kept blowing them away so I ended up heating them in a ramekin dish to keep them in one place! They are suspended from the mulberry flower by a fine silver thread as I do not have any jewellery making stuff.

Shrink Plastic Ruler.

I don't claim this as my own idea but can not remember where I heard it! Take an off cut of shrink plastic and, using a permanent pen, draw on a line with a ruler and mark off and number each centimeter. Shrink the 'ruler' and use it to give a guide of how small your shrinkies will end up. For example- Measure your stamp in cm. then find the same size on your 'ruler' to get an idea of their final size when shrunk. Sorry for the blurry photo but this is seriously small!

Cricketing Birthday card...

I needed a card for my cousin's son's birthday which is next week so decided to follow the Sketch Saturday sketch. I used the little cricketing teddy from Personal Impressions Clear sets as he is cricket mad. I coloured him with watercolour pencils, keeping the colours quite plain and matching the brown to the line in the argyle paper.

The design papers are all from a free download set called 'Fathers and fedoras' by Summertime Designs. Even the 'ribbons' are from there! I finished each one with a brad for boyish embellishment! I used a peal off for the greeting because I wanted it to stand out on the navy, unfortunately the 13 gets a bit lost on the patterned paper.

I decorated the inside simply with another piece of printed ribbon, a couple of die cut stars and a pocket to hold some money

Alter Something- Matthew's Photo Tin.

Stampin' For the weekend have 'Alter Something' as their challenge for this week. I have been intending to do something with these cigar tins for ages. My husband gave up smoking over seven years ago, just after our son was born, but just before he did he got into these tiny cigars and I have a stack of tins in the cellar. I even bought a can of spray paint for them over a year ago!

So here's what I did. I have never scrapbooked but thought I might try one of these hangings. To display some of my favourite photos of my son.
The pictures are all matted onto various papers printed from Summertime Designs free download 'Fathers and Fedoras'. I was able to size the papers before printing to scale down the designs for these 8cm by 7cm panels. Everything in sight has had the corners rounded off! The stars and hearts decorating the inside of the lid and base have been cut from the same papers with a Sizzlits die.

I wanted a little embellishment on most of the pictures so I have used either some silver shaped brads or some tiny white brads.

The back of each panel is decorated with a letter cut from the design papers and a few tiny peel off stars to add silver detail but not bulk. I don't have large alphabet dies or a Cricut so I printed out the papers, then used an old program I have to take a font from my computer and just give it a very fine outline, then put the papers back through my printer to give me the letters which I then cut out.

Strawberry Cutie...

Cute Card Thursday have 'Let's get Fruity!' as their theme this week. I knew I didn't have any fruity stamps so I went to my paper downloads and found this lovely freebie which I got from Papercraft Inspirations which sparked loads of ideas. (This same set helped me out ages ago when Cute Card Thursday had bright citrus colours as a theme and I made this card.)

I loved the colours, scallops and dots so I decided to base my card on these. My scallop scissors have never seen so much use! The little girl is Jolly Nation and has been coloured with brushmarkers- it would have been so much easier to do the dots red but I tried both out on a test stamp and this looked so much better that I knew I had to go for it! The flower and leaves are cut from felt using my Sizzix and echo the flowers in the paper and on her hat.

Making this reminded me so much of when I was a little girl. My parents loved strawberries and we used to go to a fruit farm in Lydiate right from the start of the season when they just had a few punnets on sale from the back porch of the house. When the season started properly they sold the strawberries from an ancient stone barn with a really low doorway. No matter how warm it was outside it always felt cool in there.

A Harry Potter birthday card...

I bought this Woodware 'Wizardry' clear set ages ago, it was something I really wanted at the time but when I got it I just was not inspired about how to use it! We went to see The Half-Blood Prince at the weekend and it got me thinking about this set!

Stampin' for the Weekend have masking as their challenge and I decided to try masking this set to make a scene. I used the Post-it note method which took a bit of thinking about! You have to stamp the foreground first then cover them with masks cut from stamped post-it notes to stamp objects behind. So I stamped and masked the cauldron and the yellow bottle, then stamped the other two bottles behind. Finally I added the wand and stamped the owl on a scrap to cut out. It has all been watercoloured with brushmarkers. The outside sentiment came from the same set and the inside one was a clear stamp I had made from a Potter type font.

The layout comes from the Pink Elephant sketch and was a nice clean one to work with. The papers are another of the fantastic free downloads from Summertime Designs. They come from the Happy Halloween set and I put them with Burgundy cardstock to give Gryffindor colours! The inside is actually a label design which is part of the download and just needed sizing, printing, stamping and cutting out!

Hello

Cupcake Craft have 'green, pink and brown' as their colours and 'animals and flowers' as a theme. I took a look at all the free download kits I have been getting from Summertime Designs and chose these fab papers from her Angel Mother set which include all these colours and flowers. The little dog image is Elzybells and is coloured with prismas and sansodor. The photo does not pick it up but the nose and the little caterpillar have been picked out with glossy accents.

I made the felt flowers with a Sizzix Originals die and some felt from the market- bargain! Chrisma Cardz have 'Tag it!' as their challenge so the greeting has been stamped onto a tiny tag, also cut with my Sizzix.

I followed the lovely sketch at Spoon Full of Sugar. I hope it was ok to take a few liberties with it- I used an oval because it fitted my stamp better and grouped the 3 flowers.

I am going to send this card to my lovely friend Helen with some new home images she needs inside so I made a simple pocket to hold them in the post. When I printed my papers I forgot to put in my special paper so it started printing on out cheapy standard stuff- much pressing of 'cancel' and a few naughty words later I had a little strip of paper which came in handy for decorating the inside!

Inspired by some fab free download papers!

I don't remember where I found the link to this fabulous blog, sorry, but you have to have a look at these fabulous free downloads by Summer Driggs at Summertime Designs, they are just gorgeous and she has provided them all free for personal use- Thank you for sharing these fantastic designs Summer.

I have downloaded lots of sets but was particularly drawn to this Limeade set because they are colours that I would not normally use but look fantastic together on these papers. Now I am no IT expert and my husband gets sick of sorting out things related to cardmaking! But where there's a will there's a way, so I set about trying to work out how to size the quilt paper perfectly for the front of the card- I used Photoshop and changed the image size to 14.5cm and printed! I have to admit I was quite pleased with myself and can just hear him saying 'see you can do it if you just have a go'!

I decided to follow Secret Crafter's Saturday Challenge recipe which was: 3 buttons, 2 design papers and 1 ribbon. I knew I had this black spotty grosgrain ribbon in my stash which was perfect but I thought I would struggle to find suitable buttons. Could not believe my luck when I came across these fab buttons in just the perfect colour in a sample pack from an old goodie bag! I decided to stitch them on because I did not want to see any glue with them being see through- don't tell the family, you can wait an age to have a button sewn on in this house normally!

I used black as a card base so needed to line the inside to give me somewhere to write. I had used 2 design papers on the front so I used a piece of pearlised white paper and stamped the edges to create a border.

Yellow and black- not colours I often put together!

Papertake Weekly have a take-your-pick colour combi as their challenge this week. I have been looking at the colour choices for a few days now and then it suddenly struck me- I made this card a couple of weeks ago to thank the man who has run a Multi-skills club at my son's school but not posted it before! It did not fit any challenges at the time and I was beginning to wonder if it ever would! I am entering this because it is YELLOW and BLACK.

I painted the Jolly Nation football boy with brushmarkers using the colours of the school PE kit, adding the school logo to the top! He is 3D over a chalked background, mounted with some textured yellow and some mirri embossed with stars. I then stamped some more yellow with the 'You're a star!' sentiment and the two stars from the Playtime clear stamp set from Woodware. The sentiment is from my ever-trusty Elzybells clear greetings.

Butterfly wings- and a pigeon!

I love this paper so much, and had printed off more than I needed for my last card, so I decided to use it again today. The paper is a free download from Raspberry Road and as Stamp Something had 'bugs, butterflies and other winged somethings' as their theme I started with the gorgeous butterfly paper. The image is a Gorjuss Girl from Sugar Nellie and I think you can just tell from the picture that she is cut out and popped on 3D foam, with her hands and the bird stuck flat.

I rotated the 'X on a sketch' layout from ABC and put it together, using mainly offcuts from the last card along with some ribbon and jewels from my stash.

It is a lovely sunny day here so I took this out to take the photograph. I use a mini tripod and the timer setting on my camera to avoid camera shake, however, a breeze got up as I had set the timer and my first photo was of the easel only!

Another 'Dancing Maggie' card!

After making Mary's retirement card I could not help myself from using this lovely Sugar Nellie stamp again! While finding the papers for my last card I also printed these out. They are a free download from Raspberry Road Designs and are great for this stamp because most sets include at least one tartan!

Pink Elephant have red, light blue and darker blue as their challenge this week and I am entering this even though my red is rather orangey! Hope I'm still allowed!

Cupcake Craft Challenges have 'blossoms and butterflies' as their theme. The large butterfly is cut from some of the paper I printed out and I can't believe the camera has actually picked up the sparkle I added with a stardust pen! The tiny flowers and the butterflies inside are made with punches. It has been a feature of my cards for a while now that I add a little stamped element to the back of my envelope if I have anything suitable. I was having a clear plate made up a while ago so I added lots of tiny stamps taken from dings to fill in any spaces- waste not want not! This butterfly is one of those.

I followed the sketch on Friday Sketchers for this card, drawing around a side plate for my circle!

Stampin' for the Weekend had some song titles for inspiration this week. I chose 'Tangled up in Blue' for this card because it fits nicely with my colour scheme.

This card is now on its way to my dear friend Helen who I've known since college and had to leave in Kent when we moved to Yorkshire. Happy Birthday Helen! Hope it gets there on time!

Scottish dancing retirement card.

I have been at the school where I work part time for four years now and it will be all-change next year because two of the three teachers that I work with are retiring. When I saw this stamp I had to have it for Mary's card- even though she has lived in Huddersfield for years now she is still a strong Scot and enjoys Scottish dancing which we had great fun trying to teach the children once! The place won't be the same without her.

I have never played along with The Sugar Bowl challenge before because I have only just bought my first four Sugar Nellies, but I have been dying to get the chance because I have been really busy with school stuff since I got them! I finished school on Wednesday with being part time so was able to have my first real crafting session in ages and this is what I made from the sketch with the 'please include' of ribbons and/or bows.

The design papers are all from a free download by Raspberry Road Designs. I paper pieced the kilt then coloured the rest of her with brushmarkers. The sentiment is made from my favourite Elzybells clear set which covers so many occasions!

A card for my Husband.

I am such a last minute merchant sometimes. The only reason I am able to post this card is because I photographed it after I gave it to him this morning! I have been making other cards since I last put one on here too, but they were all for immediate posting or they would have been late! I will try to make similar ones to put up over the next couple of weeks as I was quite pleased with them.

The light blue leather effect cardstock has been stamped with a fish and the sentiment from a CDs set using Versamark to give the tone on tone effect. Love that sentiment- it was why I bought the set! I also sponged darker blue ink around this layer and the oval mat.
The image is Personal Impressions clear and is coloured with Prismas and Sansodor. I had a bit of trouble with the Stazon smudging into the colours when I used the Sansodor which, I think, was caused by the card I stamped on- Any ideas?
The stamp already had some stitching detail on the pockets so I carried this on with faux stitching so I am entering this into Cute Card Thursday as their theme is 'A stitch in time'.
I followed Papertake Weekly's sketch so am making a very late entry into this challenge also!

Told you I was a last minute merchant!!!

Can I pick your brains ?!!

Can you recommend a UK supplier of custom clear stamps from your own designs?

A couple of years ago I got some custom clear stamps made by a company in Scotland and have been really pleased with them. Sadly my 'Handmade by Tillymint' has become damaged as it has been heavily used- on every card I make! When I went back to the company's website tonight they had stopped trading, so I was wondering if any of you could recommend a company that makes clear stamps to your own designs in the UK? Please leave me a comment if you can help.

Thank you.

Something Yummy!

Charisma Cards have 'something yummy' as their theme so it gave me the perfect excuse to use this great Elzy stamp and Papermania's Scrumptious paper together. I followed a sketch from Friday Sketchers which was perfect for this wide, rather than tall, stamp. This card is 'A' style, by mishap not design!!! I realised I must have rotated it before sticking on the papers, luckily only once so the sketch still works. Now it's done I'm really pleased with it as it really suits the card and it's ages since I've done one like this!

Cute Card Thursday have 'quotations' as their theme. I'm not sure if this counts as it is not attributed to anyone but I like the message so I will enter it and see.

Two 'Pirate Monkey' birthday cards.

Another of my new Sugar Nellies. Love this little chap but had a few false starts colouring him for the first time. I started with my Prismas and Sansodor but there was only black in my 24 set and it came out a bit too dark. Went on to watercolour pencils but the grey I had was rather too bluey, so that would not do either! Finally I used my Whispers brushmarkers and washed on the diluted black with a paintbrush then added the darker shading. I was aiming for the sort of look 'Me to You' bears have and I'm fairly happy with what I ended up with eventually!

Both cards are made with free download papers from Raspberry Road Designs from their 'My Baby Love' boy and girl collections. They have a lovely knitted or textile look which is just what I wanted. I doodled the faux stitching around the image and added the buttons to finish off the whole textile look.

Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge has the theme of 'In the Jungle'. They want to see animals found in the jungle on our cards- a monkey is perfect for this, but he probably wouldn't need his jumper!

I'm back- with a 'sorry' card!

Sorry to have been away from blogging for so long! After my nightmare week I took my son to Wales for half term to stay with Mum and Dad. We had a lovely time, even though the weather was quite changeable and ate far too many ice creams. On getting back I had about a week of being so tired- just about enough energy to crash in front of the TV, but not to craft. When I got my energy back I had to face writing my reports. Because I work part-time it isn't a full set, but nevertheless it still hangs over me until it is done. I finished them on Tuesday and handed them in on Wednesday so I was determined that I would reward myself with a craft day today!I have a confession to make- I missed my cousin's daughter's birthday by absolutely loads; somehow I didn't transfer it to my new calender and only realised when I saw it on Mum's! I was already badly late with it so I thought it would be better to wait until I had time to make a special card rather than run out and buy one.

I had treated myself to some papers when ArtyMiss had a free postage weekend and had also finally got myself some Sugar Nellies so I decided to use my new stash. I followed Colour Create's blush pink,lilac and mossy green colour scheme for this card which worked perfectly for this K and Company paper. They had 'die cuts' as their extra option so I used my large sizzix originals scallop envelope to make a double sentiment- 'sorry' on the flap and 'belated birthday wishes' on the hidden card, using my ever versatile Elzybells clear sentiments set. Embarrassed and grovelling? YES! I embossed everything except the flap with my paisley folder and used a Brilliance pad to pick this up and for the front sentiment.

I am going to send some money in this card so I created a pocket inside using some card from my stash, decorative scissors, a white gel pen and a TINY sliver of paper which I had left from the front! Finally, I punched out a few flowers for the other side. (I want to hand write the message so I wanted to leave it fairly uncluttered.) Dutch Dare have 'decorate the inside of your card' as their theme so I am entering this card.

Edited to add: Oh dear- just went to post this on Dutch Dare and realised I had looked at last week's challenge- DOH!

Sorry no cards yet.....It's been a rubbish week and it's only Wednesday!

Just thought I would post to say that I'm still here and ok but I haven't made any cards because I'm having a rubbish week!

First my bank called on Sunday morning to check some transactions and the last two weren't me so my card had been cloned and had to be cancelled. I was really glad they spotted it so quickly and contacted me as it could have been much worse, but it is such a hassle not having a card as it is my only one. I had to go into town on Monday with my passport for ID to get some cash to see me through and have still not had my replacement card.

When I came out of work today I noticed that someone had hit the back of my car, scratching the bumper behind the back wheel. It probably didn't happen today as I would like to think my collegues would have owned up. It was probably last night outside my house or at the supermarket yesterday. So annoying to just find that and for nobody to have owned up- probably too small to go to the insurance but I don't want to just leave it so will have to pay for it myself. My car isn't anything fancy or new (except for the floral decoration I have added!)but I love it and like it to look smart. Much to the amusement of my neighbours, I wash it by hand!


On a less serious note I was teaching in a reception class yesterday and when I went to put on my trousers this morning I had green Play-doh dried onto the bum- Lovely!!


And while I'm having a moan this weather is driving me bonkers! Lovely sun- so we let our halltime go to a class that needed to rehearse their assembly and took the two year 2 classes out for PE, 10 minutes later it is bucketing down with rain and we have to dash in, only for the sun to come out again about 10 minutes later. It chucked it down again just as we were coming in again at the end but was dry by the time they had changed!

Anyway, I feel better now I have got these moans off my chest! Hopefully my new card will come tomorrow, my car won't cost too much to put right and I will get my Mojo back soon!
Thanks for listening!!!!

Giants Rugby League card.

Well I said in my last post that I needed to get a few cards in Giants colours done so while I was on a roll I got straight on to it! Huddersfield is the birthplace of Rugby League and it is pretty huge around here- I have even been to a few games myself and, while I don't claim to know what was going on, I really enjoyed it!


This rugby man from Jolly Nation is great with his pint of beer! I have used a combination of watercolouring with my brushpens and using them direct to get nice strong colours like the famous Claret and Gold kit! He is cut out and attached with 3D foam onto the chalked background. I am entering this card for Cupcake Craft's 'Card for a man or boy' challenge. I am also entering it for Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge which requires the use of brads or eyelets- there are 2 little brads on each sentiment strip.