I've been dying to try these..

I have been dying to try these Suffolk Puff flowers for ages and I finally got around to it- Love them!!

The fabric is a pack of quilters 'fat quarters' which gave me a lovely selection of colours to go at. They were cut out with a nestie, which went through 2 layers without a problem but 3 layers did not cut the last properly! I then hand stitched a smallish running stitch around the circle and left them flat until needed. When I was ready to make this card I gathered them up and tied off the threads. I had ordered some slightly larger buttons- but as they are coming from Shanghi they aren't here yet- so I was careful to make sure the small buttons covered the gathers when I sewed them on.

I am on a mission to use all the images that I have printed, to fill up the page, but not used so I chose this trendy Cherry Kisses girl by Pollycraft and coloured her to match the papers from a digi-scrap blogtrain called 'April Fool'. The ribbon was saved for me by my son- who knows better than to throw away anything that could have a crafty use- it was on a valentines chocolate lolly and has Thorntons printed on the back of it!

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges:-

• Papertake- anything goes
• Simon says- anything birthday
• Little red wagon- stitch it up (hand stitched Suffolk Puff flowers)
• CRAFT- use buttons
• Fairy fun- photo inspiration (I took girly and purple)
• One stop- celebrations
• Totally Gorjuss- sketch
• Make it Monday- linky party

More baby cards...

Well it has been a few weeks since I last posted because I have been in hospital for an operation and am just beginning to feel up to sitting at the computer. I made these cards at the same time as the last two I posted and, like before, I decided the image would work for boy and girl versions. The image is from Bugaboo and the sentiment was a freebie from Create with TLC. The papers are all by Pink Petticoat.

I would like to enter these cards in the following challenges:

• Totally Papercrafts- Things with wings
• Prairie Fairy- anything goes
• Paper Sundaes- anything goes
• Stamptacular- anything goes
• Here come the boys- cards for tiddly peeps
• Make it Monday- always anything goes

I'm hoping to feel up to making a card or two this week so should be back later in the week with more to show you.

Oops- a 'belated' card...

Trying to keep up with posting my cards in challenges again. This one is made with a Sugar Nellie rubber stamp called 'Blossom' and coloured with my Promarkers. The sentiment is from Elzybells. All the papers are from a digiscrap freebie by Shabby Princess called 'Festival'. As you can see it is an easel card.

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges:

• Allsorts- say it with flowers
• Cupcake- Going dotty
• Hooked on Crafts- more than one fold
• Make it Monday- anything goes

I'm still here!...

I have been such a bad blogger lately that you must have thought I had given  up completely!

I have been making a few cards lately but I have not been entering any challenges so I decided that today was the day to get back into it! I would like to enter this card in 2 challenges: Totally Papercrafts- my favourite things and Paper Sundaes- Feminine flair. I love these papers by Summer Driggs called 'A little spring in your step'- I have used them so much! I also love Pollycraft images, using up tiny scraps to make embellishments with dies (the flowers and corner) and finally Card Candi because they avoid having to hide the 'legs' of brads!
I am also loving cupcakes! I seem to be on a baking binge at the moment and keep making them- and eating them :-)

Good Luck...

Continuing with my mission to add to my stash, I used a couple more MelonHeadz images to make these two Good Luck cards.
The girl's one is made with freebie papers from Summer Driggs called 'Happy mother's day'. I ran the plain pink through the Daisy Pattern Cuttlebug folder.

The boy's one uses papers from the Stuff to Scrap 'French Tulips' blogtrain. I kept it really simple and bright.

I would like to enter these cards in the following challenges:

• Totally Papercrafts- one for the boys
• Totally Gorjuss- cards for men/ boys
• Paper Cutz- anything goes

Get Well...

I have been trying to make a few cards for my stash lately and decided to use these cute girl and boy images from MelonHeadz to make a couple of get well cards.
The girl's card is made with freebie papers from Summer Driggs called 'A little spring in your step'. I made the little corner using two Sizzlet dies. I love using dies to make my own embellishments but it does encourage me to keep ever more minute pieces of card!

The boy's card is made with digi-scrap papers by Christy at Stuff to Scrap called 'Play Ball'. I ran the plain paper through the Christmas Stars Cuttlebug folder, but otherwise kept the design quite simple.

I would like to enter these cards in the following challenges:

• Charisma- It's in the stars (boy card)
• Cute card Thursday- Going round in circles (girl card)
• Totally Papercrafts- girly girls (girl card!)
• Allsorts- free and easy
• Totally Gorjuss- cards for men/ boys (boy card!)

At last! You're going to need your sunglasses for this one...

I started working on bits of this card last Sunday but have only just been able to finish it! The layout is taken from the great sketch at Sketch Saturday but I have moved the panel to the bottom. Both One Stop Craft and Totally Gorjuss have 'summertime' as their theme and I just loved this image of the children playing in the sprinkler by MelonHeadz. The sentiment was a freebie from TLC and the bright papers come from the digiscrap kit that Rainamoon Scraps added to the Stuff to Scrap 'Bouncing Beachballs' bloghop.

The colours fitted perfectly with the picture at Cupcake Inspirations this week.
Finally I would like to make this my last entry in Allsorts free and easy challenge.

'Hippy' Birthday...

I love Cherry Kisses by Pollycraft and when I saw that the rainbow on her top matched so perfectly with the gorgeous rainbow paper from the 'A little spring in your step' set which is a freebie from Summer Driggs I had to have her! The flowers are die cut with a Joy Craft die and the centers are Card Candi.

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges:

• Allsorts- Free and easy
• Little Red Wagon- lime, pink and white
• Simon says- anything goes

Pollycraft DT call...

I have been waiting for the sun to come out so I can get a brighter picture but I think this is the best I'm going to get today!
Paula at Pollycraft is having a DT call and has been generous enough to provide 2 freebies for us to choose from to make a card to enter. I love Sonny Honeycloud so I just had to use her.She has been coloured with Promarkers, cut out and mounted on 3D pads. I am loving these digi papers from Shabby Princess at the moment- they are a freebie called 'Festival' and they just scream summer to me! The calico background for my image is also one of the papers as I did not want anything too stark and white. The sentiment was a freebie from Scrap-a licious Times, again printed onto the DP. The flower in the middle was coloured with my Promarkers to match the papers and the pearl brad and tiny pearls are from my stash. finished off with a couple of die cut swirls.
I am very fond of Pollycraft images so have them as a label if you want to see any more cards made with them. If you click on any of the pictures they will open up larger.

I would also like to enter this card in the following challenges:

• Papertake Weekly- here comes the sun!
• I love Promarkers- anything goes
• Totally Papercrafts- spots and stripes

Girly Girl...

I used the 'Felicity Homegirl' image from Pollycraft for this card and took my colours from the gorgeous freebie papers by Summertime Designs called 'A Little Spring in your Step'. The sentiment was computer generated. The faux stitching was hand doodled.

The flower has been die cut from felt with a Sizzix Bigz die called Daisies. I thought it really mirrored the shape of the flowers on the pannel when layered up like this.





I would like to enter this card in the following challenges:

• Stamp something- Punched or die cut
• Totally Gorjuss- flower power
• Paper Sundaes- girly girl

Cards for the Cubs and Beavers...

I haven't posted much over the last week or so, partly because we have been away to Wales to visit my folks over the half term holiday and partly because I haven't had time for other crafting because I have been busy with this little lot!

Beaver cards for boys. (The youngest group in the Scouting organisation.)

Beaver girl's cards.

Cub boy's cards.

Cub girl's cards.

Matthew's group are planning on going on an amazing trip to Switzerland in 2013, when he will be a Scout, and his group have to raise lots of funds to susidise this so I made these cards for them to sell. I used the Lily and Billy dress up sets of rubber stamps from Pink Cat Studio, which meant lots of cutting and piecing as the clothes come as separate images for you to mix and match and they are tiny! Here is one of the Beaver cards for girls in more detail:

I used papers from the Stuff to Scrap blogtrain 'Spring Picnic' for the Beavers as the colours are lovely and sunny and the blue is a perfect match for the Beaver's sweatshirts.

The Cubs have dark green sweatshirts so they were harder to find papers for but eventually I settled on these papers by Shery K Designs which are from three colour matched paper sets. I think they work because they are a lighter tone of the green and are in sort of outdoorsy woodland colours which work well for them because they are always off camping!

I hope they like them and that they help raise some money for the trip. I also hope that Melissa from Pink Cat Studio conciders my e-mail suggestion of making a digi of these images which would certainly help with any future sets if they go well!

Update: I delivered the cards to the Cub group tonight and the leaders were thrilled with them.
Melissa from Pink cat has been amazing and has sent me digis of Lily and Billy as Scouts- Thank you so much Melissa- hugs!

I would like to enter these cards in the following challenges:

• Stamp Man- boys and men (the 10 boys cards!)
• Sentimental Sunday- it has to be the extended scouts version of the Fast Food Rockers 'Fast Food song' that they sing at campfires at Bradley Woods Scout Camp with extra made up verses including the rather cheeky one about Brownies and Guides- you have to be there! It is so funny!
• Corrosive- Summer colours (the Beavers cards)
• Scrappy Frog- birthdays (most of these are birthday)
• Drunken Stampers- birthdays
• Paper crafting journey- anything goes
• Samuel Taylors- males (the 10 boy cards!)

Rainy days...

These 'Sonny Honeycloud' images from Pollycraft are so trendy! She is quite detailed so was rather fiddly to colour- but I like colouring so that was ok. The papers are a freebie from Shabby Princess called 'Sweet Sprinkles'. I recently 'rediscovered' this set, after going through a phase of using it loads a little while ago! The flowers are die cut with a Joy craft die and the swirl is a Marianne die.

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges:

• Charisma- under the weather
• Papertake Weekly- punches or die cuts
• Passion for Promarkers- for a teenager

A pink, polka dot Easter card !...

I wasn't going to use this paper set again as I have made 2 other cards with it lately, but then I saw that Cupcake Craft have 'pink polka dots' as their challenge- so what could I do?!

The papers are from a digi set called 'Think Pink' by Just so Scrappy and I do love them so! The layout is from the great sketch at Sketch Saturday this week. This sketch had quite a few layers so I would also like to enter my card for Do You Stack Up's challenge of 'layers'. I confess to buying the digi stamp from Bugaboo especially for this card, but I'm sure I will use it plenty more times. Catch the Bug have 'scallops' as their challenge so I took this opportunity to use one of the scalloped card cutting dies I bought from Go Kreate a little while back to cut the card base, a Nellies die for the image and a Nestie for the sentiment. I finished off with a piece of organza ribbon from my stash and some card candy.

I finally made a tealight box card...

I first saw one of these on Sarah's blog- Rainmac's Place- and I thought it was just beautiful. She included a link to the tutorial she had followed so I immediately bookmarked it and I have finally made my first one.

As you can see, it is a square card with a spine and a box inside that holds 4 tealights.

I started off by trying the instructions out on some scrap card and I was glad I did because I only had a Crafter's Companion Top Score board which is great for all sorts of standard card sizes but I was having to measure, mark and line up on one of the scoring lines for each fold and the box just didn't turn out crisp enough and it was too large so the candles moved about. I decided to invest in a board with measurements on as I would like to have a go at more of this sort of thing. I have now got a Hougie Board which is 12 by 12 and double sided, with half centimeter apart lines on one side and half inch apart lines on the other. It was great and as it has such fine lines I was able to make the box fit the candles perfectly.

For the front I used a sweet little mouse by Meljen's coloured with promarkers and added the dot and dash border with a gel pen to frame it and to link with the dots and squiggles used on the image. I am so in love with these digi papers by Just so Scrappy called 'Think Pink' at the moment.

 I used my Tattered Florals die by Tim Holtz for Sizzix to cut out the smallest flower twice. One from Core'dinations and one from the check DP. I scrunched each petal up a bit with my nails and lightly sanded the Core'dinations before putting it together with a card candy center and die cut leaves. I recently tried to bring some order to my ribbon by sorting it into tubs of the same colours so it was easy to find the lovely organza ribbon. Here are a couple more photos of the inside.

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:-

• Little Red Wagon- animals
• Paper Cutz- spring
• Allsorts- make your own flowers
• One Stop Crafts- spring flowers
• Crafty Emma's- flowers and flutterbys

A girly karate card...

I was making some male karate cards for a friend a few weeks ago and I stamped a few extra images from this cute Elzybell stamp (now closed down). As I was colouring them I thought they could work just as well for a girl as a boy and there are loads of girls doing karate so here it is! I followed the sketch at Sketch Saturday but simplified it slightly. Spoon Full of Sugar have 'Birthday wishes' as their challenge. I Love Promarkers have 'stitching- real or faux' - I started off with just the stitching around the image but then added it to the layers because I think it helps to unify them and adds some more black. Charisma have 'black, white and one other' and Totally Gorjuss have 'black plus one'.

Baby girl card...

A few weeks ago I was making a baby boy card so I made the girl sentiment too and printed it at the same time, now I have finally got around to making it up. The lovely doily mat is a Nellies die which my son got me for my birthday after spotting me looking at it on Ebay! The papers are all from my stash and the die cut stars and 'baby' are Sizzlett dies.

I would like to enter this card for the following challenges:

• Totally Papercrafts- clean and simple
• Crafty Emma's- cute and cuddly
• Challenge up your life- monochrome

Bugaboo birthday challenges- day 2

Well, I have done it!! I have taken part in all the Bugaboo birthday celebrations- I have followed the blog hop leaving comments, taken part in the weekly challenge and entered all 5 of the daily mini challenges. Here's keeping my fingers crossed for one of the many fantastic prizes they have on offer! xxx

This card is a little late because I had to wait until today to make it. There is a freebie image that had to be used so I couldn't work ahead  over the weekend and had to wait until I was off work today! The image is a Bugaboo freebie from the Catch the Bug blog to be used for the Tuesday challenge of 'Add some bling!'. It is hard to pick out on the photo but there are tiny gems in each of the flowers on the image then the larger ones in the die cut flower embellishments. I have used promarkers for the face and hair but painted the rest of the image with pearlised paints for extra bling- hard to see in the photo, I know. The papers are from a digi-scrap blog hop from ages ago called 'Summer Surprises'.

I would also like to enter this card for:

• Cute Card Thursday- 1,2,3 (I have used 1 image, 2 design papers and 3 flower embellishments)
• Do it with digis- pink and girly

A girly card for a change!...

I love making girly cards but as I have limited crafting time and more boys and men's cards to make I don't always get the chance to do it. The image is a trendy young girl by Pollycraft called 'Codi Stylin'' who has been coloured with Promarkers to match the digi scrapping papers that I downloaded from a blogtrain called 'Morning solitude' ages ago. The large flower was a real bargain from a large, cheap bunch which I bought at Wilkinsons and dismantled!
I had one of those 'AARGH' moments making this card! - I had just attached the backing paper with double sided tape when I realised that I still needed to put the brad for the flower through! I'm really fussy and could not bear having to cover the brad inside so had to flatten it on the flower then attach it with glue gel- saved!!

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges:

• One Stop Craft- for a child (I can see this for a 9 or 10 year old girl)
• Pollycraft- new things or those that you have had a while but not used (I got this lovely digi stamp quite a while ago but this is the first time I have used it)

Rock Chick...

This is my second card using the sketch from Sketch Saturday and it could not be more different to my first! I rotated and slightly rearranged some elements but the bits are basically the same; the other, however, was soft and natural whereas this is bright but grungy.

Still lovin' my digis- this one is called 'Whatever!' from Pollycraft and I even worked out how to paper piece it by setting up two A4 sheets on Photoshop and running it twice through my inkjet (don't do this with a laser printer). This was mainly out of necessity because of my lack of the right colour promarkers but I love the effect- although it was rather fiddly! Just had to put the pink streaks in the fringe although the shade of pink is bugging me already! I usually make felt flowers with my Sizzix originals dies but thought I would give this coloured mirri a go today. The hearts are also die cut with a Sizzlet die then I put the tiny gems on each. Allsorts have paper piecing as their challenge this week so I am entering this.

Under the sea...

Now I have that song from Little Mermaid on the brain!

More playing with digi images- this time the lovely Emma the Mermaid from Fred She Said. I won this ages ago but, sadly, my smudging problems meant that I couldn't use her. No more, though, now I have the new laser printer!
The papers are a wonderful digi scrapping kit that I collected called 'To the sea' by Mommy Me Time Scrapper; re-sized and arranged for printing on Photoshop. ABC challenge have 'mainly blue' and Totally Gorjuss have 'aqua- the colour or watery theme'. The layout comes from Sketch Saturday but instead of covering up that lovely sanddollar strip with anything I made tiny starfish with a sizzlet die and dotted them with a white gel pen before putting them in the corners. What mermaid would be complete without a shiny tail? So I painted iridescent glitter glue over it- My Time to Craft have 'Glitter and Glitz'.