Love these little mice!..

Well I still haven't managed to make a new card since my operation- the intention is there but by the time I start thinking about it I feel too tired to do it! Instead I thought I would share a card I made before but had not posted.
I followed a favourite layout using this lovely little Meljens mouse image (I love these mice so much!) and some digi-scrap papers by Scraps n Pieces called 'Ouch!'. I used a Nellies die for the scalloped square and some Joy Craft dies to make the flowers which I finished off with some Candi centers.

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

• Paper Sundaes- Let's get cute
• Make it Monday- Always anything goes
• Passion for Promarkers- die cuts
• Simon says- anything goes
• My Mum's Craft Shop- the great outdoors
• Cute Card Thurs-  animal magic
• CRAFT- animals

Baby cards...

My card stash was rather low on baby cards so I decided to make these in boy and girl versions. The gingham is by Pink Petticoat and the cute little baby image is from Melonheadz. I have used a few dies on this card: the word 'baby' is a Sizzlet, the doily circle is a Nellies die and the bunting is from MTF die-namics.

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

• My Mum's Craft Shop- Let's get digital
• Cute card Thursday- Anything goes
• Paper Play- spring colours (I think the yellow and blue of the boy card are spring like)
• Dutch Dare- cute and cuddly
• Stampin' for the weekend- anything goes

Cards For Men challenge 10- For someone special...

Time for our new challenge at Cards for Men, this time we would like to see a male card for someone special.

The DT were lucky enough to be given images by our sponsor, Digital Delights. You don't get more special than a new baby so I decided to use 'little dumpling' for my card.
I used a very soft colour scheme with yellowy cream and powder blue. The papers were a freebie download from Raspberry Road that I have had for ages. I picked up on the stitching detail from the bib and booties in the image and used a gel pen to border all the edges to give the design more definition as it is all so pastel.
The image has been mounted on 2 mats cut with a Nellies die and offset to give a lacy border.
The sentiment is a freebie, which can be found here. They come as PNG files so I was able to print it onto some of the DP using Photoshop. I cut the ribbon shape freehand and added a button.

Digital Delights  are offering 3 digi stamps of your choice for our lucky winner.
The rest of the DT have done an amazing job with their cards so please pop over to Cards for Men and take a look at all the inspiration.
The challenge runs until 23rd May so you have plenty of time to join in.

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

• Stamp something- use a digi
• Stampavie and more- baby
• Crafty Catz- quote or sentiment

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.

Dotty with a cupcake...

Dotty comes from a series of digis at Bugaboo and has been coloured with Promarkers. The papers are from a digi scrapping kit called Hot Cocoa by Growing Pains Scrapped. The pearls were from a lovely little surprise in my birthday card from my Cards for Men DT buddy Sarah- thanks hun, they are fab! I even got out some decorative scissors for the edge of the brown mat and a corner punch that I have had for ages for the image.

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

• Stamptacular Sunday- lovin' from the oven (food)
• Truly Scrumptious- Swirls and pearls
• Do you stack up?- dots
• Colour Create- Chocolate, strawberries and cream (more pinky than red but I hope it still counts!)

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

Blue for a boy...

Bugaboo stamps are running one day challenges all this week as part of their birthday celebrations and I'm going to try to enter them all. Today it is 'blue and white'- I know that could be for lots of things but it said baby boy to me.

I used Bugaboo's Cupie Baby stamp and made the circular greeting to fit around it. He is coloured with Promarkers. The papers are something I have had in my stash for ages and the mat has been cut with a Nellie's die. The word 'baby' and the little stars are cut with a Sizzlett die.

I would also like to enter this card for:

• Passion for Promarkers- baby card
• Paper Play- cutie patootie
• Totally Gorjuss- cuddly

An 'Ethel' card...

For those who were wondering about the title of this post, this card has been made with stamps from the Murray and Ethel sets,which are a fabulously funny but also gentle set of stamps featuring 'seniors'. The papers are all from the 'Owl always love spring' digi set from Summertime Designs- but I used the ones without owls!

I reduced the size of one of the papers to paper piece her dress so it had a floral print then picked out colours from this for her accessories. I wanted them to look really bright and clashing but as they match the papers I'm not sure that came off! The flowers were white and coloured with promarkers to match the papers and I finally have some small foliage in the form of a Marrianne Designs die which came with 2 flower dies.
I just love the sentiment! Here it is in more detail:

I'm entering this for Crafty Emma's 'floral frenzy' challenge and Lexi's Creations 'flower power'. Cowgirl Sunday have 'anything goes'. Our Daily Bread have 'buttons, brads or eyelets' and I have used some brads I've had for ages as my flower centers.

Boy's birthday card...

This is for my husband's business partner's son who is 5 next week. It is ages since I last used these clear stamps from Woodware, they were among the first I bought, but they are so cute for this age group! I followed the sketch at Sketch Saturday and the theme of 'for a child or baby' at Allsorts. I had been admiring some computer generated circular sentiments on Donna's blog so I emailed to ask if she could tell me how she did them- turns out she did a tutorial ages ago so she sent me a link. I was on a different version of Word but figured it out and here is my first go.

Fancy 'Curtsy'...

This card is for a friend from church. I chose this Sugar Nellie stamp because I think these images are rather trendy and quirky which is perfect for Jolene.  I have never used my promarkers to colour dark skin before and found my colours lacking so had to take a trip to the art supplies shop for more pens! I based my colours on this gorgeous, richly patterned digi paper which was a free download from Summertime Designs and paired it with some core'dinations which I sanded lightly for that slightly worn look. The flowers were white and I coloured them to match the papers with my promarkers.
Sorry about the picture, I left it too late in the day to photograph this and the picture has come out rather dark but, as usual, I was being a last minute merchant and needed to give it last night!
I followed the sketch at Friday Sketchers and overcame the 'where to put the sentiment' issue by making yet another easel card! Stamp Something have 'something flowery' as their challenge and I'm entering this because the papers are so flowery, the paisley embossing has flowers in it and because of the flower embelishments.

My first easel card...

...I know I'm miles behind everyone else to try this one but now I have I can see me making more!I have recently joined a housegroup at church and we were sharing out roles- one was to remember birthdays and get a card and cake so I volunteered! This is for Rachel as she mentioned getting some new plants for her garden at our last meeting.

It fits in with lots of challenges:

I have followed the great sketch at One Stop Craft. The colour combo of 'green + one' comes from My Time To Craft, my plus one is pink. The theme at Spoon Full of Sugar was 'springtime' and the papers I have used are called 'Sweet Springtime', also I think the little flower hints at the start of spring. The papers also fit with 'something old that's new' at OCC because I downloaded them from Summertime Designs months ago and have only just used them. The card is easel style which makes it multifold- the challenge at Secret Crafter. Finally, the ribbon is Pink Elephant's challenge and the brads fit with Cute Card Thursday's 'metal mania'.

Two Valentines for the men in my life...

...don't get excited! I mean my husband and my son!

This cheeky little number is for my husband. I thought I might be pushing it with the image AND the sentiment but it made him laugh when he opened it this morning! You see he is rather 'cuddly' and this Murray and Ethel image reminded me of him- in the nicest possible way! I love that Murray and Ethel sentiment too. We have always said "Do you love me?" and replied "I'm still here, aren't I!" so you get the picture of what we are like! The papers are a free (for personal use) download from Shabby Princess.This is for my son so it had to be boyish rather than the traditional Valentines colours. I found the right papers in a recent download which was a free collaboration called Dr Love from Collies Corner and Sweet Digi Scraps. 'Billy' images from Pink Cat Studio are perfect for him right now and this set has mini stamps for the center of the heart- I chose 'Hug me' because I love hugs from him and dread the day when he decides he is too big for them!

Not surprisingly, quite a few of the challenges have Valentines as their theme this week so I am entering these cards for My Time to Craft, Cute Card Thursday and Dutch Dare. Charisma Cardz has 'male' as their theme so I am also entering them both for this.

Goodbye Beavers, Hello Cubs...

Now my son has turned 8 he is leaving Beavers to move on to Cubs so I wanted to make a card to thank the leaders.

The papers I have used were a download which I got for free from Growing pains Scrapped (I think they are now available to buy from Stuff to Scrap). The collection is called 'Dogs and Frogs' and was great for this card because it uses the turquoise of the Beavers uniform and the green of the Cubs.

I have to confess that I bought the stamp set especially for this card- but it is full of elements that I know I will use for lots of other cards! It is called 'Dress up Billy' from Pink Cat Studio and has a Billy figure and lots of elements to paper piece to create lots of outfits- rather like paper dress up dolls when I was a girl!

I used the sketch from Sketch Saturday for this card. I use Adobe Photoshop to resize and crop the papers before printing so was able to size the squared paper so I could cut the corners from it. I tore the edge of the coredinations cardstock to fit with the boyish, grunge look of the papers.

I added a little necker in the colours of his lodge to the back of the envelope to finish it off.