The simplest of toys...

I love this image of the little boy with his net from Pollycraft, it reminds me of one of my favourite photos of my son rockpooling in Wales on a holiday when he was little.
The papers are from a freebie digi set called 'extraordinary' but I'm afraid I can't remember who designed them, sorry. I ran the plain blue through the Cuttlebug Christmas stars embossing folder. The sentiment was a freebie from Scrap-a-licious and I found just the perfect button in my stash :-)

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

• Here come the boys- boys toys
• Corrosive- they say it's your birthday
• DYSY?- 4 legged friends

Bright bear...

Wow, managed to get a bit of bright sunshine to photograph this card before the sky turned grey and it threw it down!
I was really inspired to follow the sketch on Sketch Saturday- such great shapes! My papers are from a digi-scrap blogtrain from STS called 'Bicycle Blues' and my image is by Bugaboo. He is coloured with promarkers and his nose is glazed. The sentiment is from Sentiments4you and I ran it through the printer twice to have it on some of the plain DP. The stars have been cut with a sizzlet die. A few Candi to finish.

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

• Papertake- Cute
• Dutch Dare- birthday fun
• Totally Papercrafts- no pesky girls!
• Allsorts- for a man or boy
• CES- anything goes
• Craft your days away- all creatures great and small
• Pink Ele- polka dots and stripes

I'm addicted to checks...

It's official, I am addicted to checked papers! Yesterday's card had checked papers, as does this and another I made but haven't blogged yet- and when I was looking back through my photos of cards there are alot of others too!
Continuing with my mission to use printed but uncoloured images up- I chose this Stella image from Bugaboo from my box to make this card. I cut her out with a nestie that I must use more often and drew around it on Core'dinations for a neat mat. The papers are from a digi-scrap kit called Apple Pickin' and I coloured Stella to match with my Promarkers. The flower was cut with a Sizzix Originals die using paper I printed from the kit for a perfect match and the little swirls are cut from a Marianne D swirl using the Core'dinations. The sentiment reads- The more candles, the bigger the wish. It was a freebie from Bluebirdflats and I coloured the tiny candles to match the card. A few Candi to finish.

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

• Simon says- anything birthday
• Dutch dare- spring has sprung
• One stop- celebrations
• Secret crafter- sketch
• Catch the bug- anything goes
• Make it Monday- linky party

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

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

Cards for Men challenge 20...

Well the last 2 weeks seemed to fly by! Our puppy, Bryn, is still keeping us really busy- especially when he got a upset stomach from eating clematis leaves in the garden! Sorry I didn't get around to visiting our entries until yesterday, but better late than never! For our new challenge at Cards for Men we are looking for your men or boy's cards on a Sport theme, so that should be a nice easy one!

My cousin is a mad, keen Liverpool fan so this is the card I made for him. I used the footballer from the Papermania 'Man's World' clear set, coloured with my Promarkers. The word stamp in the background is a wood mounted one from Funstamps. I have overstamped the red card with some mini football images but they don't really show up on the photo. Finally I used a personalised sentiment which I made on the computer and 3 tiny die cut stars.

Our sponsor is Peachy Keen Stamps. Check out the Cards for Men blog for details of the prize and to see the great cards made by the rest of the DT.


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

• I love Promarkers- include a number
• Southern Girls- anything goes
• Fairy Tale Challenge- sports
• Annabelle stamps- for a man
• Our Creative Corner- Numbers!

Cards for Men challenge 18 and a freebie sentiment...

Well, here we are, almost at the end of August. This time at Cards for Men we have 'G is for...' as our challenge. This one had me thinking to start with, but I eventually thought of green, grey, golf, Grandad, gnome, gardening and the one I finally used- guitar!

I dug out a wood mounted rubber stamp from Jolly Nation that I haven't used for ages for this one! Jolly Nation was my first stamping addiction, but not my last! My son plays electric guitar so I bought this to make a card for him. I coloured him with my Promarkers.
The papers were a freebie download  from No Reimer Reason called 'Americana'. I carried on the star theme by die cutting a star to mount the button on.
I made the sentiment myself and used a PNG file this time which allowed me to print it directly onto the paper. If you would like it, please help yourself!

We are sponsored by Letraset for this challenge and you know how I love my Promarkers! Pop over to the Cards for Men site for details of the prize and to see the rest of the fabulous DT cards. You have until 11th September to play along.



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

• Totally Gorjuss- Anything goes
• Challenge Up Your Life- For a man

Smile! and a freebie sentiment...

I am loving Maurice from Pollycraft at the moment! I coloured him with my promarkers and did a 'dotty' ground for him. I haven't made a sentiment for a while so I decided to make my own sentiment to go with this image- although I think it could work with other images as well- I'm thinking Bugaboo's Gus?! I have made this one as a PNG so it has a transparent background which makes it easier to put DP under it. If you can use it, please help yourself- enjoy!

The papers are from a digiscrap set called 'Snips, Snails, Puppy Tails' by Scrappin' Serenity and a few Card Candi to finish off.

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

• Make it Monday- always anything goes
• Make it Colourful- ground your image

You're going to need your sunglasses!...

I'm really hoping my brother-in-law doesn't look at my blog as his birthday isn't until Friday! This card may need some explanation for those who are not as old as me or not in the UK!

 This is Brian the snail from Magic Roundabout. I checked with my husband that he doesn't mind the nickname and that it isn't one of those things that brothers call eachother because they know it annoys the other one! He said It wasn't so I went ahead and made the card.

The image is from MelonHeadz and it had been decoupaged to add dimension. The bright papers are from the Stuff to Scrap blogtrain 'Bouncing Beachballs'. I made the sentiment myself. I followed the sketch at Cupcake Craft for the layout and added faux stitching to all the edges to highlight the layout and mirror the border of the sentiment.

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

• Pink Elephant- stitching, real or faux
• Spoon Full of Sugar- Happy Birthday

G is for gardener...

I dug out some of my wood mounted rubber stamps today- I'm sorry to say I hardly ever do that nowadays. I wanted this gardener image by Jolly Nation for My Time to Craft's 'G is for..' challenge and another stamp for a card that I can't show you yet!
I used digiscrap papers by Scrapping Sisters called 'one year older' and decided to make a center stepper card. The little pot is part of the image but as I cut them out I decided to use it as a separate element. I made the 'plant label' sentiment from some textured cardstock from my stash. I rounded the top corners with a small corner rounder punch abd cut the other end to a point. I stamped the sentiment then darkened the edges a little with some chalk.

I would also like to enter this card in:

• Stamptacular Sunday- Fancy folds
• Anything goes- Birthday/celebration
• Oldie but a goodie- great outdoors

More Meljen's mice!...

Don't say I didn't warn you about these cute little mice! There are quite a few of them in my box just waiting to pop onto cards!
The image is another of the super-cute Meljen's mice. (I have been on the Whimsey Stamps website looking for more!) The papers are from the Blogtrain Blog's August train. The sentiment is from Scrap-a-licious Times and the flower which embellishes it was a white one which I coloured with my Promarkers.

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

• Spoon Full of sugar- Happy Birthday
• Totally Gorjuss- Round and round

Deja vu?...

...not quite! If you pop by regularly you may think you saw this card yesterday. When I was printing out the papers for yesterday's card I ran them off twice, as I love the design and this layout so much. Today I decided to make it up again with a different image and slight change to the layout.

The image is from Pollycraft and I thought it went perfectly with these papers from the 'French Tulips' bloghop from Stuff to Scrap. The sentiment was a freebie from Scrapalicious Times and is quite a favourite of mine.

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

• Dutch Dare- one for the kids
• Craft Your Days Away- birthday celebrations
• Paper Sundaes- sketch (I moved the sentiment and brads around a little)

Happy day...

Well, this was the card I mentioned yesterday and I'm pretty sure it will now have arrived so it's safe to put it up!
It follows the lovely sketch by Paula at Pollycraft again- I can see me using this layout quite a lot. The image is also Pollycraft and is called 'Blue's branch'- so sweet!
The papers are from the August Blog Train Blog- there are some really gorgeous papers in the kits this time and it should still be up if you want to follow it. It takes a while though as there are lots of stops and quite a few use 4shared and we all know how long that takes!
I printed the sentiment from TLC straight onto the DP and this was a particularly useful one for this card as it will be arriving a good few days after the birthday! I love the clean look you get when the sentiment is part of the DP. Finally, I finished it off with a few little pink gems.

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

• Pollycraft- sketch
• I love Promarkers- things with wings

How Old???..

I've been waiting to use this sentiment from Sentiments 4 You for ages and have finally got around to it. I used 'Maurice' from Pollycraft as my image and coloured him quite simply with my Promarkers. The papers are an old favourite of mine from the 'French Tulips' blogtrain from Stuff to Scrap.

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

• Corrosive- Manly
• Cupcake- How old?

Cute little mouse...

I am really loving Meljen's little mice at the moment- there are a few more on the table waiting to be made up too!

I followed the great sketch by Paula at Pollycraft for this card. It is such a simple design yet it works so well- I have another card, also made with the same sketch, but I'm just hanging on before posting that as it is in the post!
The papers are from a digiscrap kit which is called 'Ouch' by Scraps N Pieces. I really liked the colours and the slightly faded/shabby chic look. If my friend Helen is reading this- This is the card that I stuck the strip down by mistake when we were on the phone! I had intended to have the sentiment on a tab coming out from under the middle strip but because I was chatting I stuck it down and realised too late that I had not done the tag! Oh well, I quite like the sentiment where it is now!
The flowers were die cut with a Joy Craft die from some of the DP that I had reduced in size with Photoshop. I was having trouble deciding what to use for centers as none of the brads I tried was right then I tried the cream Card Candi- It was perfect for the larger flower but I can't decide if I like it in the smaller ones.

I would like to enter this card for:

• Allsorts- free and easy
• Pollycraft- sketch
• Papertake Weekly- anything goes
• Stampin' for the weekend- spots and dots

Cards for Men challenge 16...

This time at Cards for Men we would like to see 'Clean and Simple' cards for men or boys.

I haven't really caught on to the trend for CAS cards, although I don't go mad with layers or embellishments normally either. I used 'Deacon bugs' from Bugaboo as my image and printed him out quite large, keeping some space around him when I cut him out. I coloured him with Promarkers, keeping to a limited pallette of mainly greens and browns. The small piece of DP is from the Stuff to Scrap 'Great Outdoors' blogtrain. I have also printed the sentiment on some plain DP from the same set. The sentiment is a freebie from Scrap-a-licious Times, finished off with a button from my stash which has been tied with baker's twine. Everything has been matted on some brown card from my stash.

We are sponsored by the wonderful One Stop Card Crafts website who are offering a £10 voucher for our lucky winner. The rest of our talented DT have made some fabulous cards so do pop over to Cards for Men for some more inspiration and to take part in our challenge.

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

• Delightful challenges- dog days of summer
• Stamp something- summer fun
• Polka Doodles- in an English country garden
• If the shoe fits- summer
• Fairytale challenge- summer
• Crafty Anns- summertime

'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

Footballer...

I made this for Matthew to give to his friend who plays for Metham Athletic FC and coloured my v.old favourite Jolly Nation football stamp in the team colours with my Promarkers. The papers are from a freebie set by Summer Driggs called 'Fangs for the memories' which is really for Halloween but is so useful for other things too. Card Candi and a computer generated sentiment to finish off.

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

• Gem of a challenge- Let's hear it for the boys
• Here come the boys- Sporty
• Cupcake- your fave. from the last 150 challenges- 146 Boy, oh boy

A birthday card for my husband...

Yes, more of the scrummy papers from the LDS blogtrain 'Fishers of men'! Also another Pollycraft image- this time I have used 'Relaxing Ronnie' which is perfect for my other half! Remote in hand, cup of tea and biscuits within reach! Finally, I have used some of the bakers twine that I bought weeks ago.

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

• Allsorts- Free and easy!
• Papertake Weekly- anything goes
• Do it with digis- Spots or stripes or both

Cards for Men challenge 14 and a FREEBIE sentiment...

This time at Cards for Men we have a theme for you- 'Wild West'. So dig out your cowboy inspired images, make a card for a guy and join in!

Melissa at Meljen's Designs has some beautiful wild west images and the DT were lucky enough to be given some to make their cards with. I totally fell in love with the 'Get along little doggie' image and just had to use him for my card. I used digiscrap papers by Rainamoon Scraps called 'Stampedin'' from Stuff to Scrap. As well as using them for my DP, I paper pieced his little necker and cowboy hat using papers from the kit and printed my sentiment onto some more of the paper.

Lately I have been experimenting with making my own sentiments. They are still quite basic and I know there are far more impressive ones out there but I thought I would share the one I made for this card with you if you would like it. I thought the font looked sort of wild west- like a 'Wanted- dead or alive' sign!
Just click on the image below to enlarge it then right click and save it to your computer. Hope you can use it- I'd love to see some cards in the challenge with it!

I finished my sentiment off by matting it onto a nestie shape and adding a gold star that I thought looked rather like a sheriff's badge. I added a die cut fancy corner and some jute twine from Wilkinsons that I usually use for stringing up my peas in the garden! I learned how to do the 'looped figure of eight knot' by borrowing my son's Scouting Handbook- it gives a nice chunky but flat knot that would look even better on a smoother string.

Our sponsor, Meljen's Designs, is offering 4 digis for our lucky winner. Do visit her store and have a look at her beautiful digis- and don't blame me if you 'have to' have some! The DT have made some fantastic cards for inspiration, so make sure you pop over to Cards for Men to take a look at their work. You have until 17th July to join in with the challenge so why not give it a go?

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

• ABC- X for crossing ribbons (hope my rustic string counts!)
• Digi Doodle- anything goes
• Allsorts- free and easy July
• Here come the boys- spots and stripes