Less Is More Snowdrops

Mum asked me if I could make a card for my Uncle's birthday next week .. .. ummmm - nothing cute then and not too fussy! I have admired the Less Is More blog and the simple elegant creations showcased there, but rarely join in. However, the current sketch challenge appealed to me and I thought it perfect for a manly card. I've inked up one of my old Elusive Images stamps, snowdrop script, with Rich Cocoa Momento ink and stamped onto kraft card. I've initially coloured with Copics E0000, G40, G82 & YG45 then I've added a white and pale blue pencil.

And here is my card. It's a DL in landscape, difficult to photograph the whole, with a text stamped in the same ink. To draw emphasise to the image I've scored a couple of lines then pricked and inked the edges of the image before fixing flat on the card. The advantage is it should go through normal post, but I'm not sure if Mum will like it so had best get on and make something else!

The Totally Gorjuss blog challenge is for a K.I.S.S. creation so I can enter with them too.

As I expected, Mum had a couple more angina attacks this morning so I rang her doctor. She now has more tablets to take although they might give her a headache until she gets used to them .. .. so more tablets for the headache! I am hoping they will do the trick and as soon as she is stable again I can visit some of my crafty friends for a 'play date'.

Lovely Lace

For this card I've used a pretty little stamp by Nellie's Choice called Dawn with Flowers and coloured with my Copics: skin tones with E000, 00, 01 & 21; lavender blues with BV01 & 13; pinks with RV00, 63, 17 & 66; greens with YG61, 63 & 67; hair and beige tones with E40, 41, 42 & 43. I've used warm greys for shadow and grounding, and finished with a white gel pen for highlights in the centres of the flowers.

And here's the card. The papers are more from my magazine stash and this time I've glittered the edges with Platinum Stickles as well as mounting with Kraft card. I stickled the image as well and double mounted it with kraft and soft pink card. My lace is special, it's left over from my wedding 20 years ago, but isn't going to do anyone any good stuck in a box so is now in my craft stash. I didn't want to cover up too much of the lace so simply added a Marianne leaf swirl LRO151 and Nellies Choice punch and emboss flowers with little pearl centres.

I've come across a few challenges I can enter with my card: Moving Along With The Times have a blooming marvellous theme, Paperplay want to see lovely lace, and Totally Papercrafts' theme is for pearls and lace.

I've not been blogging over the weekend as Mum has been having angina attacks, culminating in me calling the paramedics last night. All is sort of ok, her TNT spray does the trick, eventually, but if they keep occurring the doc will have to tweak her meds again and reintroduce the ace inhibitor to help lower her BP. Last time it worked too well, so she's been off them for 6 weeks but her BP has been climbing and although still within 'safe levels', it's causing her heart to struggle a bit. The TNT spray lowers the BP which is why she is usually ok for a day after taking it .. .. I'll have to see how she is tomorrow. Friday she had 2 attacks, was ok Saturday but then had them again yesterday. Today is so far so good, so I am on alert for tomorrow. If it happens again then it's definitely another trip to the doctor.

In between I've managed to finish the kitchen tiling, complete most of my DT cards for February so I can pack the craft stash away to start striping wall paper. The material for the kitchen blind came on Friday and thankfully Mum likes it so once the painting is done I will be making the blind. Hopefully I can drag the desk with the computer on it away from the wall so I can still get around to blogging .. .. .. if I have the time that is!

You're a gem!

You may have seen my DT card yesterday on the Cute Card Thursday blog, so here it is for you with the details. As I'm now on two Thursday blog challenge teams I'm posting my CCT cards on Friday morning so that it's still Thursday in USA .. .. does that make sense? Anyway, moving on, I've had this LOTV stamp for months and just never got around to colouring the image in, even though I had managed to ink it up. As this week's challenge is for gems, I thought I'd like to make a girly card and this is what I came up with.

I've coloured my image with Copics: the usual skin tones plus chocolate brown shades E70, 71, 74 and 77; blues with B21 & 23, then for her dress I've used pale warm grey shades. For her hat I used E40, 41, 42 & 43 and the ground is a mix of those paler shades plus BG93 & 96. I've used pale cool greys and B91 for the shadow but as my cool grey C0 has run out I've had to use a blender pen as well - it was a bit of a fuzz up actually and the shadow is paler than I had first envisaged, but seams to work ok. The papers are more of the magazine freebies, I think Nitwits but they aren't marked, inked edges with Sahara Sand Versamagic chalk ink, matted with Close to Cocoa cardstock by Stampin' Up! then I finished off with a piece of lace, diecuts and gems. I made the flowers with Marianne dies LRO145 and pearl paper, the swirls are from LRO116 and the ivy spray is from LRO206.

The Critter Sketch challenge is to use 3 types of embellishments, mine are the lace, the gems and the diecuts. The Addicted to Stamps theme is for summer in winter, which I took to mean use cool winter colours with a summer image.

One for the boys

It's time for the next challenge on Lili's Little Fairies blog, and this time it's one for the boys. Our sponsor for this challenge is Nitwit Collections so I have used some of their papers that came as a freebie in a craft magazine. I must say I am loving these papers and once they are gone I'll be ordering replacements!Onto my card then. I've inked up the gone fishing stamp with brown Momento and coloured with my Copics, shades of E40s along with B21 & B24 plus BG93 & BG96.

I've inked the edges of everything with brown chalk ink and cut plain corners with an old Sizzix Squeeze die. Then to embellish I've diecut buttons, the little bird and swirls from Marianne dies then punched out the flowers with a Nellie Snellen punch and emboss set - hopefully it's manly enough, even with the gross grain ribbon.

Totally Stampalicious blog also have a men/boys challenge, and at Creative Inspirations it's an anything goes week so I'll enter my card with them too.

My Valentine

I've another Marianne image on today's card, this is Snoesjes girl with dog, coloured with Copics. I used shades that normally get left in the box .. .. E93 to E99 for the tan colours then E7, 8 & 9 for the rust red. I can't remember the rest of them but am guessing the pup is the E30s and the green must be a YG mix of some sort. I've also used a brighter red .. .. ?

More of the magazine freebies, and I think Nitwits again. I've inked the edges and matted with Sahara Sand card from Stampin' Up! The flowers are cut from Marianne die LRO107 and the leaves are from LRO162. To finish off I've added the little gems to the centre of the flowers.

The Crafty Creations challenge is for a Valentine - hope my big heart gives it away, and the Corrosive challenge is I love you. The Truly Scrumptious challenge is for something forgotten - in my case the magazine papers and the Copic shades I don't use.

I've managed to get around some of my blog buddies, but it's a slow business and some of the blogs with lots of pictures and pretty things down the sides just wont load for me at the moment. It might be a lovely place to live here in Cornwall, but I wish they would upgrade the internet lines!

Tea with Daisy

You must know by now how I love Marianne's dies to create layers and embellishments on my cards, but until now I've not had any Marianne stamps. Thanks to Marianne herself, all that has changed and here is my first card created from the Don and Daisy collection. This one is DDS3308 called Daisy's birthday and I've coloured the image with Copics, my usual skin tones plus E70, 71, 74 & 77 for hair and brown areas, G40, 82 & 94 for the couch, E81, E50, 51 & 53 for the cream areas, V01, 12 & 15 and RV63 & 66 for the pinks. I still dont have any Marianne papers so have used more of the Nit Wits magazine freebies, inked the edges with brown chalk ink and matted with green textured card from my stash.

Here's the card. I've used various Marianne dies to create my embellishments: the pink swirl from LR0116 and the leaves from LR0117. The green centre of the flowers from LR0122, the pretty green lace edge with LR0161, and the pink flower is from the new Craftables set CR1203. The pink gems and pearly hearts are from my stash.

I'd like to enter my card into the Marianne Design Diva's Monthly blog challenge to show your new stash, and if you'd like to win some fabulous goodies from Marianne then hop on over to the Marianne Design Challenge blog and enter the weekly Candy draw - oh and I nearly forgot, there's still time to enter the anything goes challenge on this blog too.

Music and Dance

A day late this week for another challenge at Cute Card Thursday, and this time it's 'music and dance'. I've used the LOTV little ballerina and coloured her with Copics: skin tones with E000, E00, E01 & E21; hair with E70, E71, E74 & E77; pinks with RV00, RV02, R81, R83 & R85; ballet slippers and top with cool grey shades and shadow with B60.

Here's the card - the papers are from my freebie magazine stash but I've no idea who they are by as there's nothing written on them. I've inked the edges with Pumice Stone DI and matted with Sahara Sand cardstock by Stampin' Up! The text is also by LOTV and I've added lots of Stardust Stickles to bling things up, then created embellishments from Marianne diecut swirls, Martha Stewart Hydrangea flower punches and finished of with bling gems.

The theme over on the My Time To Craft blog challenge is to use your favourite embellishment - mine is certainly my dies and punches to create my own embellishments from left over scraps of card, plus a close second has to be bling! The Sweet Stampin' challenge is to use glitter and bling while the Stampin' for the Weekend challenge is 'out with the old' to use your old stash - there's nothing new on this card!

Lavender and Lace

Exciting news! I've been asked to join the DT at Lili's Little Fairies, and of course I said yes! This is my creation for this week's Lavender and Lace challenge. I've inked up the Pom Pom fairy with brown Momento and coloured with my Copics: skin tones E000, E00, E01 & E21; hair and socks E50, E51, E53 & E55; her top and shoes B60, B63 & B66; her tutu and wings V000, V01, V12 & V15; shadow BV31 and an old B60 that I've topped up with blending solution so it's quite pale.And here is my card. I've used lavender gingham paper from my stash, inked the edges with a lavender chalk in then doodled my stitches. Then I cut a white Marianne doily circle, LR0130, and the new embossed scallop, LR0201, layer to pop behind my image. To embellish I cut the Marianne daisy flowers, LR0106, out of vellum then added the punched oak leaves and little Nellie's Choice punched butterflies, finishing them all with pale lavender blue pearls. I almost forgot the lace part of the challenge so quickly tied a lace bow to add, although you could say my circle and scallop edge are also lace elements.

As this is my first week as part of the Lili's Little Fairies DT I'll be posting my card for CCT later on .. .. In the mean time, why not stop by the LOTV Ideas to Inspire blog where you can add your name to the Weekly Candy list for a chance to win fabulous LOTV stamps!

Today is a good day, we heard that we have got the planning permission to build the extension to the bungalow, albeit with some restrictions, but at least now I can go ahead and get builders quotes. Jason has almost finished tiling the kitchen area (he took over as the last bit involves lots of cuts) so I'll be grouting again later. We settled on a mellow green for the kitchen and have painted the bit above the window to make sure .. .. now I need to find a fabric to make a roman blind and prep the rest of the wall ready for painting (peeling of paper -yuk).

The Flutterby Wednesday challenge this week is an open theme, so I can enter my card with them. Crafty Catz want you to use something new on your creation, mine is the new Marianne scallop die. The ABC challenge is H = Happy Birthday so I can enter with them too.

Trimming the Tree

ok, so Christmas is a long way away .. .. but you gotta start early! The current challenge on Lili's Little Fairies is to show your favourite LOTV stamp - that's a hard one for me as I have lots of favourites and can't make up my mind. I do have a soft spot for the little boys, having a couple of grandsons I use them as the excuse to keep adding to my collection! This cute image is one I had inked up but never got around to colouring in, so here he is ready for Christmas 2012!

Copic colours are my usual skin tones plus Y13, Y35 &Y38 for yellows, G24 & G28 for greens, R22, R24, R27 & R29 for reds, E33, E35, E37 & E39 for browns, the foreground is E40 & E81 and the shadow is warm greys.

The papers are more magazine freebies, this time from We R Memory Keepers, edges inked with Jumbo Java Versa Magic chalk ink, matted with textured green card from my stash. I've kept things quite plain, no flowers as it's a boy card. Instead I've added a Marianne diecut tree, a couple of diecut stars, then I went a little crazy with the red pearl maker pen!

In case you wondered where I've been the past few days, well I've been busy with the DIY again, deciding what colour to pain the kitchen area above the units and tiles - we have 3 different patches of green and a couple of creams on the wall to cogitate over .. .. ..

The ABC Christmas challenges have started over again, this time with A = anything goes, perfect! The Stampin' for the Weekend challenge is to use your old stash this week, while the Totally Gorjuss blog challenge is for stars so I can enter with both of them too.

Have a laugh!

This week on CCT we want to see something to make us smile on your creations. I had a rummage in my digi folder and discovered this Mo Manning design I'd downloaded ages ago - it was a freebie - but never used. I've coloured with my Copics and added a fun sentiment, I hope it makes you smile!

Copics: Browns E55, E57 & E59, cream E50, E51 & E53, coral pink R11, R12, R14, R17 & R29

More of the Nitwits magazine freebie papers matted with coral cardstock, and I used a Martha Stewart flower border punch down one edge of the image mat. I've added various Marianne diecuts to embellish, clear glaze on the confetti and crystal glitter on Bella's frills, then finished off with pearls and a little organza ribbon (coloured with R17 to match).

I'm entering into the Papertake Weekly challenge as it's a diecut special so perfect for my card. Also, the Anything Goes blog challenge is anything goes, and so is the For Fun challenge.

Summer Days

oh for those lazy hazy days of Summer .. .. and a garden to sit in making daisy chains, well that might not be on the agenda for this year as the garden is more than likely going to be a building site! Although this cute LOTV stamp came out awhile ago I've only just added it to my collection. It's quite detailed and I can see from my close up that I have missed the odd area - call it artistic licence! I've coloured with Copics in shades of red, cream and sage green for the Colour Create challenge, although I've not included the optional buttons. For the reds I used R24, R27 and R29; the greens are E81, YG91, YG93, YG95 and YG97; the creams are YR21, YR23, YR24, going into brown shades E35, E37 and E39.

Here's the card. I've used another freebie piece of patterned paper, this time by Serif, matted with sage green cardstock. I've embellished with satin ribbon, a strip of red card punched with a Martha Stewart lace punch, Marianne diecut fronds from LR0106 and Nellie's Choice punched and embossed little red flowers and creamy yellow butterflies. I did the colour enhance thingy in Photoshop and the creamy shades have gone a tad yellow/mustard - they are not quite so bright in real life .. .. but you could say they are a good West Country clotted cream colour!

I had planned on sharing this card with you earlier today but had to finish up some tiling .. .. and got a bit of grit in my eye so have been in agony this evening. I think it's out now, but the eye is very bloodshot and quite swollen, but at least I can see to type and hopefully it will be better in the morning.

The Lollipop Crafts and the Fairytale blog challenge is to use something new - my stamp is new, and the freebie paper is new too.

Baby Girl

I'm back! It's been a busy weekend again with family and not much else happening. I stuck a handful of tiles on the kitchen wall, then one fell off the next morning .. .. it's been that kind of weekend! My cold isn't clearing as fast as I would like and I'm left with catarrh that's a pain to shift first thing, so I'm definitely in a go slow mood right now.

I thought I should do a baby girl card after the last baby boy one. This time I have used an older LOTV stamp together with the same text as before. The paper is more of the magazine freebie from Nitwits with edges inked in Sahara Sand Versamagic chalk ink, and the mats are a soft coral pink textured card from my stash.

I've coloured with Copics: skin tones E000, E00 and E01; peachy pinks R00, R20 and R21; creams E50, E51 and E53; shading E40 and E81. The embellishments are Nellie's Choice punch and emboss sets - the tiniest butterfly and the 2 small retro flower sets. I've added in snips of Marianne diecuts from LR0156 and LR0157 then finished with little sticky back pearls and ribbon from my stash. It's just a little card, but I think quite sweet and I'd like to enter it into the Cupcake Craft challenge for something new and the One Stop Craft challenge where they are playing bingo! I have the top line = distressing (my inked edges), ribbon and flowers.

And, before I go, you must stop by the LOTV Ideas to Inspire blog as they are giving away 12 stamps to one lucky winner - you gotta be in it to win it!

Hey, what's new?

This week on Cute Card Thursday we want to see something new. I've created a card for a new baby with a new stamp from LOTV - just adorable and depending on the colours could be for a boy or girl, plus it comes with a darling sentiment too. I've stamped with brown Momento then coloured with Copics: blues B21 and B23, soft pink R0000 and R00, green G40 and G82, then creamy shades E50, E51, E53, E81 and E000, plus skin tones E00, E01 and E21.

I've used another piece of the freebie Nitwits paper with edges inked in Sahara Sand Versamagic chalk ink. The pretty border is a Martha Stewart punch and I've added a length of blue velvet ribbon. The corners are a Quickutz die and the floral embellishments are various Marianne dies plus pearl buttons for the centres: LR017 for the layered flowers, LR0106 for the blue leaves and LR0156 for the skeleton leaves. The lacey mat behind the text is from the LR0124 Norwegian Ice Star set.

Sorry for another wonky picture, I had to take it under my lamp and sneezed again!

A few challenges I can enter:
Paper Sundaes theme is for something old, something new - my stamp is new but the rest of the stuff is old (especially the pearl buttons).
Sweet Stampin' would like to see new beginings as would By the Cute And Girly.
Papertake Weekly have an anything goes challenge with the twist of using something new, and the Fab'n'Funky blog also have a new theme challenge.

I've been working on another little card for the new Lili's Little Fairies challenge, but after Jacqui's lovely comment about this card, I'll enter this one and share the one I'm working on at a later date.

Poor Bunny!

Achoo! well I am almost over the bug, but still snotty and sneezy! I blame the wonky picture on my watery eyes and blurry vision .. .. well that's my excuse! I've had a chance to play with some of my LOTV stamps and created another get well card using the Nitwits freebie magazine papers. The image is coloured with my Copics: G40 and G82 for the grapes and green medicine and G20 for the background. The poor sick bunny is coloured in warm grey shades with R00 and R81 for the touches of pink. The bed linen is E50, 51 and 53 with E81 for the medicine bottle and a brown shade I can't remember for the bottle stopper, spoon and grape stalks.

Here's the card: I've inked the edges of the papers with Pumice Stone DI and created a floral embellishment from Marianne dies. The flowers are made with pearl paper and the LR0145 flower set with the stamens from the LR0105 floral #1 and liquid pearls. The swirls are from the LR0112 circle frame and the lace edge is LR0161. I've added a touch of sparkle with Stardust Stickles and a little organza bow.


I was chosen in the top 3 on the ABC Challenge blog for their last challenge, so will join in again this time around where the theme is to use some green.

6 of the best from 2011

A Happy New Year to Everyone!

Debby has invited us to share our top 5 favourite cards from 2011

But I have gone one more with 6 of my best!

To start I have a couple of WOW creations. The white on white style looks stunning and my own interpretations didn't turn out too badly, even if I do say so myself! The first card above I made last January after a visit to the Exeter craft fair where I admired the pricking and embossing designs mixed with other elements. I've used different pearl white papers and card with just a touch of soft pink chalk ink to emphasise some of the embossed areas, plus lots of pearls. The centre text is by LOTV stamped in grey Momento.

On this card made last April, I've gently coloured the LOTV bride and groom then cut out with circle Nesties. Again lots of pearls and this time Martha Stewart punched hydrangea flowers layered up with Marianne diecut leaves.

And on this one made in July I've used the same hydrangea punch to create the flowers together with Marianne diecut leaves and tiny Nellie's Choice punched butterflies. I turned this into a little folder to give a gift to a friend.

I've also had a leaning towards vintage creations in 2011, well my interpretation of them at least. I've inked the edges of my papers with brown chalk inks and got inky fingers dabbing at my punched and diecut embellishments too. This is a simple card created in September with one of Sylvia Zet's digi images. I am so happy to have discovered Sylvia last year and have been honoured to create with her beautiful designs and chat with her by email from time to time. I am looking forward to seeing more of her creations in 2012.

Earlier in the year I was honoured to be on the DT for Cuddly Buddly, but reluctantly had to step down in the summer after the upheaval of my father's illness then death, the funeral, moving house, looking after Mum and trying to tackle legal issues and County planners to get an extension to the bungalow. The issues are on going but I am thinking positively that all will turn out well in the end. While on the CB team I got to play with some of Karen Middleton's digital images, this is one of them and I've gone for a vintage look again with inked edges and subtle distressing, plus the pearls and touches of glitter of course!

With two grandsons I am always on the look out for boy stamps and this little wizard by LOTV had to join my collection! I made the card in October and by now I had increased my collection of Copic pens to include some of the stronger colours so was able to play around at creating more contrast and shadow. I've also tried to mix in other makes of stamps to create the finished work, this time Penny Black Halloween and Kanban star stamps.

There are lots of other favourites and it's been interesting looking back through them all. My style is not too elaborate and I try to keep the cards slim enough to at least fit into a gusset envelope and preferably an ordinary envelope at ordinary postage rates. Much as I admire the stunning creations I see with beautiful flowers and embellishments, I tend to only make a few of those each year for special occasions where I can hand deliver.

Along with the six of the best in the cards, I'd like to list six of the best things I like to use, in addition to stamps and Copic pens that is. What would your six be?

1. Marianne dies/Nellies Choice dies/any other dies!
2. Nellies Choice punch and emboss flowers and butterflies
3. Wacco pearl maker pens, especially the cream
4. Sticky back gems and pearls - I love a touch of bling!
5. Stardust Stickles, I must have used at least 6 bottles in the year!
6. Coredinations textured cardstock - just the right weight for die-cutting and punching