ink'n'rubba

Pink Valentine

2012-02-10T09:54:00.004Z

Hey! what a shock .. .. no coloured image on my card for Cute Card Thursday's challenge this week for a pink Valentine! Every time I started to colour something it ended up blue .. .. so I gave up and created this pink card just with die cuts and stamps instead. The base is a white scallop card and the paper is more of the Nitwits freebie matted with pink cardstock. I've added a length of ribbon and a piece of my precious lace, then lots of pearls. The heart is a Nellie's Choice die whilst the flowers and swirl are from Marianne - little bits from LR0112, LRO122 & LRO157. I've stamped the text with Coral Brilliance pearlescent ink and then added a couple more stamps inside, text and heart from Elusive Images who are sadly no more.

In the end I quite liked the way this one turned out, and so did my son who's helped himself to it! A few more Valentine/love challenges I can link up to: The One Stop Craft, Let's Ink It Up, Everybody Art, For Fun, and Oldie But a Goodie with a challenge to use lace.

Valentine sketch

2012-02-09T10:46:00.002Z

This week on Lili's Little Fairies we have a sketch designed by Jacque for the challenge. I've used the cute little teddy bear carrying balloons that spell Mum - why not send Mum a Valentine? I've coloured with Copics: teddy and beige tones with E50, 51, 52, 53 & 55; blues with B91 & 93; pinks with RV00, 63, 17 & 66.

To keep to the sketch I've cut out teddy with a Nellie's Choice fancy circle then hand cut around the balloons to add them outside the rose embossed heart (another Nellie's Choice die). To link them back to the image I've used embroidery floss and threaded it behind and below teddy's paw to make it look like he's holding them. My papers are more from my freebie magazine stash and I've inked the edges before matting with kraft card. I picked up on the little flowers in teddy's bouquet and punched out little blue flowers then added kraft sprays cut with a Marianne die. To finish I've added gems, pearls made with my pearl maker pen and a stamped text cut out with the smaller Nellie heart die, then finally a pretty pink bow.

There's lots of Valentine/Love challenges around, and I've chosen these to link up my card: Addicted to Stamps, Stamp with Fun, Sweet Stampin', Party Time Tuesdays and The Secret Crafter Saturday challenge.

I've not had much time for the computer this week, and my craft stash is now back in the cold conservatory whilst I get stripping - and that wallpaper has been stuck on with some very sticky glue! It's taking me a good 3/4 washes with bleach and soapy water to get the wall glue free and will need more than a couple of coats of paint to even things out. I hope to get it finished over the weekend so I can get back to a little crafting again next week. In the mean time, sorry for not stopping by my friends. I've scheduled this post and my card for tomorrow (and next week's too, just in case) and will try to get back to do the links and catch up with everyone who has left me a comment, but now it is getting rather late so I'll say night, night!

Spring Fling!

2012-02-03T09:46:00.002Z

This week at Lili's Little Fairies we would like to see some fresh Spring colours on your creations. I've gone with Spring green and purple crocus shades for my Easter card with this cute bunny. I've coloured my image with Copics: bunny and cream shades in E50, 51, 53 & 81; the greens are YG61, 63 & 67, while the purple shades are V000, 12 & 15. I've shaded my background with BG0000 & 000.

Here's the card. The papers are by Nitwits and I've inked the edges with Sahara Sand Versamagic chalk ink then matted with Coredinations cardstock and sanded the edges. The butterflies are Nellie's Choice cut and emboss sets layered up and the flower embellishment is from Marianne dies LR0112 and LR0142. I've finished with a stamped text by High Hopes, ribbon and gems.

The Sweet Stampin' challenge theme is animals and over on the Party Time Tuesdays it's anything goes.

I'm scheduling this post as I have to take Mum to the doctors for a blood test/check up this morning and then to do some shopping as our cupboards are getting empty! Catch up with you later and keep warm this weekend!

Buttons and Bows

2012-02-02T09:22:00.002Z

For this weeks theme of buttons and bows on the Cute Card Thursday blog I've coloured one of Marianne's new Don and Daisy stamps just released, this is Daisy knitting a nice warm scarf, or maybe it's a jumper, hard to tell! I coloured with Copics but put them away before noting down the colours, sorry about that.

The papers are from my stash, originally used for Christmas but equally at home for any time of year. I've run a dark green ink pad around the edges of the image and the papers instead of adding mats, and I've covered up most of the green stripe paper with my embellishments. The white layer is Marianne's new Craftable die CR1203, the flowers are made with the mini poinsettia set LR0142, the red sprays are from LR0106 and the skeleton leaves are from LR0156. I've finished with a red gingham bow and white button, 3 little red hearts, and because I'm out of round red gems I added blobs of red to the centres of my flowers with the pearl maker pen - but I'm not happy with the red pen as it tends to spread rather than giving me a nice round pearl effect.

Fussy and Fancy Friday have a polka dot theme running, and the Lollipop Crafts and Diva's by Design blogs have an anything goes theme, so I'm entering my card with them too.

I hope you can stop by the Cute Card Thursday blog to see the rest of the DTs creations, and read more about our sponsor and prize for this week. And, over on the Don & Daisy blog there is the opportunity to win the stamp I've used for my card today.

Bloomin' Daffs

2012-02-01T16:36:00.000Z

As I wasn't sure that Mum would like the snowdrop card I made yesterday for my Uncle's birthday, I made a couple of others with the Elusive Images daffodil stamps. I've stamped the daffodil script with brown Momento and coloured with Copics, then kept things very simple to create the card. For the yellow tones I used Copics Y11, 13, 15, 17 & Y38 (I haven't got the Y18 yet), I'm sorry I can't remember the greens and forgot to take a note before tidying up! For the background I used B0000 & B000.

Here's the first card, it's a square white base with a piece of digi paper from my stash and a textured green cardstock to mat both the paper and the image. I've inked the edges of the image and the paper with Aloe Vera Versamagic chalk ink and stamped the text with the brown Momento.

For the second card I've stamped the bunch of daffs onto kraft card and coloured with the same Copics, then highlighted with a white pencil. I took the picture last night and it's looking rather dull in the close up - I should have tweaked it!

This is the card that Mum chose, it's a little smaller than C6 to fit some envelopes that I've acquired somewhere along the line. I've done a version of the WOW - a KOK! I used the Argyll embossing folder to create some interesting texture and inked the edges of the layers with dark brown chalk ink, plus added dimension with 3d foam to the central image.

The For Fun challenge is to make a male birthday card - check! and Stampin' for the Weekend want to see some embossing.

Mum is doing much better on the new meds and has been able to get up and about today. Although it's been a lovely sunny day here in Cornwall, it's a little too chilly for her to sit outside just yet, and with a clear sky we might even see some frost tonight!

Less Is More Snowdrops

2012-01-31T16:59:00.001Z

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

2012-01-30T17:19:00.001Z

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!

2012-01-27T10:06:00.001Z

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

2012-01-26T10:01:00.001Z

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

2012-01-24T15:48:00.000Z

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

2012-01-21T15:18:00.001Z

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

2012-01-20T09:46:00.001Z

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

2012-01-19T12:47:00.000Z

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

2012-01-17T22:01:00.001Z

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!

2012-01-12T10:34:00.008Z

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

2012-01-10T21:40:00.000Z

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

2012-01-08T15:10:00.002Z

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?

2012-01-05T09:48:00.003Z

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!

2012-01-04T19:34:00.000Z

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

2012-01-01T08:52:00.000Z

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

Feel Better Soon!

2011-12-31T15:23:00.000Z

I made this card for a friend of mine but could also send it to myself as I've come down with an awful bug. We had a bit of a scare a couple of days ago when Mum took a tumble and I had to ring for an ambulance, they really are fabulous men and women. One of the chaps was the same medic that came out when Mum had her heart attack and he had also been out to my Dad too. He noticed the changes to the kitchen and hoped he wouldn't be around to see the next phase .. .. Anyway, Mum is glued back together, literally, but he said that if the bug I'd got was the one his family have had, then it's rotten and will take a while to get over. I am dosed up with Lemsips, Nurofen and hot toddies - so mostly don't care anyway!!!!

My card is a sweet LOTV stamped image coloured with my Copics then cut out with a circle Nestie. The mat is a Nellie's Choice fancy circle cut from green textured card and the paper is another magazine freebie piece. I decorated with a snip of cotton lace, pretty flowers, punched leaves and a smattering of pearls.

Charisma Cardz have an anything goes theme, as does Creative Inspirations, so I'll enter with them.

Thank you for your New Year Wishes, when I am feeling a bit better I will get around to visiting everyone. I do hope that 2012 is a good year for us all and although there may be many changes ahead, I am keeping positive that they will be changes for the better.

So, to all my dear friends and followers, I raise a glass to say

Happy New Year!

The potting shed

2011-12-30T17:26:00.000Z

I am so looking forward to spring .. .. I've had enough of cold, wet and windy weather and hope that in just another month I can start sowing seeds in the conservatory. Mind you, now that I have a garden shed I'll have to check and see if there have been any winter visitors sheltering from the weather! I've coloured my LOTV image with Copics - and did you know that there are 12 new Sketch shades coming out in 2012? I have updated my chart and printed out a new one ready to colour in, although with plenty of gaps still in it, I'll not be rushing to get all the new colours straight away. The two new green shades, G43 and G46 will be top of the list along with E84 and E89 as they will go perfectly with the existing shades I already have. If you would like a copy of my blank chart just email me and I will send it to you - it prints out on 1 page of A4 in landscape and is an excel file.

Back to my card. The papers are more magazine freebies, I think they are by Nit Wits, and I have matted with coral textured card. I've inked all my edges with brown chalk ink then decorated with Marianne diecut pieces and a bow tied with seam binding tape. The old WOJ text is stamped with brown Momento and seemed the perfect addition to this cute little micey nice scene.

The Dutch Dare card challenge is for favourite things: mine are LOTV stamps, dicuts and gems - it's not often that I create a card without one or more of my favourite things on it. Today I managed to persuade my hubby and son to bring down some more craft boxes from the loft so I will have to unpack and find homes for more stamps and embellishments .. .. .. it will be good to have things organised and to hand, but might take me a while longer yet!

Happy New Year!

2011-12-29T09:53:00.004Z

Our challenge this week on Cute Card Thursday is to create a New Year project. I left it until the last minute to create my DT card, and then couldn't decide on a cute stamp to go with my one and only New Year text stamp, it's from a Serendipity Cling set I've had for years but rarely use. I wanted to heat emboss the text but my powders are still up in the loft .. .. .. so I had to make do with stamping in brown Momento ink instead. The colours aren't quite right as I had to take the picture last night on the kitchen worktop with the flash - the leaves are cut from a textured cream cardstock and the flower from a textured caramel coloured card so both are darker in real life.

My card base is a C6 thick kraft and I've inked the edges with a brown chalk ink to tie it in to the stamping. The embellishment is cut from Marianne dies then layered up with a piece of wide striped ribbon, an antique metal flower and a big pearl - simples!

I used Marianne Creatables dies LR0122 (poinsettia leaves) and LR0128 (flower).

Do stop by the CCT blog and take a look at the rest of the team's fabulous creations, and read about our sponsor and prize for this week.

The For Fun challenge is for something new so I'll enter my card with them too.

Sweet Wishes

2011-12-28T16:06:00.001Z

at last a quiet day! and a chance to get out my Copic pens and indulge in a little colour therapy. I treated myself to a couple of the cute LOTV mice stamps and together with pieces of freebie magazine papers I've put this card together.

The floral embellishment is a mix of Marianne diecuts with touches of sparkle gems and glitter for the icing sugar. The green card is a textured piece of Coredinations in my stash, and hopefully the ribbon isn't too pink to tie it all together.

I've coloured the mice with E30 and E31 plus a touch of pink R20. The jam is R20, 21 and 22 while the cake and icing sugar is E50, 51 and 53. The icing sugar box is E000, E40 and E81 plus YG11 - I tend to use the pens a little like paint and blend as I go, as long as they are nice and juicy that is. I wanted to bring a green into the picture so used it for the jam jar along with the clear blender to make it paler in the middle of the pot. My shadows are warm greys for the bottom and cool greys at the top around the box and sieve.

Not sure if there is a challenge out in blog land that this one would fit. I've not been able to check back too many days as the connections are pretty poor here - but hopefully I can get around to visit some of my followers in the next couple of days.

I found a challenge to enter - Everybody Art has an anything goes theme.

wahaaay!

2011-12-21T13:50:00.001Z

Another scheduled post .. .. only it didn't .. .. this is the card I made for my eldest grandson. The image is one of my new LOTV stamps, coloured with Copics and then a simple layout again with a scrap of paper from my stash and the wet glue and loose glitter.

To finish things off I've punched out snowflakes and decorated the centres with sparkly gems.

By the Cute and Girly December challenge and the Critter Sketch Challenge both have the theme of let it snow, perfect! And the Papertake Weekly challenge is to share your last Christmas card make in 2011 - yep, this is going to be my last one for this year! I'm packing my stuff away and cleaning house ready for the festivities, although I do have a couple of get well cards to make for friends so maybe I'll leave my pens out for a while longer yet .. .. ..

A little Tweet

2011-12-20T10:17:00.001Z

Fingers crossed this one appears as it's being scheduled, just in case I don't get a connection as the internet is being iffy again .. .. I ordered several new Christmas Lili of the Valley stamps but just haven't had a chance to play with them all this year. Once the festive season is over I'm determined to get a start on next year and get them inky! I have lots of cute image stamps but not quite so many traditional designs, so these cute little robins didn't need much persuasion to flutter into my basket! I've coloured with Copics and used a LOTV sentiment as well.

It's another simple layout with bits and pieces I can lay my hands on. The patterned paper is a magazine freebie and I've gone mad with the wet glue and loose glitter again, finishing with punched bits and pieces to create my embellishment and sparkly pink gems in the centres of the poinsettia flowers.

The Sweet Stampin' Challenge theme is for sparkling and sweet creations, while Stamptacular Sunday are dreaming of a pink Christmas. All hopefully be able to link up to them later in the day.

Santa's Letter

2011-12-19T12:05:00.001Z

I have had a hectic weekend getting the last few Christmas cards made and the presents sorted - just need to do a bit of wrapping up now. Most of the food is in except for the fresh salad and veggies to get later in the week. I'll ice the cake this afternoon and sit down and make sure I have all the ingredients for my recipes - I might just be organised after all! I am tired though, very tired, and the ME is certainly causing me some problems. I'd like to help get a few more tiles up in the bathroom and the kitchen, but think things may be on hold now until the new year. Hopefully my hubby will be here towards the end of the week and we can find the box of decorations in the loft so the place can be a little festive after all. As my grandsons will be here on Christmas Day I feel we should make an effort!

Today's card is for my youngest grandson so I've gone with bright colours, although the enhancement on the pc has perhaps made them a little bit too bright! The image is an old stamp from Sugar Nellie and I've used my Copics to colour in. I even made a note of the main shades I used: reds are R24, 27, 29 and 39; greens are G03, 05, 07 and 29; Santa's letter is E0000 and E40; and the browns are E53, 55, 57 and 59. I added BG0000 and BG000 for background shading before going around the image with the wet glue and loose glitter.
It's a simple layout with a scrap of digi paper from Cuddly Buddly (a free download from last year), a Cuddly Buddly sentiment and diecut poinsettias finished off with a couple of red domes.

Paper Sundaes have a celebratory theme and the One Stop Craft blog are looking for some Christmas sparkle - lots of sparkly glitter on my card!

I'll try and catch up with my commenters over the next couple of days, although I get very frustrated with the snail speed the internet runs at down in this part of Cornwall so keep wandering off to do something else while it tries to make a connection!

It's that time of year!

2011-12-15T19:52:00.002Z

I'll be quick with this one as Blogger and my internet are misbehaving again! Our theme this week on Cute Card Thursday is stripes, and DT card has stripy snowflake paper in the background, plus my snowman has a plaid scarf and that's sort of stripy! I've coloured with my Copic pens then added sparkle with wet glue and glitter - a messy affair to say the least!

Here's the card. The image is from an old Serendipity Cling set that comes out year after year and the text came with the set. The paper is a magazine freebie and I've simply added a selection of punched a diecut snowflake embellishments.

The ABC Challenge blog have F for Frosty as their challenge theme, the Paper Play challenge is simply for Christmas while the Colour Create challenge is to use silver, blue and white. I have backed my image and text with silver card as well as cutting out silver snowflakes.

Let it Snow

2011-12-13T17:01:00.001Z

I was fiddling with the camera to try and get a decent picture of this card .. .. and in the end gave up! The close up of Sylvia's new digi Let it Snow image isn't too bad, although the colours are looking a little washed out. I coloured with my Copic pens and finished that part of the card over a week ago, but it has taken me until now to finish putting it all together .. ..

Now this is definitely the wrong colour, the blues are looking rather grey when they are actually quite bright, and the contrast peachy-red is too orange - bu****r! The papers are scraps from my stash and I've added faux stitching around the edge. There's lots of sparkle on this card but as I ran out of Stardust Stickles, I've had to resort to wet glue and loose glitter - now everything in the room sparkles! The embellishment in the corner is created with Nellie's Choice punch and emboss poinsettias layered up over a double white organza bow and little pieces of Marianne diecut fronds and leaves.

It's an anything Christmassy goes challenge on the ABC Christmas blog, and also on the Paper Sundaes blog too. Totally Gorjuss have a Let it Snow challenge, and the Digital Tuesday theme is for a Winter Wonderland.

Now if the glue would just dry I'll have another card to share with you tomorrow, but for now I have tiles to grout .. .. ..

Little Heidi

2011-12-10T12:17:00.002Z

Hello again! I am back with a card that I finished ages ago but never got around to taking a picture, until this morning. It has been sat in the conservatory freezing behind piles of boxes, but the pile is slowly getting smaller and at last, we have hot water! Another day and the shower will be operational although it will be the new year before the new loo and radiators go in. I've tiled the back wall of the kitchen and started on the side wall, just need to get the trim for around the window and a new windowsill before I can carry on, but hopefully that area will be looking good for Christmas. I've also been doing the grouting in the bathroom and even painted the ceiling .. .. although as the tiles are big I've left sticking them on the wall to someone else. It's a slow job as I don't have a lot of energy to spare, but we are getting there.

My card is another simple design with one of Sylvia's new Wee images, this is Heidi all wrapped up warm against the snowy weather. She is coloured with Copics and I've stamped the greeting then inked the edges with the Nestie still in place to give the look of another layer. The papers are freebies from a magazine (all I could get my hands on at the time) and the snowflakes just punched out of white card. I managed to squeeze out just enough Stardust Stickles to add a little sparkle .. .. will need to add to the shopping list as the spare bottle is still in a box in the loft!

My computer is still playing up and I lost internet for a few days as the modem didn't like being moved on to an extension lead. Now it's back sat on top of the new boiler, hopefully they will be happy together and the electronics won't interfere. I can't scan the list of blogs I follow beyond the past couple of hours so I have no idea what challenges are around at the moment, or who has posted and what. I did see that the Winter Wonderland challenge is 'let it snow' so will enter little Heidi with them.

Not sure when I will be back again as there is still loads to do here. No news yet on our new planning application but there is plenty we can be getting on with now that we have simplified the design. Next on the list is a new garage door that fits snugly and keeps out the wind and rain, but that's a job for someone else to do in the new year so I might get a chance to do a little crafting now and then.

Turkey Dinner

2011-12-01T17:46:00.002Z

oh my what a hassle it's been to get this simple little card loaded up to share with you - no internet yesterday as we had to disconnect and move things about ready for the new boiler (the phone socket is going to end up in the boiler cupboard unless we move it), then this morning no blogger, and even now it's a slow painful business to type .. ..

I can't get to my craft desk/stash at the moment as it's behind the boxes of boiler and bathroom fittings in the conservatory, so I'm having to make do with just a few bits and pieces I've got here in the living space. I had the pink flowers and green swirls in my bit box and the paper is more from the Papermania pack. Please excuse the wonky picture again, and for some reason my camera wont go into macro mode to take close ups for you. I've coloured with Copics and inked the edges of the card, paper and image to give a slightly vintage feel - I was going to add some Stickles to the santa hat the pup is wearing, but can't get to them, fortunately I'd not put the packet of pink gems away that I picked up recently so was able to add a little bling to the centre of the flowers. It's a simple little C6 card that will do nicely for one of the neighbours that I've not gotten to know yet.

I was too late to add my card to this week's Cute Card Thursday DT collection, and mine is rather simple anyway, do go and check out the fabulous creations the rest of the DT have made. Our theme is to add a number so I've stamped the LOTV little text in the middle of my die-cut star.

The Charisma Cardz challenge is for spots - mine are sparkly ones on the background paper although they don't show up too well in the picture. And can anyone tell me how to link up my card to the Charisma blog .. .. I can't see a linky anywhere.

I'll try to visit a few blogs this evening, internet connection allowing that is, and in between stripping wallpaper in the bathroom!

Simply Sweet

2011-11-29T15:04:00.001Z

Another LOTV Christmas card to show you today, this is a C6 card for one of the local charities so not too many embellishments. I've inked the edges of the Papermania papers then added the Platinum Stickles, and I've also inked the image with Magnolia Bud Versamagic chalk ink to take off the stark white but it's not showing up, plus that ribbon is more of a magenta pink which is why I added the pink gems. Mr Mojo has left the building today so I'd best give up!

Not sure what challenges are around just at the moment as I'm still playing catch up in blog land. But, I did see that Party Time Tuesdays have just started an anything goes theme, so I'll enter this simply sweet creation.

caught napping!

2011-11-28T14:49:00.000Z

I made another card! This is one of the new LOTV Christmas boys that I ordered ages ago but have only just got around to colouring in - hopefully you will see more of them very soon. I've coloured with my Copics using the BG93, 96 and 99 for the green shades to coordinate with the Papermania papers from last year. I was originally going for a masculine card so just inked the edges of the layers, but then when I'd added the ivy leaves, fronds and swirls it looked a bit naked so I got out the Platinum Stickles and tied a little organza bow. The berries are made with my Waco pearl maker pen and unfortunately some of them have run into each other, but hopefully still look ok.

The Lili of the Valley challenge is an anything goes theme, and over on the Stamptacular Sunday blog it's anything Christmas - perfect!

I'm hoping to be able to get around to catching up with blogs this afternoon. Mum hasn't been too well over the weekend and last night was particularly worrying so I called the doctor in - it seems she may be 'over-medicated' now .. .. I'll have to keep an eye on her over the next few days and see whether stopping a couple of the drugs makes a difference. Next week the District Nurse will come in to check how things are going, and I hope the Cardiac Physiotherapist will call soon as well, so we can start building her strength back up.

Fishing Friends

2011-11-25T14:12:00.000Z

I finally finished a card off - well actually I finished it over a month ago and it has been sat on my craft desk in the conservatory, consequently the violet Copic shades had faded and touching up was a bit tricky, I find V12 fades quite a bit in the sun. This morning I added the text, the little bow and the flower to bling things up a bit. The snow and the centre of the snowflakes and flower is made with my pearl maker pen in crystal, this shade has a lovely mother-of-pearl effect that reflects the colours under and around it. I've had trouble with this one in the past, it tends to run a little, but now that the weather is colder it's a lot easer to use - so in the summer I'll pop it in the fridge for a couple of hours! I've added lots of Stardust Stickles as well, it is a Christmas card after all!

I found a couple of challenges I can enter, but will hold fire on the LOTV challenge as I do have another card in the making. Totally Papercrafts have a Christmas theme, Stampin' for the Weekend have a friendship theme, perfect for my Fishing Friends LOTV stamped image, and the theme on the Fun With Shapes and More blog is 'cold as ice'.

I'm still here!

2011-11-24T11:59:00.000Z

alive, but barely kicking .. .. the hassles with the council planners over the past week have been stressful, so here is my moaning Minnie moment:

At the eleventh hour the case worker in charge of our application rang to say it was going to be refused because it could possibly at a later date be turned into a separate annex and they didn't like that idea! The fact that it would have required additional planning to do so didn't seem to sway .. .. who makes up the rules?! There was also the residency issue raised, but as Mum has a moratorium to live here permanently that had to be dropped, despite the hearsay that a certain planning officer said that I should put my mother in a home and the dwelling should only be used for holidays. I know that there are a lot of people living here permanently even though the 'rules' of sale over 20 years ago stated it was for holiday use; but for 52 weeks of the year so when are you not on holiday if you are retired anyway. It is a complicated legal issue that we don't want to get embroiled in - we just want a couple of bedrooms so the family can stay, visiting, on holiday, whenever! We established that my mother is within her rights to invite whoever she likes to stay with her, whenever she wants them too, for as long as she likes; so I can stay with her as long as she is living here. As my hubby is having to run the business back in the Saltash area we are renting a place back there, so legally that is my home anyway. What the future will bring, who knows: the last year has shown me that life can change radically in a short time and turn all your plans upside down.

Then there was the red herring issue of the drains .. .. that quickly went away thanks to my architect quoting the latest facts. He also rushed through an amended plan, which actually we prefer as it will save the hassle of trying to get the electric meters moved and taking out a window as well as a garage door. I'll loose the utility area at the back of the bungalow but can create an area within the front of the garage that will suffice. The bathroom will then go at the back of the garage where the utility currently is, so the drains are already in place as well as water and electrics: easier to convert, less money to spend on the building (more for the fancy stuff, yeh!) and verbally acceptable to the planners - shame they didn't want to consider it.

I felt I was running around like a headless chicken between the architect, the local councillor and our liaison at the planning office. Mum meanwhile has had a couple of 'turns' with the stress of it all, thankfully nothing serious more like panic attacks - and I've had a few of those myself too. Then to cap it all, yesterday the application is still refused on grounds that nobody mentioned, with the original plan (the amended seemingly was too different to be considered an amendment) and no mention of annexes, residency or drains! My architect feels we have been victamised because of of other issues going on in the area, and that we should appeal. However, the council know that Mum is frail, elderly and that these things take time and money - things she doesn't have in abundance.

We have been given a 'free go' with our amended plan, which verbally the liaison officer said would be looked on favourably, but I just don't know whether to trust/believe her. It is interesting to see that other applications have been approved in the past and the architect said that he had never come across the reason for our rejection (to do with development in the countryside and not being in a settlement - we are in the middle of an expanding estate of bungalows complete with shop, restaurant and pub open to the general public), he is waiting to see what happens to other applications in this area he has waiting approval. With the new application we have to include the words " extension to holiday bungalow" not just "extension to a dwelling" as seemingly you can have a holiday home in the countryside but not a permanent dwelling. The fact that there are permanent dwellings on the estate is immaterial it seems - they are 'past history' as far as the planners are concerned and not in line with current planning schemes for the area. There is still building going on here, holiday bungalows with a 52 week occupancy sales pitch, but I am told they were approved by a previous planning regime and that no 'new builds' will be allowed. We are not planning a 'new build' just a couple of bedrooms tacked onto the end of the bungalow - why can't people see sense and talk honestly and in plain English?

So, we are getting on with things that don't need planning permission, the kitchen units are in and I've baked 3 cakes and managed to cook several dinners, including a roast turkey for the family on Sunday! We still have to tile the walls, repair the ceiling architrave, get the electrics moved, plaster and paint, and figure out what to do with the floor. It would have been a better idea to get some of these things done first but with Mum being in hospital we ran out of time and didn't want to miss our slot with the kitchen fitter. The new electric boiler is sat in the conservatory waiting to be fitted in the next week or two and we have ordered the stuff for the existing small bathroom as that will need to be done in conjunction with the new boiler. But we can't move the doors about to create an en-suite for Mum until after the extension is done - delays that affect her more than any of us. We can get a new garage door, fix the floor and put in a ceiling, line the walls, and fit out the utility area in the garage with the old kitchen cabinets that are piled up in the conservatory. Then we can clear out the old utility area and get that floored, ceiling installed and walls boarded, the sink put where it needs to be in a bathroom and even a shower put in, we just need planning permission to close it off into a separate bathroom with a loo and bath as well.

So, I am busy and trying to stay positive, despite the feeling of being used and abused by the council planners. We will see what happens with the next application and if necessary go to appeal with that one. I have the local paper interested in running the story if I can find out a few more details, and will be contacting the MP and anyone else I think might be able to help. For now, if you've read this far, thank you for listening - and here's a wonky snap of the new kitchen so far .. ..

Take care everyone

MIA

2011-11-08T11:47:00.000Z

Sorry not to be around and posting. My Mum had a heart attack last Thursday so I have been visiting her in the hospital, as well as trying to keep the house tidy whilst the kitchen remodelling is taking place! All being well, Mum should be coming home in the next couple of days and the kitchen will be installed next week. We also have a new boiler going in at around the same time with the associated changes to the plumbing .. .. oh, and did I mention the electrics to be rewired too!
This is what the kitchen looks like at the moment - the wall is almost down and the living space feels very spacious now! The fridge freezer had to be moved and the door you can just see beside it is being blocked up later this week. The cabinets along the back wall will all be coming out and replaced with new ones with a breakfast bar going in where the wall was.

I just hope that it's not going to be too stressful for Mum. She has tv in her room so can escape if she wants too, but I am sure she will be happier sat in a corner of the living area watching the men at work! I can take her around to a neighbour's home if things get really noisy and messy, although cooking for her is going to be a bit of a nightmare for a while with just a hob and microwave (the oven is knackered). She has been diagnosed as diabetic so I will have to be careful with the meal planning .. .. and she so loved Cornish Ice-cream but can't have it any more.

I'll take pictures as things go along, and hope to be able to get back to crafting in a week or so. I know I've not been around much to catch up with my loyal followers and friends, hopefully once Mum is home I can find a little 'me' time whilst she has her afternoon nap.

Halloween Spooks

2011-10-28T10:50:00.001+01:00

Another Halloween card to share with you today, this one possibly for my youngest grandson as it doesn't have anything on it that could be pulled off and pushed up/in any of his bodily orifices! After a recent spell in the A&E department when he pushed a Lego brick up his nose I am not taking any chances - the brads are in fact punched dots stuck on the card. It's a simple layout with various images from a clear Penny Black set coloured with Copics and papers from Designer Digitals. I've inked the edges of the papers and the mustard card mats and risked the Platinum Stickles glitter on the edge of the image and the broom. The ribbon is in fact dark brown, not black, and has been in my stash for several years so it needs using up.

The Penny Black Saturday challenge is titled 'too cute to spook!' so hopefully my card will be ok to enter, and I won their last challenge! The Sweet Stampin' Challenge blog have a trick or treat theme while Cutie Sunday are looking for autumnal colours. Cards For Men are looking for animals, and finally Paperplay have a Halloween theme. Short and sweet today friends, I am still struggling with life and have a busy few days ahead so need to rest.

Mr Snowman

2011-10-27T09:48:00.003+01:00

This week on Cute Card Thursday we have a sketch for you to follow, a nice easy one so don't panic! I've stamped my LOTV snowman with London Fog Momento ink onto my old favourite paper from Rymans. I did order a pack of X-Press It ultra smooth blending card as recomended by Copic - but I don't like it. For starters, it's not a bright white, well not as white as the Rymans card. It is thicker at 250gsm, but as I mostly mat my images I'm not too worried about sticking with the Rymans smooth bright white coated at 200gsm. But, the bigest let down for me was the blending - I am so used to keeping my inks wet and blending the shades together, even mixing colours on the image to get what I want, and the X-Press just wouldn't perform. The colours absorbed far to quickly and when I tried blending/shading I was very disappointed and ended up throwing my effort in the bin. Back to the Rymans and I was happy, especially when blending the B0000 and B000 around for the background. The blues are B21, B23 and B45, his hat is cool greys C1, C3 and C5, and I used C0 for snow shadow. The pressie and twigs are coloured with E41, E42 and E43, then the golden yellow touches are Y13, Y15 and Y17.

And here's the card. I do like this snowman for quick Christmas cards as you can get away with very little colouring, if you like. I've added Stardust Stickles for the snowy ground, inked the edges with a blue chalk ink and used my white Wacco pearl maker pen to make the falling snowflakes. The background paper is a digi scrap from my stash with a white punched and embossed layer as per the sketch. To embellish I've diecut various Marianne snowflakes from Coredinations classic and whitewash card then sanded and layered them up.

The Totally Papercrafts challenge is for lots of layers, I have quite a few on this card with the image and the layered snowflakes. The Secret Crafter Saturday theme is wrap up warm - Mr Snowman is wrapped up with his hat and scarf against that falling snow!

Freebies

2011-10-25T20:49:00.000+01:00

I've made these two cards with Karen's freebie digi images from Cuddly Buddly. I printed them off a little smaller then cut out with slim oval Nesties, used up some of my older papers and scraps of red and green card to diecut the embellishments. I've coloured with my Copics and inked the edge of the image with a pale green chalk ink, although it's not showing up in my tweaked pictures.

The size is a little smaller than the UK C6 - I have a stack of green envelopes so had to cut the base card to fit them. The style is traditional, but with a brighter red/green colour combo for a more modern feel - I hope they will be liked. On the first one I made the holly berries with my red Wacco pearl maker pen, and they ended up with points - argh! So, when the outer had dried a little (half an hour-ish) I gently pressed the points down with the tip of my pokey tool so they would be flatter, more like berries.

On this one I had to decide when to stop with the punched holly leaves and red Marianne swirls .. .. when is enough, enough!

The only Christmas challenges I could find are looking for vintage, sparkly or pastel creations, not really a fit for either of these cards. Party Time Tuesday do have an anything goes challenge though, so I'll link up with them.

I am feeling a little worn and jaded at the moment, there's so much to do and I've run out of steam. I know I have to take it easy or risk a ME relapse .. .. somehow it's the little things that bother me the most - filling in a tax return for my late Dad really got to me this morning. Mental and emotional stresses can sometimes be more devastating for my ME symptoms than physical exertion. Ah well, tomorrow is another day .. ..

Abracadabra!

2011-10-23T18:13:00.000+01:00

Abracadabra! Having 2 grandsons, I didn't need much persuasion to buy this LOTV cute little lad and create a Halloween card for one of the boys. I've coloured with my Copics and kept the card layout simple with just a background paper over-stamped with various PB spooky images. These are the Copics I used: for the blues B91, 93, 95, 97 and 99; for the reds R24, 29, E07 and 09; the beige colours are E40, 41, 42, 43 and 44; and the stars are Y13, 15 and 17. I used W1, 3 and 5 for the floor and created the background shadow with B60, BV31 and B63.

Here's the card. I've added a brad I found in my stash, coloured the stamped stars and to finish I've punched stars from yellow card - simples!

Party Time Tuesday have a spooky challenge, as do Stampin' For The Weekend, while the Allsorts challenge blog are looking for Halloween creations.

Under the Moon

2011-10-21T10:07:00.005+01:00

I have this Victoria Case digi image on my computer, and did colour it up last year but thought it would be a good one to play with again this year. With so many of my stamps still in the loft I'm sorting through the digi designs for ones to print and colour. I've used my Copics, and have a list for you: I've used the BV20, 23, 25 and 29 for the 'black' areas, the reds are R35, 37 and 39, the greens are BG93, 96 and 99, and the oranges are E95, 97 and 99. For the clouds I used W00, 0, and 1 with W1, 3, 5 and 7 for the fence posts. The moon is Y0000, 000 and 00, and for the sky/background I've used B91, 93 and 95.

Here is the card with the disastrous silver pearls. You can see that things started out ok in the bottom right but got steadily worse .. .. and in close up they look absolutely awful. I've added black netting behind the image over the dark blue paper from my stash. The touch of red lace was to echo the red in the image and I punched out the black poinsettias adding a red gem in the centres then diecut the leaves to create my flower embellishment. The butterflies were an afterthought - wish I hadn't had that! Now I think I'm going to have to try and take them off and cover up the mess .. .. ..

Is this better? I took off the butterflies and made bigger ones with the two smaller sizes of Nellie's Choice punch and emboss sets layered up with black gems for the bodies. I then diecut the Marianne fronds from red card and made another black poinsettia for the right hand side, although it's not showing up too well in the picture. I couldn't add the lace behind it as I've used it all up. There's a tiny light patch below the top butterfly on the right where the silver blob came off .. .. maybe I shouldn't have mentioned it then you wouldn't have noticed!

Now I don't feel embarrassed entering the Halloween challenges with this one, so it's Crafty Cardmakers who are looking for cute with a dark twist, Papertake Weekly who are looking for spooky hues, Paperplay looking for black somewhere, and Paper Sundaes, Magical Monday and Stampavie and More all going with Halloween.

Sorry!

2011-10-20T15:59:00.000+01:00

Sorry I'm late, and sorry is our theme on Cute Card Thursday this week. My internet connection was very iffy yesterday and I just couldn't load any pictures at all. I discovered that I don't have a 'sorry' stamp, and I'm pretty sure there isn't one boxed up in the loft either so I'll have to go shopping .. .. .. any excuse! I've used the little mouse parade stamp from a clear Penny Black set and coloured with my Copics. This is just a little 4" square card with a scrap of digi paper I've edged with Platinum Stickles to give a sparkly interest. I matted the image and text with a soft rose card and added more Stickles, then decorated with velvet scallop ribbon, punched flowers and leaves, and little pearls. The pearls in the centres of the flowers are sticky back ones, but the ones on the butterfly bodies I made with my cream Waco pearl maker pen. How come I can make nice rounded pearls with this pen, but have so much trouble with some of the others? You can see my disaster with the silver pen tomorrow!

The Penny Black Saturday challenge was to show images on the move, so my little mice should be right along there. I'm going to try and get around some of the blogs this afternoon, internet allowing that is.

And an update on the building works: the pv solar panels are on the roof, but with such miserable weather they aren't generating much electricity at the moment - yesterday was the first day and we reckoned we made £5 worth, hopefully we can equal that today but this morning was very dull and overcast and the numbers were moving very slowly. I've not managed to work out how much we got for 'free' during the day, but every little bit will help. The planning application is now tacked onto the front gate for the next 21 days, hopefully nobody will object and we will get the permissions by the end of November. I've finished painting the porch but need a man with a hammer drill to put up a knick-knack shelf and a picture before I take any pictures to show you (plus I must wash the floor and clean the windows). The electrician will have to fit the new light as the wiring is a little old and we couldn't figure out which was the live and which the neutral. And I am hoping my DH will find time to make a coat rack - I've got 3 hooks so it's only a 10 minute job - heh heh!

Spells and Potions

2011-10-17T17:50:00.002+01:00

I'm back again! I coloured up this image a while ago then left it, and you can see that some of my Copic shades have changed colour - especially the pink/violet, but I think it still works. The image is one I've had on my pc for a while, it was a free download from Elisabeth O Dulemba on the Colouring Pages site, see here. For the hat and apron I've used the BV20, 23, 25 and 29 shades, I do like these for colouring things that are black. The pink/violet shades are V04, 06 and 09, but that V06 has gone lighter and pinker. The green shades are YG00, YG03 and YG17 and originally they blended into each other much better, now you can see the joins, especially on her sleeve - I'm not happy with that.
But rather than mess about, the card will go into one of the charity boxes as it's a C6 size and hopefully someone might like it. The papers are various bits from my box with a black chalk ink pad dragged around the edges and matted with violet/pink card. For embellishment I coloured a piece of ribbon with the BV29, fixed on the brads, added a sprinkling of stars and wrapped around black thread. The bat is a PB stamp I coloured and glazed before cutting out - and the glaze then cracked - ah well, it adds to the ambiance (my excuse anyway).

There are quite a few Halloween challenges about so I'm linking up with Everybody Art and the Fussy and Fancy Friday blogs. Still having internet problems, I'm not sure if it's my pc or living at the back of beyond that causes me to loose connection, and when I do get connected it's a slow process to get about, but I'll try to catch up!

Decorating the Tree

2011-10-13T09:46:00.005+01:00

We have a treemendous theme this week on Cute Card Thursday, perfect for creating a few more festive cards. I've inked up my LOTV little lad decorating the tree, coloured with Copics and put the card together with freebie magazine papers and some die-cut pieces.

I have a list of the colours for you: skin tones with my usual E000, 00, and 21. His hair, shoes and the pot are the E41 to E47 shades and the stool is E81 with those paler shades. For the tree I coloured with YG13 and 17, his cardi and the stars are coloured with Y35 and YR23, and the reds are R37, E07 and E09. I've used warm greys W0 and W2 for shading, and a new pen for me warm grey W00 for shading the fur trim on his hat.

Here's the card. I've punched out little circles with a hole punch then domed them with a big ball tool before inking the edges and fixing to the card as faux brads. I have used a real gold sparkle brad in the centre of my floral embellishment created with various Marianne dies.

The One Stop Craft challenge blog have an anything goes theme whilst Paper Sundaes want to see your favourite colour combinations, well for Christmas mine is the traditional red, green and gold.

Although I've been quite busy since I last posted, my absence has been more to do with the internet connection that has been disappearing seconds after I log on - so visiting and blogging has been a nightmare. I took Mum to the Magnet showroom on Monday afternoon to finalise our kitchen, but we ended up with a different one in the end! We couldn't afford the top end painted cream design and had been hopeful for the economy version, but it was more ivory than cream and not what Mum wanted. So, instead we have decided on a light oak shaker design with a brown imitation marble worktop, I just hope it wont be too much with the teak dining room table, chairs and sideboard she already has, plus we were going to have a wood floor. Perhaps if the floor is very pale or very dark it might work, and if I paint the walls a pale shade and avoid any more natural wooden pieces, and have a linen or leather sofa, all will be ok. I've still not got the paint for the porch, and have decided not to paint the old tv cabinet for storage in there as Mum now has a walker to help her get around outside, and that will have to live in the porch too.

If the internet connection holds I hope to be able to catch up over the next few days .. .. fingers crossed!

Sweet Blossom

2011-10-08T10:01:00.001+01:00

Another Wee card to share with you today, this is Sweet Blossom and I think she is my favourite, at least at the moment anyway. I've coloured her with my Copics and used the classic K&Co papers to create my card. All the edges are inked with Jumbo Java Versamagic chalk ink and I die cut the mat with a fancy Nellie's Choice die. The flowers and butterflies are punches with cream peals made with my pearl maker pen, and the leaf swirls are snips of a Marianne die. The Fab 'n' Funky challenge is to use dies and punches, whilst the Truly Scrumptious theme is distressing, my inked edges will hopefully count.

I've lost my list of Copic colours for you, and sorry there's no close up today - do you like them or should I not bother and just show the card?

Here is the new porch that went in and was finished yesterday - the men from Bradworthy Glass did a fabulous job and even cleaned the windows, so you can see the reflections! I've put a comfy chair and little table at one end so Mum can sit and watch the world go by whilst having a cuppa. The other end will have a coat rack and low unit for storage tucked away, and I might take a trip to Trago Mills to see if I can find a rug to take off the chill of the tiled floor under Mum's feet.

Winter Fairy

2011-10-07T09:14:00.001+01:00

Exciting news, you can now get 6 of Sylvia's gorgeous Wee designs in rubber from Whimsy Stamps, and they are starting to appear in the UK craft stores too. This little cutie is the Winter Fairy, coloured with my Copics of course, and given the Stickles treatment with Stardust and Platinum. In addition to my usual skin colours I used YG93 and 97 for the greens, R24 and 29 for the reds, E42, 43 and 44 for her hair and the birdie, E50 and 81 for the fur trims and wings, and E30, 31 and 53 for her coat and boots. I've also used warm greys for shadow, but it's not showing up in the enhanced picture above.

Here's the card, a simple design with papers from the Milton pack I used yesterday. Today though I've gone for a more traditional feel with inked edges and a satin ribbon with just a smattering of small flowers and holly leaves. I've used a gold pearl maker pen for the centres of the flowers, but I'm having problems with getting the rounded pearl shape with this one.

The Flutterby Wednesday blog have an open challenge again this week, the Allsorts challenge want to see at least 5 flowers, Magical Monday want you to have used 3 punches (circle punch for the text, flowers and leaves), and the Anything Goes challenge is for dies and punches.

I'm scheduling this post as the workmen should be here by the time you read this .. .. I'll catch up and link up later in the day.

Time for cake!

2011-10-06T09:33:00.001+01:00

This week on Cute Card Thursday our theme is 'time for cake' - but I'm back on my diet so colouring cake is as close as I'm getting to any! This image is called 'time for tea' by LOTV but there is a rather large muffin on the table next to that tea pot. I've coloured with Copics and went over the cake with my glaze pen. The colours are bright to match the free Milton & Co paper pack I got with a magazine and for the Copic Creations challenge to use saturated colours. For the green tones I used YG11, 03 and 25, for the pale pink RV00, R81 and 83. For the bright pink RV25 and 29, and the purple is RV 63 and 66. I've used E70, 71, 74 and 77 for the brown areas with warm greys for the shading.

Here is the card. I've gone a bit mad with the pink pearls made with my Waco pearl pen, and the little flowers are punched with my new Nellie's Choice punch and emboss set plus I used the poinsettia set to make the leaves. I'm also entering the Paper Sundaes blog challenge for lots of layers and the Papertake Weekly challenge where it's anything goes for their birthday celebrations plus the option to use punches.

Sharing a biscuit

2011-10-04T17:19:00.001+01:00

I've used the auto brightness adjustment button for the close up of this card, and it's showing up a lot brighter than it really is - but at least you can see my brush strokes! The image is one of the Dawn Christmas designs by Nellie's Choice, and of course I coloured with my Copics then added the snow with my pearl maker pen. In addition to my usual skin tones I've coloured her skirt with E50, 51 and 53, her jacket with R20, 21 and 22, her hat and scarf with E00, 02 and o4 plus the salmon pink shades from her jacket and G40, 82 and 94. Her hair, boots and the little squirrel are E42, 43 and 44 and the shading is done with the cool greys C0, 1 and 3.

And here is the card looking more like in real life. I've edged the plaid patterned paper with a snowcap Adirondack dabber to add a distressed edge, and sanded the diecut elements to keep the shabby chic look going. The diecut buttons I threaded with twine, added the pale pink ribbon and finished with more pearls on the leaf spray.

The Dutch Dare challenge blog are playing bingo and I've got a line with ribbon, flowers and diecuts. Fun with shapes and more blog are looking for vintage/shabby chic, while the ABC Challenge blog are back with an A for anything goes theme.

I've been off line for a few days so have lots of catching up to do and hope to have a couple more cards ready to share with you this week.

Christmas Magic

2011-09-30T09:35:00.000+01:00

I had originally planned this card for last week's LOTV challenge to create with Aqua and sparkle, but never got it finished. Life is a bit hectic here at the moment and I'm never sure from one day to the next if I'll be able to craft, or not. Anyway, I've coloured my LOTV image with Copics using the B0000, 000, 00, 02 and 05 shades for the aqua tones, with teddy and the stripes on her scarf in the E30s but I've mislaid my list so I'm not sure what shades I used for her hair. The sparkle is added with a quickie glue pen and loose crystal glitter.

Here's the card, a C6 for today's MacMillian Big Coffee Morning, simply finished off with ribbon, buttons and a Marianne diecut snowflake. And the glue in the middle of the buttons will have dried clear by the time I take it - promise!

Cupcake Crafts blog want to see teddy bears this week, Crafty Creations have a CAS theme, and this week over on the LOTV challenge blog it's for buttons - so I made it anyway!

Koetie and friend

2011-09-29T15:19:00.003+01:00

I'm a little late with my DT card for this week's animal antics theme on Cute Card Thursday, but better late than never! I've inked up this cute stamp by Nellies Choice called Koetie and squirrel then coloured with my Copics. Not too many shades, mainly the warm greys, a little B0000 and touches of coral pink R20 & 22 plus green G40 & 94.

I've tried brightening my pictures as even though it's summer again here in Cornwall, it looked dark on my screen. I've added loose clear glitter with a glue pen around the edges of the layers, tied a length of silk ribbon around the embossed white layer, then diecut the Marianne snowflakes and poinsettias. I've inked the diecuts with aqua chalk ink and finished off with sparkly gems. Oh, and I forgot to say, I used my pearl pen to add the little snowflakes to the image.

Paper Sundaes have an anything goes theme running this week - but I'm having problems linking up with them .. .. will try again later when Mr Blogger has had his afternoon cuppa!

Santa's Sleigh

2011-09-27T12:05:00.002+01:00

This is another of the images that I started to colour ages ago, it's a Stampavie stamp called Santa's Sleigh and I got it in a sale back in the spring, stamped it up and put it in the box .. .. I've coloured with Copics and was going to add some sparkle to the stars but forgot, perhaps I'll go back and do it later if I have time. I've created a C6 card for the MacMillan big coffee morning on Friday so need to get a move on and finish off inside and get it in a cello bag.

Here's the card, another piece of paper from my stash, a few Nellie's Choice punch and emboss poinsettias layered up and finished off with little gold gems plus a digi circular greeting from Cuddly Buddly and a little gold bow. A bright and colourful card I think you'll agree!

The Copic shades I used were R24, 27, 29 and 39 for the red shades, YG00, 03 and 25 for the greens, YR21, 23, 24 for the gold tones with Y35, 38 and YR04 for the brighter oranges. V15, 17 and 09 for the touches of purple and E30, 31, 55 and 57 for the reindeer. The blue along the star skids is B0000 and B000.

The Bah Humbug challenge is for Rudolph or Reindeer creations, so here's one for them, and over on the Sweet Stampin' challenge blog it's anything goes, with an optional sketch that I didn't use.

We are still waiting for the Indian Summer to arrive here in Cornwall - it is very breezy and rather cloudy today, but there are patches of blue sky now and then. I have managed to create two tiny semi circles of garden next to the wall for a few of my herbs, thankfully the garlic chive flowers seem to stand up well in the constant sea breezes. I've put in some Spring bulbs around them, but wonder if they will last or get the petals blown away the minute they open.

Little Shepherd Boy

2011-09-25T10:29:00.001+01:00

I'm scheduling today's card, fingers crossed! This is another of the LOTV stamped images from ages ago that hadn't been finished off. I've coloured with my Copics and am pretty sure I've used the E40s, E50s, B91-97 and a yellow I can't quite put my finger on - oh and the B0000, B000 and B00 for the sheet together with warm greys for the shadows. I've gone over the stars with my glaze pen for a little added interest and stamped a little snowflake in blue chalk ink around the edge of the image.

Here's the card. A clean and simple design for the Christmas Stampin' All Year Long blog as well as the Allsorts and Truly Scrumptious challenges. Yet another piece of paper from my scrap box matted with blue card and finished with a length of organza and AB pearl string, simples! It'll be one for the Macmillan box at the big coffee morning being held next Friday at Trevone Bay - I must try and get a few more made to go with it.

Star of Wonder

2011-09-24T17:01:00.002+01:00

What a miserable day it is today, where is the Indian Summer we were promised? There was a hint of blue sky out to sea just now, but it didn't last and more rain is headed this way! So I've been able to finish a card I started ages ago, there's a box full of bits in various stages of completion so I must do something about it all. This is a LOTV stamped image called star of wonder, and she's coloured with Copics. As well as my skin tones I used YG93 and G99 for the greens; R22, 24, 27 and 29 for the reds; YR20, Y21 and YR24 for the gold tones and E34, 35, 57 and 47 for the browns. There's also B60 for the shadow and shading and Platinum Stickles for the sparkle.

And here's the card, snapped in a moment of sunshine so you can see the shadows under my layers. The papers are scraps from the bit box matted with dark green card with everything give a brown inked edge, although it's not showing up around the image at all. My embellishments are made with layers of Marianne diecuts and a pale amber Waco pearl maker pen.

The Corrosive Challenge blog have been running a punches/dies theme, hopefully I've made it in time to enter. Stamp with Fun have an anything goes challenge, and so do the Anything Goes challenge blog - here's mine!

Perfectly Puppy

2011-09-22T21:28:00.000+01:00

If you love cute puppies and kittens then get on over to Cuddly Buddly! Karen Middleton has released 9 new digi designs that are not just for Christmas. I got to play with Perfectly Puppy and coloured my little spaniel in shades of cool grey Copics, with my little Aero in mind. The rest of the Copics were B91 and 93 for the tissue and tags. YR20, 21 and 24 for the golden yellows, YG13 and 17 for the green holly, RV32, 34 and RV 95 for shadow on the box, and RV63 and 66 for the curly ribbons. I've gone over the bauble and the tissue with Stardust Stickles.

Here's my card. I must admit to colouring my image then leaving it on my desk for a couple of days trying to decide what papers to use to put it all together - in the end I settled for the pink and white polka dots and kept things very straight forward with just a band of white gross-grain ribbon, a Marianne die cut star border and Nellies Choice die cut buttons threaded with fine white ribbon (still not found the button box).

The Papertake Weekly blog challenge is for creature comforts so I can enter my cute little puppy with them.

Wee Witch

2011-09-20T12:19:00.000+01:00

I have had fun colouring in this new Wee Hazel Witch from Sylvia Zett. She had to be in purple and black of course, what young self respecting witch would be dressed in anything else?!
OK, so you want to know the Copic shades I used .. .. well, in addition to my usual skin tones I've used the cool greys from 0 to 7, the violet shades V000, 01, 06 and 09 as well as the blue violets BV20, 23, 25 and 29. For the background I've used B0000, B000 and B00. I've added a touch of sparkle to her hat and shoe buckles with a Stardust pen and used my glaze pen over the watch face and her moon stone pendant.

And here's the card. The bats, text and the cobweb corners are by PB and the black flowers are punched with Nellies Choice punch and emboss sets with little AB star gems in the centres. The spotty paper is from my stash and I've matted with lilac and dark grey card, added a black organza bow and a sprinkle of stars.

The next Digital Tuesday challenge is for people cards, perfect for Hazel! Cupcake Crafts have gone over to the dark side with a black and purple colour challenge this week and the iCopic blog want to see your unloved colours - well I don't like to colour in dark greys very often and rarely use the darker purples so that's been a bit of a challenge for me.

I'm still not getting around to many blogs just at the moment, what with the slow internet connection down in this part of Cornwall and getting things sorted out here. The good news is the architect submitted the plans for the extension yesterday and fingers crossed all will go through in about 6 weeks. The porch has been delayed due to the manufacture of the curved panes of glass, but hopefully that will be sorted this week and next week it will go in. More delays on the solar panels due to Western Power objections, but as we are within the Governments guidelines I don't think they can object .. .. but they are being awkward and causing delays. We also have to have the electricity supply moved from one side of a wall to the other - more delays and the expense is astronomical (the price of a new kitchen!). So I'm not getting too much time to craft either, but hey ho - it'll be worth it in the end!

Generous Snowbuddy

2011-09-19T18:28:00.002+01:00

This last cute snowman is Generous Snowbuddy by Karen Middleton at Cuddly Buddly, coloured with Copics. I've used the same shades as yesterday, although no yellow this time, and added the sparkle to create another C6 charity card.

Here's the card. I've used papers from this paper pack at Cuddly Buddly, inked the edges with Aspen Mist Versamagic chalk ink, matted with bright green card and with a snowflake border on the vertical band. I die cut a couple of Marianne snowflakes, added the Stardust Stickles and layered them up for a simple embellishment - job done.

The Totally Gorjuss blog challenge is to avoid squares, although you can have a square image as long as it's not on a square card - follow? Well my card is a C6 (rectangle) so I'll enter. Christmas Stampin' All Year have a photo challenge this week - I've picked out the colours red, green and white to use on my creation.

Cozy Snowbuddies

2011-09-18T09:43:00.004+01:00

And here's the next one, scheduled all being well. Sorry for the fuzy close up photo, the camera went into auto mode rather than macro and wouldn't change for anything! Anyway, I've coloured the cute Cozy Snowbuddies with Copics and gone for the primaries red, yellow and blue plus green for the My Time To Craft kaleidoscope of colour challenge. The reds are R00, 02 and 05 - the yellows are Y00, 02 and 04, the blues are B0000, 000, B21 and 23 - and the greens are G00, 02 and 05.

And here's the card, a C6 design for the charity box. With those bright colours in the image I decided to go for a white on white look so simply added layers of embossed white card behind the image. I've also gone crazy with the Stardust Stickles and edged my image and some of the embossed snowflakes beneath - it's a real sparkler! and I've gone over the holly berries, the light in the lantern and their noses with my glaze pen so they are shiny. As my button and thread box is still in storage I diecut a button and stuck the pearls in the holes before fixing it over a scrap of organza ribbon - I'm not totally sure about it .. .. what do you think?

Moving Along With The Times have a sparkle challenge this week so perfect!

Snowbuddies

2011-09-17T10:07:00.002+01:00

Here's another scheduled card for you, fingers crossed! I've been playing with the Snowbuddies designs by Karen Middleton for Cuddly Buddly and will show you the other two over the next couple of days. This first one is Charming Snowbuddies, coloured with Copics and cut out with a Nellie's Choice die. The colours are B000, 000, 21 and 23 with G00, 02, 03, 05 plus a touch of red on the berries. For the broom I used E70, 71 and 74 with the cool greys for his hat and the bit on the broom that keeps the head on the stick .. .. you know what I mean!

Here's the card - I used the auto adjust for the colour to try and brighten it up but I'm not sure it worked. I kept things clean and simple with just a piece of ribbon over a Nellie's Choice diecut border and a single sheet of subtle snowflake paper over the base. A smattering of pearls and a sprinkling of Stardust Stickles and job done.

Totally Papercrafts are looking for CAS creations this week, and over at the Fab 'n' Funky challenge blog they are playing bingo - my line is the diagonal with embellishment (pearls), ribbon and die cuts.

Toby Tumbles again .. ..

2011-09-16T10:09:00.001+01:00

Fingers crossed Mr Blogger will schedule this one for you .. .. ..

This time I coloured my digi Toby Tumbles with paler colours, and went girly pink! I used Copics E30, 31 and 55 for Toby and the slightly darker E33, 35 and 37 for teddy . This time the greens are G20, 63 and 67 whilst the pinks are RV00, 63, 66, 69 and 32 to shade. I've used the pale grey C0 1 and 3 to shade and went over the stocking dots and stars on the present with a shimmer pen, then added crystal glitter to the fur trims with a glue pen.

And here is the card. I've used a stripe paper from the Quilted Holly digi collection and matted with pale green cardstock. To embellish I've cut Marianne poinsettias, daisy and lacy leaves and finished with a pretty ribbon bow and a touch of bling.
I won a prize on the Digital Tuesday challenge blog last week! This week the theme is to celebrate the season, any season, so I'm entering my festive Toby Tumbles. Creative Inspirations have an anything goes theme so I can enter with them too.

Christmas Surprise!

2011-09-15T15:54:00.001+01:00

Today sees the launch of Czes' new designs at Cuddly Buddly, and I got to play with this cute Toby Tumble digi design! He's also available as a coloured image ready for you to decoupage etc. I've coloured with my Copics and gone for a darker selection of shades for a change. Toby is coloured with E31, 33, 35 and 37, as is his constant teddy bear companion. For the greens I've used G20, 24 and 28, for the golden yellows I've used YR20, 21 and 24. The reds are R37, 39 and 59, with Boooo as shadow and on the fur trims. I wnet over the dots on the stocking and the white berries and stars on the parcel with my glaze pen, and added crystal glitter to the fur trims with my glue pen.

Here's the card, and it's my DT entry for this week's anything goes challenge on Cute Card Thursday. The digi papers are from Cuddly Buddly and to embellish I've tied on ribbon and diecut Marianne poinsettias to create the flowers.

Crafty Catz blog want to see some ribbons, and the Sukkersott blog are looking for digi stamps for their challenge. Cutie Sunday have a Christmas theme running so I'm entering with them too.

I have been busy with house stuff, meeting with architects and planners to sort out the new extension, and doing a little crafting behind the scenes which I hope to share with you over the next few days. Blogger seems to be having an off day so I'll quit while I'm ahead and try visit some of my followers.

Forest Friends

2011-09-09T19:08:00.000+01:00

Today I have a card with another of Karen Middleton's digi designs for Cuddly Buddly, this one is Forest Friends from the Fairy Collection. My image is coloured with Copics plus a frosty sprinkling of Stardust Stickles. In addition to my usual skin tones I've coloured with G20, YG63 and 67 for the greens, R0000, R20, 21 and 22 for the pinks, E30 and E81 for the fur trims and E40 - E44 for the brown tones on the tree and the deer.

And here is the finished card. I've used Kraft cardstock for the base and to mat my image, and to cut the border with a Nellie's Choice die. The background paper is from Kim's Heaven Sent digi collection which I can't seem to find just at the moment - I'll ask Kim where it's at. I've added a length of green satin ribbon (and there isn't a blob at the top it's a reflection), punched leaves, little roses and snips of pearl string and organza ribbon.

Papertake Weekly have an anything goes theme this week, whilst the Anything Goes blog are looking for vintage or shabby chic - I think my inked edges and colour choices will qualify me for the latter.

Whatever you are doing this weekend, enjoy!

The Holy Family

2011-09-08T18:36:00.000+01:00

Today sees the launch of more cute digi stamps by Karen Middleton over at Cuddly Buddly, and you can see more projects made by the team on the Fabulous Crafty Friends blog. I got to play with this one, the Holy family, and coloured the image with my Copics. In addition to my usual skin tones of E000, 00, and 21 I've used cool shades of blues and greens for Mary and Joseph's clothes in C0 and B21 with BG70 and BG72 for Joseph's headdress. The sky is B26, B23 and B21 and the grass is YG91 and G85. The buildings in the background are the paler E40 and E41, the wool on the sheep is E50 and E81, whilst the manger and sheep ears and feet are coloured with the range E40 - E44. The straw in the manger is Y000, 00 and 02. I've added a little gold Spica pen over the stars and the halo over baby Jesus.

And here is the card:

I cut around the image and matted with a Nestie circle cut with gold mirri card and then a blue scallop Nestie circle. The background papers are from Karen's Enchanted Wishes paper pack, also matted with the gold mirri. Across the middle of the card I've added lengths of dark blue satin and gold ribbon and tied a gold bow. The little embellishment in the bottom corner is cut from various Marianne dies and to finish off I've added pearls made with my gold Waco pearl maker pen.

No challenges to link up with this evening and tea is nearly ready so I'll catch up later.

Xmas Pixie

2011-09-07T15:35:00.002+01:00

Today I have a pretty card to share with you. This is the Xmas Pixie, one of Karen Middleton's new digi designs available at Cuddly Buddly, coloured with my Copics. I've used my usual skin tones then added in pinks RV10 and 11, greens G20 and 21, blues B91 and 21, plus the cool greys from C0 to C5. I've added a little glaze pen to the reflections on the baubles and lots of Stardust Stickles. The check paper is also by Karen at Cuddly Buddly, matted with bright pink card and with a layer of white swiss dots embossed. For embellishment I've added a length of pink gingham ribbon and diecut various Marianne elements that also have the Stickle treatment!

The iCopic weekly challenge is currently to add glitter, as well as use your Copics of course. the digital Tuesday challenge is called fairy wishes, hope they will let a little pixie in, and over on Flutterby Wednesday Danni is looking for a few of her favourite things, including pink and lots of sparkle!

I have been a little stressed out the past 24 hours, my hubby had to go back to the hospital for a proceedure .. .. I wont go into the gory details. As I couldn't leave Mum he stayed overnight with his uncle and went with his Mum to the hospital, but his phone died so I was in a right state not knowing what was happening. Thankfully the news is good, there is no longer any sign of a blockage and the diagnosis is simply IBS. Right then, I'd best make a soothing fish pie for tea tonight and limit the fruit cake - easier said than done!

Decorating Rudolph

2011-09-05T13:21:00.003+01:00

I've had this cute Rudolph stamp by Penny Johnson for Stampavie for some time, but I've only just got around to colouring him in. I've used my Copics: the E40 - E49 for Rudolph and the birds, RV32, 34 and 17 for the pinks, YG00, 03 and 17 for the greens and a little B60 for the shadow along with an old B60 pen I topped up with blending solution so it's now a very pale version of the original.

And here's the card. I've used another of the old Papermania papers and added the white faux stitches around the edge then matted with dark brown cardstock. The ribbon is from my stash and to embellish I simply punched out lots of poinsettias with my different sizes of Nellies Choice punches and added the centres with my Wacco pearl maker pen in pale amber.

I've been looking around the challenge blogs, and found the Corrosive Challenge blog theme is for funny or punny creations, hope decorating Rudloph counts! Divas by Design have a Christmas in August theme, and I found a new to me blog called Crafting When We Can with a do it your way theme, so I'll enter with them too.

And I nearly forgot the Stampavie and More challenge which is for Christmas - just made it!

A Wee card

2011-09-03T17:42:00.002+01:00

I've managed to colour in a Wee digi image I'd printed out before we moved, this one is called Christmas bunny and isn't he the cutest! I've used my Copics: E50, 51, 53 and 55 for bunny and the sled. Pinks and reds are R20, 22, 24, 27 and 29. The greens are YG00, 03 and 17 whilst the aqua tones on the snow and the parcel are actually G000 and G00.

Here's the card, a simple layout with what I had unpacked .. .. ..

I've added the white dots to the parcel with a marker pen and highlighted with Stardust Stickles. The papers are digi designs from Cuddly Buddly that I had already printed out in my stash, and everything is edged with a silver pen I forgot I had! Finally to finish off I punched out the silver snowflakes, added a length of gross grain ribbon and a few AB gems.

I don't know of any challenges I can enter with this one, so please let me know if you can think of any. I am into making Christmas cards at the moment, possibly because those are the stamps that didn't get put into boxes in the loft .. .. but then again I will need quite a few crimbo cards this year so had better make another one to share tomorrow!

Ooo I found a couple of challenges .. .. new ones to me! The first is called Clearly iStamp - but you can use digi images. The current challenge is to use patterned paper and I've used 2 different designs, there is a subtle snowflake pattern on the paler paper with little robins and holly leaves on the top coordinating layer. The second one is Card Makin Mamas and they want you to go digital - perfect as that's what I've done!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend, although it's raining here in Cornwall and the roads are packed with the mass exit of holiday makers - I'm looking forward to the empty beaches!

Christmas with Dawn

2011-09-02T16:09:00.002+01:00

I'm finally in my new home, and with an internet connection, albeit rather slow. I even found time to do a little colouring and put a card together, but still haven't gotten everything organised or unpacked the boxes. Until we have built the extension to create more room, a lot of things will be left unpacked. This is another of my new Dawn Christmas stamps from Nellie's Choice coloured with my Copics - but no list as I had most of the image coloured before the move and then had to pack up the pens, and of course I forgot to note the numbers.

Here's the card I put together with my limited supplies. The paper is from an old Papermania pack with bright green mats, not too green I hope. The poinsettias are created with Nellie's Choice punch and emboss sets, including the new little mini that's just come out.

I'm too late to add this card as my DT creation for Cute Card Thursday, but it fits the pinch and punch theme for this week's challenge. But, I can enter the Charisma Cardz blog challenge as it's an anything goes week!

I've tons of catching up to do so will cut short and take a wonder around blog land for a wee while.

Take a Present

2011-08-20T16:51:00.000+01:00

Here's another Christmas card with one of the new Nellie's Choice Dawn stamps, this one is called Take a Present.

I've coloured with Copics and simply added a scallop mat behind the image over a piece of pale blue dotty paper on another of the scallop base cards. A few snowflakes to embellish and a little greeting and job done! The colours are pretty much the same as yesterday's card with the addition of B41 and B52 for her blue jacket and the stripes on her hat.

Christmas Stampin' All Year Long have a non-traditional challenge, so no red or green allowed - perfect then for my little Dawn card! And the Totally Gorjuss girls are looking for cute and cuddly this week, well I have a cutie cuddly bunny in the picture so will enter with them too.

Hokey Pokey!

2011-08-19T16:20:00.000+01:00

I treated myself to the new Nellie's Choice Dawn Christmas stamps now available at Cuddly Buddly and have managed to colour in 3 of the 4, but only made the one card so far. Fingers crossed I can get the other 2 finished and scheduled for the next couple of days while I am moving stuff down to Mum's. This first one is called Hokey Pokey! and could be used for winter birthdays or festive party invites as well as for Christmas. I've coloured with my Copics and added lots of clear crystal glitter with a glue pen, as well as touches of Stardust Stickles around the edges of the image and paper.

Here's the card, not so bright as the flash didn't go off this time. I've inked the edges of the image with Spring Pansy Versamagic chalk ink after I finished colouring to tie in with the piece of pink snowflake paper I had in my odds and ends box. As I'd coloured with a lot of creamy brown shades I used a cream card to mat the image and the paper before fixing to a white scallop card (the only pack that didn't get boxed) - I hope it works. I managed to cut and layer up various Marianne dies to create the embellishment then finished with cream pearls made with my pearl maker pen.

I remembered to make a note of the Copic colours I used to colour, so here goes:
skin tones - E000, 00 and 21. hair - E30, 30, 55 and 44
creamy browns - E50, 51 and 53. pinks - RV00, 63 and 66
the touch of green - G20 and G12
background B0000 and B000

Crafty Catz have a pink and brown colour combo challenge so I'm entering as I've used soft creamy browns with the pinks. And Totally Papercrafts have a Christmas in August theme so I can enter with them too.

Enjoy your weekend - I'm not sure when I'll be around to link up and blog but hopefully I'll be able to schedule a couple more cards to share with you until I'm back again.

Flash Back!

2011-08-19T09:23:00.003+01:00

Moving Along With The Times have a flash back challenge this week, to show a card that you made a while back that you are particularly pleased with. This WOW creation is a favourite of mine that I don't think I could improve on - it's a combination of paper pricking and dry embossing on a shimmery pearl paper in the background, different pearl papers cut with various dies and fixed at different heights with foam pads, die cut and punched butterflies, roses made with the Marianne make a flower die and punched leaves. The centre text is by LOTV stamped with Pearlescent Blue ink which is actually more grey in real life. I've inked the embossed areas on the larger butterflies and the edges of the leaves with a very pale pink chalk ink and smothered the card with pearls. It's been sat on my shelf for a while, in a protective cello bag to keep it clean, waiting for a special occasion .. .. but now it's been packed away so hopefully wont be squashed. I'm going to copy it and this time add pale blue ink to the highlight areas, once I get unpacked that is!

Another new Christmas Toby

2011-08-18T16:05:00.003+01:00

I made another Christmas card with one of the new Toby Tumbles digi designs from Cuddly Buddly, this is Christmas Bells, coloured with Copics plus inked edges to give a bit of a vintage feel, well that's what I was aiming for anyway. Sorry no list of colours as I started this one ages ago and forgot to take a note of the pens before I put them away. Here's the card:

The papers are from the Toby Christmas digi pack and I've matted with a bright red cardstock. My ribbons are already boxed up and down at Mum's but I found this bit of gold in amongst the wrapping papers on top of the wardrobe so rescued it for the card! Another simple design with limited embellishments from my bit box - it will be great to get things unpacked again .. ..

A quick look at the challenge blog list and I found out that Crafty Creations are after red, orange and green and as those are the colours I used to colour the main part of my image, I'm going to enter. And as the Secret Crafter Saturday challenge is Christmas is Coming I can enter with them too.

New Christmas Toby Tumbles

2011-08-16T17:08:00.000+01:00

I've given myself a day off from packing today and played with the new Christmas Toby Tumbles digi designs over at Cuddly Buddly, this one is Christmas Me to You. I've coloured with Copics and remembered to list the colours - Toby is E30, E31, E55 and E44 plus a little R20 on his cheeks and inside his ears. His clothes are Y21, Y28, G21, G28, R22 and R27. The mistletoe, holly leaves and berries are with the same red and green colours, the edges of the stamps and the label are E40 and E81, then for the background I've used B000 and B0000. Oh, and I nearly forgot, the ribbon is RV00, RV63 and RV66.

Here's a pic of the card, quite simple as I've not got much left to play with. The patterned paper is a digi design from Cuddly Budly's Quilted Holly collection matted with dark green card onto a scallop square base. I've cut various Marianne bits and pieces to create the poinsettia embellishment and used waste dots in the corners covered with Stardust Stickles so they look like sparkly brads. I stamped the Jolly Holly text with Momento Cottage Ivy ink as it seemed appropriate! As the Marianne's Design Divas is an anything goes challenge this week I'll enter my card with them, and over at My Time To Craft the theme is something beginning with G .. .. mine is all the green I've used.

And here's another view of my new home, just a little bit further along from yesterday's view.
The garden isn't large, you can see the shed in the back corner - it could make a nice little craft room but I think it's going to stay as a shed as my hubby has designs on it too! The prickly beriberis hedge is going and the new bedrooms will be along the side of the garage with enough room left for a new drive leading up to that shed. The garden is wider at the front then at the back on this side so once the building is finished I'll have to see if there is any lawn left to rescue and create some flower beds behind the picket fence.

Love Angel

2011-08-15T11:05:00.003+01:00

There have been so many changes over at Cuddly Buddly since I last blogged! New designer Karen Middleton has joined the fabulous designers producing gorgeous digi images, there's a new DT blog called Fabulous Crafty Friends, and if you stop by you can see our latest creations and also get instructions on how to load the fabulous free blog backgrounds - but I'm still fiddling with mine so please cut me some slack! My list of followers and other stuff that was on the side bar is now at the bottom of the page, and unfortunately I've had to do a bit of pruning until I can decide where to put things - it's a bit like that in my life at the moment too!

On to my card, this is Karen's Love Angel digi and I've coloured her with Copics as well as using a piece of Karen's coordinating digi paper. I've also added inked edges and lots of sparkle, but as it was a while ago I created this card I can't be sure what colours I used, but can say the sparkle was Stardust Stickles and Glimmer Mist pearl sprayed on my flowers and leaves, and also painted onto the hearts - a real shimmery creation in real life.

Here's a close up for you. And a reminder that the current theme on the Cuddly Buddly Challenge blog is 'anything goes!' - so you can use any of the digi images available on the Cuddly Buddly web site and be in with a chance of winning a £10 voucher to spend on anything in the Cuddly Buddly shop - how fab is that! And if that's not enough, there's a sticky candy post over on the Fabulously Craft Friends blog too.

I'm busy colouring in a few more images but with most of my crafty stash in boxes it's not easy putting a card together - I might manage a couple later in the week if you are stopping by.

Our move is hapening over the August Bank Holiday weekend, not ideal with the traffic in and out of Cornwall so I'm trying to take the smaller things down at each visit. Yesterday I cleared out Mum's spare bedroom and gave it a blitz so it's ready and waiting for my bed, the phone line should be installed next week so hopefully I wont be too long without internet - but it could be that the pc goes to Mum's before me so I might not be able to link up with the world until I join it.
And this is my new home. The porch is being enclosed in the next few weeks to provide a space for wet cocker spaniels to dry off after visiting the beach. The garage is hopefully going to be a new bathroom at the front with utility area at the back and the new bedrooms will be built along from that. The existing tiny bathroom will become Mum's ensuite and the two small bedrooms she has at the moment will be made into one large bed/sitting room for her with access to a decked area at the back of the bungalow. As you can see the garden is just grass and one small bed of roses, so I've lots of scope to create more flower borders. I'll take more pictures as work progresses.

Best Friends

2011-08-03T13:07:00.004+01:00

ok - that wasn't the last card. I started to colour this LOTV image at my friend Wynneth's home on Monday afternoon and managed to find enough bits and pieces to put this card together. Mind you, I did have to go digging in boxes to do it! My craft room is almost empty but at least there is room now to make up a bed for my granddaughter who arrives very late Friday night, or even Saturday morning. She and her Dad will be staying for a week on holiday so with trips and then moving I'll be busy, busy, busy!

The stamp is best friends from LOTV, coloured with Copics and then I followed the sketch on the LOTV Challenge blog so I can enter at the last minute. The new Fab 'n' Funky theme is friendship so I'll join in with them too.

Short and sweet I'm afraid as I'm off to price up a bathroom this afternoon.

Petals and Pearls

2011-08-01T13:06:00.001+01:00

This is probably the last card I'm going to be able to share with you until after I've moved. Most of my belongings are in boxes, and a fair amount is already down at Mum's. I am planning on being there before the end of August and hopefully my husband will be along shortly after, once the loose ends are tied up here. It's been a stressful week or so and my health is suffering a little, so when I'm not filling boxes or travelling across the breadth of Cornwall with them, I'm collapsed in a heap!

Anyhow, this little cutie has been half finished on my desk for over a week and this morning when I finally got to catch up with the crafting world, I saw that the theme on the Cuddly Buddly digi challenge for this week is petals and pearls so added a sprinkling of both. The image is another of the Wee digi designs and the papers are from a magazine matted with kraft cardstock. I've coloured my cute little fairy with Copics then inked the edges of the image with Versamagic pale brown chalk inks to take off the stark white. But, as it was so long ago I coloured her in I can't give you a definitive list of the colours I used, but I can say the pinks are mostly R81 and R83, the blues are the B91, 93 and 95, and my usual skin tones are E000, 00 and 21. Her hair looks like E41, 42, 43 and maybe 44.

As I've not been around for almost a week I'm not sure if I can enter any other challenges with my fairy card - perhaps you can let me know .. .. I hope to be able to come back and catch up some more later this week.

Another Wee Florist

2011-07-24T09:29:00.001+01:00

Another scheduled post from me - and another version of Sylvia's Wee Florist digi image available from Cuddly Buddly. Just the one picture today as my camera wouldn't focus in close up - one of these days I will get it right! I've gone for summer colours this time, but kept things pretty with the soft lilac papers in the background. I've coloured with my Copics, the usual skin tones E000, 00 and 21 plus a touch of R00 for blush. Her hair is YR21, 24 and E33 with the roses coloured in Y21, 35 and 38. The leaves are YG21 and 25 and her trousers are YG95, 93, 91 and E41. The shoes and bucket are E41, 42, 43 and 44, and the pretty lilac shades are V00, 01, 12 and 15.

I coloured the roses with the pens to match then die cut various Marianne bits and pieces to create the embellishments. The text is another from the Sweet Summer Sentiments set and I finished with a little organza ribbon and golden gem hearts.

The Charisma Cardz blog challenge is for sunshine colours so I'm entering my card with them, and Crafty Catz don't want to see any pink or blue this week - so I'm with them too. I'll have to link back when I get home, if I'm not too tired after a day unloading boxes and playing on the beach!

Wee Sweet Blossom

2011-07-23T10:01:00.006+01:00

I'm scheduling this post so fingers crossed Mr Blogger isn't having an off day .. .. I've coloured one of Sylvia's older Wee digi designs, this is Sweet Blossom, and she is certainly sweet. I've also taken a deep breath and cut up some of my pretty Stampin' Up! paper and used Soft Suede to mat it and diecut the scallop circle mat for my image. As the paper has a white core and I didn't want it showing I've inked the edges with brown chalk inks, and inked the edge of the image after I'd finished colouring. It's a simple little card and my embellishments are the pastel amber pearls made with my pearl maker pen, a scattering of punched flowers, a circular embellishment from the Sweet Summer Sentiments and a bow tied with SU! Crumb Cake seam binding.

To keep with the softer vintage feel I've coloured with softer shades. Skin tones are my usual E000, 00 and E21 with her hair and cute companion in E50, 51, 53 and 55. I've used E81 and E31 for her creamy clothing and YG91 and Y28 for the soft green stripes on her tights. For the pink flowers and butterflies I used R81, 83 and 85 with G40 and G85 for the leaves.

I'm not sure if my card fits with any current challenges .. .. perhaps you would let me know and I'll link up later this evening.

I found the Allsorts challenge which is a fee and easy one again this week - so in with them! And the Totally Gorjuss challenge is to use a punch or die - I have die cut my image and mat with Nesties and punched out all the little flowers, so in with them too!

Wee Bunny

2011-07-22T10:11:00.002+01:00

Now isn't he the cutest little bunny wabbit you've seen! Sylvia has captured such a cute expression on his face, and doesn't he look smart in his college tie. And I just had to colour with the luscious new Copic shades of raspberry pinks - RV17, RV66, RV63 and RV00 + 000 to shade things out. The green leaves are coloured with the YG 93, 97 and 99 pens, whilst bunny himself is coloured with cool greys. Here's the card .. ..

I've used a couple of the Cuddly Buddly slate cottage collection of digi papers with orchid pink card for matting, a piece of ribbon off a chocolate box (they were very good chocs!) and some of my precious lace. To create the flowery embellishment I coloured a trio of roses with the Copic pens, die cut various Marianne bits and pieces and added snips of pearl string. In real life the ribbon is a better match to the deep pink colour - a perfect RV17 in fact. The circular greeting is another from the new sweet summer sentiments digi collection.

Both Die Cut Dreams and Fab 'n' Funky challenges are for animal antics/magic this week, so I'm entering my cute Wee Bunny with them.

New Wee digis

2011-07-21T15:24:00.001+01:00

Sorry I was AWOL yesterday .. .. I will explain why later on. Today though you can get your hands on more new digi stamp designs from Cuddly Buddly's artists - I got to play with a couple of Sylvia's new Wee designs, this first one is the Wee Florist, and isn't she a darling!

I'm showing you the close up of my colouring first - with Copics of course. My usual skin tones of E000, 00, and E21. For her hair, shoes, trousers and the pot I've gone for the E40 range up to E44. The pinks are RV00, R81, 83 and 85 with green leaves in G40, YG41 and G14. The blues are B0000, 000 and 00. The text greeting is a new one from Bits of Ivory's circular sweet summer sentiments and I've used various pieces of digi papers from Cuddly Buddly. My floral embellishment is created with various Marianne dies plus a Nellie's Choice die cut heart and little punched butterflies. Now here's the card in full .. ..

The Allsorts challenge is free and easy again so I can enter with them, while the Papertake Weekly challenge is for cute so I'm with them too.

My reason for going missing, and for being AWOL quite a bit in the coming months, is we are going to be moving. My regular readers will know that I recently lost my Dad and my Mum lives across the other side of Cornwall, which takes a good hour to drive too. We had planned on looking for a home to suit us all, but everything is way out of our price bracket. So, after discussions with the family we have decided to, subject to planning permission, extend her bungalow allowing us all to live together - and just a few miles from the sea! It's going to be a hassle as we are wanting to sell up here asap due to our own predicaments with the business and current economic climate, so we will be moving into Mum's small spare bedroom and garage until the works are complete. It will be a phased build with lots of moving about of stuff as each room gets a make-over. There's a total rewire of the whole bungalow and new heating systems to be installed - and then once the building work is done, I have a blank canvas of garden to develop that's currently just lawn and a few small flower beds. So, although I want to keep a little of my craft stash available to enable me to colour and chill - I'm not sure how many coloured images will be made into cards if everything is put into boxes. Instead of sharing my craft creations with you, you might be seeing pictures of a building site instead!

Christmas in July!

2011-07-19T11:02:00.001+01:00

This is one of Kim's new Santa digi designs now available at Cuddly Buddly I've used the sitting Santa and printed him out 3 times so I could do a little bit of cutting and layering up, hardly decoupage but easy to do with these new designs. A little hint, if your cutting out isn't perfect, as mine rarely is, take a black permanent marker and edge your cut outs that way any white bits disappear. I've coloured Santa with Copics, added sparkle to his fur trims and glazed the stars. The paper was a free download from the Cuddly Buddly blog last Christmas matted with textured green cardstock. I found a scrap of gold netting to use as a layer and tied a piece of green gross grain ribbon around the card before fixing my image with 3d foam pads on top. The embellishment is created from a mix of Marianne diecuts and little red gems to finish things off. I'm sorry I don't have a list of the Copic colours I used on this one .. .. the bit of paper has got lost on my desk/floor/bin - it's hard to see where one area ends and the next begins! I must have a tidy up today.

The Creative Craft challenges theme is to 3d it - I have 3d my image as well as the flower embellishments so I can enter with them. The Outlawz forum Copic/Promarker challenge is currently Christmas in July, and Paper Sundaes are also running with a Festive theme. The Cupcake theme is 'wish upon a star' so as I have a star atop the tree and Santa has one on his hat I hope that's enough to enter their challenge too.

Wee Suzi

2011-07-18T11:03:00.001+01:00

This is quite a small card, just 12cm square, so I had to make Wee Suzi digi image smaller so she would fit in both the Nellie's Choice die cut circular mat and then onto the card. The papers are some of my precious ones from Stampin' Up!, as is the seam binding, and everything is edged with brown Versamagic chalk inks and Platinum Stickles. I've also die cut a Nellie's Choice heart and added the pearls with the Pastel Amber Waco pearl maker pen - I like this shade for a vintage touch. The little circular text greeting is coming soon at Cuddly Buddly, it's one on a sheet of digi sentiments by Bits of Ivory.

My Wee Suzi image is coloured with Copics, my usual skin tones of E000, 00 and 21 plus a little pink on her cheeks. The pinks I used were R81, 83 and 85 with RV000 when I wanted to fade out on her dress. Her hair is E51, 53 and shade E55 then I've used the pale E50 with E81 for the pot and parcel. The greens are G20, 82 and 94 and I've grounded her with warm greys and shadowed with W0 before inking around the image with Versamagic chalk ink Magnolia Budd to take off the stark white. I use chalk inks rather the distress inks as they don't react to the card I print and stamp onto.

Totally Papercrafts are looking for girlie girls this time around so I think this card fits their theme rather well! A new challenge blog to me is Divas by Design, their theme is for pastel colours, as is the Copic Creations blog challenge.

It has been another challenging weekend for us. On Saturday I learnt that my ex-father in law died. Although we had been estranged since my divorce, I feel for my sons who have lost a grandfather, and within a few weeks of my own father's death. My husband's father died a few years ago too, so now he is the oldest man in our immediate family.

Daisy Chain

2011-07-15T10:41:00.004+01:00

I started colouring this image at my friend Wynneth's home a couple of weeks ago, but never got around to finishing it, until yesterday. I've stamped LOTV Daisy Chain with rich cocoa Momento ink to keep things softer and tried to capture summer colours - and there's a whole lot of summer challenges about at the moment! As is always the way when I colour without sorting out papers first, I spent most of the afternoon faffing about before finally settling on a summer yellow gingham matted with Pear Pizzaz cardstock by Stampin' Up! The pretty coral pink is a Coredinations shade called Satin Rose and I used my new Nellie's Choice fancy circle die to cut the circular mat following the Sunday Sketch and Stamp blog design layout. The little buttons are from the same die set and I've used a snip to decorate the top corner and also cut the mat for the small text greeting. The ribbon is from my stash, the butterflies are created with a little Nellie's Choice punch and emboss set, the green fronds are a Marianne diecut and the little flowers are an ancient punch. I've edged the butterflies and flowers with a snow cap Adirondack paint dabber then finished off with a pastel amber pearl maker pen.

As I started colouring the image a while back I can't remember all the Copic colours, but I'm guessing my usual skin tones of E000, 00, 21 and a touch of R00 on her cheeks. Her hair and teddy bear must be E30, 31, 33 and I think 35, but I'm not sure of the exact numbers. Her blue dress and hair bow had to be B91, 93 and 95 with soft peach trim in the R0 series .. .. and I touched up the flowers and teddy's paws with R14 yesterday to darken things a bit. The grass is YG11, 03 and 13 and for the sunshine background I used the Y0000,Y000 and Y00.

And for the summer blog challenges I can enter: Totally Gorjuss, Dream Valley, Fussy and Fancy Friday and Kreative Stamping Friends. I'm also entering the Moving Along With the Times challenge to use your favourite things as there's lots of my favourites on this card - Copics, of course, LOTV image, punches and diecuts and my Waco pearl maker pen.

going round in circles

2011-07-14T10:15:00.000+01:00

This week on CCT the challenge is for circles on your creation. We are being sponsored by Simon Says Stamps, do stop by the CCT blog for all the details and to admire the fabulous DT creations!

On my card I've used the cute Christmas with Dawn stamp from Nellie's Choice, but made a birthday card instead - the image works don't you think? I must look out for a 1st birthday stamp as I think that would be the perfect finishing touch. I've coloured with Copics, used a couple of digi papers from my stash then fixed the circular lace ribbon across and finished with an organza bow and the punched leaves and flowers. There's also inked edges, Stardust Stickles and then the pearls are made with my Cream Waco pearl maker pen. My pictures are looking fuzzy again, although at least it's almost straight this time!

Copic colours:
skin tones with E000, 00, 21 and a touch of R00 blush
hair with YR30, 31, 21 and 23
pinks are RV00, 63 and 66
then the rest is the E40 range through to E44 plus E81

I'm going to enter my card with Stampavie and More who have a birthday theme this week, then A Spoonful of Sugar are looking for pink and brown creations, and the Oldie but a Goodie blog are after ribbon and lace.

Frosty Snowgirl

2011-07-13T09:34:00.003+01:00

This is the last card I made at the weekend with one of Kim's new Christmas Snow people digi designs now available at Cuddly Buddly, this is Frosty Snowgirl. I've coloured her with my Copics and stayed with a simple layout - just one piece of digi paper on a scalloped base card and a couple of Marianne diecut snowflakes, glittered of course! I've lost my bit of paper with the colour list of pens I used, but looking at the chart I'm pretty sure I used BG10, 11, 13 and 15 for the minty green then B000, 00, 02 and 05 for the blues. Penguin is coloured with BV20, 23, 25 and 29 with YR20, 23 and 24 for his beak and feet, and her carrot nose. I've added a touch of pink to her cheeks and shaded her with C0. The subtle shading around the image is done with BG0000 and B0000, although it doesn't show up too well in the photo.

This week on My Time to Craft the theme is bird watching - well a penguin is a bird so I'm entering with this card! The Digital Tuesday challenge is called 'spellbound' and at first I thought it was going to be for magical images, but when I read the challenge it's to use your Spellbinders or similar die cuts - so as I have die cut my snowflakes I'll join in their challenge too.

Thank you for your well wishes, I'm sort of taking it easy although my garden is crying out to be weeded and there's lots of dead-heading to do .. .. and as for the housework, well just don't come visiting yet a while!

Frosty Snowboy

2011-07-12T10:32:00.003+01:00

I was supposed to be going to stay with Mum for a few days, but yesterday I crashed and burned big time and kept bursting into tears. I am so frustrated at not having the physical energy to do what needs to be done around the house and garden, then the brain can't remember the simplest of words and filling in those bl*****y probate forms becomes a nightmare. Mum seems to be coping quite well, better than me in a lot of ways, so I've reluctantly agreed to staying home until I'm feeling better. I feel really guilty about it - and it will mean being strict on myself, no gallivanting about to meet friends and limiting my time on the pc as well as no late night crafting .. .. life stinks!

So here's another of the cards I made at the weekend. This one is the Frosty Snow Boy and I've kept things nice and simple with just a piece of soft snowflake patterned paper and pale blue mats. The flowers are Marianne diecuts topped off with a pearl and to finish I added the pearly stars and the spotty ribbon tied in a bow. I scribbled down the Copic pen colours I used for this one too .. .. B21, 23, 24 and 26 for his coat, hat and scarf with BV01, 02 and 04 for the contrast colour. The little penguin is coloured with BV20, 23, 25 and 29 plus YR21 and 24 for his feet and beak and on the snow boy's nose. I've used a little C0 to shade the snowman blended out with a 0, although that is impossible to see in the picture! The background haze is created with B000 and B0000.

Moving Along With The Times blog theme is for Christmas in July, while the Winter Wonderland blog challenge is to avoid red and green, so here's my entry for them both.

Frosty Snowman

2011-07-11T11:34:00.001+01:00

Well it seems that my blogger connection isn't much better today than it was yesterday. I think I only managed to comment on a couple of blogs and that with a lot of persistence and repeating myself! I've managed to load some card pictures for the next few days but keep getting error reports - there's another one popped up now! Is it just me that' fallen out with blogger .. ..?

I'd best keep this short and sweet - this is another of Kim's snowmen and I wanted to try him out with kraft card, but kept to printing the image onto my usual white coated card. The layout is the sketch from the Sketch Saturday blog with a little piece of digi printed paper from the Quilted Holly collection. I've inked the edges of everything with Versamagic Jumbo Java chalk ink as I didn't want the white cores to be showing. The buttons and border are cut with Nellie Snellen dies and I've finished with gold gross grain ribbon, gold twine tied in the buttons and little red gems.

This time I found my scribbled list of Copic colours: the snowman's hat and coat are coloured with E21, E31, 35, and 39. The greens are YG91, 93, 95 and 97 whilst the reds are R05 and E08. For the gold colours I used YR21, 23 and 24 then finished with a haze of BG000, BG0000 and B0000 plus a little sparkle on the snowballs and snow.

I'm busy downloading the government documents for the probate and have to take them with me tomorrow to sort out some things with my Mum; so I'll be away for a few days but fingers crossed Mr blogger will show you the rest of my snowy cards.

Frosty Snowlady

2011-07-10T18:41:00.001+01:00

Reposting this as blogger playing up today and the first post disappeared!

Have you heard about the Cuddly Buddly blog Let's Keep Creating digi challenges? There are 2 DT teams alternating each Friday - the cuddly team and the buddly team! This week it's the turn of team buddly and the theme is lace and flowers. In order to enter you must use a digi design by one of the seven designers at Cuddly Buddly, so lots to choose from and a different DT member will be showcasing a designer at each challenge.

I'm not actually entering the challenge as I'm already a Cuddly Buddly designer, but I have made a card with the theme to show you. The digi image is one of Kim's new Christmas designs, this is Frosty Snowlady and she's coloured with Copics. I wanted to create a vintage feel so used subdued colours, but then went totally OTT with the pearl embellishments. When I met up with my friend Marion for coffee on Friday we browsed a couple of shops and stopped in the Warehouse where they had packets of sticky back pearl trims for just 99p! My flowers are created from Nellie's Choice poinsettia punches and Marianne diecut leaves, the text and little candy cane heart are from an old clear stamp set, the lace is from my stash and the patterned paper is from the Quilted Holly digi paper pack.

I'll try to remember the Copic pens I used to colour my snowlady .. .. her scarf and the green bits are coloured with YG93 and 95, whilst the flowers and pink mittens are R81 and E04. Her coat and hat are coloured with E31, 34 and 55, with her pale lace trims in E50 and the toggles in E57. The golden yellow tones are YR21, 23 and 25. I've added a little shading with C0 then coloured the snow and background with B000 and B0000.

Crafty Catz have a vintage challenge this week so hopefully my card will be ok for them.

Drive Time

2011-07-09T09:37:00.002+01:00

Fingers crossed Mr Blogger shows you my card today. This is the digi image Furgus MacFluff 'drive time' from Pachela Studios available at Cuddly Buddly, and as usual I've coloured with Copics. The papers are from the denim selection of Portfolio papers and I've inked the edges with Night Sky Versamagic chalk in so the white doesn't show. The texts are freebie stamps with the Papercraft Essentials magazine and to embellish I tied a length of navy blue ribbon around the card and punched out two different sizes of stars from yellow card.

Copic colours I used - rather a lot!
Furgus with E41, 42, 43, 44 and 47
the car with B21, 23, 24, 26 and 29
under the wheel arch, radiator grill and windscreen with BV20, 23, 25, 29
wheels with E40, E81, W2 - W7
bumper and light fittings with C0, 3 and 5
parcels, scarf and lights with Y02, 06, 08, and V06, 09
road surface with E30, 31, 33, 35 and 55
sky with G000, 00, B000, 0000

I don't know of any challenges that I can enter with this one .. .. if you know of any please leave me a comment. The grandchildren are coming around to visit and we hope to take them to the Saltash Regatta, so I will be shattered by tonight! Whatever you are doing this weekend, I hope the sun shines for you and you have fun!

Just checking my blog roll list whilst sipping my coffee and I saw that the Sweet Stampin' challenge is for cute and cuddly this week - well I think Furgus is cute and cuddly even if he is driving a manly fast sports car! And over on the Allsorts challenge the theme is for a free and easy July - well Furgus is certainly taking things free and easy, although I think they mean you can enter any kind of project.

Rose Garden

2011-07-08T10:38:00.003+01:00

This is a little folder card, inside there are pockets for holding stamped images or small embellishments, I've made it for a friend and I hope she will like it. The stamp is Emma in the Rose Garden by LOTV, coloured with my Copics. The paper is a magazine freebie but I've distressed the edges with my Snow Cap Adirondack paint dabber, and also edged the punched flowers and butterflies with it as well. The leaves and the swirly white layer behind the image are Marianne dies and I've used my pink pearl maker pen for all the pearl embellishment. The pretty stripy ribbon was a gift from another dear crafty friend and is a perfect match for the paper and soft peachy pink base card.

Copics I used:
skin - E000, 00, 21
hair - E31, 35
hat and shoes - E40, 41, 42, 43
dress - R0000, 000, 00
cardi, hat bow and butterflies - RV10,21, 23, 25
roses - RV000, 00 63
leaves and grass - G40, 12

The Creative Craft challenge is for pretty blossoms and at Charisma Cardz it's all about flowers, while on the Papertake blog the theme is anything goes - I hope they like this one. I'm gallivanting into Plymouth today to meet up with some crafty friends and enjoy a cuppa, and perhaps a cake! I'll catch up and link up when I get back.

It's My Day!

2011-07-07T10:01:00.005+01:00

I'm scheduling this one, fingers crossed .. .. it's my DT creation for this week's Cute Card Thursday challenge to include a touch of lace on your project. Please stop by the CCT blog for information about the prizes and to see what the rest of the DT have made.

I've used another of the new Furgus MacFluff digi images from Pachela Studios available at Cuddly Buddly, this one is called 'It's my day' and I've turned Furgus into Fergie! I got a little carried away with the theme, and because I coloured my image then couldn't find any cardstock to match the pinks I used, I didn't bother with any and went all out with the lace, satin ribbon and pearls. To embellish I punched out the little butterflies from pearl paper and created the flower accent from odds and ends in my stash. You can get the pearl string trim at Cuddly Buddly here, I've used the white 2.5mm on this card.

Furgus/Fergie is coloured with Copics E40 - E47 with pinks RV10, 32, 34 and 42 plus E04 for shading them. The greens are G000, 00 and 02, and the shading is done with cool greys.

The Stamp Something blog is having a digi challenge week so I'll enter with them, and the Allsorts challenge is for a free and easy July. Cutie Sunday's challenge is for lace, so I gotta enter with them!

I'm a bit under the weather, hence the scheduling, and need to rest up for a few days. The legal side of my Dad's affairs is causing me a few headaches and I've been getting a bit stressed out with it all so need to retreat. I find colouring helps but the computer makes me tired so I'm not going to be around much until I've got my energy reserves back up again. I do have some more cards to schedule so there will be something for my friends to look at for the next few days - if you want to that is.

All Mine!

2011-07-06T11:56:00.002+01:00

I'd like to introduce you to a new character, this is Furgus MacFluff created by Czes Pachela and available as a digi design over at Cuddly Buddly. I did try to keep to a masculine look for my card, but I'm afraid a little pink has crept in, so now I think the card would work for a boy or a girl. I've coloured Furgus with my Copics - don't be put off by the shade lines that the artist has left in on the image, they actually make life a lot easier and I'm sure he would look great coloured with Distress inks or water colours. My papers are from the Lilyboo Pocket Full of papers digi pack and I've matted with a dark brown card from Stampin' Up! As I didn't have any dark brown ribbon I coloured a length of white gross-grain with E49, but thought that was a little too dark so coloured the white paper flower with E77 which is a much better match to the cardstock. As the card was supposed to be for a little boy I couldn't add pretty flower embellishments so rummaged through the button box - but all I could find to match were the little butterflies. Finally, I snipped the last few brown gems hanging around at the edge of my desk for a touch of bling - too much for a boy you think?

Copic pen colours I used:
Furgus with E41, 42, 43, 44 & 47
blues with B00, 02 & 05
pinks with RV00, 02 & 32
shadow and shading with warm greys

The Cuddly Buddly blog have started to run digi challenges each Friday and this week the theme is 'brand new', to interpret how you like using a digi image sold at Cuddly Buddly or one of the free downloads from their shop, perhaps you might like to use this new Furgus MacFluff for your entry.

I'm going to enter my card with the Party Time Tuesday blog for square cards this week, whilst the Digital Tuesday blog challenge is to bling it up.

Nativity

2011-07-05T13:41:00.000+01:00

I'm feeling a little under the weather today - and it's raining! Mind you, the garden desperately needs it and they say it will brighten up this afternoon so I hope my mood does too. This is a very simple C6 card that I've made for the Marie Curie appeal run at my local art and craft store. I've coloured up the LOTV Angel Gabriel Nativity image with my Copics then simply matted with kraft card and 3d mounted onto the kraft card base. I've inked the edges with Versamagic chalk inks in Magnolia Bud and then ran Jumbo Java around the edge of everything as the kraft has a white core and I didn't want it to show. Embellishments are little stars covered with a gold pen and gold glitter, then finished off with a double bow tied with Crumb Cake seam binding from Stampin' Up!

The For Fun challenge blog are looking for Christmas in July, as is Our Creative Corner - I do hope they like my CAS style. I coloured up the image some time ago so don't remember exactly which colours of Copic pens I used, but I touched up the sheet on Sunday with B0000, 000, 00 and 02 as it looked a bit wishy washy. The angel's clothing is the paler E40 shades and the little shepherd's are the B90s. For the peachy pink wings and headdress I used the R0s, although looking at the photograph they are very washed out so perhaps I will try touching them up a tad too.

A Magical Birthday Wish

2011-07-04T09:20:00.001+01:00

Whilst catching up with the goings on in blogland, I discovered several challenges for things with wings .. .. .. both Truly Scrumptious and By The Cute and Girly, and then the Flutterby Wednesday blog have an open theme to include a fairy or butterfly on your project. So, I had a look through my LOTV fairies and decided to get this cutie inked up, then found the pretty butterfly paper from Cuddly Buddly which gave me a starting point for my Copic colours. As always I took an age deciding on embellishments, finding anything to match being a struggle, but I did have this aqua tinsel so wrapped it around the card and created a 4 looped bow embellishment. My flowers are Marianne diecuts with a couple of aqua gems from my stash, and that's about it.

I used these colours of Copics:
skin - E000, 00, 21 plus R00 blush
hair, teddy shoes - Y21, 28, E30, 31
lilac - B60, BV01, 02, 04
aqua - BG10, 11, 32, 34
ground - cool greys
shadow - B0000, 000, 00

I need to get myself organised so I can hopefully meet up with a couple of crafty friends this afternoon - so catch you all later!

dragon's birthday

2011-07-03T12:23:00.000+01:00

A couple of months ago I won a selection of digi images from The Paper Shelter, but I can't remember which challenge blog it was .. .. I finally got around to printing out this cute dragon image and coloured it up to make a birthday card for a little girl using the layout from the Sketch Saturday blog turned upside down, plus I added in the little buttons. I also discovered that the Paper Shelter have a blog challenge and this week it's been anything goes - so I can enter.

I've used my favourite pinks of the moment, RV000, 00, 63 and 66 to colour most of the image. For contrast I used the B0000, 000, 00 and 02 with touches of bright yellow Y11, 15 and 17. For the cake and plate I used E30 and 31. It wouldn't be a birthday cake without frosting so I've added Stardust glitter to the icing and glazed the cherries and sweetie decoration.

The Charisma Cardz challenge is to use ice cream colours and say which is your favourite, so no prizes for guessing mine is raspberry - with a cherry on top!

Emma's Presents

2011-07-02T14:35:00.000+01:00

I've come to the conclusion that I must be going through life all wonky .. .. the pictures always look square in the camera view frame but by the time I've finished downloading they are always skew-whiff! And a bit of a warning here - my post is a bit longer as I got to musing .. .. you don't have to read it all!

I've coloured in another of my new LOTV little girls, this is Emma with presents, and as usual I coloured with my Copics. I fiddled about with the hat trying to lighten the area where the light would catch the brim, first by going over with the blender then darkening the edges .. .. I'm still not happy with it. The blue shoes are ok, a nice bit of shading on them but I struggle when it's a big area.

Copic pens I used to colour:
skin - E000, 00, 21
blues - B91, 93, 95, 97
pinks - R81, E04
hair and parcels - E70, 71, 74
parcel, socks and shadow - E40, 81 and warm greys

My papers are by Designer Digitals and I've played bingo with Totally Papercrafts going for the diagonal line with brads, flowers and ribbon. Now that my computer is sat at the end of my craft desk I've been tuning into the Create and Craft channel from time to time, and whilst I was making this card they were demonstrating Tim Holtz products - some of the style obviously rubbed off on me as I've inked the edges of the papers and embellishments, although I used a Sahara Sand Versamagic chalk ink and Magnolia Bud around the edge of the coloured image to take off the stark white of the cardstock. I do like getting inky fingers and I like the slightly vintagy feel to this style of card, but when I do a craft fair these cards just sit in the box while the clearer brighter designs get picked. Eventually I have to weed them out and donate to charity.

That brings me on to the question of how I/we like to craft. Obviously it has to be fun and in a style you like. But, if you are crafting to sell your cards then you have to make what your customer will buy, and that isn't always what the blogging world of craft want to see. So a dilemma, create fabulously embellished works of art that get oohs! and ahs! from the blogging community, or go for a simpler style that might just sell at your local craft fair. I tend to do a bit of both, what about you?

Roses for You

2011-07-01T11:18:00.001+01:00

Another wonky picture! I've made today's card with my new LOTV Emma with pot plant stamp and coloured her with Copics, although the blue dots on her hat aren't showing up. It took me an age to find paper and put the card together but hopefully in the end it turned out ok. The pretty lace I won some time back on the Lili of the Valley challenge blog, so it seemed appropriate to use it to create a card for their current Celebrations theme. I've added a little round LOTV text stamped in an old Adirondack die ink colour called Wild Plum to pick up the plum pink Copic colours I used. The background paper is from the Pachela Stuidios digi Country House paper pack in Rose available at Cuddly Buddly, matted with orchid pink cardstock. To embellish I've created a floral spray from paper roses and Marianne diecut leaves, and coloured a length of white organza ribbon with RV63 before tying a double bow.

Copic colours I used:
skin - E000, 00, 21
dress - BG70 kissed with 72
hat and bag - E50, 81
pinks - RV00, 63, 66
green leaves - G40, 12
hair, pot and puppy - YR21, 24
shadow with warm greys

I'm also entering my card in the Creative Inspirations and Moving Along With The Times blog challenges, both with a Summer theme and what could be more summery than a big bunch of roses in June (except it's now July).

Techno challenge

2011-06-30T10:01:00.005+01:00

The challenge this week at Cute Card Thursday is technology. Well at first I scratched my head a lot, thought of space ships and robots, but then remembered this Kanban stamp of a little girl talking on the telephone - perhaps not the latest modern technological invention but fits the bill I thought. I've coloured with Copics and put the card together with magazine freebie papers using the sketch from the Everybody Art challenge blog turned sideways. The embellishments are created with Marianne diecut leaf sprays, punched butterflies and more of the sparkly flowers from my stash with little pearl centres.

here's my Copic colour list:
skin tones with E000, 00, 21 and R00 for blush
hair with YR20, 21 and 24
telephone, leggings and shoes with V000, 01, 12, 15 and 17
dress with RV00, 63 and 66
shadow with warm greys

I'm also going to enter my card into the Kreative Stamping Friends blog challenge for dots. I'm slowly getting back into the swing of things and catching up with my blogging friends, so hope to stop by your blogs very soon.

thank you again

2011-06-29T13:58:00.001+01:00

All I have to share with you today is a couple more of the little 4" square thank you notes that I've been making. I did manage to colour a couple of images but haven't been able to put anything together with them yet .. ..

On the first card I used the sketch on the Less is More blog challenge but must admit I'm not feeling great about my creation, there's no pretty coloured image and my stamped thank you has blurred - bother! Not too many details to give you about it, the paper is a scrap from a magazine matted with lilac card, the ribbon is ancient from my stash, the flowers are a mix of Marianne diecuts for the green layer, punched lilac, glittered fabric then a white pearl on top. I've fixed them to the lilac panel with 3d foam to give a little more interest.

I'm happier with this one. I've embossed the front of the card with a Cuttlebug folder then inked the edges with Tea Leaves Versamagic chalk ink. Used the same ink to stamp the Hero Arts text and matted with green cardstock, cut a Marianne swirl then added the sparkly gem flowers with little pearls in the centres. Crafty Creations are looking for thank you creations this week so I'll enter this one with them.

Thank You

2011-06-28T13:31:00.001+01:00

My Dad's funeral yesterday went well, the weather was dry and thankfully his grandkids didn't drop him on the way into the Chapel of Rest! I am home now as looking back I have really been overdoing it .. .. and now I've stopped I ache all over with the ME kick back. I am going to force myself to rest but I find it hard to do nothing and just sit and twiddle my thumbs all day, so I've been trying to do a little craft although my mojo obviously left the building whilst I was away and I am waiting for the return!

The cards I'm sharing with you today are the ones I made last week and took down to Mum. They are each just 4" square and I wanted simple designs. This first is my personal favourite but perhaps a bit modern, I know Mum likes the other two. The stamp is an old one from Hobby Art and I coloured with Copics using my new RV63 and RV66 pens - loving those raspberry pinks!

This one, and the one below, use old Penny Black stamps, again coloured with Copics and using those raspberry shades again. On this card and the one above I've used a square Nestie to emboss a frame for the image as well as cutting card mats, the texts are all from a clear Hero Arts set.

I am so out of touch I'm not sure if there are any challenges that I could enter with these cards. I did see that the Oldie but a Goodie challenge is an anything goes theme this week so will enter at least one of my cards with them.

Sweet Elin Candy

2011-06-24T13:51:00.004+01:00

No cards to share with you just yet, I am working on some simple thank you ones for my Mum but so far have only finished two of them .. .. I need to get my finger out!

I was browsing my links just now and saw that Jannie has a couple of the new Nellie's Choice Sweet Elin stamps to give away and she has made some beautiful projects with lots of the other cute Nellie designs - I am just waiting for Cuddly Buddly to get the new Christmas Dawn stamps in the store - I've gotta have them!

I hope my link will take you to the English translation of Jannie's blog - but I'm sure you know how to tweak things if it's not quite right. Now I had better get back to making Mum's thank you cards.

a quick catch up

2011-06-23T10:13:00.000+01:00

I had a call from the nursing home early evening last Wednesday to say that my Dad had passed away. Mum had been sitting with him just a few hours earlier and I was actually talking to her on the phone at the time he died. She said he had been very quiet that afternoon and hadn't been able to squeeze her hand, she had left thinking him asleep. The home had been trying to get hold of me so we could visit, but he went quickly and quietly in his sleep for which we are very thankful.

So I've been staying with Mum and doing all the things that have to be done and sorting through old photos. This picture was taken on my parents wedding day in September 1948, they had many very happy years together. I'm home now for a few days before going back again to prepare for the funeral on Monday afternoon. At the moment it's still all very surreal and my mind is deliberately not letting me think about it, when I do start to dwell I find myself thinking of things that need to be done, like bleaching the loo or cleaning out cupboards! (two men and two cocker spaniels left to their own devices for a week has left me with plenty of cleaning to catch up on). I'll be back to blogging again in a week or two, but hope I can find time over the weekend to do a little bit of colouring in.

Thank you for all your kind words of support and love.