Happy Wedding Day!

I have had this LOTV wedding stamp for some time but never got around to using it, however, today seemed the perfect opportunity to create a classic wedding card. As my current pack of blank cards is a small square size it's not left me much room for embellishments or adding a text - I'll have to decorate and put something inside the card. I had a few problems with the ribbon - it started out white but looked grubby so I took it off then couldn't find another piece of white I liked so opted for the soft lavender satin, tied a bow and fixed the ends with a little glue - I'm still not 100% happy with it though.

The image is coloured with Copics, not many, just the cool greys for his outfit together with touches of B60 & 63 and I've also added shading to her dress with the B60 although it's hard to see. Skin tones are with my usual E000, 00 & 21, then her hair is E30 & 31 and his is E71 & 74. For the bouquet, ribbon and little hearts I used V01, V12, 15 & 17 with BG 72 for leaves. I've added Frosted Lace Stickles for a little sparkle then matted the image with textured white card and 3d mounted over my embossed background. When it came to flowery embellishments I've made my own flowers from MS punched hydrangeas and Marianne diecuts, plus tons of pearls! The picture doesn't do the card justice, despite taking in bright daylight I still had to lighten the image in photo-shop and the focus still isn't right - argh! I am hating getting to grips with this camera!

Now for the challenges: Paper Sundaes have a list of toppings to use - I have chosen sparkle, pearls and diecuts. Die Cut Dreams have a wedding theme while the Lili of the Valley challenge blog have love is in the air as their theme, and finally, Stampavie and More are looking for pearls.

And on that note - it's back to the tv and the glass of bubbly!

Strawberry Sweet

This week on Cute Card Thursday our challenge for you is to use a sketch, it can either be one from the CCT archive - there's a label link on the side bar to find all 13 of them, from a current sketch challenge on another blog, or you can create your own sketch and share it with us. I've chosen to use Leann's sketch for CCT from 23 Sept 2010 - a really nice and easy one! Our sponsor for this challenge is Kraftin' Kimmie stamps.

My digi image is Strawberry Sweet from Kim's Twinkly Fairy collection, the two papers are from the red patchwork collection matted with textured red cardstock and I've added strips of white diecut lace to the horizontal band. I've coloured with my Copic pens then added the seeds to the strawberries and the flower stamens with a yellow Sakura Soufflé pen. I couldn't resist adding a little Stardust Stickles to the fairy wings, then finished with the embellishments - a little button, 3 little flowers created with Martha Stewart punches, punched leaves, diecut seed heads and punched butterflies.

Just a few additional challenges I can enter with my Strawberry Sweet card: there's a recipe to follow this week on the Flutterby Wednesday blog - 3 flowers, 2 papers, 1 button and of course a fairy or butterfly. The Everybody Art theme is for fairies and over on the Party Time Tuesday blog it's an 'anything goes' challenge!

A bunch of roses

It's been a worrying few days and I've not got much crafting done. All kinds of minor hassles were sent to try us, but worst was the worry about my Dad's health. He has had problems with his eyes for a while and last year had both cataracts removed. This seemed to 'cure the problem' but over the past couple of months he's been complaining of pain over one eye and the optician refered him to the hospital consultant .. .. he referred him to the neurologist as he thought Dad may have had a mini stroke. That was ruled out with blood tests but now over the past couple of weeks things have got much worse with Mum worrying he may be suffering from dementia. Finally, yesterday the doctor called and thinks that there is a combination of factors in play, not least being his eyesight, and is referring him back to the hospital for further tests. My mum has been worried and I was frantically cleaning house just in case I had to drop everything and go down to her - she doesn't drive so with Dad being incapable of driving they are reliant on neighbours to take them to doctors appointments and for shopping trips. We will try to visit more often, but of course the added stress is not good for my ME, but that can't be helped.

So, this is the first card I've managed to put together in days. I had the Bildmalarna little lad stamped and coloured for some time but can't remember the exact Copic colours I used, plus taking the picture by my craft room window in the bright morning light has washed out the colours a little anyway. The papers are from Kim's cottage collection in sapphire at Cuddly Buddly, matted with textured white cardstock and given a white line and pricking faux stitch edge. The flowers were a birthday present from my dear crafty friend Linda and I simply added a Marianne swirl, 3 punched leaves and a double bow organza ribbon that was originally white but I coloured with R81.

Having been away from the blogging world for a few days I'm not sure what the challenges are all about at the moment, but I did find out that the Stamptacular Sunday blog have a pile it on theme - they want at least 5 layers, so if you count my mats I've got that and more. My card layout is similar to the sketch on the Sweet Stop blog although my oval is vertical rather than horizontal and over on the i Copic Lover blog the challenge is for pastels - I'm making a guess but am pretty sure that I've used the E40 -E43 range for the little lad's shoes and hat, B90s for his trousers and BG0000 mixed with B91 for his top with RV000 and R81-85 for the pinks. His hair was most likely the pale E50s, or maybe pale E30s, and skin tones would be my usual E000, 00 & 21.

I have to get a move on now and try and make my next couple of cards for DT challenges in case I have to disappear again. I will try to catch up soon - promise!

Mr & Mrs T Bear

I have another of Sylvia's Wee digi designs to share with you today, this is Mr and Mrs Teddy Bear, coloured with my Copics and a little Stardust Stickles around the edge of the image. Instead of using a patterned paper I've embossed white card with a Cuttlebug rose folder then matted everything with shiny silver mirri card. I've added a pretty piece of lace around the middle and 3d mounted the image over it. The Mr & Mrs text is also 3d matted but the Congrats is stuck down flat. To finish off I created a little flower spray with my last ribbon rose and some punched elements.

Here's a close up for you: The bears are coloured with E40, 41, 42 & 43 with a little RV000 on the cheeks, ears and muzzles. His hat is done with cool greys 0, 1, 2 & 3 plus the blue band and his tie in B91 & 93. The flowers are R81, 83 & 85 with G40 & 82 for the leaves. I've added a touch of shadow to her dress with B60 and also shaded the archway with it. To ground the cute couple I've used E40 & 41.

The theme on the A Spoonful of Sugar blog is 'let's celebrate', while over on the Fab 'n' Funky blog it's 'here comes the bride', and over on Totally Papercrafts it's weddings - all perfect challenges for my card!

Little Wee on a Cloud

If you have been keeping an eye on Sylvia's Wee digi designs over at Cuddly Buddly you will have seen the cute little Angel Cody already, this is his Wee sister Angie now available. I've coloured with my Copic pens and added Stardust Stickles here and there. The layout is quite simple, I've added the Marianne star border threaded with ribbon down the side, 3 pretty flowers created with a Nellie's Choice punch and emboss set together with snips of MS punched fronds then little pearls made with my white Waco pearl maker pen. The papers are a mix from Cuddly Buddly, the base one from the new Country House digi papers in the rose collection.

Here's a close up so you can see the sparkle. Not too many Copics with this one:

skin tones with E000, 00, 21 & R00 for cheeks
hair with E50, 51 & 53
pinks with RV000, 00, 32 & 34
stars and dress with BG0000 & 000

The ABC challenge blog are up to the letter S and it's for sparkle so here's one for them!

Whatever you are doing over the Easter Holiday Weekend, have fun and I hope the sun keeps shining for you.

Daisy Box

This week on the Cute Card Thursday blog our challenge to you is to create something but not to have any text on show. Our sponsor for this challenge is Pink Cat Studio, please stop by the CCT blog to read all about it.

Apologies yet again for the poor picture - believe it or not, this was taken on a bright sunny day by the window in natural light, and I've even had a go at lightening it further in photoshop .. .. I need to figure out this new digi camera soon! As it's my granddaughter's birthday next week I needed a little box to put a gift in so created this pizza box from a sheet of A4 cardstock. The instructions for the mini pizza box are on the Splitcoast Stampers forum and you can find the link on my Crafty Resources page. To create a bigger box you just need to cut a piece of A4 cardstock to 11 inches long, score 1 inch in from each of the long side edges, then do the rest of the scores and make up the box as the original instructions. I've cut pieces of daisy paper from the yellow version of the Cuddly Buddly Cottage digi papers then added Stardust Stickles around the edges before fixing to the lid and sides of my box. The cute Daisy stamp is from Elisabeth Bell's Sweet Art Ebony collection, originally available at Sugar Nellie but now being relaunched at Belles 'n' Whistles, although I don't think Daisy is out with them just yet.

To keep the box closed I have fixed the image and the embellishments to a length of ribbon that slides off and on the box - it's a tight fit over the caramel gems but it does work. I've coloured Daisy with Copics in these colours:

skin tones with E000, 00, 21 & R00 for her cheeks
hair and jeans with E40, 41, 42, 43 & 44
her top with YR20, 21 & 23
the daisy flowers with Y0000 & Y35
the greens with YG11 & 41

I've created the daisy embellishments from Marianne diecuts, LR0106 for the petals and LR015 for the stamen centre, and layered the petals with mini dimensional foam squares so they stand out better. The butterflies are a Martha Stewart punch and I just added white sticky back pearls for the bodies. Inside the lid I stamped and cut out the text greeting then added another daisy and a couple of butterflies as the gift didn't quite fill the box!

As the Critter Sketch blog challenge is for punches and dies (at least 2 different ones) I'll enter my little box with them.

Spring Bringer Fairy

I've another of Sylvia's new Wee digi designs to share with you today, this one is called the Spring Bringer Fairy, and of course I've coloured her with Copics. The papers are from the Pachella Studios new Country House digi selection in rose with Versamagic Spring Pansy and Stardust Stickles around the edge then matted with orchid pink cardstock. I've used the Sketch Saturday sketch turned upside down for my card layout and added a white lacy edge with my new Marianne die. To finish up I stamped a ticket text greeting and punched out the butterflies from the two smaller sizes of Nellie's Choice punch and emboss sets together with flowers layered up from various other punches - and a touch of bling of course!

And here she is in close up so you can see the subtle inked edge and the touch of sparkle. I've used these Copics to colour her in:

skin tones with E000, 00 & 21
hair with E50, 51 & 53
wings, clothing and flowers with RV000, 00, 02, V000, 12, BV 000, 00
green shades with YG11 & 41
shadow with B60

The Magical Monday challenge is for monochrome (not black and white) creations - my main colours are all from the magenta pink range on the colour wheel. The Digital Tuesday challenge is for pretty punches, while the Cupcake Craft challenge is for lots of layers, and I've even layered up my punched flowers and butterflies as well as the papers, and the image is 3d layered too. Then over on the Flutterby Wednesday blog there's an open theme just starting so perfect for my little Spring Bringer fairy.

I've still not caught up with everyone who has stopped by over the past few days - I am slowly getting around though, so hope to see you soon!

Suzi with bunny

I'm back! I got a bit carried away at the Herb Fair and then had to plant up my purchases, consequently I overdid it and got the ME kick-back. So today I'm taking it easy but I have been able to put a simple little card together with one of Sylvia's new designs now available at Cuddly Buddly. This is Suzi with bunny coloured with my Copics then simple matted with Blushing Bride cardstock from Stampin' Up! and white pearls made with a Waco pearl maker pen. I've used two different patterned digi papers from Cuddly Buddly and cut a fancy mat for the horizontal layer with a Martha Stewart flower border punch then tied a piece of peachy pink gross grain ribbon around. I've done the faux stitching with a paper pricker and finished off with a text greeting stamped with Coral pearlescent Brilliance Ink.

Here's a close up of Suzi with bunny - I've used my usual Copic E000, 00 & 21 for her skin tones with E50, 51 & 53 for her hair, shoes and basket. Her jeans are B91 & 93, her top is Y0000, 000 & 02 plus R0000, 000, 00, 21 & 32 for bunny, the flowers and her pink top and hair ribbon. The green leaves are done with YG41 and the shadow at her feet is E40 & 41. I've added little white centres to the flowers, her buttons and on her cheeks with a white marker pen.

I'm entering my card into the Totally Papercrafts challenge for spring time; the Creatalicious challenge for Easter plus pink, gren, yellow and blue colours; and the Everbody Art challenge for pearls.

The Easter Bunny

Have you seen Sylvia's new Wee digi designs at Cuddly Buddly? This cutie is the Easter Bunny, coloured with Copics of course and finished with a touch of Stardust Stickles around the edge. The background is a pretty piece of digi paper from Kim's Little Miss Daisy Spring collection with a pricked edge and a cream mat, although the cream mat isn't showing up against the base white card .. .. still need to get a grip on the camera! My mojo has taken off somewhere so when it came to embellishments I simply added a Marianne die cut star border, threaded it with aqua organza ribbon and used the little stars that popped out as embellishments in the corners topped off with a couple of yellow Papermania sticky back stars. I quite like the simplicity of this one, and it will go through the post at the ordinary rate.

Copic colours I used for this Easter Bunny:
bunny with E40, 41, & 42 with R11 & 12 in his ears, cheeks and nose
yellows with Y11, 13 & 15
the stool with BG10 & 11 and the edge with BG10
the egg with B60 & 63 with the flowers in R11 & 22

I also used a little white marker pen in the centre of the painted flowers on the egg, his cheeks and the top of his nose.

When it comes to challenges there are quite a few I can enter with my Easter Bunny! Die Cut Dreams and Creative Inspirations both have an Easter theme. A Spoonful of Sugar are looking for all creatures great and small, Crafty Catz are looking for furry friends, and Fun With Shapes and More are looking for animals.

Whatever you are doing this weekend, have fun! I'm hoping to go to a herb fair tomorrow so had better get some housework done today .. .. or perhaps I'll play with another little Wee digi stamp!

Elodie in her garden

A simple little card to share with you today as I'm still in recovery mode and lacking inspiration for embellishments. I've used a different setting on the camera, but still I'm not completely happy, although I think it's come out a little clearer despite the dull dismal light we have today.

I coloured this Sarah Kay image with Copics in muted colours a while back then when Kim launched Czes' new Country House digi papers I knew the soft rose colourway would work. I've inked the edge of the papers and the image with Spring Pansy Versamagic chalk ink to tie them together then stamped the text and inked that too. I found the little sparkly flowers in my stash so added a touch of sparkle to the butterflies on the circular text with loose glitter and a glue pen. The doily behind the image and around the text are cut with Nellie's Choice flower dies from set #020 and the lace border is another Nellie die from set #028, there's lots more to choose from at Cuddly Buddly here and I think they are great value for money. I've embossed the bigger doily with a Cuttlebug rose folder and finished off punching flowers for behind the little sparkly ones and adding silver pearls with my pearl maker pen. Oh and those little flowers that the water from the can is landing on - well they are from a clear Penny Black set.

Just a few Copic pens for this image, skin tones with my usual E000, 00 & 21. The muted pinks are RV91, 93 & 95. Her top is coloured with BG70 and BG72, then her trousers and hair are warm greys 0, 1, 3 & 5 and I mixed the paler shades with the BG70 for the shadow. There is a touch of E71 and 74 for the ribbons on her hat and that's about it.

The Copic Creations blog are asking what's your favourite paper/card to use with your pens. Mine is a 200gsm bright white smooth coated card from Ryman's Stationers here in the UK. It goes through the printer too and the ink dries straight away so I can get colouring in - and no bleeding. As it is a coated card it's not so good with Distress Inks, they tend to go blotchy, which is why I use Versamagic chalk ink if I want to add a little colour around the edge of my image once I've finished colouring in with my Copics.

The inspiration for my card layout came from the sketch on the Sweet Stampin Challenge blog. I found a challenge blog called the Shabby Tea Room, they have an amazing design team producing some fabulous creations to drool over! This week the theme is for doilies and lace and I wonder if I can enter my card with the paper doilies and paper lace - I hope it will be ok. The Truly Scrumptious blog challenge is for vintage style this week so I'll enter with them too.

Sunshine and Apples

Well better late than never! Here is my weather inspired DT card for this week's challenge on the Cute Card Thursday blog. Our sponsor for this challenge is Simon Says Stamps - pop over to the CCT blog for all the details.

I've inked up this Belles 'n' Whistles stamp design by Elisabeth Bell, and it's only the second time I've created with this image! My older stamps get put in a box and left on the shelf - I really must get them inky again especially as I've got tons more crafty stuff to make embellishments these days to decorate my creations. I've chosen bright summery colours and found the busy patterned digi paper by Designer Digitals already printed out in my stash - so that was the inspiration for my colour choices. I've coloured with Copics, pricked the edges of the image and the papers to resemble stitching, then embellished with various Marianne die cuts and Nellie's Choice punched bits and pieces. For the card layout I chose the sketch from the Stamp With Fun blog, but put the text on the other side of the image as it fitted there much better. I also added the horizontal strip of die cut lace - this is a very pretty Marianne die although I do the embossing the old fashioned way with a ball tool so it stand out more - it doesn't take long to do and is easy to guess where the holes are!

Copic colours I used to colour:
skin tones with E000, 00 & 21
hair and basket with YR20, 21, 24 & E35
blues with B21, 24 & 26
greens with G12 & 14
violet pinks with V000, 01, 12 & 15

The For Fun challenge is to use a selection of bright spring colours - at least 3 from the list on the blog. I've got blue, purple, green and sort of yellow on my card.

Thank you for asking how I got on at the hospital, and to answer Marja's question, yes ME is more or less the same as CFS depending on who your doctor is! The classifications overlap and until there is a definitive test, or several tests, to identify what exactly people are suffering from there will be lots of different people with different symptoms all put into the same box.

I am fortunate in that my 'type' of ME has been more to do with my immune systems, although I also get some of the joint symptoms as well but thankfully I am not disabled by them. The good news is that I have been discharged from the care of my ME consultant as he is primarily an immunologist and my immune system is now working more or less normally. But, my auto-immune system is totally up the creek, especially the temperature control bit. I have learnt what aggravates things, and should play by the rules to control the rest of the ME symptoms .. .. but sometimes you just have to let your hair down and suffer the consequences! My energy levels are way below normal and I tire easily, it can take me several hours to do the most basic household chores with lots of stopping and starting - but thankfully I am able to look after myself and enjoy crafting as a form of therapy. Yesterday I was pretty shattered and couldn't even finish putting my card together and I know I have loads to catch up with, but it will have to take time. I'm sending love and hugs to all the other ladies I have met through blogging who also suffer from ME, CFS or Fybromyalgia.

Summer Ice Cream

I am scheduling my post for today as I have an appointment with my ME Specialist so will be travelling with hubby to Bodmin Hospital, then all being well stopping off at the Herbery afterwards. I coloured this image a while ago but have only just got around to creating a card with it and I've not got a list of the Copic pens I used - sorry. This is one of Elisabeth Bell's older stamps from Sugar Nellie and I've used the sketch from the Stampavie and More blog for the card layout with a mix of digi papers from Cuddly Buddly. I've embellished with punched flowers and fronds, little butterflies and gems from my stash. My photos don't seem to be coming out very clear and I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong - I press the auto focus and get it to fix on the image, but often it's the embellishments that seem to be in focus and the image looks blured .. .. any ideas?

The theme on the Paper Sundaes blog is for childhood memories, what better than summer days eating ice cream with a four legged friend! Totally Stampalicious have an anything goes theme, as long as you stamp of course, and Stamp Something would like to see sassy circles along with the stamping.

Hopefully I'll be able to link up my card when I get home, and catch up with you too.

April Showers!

I have just escaped from the garden where it is too hot! I'm having a weekend off from doing books with hubby and from blogging and crafting, but as he's just gone to walk the dogs I thought I'd take the opportunity to catch up with what's been happening. I'm trying hard to type straight after a couple of glasses of vino and as I rarely have a tipple at lunch time it's gone straight to my head!

Thank you for the birthday wishes - it was a quiet day, but yesterday and today I've had hubby at my beck and call .. .. so a trip to the craft shop and lots of gardening! This morning we got a couple of buckets of well rotted you know what from our friendly local farmer so that should keep the roses happy. Yesterday we also got a little table and a couple of chairs so we can sit on our tiny backyard patio for meals - and we've been making good use of them, although the sun has gotten a bit too much for me so I've had to come in doors for an hour or two until it cools down.

I remembered I'd not shared this card with you, it's one of the new digi Lilyboo designs over at Cuddly Buddly and is called April Showers - not too many of those around at the moment! I've coloured with Copics then glazed the raindrops, her pink polka dots and yellow wellies with a Glaze pen - lovely and shiny but of course not showing up. I've also added Stardust Stickles around the edge of the image, the rainbow circle and the patterned paper - I think you can just about make it out.

Copic colours I used:
skin tones with E000, 00, 21 & R00
hair with E50, 51 & 53
pinks with RV00, RV02
yellows with Y02 & 15
greens with YG11 & 41
blues with B0000, B41 & 21
violets with BV01 & 13

Over on the Crafty Creations challenge blog the theme is rain showers so here's one for them.

I am going to have a little lie down now .. .. so catch up with you later!

Row, row, row your boat

On my next Lilyboo card I'm sharing with you today I've used the Row Your Boat digis from Sam's Nursery Rhyme collection at Cuddly Buddly. I've coloured the background bridge with my Copics then inked the edges with Aspen Mist Versamagic chalk ink to take off the stark white, although it doesn't show up very well in the picture. After colouring the cute couple in the row boat I've cut them out and 3d mounted onto the card to create a picture. This is a 5" x 7" card, a little bigger than I usually make and I suppose I could have made the digi images smaller, but left them the size they come. They are very easy to colour as Sam puts in little shade lines so you could just colour flat and they would still look good - and wouldn't they be fun for the kids to play with in the holidays!

I've embellished with two shades of aqua satin ribbons, Martha Stewart punched hydrangea flowers and rose leaves cut with the new Marianne English Rose die set, oh and of course my cream pearl pen.

Creative Inspirations challenge is to use punches and dies - I've got both on my card! The Papertake Weekly challenge is 'anything goes with something new', so I can enter my card with them too.

It's rather tropical!

That's the theme this week on Cute Card Thursday - the sun is out so let's go tropical! In fact, it was such a bright sunny day yesterday when I took the picture that the colours are looking a bit washed out - although I really mustn't complain. I've inked up 'me and my cat' from LOTV with a brown Momento for a change, I must use it more often, then I've coloured with Copics. The papers are from K&Co's Simply Sweet pack together with aqua cardstock and I used the sketch from the Sketchy Colors blog for my card layout. The flower embellishment is created with Marianne dies and I've simply stamped a birthday greeting with Orchid Brilliance ink, added buttons, ribbon and gems to finish things off. And can you see I added a tiny pink heart to kitty's collar?

these are the bright Copic colours I used on my image:
skin tones in my usual E000, 00, and 21
hair is E50, 51, 53 and 55
kitty is Y21, YR31, 24 & 14
pinks are R81 & RV34
blues are B000, 00 & 02
greens are YG21, 23 & 25
for shadow I've used the warm greys from 0 to 3.

The Stamptacular Sunday challenge theme is a recipe this week, to include a button or two (or three), some bling and a bloom (or two, or three).

Make it Colourful's theme is for bright colours and the Fairy Tale challenge is simply for a Happy Birthday creation.

Nursery Rhyme Digis

Over at Cuddly Buddly the latest releases from Sam at Lilyboo Designs is a range of Nursery Rhyme designs. In each digi set you get at least 1 character plus a background to go with it - take a look at the cards that the Cuddly Buddly team have been working on for some inspiration on how to put them all together. If you click on the digi image it will open and under the image you can see the cards that have been made using that design, click on each one and it will appear in the main screen.

Back to my card then, I've used 'Follow Me' better known to you as Mary had a little lamb. After colouring Mary and the little lamb I cut them out and placed in front of the wall - now that wall is going to be very useful with other images too, in fact Sam has tons of useful background type digi's and I've used an older one called 'flower arch' along with Mary in the card below.

All my colouring is done with Copics and I've inked the edges of the coordinating Lilyboo papers with Versamagic chalk ink - Spring Pansy for the pink papers and Aspen Mist on the aqua. Both cards are embellished with pearls made with my Waco pearl maker pen - pink on the first and cream on the second. On the second card I've had a play with my new Marianne English Roses dies and created the roses from the smaller die. The leaves I've cut from thick handmade paper which is why you can see a mark on one of the bottom leaves - it's in the paper and is a little bit of a rose petal.

By the Cute & Girly's monthly challenge theme for April is just that, cute and girly! So I'm entering either or both of my cards for their challenge, and for the chance to be a GDT member in June.

The One Stop Craft blog challenge is for spots and dots - I have used spotty dotty paper and the pearls are spotty dotty too!

Our Creative Corner have a recipe challenge to make things girly, include a handmade paper flower, ribbon and a touch of bling. My second card is for them with the lacy ribbon and the pearl bling along with my handmade flowers.

I'll have another of my cards made with Sam's Nursery Rhyme digis to share with you in a day or two - best get back to the colouring now! If you want to know anything about these cards, just drop me an email. Aga left me a comment on Saturday asking about how to use the Cuddly Buddly digi papers - I tried getting back to you Aga but my system couldn't recognise your email link, if you'd like to email me we can have a chat. I'm still way behind on commenting too but slowly catching up with you all - thanks for stopping by.

With This Ring

Our next challenge on the Oldie but a Goodie blog has been chosen by Francesca, to create a wedding or anniversary project with an old stamp (at least 6 months old). We have a lovely prize on offer and also the chance to join us as a Guest Designer in May. I've used a Penny Black stamp from 2000 called With This Ring - it's been in my stash for a couple of years but this is the first time I've created anything with it! It is a big image and takes up most of the room on my 5.5" square card so it hasn't left me with much room to play about with embellishments. Well actually, as I was stuck for papers after colouring in the image with my Copic pens, I decided to stick with the pink textured cardstock and just do a lacy punch around the page white layer with my Martha Stewart punches. To decorate I've added a satin ribbon tied in a bow and a little silver heart, then I went and blobbed on the pink pearls with my Waco pearl maker pen. As I took the picture under the craft lamp last night it's picked up the sparkle from the Stardust Stickles - hopefully there's enough interest on the card, what do you think?

The Copic pens I used to colour my image were:
skin tones with E000, 00, 21 & R00
hair with E30, 31, 35 & 57
his suit with BV20, 23, 25 plus 29 on the shoes
and the trims and hat with C0, 1, 2 & 3
his waistcoat is B91
I've shaded the wedding dress and veil with B60 and BV20
the pinks are RV000, 21, 23 & 25
and RV11 for the shading - this is a grey pink and seems odd in the colour sequence
but works well for shading the pale orchid pink colours
the leaves are coloured with YG11 & 41
and I've added a little W0 & 1 for ground shading

The Charisma Cardz challenge is for bling and sparkles - well this one sure is sparkly!

with love from a wee mouse

I was sort of making this little 4" square card for the Penny Black Saturday blog sketch challenge, but couldn't fit a sentiment on it where it's supposed to be, instead I just stamped onto a little Quickutz tag and tucked it under the ribbon. It was a dead quick card to make, the little mouse from the clear PB Every Which Way set stamped then cut out with classic oval Nesties - more oval than looks in the picture - and matted with a scallop oval cut from textured grey card then 3d mounted onto the card for extra interest. The background paper is from the slate colourway of Kim's digi Cottage Collection and I added the white line and pricking faux stitches around the edge. The embellishments are little bits from my stash and the gem hearts are Papermania from my local craft store. I've coloured the little mouse with pale grey shades C0, 1, 2 & 3 plus RV10.

I'll enter my card anyway, but I also remember seeing a challenge to use black and white plus one other colour, but forgot to write it in my book .. .. if you know which one would you let me know please so I can link up to it as well.

Thank you to Kat for letting me know that the challenge over at Penny Black at Allsorts is for black and white + one.

Wish Upon A Star

A different shape of card today for this cute Little Star image as it's quite big! I've gone for a 5"x7" base and used a piece of the Little Star coordinating digi paper matted with pale yellow cardstock to cover it. I had this pretty star edged organza ribbon in my stash so wrapped a strip around, then simply 3d mounted my matted image, stamped the ticket text and created a flower embellishment from blooms in my stash and Marianne diecut pieces. I have spritzed the flowers with pearl Glimmer Mist so that they shimmer, and added Stardust pen to the tiny stars in the image. I couldn't waste the little stars that ended up behind the mat so snipped them off and used in the centre of the flowers and the top corner. To add more shimmer I've gone over the coloured stars in the image and the printed ones on the paper with a Sakura clear Glaze pen, then finished off adding pearl blobs with my Crystal pearl maker pen.

Lots of sparkle and shine on this creation, which of course doesn't show up, perfect for the Incy Wincy challenge blog. And over on the Stamp Something blog it's April digi time so I can enter my card with them too.

Temptation!

Here's Toby Tumbles little puppy friend eyeing up a slice of chocolate cake! this is another of Czes digi designs and I've coloured with my Copics then inked and edged with Stardust Stickles. The papers are from Czes' Spring Bouquet digi pack and I've simply matted everything with bright pink cardstock. To embellish I punched out various Marianne diecuts for the flower embellishment then added lots of sticky half pearls.

Copic colours I used:
puppy - E50, 51, 53, 55
the stripe on puppy's head - E40, 41, 42
cake - E71, 74, 77
pink - RV00, R81, 83, blue - B21, 45
shadow - C0, 1, 2, 3

My card layout is the sketch from the Papertake blog and I'm also going to enter Die Cut Dreams challenge to use a foodie digi.

My Fairy Best Friend

Today I have a little card to show you made with one of Kim's new fairy digi designs, this one is called 'my fairy best friend' and I've coloured with Copics then added Stardust Stickles to the wings, stars and around the inked edges. The papers are from Czes' Spring Bouquet digi pack and I've inked the edges of them too with Spring Pansy Versamagic chalk ink. I've stamped the text ticket with Pretty Petunia Versamagic and made the flowers by punching from white thick paper, then inking with both chalk ink colours, dabbing with a Pearl Dabber and adding dots to the centres with an old Stampin' Up! marker in Almost Amethyst. I've added another new die cut border, punched and embossed the butterflies and finished up with pink pearls made with my new pearl maker pen.

My inspiration for making the flowers came from a tutorial on the StampARTic blog - they have some fabulous ideas and thankfully write in English!

I have a couple of challenges to enter with this card - the One Stop Craft blog are looking for fairies or angels, and my card layout is the sketch from the Stamp With Fun blog.