Nautical card for a man

I recently treated myself to this Marianne Design special offer kit from Cuddly Buddly, it's called Beach Set and includes A4 papers, the Nautical stamps and some lovely silky ivory ribbon and all for just £5.19 from Buddly Crafts - find it here.  Now the stamp set on it's own would cost you £8.99 so it's a bargain, and you get the papers and ribbon!  A no brainer in my book and perfect for creating something for 'difficult' men.  So this is what I came up with:

It's a smallish 5" square cream base and I've used a pale kraft card to mat my patterned paper from the pack, and to stamp the ship on to die cut out with the smaller circle die from LR0141.  I've added my signature faux embossed stitching and over-stamped the paper with some of the designs in the set using a mix of green, blue, sand and brown chalk inks.  The anchor is a MD die cut, LR0232 and I've just added string that I've also coloured with the inks.  To lighten things up I dabbed on the snow white paint dabber here and there.  The ship picture and the fish are coloured with pencils, thought they would show up better on the kraft for the ship and the cream card I used for stamping the fish.  So what do you think of my first attempt - it's a bit different to my usual flowery style, but I had fun getting inky fingers!

As Creative Inspirations, Loves Rubberstamps, and Crafty Cardmakers all want to see masculine creations, I can enter my card with each of them.

CCT Buttons and Bows

It's Thursday again already! Time for the next challenge at Cute Card Thursday, this time it's for buttons and bows and we are being sponsored by Bunny Zoe's Crafts.

My mojo went walk-about for this one so I have just made a little baby card, another of the 4" square designs with an oddment of digi paper by Cuddly Buddly and the cute little digi bear by Eline, also from Cuddly Buddly.  I've coloured with my Copics and added white dots to his diaper with a pearl pen.  I coloured a length of white satin ribbon with the same markers then tied the double bow and used the odd bits left over to thread my cardboard buttons.  The text stamp is by Marianne Design and I've added my faux embossed stitches as usual.

The ABC blog challenge is up to the letter G: to go digital, so with a digi image and digi papers I can join in with them!

I'm getting ready for a family invasion, need to get shopping today (mustn't forget the grandson's Easter Eggs) and tidy away my craft mess so we can eat at the dining room table on Sunday.  Enjoy your Easter, and the chocolate eggs! and hopefully we will see some sunshine too!

Eline's Baby Bear in a Basket

The current challenge over at Marianne Design Divas blog is for a baby creation, using at least 3 different MD products of course. Marianne has just brought out some beautiful baby dies and stamps, but unfortunately I'm not able to add them to my collection just yet (need to pay the car insurance first).  So, I have made a simple little card with a digi image and papers from Eline's baby sets available at Cuddly Buddly - you will recognise the style as Eline also has created lots of stamps and dies for Marianne Design too.  And, whoopie! my printer is working again .. .. unfortunately the pc was not working over the weekend having gotten itself a nasty bug or two so that didn't help things much!  It's going to need a little more tlc before fully recovering but at least I'm able to blog a little and browse Pinterest so I'm happy again.

And here is my card - I took the picture yesterday in the conservatory as the sun was glorious for a little while, but of course it has given me shadows too although that helps you to see the embossed faux stitches around the edges of my patterned paper.  I coloured the cute teddy bear image with my Copic pens then cut out and matted with a lace doily.  The die cuts are of course all by Marianne Design and the white flowers I've cut out of sparkly felt for a little touchy feely texture. A length of gross grain ribbon and a pearl button, plus the pearls in the centre of the flowers and the butterfly body finish things off.

These are the Marianne Design dies I used:
lace doily CR1201
lace strip and faux embossed stitches LR0161
white sparkly felt flowers LR0145
pink flowers from the cupcake die LR0160
pink swirls LR0116
little butterfly LR0261

At last it has stopped raining, although the wind is still not far short of a gale .. .. I wonder if it would be mad to finish painting the fence?  That tin of blue paint I told you about, well it was old and didn't mix too well so by the time I was half way through it was pale blue, and then at the bottom almost white!  I've gone over the original coat of blue so now all except the top bar is looking sort of blue/grey, which I like a lot better! I have a tin of Jasmine white wood paint I can use to go over the top rung and do the other side - that is so that I can see the fence in the dark when I'm driving towards it and stop in time!

Christmas is coming!

Are you surprised to see me posting again so soon!  Well, although I still can't get at my stamps and Copics to play, I did come across this little owl I had already coloured up for last Christmas but never got around to using.  He is from a set of clear stamps by Eline for Marianne Design, and the papers and diecuts are also Marianne Design, as well as the little piece of blue lace I tied in a bow.

The Marianne Design dies I've used on this card are: star CR1226, mat for owl  from LR0180, fronds from LR0107, leaves from Anja's leaves 1 LR0226.

Here's the card .. .. I have a selection of USA size envelopes ( a bit smaller than our C6) so cut a blank tent fold card from white card stock to fit.  Then I've added the layers - more than six for the Holly Jolly Christmas challenge - and finished off with the bow and die cut leaves and fronds.  I've fixed the star layer, the owl layer and the text with 1mm foam tape to give some dimension, but with the bow it will be too thick for the 'ordinary' postage slot so I will probably use this festive card for one of our neighbours.

Marinane's Design Divas challenge to get your dies out is still running so I can enter again, and over at the Papertake Weekly blog it's an anything goes challenge week so I can enter with them too.

And whilst I was sorting out some of Mum's things to settle her in to her new room, I came across a very old empty Yardley jar .. .. not sure what it contained originally but it has a pretty scallop design and looks sweet with a few blossoms from my garden.  The freesias smell gorgeous and the little white sprays have a perfume too, the little pink Sweet William should be perfumed but it's rather subtle, however, the combination is making my desk here feel decidedly like summer!

Christmas already!

I really didn't feel like making a Christmas card again so soon .. .. but I do love to enter the Marianne challenges and the Design Divas current theme is for a Christmas card.  My little owl was already coloured, fussy cut and stuck onto the tree, sitting forlornly in my box of half made bits and pieces, so it wasn't too much of a chore to cut a couple mats and put this simple card together.  I've inked the embossed areas in the diecuts and the edges of the papers with Walnut DI then finished with a little scrap of ribbon and a scatter of tiny pearls.

These are the Marianne products I used for this card:
Patterned paper from Eline's Warm Winter Wishes bloc, owl stamp from Eline's owls clear stamp set EC0141, text from Eline's Winter Wishes clear set EC0132.  Dies used: snowflakes - LR0123, LR0124, CR1227, Christmas tree LR0136, oval scallop mat from LR0235, smaller swirl embossed mat from LR0240.

Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas challenge is for a festive card but positively no Santas! owls are ok though!

My Fantasy Christmas Scene

When you are battling with the after effects of a migraine, the brain can do strange things .. .. and here is the result!  A fantasy Christmas card in blue and red created at the last minute for the Marianne Design blog challenge to make a DL card - not a size I use that often so a little lateral thinking was required .. .. get it .. .. lateral = DL/sideways  .. .. ok! You also had to use a stamp or picture from Marianne, I have chosen the cute little bird stamps from Eline's Merry Little Christmas set and coloured them with my Copics before fussy cutting them.  I've just learnt that fussy cutting means just that, fussy cutting around the image - I like that term!

Here's the full card, taken with my daylight lamp again as it's been dull in Cornwall all day.  The background paper from the Scandinavian Winter bloc is matted with dark red card then I've added a little faux stitching around the edge.  I cut the trees from another pattern in the block and stamped the stars with red Brilliance before fussy cutting them out (they come on the set with the birds) and adding tiny blue gems.  The text is from Eline's Winter House stamp set and I've stamped it in red Brilliance on to the little tag which has been inked in blue Brilliance first.  I've also cut the ivy leaves and inked them in blue too, and the fence from blue card inked with red chalk ink.  So here's the list of Marianne products I've used:

Scandinavian Winter paper bloc, stamps from Eline's Winter House and Eline's Merry Little Christmas.  Fence - LR0205, Ivy - LR0206, text tag - LR0240, Trees - CR1227.

Divas by Design challenge is an anything goes theme so I'm entering with them at the last minute too!

Marianne Shaped Card

This card is my second entry for the Marianne Design Divas challenge to create a shaped card .. .. just in case my first card, wasn't quite shapely enough!  To get my shape I fiddled about a bit with the measurements as I wanted the card to fold flat and fit in a square envelope to post.  So, starting with a piece of Cookie Crumb SU! A4 cardstock, I lined it it on my Scorepal so that the long edge was evenly spaced across the top - worked out that I was on the quarter inch at the left hand edge.  I scored at 3", 4.5", 7.5" and 9" then folded to get the shape you can see in the picture.  Once I knew how wide the card was going to be when closed I cut it so it was square.

The papers are from Marianne's Warm Winter Wishes bloc and I've inked the edges, as well as the edges of the diecuts, with Walnut DI.  The cream lacy border on the back panels is a Martha Stewart punch, other than that the dies are all by Marianne - list at the end.  I've got a little stamping on this card, the text greeting from the Marianne Stamp Fairy Christmas greeting set, and Eline's Owls clear stamp set EC0141.  I've coloured the owl and the little heart that comes with the set using my Copics before cutting them out to fix to the little tag I have on the front panel.  There's a tiny scrap of lace, little ribbon bow, the pearl button at the top of the tag, two tiny hearts from waste cutting something else, and the pearls all over the place made with my Wacco pearl maker pen, the rest of the card embellishments are all diecuts:

Bird and Ivy - LRO206
Scandinavian woven hearts - CR1228
Christmas tree - LRO136
Mini poinsettia - LRO142
Skeleton leaves - LRO128
Spray - LRO157

The Cupcake challenge is to get krafty this week - I have lots of kraft coloured card elements on my creation.  The Cutie Pie challenge is for distressing and I've got lots of inked edges so hope that counts. Totally Gorjuss just want anything with a button (big pearl one at the top of my tag), and Crafty Hazelnuts Christmas challenge this time is to use 3 different patterned papers: I have the red flower on the back panels, the kraft coloured one on the sides and the tag, and a different red on the front.

Marianne's Baby Boy

Marianne's Design Divas are feeling the Winter blues this month, but your creation doesn't necessarily have to be a winter design - just blue! I've used papers and the cute baby by Eline Pellinkhof together with a sentiment by LOTV, coloured with a few of my Copic pens: blues B21 & B24, plus C0 and B60 for shading. I've cut a white doily layer with Marianne Craftable CR1203, and created my floral embellishment with daisy flowers LRO106 and leaves from LRO156, finishing with little blue buttons tied with white floss and a couple of ribbons.

And here is the card. We have friends expecting their first baby in the summer, but it might not be a boy so I will have to make another card just in case! The Crafty Catz blog have an eye spy theme with the letter 'B' - I have blue, baby, basket, buttons and blooms.

Sweet Hello

I started this card ages ago .. .. but it got lost amidst the newer creations I've been working on recently. However, the sketch I used for the card layout is from the Create 4 Fun blog and there'll be a new challenge with them tomorrow, so I had better post this today.

The image is one of Eline's baby designs from Cuddly Buddly and my papers are from the pink Patchwork collection. For the circular elements on the sketch I've added rows of peals made with my white Waco pearl maker pen. The cute baby is coloured with Copics and I've embellished with sparkly green flowers from my stash with more pearls in the centres. It's just a simple little 4" square card but I added a piece of Martha Stewart punched lace at the edge to make it a little more interesting.

Cutie Sunday would like to see your favourite colour combination, well I love pink with anything, so here's pink and green together.

New Baby

Copics:
E30, E31, E34
R81, R83

This week on Cute Card Thursday we are looking for hearts and flowers on your creation - a very topical theme at the moment! I've had enough of Valentine's already so instead I've made a new baby girl card adding half a dozen pearly pink hearts I got at the recent craft fair. Fortunately I took the picture before my camera went on the blink, the image is one of Eline's baby designs now available over at Cuddly Buddly, coloured with copics then I've cut it out with a circle Nestie, left the die in place to add the pricking, then inked the edge with Antique Linen DI before adding Stardust Stickles. I've cut the circular layer behind the image from some handmade paper I've had in my stash for over 5 years! I folded the sheet into 4 as it's very thin, then cut through all the layers with my Nellie's Choice die before peeling them apart. The patterned papers are a mix from Eline's digi range and the rose patterned paper from Kim at Cuddly Buddly, each pricked, inked and stickled. The little heart text is an old stamp from Ellusive Images and to finish I've added flowers, Marianne die-cut swirls, Martha Stewart punched fronds and a tiny organza ribbon bow.

Our sponsor for this challenge is Simon Says Stamps. Now to list the other challenges I can enter with my card: Fun with Shapes and More are looking for hearts, and so are Crafty Cardmakers, Stamptacular Sunday are going wild with hearts, My Time To Craft have a hearts and flowers theme, Papertake Weekly want you to have a heart, and Digi Tuesday are also coming from the heart. That'll do for now, I'll leave a few others just in case I get another mushy card done over the weekend!

another baby!

Copic colours:
E30, E31, E53
B91, B93, B95
E40, E41, E42

this one is a little bit different though. I've tried out the distressed look, not something I'm terribly good at, but I'm quite happy with how this turned out. The base card is kraft then to tie the different Cuddly Buddly digi papers together I added faux stitching and inked the edges with Antique Linen Distress ink, except for the heart that is. The image is Eline's teddy in basket, coloured with copics and cut out with a Nestie then with the die in place I pricked around the edge. I've punched the edge of the horizontal layer with a MS lacy punch, die cut Marianne swirls from kraft card, coloured a length of organza ribbon with E31, stamped and coloured the CB circle text and added flowers from my stash. The heart is a Nellies choice die and I've added pearls created with my cream Waco pearl maker pen.

The Papertake Weekly blog challenge is for anything with flowers, so here's my card for them!

more of Eline's babies!

I've a set of little 4" baby cards and a little gift pouch to share with you today so this is a long post! I'll try not to waffle too much, and I don't have the Copic colours for you, but hope you wont mind that. The first card above uses the Eline's sleeping baby digi image from Cuddly Buddly, but with the blanket cut off. You also get a wee little lamb with the digi download but I just coloured and cut out the baby. I've 3d mounted him with 1mm foam pads over a Nellie's choice die cut lacy circle and a Nestie blossom circle. The papers are from the Eline's digi packs and I've drawn white stitches to match in with the printed stitches on the horizontal layer. The flower border is a Martha Stewart punch and the cute footprint ribbon is from my stash.

Something a bit different with this next creation. I've made a little gift pouch for a new baby and used the baby with bear digi, again coloured and cut out. You also get a little basket in the set .. .. that's coming up in a minute! I've also coloured and cut out a little teddy bear from the baby toy's digi set. I've created the gift pouch from soft yellow cardstock, punched a lace edge with a Martha Stewart punch and made two holes to thread with creamy gross grain ribbon. The pretty daisy paper is from Kim's digi Cottage collection in yellow and I've added little white faux stitches around the edge again. I rummaged for a text and settled on a little gold peel off, then stamped, coloured and cut out the little daisy flowers (an old stamp from my stash) and punched little green leaves to decorate.

And here's the cute little baby again, this time on a simple little card for a baby boy - no flowers then! I've cut him out again and fixed with 2mm foam squares so he's sitting proud on the card. I've added a couple of buttons and punched stars to embellish this one.

And lastly, here's the little basket that you get along with the baby. I do like this set as it's so versatile for creating cards and gifts for either boy or girl, and it's easy colouring. At just 99p a set it's also a bargain! I coloured the image then cut out with a circle Nestie and added a little Stardust Stickles around the edge. The lacy square I made with a Martha Stewart punch around the page set then I punched out little MS hydrangea flowers from a scrap of Kim's papers in bright pink, and finally added pearls with my crystal Waco pearl maker pen.

It's the Stamp Something February digi day challenge this week - so any one of my baby creations would fit the bill!

New from Cuddly Buddly

Cuddly Buddly are launching a new range of designs by Eline Pelinkhof today. There are digital stamps along with sets of coloured designs and coordinating papers, and more of Eline's designs in printed paper packs and stamps can be found around the store. I must admit that Eline was new to me, so I googled and found her blog - wow! Along with the cute baby and children designs she creates, she has an absolutely gorgeous range of vintage papers, fabrics and stamps, and her blog is a joy to visit.

Back to my card, unfortunately the pastel pink tones have rather washed out in my photo. I've used 3 different patterned papers and the sketch on the Truly Scumptious blog turned sideways with this cute baby in flowerpot digi stamp. I've coloured with Copics and added the white line and pricking faux stitches to the edges of the papers, then added in a Nellie's Choice die cut heart and little punched flowers from a scrap of bright pink cardstock. The text is from a Cuddly Buddly teddy bear set and I finished with white pearls made with my Waco pearl maker pen.

I'm popping back up to my craft room now to play some more with Eline's little cuties!