Fishing is easy?

Here's my guest DT card for the Creative Inspirations blog where the challenge is to use the colours green, beige and white this week. My image is by LOTV coloured with Copics. The plain cardstock is by Stampin' Up! and the patterned papers are by Designer Digitals with edges inked in Sahara Sand Versamagic chalk ink. My embellishments are stamped texts, Marianne diecut swirls, punched dots, Quickutz corners, a piece of white gross grain ribbon and a little flower from my stash.

Copic colours:
EOOO, 00, 21, 02
E40, 41, 42, 43
E71, 74, 77
YG63, 67, 91, 93
B52, G40

Cards 4 Men have a water theme just at the moment and A Spoonful of Sugar are looking for shabby chic/vintage designs - I think this one fits the theme.

My back is not so painful today, just one sided now so I'll keep taking the tablets and hope to be back soon.

For Baby

Here's my card for the Oldie but a Goodie challenge, and it's my turn to host this one. Unfortunately I've strained my back and can barely stand so I can't stop long and I can't sit and browse the computer. I can quickly tell you the image is a LOTV stamp and I've coloured with Copics. The soft patterned paper is a digi download from Cuddly Buddly and the pearl paper is from my stash. I've embellished with punched and diecut flowers, swirls and corners and used my crystal Waco pearl maker pen to add the flower centres.

I'm also entering my card for the Everybody Art challenge which is also for babies.

I hope to be back briefly with my DT card for tomorrow, but then will be recuperating until my back is better. Serves me right for trying to dig in the garden on Sunday!

Birthday Girl

Brrr it's cold down here in Cornwall today, but the sun is shining and the daffs are just about to flower in my garden so as long as we get another week of sunshine, I think it might be Spring at last!

Today I'm showing you another of the cards I made for Cuddly Buddly to exhibit at the SECC this weekend - and as it was a while ago I haven't got a list of the Copic pens for you. I've used Kim's new birthday girl digi image, but she's also available in rubber if you like to get inky. The pretty butterfly background digi paper is from the Little Miss Daisy Spring digi pack and I've pricked the edges before adding Stickles. I've added a length of satin ribbon and tied a bow then stamped out one of the new text greetings and inked the edges with Versamagic chalk ink Spring Pansy, same as on the image. The pearls are made with my white Waco pearl maker pen and the embellishments are a mix of Marianne diecuts, Martha Stewart punched fronds and little pink roses from my stash. And I almost forgot, little punch and emboss Nellies Choice butterflies to bring in a touch of yellow.

The theme over at A Spoonful of Sugar is for tags so I'm joining in their challenge with this card. Flutterby Wednesday have an open theme this week, I hope my punched butterflies and butterfly background paper will count. And, over at Stamp Something it's the digi week challenge so I can enter my creation with them too.

Have fun this weekend - I'm gardening and maybe getting a little inky so will be back in a day or two!

Wee Suzi

Here's a little card I made with cute little Wee Suzi digi image now available at Cuddly Buddly. I've coloured her with Copics then inked the edges with Walnut DI and Stardust Stickles. The digi papers are also inked as well as the edges of the flowers and swirls. I've stamped a text then added lots of pearls with my cream Waco pearl maker pen, finally finishing off with a satin bow.

Copics I used:
skin tones - E000, 00, 21
hair - E30, 31, 34
dress - B000, 00, 02
pinks - RV00, 69, R81, 83, 85
greens - G00, 02
shadow - W1

I used a past sketch from the Sweet Sketch Wednesday challenge blog from a couple of weeks back, well I was making the card for their challenge but didn't get it finished in time. Thankfully the current Paperplay challenge is for chabby chic vintage style creations so hopefully this will tick their box! I hope to get back into my craft room today, I am feeling a touch brighter and actually woke up without a thick bunged up head .. .. so I'm on the mend, the sun is shining and I'm looking forward to the weekend. Whatever you are planning, have fun and enjoy!

Signs of Spring

This week on Cute Card Thursday we are looking forward to signs of spring, so it seemed appropriate to use this new cute image, 'a spring thing', from Kim at Cuddly Buddly available in both digi and rubber.

I've coloured my image with Copics, but I'm sorry I don't have a list of colours for you as it was a few weeks ago I made her for the Cuddly Buddly stand at the SEC craft fair this weekend. In real life you will see that her stripy tights are pink and cream, I do have problems photographing pale pink and it is a colour I like to use a lot. The papers are digi designs by Cuddly Buddly and I've inked the edges with Spun Sugar DI then added Stardust Stickles. The lacy circle is a Nellies die cut I've embossed with a Cuttlebug folder and then inked, the greeting is from a new set of stamps and the embellishment is a mix of Marianne die cuts, Nellies punch and emboss butterflies and Martha Stewart punched leaves. I've finished off with pink gems and hearts to make it a real girly creation - just right for the Sweet Stamping blog challenge! The Allsorts challenge is to make your own flowers, I've mixed up the die cuts to create mine. Fab 'n' Funky have a spring theme and so do the Everybody Art challenge blog.

I'm scheduling this post as I'm still not feeling brilliant - but hopefully will be back amongst you all very soon.

In the Garden

I am happy to have been chosen as the guest designer for March over on the Creative Inspirations challenge blog - such a lovely group of ladies and very interesting challenges too!

This week the theme is 'In the Garden' so I have chosen to create my spring card with cute Toby Tumbles 'say it with flowers' digi image, and he is also available in rubber if you like to get inky. I've coloured him with my Copic pens then added a little Old Paper Distress Stickles to the centres of the flowers - I used my finger as instructed by Tim Holtz, and also rubbed over the stamped text greeting, but I'm not sure about this stuff. I had a bit of a dilemma when it came to putting the card together - why did I give cute little Toby an orange romper suit? Thankfully, I found a little piece of buttercup digi paper from Cuddly Buddly and together with some soft orange and cream cardstock, Versamagic chalk inks in Mango Madness and Thatched Straw for inked edges, a scrap of cream ribbon and my cream Waco pearl maker pen I was almost there. To finish off I punched out little butterflies with a Nellies Choice punch and emboss set then added little pearl gems for the bodies.

I'm also entering my card in to the challenges at One Stop Craft for spring flowers, Die Cut Dreams a spring garden scene, By the Cute and Girly springtime and Lollipop Crafts who are thinking spring. I am still feeling pretty rotten so am not visiting my blogging friends this week, but I do appreciate you stopping by to see me and thank you so much for your kind thoughts and get well wishes.

Mr Wiggly

I feel like crap today - at last I've succumbed to hubby's germs and have a head full of hot soggy cotton wool. My eyes are stuck up, my nose is streaming and my voice sounds like I have a bad 200 a day habit! So I'm not staying around for long but wanted to share another of the cards I recently made for Cuddly Buddly's newly released Eliza and Bro cute characters. This is the digi version of 'Mr Wiggly', coloured with Copics then cut out with a labels 8 Nestie that I pricked around the edge. I've cut a mat with a bigger one then inked all the edges of the digi patterned papers with Pumice Stone DI before adding Platinum Stickles. The texts are from a new set of sentiments and the horizontal strip is punched with my new Martha Stewart deep edge infinity loops. I've embellished with ribbons and buttons from my stash, little red roses, punched fronds and Marianne die cut swirls.

I'm entering my card into The Corrisove Challenge for distressing and Crafty Creations theme of 'at the bottom of my garden lives .. ..' well in this case, worms!

I'm off back to my bed now - thanks for stopping by and special thanks if you leave me a comment, but I wont give you a hug in case you get the nasty germs!

A little birdie told me

I'm back again as I have a card to share with you that I made a little while ago. There are new stamps and digi images over at Cuddly Buddly - Kim has created a range of cute characters called Eliza and Bro and I had some of the digi images to play with.

This card is made with 'a little birdie told me', coloured with Copics but I can't remember which ones and the pinks are looking a little washed out - I took the picture before getting to grips with my new camera. I've inked the edges of the images, plain layers and digi papers with Spun Sugar DI then added Stardust Stickles around the image and the papers. The little watering can is stamped and cut out from the garden fence accessories set, and the pearls are made with my cream Waco pearl maker pen. I've embellished with Marianne die cut flowers and swirls and punched out Martha Stewart fronds.

I'm entering my card into the Digital Tuesday challenge for punches - mine are the fronds and the lace edging. I'll be back tomorrow with another new card design from Cuddly Buddly to share with you.

Love Birds

Fabulous news! Cuddly Buddly are now selling Sylvia's cute digi designs, yes Wee Stamps digis are now available here in the UK!

I created a card with little Suzi a few days ago, this time I've used the cute little birds on a swing. I printed the image out the size it came, which is quite big so I had to make a bigger card - out of my comfort zone a bit and next time I'll make it smaller. I coloured the love birds image with Copics: RV000, R81, R83, BV000, BV00, BV01, V000, V01, E0000, E40, E41, E42, G20, YG11 and a Sakura Stardust pen on the swing. The white pearls I made with my Waco pearl maker pen, the edges of the papers and the image are inked with Victorian Velvet DI then I've gone around with the Stardust Stickles. I ran out of ideas for embellishment and couldn't get the right colour paper roses so abandoned the idea of matching them to the image. I did find a piece of pretty organza ribbon and the little satin ribbon roses so added them with a few punched leaves and a Marianne die cut swirl. I think my Mr Mojo has taken the weekend off without asking .. .. hope he comes home soon!

I found another challenge blog, called Kreative Stempelfreunde, or Creative Stamp Friends in English. The current theme is for checks so I'm entering my card in their challenge. The ABC challenge is up to the letter O for ovals, so this is my entry for their challenge too.

Whatever you are doing, have fun this weekend. I'm having a bit of a rest so will be back with you early next week.

Sapphire Happy Birthday

I'm scheduling this post as I'm a little under the weather and can't seem to get going in the mornings these days. I love this cute Dawn stamp from Nellie's Choice, but this is only the second time I've inked it up! She is of course coloured with Copics and I've used digi papers from Kims cottage collection in sapphire matted with Almost Amethyst card from Stampin' Up! I've done the white line and pricking faux stitches around the edges of the papers then embellished with flowers made with Marianne dies, Marianne swirls and pearls made with my cream Waco pearl maker pen. Another clean and relatively simple card for the box.

A Spoonful of Sugar have been running a birthday wishes theme, and the Fab 'n' Funky challenge have a recipe - 1 image, 2 embellishments and 3 patterned papers. Now I never know whether they mean 2 types of embellishments, or just 2 in number - I'm hoping the first as I have diecuts and pearls on my card.

I'm sorry I've not been around to leave comments very much this week, hopefully a few more days getting my energy levels back and I can come visit again.

Pom Pom

This week on Cute Card Thursday teamy Christine has designed a sketch for you , and our sponsor is Kraftin' Kimmie stamps.

I've coloured this cute little LOTV Pom Pom fairy with my Copics and went over her wings, dress and the balls on her wand and her headdress with Cotton Candy Stickles. I've cut out my image with a circle Nestie and cut the mat with a blossom circle Nestie. I've used a soft pink Coredinations cardstock for the mats and distressed all the edges with a nail file. I've inked the edges of the background paper with Magnolia Bud Versamagic chalk ink and added faux pricked stitches. The paper is from the Cuddly Buddly Toby Tumble floral bouquet digi collection. I've embellished with pretty roses, punched fronds and little snips of pearl strings, along with the lace and organza ribbon. The two pearls on my little tabs are created with my cream Waco pearl maker pen, and the text is stamped with coral pink Brilliance pearlescent ink.

Copic colours I used:
skintones - E000, 00, 21, 02
hair - E30, 31, 34
pinks - R000, 00, 21, 22
greens - G20, 21, Y0000
cream top and socks - E50, 51, 53
shadow - W1

I'm also entering my card into the Fluterby Wednesday blog challenge, which is an open theme this week. Magical Mondays are looking for lace, Crafty Cardmakers are looking for fairies plus at least 2 punches - I punched the edges of the horizontal strip under the lace and also punched the leaf fronds. And over on the Anything Goes challenge they want to see distressing - my sanded and inked edges.

Belles Christmas

Here I am, late again! But hopefully not too late for the Paperplay challenge to add a little shine - I've glazed the pink bauble, the lights on the tree and the little red baubles on the package tree too. And there are pink shiny gems in the centre of my poinsettia flowers and the top corner. The Winter Wonderland theme is for a Christmas card and Totally Papercrafts are doing it with digis - my image is Elisabeth Bell's digi design called Belles Christmas. The Stamptacular Sunday blog challenge is for someone special, so hope this card for a wonderful daughter will be appropriate.

I've coloured my image with Copics, used a digi paper from Cuddly Buddly's Christmas Toby Tumble designs and the red ribbon is recycled from a box of chocs. It's a simple little card for my £1 craft fair box - so no expensive embellishments, just punched poinsettia flowers and holly leaves.

Copic colours I used:
skin tones - E000, 00, 21, 02
hair and teddy - E30, 31, 34
greens - G12, 14, 85
pinks/reds - RV000, 10, 11, 25, 29
blue greens - BG0000, 000, 10, 11, 13

Thanks for stopping by again - seems you liked yesterday's card a lot - I hope you like this one too.

Spring is in the air!

So sorry to be late posting my card today, I just can't seem to get going in the mornings ... or the afternoons! We have a spring theme for our next challenge on the Oldie but a Goodie blog - I just hope it triggers some sunshine and flowers in my garden. Our very own Fleur is giving a fabulous prize and we are also looking for a guest designer to join us in April - but remember, no digi images and your stamp must be at least 6 months old.

I've inked up Ruffles by Helz Cuppleditch for Stampavie and coloured with Copics then put this simple card together with bits and pieces from my stash. The flowers and swirls are Marianne die cuts, the leaves are punched and the pearls are made with my Waco pearl pen.

Copic pens used:
Ruffles - E50, 51, 53, 55
chicks - Y21, YR23, 24
greens - YG91, 93, 95, 97
flowers - YR000, 00, 02
sky - B60

I've inked the edges of my papers with Malted Mauve Versamagic chalk ink as well as adding pricked faux stitches then matting with Rose Embroidery Coredinations cardstock.

Charisma Cardz also have a spring theme challenge and Incy Wincy Designs are looking for punches and dies on your creations. I'm going to have a bit of a rest day today, so will be back to catch up with you all later on. Thanks so much for stopping by, I really love to read your comments.

Love in the little things

I'm back with a little Sarah Kay card to share with you today, although it wasn't without problems in the creation! The image is coloured with Copics and the papers from my stash, the second lot I tried out, are edged with Sahara Sand Versamagic chalk ink and Platinum Stickles. They are actualy a soft yellow .. .. I still can't get the colours right with the camera. I was stumped when it came to flowers too .. .. I tried several different punched shapes but eventually found these yellow felt flowers and added Marianne diecut stamens. The gold pearls are made with my Waco pearl maker pen, but I had more problems! Originally I had a row of pearls to the right of the image but after accidentally sticking my thumb on half of them, and then redoing and not getting them the same size I decided they didn't look right so scraped them off and put on a piece of ribbon to cover the residual mess! I love my cream pearl maker pen, but the gold ones seem to stay more pointed rather than settling into a beautiful half pearl. I stamped the LOTV text with Tea Leaves Versamagic ink and edged it, and the image, with Magnolia Bud before doing the stickle thing. So at the end of it all, I'm lucky to have a card to share with you at all!

Copic pens I used:
skin tones - E000, 00, 21, 02
hair - E30, 31, 53, 34
chicks and gold tones - Y21, YR23, E33
greens - G20, 21, YG93
pinks - R000, 11, 12, 14

The Dutch Dare Card challenge is for sparkle, glitter and bling - well I have sparkly glitter and the gold pearls for bling.

A little bird told me

I'm scheduling this post so fingers crossed, I'm either at a craft demo at the art shop in Kelly Bray, or I'm still in bed! For this card I inked up one of my old Penny Black stamps and coloured her in with Copics - her plaid dress is actually blue and brown .. .. and the pinks are certainly pinker .. .. still struggling with the camera but thanks to Paula for the tip about taking under the natural daylight lamp, I'll try that with the next card. I've kept the embellishments to a minimum on this card, it seemed to suit the image and the sketch layout from the Corrosive Challenge blog. The papers are digi designs from Cuddly Buddly and I've added Stardust Stickles to the edges of the papers and the image, plus I inked around the edge of the image with Spun Sugar Distress ink.

Copic colours I used:
skin tones - E000, 00, 21, 02
hair, shoes, centre of flowers - E50, 51, 53, 55
blues - B0000, 000, 00, 02
pinks - RV000, 00, 02, 11, 25
greens - YG91, 93
shadow - W1, 3

To embellish I've diecut a Marianne swirl, fixed a little pink rose and tied a bow with a snip of pale blue organza ribbon. The text I cut out from another Penny Black stamp, then to finish I've added little pearls made with my Waco cream pearl maker pen.

The Truly Scrumptious challenge is for pearls and swirls, while the ABC blog challenge is O for Old fashioned, just right for my old Penny Black stamp! Creative Inspirations are looking for plain and simple cards with no more than 2 patterned papers and less than 4 flowers - I can tick those boxes. That'll do for now, I'll do the links when I get back. Enjoy your weekend!

Wee Suzi

Here is my first card made with the cute and adorable Suzi from Wee Stamps. I've coloured her with Copics, but as the colours were mostly pale they don't show up too well with my new camera, especially the subtle shading I've used. For example, that little ladybird is coloured with R85 and R81 so should be darker, and I've inked the edges of the white leaves and the butterfly with Victorian Velvet DI and that doesn't show up either. Any thoughts on how to fix it? My camera is a Fujifilm Finepix 14 mega pixel, and I'm using all those to take the pictures. Or do I need to change my style and start using darker colours with more contrast - I hope not as I do like the pastels.

The rest of the Copic colours I used were:

skin tones with E000, 00, 21 and R00 - hair with E30, 31, 55
flower pot and gift with E40, 41 and 42
bows on gift and trim on dress with RV91, 93 and 95
roses with R81, 83 and 85
leaves with YG91 and 93
dress with E0000, R0000 and R81

the shadow beneath her feet is done with E40 and 41,
and I've used Y0000 all around her to give a soft golden glow.

For the card layout I've used the Cutie Sunday challenge sketch with Cottage Rose digi papers from Cuddly Buddly and a strip of Martha Stewart deep edge infinity punched lace added to the horizontal layer. I've inked the edges of the papers with Victorian Velvet DI before adding Stardust Stickles, and I've also inked and stickled the edge of the image that I've cut out with a circular Nestie and matted with a plain scallop Nestie circle edged with the DI. I've made the pearls with my Waco cream pearl maker pen, die cut the Joy butterfly, punched leaves and fronds, then added snips of pearl string to the flowery embellishments.

Paper Sundaes have a list of toppings to use this week, I've got the flowers, distressing and pink, and if you count the infinity punched border I have the lace too! The Digital Tuesday challenge is to use a die cut and a digi this week - I have diecut my digi image, the mat and the little butterfly.

Thanks for the enquiries about my health, it's not great but I'm upright! I am getting tired very easily and it seems that my kidneys may have been damaged when I had the bad attack of gout 15 months ago so now they aren't getting rid of some of the things they should be .. .. more tests in the offing but things are better than they were the last time I had the tests. Unfortunately I'd put on a stone in weight since I stopped dieting last summer so I'm back on the diet and have done remarkably well this week with a 5lb loss! I am not expecting to keep that up but at least it's a good start and I'm almost back to the weight I was this time last year, another stone off and I'll be happy, still overweight according to the doctor but at least not obese! I've given up any hope of the hot flashes ever going away, I've tried everything and they are obviously not menopausal as that happened years ago - according to the doc I'm just one of the unlucky small percentage that will get them for life!!!!

Shine On!

This is the first picture taken with my new camera, what do you think? Looking at the card in front of me the colours aren't right on my screen, it's too bright and washed out - the bunny is more honey coloured and the shadows aren't showing up, On the eggs I've used the E41, 42 & 43 Copics along with the B00, B02 & B05 blues and blue-greens BG11, 32 & 34 that aren't showing up either. Bunny is coloured with E50 to E55 range and the grass is YG91, 93 & 95. Oh well, more practice and fiddling about with the camera settings is needed!

This week on Cute Card Thursday we are looking for something shiny on your creation, mine is those shiny little flowers with the shiny gem centres and the 3 little gem accents in the top corner. My Spring bunny stamp is from Lili of the Valley, coloured with Copics of course, then cut out with a slim oval Nestie that I then left in place to act as a guide when pricking around the edge. I've also pricked the edges of the papers by Designer Digitals to look like stitching so I can enter the Top Tip Tuesday challenge for stitching, which thankfully doesn't have to be real! The Lollipop Crafts challenge is to colour with your favourite medium - easy peasy - it has to be Copics! And Stampavie and More are looking for monochrome creations this week - perfect for my cool blues then! For embellishments I've added spotty blue ribbon, little gems to the centres of the sparkly flowers and in the top corner, punched a strip of MS lace, diecut poinsettia leaves from white card then inked the edges with soft blue chalk ink, and also diecut the fronds - both Marianne dies. The little circular text is a naughty sneaky peak of a new set of stamped sentiments that Kim will be launching at Cuddly Buddly early next month.

Our Sponsor for this challenge over at Cute Card Thursday is Tiddly inks and some of the DT have made beautiful cards with the digi images Christy kindly sent us, unfortunately I couldn't manage to print mine off.

Wee stamps

I have just found Sylvia Zet's blog and the link to her new venture, her digital stamp designs called Wee Stamps. They are just adorable and I'm sure to succomb! This little lass is called Suzi, isn't she a cutie and perfect for birthday or Mother's Day creations.

I've not got one of my own creations to share with you today .. .. several on my desk in various stages but nothing ready for the camera just yet!

Valentine for my Man!

We said we wouldn't do the card thing this year but this doesn't really count, does it? I made a little post-it note holder for my dear hubby, although I suspect the flower will mean it gets left on the desk rather than being taken to work! It started off as a play around with a heart shape he cut for me from scraps of thin ply wood, I covered it with ochre paint then went over with Rock Candy clear Distress crackle paint. When that was dried and cracked I rubbed over with Walnut Distress ink then finished off with Cinnamon Stickles around the edge. This is only my second play with the crackle paint and I wanted bigger cracks, so next time I will have to trowel the stuff on as it says the thicker you go the bigger the cracks .. .. ..

The base is made from pumpkin coloured card with paper by K&Co, and I inked the edges of the paper with the Walnut DI. I cut the hearts from handmade paper by folding the sheet in quarters then cutting through all the layers with the Nellie's Choice heart die. I've put a heart on the back and a couple inside too.



Here's the inside before I wrote on the heart on top of the post it pad. I stamped and cut out the text with a plain heart die from the same set and the gold pearls I made with my Waco pearl maker pen. Thanks to my eldest for taking the pictures for me on his camera .. .. ... now my dear hubby has just popped home and presented me with a new digital camera for Valentine's Day! Once I have got to grips with the technology I hope my pictures will be vastly improved - they look good on the little pre-view screen so I just have to figure out how to download them.

I'm linking my little creation up with some of the many Valentine and love challenges around:
A Spoonful of Sugar with the love, love, love! theme; Everybody Art with Valentine; Creative Card Crew for a loved one; Crafty Catz for love; and Cupcake Challenge I love you to include at least one heart. Also, the Fab 'n' Funky challenge for tempting texture.

Spring is back!

I am an absolute disaster at the moment - now I've lost my computer specs, or the tidy-up fairies have put them somewhere safe that I've yet to find! Here's another scanned picture and on top of that it's wonky and fuzzy, a bit like my eyesight! The image is a Sarah Kay stamp called Spring is back and is the Sarah Kay I've used the most. I've gone for the soft vintage look again and inked the edges of the image and all over the background paper with Antique Linen DI then sparkled with Platinum Stickles. It's one of the little cream square cards I'm trying to use up, so not a lot of room for any extras along with the image. I've simply wrapped around with ivory organza ribbon and added a bow, die-cut Marianne swirls, punched fronds and inked the edges, punched butterflies, found a couple of flowers in my stash, then finished with pearls, pearl snips and pearl hearts.

To colour my image I used Copics: skin tones in my usual E000, E00 and E21; hair with E51, E53 and E57; hat and her trousers with E40, E41, E42, E43, E44; blues with B91 and B93; pinks with R81, R83 and R85; greens with G20, G21 and G24.

The Flutterby Wednesday blog challenge is for 3 hearts, along with butterflies or fairies - I hope that my three little punched butterflies will count. The Secret Crafter Saturday challenge is for stamped flowers, I hope that the flowers in my stamped image are ok. And finally, the Totally Gorjuss theme is for love - well I have 3 little hearts on my love-ly card!

Enjoy the rest of your day - I'm turning the room upside down to try and find my specs .. .. ..