The end of summer .....

.... I'm not sure that's strictly true!  But it is the last day of August and that signals the beginning of the end of summer.  Yes, we can often have hot days, but the mornings are definitely cooler and the nights are drawing in and it's back to school next Tuesday!  That all means Autumn to me - or Fall, as they call it here in the States!!

I've made a card for one of my friends back in the UK and I've used two challenges to make it:

• Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge - WMSC112 - designed by Mona Pendleton
• Play Date Cafe Challenge - PDCC147

I'm running close to deadline with the Waltzingmouse challenge, but I couldn't think what to do, then I saw some fabulous chrysanthemums in my garden and I remembered Claire's set and I knew what to make.

Stamps:  Waltzingmouse - Big Blooms: Chrysanthemums, Chicken Wire, Blessed by You

Inks:  Memento - Grey Flannel, Teal Zeal; Stazon - Jet Black; Stampin' Up! - Cherry Cobbler, Old Olive

Accessories: Papermania - Creative Tones Olivine Essence; Card from stash

I stamped the background with the large chicken wire stamp in grey.  I used the largest of the chrysanthemum images to make my flower.  I used the outline image first using Cherry Cobbler (a rich, warm colour) and then used my stamp-a-ma-jig to position the solid image inside the lines and stamped again.  My first attempt I used the freshly inked stamp, but it was much, much too dark, so on my second attempt I stamped off onto some scrap paper and then stamped in the outline - much prettier!  To make the leaves I stamped the outline image in teal and filled in with olive.  I made the backing panel from some white card onto which I stamped the second impression of the small chicken wire and backed it with some olive paper from my stash.  I finished off the card with a sweet sentiment stamped in Stazon on as it is has very sharp definition when stamped against a background pattern.  

Here's a picture of a beautiful chrysanthemum that I found on the net - just love the warm, rich colour!

Picture credit

That's all for now - I'm off to do some more ironing - it never goes away!!!!  See you again later for the our new St Luke's Charity Card Challenge.

OLW - on the subject .....

..... Just before I went on holiday, at the end of July (where is the time going?), Susan (Simplicity) announced the addition of two new designers to the OLW challenge DT - Karen Dunbrook and Ardyth Percy-Robbs and for various reasons I've not been able to join in with the challenges for ages!!  However, I am fixing that today.

The host of this week's OLW - OLW102 is Ardyth at MASKerade.  Ardyth's challenge is "While we're on the subject" - she wants us to make a one layer card with a school flavour but based on our favourite subject.  Such fun!!!  My favourite subject at school was science - in pretty much all its flavours - chemistry, biology and physics (a bit).  Here are my cards - yes, I made four!!!  They are all tiny cards - the rectangular ones are 7½ x 10½ cm (2 7/8" x 4 1/8") and the square ones are 7½ x 7½ (3" x 3") - approximately.

Stamps:  There She Goes - Chemistry, Chem 101, Cutie Pi
Inks:  Memento - Tuxedo Black
Accessories:  Promarkers - lots; Card from stash

These were really easy to make - I simply stamped the images directly on to the cards and then coloured with Promarkers.  The first one I made is the last card shown - a play on the diagram of an atom - hence the sentiment.  Then I saw the little cutie pi stamp and, as my husband is a total maths nerd, I had to use it too - and his favourite colour is green!  Now, my very favourite science subject is chemistry and I just love the scientist image, and a fun sentiment to match.  I finished off with the rack of test tubes and these colourful solutions!  Chemicals really do come in a huge range of bright colours:

I took this photo at an Open University Transition Chemistry Summer school in July 2006.  It was such a fun week and I learnt a lot too!  These containers hold samples of all the chemicals we made that week.

That's all for today.  After an absolutely beautiful weekend weather wise, I've woken to rain and grey skies.  Still warm!  My job today is to do the ironing - I've managed to put it off since we got back, but it has to be done today!  See you soon.

CR84FN61 ....

.... it's time to share my second card with our super CR84FN61 colours of aqua, tan and cream.  I decided to use these colours to make a birthday card for Ian, my uncle.  Ian likes to be the joker in the family so I made the sentiment the main feature of his card.  I wouldn't want to make his age the focus :)

Stamps:  Waltzingmouse - Heirloom Patterns, Vintage Labels 18; Art Gone Wild - Words to the Rescue: Birthday
Inks:  Stampin' Up! - Crumb Cake; Memento - Rich Cocoa; Versamark
Spellbinders:  Labels 18 (S4-310) #5, Splendid Circles (S4-354) #3
Accessories:  Stampin' Up! - Very Vanilla Card; Card from stash; Clear embossing powder

Naturally, there is a punch line to this sentiment

This was a super easy card to make.  I found this lovely aqua card ready made in my stash - and there were two cards, so one was used to make the label topper.  I stamped the vintage label in Versamark and heat embossed with clear powder to give a tone-on-tone finish, then die cut it with the largest Labels 18 die. I used the last of my Very Vanilla card to make the mat layers and the sentiment label.  The backing pattern was made using the pinstripe stamp from Heirloom Patterns - it's really easy to line up and perfect for a guy card.  I finished off with this fun sentiment which was stamped in Rich Cocoa - it really made me smile!!!  It's in the post, so should arrive in plenty of time for Ian's birthday!!  I know it's wicked, but such fun!!

Edited to add:  Strictly the sentiment should be that the Earth is 4.5 Billion years old - but whatever :))  Sorry, I had to come back and add that - the science geek in me couldn't let it slide :)))))

Here's our challenge graphic with wonderful photos courtesy of Embrace Life Photography.

For more inspiration cards from the Design Team check out the CR84FN blog or click on the links below.

Mona Pendleton, Sue Lelli, Pauline Pollington, Andrea Matthews, Heather Jensen and Shannon White

Yesterday was just gorgeous - brilliant blue skies, bright sunshine and hot, hot, hot!  It seems that summer is going to go out with a bang!  Hopefully it will be just as nice today - I might even go to the pool!  Have a super day.  See you soon.

A couple of cards ....

...  I've very late getting around to this week's CASology - CAS7 challenge, where the cue word is GREEN.  As green is probably my most favourite colour, I had to play along.  My immediate thought when I saw the cue word was FROG and then PRINCE - and the rest was easy.

Stamps:  Waltzingmouse - Heroines - Fairy Princess, WMS set from Help for Katie
Inks:  Distress - Peeled Paint, Bundled Sage; Memento - Tuxedo Black
Spellbinders:  Postage Stamps (S4-348) #3
Accessories:  Card from stash

I made the sentiment by editing one of the sentiment's Claire Brennan made for the Help for Katie set and printing it onto white card.  I love the postage stamp die and used the middle size to cut out a square, inked the edges and then stamped this cute Frog Prince in the centre.  I coloured the frog with Promarkers and used a Sakura Stardust pen to add some shimmer to the Prince's crown.  This is a small square card - 4" x 4".  And this card is for my very own Frog Prince - my darling husband Jonathan.

My second card is for two challenges:

• Colour Q - cQc151 - bright, vibrant colours
• Less is More - LIM82 - recipe: 3-2-1

I used my Promarkers to make colour gradients in the Colour Q shades and then stamped on the "bugs".  I don't have any goggle eyes, so I stamped the eyes again on white card, cut them out and attached them to each bug.    The Less is More recipe is 3 - colours, 2 - words in the sentiment and 1 - embossing folder to represent "spots" - as in chicken pox!!!  I love these Paper Smooch stamps - they're such fun!  I'm on a bit of a square thing at the moment; this is much bigger than the first card at 5¼" x 5¼".

Stamps:  Paper Smooches - Healthy Vibes

Inks:  Memento - Tuxedo Black

Accessories:  Promarkers (to match the ColourQ colours), Cuttlebug embossing folder; Card from stash

We have decided to have a very lazy weekend - still recovering from our holiday in California!!  Jonathan is catching up on UK football, Kathryn has been playing on the PC and I've had fun in my craft room.  I intend to play some more too!  Do check back tomorrow for my latest CR84FN61 card - the colours are lovely.  Have a super weekend.

Have you seen? ....

.... I'm catching up on some blogs and noticed some wonderful Blog Candy from Beverley at Uniko Studios.  Beverley is celebrating and she is offering the following prize:

* EVERY single digital product available to date from Uniko Studio

* A Stamp Set of your choice 

* 30% off your order from the website

(If you are a regular customer to Uniko Studio & have purchased all products available & you win the candy I will revise the prize)

Go visit Beverley's blog and check out the details - the link closes on 11th September.

Congratulations and celebrations .....

......  are sent today to my son Ben.  He got his GCSE results yesterday, and he is very pleased with his results.  Ben will be going to the college of his choice in September to do A levels in Maths, Chemistry and Biology.  So I've made a card to send to him and I've used two challenges to make it:

• Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge - WMSC111 - sketch by Julia Aston
• Play Date Cafe Challenge - PDCC146 - love this one!

I used the chevron stamp to make the background pattern with one line of lime and then stamped the circles on a piece of white card, rounded the corners and stamped the sentiments.  I used Stazon for the sentiment as it shows up much more clearly on a pattern background.  I attached the sentiment panel with some dimensional tape to make it pop a bit.

Stamps: Waltzingmouse - Off Beat Backgrounds, Free Spirit Boy, Playful Pinwheels
Inks:  Stazon - Jet Black; Memento - Tuxedo Black; Stampin' Up! - Lucky Limeade
Accessories:  Card from stash

That's all for today.  See you soon.

Wedding wishes ....

.... There are no challenges involved in the making of this card; it is simply for Anne and Connor as they get married today.

My mate Buffy made the invitations for Anne, her daughter, and Connor, and I decided to use Buffy's card as the inspiration for my card to the Happy Couple.

Buffy told me that Anne's dress is Ivory, that her favourite colour is pale teal - so I've combined these elements and the gorgeous flourishes that Buffy used on the invitations, on my card to Anne and Connor.

I sent my card in plenty of time - it doesn't do to be late with cards for a wedding.  Buffy stamped the flourish in Baja Breeze.  I decided to use Baja Breeze card to make the base and top it with some lovely ivory paper with a beautiful damask foil pattern - also from Stampin' Up! but now discontinued.  I used the largest Floral Oval die to cut the topper - such pretty detail in this die.   I stamped this lovely sentiment in a darker blue, to echo the darker blue sentiment in Buffy's card, and then added the tiny flourishes above and below.  I used a Sakura Stardust pen on some of the flourishes - they look a bit grey in the photo, but in real life they shimmer!

Stamps: Waltzingmouse - Big Day Additions, Fancy Flourishes: Dots & Scallops
Inks:  Stampin' Up! - Baja Breeze, Pacific Point
Spellbinders:  Floral Ovals (S4-356) #4, Classic Ovals Lg (S4-110) #5
Accessories:  Stampin' Up! - Bridesmaid Paper - Very Vanilla (now discontinued); Baja Breeze card; Sakura Stardust Clear pen

I love the elegant font that Claire used to make these Wedding sentiments - I'm hoping for some other sentiments in this font too!!!  I also decorated the envelope with the perfect sentiment:

You'll have to excuse my handwriting on the names - I have terrible writing!!!

We've been home for four days now and life is beginning to return to its normal routine; Jonathan is back at work and I'm doing homey stuff!  Kathryn is on the last two weeks of her summer holiday.  We headed out to the shops yesterday to get some school stuff for Kathryn and we also went to the movies to see The Odd Life of Timothy Green - a lovely movie!  It made us both cry :)  Today's job is to get the ironing done and, if I get chance, to play in my craft room too.

That's all for now.  Thanks for stopping by - see you soon.

CR84FN61 - thinking of you .....

....   It's time for our new CR84FN61 challenge using these lovely colours - aqua, tan and cream - I think they make for a very elegant look!

Stamps: Stampendous - Festive Flower; Stampin' Up! - So Happy For You
Inks:  Memento - Richo Cocoa
Spellbinders: Squares Sm (S4-128) # 6, Lacey Squares (S4-295) #4
Accessories:  Promarkers; Glitter and card from stash

I started with a cream linen textured card base and in my stash I found a scrap of this lovely dark aqua paper, from which I cut the backing lacy square and stamped the flower image twice.  I stamped the flower image onto white card and coloured the leaves with Promakers.  I finished off the card with a touch of glitter on the flower and a simple sentiment.

This card went home with my Mum at the beginning of the month - I gave it to my Aunty Sue because she cares so much about everyone else and sometimes doesn't take enough time for herself.  So this is to let her know that I am thinking about her and thankful for all she does.

For more inspiration cards with these gorgeous colours click on the links below or go to our CR84FN blog for full details of the challenge:

Mona Pendleton

Sue Lelli

Pauline Pollington

Andrea Matthews

Heather Jensen

Shannon White

Here's the graphic for CR84FN61 colours - I think these photos (courtesy of Embrace Life Photography) are so beautiful, so restful!

We got home a couple of days ago - it was a fantastic trip - and Jonathan has taken loads of photos.  So I can't put it off any longer, I have to start some scrapbooks!  That's all for now - see you soon.

WMS Birthday blog party ....

.... well hello!!  We got home from our California adventure at 11.00pm last night, but I didn't want to miss this month's Waltzingmouse Blog Party - the theme of which is BIRTHDAYS!!  So I've made this quick and simple card using the lovely pinwheels and the colours from this week's Colour Q - cQc150 which are really bright and cheerful.

Stamps:  Waltzingmouse - Playful Pinwheels
Inks:  Stampin' Up! - Poppy Parade, Daffodil Delight, Lucky Limeade, Pool Party
Accessories:  Card from stash

That's all for now - once I've done the unpacking and some washing, I'll come back and check out the rest of the cards at the Blog Party.

CR84FN60 - magic ....

..... Hello again - we've had an amazing week travelling from San Diego to Morro Bay; the week has simply flown by.  Today I get to share with you my second card for our fantastic CR84FN60 colours of BLUE, GREEN and GRAPE.

Stamps:  Artistic Outpost - Quotes & Quotables - Soulful Quotes; Hero Arts - Thinking of You
Inks:  Stampin' Up! - Wild Wasabi, Perfect Plum, Pacific Point
Spellbinders:  Floral Ovals (S4-356) #4
Accessories:  Sizzix Dies - Thinking of You (set with Hero Arts stamps), Card from stash

I love this quote from J K Rowling - "we all have magic inside us" - I think we do.  I wanted the quote to have centre stage on the card.  I cut the floral oval (so pretty) and while still in the die I stamped the quote and sponged on some colour.  Next I randomly stamped some flowers and leaves to frame the quote.  I stamped leaves on to the card base and finished off by added the die cut flowers.  This stamp & die set is super easy to use and will feature again soon!!

For more inspiration cards from the Design Team check out the CR84FN blog or click on the links on my side bar.

I have been meaning to share some photos of our trip along US Highway 1, but we've been really busy and I simply haven't had the chance.  Besides, while Jonathan and Kathryn have been using our laptop, I've been catching up on events at the Olympics.  But I finally got the laptop, so here are a few photos starting in San Diego, moving to Los Angeles and then Morro Bay.  Next week we are going to visit Monterey and San Francisco.  The weather has been just glorious - so hot and sunny.

San Diego Convention Centre from the Bay - check out the plane coming in to land11

Bridge connecting San Diego to Coronado - it's very high and I don't  much like heights.  Jonathan & Kathryn  found it  very funny as I held on tight!!

San Diego Zoo - the first time I've seen a Panda in real life.  Much smaller than I expected.  They have a new baby panda too, but we didn't see that one.

San Juan Capistrano - absolutely beautiful and so, so peaceful.

 

Kathryn and Jonathan on Santa Monica pier - with a view of the town.  Such a fabulous place.

Graumann's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood - we got there early so didn't have lots of people in front!!  Took lots of photos of the names in concrete too.

View from the front seat of the car as Jonathan was driving along Highway 1 north  on  our way to  Santa Barbara.

View of the mountains from Santa Barbara seafront - wow!!!!

We took a detour off Highway 101 and stopped in a place called San Luis -  took a walk along their pier and found this colony of seals underneath - sleeping in the sun.

That's all for now - thanks for stopping by - see you soon.

Gotta love Pink .....

.... just a quick post this morning with a card for this week's Charisma Cardz Challenge - CCC30 where the DT would like us to use the colour pink and one other.  My other colour is black!!!

Stamps:  Artistic Outpost - Quotes & Quotables - Soulful Quotes
Inks:  Memento - Tuxedo Black, Rose Bud; Distress - Spun Sugar, Worn Lipstick
Spellbinders:  Square Swatches (S4-342) #5
Accessories:  Card from stash

I recently purchased a set of quotes made by Artistic Outpost and I remember that one of the quotes featured the word "pink" and I thought that it was appropriate for the challenge.  I carefully inked the word pink with Rose Bud ink, and the rest of the quote in black, stamped and cut it out with the largest square swatch.  While in the dye I sponged on two shades of pink and added some faux stitching.

When I showed this to Ben, he asked if he could have it.  I'm so pleased he likes it.  And that's all for now.

CR84FN60 ......

.... it's August already - this year is simply flying by - and it's time for our new challenge at CR84FN.  For the next week and a half you'll be playing with my very favourite colours - BLUE, GRAPE and GREEN.

I love shades of blue, green and purple and I think these photos (courtesy of Embrace Life Photography) are fabulous - just love the flower arrangements.  And its the flowers that gave me the inspiration for this birthday card, and that fact that the recipient loves gardens!!

Stamps:  Hero Arts - Layered Flowers; Stampin' Up! - Happiest Birthday Wishes (Hostess set); Waltzingmouse - Fancy Flourishes: Dots & Scallops
Inks:  Memento - Tuxedo Black; Stampin' Up! - Pacific Point, Wild Wasabi
Accessories:  SU Designer Papers - Pacific Point, Perfect Plum, Wild Wasabi; Card from stash

I really like these big flowers with clear lines, it makes it so easy to cut out the layers.  I stamped the various flowers onto SU designer paper, using alternate sides and then cut out the layers.  I stamped the lovely flourishes in the background and then attached the flowers.  I finished off with this pretty birthday sentiment - love the font!

For more inspiration cards from the design team click on the links below, or go directly to the CR84FN blog for full details of the challenge.  Really looking forward to seeing your cards with these fabulous colours.

Mona Pendleton

Sue Lelli

Pauline Pollington

Andrea Matthews

Heather Jensen

Shannon White

This week's challenge over at Do You Stack Up? - DYSU83 is to use polka dots!  What fun, the Stampin' Up! paper has polka dots on one side and text on the other, and as I showed both I'm submitting it to their challenge.  Just love this graphic - the shoe is fabulous, although there is no way I could walk on those heels :)

We are on holiday for a couple of weeks - doing the coast road from San Diego to San Francisco - a great adventure for us.  So it means that I won't be able to comment as much as normal, but I will try to pop in and check out your cards - after all these are my favourite colours!!  Bye for now.