Spaceman birthday ....

..... Good afternoon - hope you've all had a good day.  It's been really nice today with sunshine, but rather cool, however, it is getting quite dull now and the weathermen have promised snow tonight!!!  Anyhoo - I have a card for you and I'm submitting it to a couple of challenges:

• CASology - CAS35 where the cue word is "EXTRATERRESTRIAL"
• Charisma Cardz Challenge - CCC10 to use stars on your cards

Stamps: Waltzingmouse - Half Pint Heroes
Inks: Memento - London Fog, Lady Bug; Distress - Pumice Stone; Stampin' Up! - Daffodil Delight
Accessories: Promarkers - Warm Greys 1 - 5, Poppy, Mandarin, Primrose; Copics - E00, E21; Robot sticker; White lustre card

I had lots of fun making this card.  While sorting through my stash I found this sweet little robot sticker (sadly I've no idea what company produced him), so I decided to play along with the CASology challenge.  I stamped the spaceship directly onto the card base and coloured it with Promarkers and used Copics on the boy's face. I stamped a few stars and a moon in the sky.  I sponged in a planet on which the little robot lives and he's shouting a message to the boy in the spaceship :)

I actually made this card for my great-nephew, Xander, who was a year old yesterday and I completely forgot!!  I'm such a bad Aunt!  Anyway, this will be in the post to him tomorrow!

That's all for now - it's almost time for Jonathan to get home, so I'd better go and get dinner started.  See you tomorrow for the new 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown challenge - it's a fun one!!  See you!

Follow Yonder Star ....

.....  I've CASEd Jean Martin's card and gone for a western feel with my Christmas card for Ben.  I've actually managed to combine four challenges in the card:

• Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge - WMSC128 - sketch designed by Kim Duran
• Colour Q - cQc168
• Charisma Cardz Challenge - CCC50 - theme is Santa coming to town
• Waltzingmouse Christmas Card Challenge - WMSCCC11-12

Stamps: Waltzingmouse - Woodgrain, Midnight Feast, Way Out West, Back in the Saddle, Sheriff, Santa's Coming to Town, Yonder Star

Inks: Stampin' Up! - Crumb Cake, Cherry Cobbler, Real Red, Bashful Blue; Versamark

Dies: Spellbinders - Lacy Squares (SS4-295) #2

Accessories:  WMS - Twine, Card from stash; Embossing powder

I turned the sketch through 180° as I wanted the Sheriff Star to look like it's high in the sky with the other stars - this fits the theme for November's WMSCCC of having a source of light in the card design.  I stamped the Sheriff's star in Versamark and embossed with my own blend of powder (black, gold & silver) giving a slightly gunmetal finish and then I cut it out (very easy).  I stamped the background to look like wood (love the large woodgrain stamp).  Then I stamped the blanket stamp in Real Red and Bashful Blue to make the vertical panels.  I decided that I'd put the Santa cameo in the centre of the Sheriff star.  I stamped the image in Cherry Cobbler (one of the new SU pads, so very juicy) and triple embossed with clear powder to give an enamel finish.  Once cool, I cut out the cameo and attached it to the star.  At this point I deviated from the sketch a bit to add the sentiment.  The box comes from one of the images in Back in the Saddle and the sentiment from Yonder Star, I mounted it on a small scalloped square, attached some twine and let it hang from the star.

For the inside, I cut two layers the bottom in Bashful Blue and the top in white.  I stamped the outline star in Crumb Cake (second impression so that the image is a bit more subtle) and then the fabulous sentiment in Cherry Cobbler.

Ben really likes cards with lots of layers and details - I think this fits the bill!

Today's the last chance to get to the shops and get any presents - we're off to town this morning to get a few bits.  Bye for now.

Noel Trio ....

.... Okay, I know I said I wouldn't be posting as often as normal, but I need my crafting fix :)))  And this one was so quick and easy - it's a tiny card, only 4 1/8" × 2 7/8" (10.5 × 7.5 cm).  It's a little gift tag for a Christmas present and it fits the following challenges:

• Play Date Cafe Challenge - PDCC161
• Do You Stack Up? - DYSU102 - theme is Christmas
• CAS(E) this Sketch - CTS9 - I turned the sketch upside down
• Charisma Cardz Challenge - CCC49 - theme is Christmas cards

Stamps: Woodware - Christmas Trees (FRCL045)
Inks: Versafine - Onyx Black; Stampin' Up! - Gumball Green; Distress - Festive Berries, Picked Raspberries
Accessories: Clear embossing powder; SU - Diamond Dazzles; Card from stash

I know this is not an original idea (there are several variations of a trio of trees on the CTS blog), but it is just perfect for the challenge and I got to use a set of stamps that I'd forgotten I had.  Love the Art Deco feel to the design.  I stamped the image in Versafine and embossed with clear powder which makes painting so much easier.  I used Gumball Green to do the trees - gives lovely shading, and for the tinsel I used Festive Berries and Picked Raspberries.  I added a touch of glitter to make the tinsel sparkle.

That will be all for today - still lots of washing and ironing to sort out.  Hope you all have a good day!  It's another very mild December day - no sign of snow just yet!!  Bye for now.

It's a numbers thing ....

.....  Hi - back again.  This card was made with three challenges in mind:

• My Favourite Things Wednesday Sketch Club - MFTWSC99
• Do You Stack Up? - DYSU99 - to used numbers on your card
• Charisma Cardz Challenge - CCC46 - where they have a colour combination for us

Stamps: Stampin' Up! - Serene Snowflakes
Inks: SU - Tempting Turquoise
Die: SU - Decorative Punch
Accessories:  DCWV - Rose Tinted Christmas Papers; Cuttlebug - Christmas Number EF; SU Card - Midnight Muse, Raspberry Ripple; Martha Stewart - Glitter

I nearly didn't post this card!  I like the sketch layout, the colours are just fabulous and I had fun making it.  Sometimes an idea is great in theory, but in practise not so much.  Here adding the glitter was a step too far!  I think I'll try to rescue the card though - as I really like the colours!  Hey ho!!  See you soon.

Magic of Christmas .....

..... Here's another of the cards that I made yesterday - told you I was busy!!!  This one is for two challenges:

• My Favourite Things Wednesday Sketch Challenge - MFTWSC97
• Charisma Cardz Challenge - CCC44 - to use blue

Stamps: MFT - Seasonal Sentiments; Waltzingmouse - Yonder Star Background; Papermania - Christmas sentiments

Inks: Memento - Sky Blue, Danube Blue

Spellbinders: Small Labels (S4-169) #4

Accessories:  Cuttlebug EF - Christmas Stars, Winter Wonderland; Silver foiled card, gems and card from stash

There's very little stamping on this card!!  I've rediscovered my embossing folders and had such fun playing.  I embossed the designs on Coredinations card.  I sanded the large snowflakes to reveal the pale blue core and  used the reverse side for the Christmas stars.  I cut a small tab in the snowflake card.  I really like this bold Christmas sentiment with the little star in the centre - matches!!  I used the Yonder Star background first (very pale, but looks great in real life) and over stamped with the sentiment.  I used scissors to cut the banner end and mounted it onto silver card.  I finished off the front with some square gems from my stash - they are an almost exact match to the Blue Danube ink!  I decorated the inside with a fun Christmas verse.  

Just a couple more to share with you - see my next post!

Simple elegance ...

..... I'm enjoying this week's challenge at CAS(E) this Sketch! - CTS2 so much that I've made another card with the layout.  I'm also submitting this to Charisma Cardz Challenge - CCC41 - they want us to make a clean and simple card - and this is certainly that!

Stamps: Kanban - All Occasion Set; Stampin' Up! - Word Play
Inks: Versamark; Memento - Grey Flannel
Accessories:  Silver embossing powder; Card from stash

Another quick and simple card.  I stamped this gorgeous chandelier in Versamark and then embossed with detail silver powder - you can see this more clearly in the small photo.  You can also see that the backing card is actually pewter not black!  I stamped the sentiment in grey as I thought black was too dark.  I stamped a simple, fun sentiment inside and added a touch of sparkle to the ring.

This will be going into my stash as I don't have any cards at all for weddings, and you never know when you might need one.

It's been a dull grey morning here in Northville.  I went out quickly this morning to post a parcel to the UK, but I've been playing in my craft room since I got back and was pleased to get this card made.  I've also been working on a card for a special little lad, but you'll have to wait until tomorrow for that one!!   See you then.

World Card Making Day ....

.... Good morning to all my Crafting Friends!  It's not the nicest of mornings here; in fact it's a bit cold and wet, but there is an upside too.  It is WORLD CARD MAKING DAY!!!  I have a very busy day lined up.  I'll be crafting from 9.00 am to 5.30 pm at Stampeddlar, my local shop, attending several classes run by Amy Flowers.  I'm going to be trying my hand at using beeswax in craft and collage, doing some art journals and finishing up with an altered book.  I plan to get really inky!!

In the meantime, I have a card for today carrying on my Halloween theme and used three challenges to make this one:

• {Freshly Made} Sketches - FMS55
• Play Date Cafe Challenge - PDCC152 - love these colours!
• Charisma Cardz Challenge - CCC39 - Badda bing

Stamps:  Stampin' Up! - Daydream Medallions
Inks:  Distress - Dusty Concord; Memento - Tuxedo Black
Accessories:  Uniko Studios - BOO Digital Papers (Elegant Eggplant); SU/Sizzix Framlits - Floral Frames; Sakura Stardust Pen, Card and gems from stash

This card is a companion to the one I made yesterday.  Beverley has included a spider's web image in the kit - it's clear which means you can put it over anything!  I added it to the grey dotty paper - I didn't want the spider in this piece - one of the reason I like digital kits is that you can play with them a bit!  I turned the sketch through 90°, but other than that was pretty faithful to it. I made two panels for the card from the BOO papers and attached them to the card.  In the digi kit there are some fun sentiments too and I printed off this BOO! one which I cut out with my Spellbinder die.  I coloured the little stars and border with a purple Sakura Stardust pen - it has a lovely shimmer!  I made the medallion with my new Stampin' Up! Daydream Medallion stamps - stamping the bottom layer in purple and the top in black, cutting them both out with the coordinating framelits - easy!  I finished off the card by adding a few purple gems!

This is the first time I've played along with Freshly Made Sketches - somehow I missed this one!  I hope you all have a fun-filled World Card Making Day!  See you tomorrow with my new card for CR84FN64!

Badda Bing - Halloween!!! ....

..... Hey, that rhymes!  As you've probably guessed, my card today is for Halloween.  I've combined three challenges to make this one:

• Clean & Simple - FTL210 for the layout
• Play Date Cafe Challenge - PDCC152 - for the colours
• Chrisma Cardz Challenge - CCC39 - for the bling

Stamps:  Waltzingmouse - Midnight Feast

Inks:  Memento - Sweet Plum

Spellbinders: Fancy Tags (S4-235)

Accessories:  Uniko Studios - Boo Digital Papers (Elegant Eggplant); Waltzingmouse - Victoriana Digital Papers; Card and gems from stash

Last weekend Beverley launched BOO!!, this month's Super FREE Saturday set.  Thank you Beverley, it's a fabulous set and just perfect for my card!  The great thing about digital papers is that you can size them to fit your card!  The purple polka dot and spider paper comes as A4 or US Letter size; I simply made it smaller to fit.  It also comes in Pumpkin Pie, Lucky Limeade and Basic Grey (Beverley matches her colours to Stampin' Up!).  The grey polka dot is from the same set - I simply enlarged a bit.  I also used some fabulous digital papers from Waltzingmouse that I've had for years; the beautiful Victoriana in black.  I mounted all the papers onto black card to make the panel.  I finished off by cutting a sentiment label, sponging on a touch of colour and adding a few gems.  

That's all for now - must get some housework done!!  Hey ho, have a good day - see you soon.

Picture perfect .....

...  Good morning to you - it's another beautiful day here in Northville!  Don't you always feel better when the sun shines?  I know I do.  I've got a couple of things to share this morning - the first is a card for two challenges:

• Charisma Cardz Challenge - CCC38 - where the team would like something for the GUYS!
• The Sweet Stop Sketch - SSS178 

Stamps:  There She Goes - Oh Snap!
Inks:  Memento - Tuxedo Black, Peanut Brittle
Accessories:  We Are Memory Keepers - Travel Light DP (free with Simply Cards & Papercraft); Promarkers - Warm Greys 1 - 5, Spice, Marsh Green; SU Card - Early Espresso; Card from stash

I think I may have mentioned (a few times) that my hubby, Jonathan, is a very keen photographer.  This card is for him.  He's off on a business trip shortly to Las Vegas (I don't get it either) and in his free time he'll be taking photos - lots of photos!!!  This card came together really quickly.  The backing paper is actually one sheet from the Travel Light pack cut to fit the card base.  I added the dark brown panel.  I stamped the camera, pin tacks and film roll onto white card, coloured them with Promarkers and cut them out.  Do you remember real film??  I made a backing panel for the main camera image with another of the smaller images from the set, using the second impression to give a subtle finish.  I added the sentiment by gently bending one of the greetings in the set to fit into the curve of the film.

I told you yesterday that Kathryn and I would be baking cookies and muffins - we did it!  The smell was so delicious that it was hard to resist temptation.  To be fair, I let Kathryn have a couple of cookies :)  Kathryn did all the preparation and making, I simply packaged!!  Here's a photo of our goodies.  I'm taking them to school today and the sale is tomorrow.

We made enough cookies for three plates of six, and the same for the blueberry muffins.  I have to own up to the fact that we did cheat a bit - they are packet mixes!!

Stamps:  Waltzingmouse - Faux Fun Circles, Gingham & Co
Inks: Distress - Pine Needles; Big 'n' Juicy - Spice
Spellbinders: Circles Sm (S4-116) #4, Crown Circles (S4-302) #3
Accessories:  SU - circle punch; Card from stash

I do anything very fancy for the packaging.  The muffins and cookies have been put into sealed zip-loc bags and placed on plates.  I made the paper bands by stamping a large sheet of brown card with the small gingham print, cutting 1½" strips and fitting them around the plates.  I prepared the labels on the computer using some clip art and text, punching them out with a circle punch and layering onto two circles.

Have a super day - see you soon!

Bee's knees ....

... don't you just love this expression!  I did a Google check to find out when people first started to use it.  According to the Oxford Dictionary it was first used in the 18th century, but then it meant something small or insignificant.  Nowadays, we use the phrase to mean something that's excellent or outstanding; this usage can be traced back to 1920s American slang!  And the relevance to cards - well, I used it on this card!

Stamps:  Waltzingmouse - L'il Buddies, Compact Sentiments II, Spring Basket
Inks:  Memento - Tuxedo Black; Distress - Squeezed Lemonade, Scattered Straw, Dried Marigold
Accessories:  PTI - Hexagon Die; Glitter and card from stash

I used a few challenges to make this card:

• One Layer Wednesday - OLW106 hosted this week by Heather @ Bits & Pieces
• Charisma Cardz Challenges - CCC37 - to use things with wings
• LIM86 - Take 3 of the previous LIM challenges
• St Luke's Charity Card Challenge - SLCCC18 - where we want to see "couples" - there's still plenty of time to join in with our challenge!

First I cut a stencil using my Papertrey hexagon die - I pushed out some of the hexagons and left a few in place, attached it to the card and sponged through some ink.  I started with the palest yellow and built up to the strongest, suggesting part of a honeycomb.  I used my stamp-a-ma-jig to position the sentiment and then added a couple of little bees.  I coloured the bees with Promarkers and added a touch of glitter to the wings.  The three previous challenges for this week's LIM86 challenge are: LIM29 - Things that move (the bees), LIM59 - Masking (to create the honeycomb) and LIM66 - to use yellow.

Looks like I'm finally getting back into my groove - two posts today!!  See you tomorrow!

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.

Any size, any theme ....

.... just a quick post this morning to share a sweet little card that I made for two challenges:

• One Layer Wednesday - OLW94 - to use any size card apart from an A2.  This week the challenge is being hosted by Cheryl at A Paperie Journey
• Charisma Cardz - CC25 - theme is anything goes

My card is tiny; in the UK it would be called an A7 card.  It measures 74 x 104 mm (2 3/8" x 4 1/8") - it's really sweet.  I decided to play with some of my new stamps from There She Goes Stamps - they make really fun images.  I have a lot of cyber buddies and so I made this card.

Stamps:  There She Goes - Crafty Taglines, Technology Bytes; Waltzingmouse - Midnight Feast
Inks:  Memento - Tuxedo Black
Accessories:  Promarkers - shades of grey and a touch of red, card from stash

I really like this computer setup and the sentiment is just perfect.  I coloured the image with Promarkers and decided to add an image to the monitor screen - love the tiny bats!!

It was so hot here yesterday - we reached 38C (100F) by the afternoon - perfect weather to splash around in the pool!!  I went in too!!  And today we are expecting much the same, so we're off out early to get the shopping done before it gets too warm!!  See you soon.

Summer time shoe ....

.... The inspiration photo from the current Runway Inspired Challenge - RIC14 is the most elegant shoe.  Heels to die for - almost literally!!!  When I was younger I loved high heeled shoes, sadly now I'm older, they don't like me :)   I knew that I had the perfect image for my card - an elegant summer court shoe designed by Jak Heath.  As this is a summer shoe I'm also submitting the card to this week's Charisma Cardz - CC24 where the theme is summer.

Stamps:  Waltzingmouse - Compact Sentiments II; Jak Heath - Help for Katie Set - digi image
Inks: Memento - Tuxedo Black
Spellbinders: Square Lg (S4-126) # 6; Square Sm (S4-128) # 6 & 7
Accessories:  Promarkers - Leaf Green, Pale Pink, Baby Pink, Magenta, Carmine; DP - My Mind's Eye - Quite Contrary (FOC with Cardmaking & Papercraft); Cardbase from stash

The graphic from Runway inspired Challenge:

I know some people might think this weird, but today would have been my sister's 50th birthday.  Tracey died last year and it just doesn't seem right that she's not here to celebrate her 50th, so I've made this card because I miss her.  Tracey loved to shop and while shoes were not her object of choice, she would have loved a pretty pair like this - but maybe with lower heels :))))  

That's all for today!