Owl be thankful ...

.... Hi!  Can you believe it's already Friday - this week has simply flown by!!  In fact I spent most of yesterday thinking it was Friday - silly me!

I've a fun card to share with you this morning.  I used a few challenges to make it:

• CASology - CAS69 - cue word "BROWN"
• Colour Q - cQc214
• The Paper Players - PP170 - Wildlife

Stamps: Impression Obsession - Owl Be Thankful
Inks: Versamark; Stampin' Up! - Early Espresso
Accessories:  SU Card - Early Espresso; Cream Lustre Card; Gold and White Embossing Powder; Copics - Y13, B12; Promarkers - Pumpkin, Walnut; Sakura Stardust Pen

I have to admit that I was rather stumped when I saw the cue word for this week's CASology challenge - brown - umm!!  When I saw Colour Q's challenge the brown didn't seem quite so daunting.  And I actually embraced the colour brown on this card - I made the card base from Early Espresso.  I stamped the branch in Versamark, embossed with white powder and left it as the leaves are so pretty.  I stamped the owl onto cream card and embossed with gold powder, coloured with alcohol markers and then cut it out and adhered it to the card with dimensional tape. I don't usually go for puns, but this sentiment is so sweet and pairs perfectly with the image.  On the inside I cut a panel of cream card and stamped the owl again.  I didn't include any further sentiment as I'll be sending this card to a friend in the UK.

Last night I was at a craft class run by Valerie Brinchick and held at my local store, Stampeddler Plus Memories.  The class was called "Messing with the Melting Pot" - using UTEE - ultra thick embossing enamel, and I made some lovely charms.  It was lots of fun; I'll post pictures later today.

ASM - Chillin' Witch ...

.....  Hi, it's time our our new challenge at Addicted to Stamps and More!  This week we want you to get out your marker pens - Copics, Promarkers, whatever you have and colour your images.  I've made a Halloween card:

Stamps:  Impression Obsession - Inner Witch, Zenspirations When Life
Inks: Memento - Tuxedo Black
Dies:  Spellbinders - A2 Curved Matting Basics B (S5-172) #7
Accessories: Copics (see photo for details); White Lustre Card

I don't colour as often as I should - I had such fun colouring this image.  I found the Internet to be very helpful with shading tips; I'm still very much a beginner using Copics.  Don't you think the witch is cool - she's really chillin'!!  I don't know whether the bubbles are from bubble bath or from something a little alcoholic!! I stamped the image in Memento Tuxedo Black and simply coloured.  I added an embossed frame around the edge of the card and rounded the corners to match the frame.  On the inside I cut a panel of white card, rounded the corners, inked the edges and added a fun sentiment.

I'm submitting this card to the current Less is More - LIM141 challenge which is to make a one layer card with the theme of Witches & Wizards (or Little Monsters).  I took a photo of all the Copic markers I used to colour this image as the numbers don't mean much on their own!!

Don't forget to check out the inspiration cards from the rest of the team and leave some comments - we all like to receive them!!  This week's challenge is sponsored by Nicecrane Designs and there's the opportunity to win a $20 gift certificate.

Nicecrane Designs

I'm looking forward to seeing your creations for this week's challenge.  Bye for now!

Halloween cupcakes ....

.... Good morning everyone - I've woken up to a lovely Autumn day with soft blue skies, sunshine and a chill in the air - just fab!  I've a Halloween card to share with you this morning - I really got into the spirit of Halloween with making the Apothecary bottles on Saturday so I just carried on!

Stamps: Waltzingmouse - Vintage Witch, Cicely at Halloween, Gracie at Halloween; Impression Obsession - Inner Witch
Inks: Memento - Tuxedo Black
Accessories:  White Lustre Card; Stampin' Up! Card - Elegant Eggplant; Copics - various; Sakura Stardust Clear Pen

This one was such fun to make.  The little Halloween cupcakes stamp is actually horizontal with them all in a line - so I stamped it and coloured them with Copics and Sakura Stardust pens, then I fussy cut each cake and ran them through my Xyron to make them self-adhesive.  I have the fluorescent Copics and use them on the cake decorations!  I cut a mat layer in Elegant Eggplant (black was just a bit too dark) and ran my silver marker pen around the edge of the white panel to give a very thin silver border.  The inside has a fun Halloween poem from Claire's set - Cicely at Halloween, along with a trio of bats.

I've taken photos of the card under my daylight bulb - not the best colour, but at least you can see the inside.  I also tried to take a photo to really show the glitter on the cupcake frosting!  I'll try for better photos later today!

This card uses three current challenges:

• Waltzingmouse Fanatics Challenge - WMSFC#3 - Halloween theme
• CAS(E) this Sketch! - CTS48
• The Paper Players - PP166 - theme Halloween

I think Halloween is one of my favourite events - it really is celebrated in style here in the US.  I'm busy getting my house ready for the Trick and Treating that will take place on Halloween when all the children around here go hunting for candy!!

Tara and I would love to see your Halloween creations at Waltzingmouse Fanatics Challenge - but I should remind you that you MUST use at least one Waltzingmouse image or sentiment on your card, or sadly your card will be removed.

That's all for now - have a good day and see you soon.

Christmas Trees ....

.... that's the theme that Ruth has for us this week's at 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown.  I just love Christmas trees and I've made a few cards this week:

Stamps: Impression Obsession - Zenspirations Christmas Trees; My Favourite Things - Christmas Sentiments
Inks: Stampin' Up! - Riding Hood Red, Crumb Cake; Versafine - Onyx Black
Dies: Spellbinders - A2 Matting Basics A (S5-131) #5 & 6, A2 Matting Basics B (S5-132) #6 & 7
Accessories:  SU Card - Riding Hood Red, Marina Mist; SU DP - Crumb Cake; SU Markers - Riding Hood Red, Marina Mist, Crumb Cake; White Lustre Card; Glitter

I used the colours from this week's Addicted to Stamps & More! Challenge - ASM#63.  I kept the design really simple with the colours in the mat layers and in the words.  I stamped the Christmas tree in Versafine, heat embossed with clear powder and used my SU markers to colour the letters.  I added a touch of sparkle to the star and ornaments.  For the inside I made a mat in blue and stamped a bold sentiment in red, finishing off with some snowflakes.

I really like this set of Christmas tree stamps and decided to make a few more for my stash.  This one is CASEd from the card I made for our canvas challenge here.

Stamps: Impression Obsession - Zenspirations Christmas Trees; Waltzingmouse - Nordic Winter, Ornate Ornaments
Inks: Stampin' Up! - Pool Party, Old Olive; Archival - Jet Black

Accessories:  SU Card - Crumb Cake, Old Olive; Canvas Paper; SU Markers - Various; White Lustre Card

I kept the inside simple:

The card is the same size as my previous canvas embellished card - small and sweet!  I really like the texture on this one.  My last card using this set of stamps is ultra clean and simple.

 

Stamps: Impression Obsession - Zenspirations Christmas Trees
Inks: Kaleidoacolor - Fresh Greens
Dies: Spellbinders - Wonky Rectangles (S4-306) #6
Accessories:  White Lustre Card

Yesterday I counted up the number of Christmas cards I'd made so far.  I've got 66 (including the three on today's post).  That's a really good number, but I still need about 80 more!!  There's still plenty of time to join in and get a start on your Christmas cards.

Don't forget to visit our blog and check out the inspiration cards from the rest of the team - as always they are just fab!  That's all for now!

Christmas embellishment challenge ....

.... Hello!  This is my last scheduled post - we fly back home today!  Sarah has a real challenge for us this week at 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown - she wants us to use canvas on our card.  I got some sweet self-adhesive canvas embellishments from my local craft shop, but ended up not using them!  In my stash I found some fabulous canvas paper so I used that instead:

Stamps:  Impression Obsession - Zenspirations Christmas Trees; WMS - Nordic Winter. Compliments of the Season
Inks: Stampin' Up! - Real Red, Crumb Cake, Craft White; Archival - Black
Accessories:  SU Card - Crumb Cake, Real Red; Photo Canvas Paper (don't know where I got this); SU Markers - Real Red, Melon Mambo, Pink Pirouette, Daffodil Delight, Wild Wasabi, Soft Suede; SU - Distress Tool

This is not a very big card, only 5" × 3½", small and sweet.  The Christmas tree is from one of my new Impression Obsession sets (got at Heirloom Stamp Show).  The tree has a real folk art feel and works perfectly stamped on the canvas paper.  I coloured the tree with SU marker pens, distressed the edge of the paper and gently pulled out some canvas threads giving a frayed edge, then mounted the image onto some distressed red card.  I made the card base from Crumb Cake card and stamped the Nordic border in white ink - I think the card has a Scandinavian feel.  For the inside I cut a panel of white card, distressed the edges, stamped the tree in Crumb Cake and over stamped a bold Christmas sentiment in red.

I'm really excited to see what you make using canvas on your card.  If you can't get canvas embellishments, you could use some canvas from a fabric shop (I've not tried it, but it should work).  Do visit our blog to check out the inspiration cards from the rest of the team.  See you soon.

CR84FN48 - Birthday wishes ....

.... We're almost half way through February already and it's time for our new challenge at CR84FN.  We have the most gorgeous colours for CR84FN48 - lavender, grey (silver) and chartreuse.

Our inspiration photos are courtesy of A Creative Mint - don't you just love the cotton reels?  I really could spend ages just browsing through Leslie's blog - the photos are super!

I think you all know that I attend a Craft Club in our village - well, we had the first birthday of the year yesterday!!  We all gave Beryl her cards last Monday at class - it was such fun - so many different styles.

I opted for an elegant, but slightly funky card.  I used a large stamp for the focal image - Damask Floral by Impression Obsession.  I love the shape of the leaves and flowers - a bit different.  I stamped the image in Memento ink and coloured it with a variety of Promarkers.  I added some subtle sparkle with my glue pen and some glitter!  I used my Grand Labels 4 to cut out the image and also the backing mat.  In my stash I found this gorgeous piece of patterned mirri card.  I used my Distress inks to add a touch of colour to the edge of the image.  I stamped some flourishes directly on to the card base - in green, lavender and silver - before attaching the topper.  I finished off the card with a simple birthday sentiment.

Stamps:  Impression Obsession - Damask Floral; Waltzingmouse - Flourishes - Scallops & Dots
Inks: Distress - Milled Lavender, Shabby Shutters; Memento - Tuxedo Black
Spellbinders:  Grand Labels 4 (LF-190) # 2 and 3, Fancy Tags (S4-235)
Promarkers:  Amethyst, Lilac, Lavender, Leaf Green, Meadow Green, Apple
Accessories:  Shimmer mirri card, silver embossing powder and card from stash

I know that the rest of the girls have some fabulous projects for you to share - and we are joined again by Monika as our Guest Designer.  Please do check out the links below and leave a comment or three!  We all love to hear from you.

Mona

Lisa

Sue

Stephanie

Andrea

Heather

Suzanne

Monika - our Guest Designer

Just in case you missed my post on Friday - my big news is that we are moving to America!!  We are going to be living in Northville, Michigan.  To say that we're excited would be an understatement.  That's all for today. See you soon!

Thanks a latte .....

....  what a day!!!  Cold, wet, windy and generally dull.  Fortunately, inside it's warm and cosy, and my craft room has been a fun place to play.  Some of what I've made I can't share with you just yet, but I had another go at the CAS-ual Fridays - CFC33 and Market Street Stamps - Block Party challenge and this one I can share!

I like playing with digi-images and the coffee mug (well for me it's got to be coffee) mug is a fun image.  I made a copy of the original mug and flipped it, offset it and then printed the image.  I used one of my lovely new nesties to cut out the shape and inked all over with Distress Antique Linen.  I coloured a couple of the other mug images with Promarkers, cut out the little hearts and layered them onto the image.  I added a bit of sparkle to the steam.  Finally I mounted the image onto a mat of kraft card.  Before attaching the image, I stamped a line of steam coils along the bottom edge and wrapped some string around the card.  Then, using the smallest nestie, I cut out a sentiment label - perfectly coordinated to the image!

Stamps:  Market Street Stamps - Digi-image Coffee Mug; Impression Obsession - Smell the Coffee
Inks:  Memento - Rich Cocoa; Stampin' Up - Crumb Cake; Distress - Antique Linen
Spellbinders:  Labels Twenty-three (S4-347) # 1 and # 6
Promarkers:  Cornflower, China Blue, Mango, Bright Orange, Warm Grey 2
Accessories:  Card, string and glitter from stash

That's all for today.  We're going to have a family session this evening watching some Dr Who (Jonathan's Christmas present) and later on catching the last part of Great Expectations.  I hope to be back again tomorrow with another card to share.  See you then.  Keep safe.

Come - waltz with me ....

... it's hard to believe that it's already 17th August and time for our monthly Blog Waltz with Waltzingmouse Stamps.  The theme this month is tea and coffee for full details about joining in with the fun click here.

One of my jobs, when I was girl, was to make my father his morning cup of tea.  It had to be very strong, very hot and sweet.  I used to think that the spoon would melt - it was so strong.  And I hated it.  As a consequence I started drinking coffee.  I try to keep to about 5 cups a day, and yes I know that it's probably too much, but it tastes soooo good!!   I've made two cards for the Waltz - one has a tea theme and the other has a coffee theme.  Seems appropriate!! :)

I'll start with my tea themed card for which I've used the sketch from this week's Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge - WMSC60.

I've used a light cream slightly pearl card as the base.  I started off by added a little colour to the card base with my distress inks.  Then I randomly stamped outline teacups, tiny solid teacups and little teabags all over the card.  I used Spellbinders Labels 20 to make the trim at the top of the card, adding some colour with distress inks.  I stamped the little teapot and cups from the Afternoon Tea label image onto some scrap card and fussy cut them out, and attached to the trim.  I decided that the focal point of this card would be the lovely quote by Eleanor Roosevelt - which is so true.  I used Spellbinders Labels 4 to cut out the quote and make a sparkly mat.  I had a tiny bit of this lovely cream crochet lace in my stash so I added that to the card and then attached the label.  I'm really pleased how well this turned out!

Stamps: Waltzingmouse - Afternoon Tea, Afternoon Tea Sentiments
Inks: Distress - Dried Marigold, Spiced Marmalade, Wild Honey, Rusty Hinge, Tea Dye
Spellbinders: Labels 4 (S4-190) #4, Labels 4 Sm (S4-309) #5, Labels 20 (S5-026) #4
Accessories: Card, glitter card and lace from stash

My second card has a coffee theme. Sadly Claire hasn't made a coffee theme stamp set - yet!! Claire - what do you think? :) So I've mixed a coffee themed set that I got recently with Asian Gardens. I've gone for quite a clean and simple look. I stamped the border stamp along the side and bottom of the card making a frame. I stamped the coffee cup and sentiment onto some white card and heat embossed them with clear powder to give a nice shine to the images. I used my nesties to cut out the images and to make various layer. Finally, I stamped the little sakura blossoms in two sizes and cut them out, added them to the corner of the card. The colour theme might be a bit familiar - it's sort of based on Costa Coffee!

Stamps: Waltzingmouse - Asian Gardens; Impression Obsession - Smell the Coffee
Inks:  Stampin' Up! - Early Espresso, Cherry Cobbler; Versamark
Spellbinders: Long Rectangles Lg (S4-142) #3, Long Rectangles Sm (S4-144) #3, Standard Circles Lg (S4-114) #3, Standard Circles Sm (S4-116) #4, Pinking Circles Lg (S4-170) #3
Accessories:  Stampin' Up! card and card from stash

Before I go, I'd like to wish my friend Buffy a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY.  She's celebrating a special one today - you know, one of those that has a zero at the end!!  I made a special card for Buffy - here.

Now I'm off for a waltz - do join us - it's such fun!!

Jingle Belles .....

.... the girls at Jingle Belles rather enjoy bling all year round, and they would like us to make a Christmas card with sparkle A LOT OF SPARKLE!!!  Well, it's a Christmas card and if you can't have bling then, when can you have it?  I've not managed to play along for the last few weeks, but I wasn't going to miss this one!  Bring on the bling!

For my card I've gone for a background of sparkling snowflakes in shades of blue and green.  I inked up the snowflakes with Versamark first and then added colour with distress inks, once stamped I quickly poured on some Kaleidoscope embossing powder which has a lovely sparkle when heated.  I stamped a Christmas tree in black Versafine and embossed with clear powder.  I cut the tree out using my Spellbinders dies and added colour with my distress inks.  The tree is made up of lots of swirls containing little dots and I used glitter in different shades of blue and green to colour the swirls.  Finally, I added a simple sentiment - appropriately "Jingle Bells" - I coloured the sentiment to match the tree's background.  I added a bit more glitter around the edge of the sentiment.  I'm not sure how well the sparkle shows up on the photo - but in real life it looks just fabulous!!

Stamps: Impression Obsession - Leigh Hannan Snowflakes
Inks:  Versafine - Onyx Black; Distress - Shabby Shutters, Tumbled Glass, Broken China
Spellbinders:  Labels 20 (S5-026) #4
Accessories:  Card, sentiment label, Martha Stewart glitters, Kaleidoscope embossing powder - all from stash

I quite like this design and my have a play with it again - but this time in non-traditional colours - I think it would work quite well!

Gosh, it's been a busy day today.  As it was raining we took a pass on the trip to the zoo - but we'll get there before Kathryn has to go back to school.  Instead we headed off the local adventure play area - Wizz Kids and Kathryn very nearly didn't get in.  There is a maximum height of 4' 9" - and she's jsut a bit taller than this but still only 9 years old!!  Fortuantely, they let her in and Kath met up with some of her friends and had a ball!!  She was shattered when we got home. 

Tomorrow is the WMS Blog Waltz - this month the theme is tea/coffee - such fun.  Do pop back as I'll have a card or two to share with you.  That's all for now.  See you soon.

Black, white and ???, take two ....

.... we have a lovely challenge for you this month over at St Luke's Charity Card Challenge.  It's a colour challenge

Black, White and ?????? 

Well, you get to pick the other colour!  It's the middle of the month, and time for a gentle reminder about the challenge.  Any style, any theme, pretty much what you fancy, but it must be black, white and ONE accent colour.

For my first card I went with red and I made a card for my mother-in-law's birthday - she loved it!!  I combined LIM23 with St Luke's to make a sweet card for my son - and this time I went with green!  And I've gone for green again - I like green - you might have noticed :)

The image was designed by Leigh Hannan and is made by Impression Obsession.  I love her style; she also designed the coffee set I used for the Waltzingmouse birthday Waltz.  This image - Damask Floral - is quite large; 11½ cm × 8cm (4¾" × 3¼").  I stamped it in Versafine Black Onyx and embossed it to give a sharp image and coloured with Promarkers.  I used the largest of the Labels 17 dies to cut it out.  I wanted to have very narrow borders around the image, the mats are all cut using the same die.  The image was cut a bit smaller by removing the embossed edge, the green layer is the actual die cut and the black layer was drawn around the outside of the die and cut by hand.  I was fortunate to find the green card in my stash and it matches the promarkers.  I finished off with a ribbon made from two - one green and one black, and a sentiment which I layered onto small scalloped circles. 

Stamp:  Impression Obsession - Damask Floral
Ink: Versafine - Black Onyx
Promarkers: Meadow Green, Apple, Leaf Green
Spellbinders:  Labels Seventeen (S5-025) #6; Big Scalloped Circles Sm (S4-250) #2; Big Scalloped Circles Lg (S4-249) #2
Accessories:  Sentiment, ribbon and card from stash

This is such a beautiful image that I had to take a close up of it.  You can see the fine scrolls in the leaves and flowers, and I think the sparkle is just about visible too!

For full details of the challenge - and where to send your card(s) - if you'd like - then check out the challenge blog.  And don't forget that this month we have a super Stampin' Up! prize donated by our Guest Designer - Zoe Tant.  At the time of writing, we have 24 entries - so it could be YOU!

Now, I'm off back to my craft room - I've a wedding card to finish.  See you soon.

Rain .....

.... again!!  My posts yesterday were up early in the day and I had hoped that the weather would improve - you know, actually start to resemble SUMMER!!!!  But, no.  Yesterday was miserable - it poured pretty well all day, and it looks like it's going to much the same today.  But we didn't let that stop us having a great day out.  Kathryn had a rehearsal for her show and while she was there, Mum and I went shopping.  We had such fun!!!

And our plans for today include attending craft class - so at least we'll be out of the rain :)  I've been asked to make a card for a wedding, so I'm going to rough out some sketches and make that later today, when I get back to my stash. 



Before I head out - I've got another birthday card to share with you.  It's  one of the coffee set that I made for my friend.  She wanted a card featuring coffee as her nephew has a coffee cafe, which is very popular. I showed three of the set yesterday as part of the Waltzingmouse Blog Waltz, but this one doesn't have any WMS - so it has a post all of its own!!


This time I decided to feature the latte glass - it's such an elegant design and a joy to colour!  The wonky rectangles are just right to give a slightly less formal feel. 

Stamps: Impression Obsession - Smell the Coffee; Hobby Art - Happy Birthday
Inks: Memento - Tuxedo Black, London Fog
Promarkers:  Blue Pearl, China Blue, Cornflower, Ice Grey1
Spellbinders: Reverse Wonky Rectangles (S4-307) #4 & 5
Accessories: Card from stash

And this is the card that my friend selected for her nephew.  She said that the colours went with his shop - so it was just right!  My mum really liked this one too, so I'll probably make another one for her to take home with her when she goes. 

And that's all for now - I'm off to have my breakfast - a nice bowl of cereal and a large cup of hot coffee!!! :)

Hope you all have a super fun day - despite the damp, dull and grey weather!  See you later.