Sent with love .....

.... at Christmas time.  I've made this card for two challenges:

• Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge - WMSC119 - super sketch designed by Becca Feeken
• Runway Inspired Challenge - RIC22

Stamps: Waltzingmouse - Nordic Winter, Candy Jar Christmas, Candy Jar Christmas Fillers

Inks: Memento - Tuxedo Black, Rich Cocoa; Staz-on - Jet Black; Distress - Festive Berries

Accessories:  Clear embossing powder; Acetate and card from stash

When I saw this sketch I immediately thought of these little gingerbread kids - not a clue why, but I thought they'd make a good Christmas card.  Then when I saw the inspiration photo from the Runway challenge with kraft, red and cream, I had to go with the idea.  I started off by stamping, in Versamark, three gingerbread kids and heat embossing them with clear powder and then cutting them out.  I stamped the jar directly onto the card base and again on some acetate (used Staz-on for this).  I cut out the acetate jar leaving a couple of tabs at the side, and then very carefully cut down the sides of the jar on the card with my blade and pushed the tabs in.  The result was exactly what I wanted - a dimensional jar!  Before attaching the acetate jar I stamped the bunch of gingerbread kids on some cream card, coloured them with Promarkers, added some white frosting and cut them out.  I made a polka dot lid for the jar, which has obviously fallen off, as the kids are climbing the card!  I finished off the card with a pretty panel beneath the jar and a sentiment.

I took another photo of the card to show the dimension in the jar.  This turned out really well and was very easy to do.  

Yesterday, I had another go at editing some of my photos with Lightroom - it really is very easy.  Last weekend we went into to Northville to check out the skeletons that decorate the town - click here to see the photos in Flickr.  

That's all for now - I'm off to school for the PTA meeting this morning.  See you soon.

Best son ever .....

....  Hi all - just a quick post today.  A clean and simple card using two challenges:

• CASology - CAS9 - cue word is "Family"
• Runway Inspired Challenge - RIC#19

The title of this post might give it all away!!  I've made a card for Ben, my son.  As you know, he lives in the UK with his father.  Well, Ben starts at college this week - he's studying four A levels - biology, chemistry, maths and ICT - well, that's what I was told the last time we spoke!!  So I thought I'd send him a card.

Stamps:  Waltzingmouse - Free Spirit Boy, Compact Family

Inks: Distress - Spiced Marmalade; Stampin' Up! - Night of Navy, Bashful Blue

Accessories:  Card from stash

Now that Kathryn is back at school, Jonathan is back at work and life is getting back to its "normal" routine, I plan to get back to my craft room too!!  I've been missing a lot of my favourite challenges recently and that's not good.  I've also realised that I'm very behind on making Christmas cards - so don't be at all surprised to see lots on my blog!!

That's all for now - I'm off to get some gardening done - those darn weeds are back!!!  See you tomorrow.

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!

Butterfly birthday ....

.... hi, back for my second post today.  I've got a card for three challenges:

• Less is More - LIM51 - to make an aperture on your card
• Flutter by Wednesdays - FBW186 - an open challenge, but must have an angel, fairy or butterfly
• Runway Inspired Challenge - RIC#4 - photo inspiration

After checking out Less is More this morning, we headed into Chester for a bit of fun time.  We did a bit of window shopping and Kathryn has come home with two new friends from Build-a-Bear; Scarlett (a bright red Hello Kitty) and Justice (the Victoria Justice bear) - Kathryn is delighted, and I'm so pleased that she's still my little girl!!

While in town I had plenty of time to think about what I wanted to make.  I wanted to have a flower aperture with a butterfly on the edge as though flying towards the flowers inside the card.  It was much easier to make then I expected.  I cut a piece of white card to mount on the card base, onto which I stamped the butterfly.  Then I positioned my Spellbinder die and lightly pencilled where I needed to cut.  Then I carefully cut around the butterfly, extending the cuts down the wings to allow me to slip the die back.  Then I positioned the mat onto the card base and ran them through the Grand Calibur.  It's important to run the base and mat through together to get the aperture position correct.

I used my stamp-a-ma-jig to work out the correct position for the flowers inside the card, stamped them in black Versafine and embossed with clear powder.  I used my watercolour pencils to colour the flowers and the butterfly.  I found some ribbon with pretty rainbow polka dots in my stash and wrapped a piece around the mat.  I used dimensional tape to attach the mat to the card.  I stamped another butterfly onto card which was heat embossed with clear powder to give it a shine and then coloured and attached - you can see the layered butterfly above.  Finally, I attached a simple sentiment.

Stamps:  Kanban - All Occasions - Flowers; Spring Stamps - Butterfly (free with Crafts Beautiful)
Inks:  Versafine - Onyx Black
Spellbinders:  Dahlia (S4-191) #5, Fancy Tags (S4-235)
Accessories:  Staedler Aquarell Pencils; Ribbon and card from stash

I'm really pleased with the way this card has turned out - but it was tough trying to get a decent photo showing the depth and the aperture.  I think you can see from this photo just how well it shows the butterfly going towards the flowers!!!

I have to say that I'm so glad we got home when we did.  The wind is so strong, at one point while we were in Chester, Mum was really struggling to walk into the wind!  She's not a big lady and the wind was forcing her backwards!!  We've also had lots of rain - it's a dull, dismal day outside, but warm, cosy and fun inside!

I had a chat with Jonathan this morning - he's off looking at some houses today in and around the Novi/Northville/Plymouth area.  I selected a few places from some photos that I've seen, but Jonathan gets to do the fun bit - actually visiting and have a look round!!!  I'll find out later tonight what Jonathan thinks.  Bye for now - back again tomorrow!

Birthday wishes and thanks .....

....  I've got two cards to share with you today.  The first I made for Ben's 16th birthday - today!!!  He was such a sweet little baby and now he's a hulking great 6 foot tall teenager!!  Oh! where has the time gone?

Gosh, I'd forgotten just how blonde Ben was when he was little.  I think he was about 2 years old in this picture.  And I've got no idea why he's looking so sad!! 

The one of the right was taken by Ben on his mobile last week when he'd had his hair cut.  I like the short cut - at least I can see his face!!

Ben is so grown up now - I don't think he understands that he'll always be my baby - no matter how old he gets!

I think I've told you that Ben likes cards with lots of layers - so that's what I made for him.  I've used inspiration photo from this week's Runway Inspired - RIC#3 for the colours, and the layout is the current sketch from Clean 'n' Simple - FTL172.

I've gone for a completely black and white card - although I was tempted to put in a touch of red (she's got red lips).  I folded some black card in half to make a large A5 card.  I cut a mat from plain white card and stamped the chevron pattern in black and heat embossed it with clear powder.  Then I used the largest lattice rectangle nestie to make the bottom layer of the topper.  I made a couple of mats - one in dark grey metallic card and the top in white.  At the bottom of this layer I stamped the chevrons and birthday sentiment.  At the top I wound some black twine around the card.  Finally, I attached the top layer made up of a couple of circles with Ben's age as the feature!  I hope Ben likes it.

Stamps: Waltzingmouse - Off Beat Backgrounds; Stampin' Up! - Occasional Greetings
Inks:  Versafine - Onyx Black; Distress - Black Soot
Spellbinders:  Lacey Circles (S4-293) #3, Standard Circles Lg (S4-114) #4, Lattice Rectangles (S4-319) #4 (I made the rectangle longer)
Accessories:  Cuttlebug - Olivia Alphabet; Card from stash

Edited:  I spoke to Ben this evening - he was absolutely delighted with both his cards (and the surprised inside the one from Nanna).  I checked to make sure that there were enough layers - and Ben told me that his mates thought that the "16" one was "Cool!".  So, that's a great result.


I've made the next card for a special blog buddy - Charmaine Stack of Tweedcurtain Productions.  I've used the current Waltzingmouse Sketch - WMSC79 for the layout and the colours (yummy colours!) are from this week's Colour Q - cQc119. 


I started off by stamping the daisy trellis pattern in grey directly onto the card base.  I cut a broad piece of pink card and shadow stamped the trellis pattern again.  Next I cut a piece of melon mambo and used this pretty border punch to make the bottom layer.  I used my stamp-a-ma-jig to position the thanks sentiment correctly.  To make the topper I cut the bottom layer in pumpkin pie and the next in white to which I added some colour.   I stamped the rose onto watercolour paper, using versafine ink and clear embossing.  Then I wet the images and added drops of Stampin' Up! reinkers allowing the colours to blend.  Once dry, I cut the roses out and layered them onto the topper base.

Stamps:  Waltzingmouse - Pic-Nic Patterns, Say It Loud, Roses In Bloom
Inks:  Stampin' Up! - Melon Mambo, Pretty in Pink, Pumpkin Pie; Memento - London Fog
Spellbinders:  Octagons Lg (S4-185) #4, Scalloped Octagons Lg (S4-187) #3
Accessories:  EK border punch; SU card

I had a spare rose left after making the card, so I made a matching envelope.

This is going to Charmaine to say thank you so much for the wonderful comment she left on the "Nice List" competition over at Waltzingmouse just before Christmas.  This is what Charmaine had to say:

"I really enjoy WMS, the forum, the gallery, the amazing design team. I have been made aware of so many wonderful people as a result of the community that has sprung up around Claire. One person stands out, though - a fellow fan. Deb Frings is always ready with a sweet, kind word, a generous compliment, and a willingness to cheer a fellow stamper on. I enjoy her blog and all her creations, most of which feature WMS in some fashion. The WMS world is a bit better place for her enthusiastic support. So ths year, my Nice List has a shining star atop it named Deb. :-) 19 December 2011 20:54 "

Thank you Charmaine - you made my day! 

And with that, I'll say bye for now - see you all again tomorrow.