Holly branch ....

... I promise this is the last post for today!  This is another of the cards I made yesterday using embossed card.  This week's challenge at Do You Stack Up? - DYSU97 is leaves and trees.  In keeping with my theme of Christmas cards, I've used a holly branch on my card.

Cuttlebug EF: Holly
Accessories: Coredinations card; Lakeland sentiment tag; Foiled card, ribbon and card base from stash

No stamping on this card.  I used Coredinations card and ran it through my bug, then sanded the design to reveal the warm pink core.  I layered this onto some gold foil card - rounding the corners of each before gluing them together.  I finished off with a pink ribbon and this sweet Christmas tag.  The tag was made by Lakeland (a UK company) and has been in my stash for years!!!

While I had the embossing folders out, I embossed several pieces of Coredinations card - you've already seen some on earlier cards here and here.  Here's another - again no stamping on this one, but I have used some more of my Kanban stash.  It's a very traditional card which, coincidentally, is the theme for this month's challenge at St Luke's Charity Card Challenge.

Cuttlebug EF: Allegro
Accessories: Coredinations card; Lakeland sentiment tag; Foiled card, card base from stash


There's still plenty of time to join in with the fun at St Luke's - and we have a super prize too!  Come check it out!  That really is all for today.  I'd better go and do some house type stuff!  See you soon.

St Luke's Charity Card Challenge ......

...  It's time for the November challenge at St Luke's Charity Card Challenge, and it is a sad one for us all.  This will be our last challenge, played entirely for fun, we are no longer accepting any new cards to sell for the hospice.  Tara explains the reasons here.

Our theme for this month is Traditional Christmas - I know I still have lots of cards to make, so the theme has helped me get a move on!!  I have two cards to share with you.

Stamps: Waltzingmouse - 2011 Hoiliday Ornaments
Inks: Versamark; Distress - Fired Brick
Spellbinders: Fleur de Lis Squares (S4-126) #4, Squares Lg (S4-126) #6, Lacey Squares (S4-295) #3, 2011 Heirloom Ornaments (S4-334) #3
Accessories: Design Paper - Papermania Classic Christmas Red; Gold embossing powder, Card from stash

I used this week's Mojo Monday - MOJO265 sketch for the layout, obviously going with the square!!!  There is very little stamping on this card - lots of layers with the different papers and vellum using my Spellbinder dies.  I finished off with a gorgeous gold bauble and simple red sentiment.  A traditional red and gold card!!

Stamps: My Favourite Things - Christmas set
Inks: Versamark; Distress - Black Soot
Spellbinders: Circles Sm (S4-116) #3
Accessories: Design Paper - Papermania Classic Black Christmas; Silver embossing powder, Card from stash

My second card is a little more contemporary with a black and silver colour theme.  I used this month's My Favourite Things - Guest Designer challenge - MFTGD1112 for the layout.  Once again there is very little stamping on the card, lots of papers though.  I stamped this fabulous text Christmas tree in Versamark, heat embossed in silver and then cut it out.  I added some distress ink to define the edges.

For more inspirational Christmas cards click on the links below:

Tara Cardwell, Jenny Mullens, Anne Forrest, Sylvie Colledge, and Lynne Atkinson.

We have a bumper prize for you this month - check out the photos!!  We look forward to seeing your cards for Christmas.

Before I sign off - I'd like to thank Tara for inviting me to join the team.  I've had a great time working with all the girls - it's been fun!!  See you soon.

Merry Christmas .....

.... Good afternoon all!  It turned out to be a lovely day - shame I spent it over a hot ironing board!!! Still it's done again for a while.  I have managed to make a card for this week's Less is More - LIM88 challenge, where the Ladies Chrissie and Mandi would like us to use

Photo Credit

Silver 

Of course, they don't mean real silver, but silver something!!  On my card I've used silver embossing and silver card.

Stamps:  Kaisercraft - Turtle Dove
Inks:  Versamark
Spellbinders:  Labels 18 (S4-310) #4, Fancy Tags Two (S5-030)
Accessories:  Silver embossing powder; Silver card; Cuttlebug EF - Snowflakes; Sakura Stardust Pens; Card from stash

Edited - to include the photo above - it's bit brighter and you can really see the silver colour.  However, the sentiment is better in the first photo!!  Must get some sort of photo booth.

Sorry about the photo - I'll try to get a better picture tomorrow.  I embossed the background card with some snowflakes and mounted it onto silver card, leaving a very narrow border.  I stamped this lovely sentiment onto white card, embossed with silver, cut out with Spellbinders and added just a touch of colour in the holly.  I finished off by adding a couple of silver flourishes either side of the sentiment.

Over at St Luke's Charity Card Challenge our theme this month is Simple Christmas - a card that is quick and simple card to make, and I'm probably going to make a few more of this one!

And that really is all for today.

St Luke's Charity Card Challenge ........

Click here for my CR84FN64 post!

..... It's the first of the month and that means it's time for our new challenge at St Luke's Charity Card Challenge.  There are only 86 days to go before Christmas day!!  Seriously!!!  If you haven't started on your cards yet, then our challenge is perfect:

Clean, simple designs with lots of white space

I made two cards to share with you - variations on a theme!!

Stamps:  Waltzingmouse - Sewing Box Christmas; Woodware - Christmas Borders & Vertical Words FRCL017
Inks:  Memento - Tuxedo Black
Accessories:  Cuttlebug EF - Snowflakes from Winter Wonderland; SEI Designer Paper - Berry Melody; Card from stash

Stamps:  Waltzingmouse - Sewing Box Christmas, 2011 Holiday Ornaments
Inks:  Memento - Tuxedo Black
Accessories:  Cuttlebug EF - Snowflakes; SEI Designer Paper - Berry Melody; Card from stash

To add interest to my clean, simple Christmas cards I have used embossed backgrounds.  Then I added a touch of colour by using some patterned paper onto which I attached the white embossed layer.  I added a simple, homespun snowman to each card.  On the first card I stamped the sentiment before embossing and on the second I stamped the tree.  I finished the second card with a simple sentiment added after the embossing.  While the designer paper has busy patterns  the top layer has lots of white space with snowflake details!

I am submitting these cards to the Waltzingmouse Christmas Card Challenge too.  I'm running very behind on these challenges, but it's never to late to link up, which is fortunate as these are for the June challenge where we had to use stitching on our cards - real, faux, transfer or stamped.  Mine are stamped!!

Click on the links below for more inspirational clean and simple Christmas cards:

Tara Cardwell

Jenny Mullens

Anne Forrest

Sylvie Colledge

Lynne Atkinson

Oh, yes before I go, I must let you know that there will be a prize for this month's winner - and it couldn't be more appropriate.  Donated by Claire Brennan, the prize for our October winner is a Christmas set called "Twas the Night Before Christmas".

Good luck!  Looking forward to seeing your cards - have fun!!

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!

St Luke's Charity Card Challenge .....

..... It seems you weren't much inspired by our Sports/Olympic theme challenge last month, but hopefully this month's challenge at St Luke's Charity Card Challenge will encourage some more of you to play along.  What is the theme?  Oh yes, it's:

COUPLES

You are free to interpret this a you would like - human, animal, fun, formal, romantic or not!  The choice is yours - but we do want to see two together!  I've gone for a fishy, fun take for my card - but it's romantic at heart!!

Stamps:  Pink Petticoat - Fish Free with Papercraft Essentials; Waltzingmouse - Half Pint Heroes, Fancy Phrases, Compact Family
Inks:  Distress - Tumbled Glass, Broken China, Faded Jeans, Salty Ocean, Mowed Lawn, Picked Raspberry; Memento - Tuxedo Black
Accessories:  Promarkers - various; Card from stash

This is a little card 3" x 4¼" - just right to show off these sweet fishes!!  I started off by making the ocean background, blending various shades of blue distress inks.  Then I splashed on drops of water - distress inks react with water creating this lovely blotchy effect.  To create the illusion of depth I randomly stamped seaweed and fish in the ocean.  I used my stamp-a-ma-jig to position the sentiment and the two big fish.  I also stamped the big fish onto white card and coloured them with promarkers and then carefully cut out the various layers.  Those hearts are tiny, tiny!!  A fun card for a couple - could be for an anniversary, a wedding or just because!

For more inspirational couple cards check out St Luke's Blog or click on the links below:

Tara Cardwell

Jenny Mullens

Anne Forrest

Sylvie Colledge

Lynne Atkinson

We have a two prizes sweet prizes for you this month - stamps from Lili of the Valley - they're very cute:

Looking forward to seeing your cards.

Olympic Sports .....

.... Are you enjoying the Olympic Games?  I am!!!  The TV coverage here is good - although it is obviously focused on Team USA.  I would so like to see more of Team GB!!  I was so excited when London won the games.  So you can imagine being in the US, while it's absolutely fabulous, is a bit of a downer for me!!!    I have really missed the build up with the torch being carried around the UK.  The atmosphere in the UK, London particularly, must be fantastic!!  And what has sports and the Olympics got to do with cards and craft?  Well, it's time for the St Luke's Charity Card Challenge and this month our theme is:

Olympics/Sports

I've made two cards this month - and it will come as no surprise that my first card has an Olympic/London theme.

Stamps:  Papermania - Portobello Road Urban Vintage (PMA907126); Waltzingmouse - Freespirit Boy; Personal Impressions - 1st, Tennis
Inks:  Distress - Mustard Seed, Festive Berries, Mowed Lawn, Salty Ocean, Black Soot; Versafine - Onyx Black
Accessories:  Clear embossing powder, Spellbinder dies to cut Olympic rings; Official London 2012 Logo; Card from stash

This is a large card, 10" x 7".  I started off by masking the edges of the card - 5cms in from each edge and then stamping St Stephen's Tower (often called Big Ben) and embossing with clear powder.  Then I sponged on colour, using my distress inks, in the order of the Olympic rings.  Next I randomly stamped images representing sports and London.  To cut out the rings I used #3 & 4 of the large Spellbinder circles, taping them together to keep the rings equal.  I cut the rings from foil card - you can't see the shine in the photo above, but I think it looks fab in the view below.  I was going to stamp London 2012 above the image, but I really like the official Games logo, so I printed it off, cut it out and attached it to my card.

My second card is perfect for a tennis fan.  It is really quick and easy to make too!!  I used some Kanban paper to cover the base of the card, then stamped the tennis racket, shoes and ball twice onto white card.  I used Promarkers to add some colour to the image.  I cut out one image in full and just the ball and front shoe from the other image, then layered them.  I finished off with a simple birthday greeting.

Stamps:  Hobby Arts - Happy Birthday; Personal Impressions - Tennis
Inks:  Memento - Tuxedo Black
Accessories:  Promarkers; Kanban designer paper, Card from stash

We have a super prize this month - a full set of stamps from Waltzingmouse Stamps.  This lovely set, Blessed by You, is just fab with lots of wonderful sentiments and sweet images.

For more inspirational sporting themed cards, check out the DT's cards, by clicking on the links below or going directly to our blog for full details of the challenge and how to donate cards to St Luke's Charity Card Challenge.

Tara Cardwell

Jenny Mullens

Anne Forrest

Sylvie Colledge

Lynne Atkinson

At the time of typing this post (5.38pm) Team GB have four medals - two Silver and two Bronze.  Huge congratulations to the GB Men's Gymnastic team for getting Bronze!!  China and USA are tied on 23 medals each, but China have more Gold!!  Hopefully Team GB will get some more medals soon.  That's all for now.  

Edited:  Just seen that my cards fit in with the challenge at Paper Play Challenges - PPC30 - Sports/Olympics - so I'm linking up to this challenge.  Just been catching up with the Olympics - the US Ladies Gymnastic team were brilliant and I'm really pleased that Michael Phelps has got the record for the highest number of medals for a swimmer.

Surfer girl ....

.... I got the latest copy of Cardmaking & Papercraft (a UK magazine) recently and it came with a free pack of designer papers with a beach/surfing theme - very on trend this year!  And I've used it to make my card for this week's Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge - WMSC105.  The sketch was designed by Teresa Kline and it's just super.

If there's a single flower that makes me think of warm sunny beaches, surfing and summer, it's the hibiscus flower, and Claire has the sweetest stamp featuring this flower.  I used it to stamp some flowers on to my card base.  I used a few of the papers to make the layers and finished by stamping a birthday sentiment.  Kathryn really likes this card - so I think it's okay for a girl.  Here's my surfer girl themed birthday card.

Stamps: Waltzingmouse - Free Spirit Boy, Teeny Trees
Inks: Memento - Love Letter
Accessories: Paper - Fancy Pants Designs - Beach Babe (Free with Cardmaking & Papercraft);  SU Pen - Daffodil Delight; Card from stash

There are quite a few beach/summer/vacation challenges about at the moment, so I'm submitting it to the following challenges:

• Paper Pretties Monday Challenge - PPMC47 - Beach Days
• Cardmadfairy's Challenge - CMFC37 - Summertime
• Simply Create Too - SCT17 - Summer/Vacation
• Totally Papercrafts Friday Challenge - TPFC124 - Here Comes Summer

And my card is also just right for our St Luke's Charity Card Challenge - Teenage Kicks - to make a card for a teenager and, as this has passed the Kathryn test, I think it counts.  I decorated the envelope with this pretty die-cut hibiscus flower (I had planned to use the flower on the card, but it just wouldn't work).    There's still plenty of time to join in the fun!  Here are the challenge graphics:

Before I go I am very late welcoming some new followers to my Blog - so pleased to have you aboard!!  A big HELLO and WELCOME to Kim Heggins, Chris Carter, Sharon (Plumrose Lane) and E-Va!  That's all for now - wherever you are have a super day and be safe!

Metallic rock ....

..... Morning all - it's a wonderful day here in Northville - blue skies, birds singing and I have all my family here with me - JOY!!  I managed to get some time in my craft room this morning too.  This card came together really quickly - I think I had a dream about it last night :)  Anyhoo - it's for two challenges:

• Play Date Cafe Challenge - PDCC139 - love these metallic colours
• St Luke's Charity Card Challenge - SLCCC16 - where our theme is teenage kicks

I started with some Stampin' Up! very vanilla card and folded it to make my card base.  I inked up my favourite funky circles with Versamark, stamped directly on the card and then added gold and silver embossing powder to create a randomish pattern.  I stamped one of the graffiti images from Free Spirit on the card (using the second impression for a lighter image), over stamped the funky frame and embossed it.  I finished off by adding the simple sentiment "you rock".  I have a feeling that this might go to Ben!!

Stamps:  Waltzingmouse - Free Spirit Boy, Compact Sentiments II, Holiday Labels 14
Inks: Memento - Toffee Crunch, Espresso Truffle; Versamark
Spellbinders: Labels 14 (S4-290) #3
Accessories:  Embossing powders - silver and gold; Stampin' Up! - Very Vanilla Card

I took another photo of the card so that you can see just how lovely the shine is on the embossed detail - looks fabulous in the sunlight!!

Here are the challenge graphics:

There's still plenty of time to join in with our St Luke's Challenge to make a card for a teenager.  My son is 16½ so I tend to make cards that are a bit more graphic, grungy - teen boy like!  But I'll soon Kathryn will be wanting more "teenish" cards - she's a bit of a goth princess!  And there's a super prize too - a £10 voucher kindly donated by The Ribbon Girl, so get out your stamps and join the fun!

That's all for now - see you soon!

St Luke's Charity Card Challenge - Teenage Kicks ....

.... Hi all!  Hope you've had a super day - the weather here has been just fabulous!!  It's time to tell you about this month's challenge at St Luke's Charity Card Challenge.  This month our theme is:

Teenage Kicks!!!

This means two things to me - I can make one of my favourite style cards (having a teenage boy I make a lot) and it's also the title of one of my favourite songs by The Undertones.  I'd forgotten how old it is though;  see the video link at the end of the post!!

I've made a card for my son Ben - he'll be arriving in Detroit next Saturday, and I'm really looking forward to seeing him.  This card is for him.  All the wonderful weather we've been having and the fabulous colours from this week's ColourQ - cQc143 challenge gave me the idea of a surfer dude card!!

Stamps:  Waltzingmouse - Free Spirit Boy
Inks:  Stampin' Up! - Pacific Point, Poppy Parade, So Saffron, Basic Grey
Accessories:  Card from stash

It'll come as no surprise that I turned to my all time favourite teen set from Waltzingmouse - Free Spirit Boy. The images in this set work perfectly for teen/male cards (they work for girls too).  I stamped the circles in pale yellow, added the graphic wave and combined two sentiments.  I then added some subtle spatter to the card.  I finished off by adding two cool surf boards.

Here's the colour graphic for this week's Colour Q challenge - it's so pretty!

Do check out the rest of the DT's cards, click on the links below:

Tara Cardwell

Jenny Mullens

Anne Forrest

Sylvie Colledge

Lynne Atkinson

We have a prize for the July winner - a £10 gift voucher from the ladies at The Ribbon Girl.  So get your creative juices flowing and play along with our Teenage Kicks theme.  I hope this month's challenge is more to your taste - our furry friends didn't get too many players!!

If you can spare your card you can donate it to St Luke's for Tara's fund raising events - do check out our Challenge blog for details of where to send your cards.

I look forward to seeing your creations - this is a fun challenge.  And here's the video I promised at the start of this post - The Undertones with Teenage Kicks:



That's all for now - see you later with my card for CR84FN57 - this week's challenge!