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.

Two challenge card and an award ....

.... What a glorious day we're having here in North Wales - brilliant blue skies, bright sunshine and cool wind!!!  However, it does make you feel good.

I'd like to thank Ann of KingstonMamaCrafts for the Liebster Blog award - it's very much appreciated.  Now, I know that in accepting this award, there are various things I need to do - namely pass it along.  However, with everything that's going on in my house at the moment - I'm going to do that part later - probably next week!

Things are moving on really quickly here - and I feel a bit like a spare part!!!  I can't do any of the actual packing (insurance conditions) and all our possessions are disappearing into white packaging.  So, I've spent this morning in my office (don't have a craft room any more) playing with my emergency stash!

Last week at craft class the girls gave me a lovely card and super new Cheery Lynn die and I've done cards for them all to say thanks.  Despite having lots of cards in my stash, I don't have enough thank you cards, so I've made a thank you card inspired by two challenges:

• Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge - WMSC87 - sketch designed by Renee Lynch
• The Play Date Cafe Challenge - PDCC121

I flipped Renee's through 90 degrees and have matched the colours as closely as I can.  I started off by stamping some pretty flourishes onto the base card.  The PDCC team called the pinky colour "peony", and I've made a colour that's a mix of pink/yellow a sort of peach.  I made a mat layer from white card, colouring the edge with my marker pen.  For the focal panel I've used doilies and to make the diagonal bands, I went for faux stitching.  Finally, I added the thanks sentiment.

Stamps:  Waltzingmouse - Flourishes: Dots & Scallops, Off Beat Backgrounds, Large Doily, Dainty Doilies 2
Inks:  Stampin' Up! - Baja Breeze, Sahara Sand, So Saffron, Pretty in Pink
Accessories:  Card from stash

Kathryn is having a day out with her school.  They are visiting the Liverpool today to see the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic performing a programme designed for schools.  Kathryn has been to see them before and she loves it.  It's always a very popular day out and I'm so glad that she's had the opportunity to see them again before we move.  And when we get to America - just think about what we'll be able to see there!!!

And that's all for now.  I don't quite know how much longer I'm going to be able to craft at home, but I will have time to browse and comment!  See you soon.

Circles galore and Valentine wishes ....

.... Good morning all - hope you're all fine and well today.  Life here is a bit hectic, but I got some time in my craft room last night to unwind a bit.  I've got quite a bit to share with you today and I'll start with this card which was made with two challenges in mind:

• One Layer Wednesday - OLW78, hosted by Susan at Simplicity - and we must use at least FIVE circles on our card
• The Play Date Cafe Challenge - PDCC118 - just love these colours

Last week I told you that my Aunt had asked me to make her a number of cards, including several birthday cards for her boys and husband.  This is birthday card number three - only one more to make.  As soon as I saw the PDCC colours I knew that they would be perfect for a guy card.  I really like Circle Circus, I think the set works really well for masculine cards.  The idea for this came really quickly, but it took a little while to make as there was a lot of masking involved.  I used post-it notes to mask off the sides of the card to leave a central panel, into which I stamped Circle Circus.  To create depth I stamped a few of the images, masked them off, stamped some more, did a bit more masking and some more stamping.  I finished off by adding birthday greetings above and below the stamped panel.

Stamps:  Stampin' Up! - Circle Circus; Waltzingmouse - Free Spirit - Sentiments
Inks:  Kaleidacolor - Blue Breeze; Stampin' Up! - Daffodil Delight
Accessories:  Card from stash

My second card is a Valentine card for my darling husband Jonathan.  The card has been made with two challenges in mind:

• Do You Stack Up? - DYSU#58 - they have the theme "Love" this week
• CAS-ual Fridays - CFC39 - where the team would like us to make a card using paper piecing

This card came together quickly and easily.  The hearts from Sewing Box Hugs just cry out to be paper pieced.  I simply found some coordinating papers (in Jonathan's favourite colour), stamped the hearts, cut out the layers and attached them to the card.  I stamped a simple frame and sentiment to complete the card.

Stamps:  Waltzingmouse - Frame-It, Sweethearts, Sewing Box Hugs
Ink:  Memento - Cottage Ivy
Paper:  Papermania - Inspirations Cool Tones
Accessories:  Card from stash

The postman brought me a very special envelope yesterday - it was from Meredith and contained all these lovely goodies.

Meredith's giveaway goodies

Meredith set up a 100 Follower Giveaway where we had to comment on her post - and I was the lucky winner.  Thank you so much - I can't wait to play with my new goodies.  Not only did I get all these super bits to play with, but Meredith included this beautiful card too - it's gorgeous!

I've another new follower - please join me in welcoming Evelyn - Hi, great to have you here!  Now I'm off to do a bit more sorting out - we've still got quite a lot of decluttering to do, so while the weather is reasonable, I'm going to fill the skip!!  See you soon.

One for three ....

...  having managed to post my OLW blog a bit earlier than planned (silly me!), here's a card I made last night.  I've combined three challenges into this card:

• Jingle Belles - JB12:02 - sketch (from the ever talented Kirsty)
• The Play Date Cafe - PDCC114 - with lovely rich colours this week
• CAS-ual Fridays - CFC35 - where the team would like us to use scallops on our card

I'm not entirely sure that my card is clean and simple enough for the CAS-ual Fridays challenge, but I'm going to submit it anyway.


I started off with a plain white square card onto which I attached a lovely piece of Christmas vellum - with gold Christmas trees all over it.  I found some textured burgundy paper (heavy weight) in my stash and used this to make the scalloped border and the ornament.  I stamped the ornament in Versamark, heat embossed with gold detail powder and used the coordinating punch to cut it out.  To add a few more scallops to the card, I used Labels 23 (so elegant) to cut a piece of plum card.  I embossed part of the lace tree into the shape to coordinate with the vellum, then ran a gold marker pen around the edge of the die cut to create a faux gold layer.  Finally, I stamped a simple sentiment in black Stazon.

Stamps:  Stampin' Up! - Contempo Christmas
Inks:  Versamark; Staz-on - Jet Black
Spellbinders:  Labels Twenty Three (S4-347) #4
Accessories:  Fiskars - Holly Border punch; Detail gold embossing powder; Stampin' Up! - Bauble punch; Papermania - A Christmas Carol Gold Vellum; Card from stash

I'd like to say hello and welcome to M J - who has become my newest follower, glad to welcome you!   I'm also very pleased to say that I've been picked as one of the December winners over at Less is More - absolutely thrilled to bits, and I'm in great company - Anne was the other winner.  Not only that, but I also found out that I've had an honourable Mention from the ladies at 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown for this card.  Thank you Mynnette and Jacqueline, this is much appreciated.

That's all for now folks!!!  See you tomorrow.

Edited:  I've taken another photo of my card - in natural day light this time - I think you can see the background a bit better.

Christmas is in the box ....

... a lovely lie in this morning - that's what I'd planned, but I was still up in time to check out some of my favourite challenge blogs this morning!!!  Still, it meant that we had plenty of time to pack away Christmas.  Mum, Kathryn and I spent the morning putting away the tinsel, baubles, lights and taking the Christmas tree down and putting it all into the Christmas box!  The house seems rather bare now.

This afternoon I've been in my craft room making a birthday card (which will be from Mum) for my niece, Anne.  For Anne's card I've used the layout from Mojo Monday - MOJO222, the gorgeous pastel colours from The Play Date Cafe - PDCC113 and the theme from DYSU#53 - Let it Snow.

I knew exactly what effect I wanted to achieve with this card and I'm really pleased that the finished card is almost exactly as I imagined it.  I thought the Let it Snow theme from DYSU was perfect for a winter birthday, and the PDCC113 colours are just right.  The hardest part of the card was getting the proportions for the different elements right - I've got a lot of scrap paper on my desk now!  The backing paper is from Artylicious Season's Greetings CD - lots of pretty snowflakes shading from mint green to juniper!  I stamped a pretty doily in pearlescent ice blue onto vellum (inspiration from Charmaine) and cut it out with my nesties.  I used a Cuttlebug die to cut out the pretty snowflake.  Finally, I attached a simple birthday sentiment.

Actually, I think the hardest thing about this card has been getting a decent photo!  It's dark here now and the daylight bulb in my craft room drained the colour, the desk light at my computer gave a yellow cast, so I tried a flash - which is about as good as I can get at the moment.  It does show the pretty doily very well!  I'll try again tomorrow for a better picture.

Stamps:  Waltzingmouse - Dainty Doilies 2 Small, Flourishes - Scallops & Dots; Personal Impressions - Wording Stamps (PIC5066)
Inks: Brilliance - Pearlescent Ice Blue; Distress - Bundled Sage
Spellbinders: Labels Eighteen (S4-310) # 2, Big Scalloped Circles Lg (S4-249) #7
Accessories: Cuttlebug - Ice Crystals die; Stampin' Up! - Filigree brad, gems, Very Vanilla card; Chocolate Baroque - Season's Greetings CD

That's all for today.  I'm off to make supper for us all now.  I'll be back tomorrow with another card using our CR84FN45 colours - I love these colours.  To be fair, I might be a bit biased as I picked them ;)  See you tomorrow!

One for three .....

.... this card has been made for three challenges;

• Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge - WMSC76
• The Play Date Cafe - PDCC110
• St Luke's Charity Card Challenge - Let it Snow

I've taken a few liberties with the WMSC76 sketch, but I think you can see it in my card.  As soon as I saw the bright, vibrant colours for this week's Play Date Cafe Challenge, I knew that I wanted to use my favourite snowman stamp.  And, as the finished card is full of snowmen, cool blues and glitter - I decided that it was perfect for the current St Luke's Challenge - Let it Snow.
This is a large card - 8" × 8" - it needed to be this big to fit on all the elements!  I made two mats - the bottom mat was coloured with a pastel blue Promarker so that it would exactly match the lovely winter cottage; the top layer is white glitter paper.  The cottage was stamped onto white card and I used the out-of-the-box technique to cut out the shape with my nestie.  I coloured the cottage with Promarkers, added lots of glitter and layered it onto a lovely pale blue lacey circle. I stamped some holly leaves and berries and added them to the back of the cottage, and then attached the whole image to the card base.   I stamped three of these fab snowmen, coloured them all with Promarkers, cut them out and added some glitter to their hats and scarves.  Finally, I made a coordinating sentiment label.   A truly frosty Christmas card.

Stamps:  Funstamps - Scribble Snowman; Waltzingmouse - Festive Foliage, A Cottage Christmas
Inks:  Memento - Tuxedo Black, Cottage Ivy, Lady Bug; Stampin' Up! - Lucky Limeade
Spellbinders:  Lacey Circles (S4-293) # 5, Standard Circles Sm (S4-116) # 7; Scalloped Petit Ovals Lg (S4-139) # 2, Petit Ovals Sm (S4-140) # 2
Promarkers: Berry Red, Royal Blue, Lime Green, Marsh Green, Pastel Blue, Cool Aqua, Ice Grey 1, Ice Grey 2, Tan, Cinnamon, Gold, Soft Lime
Accessories:  Martha Stewart - Coarse glitter and card from stash

Above is a close up of the cottage showing the lovely glitter that I got from Michael's in Novi - I like the coarser texture of this glitter - it really looks like snow sparkling in the sun!

I had a really successful day yesterday - only one basket of ironing left to do today.  Well, until the next lot of washing!  Once I've finished the ironing today I've got a couple of birthday cards to make.  One for a 10 year old girl and one for a 50 year old guy!  Hopefully, I'll get to share them both with you tomorrow.  That's all for now.  I'm off to get that ironing done - see you!

Busy ....

... hi - finally made it into my craft room about an hour ago.  It's been a fantastic weekend - Kathryn's party went off brilliantly.  I do have lots of photos to share - and I'll get them up later this week. 

I've got a card to share that covers three challenges:

• The Play Date Cafe Challenge - PDCC99 - colour
• CAS-ual Fridays - CFC20 - make a mini card, no larger than 4" × 4"
• Less is More - LIM33 - 1000 challenge - any theme you like so long as it's CAS

Chrissie and Mandi at Less Is More - have got more the 1000 followers and reached that number really quite quickly.  One of the LIMettes suggested that if we all entered a card to the challenge that Blogger might break!!!  So the challenge is to reach 1,000 submissions for this week's anything goes theme.  At the time of preparing this post - the are 324 entries - so a third of the way there!!  I hope to make another two or three cards for LIM33. 

This card was really quick to make - that's simply because the image is one that I printed out earlier this year.  The sweet flowers are from Pink Petticoat - who make some of the loveliest digi-images.  This one is an outline image and I simply coloured it in using Paint - pretty yellow flowers - bright and cheerful!  I had a rummage through my card stash and found this lovely pale lilac pearlescent card and used the gorgeous Fleur de Lis nestie to cut out a mat.  Simple, quick, easy - and very pretty!  The finished card measures 4" × 4".

Image:  Pink Petticoat (coloured on the computer in Paint)
Spellbinders: Fleur de Lis Squares (S4-318) #3
Accessories:  Card from stash

That's all for now - off to get Kathryn ready for her dance class.  We are now back to the normal routine of school, after school clubs and work - sort of nice too!!  See you later.

Flower thanks ....

....  it's been a busy day here at Chez Frings!!!  I've been making quite a few cards, sadly I can't share some of them just yet!  Yes, I know I'm being a bit of a tease :)
















However, I can share this card with you - it's actually for two challenges - this week's Play Date Cafe Challenge - PDCC98 and for Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge - WMSC63 (I had another go at this one). 

I really like the colours from the Play Date Cafe and I kept the design clean and simple to allow the colours to shine through.  I've adapted Anya's sketch a bit!!  I had a hunt through my scraps drawer and found the perfect colours.  I cut strips of the mid-blue and used a border punch to add detail to the top and bottom strips.  I stamped the hibiscus flowers three times and cut layer and decoupaged them.  Finally I used my stamp-a-ma-jig to position the sentiment.

Stamps:  Waltzingmouse - Free Spirit  Boy, Fancy Phrases
Inks:  Stampin' Up! - Night of Navy; Versafine - Onyx Black
Spellbinders:  Beaded Circles (S4-292) #2
Accessories:  Martha Stewart border punch, clear embossing powder, card from stash

That's all for now.  I'm off to watch Torchwood - a really good series.  See you all tomorrow.  You've still got a few hours to sign up for the Blog Candy.

Play Date splash ....

... it seems that a touch of red is popular this week,  the Play Date Cafe - PDCC97 have gone for black, white and splash of red. 

I've gone for a really simple, but rather striking design.  My base card is white with a textured linen finish.  I inked up the Medallion stamp in Versafine Onyx Black and, using my stamp-a-ma-jig for positioning, stamped in the centre of the square card.  The image was heat embossed with clear powder which intensifies the colour and gives a lovely shine - and also brings out the texture.  The splash of red was achieved by adding some gems - a large central gem and some smaller ones around the medallion.  Simple, quick, elegant!  I've decided to skip a sentiment and let the image stand on its own.

Stamps:  Stampin' Up! - Medallion
Inks: Versafine - Onyx Black
Accessories:  Gems and card from stash

I'd like to say Hi and Welcome to my latest Blog Friend - Toponne - great to have you aboard!!

It's a bit grey again today - maybe the last couple of days have been it - the end of summer!!  According to the weather statistics, August was the coldest for 18 years - I can certainly vouch for that!  But it's also been the sunniest since 2006 - go figure!!

Just checked out the Less is More 31 challenge and Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge - both look fab!

A one for two ...

... card - this one has been made for two challenges.  I really like the colours for this week's Play Date Cafe Challenge - PDCC95, so I've used them again.  CAS-ual Fridays - CFC16  have a super challenge - they want us to use embossing - dry or heat - so I've used both!

I have lots of cuttlebug embossing folders, but for some reason I don't seem to use them as often as I should.  So the CAS-ual Fridays challenge was the perfect opportunity to get them out to play.  I spent ages deciding which one to use and settled on Diamonds in the rough.  I like the random layout of the diamonds.  I used cordinations whitewash card and selected a sheet with a green core, after embossing the image I sanded off the top layer to bring out the green.  I inked up my doily stamp with Versamark, added the coloured ink, stamped and then heat embossed with clear powder.  Using the same technique I used a darker shade of pink to add the smaller doilies. I found a large pink gem in my stash that matched the little doilies perfectly!  I didn't have any navy ribbon, so I coloured some white ribbon with a blue Promarker - works brilliantly!  Finally, I cut a thin strip of the green card and repeatedly stamped the sentiment.

Stamps:  Waltzingmouse - Dainty Doilies - Large
Inks:  Versamark; Stampin' Up! - Night of Navy, Melon Mambo, Pretty in Pink
Accessories:  Cuttlebug folder - Diamonds in the Rough; Card, ribbon, gem from stash

I decided to have a lazy day yesterday - we were so busy over the weekend that I just didn't feel like doing much.  Kathryn and I had a great time messing around in the morning, I read several chapters of my latest Stephen King novel and I did get the washing done - so it wasn't a bad day.  Today, Jonathan is working in London - so he's got a really early start.  And I've got an appointment to see my knee specialist - all being well, I'll be discharged.  My knee is feeling so much better.  That's all for now.  I'll be back later this evening with a couple more cards - I've got a few to catch up on!

Oh yes, before I go, I've another new Blog Friend - so Hello and Welcome to QueenB - so glad you joined me!

Play Date Cafe ....

... I was delighted with the colours for this week's Play Date Cafe Challenge - PDCC95 - navy, bubblegum and leaf green. 

My card has a clean and simple design.  I started with the flower stamp - not fussy, not frilly - just stylised flowers and leaves.  I stamped it in navy and embossed with clear powder.  I coloured the image with my aqua pen and stamping inks.  I found the matching card from my stash and cut out several layers using my nesties.  Finally, I added a simple sentiment. 

Stamps: Kanban - All Occasions set
Inks: Stampin' Up! - Night of Navy, Pretty in Pink, Melon Mambo; Memento - New Sprout
Spellbinders: Long Scalloped Rectangles Sm (S4-145) #5, Long Rectangles Sm (S4-144) #5, Long Rectangles Lg (S4-142) #4
Accessories: Card and sentiment from stash

That's all - I do hope you have a good weekend!