A coloured card ....

... Hi - goodness only knows what's happened to this week - I had big plans to get in my craft room, but only managed a couple of hours this afternoon.  However, I do have a card to share with you and I think I'm only just going to be in time:

• Less is More - LIM119 - to use a coloured card blank
• One Layer Wednesday - OLW140 borders

Stamps: Docrafts - Candle Border; CAS-ual Friday Stamps - Bold Wishes, Countdown
Inks: Memento - Tuxedo Black
Accessories:  Stampin' Up! Card - Pacific Point; Staedtler - Ergosoft Pencils

I've been thinking about the Less is More challenge all week and trying to work out what colour card blank to use.  I finally decided to go for a bold blue base.  I've combined the LIM challenge with this week's One Layer Wednesday to make a card with a border; it's being hosted by Heather this week and it's been quite a while since I joined in.

The card was really easy to make.  I simply cut the card to make a standard 5½" × 4¼" card base.  I used my stamp-a-ma-jig to position the row of candles along the base of the card and then added a couple of score lines above.  I added a clean, bold sentiment to the front and finished by colouring the candles with pencils.  First I filled them all in with white pencil and then went over the top with colours.  For the inside I cut a panel of white card and repeated the candles (second impression) at the bottom, coloured them and finished with a birthday greeting.

I think the inside could also work as a card front - it's clean, simple and bold and I'm really pleased with it.

That's all for now.  See you soon.

Happy Birthday - make it move ....

... Afternoon everyone - hope you're having a good day.  My day has been going great.  I've got lots of housey stuff done and managed to get an hour in my craft room.  I've made a card for a couple of challenges:

• Waltzingmouse Stamps Make It Move - WMSMIM challenge
• Colour Throwdown - CTD241

I didn't think I'd manage to make a card for Claire's challenge as she wants us to make an interactive card and I'm not great with that kind of thing.  However, I found a super tutorial on U-Tube by Christina Griffiths showing how to make a "magic" slider card.  Here's my take on the card:

Stamps:  WMS - Vintage Garden Heritage, Frame-It
Inks: Staz-on - Jet Black; Stampin' Up! - Elegant Eggplant, Regal Rose, Certainly Celery
Accessories:  SU Card - Crumb Cake, Regal Rose; White Lustre Card; Acetate; Eyelets; Martha Stewart - Border Punch



I followed Christina's instructions to the letter and was delighted to find that it works.  When the slider panel is inside the card the flowers are clean and simple - black stamping on a white background, but as you pull the ribbon you the image is "magically" coloured!! I coloured the image behind using my aqua pen and Stampin' Up! inks.  The back of the card is very pretty - punched for interest with my Martha Stewart border flower punch.

While I'm very pleased how this turned out - I don't think I'll be making another one soon!!!  Christina's instructions are really clear and easy to understand, but I'm not very good at making interactive cards!

That's all for now - I'll be back tomorrow!  See you!

Happy Mother's Day to my US friends .....

... and to my UK friends too - it doesn't hurt to celebrate twice!!  I don't have a card to share with you today as I didn't get into my craft room at all yesterday.

Jonathan and I were up yesterday morning at 5.00am and drove into downtown Detroit to meet up with a photography group.  We arrived at 5.50am and the plan was to take photos of sunrise over the river and capture the glow against the fabulous GM Building.  Sadly, the cloud cover was total.  However, that didn't stop us - we simply took lots of photos of the various landmarks against the cloudy sky.  It was really good fun and I got some really super photos.  Here are a few that I took:

This statue, Gateway to Freedom, commemorates the underground railroad - it was designed and sculpted by Ed Dwight.  There is a companion piece on the Windsor (Canada) side of the river.

The GM Building - looking fabulous in the early morning light.

The Horace Dodge Fountain (no water at the moment) in Hart Plaza, directly in front of the GM Building.

After taking these photos we headed to the Guardian Building - known as Detroit's Cathedral of Finance.  The building was designed by Wirt Rowland and built in 1928; opening in 1929.  It is a masterpiece of Art Deco design and is now the home of Wayne County Administrative offices and is therefore open to the public - a true gem in downtown Detroit.

I love this letter box - so very elegant!  The colours are typically Art Deco.

 I love this image - so beautiful and framed by the fabulous stepped tiles and ornate lamps.

The ceiling of the main entrance hall - it really is stunning.

If you want to see the rest of the photos from the morning (well those that made the cut) click on this link to my Flickr account.

As it's Mother's Day here - I'm being spoilt by Jonathan and Kathryn - off to the shops for some retail therapy followed by lunch out!  Bliss!

Christmas colours .....

.... Hello and good morning.  It's time for our colour challenge at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown and I think this is a classic combination - RED and WHITE - ONLY these colours are to be used in the design of your card.  Here's my take on our colours:

Stamps:  Waltzingmouse - Nordic Winter, Yonder Star
Inks: Stampin' Up! - Real Red; Memento - Tuxedo Black
Accessories:  SU Card - Real Red; White Lustre card

For me, red and white always suggests a Scandinavian/folk feel for a theme and I have just the perfect set of stamps!!  I stamped the borders in Real Red directly onto the card base.  I cut a thin panel of white card on which I stamped the stags and stars, mounted it onto Real Red card and attached to the card base.  I finished the front of the card with two sentiments centralised above and below the panel.  For the inside I cut a mat layer of Real Red and on the white panel I stamped the outline star and a bold sentiment.  As it's not the front of the card I used black for the sentiment.

Don't forget to visit our blog and check out the inspiration cards from the rest of the Team.  Have a super weekend.  See you soon.

Great Lakes Mega Meet ...

... hello everyone - hope you're having a good day.  I've been busy this morning catching up with some ironing and I finished it.  It was made so much easier as I watched Silver Linings Playbook - which was excellent.

I told you yesterday that I was going to the Great Lakes Mega Meet - well, it was brilliant.  I took two classes about colouring with Copics - well worth it too.  I feel much happier about colouring now.  My third class was about Zentangles.  Our teacher was Diana Hirsch - she is a super teacher.  She created a wonderful atmosphere of calm, which was very welcome after walking around the exhibition, and then started to teach us three basic tangles.  After our class we had all completed a tile - here's the photo of the group's work:

With only three tangles - each work is totally unique, and it really was lots of fun.  I felt very relaxed at the end of the session and also want to learn more!  Here's a close up of my very first tangle - I think I'll be making more.

I did get a number of bits and pieces at the show, but I was reasonably restrained.  I got some scrapbook templates to make shaped pages, a few books with new tangles in them, some stencils for mixed media and art journalling, some wonderful new shimmer acrylic paints (Silks), some Cuttlebug 5" x 7" embossing folders, some laser cut titles for scrapbook pages and, the best deal of the day, a lot of new Copics.  I got a selection of greys and the fluorescent colours!  Very pleased with my stash!

That's all for now, as I'm off into my craft room to play - got to make a card with some of my new stash!!  See you soon.

Shades of love ....

... Hello everyone - I've got a really busy day lined up today.  I'm off to the Great Lakes Mega Meet at the Suburban Showcase in Novi.  I found this show by accident last year, but this year I found it deliberately!!  I've signed up for a couple of classes about colouring with Copics and a class about Zentangles.  I've been fascinated by Zentangles and I've seen some beautiful ones drawn by Susan G and Paula P - and I'm finally going to have a go myself.

In the meantime, here's a card I made for a couple of challenges:

• Less is More - LIM118 
• Retro Sketches - RS62

Stamps: Sweet Stamp Shop - Colour Wheel
Inks: Memento - Tuxedo Black
Accessories: White Lustre Card; Copics - Y0000, Y00, Y13, Y18, V0000, V20, V22, V25; White twine

First of all - this is card does not have a violet border - that's just the mat it was on when I took the photo!  I decided to have another go at the Less is More challenge and this time I picked violet and yellow.  I thought I'd play with the colour wheel as I have this super stamp.  I stamped it in memento ink and coloured the two wedges with my Copics.  Next I cut a small panel of white card and layered the colours from each end to meet in the middle with the palest of each - the colours are not as fluorescent as they appear in this photo - I'll post a new picture tomorrow!  I stamped the sentiment onto a smaller bit of card and attached it to the main panel and finished by wrapping some white twine around the panel.  I attached the panel with dimensional tape.  A clean, simple and reasonably quick card to make.  It was lots of fun.

That's all for now - I'm off out now - should be so much fun.  Interesting classes, lots of stalls with so many goodies - but I'm not coming back with anything new ;)))))  See you!

Complementary birthday card ....

.... Morning - it's another gorgeous day here in Northville and I've managed to get a hour in my craft room this morning and made a birthday card for a couple of challenges:

• CAS-ual Fridays - CFC100 - it's their 100th challenge and 2nd birthday!!
• Less is More - LIM118 - to use colours opposite each other on the spectrum

Stamps: Verve - Polka Stars; CAS-ual Friday Stamps - Bold Wishes
Inks: Memento - Danube Blue, Tangelo
Dies: Lil' Inkers - Stitched Squares # 6 & 7
Accessories:  White lustre card

The challenge at CAS-ual Friday is such fun - they've given us a grid and we have to pick a line - I selected the line that included: polka dots, square card and birthday - yep!!  And at Less is More the ladies want us to make a CAS card using colours from opposite sides of the spectrum wheel.  I nearly went for green and red, but decided that these polka dot stars needed orange and blue!!  This card was very easy to make - stamping the stars onto white card, cutting them out and attaching them to the card.  The two orange stars have been given a little dimension.  For the inside I used the huge "Wish Big" stamp - love it!

That's all for this morning - off out to the shops and then I've got a huge pile of ironing to do - better find a good movie to watch while I do it.  See you soon.

For my Mum .....

... Hello - it's a beautiful day here in Northville; spring really has arrived in style!!  I hope you all had a great weekend - we were away in Holland, Michigan to see the Tulip Festival.  It was fabulous and I took so many photos - I'll put the links at the end of the post if you want to check out the "selected" images!! 

And I've finally got round to playing along with a couple of challenges:

• Dynamic Duos - DD#51
• The Paper Players - PP145 - Theme is Mother's Day

Stamps: Stampin' Up! - Best of Flowers, Delightful Dozen
Inks: SU - Baja Breeze, Daffodil Delight
Accessories:  SU DP - Baja Breeze; SU Card - Baja Breeze; White Lustre Card; SU Marker - Baja Breeze; Chiffon Ribbon

I really this week's theme at The Paper Players, and while it's appropriate for cards being sent in the US, in the UK, Mothering Sunday was ages ago!!  However, that doesn't stop me making a card to send to my Mum - just because!  I'm very sad that the colour Baja Breeze is being retired, so it's a double pleasure to make this card.  I used some Baja Breeze design paper to make the mat for the front of the card.  The design comes directly from The Paper Players' image for the challenge.  I stamped the flowers multiple times to create a field of yellow flowers.  I stamped the sentiment in Baja Breeze and used my stamp-a-ma-jig for accurate placement.  I finished the front with a ribbon.  I don't have any ribbon that matches, so I made my own by colouring white chiffon ribbon with my SU marker and allowing it to dry.  Easy!!  For the inside I cut a mat layer in Baja Breeze card and stamped the flowers across the corner - no sentiment inside as I'll be writing a note to Mum.

As I said at the start of this post - we were away seeing the tulips over the weekend.  Here are a few photos of the day - but if you want to see them all - check out my photos on Flickr - the links are here and here.

That's all for today.  I'm off out on a photo shoot this evening.  It's a session for beginners - which I am - a small group of us will be walking around Northville learning how to take better photos and to understand our cameras!!  Should be lots of fun.  See you soon.

Stampin' Up! CASEd cards ....

... Hi!  I told you that I was out at Karin's last week for her monthly Stampin' Up! class.  We had such a great time.  All the cards we made are CASEd from cards seen on Stampin' Connection or other blogs (sorry I don't have all the details, but let me know if you recognise your card).  Here they are:

The only card that we decorated the inside was the one above.  I really like that sentiment and the picture below shoes how it finishes.

I'll come back next week to add details of stamps, papers, inks, etc.  This one has been scheduled as we've been away in Holland, Michigan checking out the tulips!!

See you soon.

Christmas sketch .....

... Good morning!  Well, we're well into the first week of May and the spring weather has finally shown up in Michigan, but that hasn't let me stop making Christmas cards.  I intend to have almost all my cards made by November - so there'll be no panic then!!

It's time for our challenge at 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown, and as it's the first week we have a sketch for you.  I think it's a super sketch and there are so many possibilities with it.  I liked it so much that I ended up making three cards and could easily have made a few more (any may yet do that!).

Stamps: Stampin' Up! - Contempo Christmas, More Merry Messages
Inks: SU - Midnight Muse, Raspberry Ripple, Gumball Green
Dies: Spellbinders - Floral Ovals (S4-356) #3; Martha Stewart - Snowflake Punch; SU - Ornament Punch
Accessories:  Cuttlebug EF - Snowflakes; Silver card and paper; White Lustre card; Gems

This is such an easy card to make.  I cut the base panels to fit the card base and embossed with snowflakes.  Next I cut the horizontal strips in white and coloured card.  I punched all the snowflakes from some pretty shimmery silver paper in my stash.  The sketch has that pretty oval on it, so I decided to be totally faithful and cut three fancy ovals in the last of this pretty silver card!  Next I stamped several of the Contempo Christmas ornament (sadly discontinued) and used the coordinating punch to cut them out.  I added lots of gems to the ornaments.  For the inside I cut a mat layer in the matching colour and a white panel on which I stamped the sentiment (used the same one insdie each card).

As you can see from the picture of the inside - I made cards in Raspberry Ripple and Gumball Green - these colours work so well for the cards.

I did ring the changes a little on the green card - I used slightly different size gems on the ornament - not sure which I prefer.  I like these cards - they are all very elegant!


Don't forget to check out our 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown blog to see the inspiration cards from the rest of the Design Team.  Looking forward to seeing your cards.  Have a good weekend!

Well that's all for now.  I'm off out today taking photos of tulips and I hope to share them with you soon.