Die cut Easter ....

....  Good morning!  I'm back with another Easter card - I was on a bit of a roll when I made yesterday's card for Addicted to Stamps and More!  This time I've made a very clean and simple card:

Stamps: Waltzingmouse - Nestie Eggs, A Good Egg; Deedee's Digi - Pocketpal Kitten
Inks: Versamark; Versafine - Onyx Black
Dies: Spellbinders - Nested Eggs (S4-264) #6; WMS cut files - A Good Egg
Accessories: White Lustre Card; WMS Digi Papers - Folk Art "Clean"; Doily;  Vellum; Copics

I've used several challenges to make this card:

• Addicted to CAS - ATCAS#29 - to use die cuts
• Just Us Girls - JUGS#223 - technique: paper piecing
• Addicted to Stamps and More! - ASM#78 - Theme: Holiday

I made the cute Pocketpal Kitten by printing onto WMS digital papers (one of which was recoloured in Lightroom), cutting out and layering.  I used the largest egg die to cut an egg shaped window on the front of the card.  I stamped the patterned egg on to vellum using Versamark, heat embossed with white powder, die cut it out and then coloured the reverse of the image with a Copic marker.  I ran the coloured egg through my Xyron and adhered it directly beneath the window opening.  I stamped the sentiment onto a banner from the WMS cut file set and adhered it on the egg.  I finished the front by adhering the kitten by the side of the window opening.  Below is a view of the inside of the card, as well as the card open, showing the window.

That's all for today.  I've got some housework to do and I want to get some photo editing done too!  See you soon.

ASM - Holiday ....

....  Hello.  It's time for our new challenge at Addicted to Stamps and More!  This week our theme is "Addicted to Holidays" and this means that your entry must be related to any Holiday you like.  You can go for Christmas, Easter, Valentine, a National Holiday, or even a holiday destination.  Here's my take on the holiday theme:

Stamps: Waltzingmouse - Nestie Eggs, A Good Egg; Stampin' Up! - Wacky Wishes; Deedee's Digi - Pocketpal Kitten
Inks: SU - Rose Red, Crisp Cantaloupe, Pink Pirouette, Baked Brown Sugar
Dies: Spellbinders - Nested Eggs (S4-264) #2, 3 & 6; WMS cut files - A Good Egg
Accessories: White Lustre Card; WMS Digi Papers - Folk Art "Clean"; Doily; SU Card - Pink Pirouette; SU Marker - Rose Red; Vellum; Copics - R81

As you can see, I've gone for Easter as my holiday.  You've seen this little pocket kitten before on cards by my team mates, it's a digital image from our sponsor Deedee's Digis and it really is cute. I used papers from Waltzingmouse Stamps - Folk Art "Clean" - the main paper for the pocket doesn't actually come in pink it's a pretty image in shades of orange and naturals.  I edited the paper in Lightroom and came up with a pink that I really like.  I printed the image three times on the pink paper, cream and orange, cut them out and layered to create the finished image.  I'm submitting this card to Just Us Girls - JUGS#223, this week their technique is to paper piece!

I stamped the large Easter egg on vellum using Versamark, heat embossed with white powder, die cut it and then coloured the back with a copic marker.  I attached the pocket kitten to the egg using dimensional gel.  I stamped and die cut more eggs, mixing colours and patterns.  I finished the front with a simple Easter greeting.  The inside has a mat in pink, more eggs on the white panel and a funky greeting!

For more inspiration cards on our Holiday theme, check out the cards from rest of the Design Team cards and our Guest Designer is Gemma.  Looking forward to seeing your cards.  That's all for now - see you soon.

Happy Birthday Ben .....

....  Good morning, and a quick warning that this is a photo heavy post!  Today our son, Ben, is 18 years old!  He is, according to the law in the UK, an adult, but he'll always be my little boy - well strictly big boy!!!  Here's the card I made for Ben, and that he has hopefully received today:

Stamps: Uniko Studio - Round in Circles; Stampin' Up! - Delightful Dozen; My Favourite Things - Document It Hello My Name Is, Textile Rectangles
Inks: SU - Baked Brown Sugar, Baja Breeze, Coastal Cabana, Midnight Muse
Dies: Die-namics - High Rise Numbers
Accessories: White Lustre Card; SU Card - Baked Brown Sugar; Kanban DP - Industriana; WMS - Twine; SU Marker - Baja Breeze

I used a couple of challenges to make this card.  The colours are from Colour Q - cQc#221 the last challenge they did in 2013 and which I couldn't play along with, but I think they are just perfect for a guy card.  The layout is from the new FUSION challenge - FUSION#1.

I was going to make a Steampunk, layered card, but ended up with this rather clean and graphic card instead!  I do still have an element of Steampunk in the backing paper from Kanban - the colour is a dark Baja Breeze.  To make the centre panel, I stamped the sentiment at the bottom and then decided where to put the number which die cut and then layered in the brown numbers.  I stamped some distressed circles above and the dotty circle below.  I completed the panel with some twine and then adhere the panel with dimensional tape.  For the inside I made a mat layer of the rivet backing paper and stamped more circles randomly around the edge of the white card.  I finished with a fun birthday greeting.

It was really lovely to see Ben when we were back in the UK at Christmas.  I'm convinced he's taller, but he says not.  He has, however, grown his hair and dyed it black.  A few photos of the changing looks of Ben:

Christmas 2013 - Ben,  almost 18 years old!

1996 - 2 months

 Christmas 1996 - 11½ months old - one of my favourite photos of Ben

 May 2000 - 4½ years old

 September 2007 - 11½ years old

November 2012 - 16¾ years old

If you've made it this far - well done!  I think it's probably only me who is interested in how Ben has changed, but I thought I'd share anyway!!  That's all for now.  See you soon.

WMSFC - Playing with fabric ....

.... Hello again, I'm back with our new challenge at Waltzingmouse Fanatics - WMSFC#9.  No sketch or colours this time, instead we'd like you to use "FABRIC" somewhere on your project.  This can be in the form of ribbon, felt or fabric scraps, or you can stamp on fabric.  Whatever you decide, you MUST include some Waltzingmouse products on your project.  Here's my take on our fabric theme:

Stamps: Waltzingmouse - My Island
Inks: Stampin' Up! - Early Espresso, Daffodil Delight
Accessories: White Lustre Card; SU Card - Early Espresso; SU DP - Daffodil Delight; Fabric Square; We R Memory Keepers - Fancy Floss Mud Pie

Okay, I have to tell you that I'm officially fed up with winter.  When I found this fabric in my stash I immediately thought of being in the sun, on a beach, sipping a large Margarita - so I had to see if I could use it. 

I used the layout from this week's Freshly Made Sketches - FMS#118 and the colours are from Inkspirational - INK#47.  I used my stamp-a-ma-jig to accurately position and stamp the palm trees.  I hemmed the square using WRMK thread and then backed it onto brown card.  To make the horizontal panel I cut some yellow design paper and layered it onto brown and adhered it to the card.  For the inside I cut a mat layer in brown and stamped an island sunrise in the corner of the white panel, finishing with a fun sentiment.  I know it's not summer yet, but I'm really hoping it arrives soon!

I don't use fabric on cards as a rule, so this really was a challenge, but I'm quite pleased how it turned out.  Don't forget to check out Tara's inspiration card.  We're really looking forward to seeing what you make with our fabric theme.  You've got plenty of time to play along - deadline is Thursday 23rd January, 5.00pm GMT (that's 12 noon EST for those of us in the States).

Tara and I were so pleased to see so many lovely cards for our last challenge - hopefully, you'll enjoy this one just as much.  See you soon.

52CCT - Colours .....

.... Morning all!  It was lovely to see so many fabulous cards for our sketch challenge last week; it's going to be very difficult to pick a winner.  Now it's time for our colour challenge at 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown and Mynnette has picked gorgeous colours.  Here's my take:

Stamps: Stampin' Up! - A Banner Christmas, Sassy Salutations, Warmth and Wonder
Inks: Versafine - Onyx Black; Distress - Squeezed Lemonade; SU - Elegant Eggplant
Accessories: SU Card - Wild Wisteria, Bermuda Bay; White Lustre Card; SU Punches - 1¼" and 1/8" Circles; Papertrey Ink - Linen & Canvas Impression Plate; SU Marker - Bermuda Bay

I love the colours Mynn picked (you must use at least three) and my original thought was snowflakes (surrounded by quite a lot here), but I decided to go for a clean, graphic look.  I used the layout from Clean & Simple Stamping - FTL274 and am also submitting the card to the current Jingle Belles - JB:14:01 to use something old and something new on your card.

I was going to try and get all five colours on the front of the card, but ended up with three; I managed to add another colour on the inside!  I made the card base from Wild Wisteria.  All the yellow card I have is very gold, but I felt that the yellow should be a bit more acid, so I made my own.  I cut a panel of white card and sponged it all over with Squeezed Lemonade - it works perfectly.  I cut some Bermuda Bay card, embossed it with a linen texture (which you can just about see in the photo) and punched out some circles.  I stamped the graphic image three times on white card, punched them out and attached them to the card with dimensional tape.  On the inside I cut a panel of white card, stamped a simple tree and sentiment and finished off with a simple hand drawn border.

We have a super selection of inspiration cards to share with you over at 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown.  I'm looking forward to seeing your creations with our non-traditional colours!  See you soon.

Blue words ....

.... and it's probably not what you were thinking :)  I've made this little card for three challenges:

• Less is More - LIM#153 - colour theme - Winter Blue
• CAS-ual Fridays - CFC#125 - In a word
• Keep It Simple - KIS#31 - theme - text

Stamps: My Favourite Things - Document It: Captured Memories
Inks: Kaleidacolour - Blue Breeze
Dies: Lil Inkers - Instant Camera Die
Accessories: White Lustre Card; Stampin' Up! Card - Pacific Point; SU - Hexagon Punch

Over at CAS-ual Friday the team have asked us to choose a word that describe what you hope for the year or a target to set.  I've picked the word "Photography" as this year I really want to create some scrapbooks of our time in the States.  Less is More have a colour theme of Winter Blues which I thought would work, so I used a die to cut the photo in blue and again in white, and then stamped a number of photography related words on the white panel.  I finished the front with the cute hexagon which I mounted with dimensional tape.  I'm submitting this to Keep it Simple - where their theme is text; it's the first time I've played along with this challenge.

I've left the inside blank as I think I'm going to put this on the wall in my craft room as a reminder that I want to scrapbook our photos into a number of different albums!!

It's been much warmer here today - in fact we got above 0°C.  The result is melting snow, slushy roads and thick, thick fog!  I think I prefer the crisp, dry cold that we had earlier in the week.  That's all for now.  It's time to start getting dinner ready.  Do drop by tomorrow to check out the new challenges from 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown and Waltzingmouse Fanatics!  See you soon.

What's the buzz? ...

....  Hello!!  I managed to get an hour in my craft room yesterday afternoon - so nice to sit in the warm!!  This card is one of the stash that I use for my friends in the UK, to give and get news!

Stamps: Inkadinkadoo - Morphic Bugs; Paper Smooches - Cyber Cafe
Inks: Versafine - Onyx Black; Stazon - Jet Black; Stampin' Up! - Garden Green, Summer Starfruit
Accessories: White Lustre Card; SU Card - Summer Starfruit; Vellum; Clear Embossing Powder

I used the sketch from this week's Just Us Girls Challenges - JUGS#222 and the colours from Dynamic Duos - DD#85.

I made the card from Summer Starfruit; I wasn't sure about this colour when it first came out, but now I really love it!  I cut a panel of white card and adhered it to the base.  Next I cut the vellum to size and stamped the butterfly image in Versafine and embossed with clear powder.  Next I sponged on both Summer Starfruit and Garden Green inks and then cut the panel into three.  I finished the front with a fun sentiment.  Inside I cut a panel of white card and stamped some butterflies.

I almost didn't post this card - the idea was a good one, but I don't think it quite works!  That's all for today.  I've a lot to do today - I have to drive into Northville, not something I'm looking forward to.  Hopefully, the roads will be much clearer by now and not too icy!  And I really do have to get on with some ironing - I didn't do any over the holidays and the pile I have now is quite high.  Hey ho!  See you soon.

ASM - Make Your Mark ...

.... Hello everyone, from an incredibly cold, but brilliantly sunny, Northville.  At the time of writing this post (Tuesday, 10.30am) the temperature outside is -24°C (-12°F) and at the moment there is very little wind so the chill factor hasn't really kicked in.  It did this morning; it felt more like -35°C when Jonathan left for work.  You can see some photos of the snow on my earlier post!

It's time for our first challenge of 2014 at Addicted to Stamps and More!  This week it's "Make your Mark" time - by that I mean you use pencils, paints, markers to colour!  Here's my take:

Stamps: Serendipity - Sun Garden; Craft's Meow - Circle It
Inks: Memento - Tuxedo Black, London Fog; Versafine - Onyx Black
Accessories: White Lustre Card; Copics (lots); Sakura Stardust Pens; Stampin' Up! Markers - several; Ribbons

I've used a couple of challenges to make this card.  I got the sunshine inspiration from MUSE - MUSE#49, not literally sunshine, but the flowers from a sunny garden.  I'm also submitting this to the new, updated One-Layer Simplicity Challenge - OLS#1 which is now monthly.  Their theme is to restock the card stash and, obviously, be one layer.

I love this flower stamp, it just yells "colour me!" - so I did.  I had so much fun using Copics, Stardust and SU markers - you can't really see the Stardust sparkle in the photo above, but in real-life it's fab!  I grounded the flowers with a couple of lines of ribbon (go me - I've had this ribbon for years).  On the inside I simply repeated the flower image in a softer shade of grey and added a simple, bold sentiment of thanks.  This is for my stash of Thanks cards.

For more inspiration with Make Your Make, check out the inspiration cards from the rest of the design team.  And this week we are also joined by our Guest Designer, Gemma - do check out here card too.  Last, but by no means least, our sponsor this week is DeeDee Digis, the winner of the challenge will gets 3 sets of digis - and they are lovely!

That's all for now.  See you soon.

Extreme cold, but so pretty ....

... Good afternoon everyone!  It's so cold here today, but so, so beautiful too.  Just a quick post with a few photos of the snow here.

Love the tree shadow on the snow.  The path was cleaned by a neighbour using his snow blower!

 Stage 1 of the clean up - 6th January - I did this side of the drive so that Jonathan could get his car out of the garage.

Not the most flattering of pictures, but this is what you need to wear to keep warm.  Snow boots with two pairs of socks, trousers (not thick enough), t-shirt, shirt, cardigan, thick parka, hat, and three pairs of gloves!  If I'd fallen over, I don't think I would have manged to get up :)

Stage 2 of the clear up - today 7th January.  Much colder than yesterday - 20°C, didn't quite make it to the end of the drive.  The big pile is probably going to take both me and Jonathan to clear!

This was the kids yesterday messing around in the snow - they weren't out today - far too cold!!

A quick screen shot with the weather forecast for the next week!  We should get above freezing by the weekend!!

Kathryn has thoroughly enjoyed the last couple of days - no school - she's stayed in bed late, but did manage to find time to do some homework!  Jonathan was off work yesterday, but went in this morning and phoned me to let me know that he'd arrived safely!  Now that I've done all the shovelling I plan to do today, I'm going to play in my craft room - see you later - it's almost time for our new challenge at Addicted to Stamps and More!  See you soon.