Chloe's Birthday Card

This is the first time I've entered the pollycraft challenge, but seeing as I needed a birthday card for alisha's friend who turned 8 on Tuesday how could I resist the gorgeous 'Fearn' a freebie from Pollycraft - Even better than that pollycraft's monday blog challenge was an absolutely fab sketch by Sue :) It would have been rude not to make use of such a gorgeous little fairy and a great sketch and turned them into an easel card. I wasn't sure how it would work until I'd finished - but Chloe said it was "the best card ever" so for a change i got something right lol (or maybe that was more to do with the money tucked inside haha)
The image and sentiments were coloured with promarkers, (will try and make a list and add later lol) and I used a Silver Star Sakura Glitter Gel Pen to colour over the wings and some of the sentiment wording (shows up better on the second pic lol). Used dark purple and lilac 'mottled' cardstock, silver spirelli circles I bought in a kit from a craft fair about 2 years ago lol, papermania (I think!) papers, and flowers/brads all from my stash)
I'm entering this card into the following challenges:

Pollycraft Monday Challenge - Sketch
Creative Card Crew - "Happy Birthday"
Simon Says Stamp Challenge - "Things with Wings"
ABC Challenge "S for Sparkle"
Critter Challenge Blog "10 elements" (3 colours of c/s (purple, lilac, silver) 3 flowers, 2 brads, 2 patterned papers)

Another challenge card :)

Wasn't sure where I was going with this one - until it was all put together lol! The image is one of the always freebies from Lauretta over at Lauretta's Digital Stamps. I love how well the image printed..... and coloured beautifully. Thanks Lauretta for such a gorgeous image - and free too :)
I was having a look through some things yesterday for some psychology notes I needed and came across a couple of fiskars circle punches which I've had for about 2 years now - and never used, so after seeing Vix challenge over on Crafty Cardmakers I decided to 'challenge' myself and actually blow away the cobwebs and try to use the punches! I'm not usually a 'punch' person - I can never normally line them up properly or don't seem to be able to have strong enough wrists to punch through properly, but I bought them in a sale at something silly like £1.50 each I think - and its taken until now to actually use them. Not only did I challenge myself to use the punches but I went a step further - and used no backing papers - just off cuts of the lilac & pink glitter card trimmed with a decorative edge cutter and no flowers (shock! horror! I'm still recovering from the pain of that one lol) Used black glitterations peel off dots on the punched circles and the matching lines on the edge of the pink borders (which don't show too well in the photo but if you look closely the glitter just catches the light lol)
I was still unsure about this card when I looked at it again this morning but Darrell assures me that its great as it is - I think its just that it seems bare without ribbons, flowers, bows etc etc. I've decided to go ahead and take the plunge and enter it into the following challenges:

Crafty Cardmakers "Challenging Challenge"
Allsorts - No DP's
Meljen's Designs Challenge #1 - Anything Goes!
Pollycraft Anything Goes
One Stitch At A Time Anything Goes

Image coloured with the following colour promarkers: magenta, pink carnation, orchid, almond, dusky pink, peach, soft peach, cool grey #1, cool grey # 5, leaf green and berry red

One card, many challenges :-)

I'm on a roll, I think the mojo's slowly creeping back yippee - managed to get another card made which is for my 'study buddy' Cheryl. We planned on having a study day today - unfortunately had to change our plans at the last minute. We didn't get the kid-free time, but did get a lovely 2 hour chat on the phone - not the same as face to face but still great to catch up.
Its not often I enter a challenge these days, but this card fits with in quite a few current challenges so I decided to enter it for 11 which is a record for me lol. The adorably cute bunny and sentiment stamps, the backing paper and ribbon were all free with quick cards mag - it was one of those times when I saw the mag and had to have it - just for the stamp which is versatile enough to use for loads of different occasions. The card, gems and flowers are all from my stash. The bunny was stamped with memento tuxedo black ink and coloured with the following promarkers:
Sandstone, tan, caramel, chestnut, almond, dusky pink, pink carnation, cornflower, china blue, powder blue and honeycomb.

Fussy & Fancy Easter
Townscrapper - Easter
Charisma Cardz - Spring has Sprung
Stampin' for the Weekend - Easter
Colour Create - Pastels
Corrosive Challenge Blog - Easter
Crafty Cardmakers - Spring into Spring
Paper Play - Easter
The Pink Elephant - Pastels
Pile it on - Animal-Riffic
Magical Crafts - Easter

Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge

I've decided to enter the teddy card I made for Steph into this week's Saturday challenge over on Secret Crafter where the theme is 'pink, green & flowers'
Well, there's definitely plenty of pink, the patterned paper has green and the teddy image is matted on green - and of course, there's flowers - just for a change on one of my cards :) Now I know, technically you can't link back to older posts but as I only finished this one yesterday morning before I posted it to my blog I'm kinda hoping it's ok lol

a few recent cards

I can't believe I actually got round to making more cards finally woohoo!!! The flower one is made using some papers I've had for so long I can't remember who makes them lol. Used a fiskars border punch to cut a strip of paper for down the side and edged it with some glitter glue. The topper is off a sheet with 12 on for 75p which I bought from a nearby craft shop - perfect for quick cards lol - added a little glitter to the flower vase, then covered with glossy accent glaze to give it an enamaled look. Added a spot more glitter glue to a fabric flower (a bargain bag full of about 20) and used glitterations line peel offs to frame the pic. Used the glitterations again inside along with peel offs and a stamp from my stash - and the best thing is this was made just 'for something to do' so maybe my mojo is starting to slowly creep back!!!

The other 2 cards were made for Hazel's best friend Jack and his girlfriend Steph, who are both 13 today - so happy birthday you guys, hope you both have a fab day!!! Both images were freebie deco sheets from cardmaking and papercraft mag, used a combination of papers and embellishments from my stash - wasn't too sure about the doggy one as it was coming together as its a while since I did a male card - and a teenage boy is just a nightmare to try and get right - BUT Hazel was pleased with it and that's got to say something. The little bear is soooo cute - I have a feeling I'll be buying some of those sheets if I can track them down..... and another success with Hazel woooohooo if I can please my fussy teenager then I can please any lol
One thing I really have to remember and I just noticed ..... I changed batteries in the camera and AGAIN forgot to set the date on the pics lmao - one of these days I'll remember...... or take it off completely lol

mother's day cards

well, i knew it had been a while since I made any cards - but hadn't realised just how long :( I guess its down to a combination of life, studying (or trying to) and my mojo taking a long trip - don't know where it's been but it certainly didn't take me along. After a pleasant trip to the mind, body, spirit fair at Elsecar Heritage Centre on Saturday I thought it would be a sin not to call into the craft shop seeing as they have one there... actually felt a little inspired so bought some die cut decoupage sheets to attempt making mother's day cards for the kids to give their nannans lol. They're nothing special but I guess its a step forwards........... Both lots of decos are Red Hot Bed (I think lol) all paper, ribbon, peel offs, embellishments from stash. Unfortunately due to rushing round like a woman possessed didn't stop to take 'proper' pics so sadly these blurry ones are all I have lol

a few cards.......

I haven't had much time to craft recently - with the school holidays and trying to keep 4 kids happy then coming down with some dreadful bug I've sooooo not felt like it. managed to do a couple of cards though, one's for a group swap (theme of holidays/travel) the gorjuss girl is a birthday card for a friend on the group and the whiff of joy is a rak!!! all coloured with promarkers/copics, papers and embellishments are from stash.
I'm looking forward to the girls going back to school tomorrow - will be able to start getting back into some kind of routine with Declan lol - things have just gone to pot over the summer with naptimes and everything!!!! It will be nice to have some structure back to the days and the odd bit of 'me' time lol It will also give me time to deliberate over whether or not to buy a craft robo hehe Hubby offered to buy me one as a combined late birthday/early anniversary pressie but I'm trying to weigh up whether or not I'd get enough use from it considering its around £200!!!!

tab's delish candy :-)

Tab has a great candy on offer, have to hurry though as it ends today, but go check out her blog here and see what fabulous cards she makes.

Another birthday card

This time for Laura's friend Becky who is 10. I struggled with this one as she's not a girly girl - so I wanted to do something that wasn't too over the top. I bought a set of 4 or 5 of these decoupage sheets from the local market a couple of months back and never used them. Decided to see what I could do and this is the result :-) I used the big deco on the front, and just added a few gems and peel offs, then rather than layering the small one up, used the elements to decorate the inside - and added a bit of glitter glue lol. I'm really pleased with this - its definitely girly but not too fussy - just hope Becky likes it! I know her mum will 'cos she's always trying to turn Becky into more of a girl not a tomboy lol

Maisie's birthday card

One of Hazel's best friends just had her 12th birthday yesterday and this is the card I made for her. They celebrated in style - by spending the whole of Sunday in a wet, muddy field at the 'Party in the Park' concert at Temple Newsam, Leeds, along with their other 2 friends Amber & Jack, and Maisie's family. They had an absolutely ''awwwwesome'' time so I'm told except both Hazel & Maisie were unfortunate enough to have their mobile phones pinched - neither of the phones were new, up to date ones, not worth anything - but you know girls & their phones lol.

Well, on to the card lol, the image is Whiff of Joy, I love this image as it works for so many occasions, coloured with copics & promarkers (am I the only person who seems to use a combination of both rather than one or the other lol) Papers, card, flower, & brads from stash (the purple 'girly' brad wasn't meant to be on the card but right at the last minute I pulled a petal off the flower and it was the last purple tinted one I had lol sooooo out came the brads hehe) Sentiment is printed from the computer.




Hope everyone's having a great week, I'm soooooo fed up of the rain, its driving everyone crazy as its too wet for the girls to go out to play so they're all stuck inside arguing over everything from the tv, the computer, the ps2...... you name it they've managed to argue over it :-( Honestly, I'm convinced that whoever decided 7 weeks holiday was a good idea has NEVER had kids lol