Hellooooo, and happy ....

.... holidays (to those who are on holidays, that is!).  We've been off school since this day last week, and I've been up to not much - the usual holiday sleepathon for the first few days and catching up on housework and laundry after that.  The weather has been absolutely gorgeous all week, warm and bright with lots of hazy sunshine.  So while the washing was drying in super fast time on the line in the garden, I was "supervising" it on a seat under a tree with a book!!!

I have two Easter cards to show you - the first is my late (only very slightly!) DT entry for this week's PaperPlay - our challenge is "Easter Time":

Recipe:

Paper: October Afternoon "Seaside"

Image: Mami Doodles

Colouring Medium: Prismacolour pencils and Sansodor

Other: Ribbon and flower from stash, MME tiny alphas, needle + thread

I don't usually make Easter cards, but as we're going to stay with friends down in Wicklow this weekend, I thought I'd make an Easter rather than a thank you card.  Quite a quick and simple card for me, using one of our old PaperPlay DT teamie, Elisa's, digis from her online store Mami Doodles.

My second card is my GDT for Basic Grey Challenges - the challenge went up on Saturday, and I was sure I had posted it here too on that day, but I obviously didn't!!  Anyway, the challenge is also "Easter", and this card is for my stepmother's birthday this weekend.  It's only the second time in her life that she can remember Easter coinciding with her birthday, so I thought Easter colours and image would be appropriate.  Here's what I made:

I used yet another of Mo Manning's adorable images, I just love them so much!!!  Here's a close-up (is it my eyes, or are the pics of this card a bit out of focus?):

Recipe:

Papers: BG "Origins"

Image: Mo Manning "Easter Bunny 1"

Colouring Medium: Distress Inks

Punches: Fiskars "Threading Water" and MS "Doily Lace"

Other: Ribbon from stash, needle + thread

I'm entering both these cards into the following challenges: Creative Inspirations "Pets/Animals", Fussy & Fancy Friday "Springtime" - and I'm also adding my second card to A Spoon Full of Sugar "Let's Celebrate", Truly Scrumptious "Vintage" and Cute Card Thursday "No Text".

Thanks for looking - off now to get ready to go to our friends' place - barbecue, yum!!  But I see the sun has gone in - oh well, who cares, doesn't matter what the weather does as long as it's the holidays!

It's Thursday ....

.... and by rights, I ought to be posting my PaperPlay DT card, but .... (hangs head in shame!) .... I didn't make one!!  Our challenge this week is "Critters Galore" and we're sponsored by Simon Says Stamp - pop over to PaperPlay and see what my exemplary teamies have made!!

While they were being good girls, I was struggling with a card for my Father-in-Law, who has just retired.  It was a difficult one - he has no hobbies, hates animals (hence no critter card!) and adored his job.  Ack, what to do?  Here's what I eventually ended up with:

I used the sketch from this week's Truly Scrumptious, and am also entering this into Papertake Weekly ("Anything Goes"), Creative Inspirations ("Punches & Dies") and Craft Your Passion ("Anything Goes").

I took ages to decide what image to use on this card, and ended up picking this one of Mo Manning's, I think Charlie looks as though he's celebrating something!  I first saw the sentiment on one of Annika's fab cards a few weeks ago - I asked her if I could use it, and apparently it's been around for ages!!  Thanks all the same, Annika!!  I clear embossed the clocks (with no hands - subtle retirement reference, I thought!).  Here's a close-up of the image:

Recipe:

Papers: Basic Grey "Wander"

Image: Mo Manning "The Tramp"

Colouring Medium: Distress Inks

Other: Heidi Swapp clock stamps, BG buttons from stash, scallop punch, needle + thread

Thanks for looking!

Busy busy week ....

.... ahead - started early today as I dropped my daughter down to school at some horrendous hour of the morning - she was heading off on an outdoor pursuits week.  It was like "Night of the Living Dead" - all those teenagers with massive rucksacks on their backs lurching across the carpark in the dark towards the coaches!!!  Good luck to the drivers, that's all I can say!!

I have a few cards to add to the mix of stuff to do.  The first one completed is for one of the curates at our church, he has been appointed to his first parish, and he and his wife and big dog are moving from their tiny curate's cottage to a whopping great Victorian rectory a couple of miles down the road.  Here's what I made:

I used the sketch from this week's Papertake Weekly and am also entering this into this week's Cute Card Thursday ("couples").

I used a clear stamp set from WRMK, I got it ages ago but hadn't inked any of them yet.  The style of the houses reminds me of the big Georgian and Victorian terraces in parts of Dublin.  I stamped three plain houses and one more ornate one and then did another ornate one in red and popped it up for dimension.  I also did a wiggly banner for the sentiment, did take a close up pic but the focus went a bit mad, so you can look at it in the first pic, and I'll just show a close-up of the image!!

Recipe:

Papers: October Afternoon "Thrift Shop"

Images: WRMK clear stamps "Home"

Ink: Memories Tuxedo Black and Distress Ink "Barn Door"

Other: Computer generated sentiment, Doodlebug brad, suede ribbon, distress ink, needle + thread

Thanks for looking!

Very excited ....

.... here today.  I'm a guest designer on Basic Grey Challenges!!!   Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeel!!!

Got an email from the lovely Jo a few weeks ago asking me if I'd like to join them for the month of April.  She didn't have to ask twice!!!  BG Challenges was one of the first challenge blogs I ever saw and, of course, being a massive BG fan, I've entered more than a few times over the past few years!!

So, the first challenge arrived - "More than one Fold".  Eek - talk about outside my comfort zone.  Here's what I made:

Update 2nd May: This card was picked as a Top 5 on Crafty Cardmakers - thank you, Melly - another blinkie - yayyyy!


It's a shadow box card - got ten, yes TEN, folds!!  I saw the tutorial on Heather's wonderful blog and realised it was a way to keep to my favourite square format whilst getting the required folds in!!  The DT have made wonderful creations, hop over to Basic Grey Challenges to check them out.  The prize, as ever, is a $25 voucher for Simon Says Stamp.

I'm going to enter this into The Shabby Tea Room ("Flower Palette" - and a photo inspiration with green/pink/white colour scheme), Crafty Cardmakers ("Special Birthdays"), Samuel Taylor's Challenge ("Distressing") and Dutch Dare Card Challenges ("Distressing").

The card is for a neighbour's daughter who recently turned 21.  I used a cute Pure Innocence image that I got with a prize voucher from Simon Says (via BG Challenges!!) a few weeks ago - first time to ink it.  I used BG Urban Prairie papers, still one of my favourite lines, and stickled the crown and the numbers.  Here's a close-up - you can see the shadow box quite well too:

Recipe:

Image: Pure Innocence "Birthday Princess"

Papers: Basic Grey Urban Prairie

Colouring Medium: Distress Inks

Punch: Fiskars "Threading Water"

Other: Prima flower, diamond stickles, pearls from stash, needle + thread

Thanks for looking!