Happy Hallowe'en ....

.... to everyone.  I'm posting a very quick post - Jed and I are about to go and carve pumpkins (I'll put up pictures of them tomorrow), bit under time pressure, so I'll get to my card.  It's a Hallowe'en birthday card for Jed's friend - his party was last night.  Again, I was under time pressure, then the crackle glazed bat didn't dry properly, then it was too dark to get good pictures (and so the excuses roll on!).  Here's what I made:

 

I used the sketch from last week's Deconstructed Sketches and I'm entering the following challenges too: Daring Cardmakers ("Spooky Birthdays"), Simon Says Stamp ("Anything Goes"), Crafty Creations ("Make it Yourself"), Card Crafters Circle ("Autumn Splendour") and Totally Gorjuss ("Spooky").  I made the letters from the birthday boy's name, and I also made a spring-loaded bat!  I glued several layers of black cardstock together, drew and cut out the bat shape, then liberally coated it with crackle accents.  Then I swanned off for lunch with some friends, confident that when I came back, the bat would be both dry and crackled. BUT, it wasn't!  Eeeek - what to do?  So I put it in the hotpress for another hour.  No difference.  Then I took a heat gun to it.  Eeeek - dry but blistered.  So, as time had run out, I stuck two googly eyes over the worst blisters, attached the spring (from an old notebook spine) and called it a day!!  Here's a terribly lighted side-shot of the bat:



Recipe:

Papers: Cosmo Cricket "Matilda" and Rusty Pickle "Costume Party"

Other: Computer generated font, googly eyes and spring from stash

Thanks for looking - for those who enjoy Hallowe'en - have a fun evening!!

It doesn't seem ....

.... like a year since our little godson, Matthew, was born - but we attended his first birthday celebrations yesterday afternoon.  The birthday boy revelled in all the attention, smiling for the cameras, doing all his cutest performances and generally wowing all his admirers!!!

Our challenge on Sentimental Sundays this week is "Happy Birthday", so my card for Matthew is also my DT sample. 

This week's sponsor is:

Birdie Brown Store

Birdie Brown Challenge Blog

Donating: 3 digital images, winner's choice

Here's my card:

 

I'm entering the following challenges: Mo's Digital Challenge ("Goodbye Summer"), Card Crafters' Circle and Shopping our Stash ("For the Boys"), Daring Cardmakers ("Heavy Metal"), The Ribbon Girl ("Use numbers"), Party Time Tuesdays ("Anything Goes") and Make it Monday

I used a cute Mo Manning image that looks really like Matthew - the little chubby hands and cheeks, unruly hair and nappy sticking out the top of his trousers!!  Here's a close-up:

 

Recipe:

Papers: Fancy Pants "The Daily Grind"

Image: Mo Manning "Birthday Surprise Boy"

Colouring Medium: Distress Inks

Other: Ancient brads from stash, Fancy Pants ribbon, handmade number and letters

 

Thanks for looking!

 

The challengiest ....

.... challenge of the year for me, card-wise, is my husband's Valentine's card!!  In the days before I started making cards, we used to compete to see who could buy the most non-soppy, yet still recognisably Valentine-y, Valentine's card!!  I remember winning one year with a card that was just plain matt black, no sentiment, with a tiny embossed foil red heart in the centre.  Nice card it was too!!  I was reminded of it when I was thinking up this year's effort.  Here's what I made:

I used last week's Deconstructed Sketch, and I'm also entering this into a few of the Valentine's challenges around: Craft your Passion, Kaboodle Doodles, Little Red Wagon, Moving along with the Times, also Basic Grey Challenges ("Your Favourite" - it's my favourite BG Christmas papers - "Jovial"!), Card Crafters' Circle ("Paint the Town Red") and Stampin' for the Weekend ("Distressing").  Phew, that's quite a list.

Here's a side-shot of the layers of this card, I like the enamelled hearts.

Recipe:

Papers: Basic Grey "Scarlet's Letter" and "Jovial"

Sentiment: from an MFT Pure Innocence set

Punched Hearts: MS Valentine Lace

Other: Black Tulle, zig-zag scissors, Tim Holtz black enamel accents, glossy accents

 

I was chuffed when I found out that my last card won not one, but two challenges, nice to see the old name up in stars!!!  Not to mention getting a blinky for the sidebar and winning a set of stamps too.  Yippee!!

 

Thanks for looking!

 

Second and ....

.... last Christmas card.  I made another one, my daughter was dropping a box of Roses around to the place she worked last summer, and she wanted a card to go with it.  So I had to pull out all the stops (hee hee!) and make one.  Here's what I made:

I used the sketch from this week's Deconstructing Sketches, and I'm also entering this into the following challenges: Basic Grey Challenges ("Anything Goes"), Totally Gorjuss ("Easy Does It"), Sentimental Sundays ("Focus on the Sentiment") and Card Crafters' Circle ("It's Christmas").

I bought some jingle bells (all the way from Hong Kong!) to use on a few hand-crafted presents (will post after the big day, when all have received them) and then last week was picking up some stuff in the local hardware store when what did I see but some discounted jingle bell ornaments.  So I got them and now they are being used everywhere, including on this card (makes it a bit hard to fit in the envelope, though!).  Here's a side shot:

Recipe:

Papers: Basic Grey "Nordic Holiday"

Other: Ribbon from stash, red mesh from bouquet of flowers, baker's twine, jingle bells!

So are we all ready for Christmas?  I was very late getting started this year, but a few highly focused shopping sessions the week before last sorted almost everything.  I cycled down to the shopping centre early this morning to pick up a couple of final items and the place was mobbed - it was like the day before the Apocalypse or something.  Don't you love being one of the ones who's not in a panic in the midst of all that - it's a lovely smug feeling!!!

Best wishes to one and all for a lovely and peaceful holiday!

Even though ....

.... we're back in school, I do like Autumn!  It's my second-favourite season, after Winter (yes, I am a strange person - it's not like we usually even get a proper wintery Winter!).  And, as usual, as soon as school starts up after the hols, the weather becomes beautiful!  It's been a lovely week thus far, sunny blue skies and warm dry days.

It's PaperPlay day again, and this week our seasonal challenge is "Autumnal Tags" - we want participants to either make a tag or a card with a tag on it, featuring Autumnal colours.  We're sponsored this week by Simon Says Stamp, the lucky winner will receive a storecard.

I made this for my friend's son who has just turned 21 (eek, he was almost 3 when I first met him!):

I used the sketch from this week's Sketch Saturday, and I'm also entering this into the following: Papertake Weekly ("Anything Goes"), ABC Challenge ("Wishes"), Simon Says Stamp ("Put a Stamp on it"), Cute Card Thursday ("Autumn Gold") and Card Crafters Circle ("For the Fellas").

I used a Kenny K image that is perfect for the birthday guy - he's a real boy racer.  I went to a scrapbooking class a few weeks ago - we were using these gorgeous Tim Holtz Destination papers.  We made a vintage suitcase first, which I love (boxes to put things into are a teeny compulsion of mine!), and then we started making an album to put in it - at which point I stopped, 'cos I wanted to use my papers for cards instead!!!  So glad I did that!  Here's a close-up of the image:

 

Recipe:

Image: Kenny K "Maximum Mud"

Papers: Tim Holtz "Destinations"

Colouring Medium: Promarkers

Other: Corrugated card, glossy accents, eyelets, ball chain, needle + thread

 

Thanks for looking!