No images again ....

.... I've been doing a lot of sentiment only cards lately, I wonder is my style changing?  Only time will tell, I suppose! 

This card is my bit-late-again DT sample for this week's PaperPlay.  Our challenge is called "Wooden it be Nice", use something to do with wood, could be woodgrain paper, wooden embellishments, tree image/stamp.  I used lovely woodgrain paper.  We are sponsored this week by Whiff of Joy.

This card is for the family of a very elegant and stylish elderly lady who died last week.  At her funeral, we were told how she had a different coloured umbrella for every ensemble!  She always had hair, makeup and nails impeccably done and, indeed, on her way down for MRI tests in hospital, made the porter wait until she had her can of hairspray with her!!  So with all this in mind, I wanted to make a card fit for a lady.  Here's what I ended up with:

I used the lovely sketch from this week's Mojo Monday and I'm also entering this into the following challenges: The Shabby Tea Room ("Rustic Elegance"), Fussy and Fancy Friday ("Anything Goes" and The Crafty Pad ("Distress It").

Here's a side-shot of the card, showing the distressed, inked and rolled roses:

Recipe:

Papers: Basic Grey "Capella" and MME "Miss Caroline Fiddlesticks"

Other: Ribbon from stash, Hero Arts pearls

Thanks for looking!

Ever left everything ....

.... until the last minute? That's me this Christmas - I still haven't started the Christmas shopping, the house is a tip, the days are definitely ticking away faster than they should be!! Eeek!!

On the plus side, my card from a few posts ago here has been picked as one of the Top 3 on CES Challenges (yayy - a blinkie!!).

I had time between batches of Christmas cards to do a commission. One of my colleagues asked me to do a graduation card, I hmmed and hawed because I didn't think I would have time, but then she told me the name of the graduate - and she was such a lovely child when she was at our school a million years ago that I had to say yes. So I was in the craftroom most of the weekend between Christmas cards and this:

I used the sketch from this week's Sketch Saturday, and I'm also entering it into quite a few challenges that it fits, namely: The Crafty Pad ("Give it a Punch"), Charisma Cardz ("Spots"), Cute Card Thursday ("It's just a number"), Crafts and Me ("Pearls and Swirls"), Simon Says Stamp ("Anything Goes") - and, this might be a bit cheeky, Mo's Digital Challenge ("Great Outdoors" - it does say the topic is broad - Mo's DT - can we say this girl has just ran outside waving her degree and throwing her mortarboard in the air? If not, I completely understand!).

I used this lovely image from Mo - that robe was hard to colour in black, really it's ended up faded grey but I hadn't time to go over it again. I decided to match it with black/cream papers and add a few touches of bling to make it nice and celebratory. Here's a close-up of the image:

Recipe:

Papers: Cosmo Cricket "Circa 1934"

Image: Mo Manning "Grad Girl"

Colouring Medium: Distress Inks

Other: Fiskars "Threading Water" punch, Hero Arts Smooth Gems, Prima swirl, needle + thread

After I finished, we went into town to meet friends for a coffee, Grafton Street looked gorgeous all lit up and festive in the dark. Here's a pic I found on the internet - not a great shot but you get the idea:

Thanks for looking!

You know the way ....

.... that every family has one month in the year where tons of birthday seem to fall?  Well, it's November in my family, and what's more (as I'm sure I moaned about here last year too!), it's all dreaded male birthdays this month.

First on the list is my husband's birthday, he was away in London for a few days so I took the opportunity to make his card without having to sneak around!!  Here's what I ended up with:

I used the lovely sketch from this week's Truly Scrumpious (but not the optional extra of petals, pearls and pins, don't think he'd appreciate them!).

I'm also entering this card in Little Red Wagon (use something red), Stamp with Fun (all that can fly) and The Crafty Pad (stitching).

DH loves flying and airplanes, so this Stampabilities image that my friend Sabrina sent me ages ago was just perfect.  I coloured it with prismas, glossy accented Snoopy's nose, goggles and scarf, cut out and popped up for some dimension.  Here's a close-up of the image:

Would you believe I took the photos at 11am this morning - the light was atrocious.  This side angle view gives a much better impression of the true colours:

Recipe:

Papers: Basic Grey "Wander"

Stamps: Stampabilities "Snoopy Flying High" and Hero Arts "Design Block Clouds Background"

Colouring Medium: Prismacolor pencils

Other: Hairy string, needle + thread

Thanks for looking - now I really must go back to the ironing, I reckon I'm about a third of the way through!!