Thinking about ....

.... stars, specifically 3 small shiny red stars, at 6 o'clock in the morning!!

I woke up early this morning (most unusual for me!), and was thinking about the card I made last night.  I thought it was finished, but had a little niggly feeling that there was something missing.  As I tried to get back to sleep at 6am, I decided that three small shiny red stars would be just the thing.  So when I got up, I made them, left them to dry and headed to church, and when I came home I added them to the card.  Anyone else do this?  Or am I the only sad sack?!!!

The card is a thank-you for one of my husband's customers, and here it is:

I'm entering the following challenges: Cas-ual Chic ("Tic-Tac-Toe" - I've gone with stitching, colouring and distressing), Little Red Wagon ("Tags"), The Kraft Journal ("Take your Pick" - I've gone with stamped, tag and die-cut), Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge ("Watercolour"), Craft your Passion ("Anything Goes") and Craft Stamper ("Take a Technique" - mine is stitching)

I haven't sewn on a card in ages and ages - it's too time-consuming, but this card needed that pop around the edges.  I used white ink to stencil on the kraft background, stamped and white-embossed the woodgrain and the flower, then coloured the flower with watercolour pencils.  Here's a side-shot:

Recipe:

Papers: Basic Grey "Nook & Pantry"

Stamps: Hero Arts: "Hello Circles"

Stencil: Tim Holtz "Bubble"

Font: "Shelter Me" - dafont.com

Other: needle + thread, glossy accents, colouring pencils

Do you think the stars look right?

Thanks for looking!

Going through ....

.... the stockpile.  One good thing about not blogging in ages is that the small number of cards I've made this year are now just sitting there waiting to be uploaded!!  So with no further ado, here's my godson's 3rd birthday card:

I was sad to see that Deconstructing Sketches is no more, I loved Jen's sketches and used them all the time - now I'm looking to Pinterest a lot for inspiration, that's where I got the idea for this card.  I'm entering the following challenges: Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge ("Die Crazy"), Little Red Wagon ("Use Something New" - mine is the washi tape), Fab 'n' Funky ("Recycle/Upcycle" - the corrugated star and photo corner are made from old cardboard packaging), Creative Inspirations ("Your Favourite Occasion" - I love children's birthdays!) and Chocolate, Coffee & Cards ("Celebration").

I like all the layers and different shades of blue/navy/aqua/kraft on this card - here's a side-shot:

Recipe:

Papers: Basic Grey "Granola", "Carte Postale", "Clippings"

Font: "Peanut Butter Cookies" and "Titania" - dafont.com

Other: Washi tape, button and hairy string

Thanks for looking!

Um, hello ....

.... 2015!!  Well, it's been a while since I posted (major understatement!), mostly because I haven't been making anything - I even bought two cards back in May, first time in about 8 years, to my shame!  I thought I'd get to it over the summer, but we ended up travelling quite a lot and all I achieved was a fairly big tidy-up of the craftroom.  I did make my children's birthday cards in Feb and Aug, but haven't photographed them, they'll do for the next post!

This is a friend's 50th birthday card, from this past weekend, I really enjoyed making it:

I'm entering the following challenges: Craft your Passion ("Anything Goes"), Simon Says Stamp ("Love this technique" - as always, distressing!), The Kraft Journal ("Take your Pick" - patterned paper, embossing, die cut), Creative Inspirations ("Vintage") and Our Creative Corner ("Shades of Autumn").

I stamped the classic Mini and popped it up on some tangled hairy string.  Stamped some background numbers and then used the lid of a marker to make some shabby prints, then added some little white blobs of acrylic paint here and there.  Here's a side-shot of the main detail:

Recipe:

Paper: Basic Grey "Granola"

Stamps: KaiserKraft "Numbers"

Stencil: Tim Holtz "Bubbles"

Other: Hairy String, Washi Tape

Thanks for looking!

Something quick ....

.... for Christmas.  For my last craft club of the year, we had to make a Christmas decoration and card to swap between each other.  Inspired by something I saw on Pinterest, I made what turned out to be a quick, fun but really effective looking ornament.  Here's what I made, with card to match:

Those are drawing pins stuck all over a Styrofoam ball, I love the finished effect - I think it looks like an armadillo.  It's amazing how heavy it is too, and it will look fab on a tree with other gold and red decorations.  I made the card in red and gold to match too, with gold jingle bells I recycled from around the necks of Lindt chocolate rabbits or bears or something!  Here's a little side-shot:

I'm entering these into the following challenges: Crafty Cardmakers ("Christmas"), Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and Creative Inspirations ("Anything Goes"), City Crafter ("Glittering Snowflakes"), Shopping our Stash ("Favourite Technique" - mine is distressing), Little Red Wagon ("So flaky") and Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge ("Bling it On").

Ornament Recipe:

Styrofoam ball, drawing pins, ribbon from stash

Card Recipe:

Paper: Basic Grey "Ambrosia"

Stamp: Hero Arts "Stunning Snowflakes" background

Font: "Apex Lake" - dafont.com

Other: Ribbon from stash, Lindt bells, gold e.p.

Thanks for looking!

Ruby, Ruby, Ruby ....

.... such a lovely name, had my son been a girl that would have been his name.  So one of the teachers in school has just had a baby girl and called her Ruby - I approve!!!  I made a clean and simple (for me!) card for her.  Here's what I ended up with:

I'm entering the following challenges Shopping our Stash ("Free is Good", the stars were free with a magazine years ago) and Papertake Weekly ("Anything Goes").

Here's a little side-shot of the detail of the card - the embossing paste, confetti and swinging banner with glittery gold letters:

Recipe:

Stencil: Tim Holtz Layering Stencil "Bubble"

Other: Handcut glittery letters, banners, hearts from punch, stars from stash

Thanks for looking!

Just a quick ....

.... pop by to post for once.  As I forecast back in September, I haven't had much time to myself lately.  I've made only two cards since then, one being my husband's birthday card - had to make something for him of all people!!  I was so out of practice, wasn't thrilled with what I made, but he liked it and that's the main thing - here's what I made:

I used a recent-ish sketch from Deconstructed Sketches and some old BG papers and so on.  I made

the little speech bubbles on the computer and used a very old car stamp set, dunno where it's from, stamped, coloured, cut out, glossy accented and popped up for dimension.  Here's a little side-shot:



Recipe:

Papers: Basic Grey "Wander"

Stamps: Unknown set

Colouring Medium: Prismacolor pencils

Other: ribbon and brads from stash

Thanks for looking!

It's been a while ....

.... since I've posted, and with all that's going on around here, I'd say my crafting and blogging opportunities over the next few months will be pretty limited. I haven't actually made anything over the whole month of August, and now my son, my daughter and I are all back at three different schools, with three different timetables and collection schedules so life is going to be horribly hectic for the next year.

Having said all that, I made a card for my little godson's 2nd birthday.  We spent some time on holidays with him and his family in August, and he is just the most sunny, happy little chap.  Here's what I made for him:

I used last week's sketch from Deconstructed Sketches and I'm also going to enter the following challenges: Corrosive Challenges ("Let's hear it for the boys"), Crafty Girls ("Anything Goes") and Crafty Cardmakers ("Make an Impression")

I used some very old Cosmo Cricket papers (I could probably keep making cards for the next decade and still not run out of paper!) and added buttons and a double-embossed number 2.  Here's a side-shot of the dimension on the card:

Recipe:

Papers: Cosmo Cricket ("Lil Man")

Embossing Folder: Cuttlebug "Tiny Bubbles"

Fonts: "Learning Curve" and "SimHei" - www.dafont.com

Other: Basic Grey buttons

Thanks for looking!