Hope you're having a ....

.... spooky evening!  Happy Hallowe'en to those who like it! I do!!

Here's my Hallowe'en mantel - I saw the bat thing on Pinterest, so I made a load of bats and decorated my office door at school the week before half term, then I took them all down and brought them home to do duty here.  I made the skull picture and put it in a nice (and cheap!) gold frame from IKEA.

And here are the pumpkins - Jed decided he was too old this year for trick or treating, but he wouldn't miss the pumpkin carvings.  We did quite easy ones this year as we were under time pressure.  His is Patrick Star from SpongeBob (a repeat from a few years ago) and mine is a sort of moon/skull hybrid.

Will be back tomorrow with a card.

Thanks for looking!

A first for me ....

.... I've made a card for Daisy's boyfriend's birthday!  He's not her first boyfriend by any means, but none of the others was around long enough to get to the giving-a-birthday-card stage!!

So I faffed around with bits of cardstock and stamps and made this:

I used the sketch from this week's Mojo Monday and I'm also entering the following challenges: ABC Challenge ("T is for Two" - I've got two sprockets, and the number 22!!), Crafty Creations ("Don't be Blue"), Creative Inspirations ("Anything Goes") and Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge ("Wrap it Up").

I wanted to have some white pops on this card to lift the dark blacks and greens - so I white embossed the edges of the patterned paper and the holes that I had punched, and I attached the large sprocket to the card by sewing it on with white thread.  Here's a closer look:

Recipe:

Paper: Basic Grey "Oxford"

Stamp: Kaisercraft "chevron"

Dies: Spellbinders "Sprightly Sprockets"

Font: Arial Black

Other: White e.p., dymo label maker, white thread

Thanks for looking!

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!