Top o' the Morning ....

.... to you!  It's St. Patrick's Day, or Paddy's Day, whichever you prefer, here today.  And of course, the weather is horrendous - cold, windy, rain and sleet - classic St. Patrick's Day weather!  We are not going into town to the parade, not my favourite thing at the best of times and in this weather, no thank you!

It's time for another Sentimental Sundays challenge, and this week, it's "Anything Goes".  Our prize sponsor is Redonkulus Designs and our lovely Calypso and her husband, Patrick, have also contributed prizes.  One of the prizes will be for a randomly-picked commenter, what a nice idea.

My card has, again thanks to the yukky weather, photographed really darkly.  Here's what I made:

I used a sketch from Deconstructed Sketch and I'm also entering this into the following challenges: Crafty Cardmakers ("Masculine Birthday featuring technology or a gadget"), Simon Says Stamp and Show ("Shabby Chic"), and Totally Gorjuss ("Something Old" - mine is the Mini stamp, it was one of the first stamps I bought back in about 2005).

I went all Tim Holtz-y on this card, using Destinations papers, and the tag was coloured by spritzing water onto swipes of distress ink and then mashing the blank tag about in the ink.  I repeated a few times, between drying sessions, and it came out really shabby which is what I hoped for!  The gears and sprockets have been copper heat-embossed.  Here's a side-shot of the dimension:

Recipe:

Papers: Tim Holtz "Destinations"

Stamp: "Mini" by Blade Rubber Stamps

Die-Cuts: Nestabilities "Sprightly Sprockets" and "Labels 21"

Other: Copper embossing powder, Doodlebug brads, twine

Thanks for looking!

Last minute ....

.... finishing my card for this week's Sentimental Sundays challenge.  I haven't been crafting this week, as the cursed vertigo has come back, thankfully not really bad - I haven't been sick, just dizzy!!  I've been able to go to work just about, but have been splat on the sofa when at home.  Such a botheration!

Our Sentimental Sundays challenge this week is called "3 embellishments that start with the letter B", and we're sponsored by A Day for Daisies

A Day for Daisies very kindly gave us our choices of images to play with, and I picked a lovely one very aptly called "Daisy Girl" - this is what I made with it:

My "3 embellishments beginning with the Letter B" can be interpreted a few ways - either 3 buttons - or buttons, bow and blonde!!!  I was thinking of keeping this card for my daughter's birthday in the summer, it's a perfect image given that her name is Daisy!!  But then, I've got several friends' birthdays coming up sooner, maybe I'll give it to one of them and make another one for my Daisy!

I used the sketch from this week's Mojo Monday and I'm also entering the following challenges: Basic Grey Challenges ("Spring is in the Air"), Papertake Weekly and A Day for Daisies ("Anything Goes") and Cute Card Thursday ("Spring Fever").

Rather than colouring the daisy petals in the image, I used white enamel accents for a bit of shine and dimension, it worked quite nicely and you can kind of see it in this side-shot:

Recipe:

Papers: Basic Grey "Wisteria"

Image: A Day for Daisies "Daisy Girl"

Colouring Medium: Distress Inks

Other: Buttons and ribbon from stash, Ranger Enamel Accents

Thanks for looking!

 

Think it's about time ....

.... we had some good spring light around here, I'm getting a bit tired of shockingly lit photos!!  I don't often make identical cards (apart from the Christmas production line!), but I needed two sympathy cards in a hurry.  Of course, while I was merrily making the cards at a crop yesterday, the sun was blazing away outside, and when I was taking the pics today, it was a dull grey day!  Here's what I made:

I used a Mojo Monday sketch from a few week's back, the three circle layout suited this card.  I'm entering it in the following challenges: My Time to Craft ("Embossing"), Daring Cardmakers ("March colour combo") and Simon Says Stamp ("Anything Goes").

Here's a side-view of the card, followed by a close-up of the heat-embossed stamp:

Recipe:

Papers: Cosmo Crickets "Everafter"

Stamp: Hero Arts "Dandelion"

Other: Doodlebug brad, Clear embossing powder

Thanks for looking!

What an output ....

.... those of you "card-a-day" gals will be chuckling when I say that this, my seventh post this month, is my highest monthly total in about two and a half years!!!  Dang, am I on fire or what?!!!

Today's card is a commissioned card for a new baby.  Here's what I made:

I used the sketch from this week's Mojo Monday, and I'm also entering this into the following challenges: Lili's Little Fairies ("Butterflies"), Shopping our Stash ("Tag it"), Crafts and Me ("Tags or Punches") and Basic Grey Challenges and Simon Says Stamp both have "Anything Goes".

I used the ever-versatile Lili of the Valley baby stamp yet again (!), coloured with distress inks.  Here's a closer look:

And here's a side-shot of the layers and the little tag with the baby's name on it.  For any non-Irish readers, in case you were wondering how to pronounce the name on the card, it's an old Irish name(apologies in advance to any Irish Mammies of Oisins reading but it's not a name I particularly like!!).  Anyway, take the first syllable of the rapper, Usher's, name, and combine with Charlie Sheen's surname: Ush+sheen = Usheen.

Recipe:

Papers: October Afternoon "Thrift Shop" and Basic Grey "Oxford"

Stamp: Lili of the Valley "Baby Blanket"

Colouring Medium: Distress Inks

Punch: Nestabilities "Lacy Circles"

Other: Butterflies from cupcake wrapper, hairy string, needle + thread

Thanks for looking!

I'm a fairy ....

.... godmother!!!  Well, I'm about to be.  My husband and I were chuffed and delighted when our friends asked us to be godparents to their baby son, and today's the day of his baptism.  Have to go soon to get dolled up, but first I thought I'd show the card I made for him:

You wouldn't really guess it was for a baptism, I know, but I find religious cards very difficult, so I'm going with a kind of "launching into the Christian family" kind of vibe.

I used the sketch from this week's Deconstructed Sketch and I'm also entering this into the following challenges: Creative Inspirations ("Anything Goes"), My time to Craft ("Song or Film Inspired" - "We are Sailing"!) and Cute Pie Challenge ("Pretty Pastels").

Here's a side-shot of the layers:

Recipe:

Papers: October Afternoon "Seaside", "Weathervane"

Other: Doodlebug "Uncle Sam Stars" button, needle + thread

Thanks for looking - off to put on my glad rags now!!!

If at first you don't succeed ....

.... curse a lot, have a tantrum or two, oh - and try, try again!

That's what happened when I was making my first spinner card - none of the tutorials I read mentioned that coinage is not keen to be glued together with a spacer in the middle!!  The blasted things kept coming apart every time I tried to assemble the final piece.  But I had to persist, 'cos it was my son's birthday card, and I had it in my head exactly how it should be.  Here's the completed card:

I'm entering this into the following challenges: My Time to Craft ("Men Only"), Totally Gorjuss ("For the Men") and Creative Card Crew ("Birthday").

I didn't use any patterned paper on this card.  I stamped the cloudy sky, adding a couple of extra popped up clouds for dimension, drew and coloured the crowd, printed the sentiment, hand-cut the grass edge, stamped the little guy and then masked a Manchester United footy jersey for him.  Here's a side-shot of the layers:

Recipe:

Stamps: Basic Grey "Frog Boy" and  Hero Arts "Design Block Clouds Background"

Colouring Medium: Pro Markers

Other: Googly eyes, glossy accents, four cents!

Thanks for looking!

Ticking off ....

.... the list, one by one.  Another card done, for my friend's daughter and it's also my DT sample for this week's Sentimental Sundays.  Our challenge this week is called "Lace and Pearls" and we are sponsored by Saturated Canary

I have been admiring these lovely digis for a good while, but hadn't used any until now, mostly due to the fact that they have lots of hair and I have a lack of hair-colouring skills.  But I stumbled upon my best way to do hair-colouring, pick an image with a hat or hoodie!!!  Here's the card I made:

I used the sketch from this week's Cupcake Craft and I'm also entering the following challenges: Saturated Canary ("Love Hearts"), Shopping our Stash ("They say it's your Birthday"), ABC Challenge ("H is for Happy Birthday"), Charisma Cards ("Anything Goes") and Cute Card Thursday ("An Eye for Detail").

Something went badly wrong with the printer ink, and despite leaving it overnight and repeatedly heat-setting the image, it still smeared, but as a good friend of mine says "It's not a mistake, it's a feature", and since the image is a mouse, I think a mouse-grey face is perfectly acceptable!!  Here's a side-shot of the card:

Recipe:

Papers: BG "Bittersweet" and "Kissing Booth"

Image: Saturated Canary "Mousy Mo"

Colouring Medium: Distress Inks

Punch: MS "Valentine Lace"

Other: Ancient Papermania pearls, BG Archaic alphas covered in glossy accents

Off to make another card, my son's birthday - he is now into football - help me!!!

Thanks for looking!