Screeeeeeeaaaaaaaaamm ....

.... I'm on me hollyers!!! At last, thought 12 noon today would never come!!  Now I can spend the next 9 weeks doing whatever I want (ha!).  Have had my wings slightly clipped by the fact that last week, we got a cat, and she has to stay inside for at least a month and gets a bit whingey when we leave her at home on her own.  What was I thinking?!!!  Will post a pic soon when I get a nice one of her.

Yesterday, I did a speedy-ish thank you card for my son's teacher.  Here's what I made:

Recipe:

Papers: MME "Sky's the Limit"

Image: Lili of the Valley "Lazy Afternoon"

Colouring Medium: Distress Inks

Other: Making Memories stickers

Very bad photo, taken this morning in a rush on the way out the door.  I used the sketch from last week's Deconstructed Sketch and I'm also entering this into Shopping Our Stash ("Oldest Embellishment" - min are the sparkly brads), Creative Inspirations ("Anything Goes + ribbon"), Simon Says Stamp and Stampin for the Weekend ("Anything Goes") and Lili's Little Fairies ("1 image, 2 papers, 3 types of embellie - brads, ribbon, letter stickers).

Thanks for looking!

Still scrambling ....

.... around, trying to get my mojo up and running.  Only one week and four days left of school, I am looking forward to having time to do things - have the usual ambitious (overly ambitious?!!) to-do list of people to see, projects to do, once-a-year cleaning jobs to undertake, etc., etc.!!  Let's see!!

My son is away this weekend at his friend's birthday party/sleepover - they went quad-biking yesterday (the horrors!), but friend's Mum kindly texted to let everyone know their sons were still in one piece afterwards!  Here's the card I made for the birthday boy:

Update 18th June: This card was given a Spotlight Artist Award on City Crafter - many thanks!

I used the sketch from this week's Deconstructed Sketch and I'm also entering this into the following challenges: Creative Inspirations ("Father's Day/Male Themed"), Papertake Weekly ("Hello Boys") and City Crafter ("All About Him").

I did a lot of doodling on this card - all the lettering, numbers, arrows, etc.  See the MS "Drippy Goo" border punch - remember a few years ago these were like gold-dust and everyone wanted them - I got one then and this is the first time I've used it!!  Here's a side-shot of the drips, doodles and dimension on the card:

Recipe:

Papers: Cosmo Cricket "Get Happy"

Punch: MS "Drippy Goo"

Other: Black and white gel pens

Thanks for looking!

Only 13 days ....

.... late with my brother's card - I'm very lucky he's so laid-back!!  I hope I made up for it by inviting him round to dinner, making him a cake, and piling on some grovelling apologies!!  I made this card for him:

I used the sketch from this week's Deconstructed Sketch, and I'm also entering this into the following challenges: Simon Says Stamp ("Masculine"), Creative Inspirations (Colour challenges), Crafty Creations ("One for the Boys"), ABC Challenge ("Open" - Anything Goes), Make it Monday and Papertake Weekly ("Anything Goes").

I used a stamp from a Verve set that I won a while back - have printed the centre on the computer and popped it up for dimension.  Here's a close-up of the stamp, followed by a side-shot of the dimension:

Update 12th June: This card was picked as the weekly winner on Creative Inspirations.  Thank you!

Recipe:

Papers: Echo Park "Times + Seasons"

Stamps: Verve "Sweet Treats"

Other: Buttons from stash, hairy string

Thanks for looking!

Buon Giorno ....

.... after the mayhem of work on the house, we escaped to Italy for four days.  Had such a good time, packed an awful lot in, but did some really good relaxing in the times when we weren't doing other stuff.  The weather was perfect for us, bit of rain (warm rain!) on the first day, then the sun came out, but it never got higher than 26 degrees, thank goodness.  I've been doing Italian lessons over the past 9 months or so - got a chance to practice a bit on this holiday.  My son's friend, who is only four but has a masterful command of both English and Italian, was only too willing to correct me at every occasion!!!  We took a lot of very random photos, here's a small selection:

The view from the playground of our friend's son's school:

 

My son on the climbing frame:

 

I'll take this one, Mum!

Whilst we were there, the Mille Miglia vintage car race actually came through our village.  Fantastic old racing cars, racing on normal roads.  With typical Italian disregard for safety, the roads aren't closed, there are no safety barriers or crowd control - it was great fun!!!  There were over 400 vintage cars in the race, and they were preceded by a load of modern Ferraris - my son and I were standing roughly where the small group are, but on the wrong side of the barrier, when the Ferraris came through - we were flattening ourselves against that barrier, glad we didn't get our toes run over!!Here's a few old cars coming through, see the guy on the bicycle crossing the road behind them!  We were heading into Rome that night, and ended up driving in the race for about 10km, right behind a stunning 1954 Mazerati - what a memory!

Cappucino time - spot the tourists under the awning!

La famiglia!

Laundry day in Narni:

Spot the whitest person in the village:

We came back to cleaning up the house after the workmen had finished, and to major reconstruction of our garden that's still ongoing.  I finally have my craftroom back, just have to get some time to make things!

Thanks for looking!

Back briefly ....

.... hello there, I've been missing in action for almost a month.  We've been having a load of work done on our house - it was originally to happen later on in May, but then the contractor got a "window" for us - so everything, including my craft room, had to be packed away.

I couldn't get away without making a card for my husband's aunt, whose 60th birthday is this weekend, so I scrambled at the outer edges of my packed away craft stuff and used the first paper I found - bits and pieces from a line that I think dates from 2008!!!  Here's what I made:

Bright, isn't it?!!!  I used the sketch from this week's Mojo Monday and I'm also entering this into Shopping our Stash ("Scrap Attack") and Simon Says Stamp ("Flower Power").  Here's a close-up of my image, lots of sparkle on that cupcake, and a side-shot of the card, lots of dimension.

 

 

Recipe:

Papers: SEI "Ally's Wonderland"

Image: Pure Innocence "Hello Cupcake"

Colouring Media: Promarkers and Prismacolors

Other: SEI embellishments and Pink Paislee letters, white pen, glossy accents, diamond stickles

 

Thanks for looking - off to not make anything for a little while more - can't wait to get back to my room, just have to be a little bit patient!!



Not so ....

.... shabby.  I made a card without doing any ripping or distressing!  It was very difficult not to, but it wouldn't have suited it, so I held myself in check!  It's a card for my step-mother's birthday. She loves the Irish rockabilly/jazz singer, Imelda May, and we got tickets for a gig for her birthday present.  Imelda is all about quiffed hair, razor sharp red lipstick, with 50s clothes and accessories to match, so I decided to personalise the card to suit the gift.  Here's what I made:

I used the sketch from this week's Deconstructed Sketch and I'm also entering this into the following challenges: Make it Monday ("Anything Goes"), Corrosive Challenges ("Life's Special Occasions") and Totally Papercrafts ("Monochromatic" - I've got red - plus black/cream neutrals - not sure if that's OK, though?).

I found an album cover with a caricature of Imelda May, including her trademark red lipstick and black/white quiff and drew it for the image on my card.  I'm quite pleased with how it turned out, but I bet my step-mother doesn't notice it - she's famously non-visual!!  She'll open the card, the ticket will fall out, she'll read it and then she might make the connection, but I'd bet money she'll have to have it pointed out to her!!!  Here's a side-shot of the card:

Recipe:

Papers: October Afternoon "Modern Homemaker"

Image: Hand-drawn

Other: MM brads, ribbon from stash, laser-cut border sticker from stash

Thanks for looking!

It's been ....

.... a while.  Almost a month since my last post, can't really account for all that time, bit of illness, bit of Easter Holidays, bit of family stuff, and here we are in mid-April, just like that!!

It's Sunday and that means a challenge from Sentimental Sundays - we are sponsored this week by

Dilly Beans Digi Stamps

Our challenge is called "Tags".  I chose to make a card with tags on it and it's for my nephew's 18th birthday.  Here's what I made:

I'm also entering the following challenges: Moving Along with the Times ("Inspired by a Song or Film" - mine is "Night of the Living Dead"!), Charisma Cardz ("Tags"), City Crafter ("Birthday") and Creative Inspirations ("Anything Goes + Heart").

I made the numbers from chipboard - embossed with a cuttlebug folder and then heat embosed with a mixture of distress e.p. sprinkled with a bit of normal black e.p. - I think I meant to end up with this grungy look!!!  Here's a side-shot:

Recipe:

Papers: Tim Holtz "Destinations"

Stamp: Dilly Beans "Monster Boy 2"

Colouring Medium: Prisma Pencils

Other: Distress e.p., black e.p., glossy accents, ballchain, needle + thread

Thanks for looking!