One for ....

.... the old man!!  Hee hee, my husband turned 50 a few weeks ago.  How on earth did that happen, I'm sure it's no time at all since he was 40!  We went to a lovely place in Co. Meath with a group of friends last weekend to celebrate, and I was, as usual, up late the night before finishing his card.  Started with some lovely orange paper and a Tim Holtz hot air balloon stamp - but before long realised that the card was beginning to look like a hot air balloon trying to escape from the fiery pits of hell.  Back to the drawing board.  This is what I ended up with:

I'm entering the following challenges: Crafty Cardmakers ("Winter Birthday"), Craft Your Passion ("Anything Goes"), Creative Card Crew ("Sprinkle") and Papertake Weekly ("Let it Snow").

I used a new stencil (that I got for making my Christmas cards) and texture paste, combined with tiny black stars (made with a die that I also got for making Christmas cards - decided it's too much faff to cut out dozens of tiny stars!) covered in glossy accents, tangled up thread in two colours, and some more stars - here's a side view of all the dimension and texture:

Recipe:

Stencil: Simon Says Stamp Stencil "Falling Snow"

Paper: Basic Grey "Urban Prairie"

Die: Mama Elephant "Lots of Stars" 

Fonts: "Impact" and "Bambi Bold" - dafont.com

Other: Texture paste, glossy accents, Basic Grey button, thread

Thanks for looking - now I have to get on to start making the aforementioned Christmas cards - wish me luck!

Cards all around the ....

world!  I've noticed the Card Chain Challenge before, as you might have too, but this was the first time I've gotten organised enough to join. Due to some serious work commitments, our Card Chain Challenge hostess, Deborah, was forced to push the October Reveal back a few days until now.

I got a lovely card from Jo in England.  She sent me this gorgeous cat, with a very funny sentiment.  I love the colouring of the cat's eyes and the cheese.

There are various themes/a sketch/colour combination that the participants can choose to make their card.  I went with the theme of friendship, and my card winged it all the way to Robyn in Australia (very impressed with the postal system, it only took 8 days to get there).  Here's the card I sent to her:

Recipe:

Papers: Basic Grey "Archaic"

Stamps: Papertrey Ink "Simple Sunflower", Hero Arts

Font: "Throw My Hands up in the Air" - dafont.com

You can take a look at all the other participants cards by visiting Deborah's blog here and if you're tempted to become a link in the January chain (we skip December) you can click here to find out all the details.

Thanks for looking!

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!