Friday 25 October 2013

Pinterest addiction!

Yes, I hold my hands up, I am addicted to Pinterest! As a crafter it's such a fab & easy way to get ideas & inspiration.
I had seen lots of cards with Minions on Pinterest & as my son is a real fan of the film Despicable Me, I was inspired to make him a Minion birthday card recently ...

I also saw a great idea for a wedding card on Pinterest using the names of famous couples. Here's my version that I made for the recent wedding of my friend Julie ...

Supplies
Cardstock & ink pads - Stampin' Up
Stamps - Framed Sentiments, Clearly Besotted
Other - ribbon rose trim, Stampin' Up

Thanks for popping by & take care x

Friday 30 August 2013

Card challenges won!!

Well, I'm quite shocked ... & pleased! My butterfly card in my blog post here won the Top 3 at CAS - Colours & Sketches ! I can now proudly display the winners badge :)

And my card in this blog post was deemed worthy of an Honourable Mention at CAS(E) this Sketch!

Now I don't want to blog & not leave you without a card, so here's the anniversary card I made for my Mum & Dad recently ...


Supplies
Cardstock & die cut - Craftwork Cards
Stamps & matching die cut - Love quotes CBS
Divine Twine

Thank you very much for popping along to my blog.
Take care x

Congratulations!

August in the UK is the month for exam results. Last week the GCSE results came out & my clever nephew was one of the ones celebrating :) He's not very academic & has always found school a real slog so this was a fantastic achievement for him. He's now going on to our local college to do a 2 year course in travel & tourism. I'm immensely proud of him & it was well deserved of a special card ..


I covered some white card in the washi tape & die cut the stars.

Inspiration
Less is More - Washi tape on your clean & simple cards

Sketch Saturday:


Washi Up - make a clean & simple card using washi tape

Supplies
Stamps - Framed Sentiments CBS, Basic Alphabet CBS
Dies - Notebook MFT, Stacking stars MFT
Embossing folder - Stripes SU
Ink, cardstock & twine - SU
Washi tape - My Mind's Eye 'Indie Chic'

Thanks for popping by. I love receiving your comments on my blog, it's nice to know I'm not talking to myself!
Take care x

Wednesday 14 August 2013

Here comes the bride


The other week my cousin Holly got married. It was a lovely day, a great setting in a converted barn, the sun shone, the bride looked stunning & it was great to catch up with the family. Here's the card I made ...


Supplies used:
Stamps: Framed Sentiments - Clearly Besotted
Ink pads, Flower trim ribbon, papers, adhesive pearl gems - SU
Cameo die - MFT Die namics, Dies to Die For

Thanks for popping by & take care x

Tuesday 13 August 2013

Butterflies

Following on from yesterday's post I have another fresh out of the wrapping Clearly Besotted stamp set & some new Stampin' Up goodies which I combined to make this card:


I used my new purchase of the Stampin' Up Paper Piercing Essentials pack to make the piercing around the circle & was pleasantly suprised how quick & easy it was to do. I die cut the MFT 'hi' die from the silver paper, thereby using the negative of the die for the sentiment. This is a great technique to use for sentiments as you instantly have perfect alignment without having to individually glue & place every letter!
Card inspiration





Supplies used
Stamps & die - Clearly Besotted 'Butterfly Wishes' & 'Butterfly Wishes Additions'
Cardstock - Stampin' Up & grey/silver card from craft stash
Ink pads - Stampin' Up & Memento 'London Fog'
Other dies - Spellbinders circle; MFT 'Hello'; SU Edgelits Large Scallops
Other - Stampin' Up Paper Piercing Essentials pack

Thanks for popping by & take care x

Monday 12 August 2013

Fancy Feathers

Last week I received my Stampin' Up order which included some of the new 'In-Colors' cardstock & ink pads. I bought a lovely set of feather stamps with matching dies from Clearly Besotted a while ago which I hadn't got round to inking up so I combined all these goodies & made this card:


Card inspiration:

CAS(E) this Sketch!


Dynamic Duos I used Crisp Cantaloupe & Pistachio Pudding for my card.


Supplies:
Cardstock & ink pads - Stampin' Up
Fancy Feathers: Clearly Besotted - stamps & die
Polka dots embossing folder
MFT File Tab die
Baker's Divine twine

Thanks for popping by & take care x

Sunday 11 August 2013

Time flies

I ordered some goodies from Craftwork Cards recently. I love their Time Flies collection & here's a couple of cards I made with it ...




I also made a heart wall hanging with the Craftwork Cards 'Love Me Do' chipboard hearts ...


And some close ups ...



I used liquid pearls on the butterflies & glossy accents on the clock face. The rolled rose is made with some SU seam binding.

Edited to add: I've just seen the challenge at Make My Monday is to 'add some dimension', so I'm going to link the heart wall hanging up to that challenge.

Thanks for popping by & take care x

Friday 9 August 2013

Buttons!

I went through a button buying frenzy a year or 2 ago but I must confess I have hardly used any buttons on any of my cards! So when I saw the challenge at CAS-ual Fridays was to use buttons, I knew I must get those buttons out & have a play.


Supplies used:
Stamps: Clearly Besotted 'Home Sweet Home'
Ink pads: SU  
Paper: The Sweetest Thing Tangerine - My Mind's Eye
Other: Buttons, Lil' Inkers Rectangle Stitched Mats, Twine

Thanks for popping by & take care x

Monday 22 July 2013

Hot hot hot!

We've had some gorgeous weather but it's been too muggy in my craft room in the evenings to craft, so apologies for the absence of blog posts!

My nephew asked me to make a card for his girlfriend's birthday. They're going on holiday to Turkey so he asked for a beach style card with the Turkey flag on it. This is what I came up with ...


I'm entering this card in the 2nd challenge from Clearly Besotted where the theme is 'Seeing Spots'. I used the umbrella stamp & die from the 'April Showers' set as a parasol; the sandcastle was cut freehand & the sky is strips of washi tape.

Supplies used:
Stamps - April Showers: Clearly Besotted; letters: Banana Frog
Dies - April Showers: Clearly Besotted; Scallop: SU; numbers: Quickutz
Other - Clouds & hearts Washi tape: Paperchase

Thanks for popping by & take care x

Thursday 20 June 2013

Bring on the boys!

Now I couldn't do a blog post about the girls & leave out those poor boys, could I?!
Just a quick post tonight to share with you a few boys/male cards I've made recently.

I made this for my cousin's 40th birthday earlier this year & I never got round to sharing it on here ...


I sponged the background with inks & used some Clarity stamps to stamp the fishes. Some banner dies, various scraps of card, Swiss Dots embossing folder & a sentiment to finish it off. I'm entering this card in the challenge at CASology where the cue card is 'FISH'.

This card was made for my nephew's 16th birthday ...

Now that's a cool guy innit?! This dude was stamped & then coloured with promarkers. Again, I used various scraps of card & a Craftwork Cards sentiment. I'm entering this card in the Addicted to CAS challenge where they are asking for creations for 'TEENAGERS'.

My last card for tonight  was made for a friend's son ...

I used Clearly Besotted's stamps & dies from the sets 'You Said It' & 'Make a Wish', inks & DSP from Stampin' Up & some twine. I'm going to enter this card in the challenge at Clearly Besotted where the theme for Stephanie's first ever challenge is 'ANYTHING GOES'.

Thanks for popping by & take care x


Monday 17 June 2013

Here come the girls!

As my children are growing up I'm finding I can't use the 'cute' stamps I have for birthday cards for kids & need to make cards suitable for teenagers!

I used this sketch at this week's 'Sketch Saturday' challenge ...


 & combined it with the Hexagons challenge at 'Less is More' to make this card ...


I was chuffed to find out that the Clearly Besotted hexagon die is a perfect match for the Stampin' Up embossing folder! Clearly Besotted have their first ever challenge up & running over on Stephanie's blog where 'Anything Goes'. This will be my 2nd entry ... sshhhh! ;)

Supplies used:
Stamps - You Said It: Clearly Besotted; Big Birthday Wishes: MFT, Dies to Die for
Dies - Honeycomb: Clearly Besotted; Hexagon embossing folder: Stampin' Up
Papers - The Sweetest Thing Tangerine: My Mind's Eye
Inks - Promarkers; Tangerine Tango ink:  Stampin' Up

My second card uses a stamp with a bit more attitude! ...


I love all the washi tape that's around at the moment & on this card I've pleated the pink washi tape to give it a bit of texture.

Supplies used:
Stamps - girl stamp from my stash: unknown; Happy Birthday sentiment from Basic Banners: Clearly Besotted
Die - File tab: MFT Die-namics, Dies to Die for
Inks - Promarkers; Melon Mambo ink: Stampin' Up
Other - Washi tape: Paperchase

'Addicted to CAS' have a challenge running at the moment where the theme is 'Teenager', so I'm entering this card there.
Thanks for popping by & take care x

Saturday 15 June 2013

You Are ...

... incredibly lucky to have got this stamp set as it flew off the shelves! I'm talking about the new release from Stephanie at Clearly Besotted. I bought quite a few of the sets in this month's release & have been having a play with 'You Are' which has matching dies  :)

I was still in Father's Day mode when I picked up this set so I thought I'd use the lovely words in the set together with sentiments (& the shirt buttons for the dotted lines!) from 'Super Dad' & a chevron stamp to make a Father's Day card ...

I went for some simple stamping & die cutting in pinks & greens for this one ...

I stamped one of the flowers on a white card square then cut it into four with some simple matting & layering. Not so sure about this one, I think some corner rounding might have improved it!

I'm going to enter one of these cards in a new challenge ... Clearly Besotted! Yes, that's right, Stephanie has started a monthly challenge on her blog here & the first challenge is 'Anything Goes'. If you don't have any Clearly Besotted stamps you can still enter the challenge as Stephanie has very kindly put up some free digi stamps on her blog. The challenge winner will receive 5 free stamp sets of their choice!!

Supplies used:
Stamps - You Are, Super Dad, You Said It: Clearly Besotted; chevron stamp free with magazine
Dies - You Are, You Said It: Clearly Besotted
Inks - Mustard Seed & Spiced Marmalade: Tim Holtz Distressed Inks; all others Stampin' Up
Papers - The Sweetest Thing Tangerine: My Mind's Eye
Other - Black ribbon: Stampin' Up

Thanks for popping by & take care x

Saturday 8 June 2013

Bringing home the sun

Apologies for my absence from blogland but I've been ... on my holidays!!
This was the view from our hotel room in Tunisia ...

We stayed at the Holiday Village Manar; lovely hotel, good food, amazingly helpful, friendly & cheerful staff & lots of sun! We got home last Friday & we brought the sun back with us :)

A week later & we're back in routine, so last night I got my crafting stash out & made some Father's Day cards ...




I saw the moustaches on the cocktail sticks idea in a magazine, so I can't claim credit for that one! The moustache & chevron stamps were free with that magazine.

The third card is stamped randomly with the tie stamps from the 'Super Dad' set from Clearly Besotted. The shirt & sentiment are from that set also.

I'm going to enter the shirt & tie card into the challenge at CAS-ual Fridays where they are asking for creations using banners & flags.

I'm entering the 2nd card into the Just Us Girls challenge this week where they are asking you to use washi tape on your creations.

Yesterday I received my order of the new stamps & dies released by Clearly Besotted this week. Stephanie has some lovely sets in this release & I'm hoping to have a play with my haul in the next couple of days :)

Supplies used:
Stamps - Super Dad, Clearly Besotted; Moustache & chevron, free with magazine
Cardstock - Solar white neenah; all other Stampin' Up
Inks - all Stampin' Up
Dies - Super Dad die collection, Clearly Besotted; Fishtail flags, MFT Die-namics
Other - Washi tape, cocktail sticks, Baker's Divine Twine

Thanks for popping by & take care x

Saturday 11 May 2013

Hexagons again!!

No, you're not seeing things, this is my 2nd blog post tonight! Here is another card I made with the Honeycomb stamps from Clearly Besotted. I've made this for my Dad for his birthday later this month.


I've also used the cute little bee from the Build a Bug set. I stamped the bees on some white cardstock then die cut out a couple of hexagons on the main raised stamped image so you can just see the bees peeking through the hexagons!


Supplies used:
Stamps - Build a Bug, Honeycomb, Basic Banners (sentiment): all Clearly Besotted; Letters: Banana Frog
Die - Honeycomb: Clearly Besotted
Inks - Midnight Muse, Gumball Green, Daffodil Delight, Basic Gray: all SU; Brilliance Graphite Black, Memento London Fog
Other - Twine

I'm going to enter this in 2 challenges for this week. CASology's cue card this week is:


The 2nd challenge I'm entering this card into is CAS-ual Fridays where the challenge is a game of Tic Tac Toe!

 CFC100: Each square represents one of our top 10 challenges.
Choose any row and combine those themes to create your Clean And Simple project.

My card follows the top line across ... Polka Dots - Kraft - Dies.

Thanks for popping by & take care.

Hooked on honeycomb

When I saw a sneeky peek of this month's new releases from Clearly Besotted, I knew I wouldn't be able to resist the Honeycomb hexagon stamps & die. As soon as I saw the whole set on Monday it went straight into my basket!
I had a play yesterday & here's the first card I made ...
Supplies used:
Stamps - Honeycomb: Clearly Besotted
Inks - Wild Wasabi, So Saffron, Pretty in Pink, Basic Gray: all Stampin' Up
Cardstock - Pretty in Pink: SU, Neenah solar white
Ribbon - Pretty in Pink scallop dots: SU

I am going to enter this card in the challenge at Casology this week where their cue card is 'Hexagon':

Thanks for popping by & take care x

Wednesday 24 April 2013

Book worm & CASE-ing an idea

I recently stumbled across the CASADIA blog by Wida. Wida came up with the idea of starting a card chain by CASE-ing cards, hence the name ... Case + idea = CASADIA. I thought it was a great idea & asked if I could join in! It's now my turn & I was given Karen Baker's card to CASE, which you can see here. I'm very grateful to Wida for letting me join in, thank you!
I love using twine on my cards at the moment, so I had to take that element to CASE from Karen's card. I also liked the splattered background, flower & Kraft cardstock. Using all these elements, I came up with this card ...


I found, through pinterest, a link to a blog that showed how to make these lovely flowers out of twine. This was my first attempt & I'm quite pleased with how it turned out! If you'd like to have a go yourself, a step-by-step guide how to make them can be found on The Bugbytes blog here. Here's a close-up of the flower:


And don't you just love the book worm?! He's from a new stamp release this month from Clearly Besotted. Here's a close-up of him:

I'm going to enter this card in the challenge this week on the Addicted to CAS blog where they are looking for CAS cards using the codeword 'Flower'.

Supplies used:
Stamps - Book Worm & Basic Banners: Clearly Besotted; French Foliage: Stampin' Up
Dies - Basic Banners: Clearly Besotted; Notebook edge: MFT die-namics, Dies to die for
Inks: Promarkers; Memento Tuxedo Black
Twine: Baker's Divine twine: Ribbon Girl

Thanks for popping by & take care x

Wednesday 10 April 2013

Spring Blooms - Part 2

A bit later than intended, but that's the joy of the school holidays!
Here, as promised are another couple of cards I made with the Spring Blooms stamp set & dies from Clearly Besotted.


This first card uses the frame idea again. I die cut the jar, stems & daffodils from patterned cardstock & stamped onto the white card base behind. I thought I'd add the strip of washi tape at the bottom to hide the fact that I trimmed my panel too short add something a little different to the card ;) Here's a close-up of the die cut daffodils ...


The daffodils on this second card are on a background stamped to look like quilting ...


I saw this technique in the latest issue of Craft Stamper magazine. Basically, you lay a sheet of acetate diagonally across your cardstock & sponge in circles with your ink. You move the acetate down your cardstock, parallel with your first line, inking as you go. Then you turn your card 90 degrees and repeat.
It's a great way to create a background & I'm going to enter this card in the Make My Monday challenge this week which is to 'Create your own Background' using no patterned paper.

As these are Easter cards, I thought I'd also share with you the Easter tree I put together using various crafty bits ...


And also the Easter gingerbread house that my daughter & I made ...


Supplies used:
Stamps - Spring Blooms:Clearly Besotted
Dies - Spring Blooms: Clearly Besotted, Sentiment Strips: MFT Die Namics
Inks - Wild Wasabi & So Saffron: Stampin' Up, Pro-markers
Other - The Sweetest Thing-Tangerine: My Mind's Eye papers, Washi tape: My Mind's Eye

Thank you for stopping by my blog. If you have the time, I do love reading your comments, so comment away! Take care x

Monday 25 March 2013

A challenge win & Spring Blooms - Part 1

Well, I am truly amazed & chuffed to bits. My Script inspired card, which you can see in the previous blog post here was chosen as the winner of the Just Us Girls colour challenge last week!! So I'm now proudly sporting the Chic of the Week badge on the side of my blog :)

I've got a bit carried away with the Spring Bloom stamps from Clearly Besotted & have made a few more cards with them.
Those of you who have had the pleasure of receiving some Clearly Besotted stamps in the post will know how beautifully Stephanie packages them. Like many crafters, I don't like throwing things away so I used the tissue paper the stamps were wrapped in to make this tulip bouquet for my Mum's birthday card last week.


I used the tulip stamps & matching die again to make this card, which I'm going to enter in the Addicted to CAS challenge this week where the theme is 'Spring' ...


And here's the last of the Mother's Day cards ...


Finally, I used the same design from the card on the previous post, just changing the orientation, colours & sentiment to make a birthday card for my friend ...


Supplies used:
Stamps: Spring Blooms - Clearly Besotted, Mum typography - Papermania, Script - Hero Arts
Dies: Spring Blooms - Clearly Besotted, Large Scallop Edgelits - Stampin' Up
Inks: Promarkers, Gumball Green/Dafodill Delight/Primrose Petals/Raspberry Ripple - Stampin' Up
Other: Baker's Divine Twine - Ribbon Girls, Oval punch - Stampin' Up, Pretty in Pink dotted DSP - SU

Thank you for taking the time to look at my blog, I really appreciate your lovely comments. As you can see by the name of this post, I haven't finished with these Spring Blooms stamps & dies yet, so pop back soon for Part 2 :)

Take care x