vintage ball balls

Found these in my local Oxfam shop - baragin at 49p.

 

 

Love the quaint spelling of baubles by the shop assistant, have strung them with different coloured ribbon and put them on the tree.

dress making birthday card

It made a change to do a Birthday card this month, its a stand-up card made with a sheet of A5 white card. (am addicted to watching Creata with Carley at the mo!)

Background paper and paper flowers from Nitwit collection - cottage charm, topper was the tag I made earlier from Debbi Moore's Shabby Chic collection, along with the tape measure and small advert. Used black and bronze ink to shabby the edges.

 

again it looks pinker than it is.

Leaving card

I worked off a sketch out of a Simply Cards and Papercraft magazine to make this card, the original idea went out the window and I ended up doing something completely different, but I really love the colours and tones. I think the card made its self.

I didn't want to do the usual 'sorry you're leaving' as it sounds so final, so I opted for 'new beginnings' -  moving onto a new chapter of her life,

 

The only thing I don't like is my handwriting.

re-stuck christmas cards

Is busy Re-Stucking Christmas cards (still have a bag full), went out for a walk with the beasts on Sunday and found a worthy cause to donate some cards to - they had a card stand in the cafe, none handmade which surprised me - they all looked like the dregs from the bottom of the card box, unloved and not wanted ;(

a few -

 

backing paper from Humphrey's Corner, loved how the blue and silver came together.

 

 

 

all recycled apart from this little chap who couldn't wait for his photo being taken and snuck in the line at the last minute!

bag lady

 

this is card is a 6x6, roughly - I got guillotine happy at one point. Bckground paper, pink paper, striped paper and handbag embellishment are all from 'The Loving Life' collection. Wished I'd pink-inked the edges of the background paper before sticking it down. Everything else craft stash.

 

entering the bag into:

 

 polkadoodles - square card with round element

delicious doodles - use fabric/material

 glitter n sparkle - lots of layers

fetch a sketch - 37

After 22 days we now have a new phone line installed. YaY

Normal service can be resumed!!

 

a birthday card I made, using test stamping off cuts and a bit of gold mirrorcard.

 

and an open card I made for a monthly swap, used the poppy stamp from KayCee Designs, blinged it up a bit and added a thoughtful quote from Mark Twain as the insert.

mulder and scully

its Spooky!

stamp from KayCee Crafts.

Used bits and bobs from my stash and then dabbed a cold wet tea bag over the paper, got a bit carried away...... *lol*

merlin

.... the dragon

 

"autumns's fire burns

slowly along the woods."

 

 

(excuse the stuff in the background, it was were the best light was in the room)

whole card was made from Debbi Moore's Autumn Glow cd, the image is actaully a topper but I snap-shotted it to make it A5, love the colour ways.
Embellishments came from The Fruit Pixie, little gems from stash. Inked round the edges, then hit the glitter, rubbed it off to give it a more tarnished look.

And at last we get to see Anthony Head back on our screens as Uther this Saturday, should be good.

entering merlin in:

nutcrafters - round and round
delicious doodles - monochrome
craftymess - anything goes

little witch

A simple Halloween card made following fetch-a-sketch. new sketch.

Digi stamp is the cute witch from The DigiStamp Boutique promarkered, card and embellies from stash.

entering her in:

Fetch a Sketch - & add something pink
polkadoodle - halloween
digistamp boutique - october challenge

buttons

For some reason this looks cream, its actually a very light green.

The tag is from Shabby Chic - Debbi Moore, I glittered around the mannequin with chamelon glitter, you can just about see it in the photo and embellished with buttons and a bow.

 

 

 

 

Entered the tag into:

 

Glitter n Sparkle 'buttons & bows' challenge

Vintage Elusions Cards & Crafts 'empherma/anything goes' challenge



 

a pumpkin for you

Used a digistamp from The Digi Garden  (cute girl with pumpkin) for this card, coloured her in with promarkers, the background paper and two leaves are off of Debbi Moore's 'Autumn Glow' cd.

 

Entered her in the following challengs: 

 

The Digi Garden - autumnal colours

Crafty Bloggers Network - anything goes

                                         

vintage style

With a wedding anniversary at the end of next week - it always creeps up on me - I hit the stash drawers and decided to go with a simple vintage style.

Papers from Prima's Botanical Collection, some card candi promarkered using Walnut and paper twine -  I found a gorgeous green organza ribbon but it didin't look right on the card, saved for another day.

Came across a brand new and shiny Challenge Blog - glitter n sparkle challenge blog which started this week. Hope to join in this every week.


entered in glitter n sparkle challenge - Anything goes

Today we went on a lovely walk on the Teversal Trail - to SilverHill and back, the weather was a bit of a mixed bag, sunny and blue skies then dark skies and a gale then back to sunny.At least it didn't rain! The dogs loved it - wet and muddy.

 

 

 

 

 

Love the colours of the treeline.

 

 

 

 

Two swans and a few seagulls, this swan was particulary nosey, and posed for a few photo's whilst I distracted the dogs away from the water. Soon to be joined by it's equally nosey mate, then both decided to follow Andrew as he walked back to me.

 

 

and here's the obligatory fungi - rather leathery looking!

 

 

two more christmas cards, love the red spotty one and just HAD TO do a purple one ;)

blue shoes

Am enjoying entering challenges, I'm thinking about the designs alot more so  my card making seems to be improving ;) Well,  I think it is *lol*
Not doing many as I don't have time and I will only start to stress about it all......

 

Paper Piecing - never tried this technique before, so kept it very simple as not too stress myself out.

The stamp came with Do-Crafts Creativity maazine, background paper and dress is from Prima's Botanical Collection, I used pro marker Cobalt Blue to colour in the flower and her shoes and blinged it up with an odd amount of gems.

 

entering her in:

 

nutcrafters - paper piecing challenge

two atc's done for an exchange

here come's the bride

A lovely lady and her beau (such an old fashioned term but I love it) got married last week and we attended the evening reception, it was a lovely night, N's dress was simple and stunning, she looked so radiant. Sadly no photo's. I wanted to make the couple something different for a permanent reminder of the day (like they'd forget!) and ended up doing this in Craft Artist Professional:

 

on white A4 card and then framed it using one of the card frames from Wilko's. I had orginally thought to mutli-present and make it into a card what then could be framed but decided to just frame it instead. (again using butterfly image to tie into their invitation)

Image used came from the Graphic's Fairy.

see the wedding acceptance card

never mind

the lottery, I made top 3 in VINTAGE ELUSIONS  with splut splut

*is stunned*

all great cards and congrats to the winners xx

*hugs random number generator*

twas the night before....

As Christmas is fast approaching and having already got one present in the bag, last week I decided to get going with Christmas cards - last year I left it too late and had to do quick printed cards, so out came the bag of recycled Xmas card toppers........

My favourite out of this bunch is the girly girl one, wasn't supposed to turn out like this, I was aiming for silver but found the two embossed squares and knew I had to use them.

teddy bear love

 

simple stacker card onto 5x5 backing paper and left space for a sentiment.

splut-splut

goes the engine as it fires up.

Plane topper came from a (shop) birthday card Andrew received, love the bronze colouring on it.
Darker backing paper is from Hot Off The Press - Soft Nostalgia collection
Lighter backing paper from one of the Nitwits collections
Stamp from Papermania's urban range

Stamped first with a black pigment ink, then over stamped with encore's bronze ink to give it a slightly smudged look, (also rubbed the bronze ink round the paper edges) embellished with peel offs, small metallic studs, a couple of teeny tiny bronze gems, string dipped in cold tea and a green button.

Love the result.

Have entered this card into:

vintage elusions - men & machines/anything goes
crafty mess - distressed/aged

in for a penny....

.... in for a pound.
Following hot on the heels of my first challenge attempt, I decided to have another go......

A cute Chrsitmas card.

Using some of last years chrismas stash from various magazines, and Baby's 1st Christmas digistamp from digistampboutique, coloured in with promarkers - my first attempt at a 'normal' skin tone.

have entered this card in the following challenges:

digi stampboutique - september
fetch-a-sketch 33

Sewing Punk

Playing around doing a steampunkish style card, loved getting messy with the stamps and glue. the backing paper came from Debbi Moore habedashery cd, Clock stamp from PaperMania's Urban range, butterfly stamp from The Loving Life Collection and the Armillary Sphere from KayCee Crafts.
The sewing machine image was from the Graphics Fairy.Embellished with a few metal washers and a hook which made a good question mark.

Having a play with CSS layouts and making my own banners/background so bear with me over the next few days, as I change my mind many, many times.

first ever go at a challenge!

Whilst tidying up 'The Land of Blog' to make it more me friendly ie the Monica in me was straining to be unleashed and bring ORDER to the chaos also known as a completely okay layout and design blog.....

I came across the nutcrafters challenge and decided to have a go.....

(yet more use of ........)

So here goes -

 I've had the Fae image from simplysumara for a little while but hadn't used it and thought it would beperfect for the 'Glitter and Gems' challenge. The backing paper came from Debbi Moores 'Evergreen'cd. The image was glued flat apart from the wings were I used a raised sticky pad under and scrunched up abit to make a more contoured feel. Added a frayed black ribbon, some gems and silver glitter.

My favourite bit of the card is how the glitter makes the wings look even more dimensional - the photo doesn't really pick that up though.

 

entered in nutcrafters  -  Glitter and Gems challenge

A commissioned card for a 60th birthday - happy birthday mum, flowers and a nice verse. Hope this fits the bill ;)

 

 

Luscious Lily stamp from Dimension Stamps, sentiment made in CAP and a bit of chameleon glitter - I say a bit because I dropped the full pot on the floor, my skirt and slippers. Hence we now have a little Fairy glitter trail throughout the house ;)

change of plan for our week off - decided it would be a tad cold at night for camping in Norfolk, lovely days but cold nights.

Today us and the 3 dogs went to Hardwick Hall for a walk round the Estate, its about 15 minutes in the car from our doorstep so we left about 11am so we could nicpic in the Park. We walked from the Park car park, up to the Halls and through the newly revamped StableYards (now a lovely restaurant, gift and plant shop) and continued along Lady Spencer's walk and then back towards the halls and car parks.

    Hardwick Old Hall peeping over the

 treeline as we walked up the estate 

    on the left is Hardwick New Hall and

on the right is the Old Hall

Hardwick Old Hall is the original family home of Bess of Hardwick, she was one of the richest and most remarkable women of Elizabethan England. she had the Hardwick New Hall built later in the 1590s, literally a few hundred yards away.
I think English Heritage owns the Old Hall, you can still go in and have a look around, but you can also see some of the upstairs decorative panels from the outside.

two stags over an upstairs hearth.

 

One day we will go in both halls.

Murtle, my Beagle sticking her tongue out at the ball *g*

 

Spent a lovely couple of hours there and even managed to get some great photos for my Fungi collection. Obsessed much!

no idea what these are but there was a lot of clumps on this tree, and there was a lovely fragrant smell around them.

 

 

 

 

       this one is a Piptoporus betulinus -

 Birch Polypore.

 

 

 



wedding acceptance

Never had to make a card for this occasion, so many images to use but I eventually settled for the swirly frame, did the card in CAP, then embellished it with a butterfly - to tie in with the Invitation which had a small butterfly in the corner

 

used glossy photo paper and layered it onto black cardstock to keep it co-ordinated and simple. The swirly frame came from The Graphic Fairy.

 

 

Another card using one of the preprinted digi stamps, backing papers from Crafts Beautiful to match and used pale pink, almond, lemon and pastel green promarkers to balalnce the flower.

A Happy birthday for a friend at work, something a bit bolder than want I normally do, using Debbi Moore papers.

and a sheet of music paper from a charity bargain buy.

its been ages since I crafted hence the away time from here, had 'a touch of the vapours' as they used to call it in the old days but you don't really want to know about that, I bore myself rigid with it, let alone any one else. Surfice to say hanging on by my fingertips...... only just.

Anyhoo, a birthday card which is also suitable as an open card.

Coloured the pre-printed Daisy & Dandelion digi stamp with matching promarkers.

just exactly who's idea was it to move from photobucket to flickr???
Mmmmm?

Some nice rota-ing at work has given me three days off together. So what do I do on my first day? Not alot! Really hot here, am melting just typing.

Played in CAP and came up with this A5 card -

Used an image from the graphic fairy, and then used a couple of digi materials, a ribbon and finally clustered the flowers together, adding a little gold centre.