Cute Card Thursday 'Lilac Card Challenge'

Hi all, hope you're having a good weekend even though it's blooming cold. Hubby and I went on a very long walk this afternoon, very bracing, but I'm trying hard to lose a few pounds for Christmas (only so I can eat and drink to put the same amount back on, lol).

This week's Cute Card Thursday Challenge has called for a 'Lilac Card', so here's mine. I've used my cute elzybells Eskimo stamp and coloured him with Whispers pens. The background papers are by sweetshoppedesigns. They came out sort of Lilac looking when I printed them out, a problem with my ink cartridge in the printer I think, as they're not supposed to be this colour. I thought they would be ok to use on this card. The Eskimo has been mounted using Nestabilities die cut and a bit of ribbon to finish.

Dawny's Sketch #3

This week's Papertake Weekly Challenge is a fab sketch by Dawny P. Check out her blog if you haven't already, she makes lovely cards.

The reindeer stamp is an elzybells coloured with Whispers pens. The background papers are downloads and the sentiment is a HOTP stamp, and finally, a couple of Sizzix snowflakes.

Merry Christmas

A quick post today as I really need to get more Christmas cards done.

A card made using my NEC purchases. Penny Black Critters clear stamps, they're so cute. The papers are K & Co that I've had for ages and the Holly stamp is HOTP. The holy punch is Fiskars. Oh, and I've added some googly eyes, which look fun.

Hope you're all having a great weekend and it's not too cold where you are! No snow here at the moment, shame, I was hoping to be snowed in so no work tomorrow, don't think it's gonna happen.

Crisp and White

Ooops, I've been very lapse with my blogging lately. Had lots of sorting out since changing over broadband supplier. It's been such a hassle, you just don't realise how many things you have to change when you have a new e-mail address, so that's where all my time has been taken up.

Thank you to those that have been visiting and especially if you've left me a comment. I'm going to try to spend some time tomorrow getting back to people who have left me messages and hopefully catch up.

I'm just going to add a couple of cards I've done this week. One is using my lovely Eskimo stamp from Elyzbells. I'm not too keen on this card, I think the HOTP papers are a bit overpowering to go with this stamp. Personally, I think the Elzybells images really need plain and simple layouts.

Anyway, the image has been coloured with watercolour pencils and as I said, the paper is by HOTP and I've used my scallop and circle nestabilities for the centre of the card. I've used my new Martha Stewart punch for the bottom edge. The two embellishments were cut from an Ellison's thin cut die. (Oh, and the sentiment is also Elzybells.)

This is something a bit different for me. A few years ago, I bought a brayer and some stamps from Clarity Stamps at the NEC. I was so in awe of Barbara Gray's cards and she made it look so easy that I had to have a go. Anyway, needless to say, I couldn't get to grips with the brayer when I go home, my cards certainly didn't look like Barbara's, so the brayer went into the back of the drawer not to see daylight again until last weekend.

Last Saturday I went to the NEC for the Hobbycraft show and this time saw the Lavinia Stamps stall. The lady on the stand also uses the brayer to create some beautiful cards, so I was inspired yet again to have another go. I bought the Santa Sleigh silhouette and tree stamp and returned home determined to crack the brayer.

I tried and tried and tried and then after lots of failed attempts this is the one that came close to me being sort of happy with the result. It's been a really time consuming card, but I gotta admit, I did enjoy it.

I cut out a circle to mask off an area in the sky and brayered the top and then moved it to the bottom of the card to do a reflection at the bottom. I followed the technique Barbara often demonstrates at the craft fayre for doing a reflection of the sleigh and trees and finally added a few dots of glitter, hey presto!

So, if you, like me, have a brayer hidden in a drawer somewhere at home, go one, get it out and have another go! You'll enjoy it, promise.

Let it Snow

Here is a card using my favourite Bella 'Snowbella'. I've coloured her with watercolour pencils and added some glitter to her cuffs, hat and boots. The background was done using Cuttlebug snowflake embossing folder and the snowflake is a Cuttlebug die. The 'Let it snow' sentiment is an Elybells stamp.

Yeah! Back at last

Yeah, back at last, it's taken over two weeks to change service providers for our broadband. You'd think it would be just a matter of flicking a switch from one to the other, but the hassle has been awful, I've been pulling my hair out trying to get it sorted. Anyway, it is sorted now and I've missed blogging and blog hopping soooo much, I've got lots of catching up to do. Thanks to those of you that have been visiting and leaving comments and I know I have some awards and tags to sort out.

I've managed to use my daughters laptop a couple of times, so have had little glimpses of what you've all been up to, but I will try to visit all my favourites soon.

One (and the only) bonus for not having access to the internet is that you can actually concentrate on making cards. Here is one I did for my daughter's friend's birthday. It's a Pink Petticoat image and papers, which I've been dying to use for ages, and the layout is one of Katharina's that I've used before and really like. The 'Happy Birthday Lucy' sentiment was done on the computer. It's great to be back!!!