Scalloped circle easel card

I used the Belleek Pottery inspired technique again for the background of this card. I really love how it makes the embossing pop when you use an embossing folder.  The folder I've used in this case is Cuttlebug Divine Swirl and I used a Versacolor pad in Orchid for the background colour.  You can find the Belleek technique here on the Splitcoaststampers website.  

I used my Grand Scalloped Circle and Grand Circle nesties for the card base and inner circle.  (btw, I got a couple of sets of Grand Nesties on sale at Hobbycraft this week - £19.99 per set, so if you have a Hobbycraft near you and would like to grab a bargain, pop in and see if they have any left).

The flowers and butterfly punches are from Crafts Too and the leaves are a Sizzix die.  I dotted some Liquid Pearls in the centres of the flowers and along the bodies of the butterflies.

The sentiment and oval punches are from Stampin Up.

I'm going to have a play with my Craft Artist Professional this afternoon - such a fun piece of software and so easy to use.  I'm hoping to make some mini albums and get some more use out of my Bind It All machine.

Hope you're having a good weekend so far.

Sue.x

Faux Letterpress

I'm sure you're all sick to death of me bleating on about my Cameo, so for this post I promise I won't mention it again.  So, for something completely different:

I thought I'd have a go at the Faux Letterpress tutorial by Beate here on the Splitcoaststampers blog.  What a great technique, I love it - it's so easy.  I don't get nearly enough use out of my embossing folders, so I will definitely be doing more of this.

Here's the card I made with it:

I used a Cuttlebug embossing folder and Weathered Wood Distress Ink for the faux letterpress - I hope you can see the colours ok.  The Distress Ink has given a kind of dotty effect - I quite like it, but will try a different sort of ink next time for a more solid colour.


  I also used my new Spellbinders Fleur De Lis die and various other punches for the rest.  The sentiment is from Stamping Up and I used the same Distress Ink to stamp it.

Sue.x

Red and Orange

Hope you've been having a great weekend. What glorious weather it's been considering the time of year. Lovely for taking a walk and seeing all the beautiful colours nature gives us in autumn - stunning.

I've used some of those stunning colours for my card today; red and orange which also work for the two challenges I'm entering it into: bonfire/firework colours.

Here's what I used:

Shaped card cut out on my Silhouette

Lavinia leaves, Fairy and Toadstool stamps

Stamping Up Pocket Silhouettes

Versafine Onyx black inkpad

Fired Brick and Wild Honey Distress Inks

Tim Holtz blender applicator and sponges

Fine glitter

Liquid pearls

This was a lovely messy one to do. Inky fingers all over the place, great fun.

Here's the challenges I'm entering:

http://cutecardthursday.blogspot.com/2011/11/challenge-189-baby-youre-firework.html

http://simplylessismoore.blogspot.com/2011/11/week-40.html

That's it from me. I'm off to play with some of my NEC goodies this afternoon. 

Bye for now.

Sue.x

Less is more week 37 - Cocktail

It's been a week since I last posted - I know I'm useless. I really don't seem to be able to get this time management thing.

I have managed to get a card done today though, thanks to the lovely Chrissie and Mandi for setting these Less is More challenges each week or I don't think I would get anything posted.

For this week's challenge, the ladies have asked for :

COCKTAIL

You may interpret this however you wish... your favourite tipple, the colours of a cocktail or a simply cocktail of colours. Let your imagination run with this one, it will be interesting to see how imaginative you can be.

If you'd like to to part, visit the blog at: http://simplylessismoore.blogspot.com/2011/10/week-37.html

Here's my card

Not particularly imaginative, but I don't seem to have a lot of that either (imagination that is). 

The stamps are Stampin Up - Cheers to You set.  

I used my Whispers pens for a change to colour the images and some nesties for the sentiment.

Before I go I just have to show you this.  My daughter e-mailed me this photo earlier (for those that don't know she's in Melbourne at the moment) -  look who she bumped into today:

She was at the Westfield Store Geelong to see the Gok Wan Live show and she and her friend managed to chat to him at the end.  How amazing! (If you're a Gok fan that is).

That's it from me. I'm looking forward to a few glasses of red , some choccy and Downton Abbey later on.  Bye for now, I hope you have a great evening and thanks for dropping by.

Sue.x

THE COLOUR OF YOUR EYES

is the theme for this week's lessismore challenge.  This took a bit of thinking about cause I have green eyes and it's not a colour I use often.

Here's what I came up with:

Green definitely is not my favourite colour, but I'm quite pleased with how it turned out.

Here's what I used:

Clarity large leaf swirl stamp

Hero Arts Antique Engravings butterflies

Stampin Up Scalloped punch

Stampin Up oval punch

Stampin Up sentiment stamp

Adirondack Mountain Sky inkpad

I scored a couple of lines at the top and bottom of the card and decoupaged the butterflies.

While I'm at it (I've been a very bad blogger lately), here are a few other things I've been doing this week:

I thought it was time to get cracking on some Christmas cards, I know a lot of you will have started months ago, but I always leave it to the last minute.


I've used Milly from digistampboutique and coloured her with Promarkers
Cuttlebug embossing folder
A bit of stitching
Ribbon and brad from stash


You may have read in previous posts that my daughter was off to Australia for 6 months for part of her gap year.  Well she's gone. Sob, sob!  She's au pairing for a family with an 8 year old girl so I made her as couple of items to give to the little girl when she arrived:

The base card was printed using my Tatty Teddy cd and then the box shape cut out on my Silhouette.  The image is also from the cd.  Lauren intended to fill it with sweets but had to do it when she arrived at the airport in Melbourne because of strict rules the Aussie's have about bringing foodstuff into the country.


And this little bookmark, again using my Tatty Teddy cd and a scalloped nestie.

This is the back:



and here's how it looks on the corner of a book page:

Quite fun little projects, I hope Nina liked them.


Ok, that's enough from me.  Sorry about the long post, but I had a bit of catching up to do.

Sue.x

Less is More Week 30 - Recipe

I've missed loads of the Less is More challenges recently so have given myself the day off from housework and gardening to do some craft (typical that the sun has come out today - my craft room faces west and only has a small window so it's a bit gloomy until late afternoon). 

The challenge for this week is a Recipe - Take 3 Challenges and this is the spec:

We want you to choose 3 from any of our previous 29 and combine them in your design.

For my card the 3 challenges I have chosen are:

Week 18 - Monochrome - Versafine Crimson Red for the image and sentiment

Week 15 - Embossing - dry embossed lines above and below the image

Week 6 - Off the edge - my rollergraph wheel stamp

I think I can also include Week 28 - Use ink as I masked off my card and inked around the image - a technique I have used before so I think I will call it a favourite technique. I've thrown this one in just in case one of my others didn't fit the bill.

Here it is from a different angle - as usual my photo is a little dark and not showing the true colour.

Oh, the only other thing I added was a few crystals.

Thanks for stopping by, please visit again.

Sue.x

More Tatty Teddy

I've been umming and ahhing about whether or not to buy the Docrafts Tatty Teddy cd rom recently launched on Create and Craft.  I really do love this little bear, but do I want to spend that much on a cd when I have so many other things on my wish list?  Tough one!

Until I make up my mind, I bought this little stamp to keep me going.  I'm quite surprised at how small some of the stamps in this range are. Anyone else think this?

Anyway, he's very easy to colour.  Ice Cool grey 1 and 2 Promarkers for his fur and Artic blue for his nose. The brolly was coloured with Versacolour Orchid ink pad - the same one I used to create the background.

I've also treated myself to the Waltzingmouse Gingham &Co background stamps - they're fab and I can see them being used alot.

As you probably expected, I used my super, brilliant, fabulous, I'm so in love with it, Silhouette to cut the doily and also to make a mat for the punched out word window label (Stampin Up).  The scalloped edge was also done with a Stampin up punch - Scalloped edge.

Hope you like it and don't get too bored with all the Tatty Teddy cards I'm sure will be appearing very shortly.  I get the feeling the cd was very popular.

Sue.x

Criss Cross Graduation card

Whoo hoo!  We've just found out that our youngest daughter has gained a First Class degree in Law with Business from the University of Birmingham.  We are totally overwhelmed and so very proud of her.  She's worked really hard for this and really does deserve it.

For her card, I decided to make my first Criss Cross card. A bit of a change from my usual 6 x 6 square.

The cute images are digis from Bugaboo.  She reminds me of my little Polly (our nickname for her) when she was a little girl.

I used Promarkers to colour the image and used the computer for the sentiments.

The papers are HoTP Paper Pizazz called Mixing Baby.  The colour of the collar for the Law school at Birmingham is olive green which is why I chose these colours.

I used Labels Two nesties to mat and layer and of course my usual Silhouette contribution is the lattice fence and leaves.

Swirl is a Sizzlet

Tab punch is from Stampin Up.

I'll put some piccies of her in her Mortar Board and gown after the graduation ceremony on the 15th.

I'm going to enter this into this week's

i love promarkers challenge which has a theme of 'Anything Goes'.

totally papercrafts challenge - Spots and Stripes

Treat yourself

A really quick post. I'm trying to get some gardening done and I'm just dodging a really heavy shower at the moment.

I used Pink Petticoat image for this card.  I thought the gingham paper looked a bit like a tablecloth (Pink Petticoat paper).  The sentiment is also part of the cakestand package.

Again, I used my Silhouette to cut around the shape and coloured it in with Promarkers. I used foam squares to mount it onto the card.  

I used Stamping Up punches for the sentiment and the scalloped edge.

Ok, it's stopped raining so I'm off back to the garden.

Sue.x

Less is More Week 19 - In the Frame

Good morning all on this wet and miserable Sunday.  At least the weather has given me the opportunity to get my card for this week's lessismore challenge done early for a change.  

The theme Mandi and Chrissie have set this week is for a one layer card featuring a frame of some description.

For my card I've once again dug out one of those neglected, never been used stamps I've got lurking in my stash. This is a La Pasche foam stamp I bought from QVC yonks ago.  It's simply been stamped with Memento ink and coloured with Promarkers and I just added a sentiment using a stamp from a Stamping Up set. That's it!

Right, I'm off to look at some of the other entries.  Hope you have a good day.

Sue.x

Less is more week 6 - Off the edge

Phew! Only just made this week's lessismore challenge, but the beauty of these one layer cards is that they are so quick to do.

For this card I simply masked off an area, applied Versacolor Orchid ink using a brush and stamped the butterfly (starting off the edge of course).  I added a bit more of the ink on the wings of the butterflies and then stamped my sentiment. How quick is that!!!

The butterfly stamps are Hero Arts Antique Engravings and the sentiment stamp is Stampin Up!

Another great challenge from Chrissie and Mandi, I really do enjoy taking part.  Can't wait to see what they come up with tomorrow. 

Sue.x

Cute Card Thursday - Challenge 155 Happy 3rd Birthday

Hi folks! Sorry but another really quick post today.  March is always a busy month for me, loads of birthdays and these last couple of weeks I seem to have been rushing from pillow to post.

Anyway, onto the card:

Another of my winning digis from the Digistampboutique - Misty

Papers are Shabby Princess

Image coloured with Promarkers

Stampin up word window punch

Bookworm font for the sentiment

Flower from stash

I'm going to enter this into cutecardthursday challenge for this week. The theme is birthday with the optional addition of it being for a three year old as it's their 3rd birthday.

Thanks for dropping by and for any comments you leave. Hope to pop round to visit you all soon.

Sue.x

Card made using my Digistamp Boutique prize

Here's my first card made with one of the digistampboutique images I won from the Charisma cardz challenge.

I've used Alf with beer - he's been coloured with Promarkers.

The background paper is DCWV that I've had in my stash for yonks.

The sentiment was done on the computer (Bookworm font) and punched out with Stampin Up word window punch.

I'm going to enter this card into the following challenges:

http://promarkerchallenge.blogspot.com/2011/03/week-90-theme.html 

http://movingalongwiththetimes.blogspot.com/2011/03/challenge-89-card-project-for-male.html 

Sorry for the quick post - not enough hours in the day.

Sue.x

Less is more challenge and my Charisma Cardz challenge win

Afternoon all, hope you're well!

This is my card for this week's http://simplylessismoore.blogspot.com/ challenge.  The theme is to use pastel.

I'm later than usual with this one and have to admit to struggling a bit with it.  First I had a loss of mojo - I just couldn't think of what to do, and then when I decided, I just couldn't get the positioning of the petals right.  I've chucked away 3 or 4 pieces of card. I nearly threw in the towel!

The stamp set I used is Stamping Up's Pick a Petal - stamped in Versacolour Orchid and black for the outline stamp.

The sentiment is also Stampin Up.

I used my Scor Pal to emboss the lines around the edge of the card and a saucer to create the stem of the flower.

I just have to share this with you.

I was lucky enought to win last week's charismacardz challenge for this card, and here's what a won:

Six fabulous stamps from the digistampboutique.  Aren't the fab!   I'm dead chuffed as I love Sally'Ann's images.  Can't wait to have a play with them.

Bye for now, and thanks for stopping by.

Sue.x

Less is more

A new challenge has just started this week, called Less is more, which as you all know is my favourite kinda card.  The challenge for this week is black, white and pink - a fab colour combo.

This was so quick and easy to do - I used my rollagraph wheel and Versafine Onyx black of the image at the bottom of the card; some Anna Griffin pink ribbon; a punched out butterfly and a couple of tiny pink crystals and a sentiment stamp by Stampin Up. Voila! Finished.

Photo Inspiration & Banish the Blues

Hooray, it's the weekend, hope you've all had a good week!

I've made a card for the aspoonfullofsugarchallenge and  cutecardthursday challenges.  

A spoon full of sugar's challenge is a photo inspiration - to use red, pink and orange on your card and Cute Card Thursday is for a card to banish the blues using a funny image or sentiment. 

I think this digi image from bugaboostamps fits the bill and I've used orange, pink and red papers, all from Anna Griffin.

The image has been coloured with Prisma pencils and I've added some stitching around the papers for an added effect.

I may as well just pop this card on too, while I'm at it:

I wanted to make a card using some stash that I've had for ages and not got round to using yet.  The stamp is a beautiful background stamp by Anna Griffin, stamped with an Anna Griffin inkpad and then embossed.  The punch I bought from the NEC in November.  The sentiment I bought in the Stampin Up sale.  The brad is from Papermania - again, another kit I've had stashed away for ages. 

Thanks for dropping by and have a good weekend.x

My first card of 2011

My first card for 2011  - a really quick and easy CAS card. 

I remembered yesterday it's a colleague at work's birthday tomorrow and I needed to get a card done quick smart, and here it is. 

I started with 6x6 card and used a square nestie to emboss the centre before adding the cupcake image and sentiment from the Crazy for Cupcakes set by Stampin Up.  I then stamped it onto holographic silver card  and cut out the case, then another one onto off white card and layered them together.  I added red glaze to the sprinkles and a touch of yellow to the candle flame. To finish I added some ribbon and a bow. Easy peasy - just how I like it!

Thanks for stopping by and have a good week.x

Cute Card Thursday Challenge - 'What's buggin you?'

Hi folks, hope you're having a great weekend and enjoying the gorgeous autumn sunshine.  I've not had much time to get in my craft room lately, hence a long time since my last post.  I've a couple of birthday's coming up this month, but haven't yet decided on the cards I'm going to make , so I decided to have a go at this week's cutecardthursdaychallenge 'What's buggin you'.

I've had this butterfly and border, which was cut out using my Silhouette machine, for some time so wanted to use them on my card.  I've also been wanting to try some Kraft card too.

I just added the stitching and a bit of Tea Dye Distress ink to give a bit of a natural feel and used a Stampin Up stamp for the sentiment.

I've been  umming and aaahring over the butterfly, not quite sure if I like it. Oh well, too late now.x

Bit of an experiment

I've had a little play today with a Hero Arts stamp I've had for years, but was never very sure what to do with it.  I'm undecided if I like this look or not, but I think I'll keep experimenting.

I've stamped with different tones of pinks and purples to give a kind of shadow effect.  It was quite a quick card to do - the most time consuming bit was the pricking around the edge. The little sentiment stamp is from an SU set and the background card is also SU.

Right, I think I'll go and dig out a few more old stamps that have never inked - there's plenty of them.lol.x

Birthday Wishes

Splitcoast Stampers CAS challenge is for a card featuring some dry embossing.  Perfect, as I had already got this background card done and just had to add some other bits. 

The embossed background is a Cuttlebug folder.

The flower, (it kinda looks a bit bedraggled on the photo - it does look better IRL - promise),  was done using the Silhouette to cut out the layers - I've used this one before in another post.  The label was also cut out with the Silhouette and the edges inked. 

The lovely leaf stem is a Sizzix Sizzlet die which I covered with silver embossing powder a couple of times and heated with a heat gun.

The sentiment is from the SU Sincere Sentiments set and the bit of ribbon is from Do-Craft.