Karma Award...

Thank you so much to Ann at the Spirit of Creativity for this award.

The award says (and for some strange reason I can no longer copy and paste into postings if I try the whole thing closes down so I am typing this out)...

These blogs are exceedingly charming and fantastic and wonderful (whoops think I added some extra bits in there). These kind of bloggers aim to find and be friends (I have certainly found some great blogging buddies). They are not interested in self-aggrandisement. Our hope is when the ribbons of these prizes are cut even more friendships will be started.

At this point I am supposed to pass this on to 8 friends and I always find that so hard as I really want to say the above about all my blogging buddies. So if you are passing by please read the words of the award and give yourself a little pat on the back cause it applies to you and your blog too.

Dare 2 Digi and Cutie Sunday...

I had this adorable little Dorothy and Toto digi image by the Greeting Farm already coloured so it seemed a shame not to make her up into a card for the challenge at Dare 2 Digi. This week they want people to use the colours pink and green - very convenient for me as I had already given Dorothy a pink and green outfit.

As I have had very little time today I used the brilliantly easy sketch from Cutie Sunday and put the card together super fast. There may be some very wobbly edges so don't look tooooooooo closely. The little bone button turned up during my massive (ongoing) sort out session - isn't it cute?

Happy St. George's Day...

Pink Elephant Part Two...

This is my other contribution for our challenge at the Pink Elephant. This week we have a double theme and everyone can choose whether to make a card for Mum or do some recycling.

This is my card for the Mum theme - a vellum fan attached to a pale blue mat and embellished with gemstones. The stamp is the large fan blade by Dimension Fourth and was stamped on to vellum and embossed in silver 6 times before being cut out and fastened together using a jewelled brad.

After I had made the card a friend called round, saw the card and asked if I could do one for her to give an elderly relative, which led to me doing the pink version below.

I think I prefer the pink one and that's unusual for me - maybe Laura is having a bad influence on me!

Both cards include two of my favourite things - rubber stamping and vellum. I love stamping on vellum and embossing it - it's a beautiful effect. Favourite things is the theme at Dutch Dare this week so my two cards are both suitable for their challenge.

Graduation Card...

Oh I have so many cards to do this week and this is not really one I need to make desperately, but when my new Leere Aldrich stamp arrived from Crafts U Love I just had to have a go at making a card for Laura's graduation in June.

I'm embarrassed to say that my daughter is a Paris Hilton Pink Person - yuk! She will love this image of a girl graduating with lots of bling, pink accessories and perfect pooch! Well at least I hope she will!

The card is also for the ABC challenge where we have reached the letter J and the team are focussing on 'Jagged Edges'. I hope my punched jagged edge counts - I must admit my first attempt at this card was more jagged as it had a few different punched layers, but sad to say it had a fatal accident in the trimmer and was sent to a better place.

Oh alright then it went in the bin, but don't tell anyone I'm wasting good card.

I would have entered this for another challenge, but discovered that they have restrictions and only accept cards done exclusively for them. How do you feel about that? I find it annoying and tend not to enter at all. I really can't see the point of not being able to combine challenges, but hey ho that's just me.

Whiff of Joy Summer Stamp Kit...

Katharina at Creative Ideas by Katharina is offering the chance to win the Whiff of Joy Summer Stamp Kit to two lucky people.

ooooooooooooooooh sigh isn't that just brilliant? Check it out, but please don't win cause I'd quite like to!!!

Cuttle bug folder storage idea...

As promised earlier this morning - more recycling! Can you guess what the recycled object is here?

Yes, I finished the chocolates and was able to make this storage container for my small cuttlebug embossing folders with an empty Ferrero Rocher container (200 g size - the one with 16 choccies). The container is just a perfect size for these folders.

I cut the pale blue rectangles on my Cricut at 2.75" - love the ability of the machine to automatically cut as many as will fit on a page. I found I had to trim a tiny bit off the side as the lid was catching slightly. I also rounded the top corners to ensure a smoother lid closure.

Each of the divider cards has a sample of the embossing on it and the name of the set it comes from. I'm really pleased with this storage as it should mean that I can now find my folders far more easily.

In the lead up to Earth Day on the 22nd April many challenge blogs, just like we are at the Pink Elephant, are asking crafters to really think about recycling - something we all should do far more often. At Our Creative Corner there are some amazing cards by their design team that include recycled items and their challenge for crafters this week is to create a card or project using some recycled materials.

Pink Elephant Day - Challenge 11

This week at the Pink Elephant we are thinking about recycling materials to use in our craftwork. The recycled part of the card I am showing today is the Iris Folded heart and Tilda's outfit, which were both created using the patterned inside of envelopes.

Iris Folding is a paper crafting technique that started in Holland. My friend, Cobi, who originates from the city of Amsterdam first showed me this technique and explained how originally the paper folded and used to create the patterns was actually the patterned insides of envelopes. I started to open my mail with new interest - it is unbelievable how many shades of blue and different patterns you can collect in a very short time. Even bills become more interesting!

The heart I stamped and iris folded is from a whole range of Iris Folding stamps by Personal Impressions and each one includes the pattern for the Iris Folding on the stamp. You can also obtain loads of free patterns and guidance at http://www.irisfolding.circleofcrafters.com/.

To continue the blue envelope inner theme I also stamped Tilda onto the envelope inners and paper pieced to create her clothing.

I hope you will find time to join in our challenge this week - I would really love to see what you can find to recycle. Do check out what my talented friends on our Design Team have come up with and if you get chance call back to my blog later cause as soon as I have eaten the last of my Ferrero Rocher I am going to do some more recycling ...

and it involves Cuttlebug folders!!!

Watch this space!!

NEWS UPDATE - The Challenge at the Pink Elephant this week is not only recycling - we are just tooooooooooooooooo good to our participants - this week you have a choice!!! You can do a card for MUM or RECYCLING! How cool is that and of course if you are really clever (like me - lol) you can combine the two!!!