Gingerbread Love...

Today's card is one for my daughter Shelley - I always send both girls a card on Valentine's day and usually some choccies too.

The digi image I've used is from The Stamping Boutique.  Isn't she just the cutest?  Her name is Audrey and she is part of a really fab collection of digi images.  I was so lucky to win at Sweet Sketch Wednesday last week and my prize was to choose five fabulous images.  Wow it was a tough decision as they are all gorgeous.  Think Audrey will be appearing on a lot of my cards over the next few weeks.

To create my card I used the sketch over at Friday Sketchers.  Love this sketch and was amazed to find it led me into using something unheard of!  Scissors!!!  Oh my goodness we all get so used to using our die cutting machines that sometimes we forget that a humble pair of scissors can sometimes be just what we need , especially when you just haven't got the right size oval!

As love is in the air almost everywhere this weekend my card is also for the challenges at...

• Crafty Calender Challenges - love and friendship with hearts
• Tuesday Taggers - Love is all around
• My Time to Craft - Hearts and Kisses
• Simon Says Stamp - What's love got to do with it?
• Daring Card Makers - Have a Heart 
• Rainbow Lady - Wearing Red and hearts.

The thing I absolutely love about digis is the way you can resize them to create inners simply and quickly.  Here's the inner to this card.  It's not very detailed but was done super fast and is I think just that bit more special than a blank page.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend.

Ann xxx

Bah! Humbug! - Challenge 6 - Snowmen...

Yeah it's Friday and that means it's Christmas time at Bah! Humbug!  This week it was my turn to choose the challenge and as I'm crazy about snowmen images I decided to make them our theme.  I daren't count how many snowmen stamps I have, both rubber and digi, but I reckon they are like shoes and bags and you can never have too many.
The stamps I've used are from a clear set by Kars in the Olifant range.  These are on sale at Funky Kits at the moment and at £4.43 a set are a huge bargain.
As soon as I saw these stamps I knew they would be great to use on this style of card with the concertina base and acetate roof.  Great fun to do and even though not pink the card has had the royal seal of approval from Laura (and she is very fussy).
My other card made in this way is here with some instructions for the folds although on today's card the two middle folds were both 1.5 inches.  I guess as long as the folds fit on the card you can do them as big or as small as you like.
Here's a close up of the concertina part... 

As you can see I used torn card edged with glitter to give a snowy floor effect.  As the boy and snowman were coloured with Promarkers I glued them to white paper before cutting out so that the seepage through the card of the Promarker ink would not be visable.


My card is also for the challenges at...

• Tanda Teaser - Quick and cute (hmmm definitely cute, but I'm not good at quick cards - I like to mess around trying different things.  This was relatively quick though as I've done the design before and know the measurements). 
• ABC Challenge - New Stash - my stamp set is new.

Have a super weekend with lots of crafting time everyone.  Hope you'll have chance to play with your snowmen images and join our challenge at Bah! Humbug!  Really looking forward to seeing what everyone comes up with.

Happy Birthday to The Pink Elephant...

 

I really can't believe that a whole year has passed since the very first card I did as a member of The Pink Elephant design team.  What an amazing year it's been too and such a privilege to work and share ideas and friendship with such a great group of girls.  Love you all at TPE.

Today I'm at work ( 10.00 till 22.00 - definitely need sympathy and violins), but over at The Pink Elephant there is an amazing blog hop starting today and continuing over the next few days.  So if you have time grab a cup of coffee and head over there to join in the fun and maybe win some prizes along the way.

Meanwhile, please humour me while I take a little tour through a couple of my favourite cards made for TPE challenges over the last year.

Challenge 2 - All that glitters...

 Challenge 24 - Animals

Challenge 39 - Brown, Yellow, Neutral and a colour of your choice

Have a wonderful day everyone wherever you are and whatever you are doing.  Oh and if you've notice the changed of blog colours and design yet again - the pink I had yesterday had to go it was giving me headache!!!

Ann xxx

Pink Elephant Day - a mushy gushy Valentine Card...

Today is a day of lurve at The Pink Elephant!  It's time to bring out the hearts and roses and anything romantic you can find in your stash.

I used the amazing sketch at A Spoonful of Sugar, but I'm really cross with myself, because I don't think I've done the sketch justice at all.  I may try again with different colours and stamps. 

All three stamps - the border squiggle, the open letter and the larger rose design are from a romantic set by Penny Black.  I stamped onto cream card and coloured the rose and leaves with Promarkers.  The large image was also stamped on to vellum and then the letter and rose was matted on top using foam pads to give depth.

My card is also for the challenges at...

• Creative Card Crew - Valentines
• Tanda Teaser - for a loved one
• C.R.A.F.T. - Valentines
• Fussy and Fancy - Hearts
• Raise the Bar - Hearts
• Stamp Something - love somethings
• Pile it on - Love is in the air.

Phew I think love is definitely in the air looking at how many challenges have a love theme at the moment.  Thank you everyone for looking and leaving such amazing comments that always make my day.

Tomorrow at The Pink Elephant we are celebrating our first birthday as a challenge blog and to mark the occasion there's a rather special blog hop happening so hope you'll be able to join us at TPE tomorrow.