Bah! Humbug!...

I'm sorry, but the snow I like is glittered and on Christmas cards.  The real stuff is also okay for the occasional country walk, sledging and building snowmen, but on no account should it fall when people need to get to work or even worse know that they have a huge parcel from Graphicus stranded at the Post Office and there is no way they can get their hands on it.  Eeek!

Anyway grumble over and on to more fun things such as this totally cute House Mouse stamp from one of the sets on the Joanna Sheen website.  How cute is he?  I love him to meeces!

I missed the last challenge at the House Mouse and Friends Challenge blog and was determined not to miss this one which is all about the 'envelope'.  To compensate for missing out last time I did a card to match the envelope.  Actually not sure which came first - a bit like the chicken and the egg query really.

The envelope was stamped with the mouse and then using another stamp set in my collection I stamped the ground and the snowballs using a bit of masking and a pen to join things up.  I coloured the image using Promarkers.  I was a bit unsure as to how they would blend on the envelope paper and I must admit I put an protective piece inside the envelope just incase the ink went through, but it all seemed to work fine. The snowflakes are one of the really tiny corner stamps by Clarity bought at a show years ago and were stamped in Versefine Sepia.  I added the address to the photo only - I don't really know Maxwell's address!

My card is a really simple one with the mouse image mounted on a fab die cut by Nellie Snellen and then matted on some of my favourite wording paper by DCWV.  Organza ribbon, die cut tags and corner peel offs have been added for a touch of oomph.

My card and envelope set is perfect for the following challenges...

• House Mouse and Friends Challenge Blog - Envelope Art
• Crazy 4 Challenges - Script (background paper)
• Promarker Challenge - Old and New (new is House Mouse stamp - old is DCWV paper and snowflake corner stamp)

Well, I'm off for a walk in the snow.  I must be mad, but I do think that it will be really beautiful on the pastures near us and am hoping to take some good snowy day photos.  Also hoping that Pasture's Lodge is open too as I think on a cold day their lasagne, garlic bread and chips meal would go down very nicely accompanied by a glass (or two) of red wine.

Have a good day all and keep warm and safe.

Ann xxx

Under the sea...

This is a card made (rather late in the day!) for the card swap on a forum I belong to.  The theme was 'Under the Sea'.  As I received the most exquisite card from my swap partner the pressure was really on to create something worthy to send on to her.

I decided to use my Clarity mermaid stamp and bravely use my Perfect Pearls and Versemark ink pad. I say bravely as I haven't used Perfect Pearls for a while and wasn't sure if what I visualised would work or not.  

I really wanted to use blues to give 'sea' like feel and gold to add richness.  I tried a few versions - at one stage doing the bubbles in blue and green but it was impossible to get the definition of the colours so in the end I went for quite a simple look with just blue and green on the fin and everything else in gold.

I love the Cuttlebug bubble embossing folder for sea effects and used that to create the two panels.  As you can see the Marianne flower die crept in on the act.  It wasn't on the original plan for this card, but I couldn't find my shell stamps so had to use it to embellish the corner.  My daughter and resident critique says the flower works as the swirls give a sea weed/wave effect and the flower is like the kind a mermaid would wear in her hair.  Sometimes daughters are lovely - sometimes the comments are so bad a card gets demolished and a lot of rethinking takes place.

This is the card I did last time using this stamp way back in July last year.  The details are here .

As well as being for the swap my card is also for the challenges at...

• Rainbow Lady's Challenge - Ocean Shades (hmmmm I really should have read Cynthia's challenge more carefully as I completely missed the bit about using initials on the card - what about if we count the bubbles as 'o's Cynthia and then it could stand for Oh (as in 'Oh can I get away with this one?)
• Stamp Something - Celebrate - sometimes we don't need a specific reason it's good just to say 'Happy Everything'.

Well have a super day everyone.  I'm returning to Slimming World after a couple of months off - ouch how much damage have I done?  May have to call at my favourite craft outlet on the way there to cheer myself up.

Ann xxx

Happy Birthday Susan...

I do hope my friend Susan likes this card.  She doesn't have a blog, but is such a talented card maker that I got myself in a real tizz making this card.  I wanted it to be really special as she is celebrating a one of the big number birthdays - 21 again - lol!

Materials used...

• Kanban tree stamps - stamped using Memento black and then embellished with gems and a touch of glitter
• Sentiment stamp by Clarity
• silver embossed white vellum (in stash for 4 years and now used before completely wore out by all the stroking)
• silver mirri card and black base card
• Swiss Dots cuttlebug folder

Challenges...

• A Spoonful of Sugar - Happy Birthday
• Rainbow Lady - Trees

Have a fun day everyone.

Ann xxx

More Favourite Flowers...

Today sees the last two of my sample cards for the Favourite Flowers stamps by Joanna Sheen.

The bluebell card has a punched frame border, which I made using one of those fantastic Papermania punches I bought a couple of weeks back. If you missed my tutorial on how to make the frame you can find it HERE. I know quite a lot of my friends have been buying these punches and giving it a go. I'm hoping to see some amazing cards around soon.

I used Lyra Aqua crayons to colour both the bluebells and the wild roses. I find these crayons wonderful for getting the exact colour you want to mix, especially when you're trying to make a really delicate shade like the one I used on the roses.


The quote is a clear stamp I bought recently from Clarity Stamps - being a clear stamp it was easy to get the quote in just the right position. To stamp the reversed image of the rose in the correct place I used a stamp positioner.

I matted and layered the finished images onto a soft silver embossed card and then vellum which helped to soften the look of the card.

Thank you everyone for looking at my samples this week and for your lovely comments. Some of them have just blown me away they have been so good. Have a great weekend and see you Monday for Pink Elephant day.

Birthday flowers...

I'm really busy at the moment doing more samples for Joanna Sheen, which is fantastic, but means that it's hard to fit in making cards for the weekly challenges that I so love to enter. I'm hoping that nobody will mind me entering the cards I made for last Sunday's show if they fit the challenge theme.

This is my favourite of all the Joanna Sheen Wild Flower samples I made. I love daffodils and the artist captured them so well for this stamp. The card is 8" x 8" and the inner stamped section has a pocket behind it for the gold mirri card tag.

I stamped the tag with the Irish Blessing verse which is a stamp by Clarity Stamps. Aren't those words just beautiful? The little flourish at the bottom of the verse is also a stamp, but at the moment I can't remember which clear set it was from.

As my card is a birthday card I'm entering for the challenge at Stamp Something where this week they are thinking about birthdays. Love their challenges and I haven't had chance to enter for a while. Mental note to self - 'I must get more organised!'

Blingtastic...

Well my daughter thinks it is and that's good enough for me! Laura bought me this gorgeous mermaid stamp from the recent Clarity stamps sale, because she loved it - must make mental note to show her more stamps!

It wasn't on the (long) list of stamps I was about to order really, but wow I'm so glad I got it, because it is just so lovely to use. The card is for Laura to give her friend who is 21 quite soon so of course it had to be really glitzy.

I coloured the mermaid with Promarkers and then added gemstones to some of the bubbles and ultra fine glitter to the hair. Gemstone brads fasten the image and it's mirri card matt to matching glitter card.

The ribbon trim over the embossed Cuttlebug bubbles was coloured using an aqua Promarker to match the colouring on the image. I realised when colouring this that it makes sense to colour ribbon on a plastic surface and not scrap paper. Scrap paper is likely to soak up the ink as you colour and be very wasteful. I don't want any of my Promarkers to run out of ink, before I've even completed the set!

My card is for the challenge at Three Clovers where this week the theme is BLING.

Today well lived...

Another card using the fabulous stamp set given to me by Unity Stamps. I love this patterned square from the 'Folk Inspired' set. I've stamped it using Adirondack cranberry ink and then used the same colour of ink to paint the design. I've added some black pearls for interest.

The quote is a brilliant clear stamp by Clarity Stamps . I am totally obcessed with their designs at the moment and was lucky enough to see Barbara Gray, the creator of these stamps, at the Stamp Magic show in Doncaster last Sunday. She is so talented and I am so broke after visiting her stand!!!

The corner peel offs are some really useful ones I found on the Joanna Sheen website recently at a bargain price of around 50p. I especially like them as they are much smaller than the normal corners you find and just so useful. These were silver to begin with and I coloured them black with a permenant marker and added black pearls for oomp!

Naturally my card is for one or two challenges...

• Paper Blooms - 'something that inspires you'. I always find quotes like the one on this card very uplifting.
• ABC - Two tone (and base colour is allowed) - my colours are black and cranberry
• Stamp Something - black and white + one other colour.

Don't forget my Post Pals blog candy and Simon Says Stamp are also supporting Post Pals this week.

Today is the present...

and we really must appreciate it for being the gift it is.

This card is a little 'anytime' card for my daughter who love quotations as much as I do. As you know she also loves pink so of course the pink polka dots had to sneak in on the act too.

I used the Bow Frame cuttlebug embossing folder, that has been lurking unused in my storage box for some time, as a basis to build the rest of the design on.

I wanted the embossed present to have more oomph about it so I cut a pink polka dot square out and then added black pearls to the polka dot pattern to give extra dimension.

The quote is by Clarity stamps, but it is one bought in a job lot on ebay and I think the letter 's' in the 'is the' part is slightly faulty as no matter how hard I tried it would not stamp perfectly. That will teach me to get things cheap!!

Challenges:

• Cute Card Thursday - Quotations
• Stamp with fun - polka dot
• Creative Card Crew - black with one other colour (some of the DT samples have also got white in their creations so maybe my card will count)

Materials:

• Quotation stamp by Clarity Stamps
• Bow Frame Cuttlebug embossing folder
• Card, ribbon and gems from stash

Ribbon Frame...

Look what I learnt to do this week and it was so easy - honestly if I can do it anyone can!

This week's challenge at The Next Level is to make a card with a ribbon frame, but don't panic if you haven't done one before because there is a really great tutorial on The Next Level blog for everyone to follow.

If you haven't visited The Next Level yet you really must. It's far more than just a challenge blog - it really is excellent and I do hope it continues to be as amazing as it is now.

Materials used:

• Clarity sentiment and corner stamp
• Gold textured card
• Brown and cream plain card
• Sizzix ribbon slot punch
• Burnished gold organza ribbon
  

Clevers Corners Part 2...

In my last post I mentioned that I would have liked to have added ribbon to my card, but hadn't got anywhere near the right shade. Well my blogging/forum friend Ali left me a comment suggesting staining white or light coloured ribbon with the ink pad used for the stamping.

What a brilliant idea and it works really well - thank you so much Ali for this great tip.

Clever Corners...

My first card using the wonderful corner stamps by Clarity Stamps. They are just so much fun to use. I spent hours making all kinds of patterns before finally putting this very simple card together.

I would have loved to add ribbon to the card, but after searching supplies couldn't find any in the shade I wanted - time for a shopping trip methinks.

The leafy frame is actually made by using the leafy corner stamp 8 times to create the frame pattern - only possible with clear stamps. The background paper is one from the vintage range by Kanban.

Teddy birthday card...

I seem to have had a teddy phase recently so was really pleased to see the challenge at http://www.mytimetocraftchallenge.blogspot.com/ this week was teddies. I used a Clarity clear stamp of a teddy on a tricycle for my main image and blue gingham and plain blue circle nestability die cuts to frame him.

Materials used:

• Teddy on a trycycle by Clarity Stamps
• plain blue card and blue gingham
• white water colour card
• white organza ribbon
• silver sentiment and corner peel offs