Steampunk 21st Birthday Book Card

It's been a long time since my last posting, but I have been crafting, just haven't got around to posting the pictures !!! But here's my latest offering, a 21st birthday book card my friend asked me to make for her daughter. And it's Steampunk, I've only just discovered it, and I love it ...

 The Steampunk girl inside the card is a digi stamp by Kenny K - Lady Victoria, I printed this out in a pale grey colour and went over it with a waterproof pen and then coloured with Derwents Coloursoft pencils, Sasodor and Sakura gel pens. The paper is by Prima - "Engineer" and "Draftsman".The tutorial for the book card was from McMahon, though I did change the sizes as the sizes given were too small as I wanted an A5 size book.
Take care and keep smiling :o)

Sniff – House Mouse Challenge 27 - Chipboard

Salut,

after making my entry for the WOJ challenge I decided I really liked the flowers I did in the corner for that card and that I would make a card with a flower arrangement. THEN I saw the new House Mouse challenge that required chipboard to be used, “Ooo” I thought “I’ve got some of that”, then I went over to Larissa’s blog and saw she had made a card with a little House Mouse image I had sent her, and I thought “Ooo I really like that”. SOOooo the upshot was I made a card incorporating those three ideas, and here it is…

From the base up –
1. Baby pink Stardream pearlescent card.
2. K & Co Bordeaux Floral Flat paper
3. Stardream pearlescent “Fairway” green card used to make the scalloped oval, which is the largest of the large petite scalloped Nestabilities. The inner oval was cut using the second largest of the large Nestabilities. The House Mouse image is called “Please” . It’s so tiny, from bottom to nose it’s 2cm high. This was coloured in with my trusty Derwent Coloursoft pencils and Sansodor, and his little nose has a spot of Sakura Gelly Roll clear glaze. The flowers are from Prima – Forever Flowers No.3 Passion and pearl brads were used in the centres. The leaves where made using Martha Stewart’s Branch punch and two different green Bazzil card stock.
4. The chipboard swirl/flourish is from Maya Road – Scrolls II. This was inked with a white inkpad and double heat embossed with Moon Glow two-toned EP “Oak leaf Olive Gold”.
5. Corners was made with a Cuttlebug die and light green Bazzil card stock and then finished of with some green satin ribbon and a bit of bling in the corners.
I’ve just realised my last 3 cards have been pink, I think it’s grown on me :o) For my next card I will endeavour to use a different colour… but I can’t promise.
Take care & keep smiling

Whiff of Joy Guest Designer Call

Well the last two cards took me less than a day to make, this one took 4 days!!! I have been at work though (lame excuse, I know). If I’m honest I spent a lot of time looking at all the other entries in the Whiff of Joy DT challenge (for which this card is made), just to see if I could come up with something a little different from everyone else, but there isn’t much room for difference when you’re following a sketch…


































I’ve just been looking at my card and have just realized I didn’t do something I’d planned to do, Grrrrr. I meant to do some cross stitch up the centre (between the DP) to match the lacing on Charlottes dress, oh well you’ll just have to imagine I’ve done it LOL. I think it’s a sign of old age, I really should write these ideas down.
From the base up…
1. Stardream pearlescent card (Serpentine Green)
2. Spotty DP by Making Memories – {note}worthy Audrey Pink Floral. Harlequin/diamond paper by K & Co – Somerset Diamonds Flat Paper, which are both mounted on to Bazzil cardstock.
3. The paper “lace” border was made with the same spotty paper using Martha Stewarts Doily Lace Punch.
4. Main image was made using two stamps 1- Maid Charlotte by Whiff of Joy and 2- Cobblestone by Art Impressions. Coloured with Derwent Coloursoft pencils and Windsor & Newton’s Sansodor. I dabbed over the leaves and daisy centres with Sakura Gelly Roll clear glaze pen, and the daisies in her hair were coloured with Sakura white Gelly Roll pen. Mounted onto the same Bazzil cardstock that the DP was mounted onto, and die cut with scalloped rectangle Nestabilities.
5. The sentiment was stamped on to green Bazzil cardstock using a stamp by Stampin’ Up and Versafine Olympic green ink pad. This was then mounted onto two punched out daisies using Woodware 1 ½ inch Daisy punch (same pink Bazzil as above). Then I cut out two “ribbons” to turn it into a “rosette”.
6. The butterfly is from Whiff of Joy coloured the same as the main image and then double heat embossed with VersaMark ink pad and Stamp N Stuff clear detail EP.
7. The daisies are from Prima, pearl brads and the leaves were made with Martha Stewarts Branch punch (Yeah I finally got one). Oh and the ribbon was from a favorite seller of mine on eBay.
Phew! There done. I’m really annoyed with myself for forgetting the stitching. I think it would have finished the card of nicely. Oh well, you live and learn.

Take care & keep smiling

The Daisy Dance - House Mouse Challenge 25

Good Evening,
I'm on a roll, another finished card in less than a day!!! But then again it's always easier when you've got a sketch to follow. The sketch I followed can be found on the HM Challenge site and is for the new challenge. On this card I used three stamps to get the picture I wanted, and I've just looked at the picture and it seems they're on a hill !!! Oh well I can't be perfect all the time LOL...

1. Base card (as usual) Stardream pearlescent card.

2. Bazzil pink card.
3. DP Basic Grey - Euphoria - Ferver
4. Stamps used where: House Mouse -Twinkle Toes and Relaxing. The Daisy stamp is from Whippersnapper - Field of Daisies. All coloured with Derwent Coloursoft pencils and Sansador, with a blob of Sakura Gelly Roll clear glaze pen on their noses and eyes. The circle was hand cut as was the mount which is Bazzil card. The grass tufts were hand drawn.
5. The ribbon is from eBay, the same colour but in two different widths.
6. Prima flowers with a little Sakura Gelly Roll Stardust clear pen around the edges, and finished of with a pink flatback pearl.

Thanks for stopping by for a look see, and I'll see you again soon :)
Take care & keep smiling

The mystery picture is... The Autumn Fairy

Hello and good morning,

It's 00:30 and at last I've finished this card. If you remember in my last blog I said I was going to make a card with an image that could be found on my blog, and the image is the one I used to make my very first proper card with. Unfortunately I didn't take a photo of the original card, but it's was nothing like the card I'm about to show you. The image can be found on the right hand side of this page at the bottom. It's that purple picture where you can just about make out a woman's face, but it isn't just a woman, it's a fairy. The image I have on my computer is one that was sent to me by an eBay seller a couple of years back whom I had bought some craft goodies from. So here it is, The Autumn Fairy...

Sorry the pictures aren't very good but my camera battery died on me and my spare wasn't charged either, DOH. So the bottom picture is scanned. I'll take another picture tomorrow and replace the scanned one as it looks blurry to me.

Here goes then, the magic ingredients...

1. Both papers are from DCWV "Once Upon A Time" 8x8 pad that have had the edges aged with Kaleidacolor "Autumn Leaves" rainbow ink pad.

2. The frame for the picture is copper Stardream pearlescent card stamped with an unnamed rubber stamp. All I can tell you about it is that it is magnetic and has two more frames (different designs) nested in it that can be removed. I used Stampendous Stamp-n Stuff Copper EP.

3. The leaves where made from a Cuttlebug die using green Bazzil card and sponged with the same ink pad I used for ageing the DP with. The veins where done using my Scor-pal on the reverse of the leaf then turned over and using a very fine embossing tool I free handed the veins again.

4. The flowers are from Prima, they were green to begin with, but again I sponged them over with the same ink pad as before. The brads where sponged with Stazon Timber Brown, Blazing Red and Forest green ink pads.

5. Last but not least, the fabulous ribbon is from Raspberry ribbons December kit.

Tomorrow I'll be catching up on my replies to all you lovely visitors who have been kind enough to leave me comments, plus I'll show you the lovely award Els has given me and it's about time I gave some out myself. So until tomorrow...

Take care and keep smiling

Green Santa ???

While I'm waiting for the glue to dry on my next card I thought I'd show you a card I made on Tuesday. Yes I know, it's that Santa again and it's that Raspberry Ribbons sketch again, but I really am struggling to come up with anything new and I'm dying to get my HM and Magnolia stamps out again, but until I finish my Dads cards I can't, so you'll just have to bear with my repeats...

Santa looks blue in the picture but he's actually green. Oh well, from the base up, here goes...

1. Stardream Pearlescent green card

2. DP is from DaisyD, it's called Antique Blue Wild Flowers, but trust me it's not blue, it's green. I was most miffed when it came and it was green, but it's a nice paper, so I'll forgive them for being colour blind!

3. Main image is mounted onto dark green linen paper and then silver silk Mirri card.

4. Dark green silk ribbon threaded down each side and some silver snowflake border peel offs and some thin silver border peel offs.

5. Prima flowers, the larger has a pearl brad and the smaller flowers silver brads. The leaves are from syntego.

6. The seal stamp is from Magnolia, stamped onto white pearlescent card with Brilliance pearlescent ivy ink pad.

The card I'm working on at the moment is an image I've not used before and it's lovely. Other than that I'm saying nothing else, other than you'll have to wait :)

Take care & keep smiling

Cupcake Challenge 16 - Chocolate Christmas

Hello people,
that cold I thought I was coming down with on Sunday hit with a vengeance Monday. I've ached in places I didn't know you could ache, I've been hot, I've been so tired it was untrue and now I've got a sore throat and am losing my voice, but apart from that I feel great! When I haven't been asleep I have made some cards the first of which I decided to enter into the Cupcake Challenge, which calls for a vintage card. You will notice that the main image, the DP and the sentiment stamp are ones I've used recently on other cards, my excuse is my brain has been too tired to come up with anything original, plus I like them...

OK from the base up...
1. Stardream bronze pearlescent card
2. DP is from Artylicous Seasons Greetings CD Rom, again I change the colour and coloured the berries in with Sakura gold stardust gelly roll pen, then sponged the edges with Versafine Vintage Sepia and Brilliance Galaxy Gold ink pads.
3. The label/tag was just plain but I found a picture of some Christmas sheet music and printed it on to the tag, again went round the edges the same as I did with the DP and added a gold organza bow and loop.
4. The main image is from Joanna Sheen's Victorian Christmas CD Rom, mounted onto a gold silk Mirri card die cut Nestabilites.
5. Prima flowers that were sponged with Brilliance gold galaxy ink pad. The red stamens came from my Blooms to Go set, they were yellow, but I rolled them around a Brilliance Rocket Red ink pad (as you do) and then added the sentiment to the largest flower. The sentiment seal is from Magnolia Rubber Stamps. Last but not least some little leaves that I actually left alone.
Not sure about the flowers, I could do with some holly leaves, but I haven't found any I like...yet.
Thank you for popping by and I'll be seeing you again real soon.
Take care & keep smiling

Little Victorian Snowball Fun

Howdy doody y'all,

Sorry about that appalling American accent, but today when I went into work one of the girls there showed me a "review" of a show I went to see last week at our theatre. It was an amatuer production of "The littlest whorehouse in Texas". IT WAS FABULOUS, it was funny, the singing was superb and the acting was excellent, well it was that good I went to see it twice. But this so called critic did nothing but moan about the scantily clad women and the excess use of swear words when children could have been in the audience!!! Excuse me, but what parent would take their child to see a show with a title like that, and anyway on both the nights I went the youngest people there were probably at least 16-17 and they probably swear a whole lot worse. And as for scantily clad, you see more flesh on the TV. Hmmmph, I think that "critic" should stick to reviewing children's programmes. So all day now I've been singing songs from the show, with the Texan accent, not out loud though, everyone thinks I'm mad enough without proving them right :) But now I've had my moan I'll show you my card...

So here's the list of ingredients from the base up:

1 Mars red Stardream pearlescent card

2 Hessian textured gold paper

3 DP from Artylicious Seasons Greetings CD Rom. This is the first one I printed off for my red Christmas card yesterday, but it wasn't red enough so I saved it and used it for this card. It was printed onto hessian card. I went round the edges with a Krylon Red Shimmer leafing pen, and the berries where coloured in with my Sakura Gellyroll Stardust clear pen

4 The Christmas wishes paper was a free paper I found on the web last year, but this is the first time I've used it. This was mounted onto the same gold hessian paper.

5 The little girl image is from Joanna Sheen's Victorian Christmas CD Rom. Cut with my nestabilities and mounted onto, yes you guessed it gold hessian paper again cut with my petite oval nestabilities.

6 Then to finish off I used - Prima flowers, some leaves I found in my stash (YEAH LEAVES), gold rhinestones, red ribbon and finally the corners where cut from a Cuttlebug die from the same gold hessian paper.

I wasn't quite sure about the little girl image when I first printed it out, I think because of the white background, but now it's all put together it looks quite nice. Right I'm off to go blog hopping.

Take care & keep smiling

Little Holly - Raspberry Ribbon Challenge 9

Hello and welcome to another of my Dad's cards...

I LIKE this card, it turned out better than I expected. I made it for the Raspberry Ribbons Challenge. I've been following this challenge since it first started, but never got round to entering for one reason and another, but I finally got round to it and I'm very happy.

The little girl image is from Joanna Sheen's Victorian Christmas CD ROM, which was mounted onto gold Mirri card and then edged with gold border peel offs. The DP is from Creative Imaginations, and the Christmas seal is from Magnolia's new Christmas stamps. The flowers are Prima that I highlighted with Sakura Gelly roll Stardust pens, as I thought they looked a little dull and secured with copper brads in the smaller flowers and a gem brad in the larger. Finished off with some Hunter Green organza ribbon and gold border peel offs and all mounted onto Stardream pearlescent card. Well I'd better go add it to the challenge. Thank you for looking.

Take care & keep smiling

Jolly Santa

Hello again,
what a miserable day (well it was here), rain, rain ,rain, rain and a bit more rain. I feel like a duck. Well yesterday saw me starting on my Dads cards (the ones he'll be sending out). He doesn't do cute, so no Tildas or house mouses....

Well the Santa image is from Joanna Sheens Victorian Christmas CD ROM ans I was going to mount it on a Nestabilities die cut oval but decided to use the waste bit instead. I layered the DP die cut waste onto some gold Silk Mirri card (sorry before doing that I put the ribbon round the DP) and then put the image into the oval. I cut the Mirri card a mm wider than the DP so as there would be a border running down the sides. That was then layered onto some more DP and then some gold snowflake border peel offs down the sides. The sentiment is from Crafty Secrets vintage die cuts "Christmas Time". You can't see it but I did triple emboss it, not with the ultra thick stuff, just normal clear embossing powder. I never seem to get a nice smooth finish with the thick stuff, I mainly use that if I'm going to stamp into it. Anyway that's the finished card, I'm now going to attempt a silhouette Christmas card. I saw a scrapbook page on Emilies blog that was just black and white, and it reminded me of a monochrome card I'd done a while back and how difficult it was, well not difficult but black and white can be a bit boring if you don't do it right.
So take care, keep smiling and stay dry and if you can't stay dry, waddle :)


DP's used - Creative Imaginations and Prima

Green Santa!

Good Morning,

Sun's shining, birds are singing and I've finished my card I started yesterday(see post below). So until I go to give Mitzi a haircut later all is well in my little world :) This card I took my inspiration from a card that Els made. It's all green, very unusual, so I thought I'd have a go at something similar...

The base card is Stardream pearlescent green card, and the backing paper is another of my computer manipulated designs. It started life as a free paper I got from a craft magazine. It was green to begin with, but not the shade of green I wanted (in real life it is darker than shown). So into the trusty graphics program it went. After it was printed I sponged the edges with Brilliance Galaxy Gold ink pad. The DP band along the middle is Prima Marketing Urban Cosmos “Colony” that I punched with a Friskars holly border punch. Then just added some greeny gold ribbon and some brass brads from We R Memory Keepers. Thank you to Els for her fabulous card, and thank you all for looking.

Take care & keep smiling

House Mouse Challenge 9

Hello, good morning and welcome,
Yeahhh I finished my House Mouse Challenge. I didn’t think I was going to enter this week as the sketch looked complicated and my HM stamps are all on the large side or didn’t lend themselves to being put in a circle. But once I sat and had a good look at it, it wasn’t that hard at all…

The HM stamp I used is called “I can catch it” and the Christmas tree is of an unknown brand that I got off ebay. They are both coloured with my trusty Derwent Coloursoft pencils and Sansodor. The baubles and star have yellow Stickles glitter glue on them. They were both cut out and stuck on (mouse is stuck on with foam pads) some creamy coloured card that had been sponged with Brilliance Gamma Green. This was then mounted on gold silk Mirri card (I’m addicted to this stuff) that had been cut with my classic circle Nestabilities. The band going across the middle was made from the “waste” of a Sizzix swirl die I had used on my Peter Rabbit card I made a couple of days ago, which was again mounted on gold silk Mirri card. The DP is Daisy D’s Heirloom Red – Floral and Prima Marketing Urban Cosmos “Colony”. The flowers are Prima and I wasn’t going to put the red rhinestones on the scallop circle but I bodged the hole for the brad in the wrong place (serendipity). And lastly some gold organza ribbon as I didn’t want to hide the gold swirls then all stuck on some Stardream Pearlescent red (Mars) card. Well, for a card I didn’t think I could do, it didn’t turn out to bad. Hope you like it and thank you for looking.

PS. I forgot to say that the image was inspired by you ladies who didn’t have Halloween HM stamps last week, but all managed to enter by adapting the stamps you had got. Thank you Ladies for your ingenuity and inspiration.xxx