Sweetie Pie

Hello there!

I'm back with another card to share with you. This one is in my usual style of clean and simple with oodles of cuteness!

I used stamps from one of my fave companies, Paper Smooches. This is quite a small card, 8.5cm x 12.5cm which makes it ideal for a quick note card or a 'just because' card.

What you need...

Stamps:

Bee Mine - Paper Smooches

Boob Tube - Paper Smooches

Ink pads:

Extreme Black - My Favorite Things

Sky Blue #38 - Versacolor

Promarkers:

Berry Red, Champagne*, Ice Grey 3, Lipstick Red, Raw Sienna, Sandstone

Masking paper:

Stamping Mask Paper - Inkadinkado

Card stock:
White, Kraft

*Limited Edition

What you do...

1 Stamp the pie, steam and three hearts onto white card in black ink.

2 Stamp them again onto masking paper and cut out. Place the masks over the corresponding images.

3 Use a blending tool to blend Sky Blue ink over the image, focusing the depth of colour over the actual pie.

4 Remove the masks and colour in the images.

5 Stamp the sentiment underneath the pie.

6 Trim the image to 6.5cm x 9.5cm and mat centrally at the top of a Kraft blank 8.5cm x 12.5cm with foam tape.

There you have it! A cute little note card. Mixing and matching your stamp sets makes them go a lot further with infinite possibilities and they don't have to be the same brand.

I'm going to sign off now, Thank you for popping by and I will see you next time.

Crab Thanks

Hello lovelies!

I want to share with you today a simple little thank you card adorned with a cute crab.

What you need...

Card: white digital

Stamps: Chubby Chum Pals - Paper Smooches; Sketchy Thoughts - Winnie & Walter

Ink pads: Chateau Gray #83 - Versacolor; Onyx Black - Versafine

Copic: R05 Salmon Red, R27 Cadmium Red

Promarker: Ice Grey 1, blender

Punch: corner rounder

Adhesives

What you do...

1 Cover a 10.5cm x 14.5cm top fold blank with white digital card and round off the bottom two corners.

2 Stamp the crab in Onyx Black near the lower left corner and the speech bubble in Chateau Gray near the top right corner.

3 Colour the legs and the top of the crab in Cadmium Red, stipple with the blender pen to add texture. Shade in the bottom of the crab in Salmon Red. Add some shadow around the eyeballs, mouth and underneath the crab with Ice Grey 1.

5 Stamp the sentiment with Onyx Black over the speech bubble.

I adore this cute little fella. Stippling an area with the blender pen gives the look of a 'rough' surface because the blender lifts out the colour. This is perfect for the texture of a crab shell.

The crab is part of a fab set from Paper Smooches which also includes a bear, bird and moose with some little accessories and words.

Hope you like this little card and thanks so much for popping by. See you soon!

Cosmic Colours Challenge #3

Hello there!

It's time for me to launch the Cosmic Colours Challenge #3!

Here is this month's colour swatch...

Gumball Brights - Design Seeds®

and here is my card using the colours...

I think the colours are so yummy and bright. The stamps I used are 'Bright Days' by Avery Elle and the inks are Cherry, Fizz - Avery Elle; Fresh Green, Cyan, Boysenberry - VersaColor.

The creator of the winning card will receive some craft goodies and also a code to display the Challenge Winner badge on their blog.

Three runner up cards will be chosen and they will get a code to display the Challenge Top 3! badge on their blog.

There is also a 'play along' badge that you can display on your blog. The code is in the sidebar.

This challenge will run until 31st July 2014 23:55 (GMT+1).

An InLinkz Link-up

Good Cheer!

Aft,noon peeps!

Are you looking forward to the weekend?

Today I would like to show you a card I based on retrosketches #78

And here it is...

What you need...

Patterned paper: Colorful Christmas Merry Dots - My Mind's Eye

Chipboard tree: Colorful Christmas Glittered Chipboard Sheet - My Mind's Eye

Stamps: Christmas Sampler - Paper Smooches

Dies: Framelits Ovals - Sizzix

Ink pad: Raspberry - VersaColor

Glitter dots

Adhesives

What you do...

Cut eight strips of Merry Dots paper 2cm x 8.5cm. Use both patterned sides, arrange and stick down the centre of an A6 top fold blank.

Stamp the sentiment onto white card and die cut into an oval. Die cut a slightly larger oval in the reverse side of Merry Dots. Adhere to the lower right of the blank.

Attach the tree motif to the left of the oval. Finish with a few glitter dots.

There we have it, a quick and simple Christmas card. Why not check out the RetroSketches blog for more ideas and inspiration?

Enjoy your evening and I'll be back soon with another Christmas card

Martha Rose

Mewnin' chums!

Hope you are fit and well. Today I would like to show you a card that some friends commissioned me to make to give to their daughter Martha Rose for her Christening.

What you need...

Dies: Labels Eight - Spellbinders; Chinese Roses, English Roses - Marianne Design Creatables

Punches: Pointed Butterflies 3/8", 5/8", 1" - X-Cut

Card stock: white, lime, pink (pale/mid/dark)

Ink pad: Orchid - Versacolor

Seam binding: white

Decorative pin: white

Crystal: clear

Adhesives

Computer & printer

Font: Italiano

What you do...

Print the sentiment onto white card. Die cut a large label in pale pink and the sentiment with a smaller label. Mount onto the lower left of an A5 landscape blank.

Die cut three leaves from the English Roses set in lime card, a large Chinese rose in dark pink and one in mid pink and a small rose in white. Ink the edges of the small rose with Orchid ink. Scrunch up the leaves and roses and assemble. Arrange and stick to the lower left of the sentiment panel.

Make a bow using two lengths of seam binding, push a pin through the knot and glue to the top of the roses.

Punch two large, one medium and two small butterflies in white card, repeat with shades of pink. Fold back the wings of the pink butterflies and attach to the white ones so the wings stand up. Adhere to the blank. Embellish with a few crystals to finish.

I wanted to keep the card simple, clean and elegant, using only a few colours. I think it looks really fresh and pretty. Martha's parents love it (phew).

I'm in the process of making our card to give to Martha, so I'll be back later to show you.

Thanks for popping by xxx

Sending Love

Good morning my lovelies!

It's been a while I know. I have my niece Emily staying with me for a couple of weeks, and with getting commissions done before she arrived, I haven't had chance to make (or post) anything!

I've managed to sneak a few minutes this morning (Emily is still in bed) to show you a card I did way back when I started designing for Crafts Beautiful. It was my third issue (May 2011).

Without further ado do...

What you need...

Stamps: Psych Flowers Block, Round Designers Block - Judikins; Trees, Birds & Messages (CL182) - Hero Arts

Card stock: black, white, amethyst

Ink: Lilac, Amethyst, Boysenberry - Versacolor; Onyx Black - Versafine

Fine-liner: black

Gems: clear

Ribbon: purple

Adhesives

What you do...

Stamp a cluster of circles in Lilac, Amethyst and Boysenberry ink and over stamp with black flowers across the top of white card 9.5cm x 10cm. Stamp the sentiment in the bottom right corner.

Draw a stem from one of the flowers on the left and attach a tiny bow.

Mount onto the top left of black card 10cm x 10.5cm and then onto amethyst card 11cm x 11.5cm. Attach to the top left of a white 13cm square blank. Finish with a few gems.

I have always liked the set of cards. I think you can still get the Round Designers Block, I'm not sure about the flowers though, but any round outline flowers would work just as well. Experiment!

I'm going to sign off now. Thanks for calling by and hopefully I won't be as long in posting next time. xxx

What's New Pussycat?

Heevnin' peepsicles!

The weather is foggy and chilly here today, definitely January weather :(

Sorry I've not been around for a couple of days. I've been busy with commissions for Let's Make Cards and Crafts Beautiful.

I'd like to show you the birthday card I made for my niece Emily (you may remember from a previous post that she had the afro and goaty bubbles).

What you need...

Stamps: It's a Mod Mod World (W-7512) - The Cat's Pajamas; Quatros Snippets (LL994) - Hero Arts

Card Stock: white, lime, purple, turquoise

Ink: Onyx Black, Versafine; Lime, Mountain Lake, Violet - Versacolor

Brads: black, small

Acetate

Adhesives

How you do it...

Trim a 15cm square blank so that is angular. Repeat with dark turquoise and white card. Mat onto the blank.

Stamp the cat and stars onto lime card and trim. Stamp the television and cut out the screen, back with acetate, trim angular and attach brads over the knobs and antenna.  Mat onto the cat image with foam pads. Mount onto an angular piece of purple card, attach to the lower right corner of the blank.

Stamp the sentiment, trim, mount onto lime card and fix to the upper left corner, overlapping the edge of the card slightly.

Stamp a few Snippets around the television in coloured inks, stamp twinkles over them in black ink and a few twinkles around the top of the television. On a piece of white card, stamp a Snippet in Mountain Lake and a twinkle. Trim, mat onto turquoise card and attach to the left of the blank.

I just adore this stamp set. The images are just my thing, with the whole 1950's/1960's retro look. This set reminds me of a cartoon called 'The Jetsons' and some Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies. Yes I love Looney Tunes too - in fact we are building quite a collection on DVD - Daffy Duck & Bugs Bunny? My heroes. Bwah ha ha ha! Warner Bros. also did some quirky one off cartoons, which again are very retro and I love to watch.

Right, that's me for the nonce. Off now to finish the sausages in onion gravy - we're having it with huge Yorkshire Puddings (which I do make myself - smug look on face).

Thanks for calling, until next time. xxx

Merry Birdy

Afternoon chumleys!

Hope you are all fine and well this bright Friday afternoon. The leaves are nearly all off the trees now. I'm keeping an eye on the ash tree out the front, I've read up on what symptoms to look out for, it seems okay at the moment, fingers crossed. It would be such a shame to lose it :( 

I'm currently in between commissions, but I'd like to show you a card I made last week.

Adorable isn't he?

What I used...

Home for Christmas 6x6 Paper Pad - Fancy Pants Designs

Home for Christmas Clear Stamps  - Fancy Pants Designs

Home for Christmas Stickers - Fancy Pants Designs

Home for Christmas Banners - Fancy Pants Designs

Ink - Burgundy, Split Pea - Versacolor

Card stock - cream

Punch - corner rounder

Button - red

Garden twine

Pearls - ivory

I rounded the top right corner of an A6 landscape Kraft blank and a smaller piece of cream card. The bird and snowflakes were stamped in the bottom right corner of the cream piece; this was mounted to the left of the blank.

I attached a spotty banner to the top left corner with foam tape and a red button tied with twine.  To finish, I wrapped and tied twine around the bottom of the blank and pearls were adhered to the bird and snowflakes.

I love the colours in this collection. Even though it follows the traditional red and green Christmas colours, they are quite vintage. The whole scrummy collection is based around red, green, ochre and brown, with whimsical and traditional designs. Gorgeous!

My only complaint is why do these companies release such beautiful and must have collections? I mean... I want them all!

Righty-hoo. Must get on. Thanks for popping in. xxxx

Oh Christmas Tree!

Aft'noon all!

Yep, another post.

Since my last post (a couple or so hours ago) I've come up with another Christmas card. This time it features Christmas trees.

Bright & colourful eh? I stamped out three trees from the Oh Christmas Tree set by Personal Impressions in Versacolor Opera Pink, Lime and Mountain Lake then overstamped in black Versafine along with the sentiment. This piece was trimmed and two opposite corners were rounded off. I wrapped bright pink grosgrain underneath the sentiment and tied in a bow at the right.

I chose the tree patterned paper from the Merry Magic paper pack by Dovecraft, trimmed it to size, rounded off the same opposite two corners and along with the image, adhered them to a white square blank, again rounding off the corners.

Three 1" circles were punched out in matching card and clustered just behind the lower left corner of the image. They were embellished with three co-ordinating buttons tied with white thread.

The stamp set is great because you get background and detail images for each tree. I like to off-set the detail just a tad, it gives that quirky 1950's feel to the image.

Well, hope you like and thanks for popping in. Colette xx

Birthday Butterflies

Aft'noon Peeps!

Three posts in one week! I'm on a bit of an energy kick at the mo. I'm hoping to post a bit more often. We'll see....

Just finished another commission for Crafts Beautiful, all I need to do now is to check the instructions and it's ready to post. Then I must start getting on with Christmas cards before I start the next commission. Loving all this creativity!

Here is today's creation. I made it for my Auntie Elma's birthday. I haven't really done butterflies in the past, but I fell in love with this stamp set.

The cloud paper is by American Crafts, the ink pads are Violet, Lime and Mountain Lake by Versacolor and the stamps are Butterflies and Blooms by Craftwork Cards. The card is an A6 portrait top fold. Teal card, purple ribbon, teal twine a few adhesive gems and a rub-on sentiment were used.

The clarity of these stamps is amazing, even when using a normal pigment ink rather than a Versafine. The stamp set has the patterned butterflies, but also some solid ones so you could stamp in layers!

Righto, off to make a brew. Thanks for popping in!

Colette x

A cat, some fish and a card!

Hello Peeps!

Hope it's been a good week for you all! I've managed to get another coat of paint on the bathrooms. The main bathroom should be finished next week (praise be!). Then just the downstairs one to finish. Had enough for this year now. Don't mind doing it whilst the weathers crud.

I've started a cross stitch of a large rose stitched on linen to go in the main bathroom. It's a beautiful design, the rose looks so life like, it's got lovely juicy shades of red and deep pink in it. After every ten stitches or so, I keep asking Simon "Does it look like a rose yet?", "No" is the simple answer.

Cross stitching is another passion of mine, I've been doing it for about 20 years now (how long?????). I love intricate designs like Teresa Wentzler and Mirabilia and love working on linen or evenweave. I did a lovely Mirabilia mermaid a few years ago, called Mermaid of the Pearls, it's got over 1000 (yes, 1000) seed beads on it, loved every stitch of that project.  That's the only thing with needlework, the results are beautiful, but it takes a long time to get there. (For LuckyDawn - used to spend many hours and a lot of money @ Embsay looking at needlework charts, kits, threads fabrics.......  they knew me well - har har).

Right back to the 'ol card stuff.

Here's a card I made for Simon, no occasion, just wanted to let him know how I feel (bleughhh! soppy moment).

I used, Echo Park & My Mind's Eye papers, Sassafras "Head in the Clouds" stamps, Versacolor ink in Marigold, Versafine ink in black, yellow and aqua ribbon, black/white bakers twine and a crystal. Simple, but sweet.

Next is a peek at my latest project in Crafts Beautiful, out today!!

I really enjoyed doing these, they are so bright and cheery and definitely my style. For more crafting ideas visit Crafts Beautiful. Another brilliant issue this month, check out my friend Claire's quilled Queen and Duke to celebrate the Jubilee. Works of art indeed!!

More piccies - I went a bit mad with the camera today. Here is a pic of the Queen of the house, Bazoo, languidly laying around in the conservatory.

It's such a hard life.

You may have noticed at the bottom of my blog I have a bit of a daft thing called 'Feed the Fish'  Well, here are my other 'babies' the real fish being fed with real food, this morning. The pond is a raised one, under the living room window, as soon as they see me, they all rush to the surface, mouths open. The koi are funny because they have such big mouths you can hear them smacking their lips (do fish have lips???).

They are so funny to watch, I get mesmerised by them. In Summer, I love to sit on the wall of the pond with a glass of wine and just listen to the water and watch them. Bazoo usually comes and sits with me, the fish don't mind her at all. She does drink out of the pond, yuk, disgusting cat. Though the water is very clear. Also, the newts should be coming back soon, last year we lost count at 32.

Well, that's enough drivvle out of me, off to the Vernon tonight for a slap up and a glass of wine or three, bwah ha ha ha!! Have a good weekend. xx