Happy birthday Mr D.

As I am snowed in this week (-8c) I have decided to try and do a few more challenges using my newly organised stash and get ahead with this years cards.  I used the sketch from Mojo Monday #227   I think it is the first time I have actually entered although I have liked the sketches for ages.
I used: Stampin' Up! image, sentiment and punch, Pink Petticoat swirly paper, lined paper, ribbon and kraft card from stash, oval nesties, Friskars texture plate in the Wizzard for the embossing.  I would also like to enter these challenges:

http://papertakeweekly.blogspot.com/ anything goes

 Cards for men #3-seeing red 

Here come the boys favourite song Born to be Wild 

Ribbon carousel - anything goes

Craftyribbons for the Men or Boys         Pals Paper Arts - Any reds  Birthday sundaes

New Baby Boy

A friend had a little boy just before Christmas.  I used:  Digi Image paper peiced in Pantshop Pro with Pink Petticoat papers & sentiment, nesties, SU punches, buttons, twine, brads and pegs from stash.
Challenges:Allsorts #135 New beginnings
Simon says stamp - Anything goes
Everybody art - Anything goes
Party time tuesdays #48 Anything goes
Top tip tuesday #66 Anything goes
My mums craft shop #37Anything goes
4 crafty chicks #-70 Something new
Digi doodle #88 Anything goes
Charisma cardz #50 Anything goes

Santa

This is my second stepper card using the fab Little Claire stamp, coloured on the pc for the bricks and the rest with promarkers, star glitter pen, cricut trees embossed then inked a bit. DTs are both  Pink Petticoat the snow paper was perfect for this card the text is' the night before christmas' Santa is wearing viva glitter pen in red!

Challenges: Simon says stamp Simon-says-anything-goes
Cardmad Fairy -Winterwonderland   Divas by design anything-goes   Sundays with crissy.-anything-goes-

Santa on the roof

I posted off to Australia my first christmas cards yesterday... wow how fast time flies!  Using challenges is such a great way of getting a pile of cards that are all different. This one is going to my little nephew who is two.
I used:
Little Claire image the house walls I coloured digitally, promarkers for the rest, Viva glitter pen for santa, cutting file for the trees which I inked over with darker green and sprayed Crafters Companion glitter spray on them. Pink Petticoat snow and text papers, embossing folder and card, ribbon bows
from stash. snowflake punches.
I would like to enter:
Little Claires - Shaped cards
The Ribbon girls Jingle-all-way-to-christmas
Totally papercrafts #94 Christmas
Creatalicious challenges - Christmas Make  sure it Sparkles!
 Crimbo-crackers. #3 Santa
Papertake Christmas Ccrackers
Charisma cardz #46 Snowflakes
Sweet Stampin Punches & dies  (trees and snowflakes)
Papersundaes  Winter wonderland
Purple butterfly crafts Its-cold-outside

Pink Diva Shoes

I am a huge Pink Petticoat fan and am making tons of cards with this Diva download .  I also used: Promarkers, Snowflake embossing folder, sakura starlite pen for the sparkles, liquid pearls,nesties & Nellie dies, pink and white pearl CS from stash, organza polka dot ribbon from stash.
I would like to enter: Ribbon Carousel - Holiday-hoopla (Christmas)
The Ribbon Girl Colour challenge #13 Pink- & white
I love Promarkers #93 Anything goes
Crafty Emma's Challenge - Snowflakes (embossed)
Sundays with crissy 23 Christmas-card-using-non traditional colours (pink & w
hite)
Divas by design #15Monochromatic (Pink)

Shoes, Handbag & Sparkle

Less is More week 41 One Layer-Leaves 

The theme for our cards this week is 

LEAVES
If you don't have any leaf stamps then there is sure to be a way that you can interpret this challenge... let's see what you can come up with!

Well I don't have any leaf stamps for a start, but I did download the lovely Christmas Diva Doodles, which has holly leaves decorating the shoes from Pink Petticoat the second it was on the web site!  If I try artistic things will ink I generally end up with something mud coloured..... So this is my 6th attempt on Craft Artist (my loyal readers will know all about my hate/love relationship with this software), I wanted to heat emboss the digi but the printer wasn't playing ball, I tried pearlised card and it was too flat and dark.  The problem I have with one layer cards is the lack of dimension...  So anyway I had a HUGE packet of A4 photo paper that I bought at Lidl for about 2 euros years ago, I've never used it as it gloss (although it said mat on the wrapper, probably why it was so cheap!) and scratches making it usless for cards. But I had a lightbulb moment and tried spraying it with Crafters Companion Spray & Sparkle iridescent varnish/glitter and voila, it worked.  The glitter does not show up very well in the picture though. I cut the A4 to about 5" x7 card after I printed with my woodware paper trimmer.  The tiny holly leaf DP is also Pink Petticoat.  I coloured the digi with my new gold pro-marker and used red Viva pearl/glitter for the berries. with hindsight I should have done the colouring BEFORE the spraying, but I was loosing the will to live so here it is! I will re-cycle the rejects into cards with mats LOL!
I would also like to enter:

Blue Christmas

I am a bit of a Little Claire fan and a few of their Red Gingham Christmas Stamps accidentally fell into my shopping basket recently! I recently inherited my OH old Hp printer as mine (2 years old)threw a fit when I loaded a re-filled cartridge and is now landfill. This one has better settings for graphics and does not assume everything is a photo with the result that my downloaded paper stash, which to be honest never looked that good printed out,  like this lovely Pink Petticoat paper are printing out lovely on Rymans bright white coated 200gsm  card and their  Ultra smooth 120gsm heavyweight paper that my do-crafts buddy Incy told me about.  I bought it when it was on offer and it was great value. This printer does not winge about e-bay ink and I can re-set the dry time so that it is even possible - really quickly, as the paper comes out, to sprinkle embossing powder on the image (although only the black ink works) and heat emboss.  Lots of playing going on this week! I also used a papermania 5x7 embossing folder (fab size as I don't often make small cards), SU punches, Nestie star, Promarkers, Viva pearl pen, new stardust pen adds just the right amount of glitter, I'm loving it

So I would like to enter: Little Claire #14 Christmas ,  Papertake 1st Christmas, Winter Wonderland Christmas blog challenge - Make your card sparkle Sir Stampalot challenge - Blue & Green Partytime Tuesdays #41 bling it on, anything sparkly (stardust pen and viva pearl pen)

While not card making this week I have been busy with the chickens who are enjoying picking over the veg patch, except for Ginger who, like her namesake in 'Chicken Run' is a mistress of escapology! although today I think I have found where she is getting out.  Toby the dog comes and gets me when she has escaped.. he is partially sheepdog after all, and doing so well after his knee surgery. Our vet advised us to get another dog, a female so Toby is above her in the pack order. A friend of Toms has a beautiful Pyrenean Mountain Dog puppy from a working line, nice chunky legs! We have reserved a little girl and will collect her just before Christmas. Puppies are a lot like babies, you forget how much hard work they are!

while I was writing this post a rather strange 'card' decided to sit on my white photo booth....This is Stumpy......................... he was a  rescue kitten with his brother Late. He is a blue eyed , 3 year old siamese-ish moggie rescued by the lovely people at Pheonix in Bergerac. He loves a cuddle as he and Latte were hand reared after being dumped when only 24 hours old.

Less is More week 36 #2

Less is More week 36 One Layer card with hearts  this card has had a L O N G gestation period... my desk is covered with rejected bits that just didn't work one layer, got smudged, cat paw prints... you know how it is!  anyway my blissfull husband free week of saying 'no' to housework and 'yes' to gardening and crafty things is almost over, guests arriving tomorrow and Mr D home on the Friday night late flight.  It took a while for the penny to drop that I actually needed a card with hearts for our Anniversary on 28th Oct. It will be 5 years so it is 'Wood'.... Hmm  goodness knows what he will come up with although he will be doing well to top the 6 timers shaped as vegetables and the vacume packing machine (still in its box) I got for my birthday ! LOL.  Perhaps I will buy a wooden rolling pin...
anyway back to the card.  It is one layer of art card pinched from Lydia's old art supplies, printed on the front with a Pink Petticoat paper, it is an Emily Bronte proem, inside the card I printed the block of crimson then cut the heart border out.  This is what took so long, I could not find a cutting file I liked so I made my own in SCAL and cut it on the Cricut.  I had to sharpen the blade (cut tin foil) and re-sticky the mats with Stick & Spray before I got it quite right. The sentiment is SU, ribbon from stash.  Originally I saw it as a side fold card (trying to be clever with the verticle sentiment) , but actually think it looks better as a tent fold.....  As usual the version in my head is quite different to what I ended up with, but that, dear Chrissie & Mandy is why I love your challenge, it is JUST that, a Challenge! OK now back to the chickens who are 'helping' me clear the tomato plants (they love baby tomatos)
Edit:  Chrissie and Mandi quite rightly pointed out that there isn't much white space... I TOTALLY forgot about white space, I was obsessing over the one layerness! LOL

On the mend

 

Less is More time again and it's ONE LAYER WEEK again.

Chrissie and Mandy said " our challenge for this week, IN THE FRAME#19
We would like to see a frame of some sort or something in a frame... we'd like you to be as inventive as you like.

You could doodle, draw, emboss, ink, paint, colour, print, stamp, emboss resist,  mask or any other method you can come up with to get a frame of sorts into your design."

I actually find the one layer cards less difficult than other challenges although I did have to stop myself reaching for the Glossy accents for the sewing machine and I tried a bigger frame that looked silly... So here is a Pink Petticoat image, coloured with promarkers, and orange and green, no turquoise or blue in sight, Bo-Bunny buttons, orange embrodery thread, a computer generated dashed box, took 20 mins from start to finish, a record for me I can tell you! I am getting it done early this week for a change as I'm pet sitting (actually 3 chickens and a sheep/lawn mower called Fleur) for our neighbours this week, 3 eggs for breakfast tomorrow yum :-) Also our poor Dog Toby's back legs/tendons/god knows what isn't getting any better, he isn;t even 3 yet) so we are looking at x-rays and a referral this week in an effort to finally get a diagnosis rather than more expensive drugs.

Toby guarding my flowers on the terrace

Thanks to all who are kind enough to visit and leave comments, you are all lovely people and I do try and visit you back and comment  ( as often as blogger and rubbish french internet allow, tried commenting this morning but gave up ...)

Toby (8st) Lydia about 6!

Butterflies

This my my card forLess is More #16 butterflies  the image is a Little Claire digi (with a few more butterfiles added), colured with Promarkers, stickles in various colours, paper from Pink Petticoat magazine freebie, Craftworks sentiment, papermania mini buttons. Thanks to LIM I am starting to make the kind of cards that I used to buy rather than ones covered in flowers that sit in a box for ever... Thanks Chrissie and Mandy!
I would also like to enter: Little claires #7 sparkle
Flutterby wednesdays #156
andTruly scrumptious# 57 anything goes,

2 Sisters # 40-use a digi

Art Deco Birthday

I made this card for my cousin who is 40 this month, she likes Art Deco and Dogs so a good excuse to use my fav digi image, a Helen Fuller from the 1920s, I coloured it in Paint Shop Pro, the backing paper is Pink Petticoat, the sentiment was a freebie, the black glitter cardstock is Papermania, the blue is from my stash. I used Marianne dies for the flourish, nesties for the image and embossing the framse and a friskars circle punch...WHY do none of my many punches actually go together? . My new toy the Woodware trimmer was used to cut the long backing paper. I would like to enter the following challenges:
Pile It On - Say it with style
Allsorts challenge week-98-anything-but-square
Crafty catz weekly challenge -77-embossing
Cardmaki Mamas-Embellish it!
paper-crafting journey challenge-7 for-ladies-in-your-life
Shannons sentiments challenge-21-include an animal
Gingerloft - Weve-got the- blues
Sentimental sundays - challenge-50-treasured-memories
The fuzzy wuzzy challenge -8- Inspirational-photo  (my dog looks like a fox)
The stampman challenge -20-embossing (Nesties)
Craft challenge 97-animals/pets
Crafty sentiments - glitter-it-up!
One stop craft challenge -126-monochrome
Our daily bread designs No-ribbon.html
Totally gorjuss-75-fluffy
Paperplay challenges -11-week-14-critters-galore
Cooking it up with katie. 56-scalloped & diecuts
Crafts and me -29-glitter
 Creative cottage -36 white/blank-space
The paper shelter -8-anything-goes
Woodware usa--22-anything-goes
Die cuttin divas -10-time-to-mix-it-up
Paper take weekly- anything-goes
Totally stampalicious.-anything-goes
M partne rin crafting crime.24-layer-it-up

Birthday Cakes

The Shabby Tea Room 53 - Party Time
Meljens designs - Green
Simon Says Stamp - Happy Birthday
Southern girls - Use flowers
Card making mamas - Green
Delicious doodles - Use green
Cheerful stamp pad - Spring
Cupcake craft challenge - Up in the air with optional green
Anything goes challenge - Die cuts
Papertake weekly - Use 3 of something (flowers)
Sketch Saturday
Fairy Tale - Green & pink

I would like to enter the challenges above. I have had my internet connection dropping all evening due to a storm so please excuse any odd links!
I used: Papers from DoCrafts, die cut nestabilities circles, Stampin Up scalloped oval punch, Papermania flowers and buttons, Pink Petticoat papers  (free in Creative Cardmaking magazine) and Image, Glossy accents, Stickles glitter glue.

Pink and Black Squares..

My sister asked me to make a birthday card for a friend's 40th and today I have been playing with ideas and graphics trying to come up with something with a greyhound on it as requested when I should be packing for my trip tomorrow! I also wanted to enter Less is More challenge this week as I missed last week. I used Papermania black cardstock,  papersPink Petticoat in black overprinted with orchid and a digi image i found on the internet here, 4 black gems and my lovely new woodware paper trimmer with the deckle blade.
I would like to enter the following blog challenges:
 Less Is More  Three Squares 
Charisma cardz Challenges Black, white and one other colour (orchid pink)
Totally Gorjuss Black and one other colour (orchid pink)

Thank you for your comments, I have added links to the image and papers as requested by

Bernadet Rodakowski

Purple Flowers

I actually made this for the Less is More challenge but didn't get it uploaded in time! I would like to enter it in the following challenges:

Tip top tuesdays - Bling it on

Partytime tuesdays - Anything goes

Do you stack up? - Anything goes

Simply create - The power of flowers

Lexi's creations - flowers

paper Pretties PWC142  Glitter

paper Crafting Journey Challenge 4 Anything goes

The image is a Pink Petticoat one coloured in Paint Shop Pro, used glitter (Glamour Dust) Docrafts embossing folder, Wizard die cutting machine, cardstock from W H Smith.

Saturday challenges

Add caption

It is my long suffering Husband's birthday on 7th March and as I am going to be in England until the 6th visiting my 16yo daughter  Lydia I decided to get ahead a bit and enter some new challenges!
I am entering this card for these challenges:    Simon Says Stamp coffee-and-cream
Cards for Men recipe 1 Image, 2 Design Papers, 3 Embellishments (either 3 the same or 3 different) also the MMSC92  Midnight madness sketch challenge 92. I had a bit of 'clean and simple' thing as my husband is not into the more embellised style of card... but I think this one is a bit TOO clean and simple simple....!!

I used Papermania Hawthorn and Bramble paper & card stock, buttons from my stash, Pink Petticoat digi image coloured in Paint Shop Pro, Viva orange pen for the candle falmes and , Glossy accents on the candles and cake. Nestabilities labels 19 new this week and love it all ready!

Less is More Challenge 2

This is my very first blog challenge entry! When I saw the Less is More challenge for a one layer clean and simple (CAS) card http://simplylessismoore.blogspot.com/2011/02/week-2-one-layer-challenge.html I knew I had to give it a try!
I am usually a 'more is more' girl but would love to get better at CAS cards. The image is Pink Petticoat Pretty Potties, one of my favourite images. Hope I manage to get the links right!