Mum's birthday

A bit fussier than my usual style, but my Mum will love it! It is a horrid day here today, 95 km per hour winds, tiles falling off the roof, wheelie bin blown 100mt in the orchard!
I do think this Penny Black stamp is teriffic. Coloured with Promarkers.
Flowers from Wild Orchid
E-craft die cuts and SU punches and sentiment. Paper and ribbons from stash.
Challenges: Penny Black Saturday - sketch
Cr84fn Colour challenge - pink, tan, cream
I Love promarkers #139 anything goes

LIM 55

EDIT:  Thank you all for visiting and commenting, I have had a complication with my eye surgery, we had to go back to the hospital yesterday,there is a bit of  stitch sticking out of my eye and making my eye really incredibily itchy,sore and weepy.  so |I can't see very well to type & read blogs :-(


This week at Less is Moore #55-theme - Die cuts! Hooray! Finally my e-craft got collected and I have been playing with it. The cut file is SVG Cuts butterflies and blossoms (I think) I use SCAL 3 as the software that comes with it is absolute PANTS!   I have used masses of cardstock working my way through turorials but once you get used to the differences between it and the cricut it gets easier. No more mats! the cut is quite clean too. Cardstock, bow and bling from stash. Craftworks cardblank. SU punches and LOTV part sentiment. I also used promarkers to shade the flowers, liquid pearls in yellow in the centre, smudged them (can't see very well close up at the moment) so stuck on black gems. It must be a record for me uploading a card on Saturday... Mr D was at the Rugby though :-) he is currently in the attic looking at our water pipes that have more holes than a colander at the moment after the big freeze.  Looks like we are going to have to re-plum half the house so I will be on a stash diet for a while........ :-(

It is Less is More week 54 One Layer card - with stripes!
I was a bit stumped by the stripes but my Little Claire stamp of the month arrived today and even though my near vision is still a bit hazy after the op on Wednesday I was itching to enter LIM this week as I do try to enter every week.  So I tried flowery 'stripes' with a Friskars stamp, but it didn't look stripy enough, so I paper pieced the flower pots on the basis that my colouring-in was suffering a bit from my near vision being all over the place. There is glossy accents on the pots, I was going for a ceramic look!! I added some stripy ribbon from stash threaded into holes slit in the card base at each side of the sentiment.  I used Promarkers with the fine tips to colour the rest of the stamp.  The trowel is metalic silver promarker.
There is something not quite balanced in the placement, things are floating and not grounded but its too late to change it now LOL
  Tonight is the last night I have to wear a 'pirate' patch on my left eye, it is really amazing how good my distance vision is all-ready, really odd to wake up in the morning and be able to see my alarm clock!
Thanks for the kind wishes of my little band of followers and frineds in blogland :-)
Night Night, 'Nuff waffle,
Donna x

Valentine

This card is for my long suffering husband Tom.  On valentines day he is coming with me to the hospital when I'm having the surgery to implant a lense in my left eye.  a) Tom does not like needles. b) or Hospitals c) apart from his ipod he will be away from his computer all day.  Now that IS true love!

I use the sketch and CASED the DT card from the lovely KATINA on Papertake Papertakeweekly.blogspot.com/2012/01/sketch-64.html as it just the look I wanted. I used the colours fromColour q-challenge-122 a challenge I don't think I have entered before.  The image is Magnum the cat, a new digi from Ladybugs crafts #53-loves-me loves-me-not .  I love the red so this also fits with Plspaper arts - Reds.  I would also like to enter: Joanna sheen : love is in air challenge ,
Inspired By - great picture , Party time tuesdays #53 anything-goes Do you stack up #57-anything-goes  a new challenge Sj papercrafts 1st-monthly - Happy! - (the cheeky cat magnum made me happy!)
P retty little ribbon shop Be my-valentine

Reasonable ribbon #41red pink with ribbon theme

I also used: Echo Park download papers, I love the mix of pink, red and black, promarkers, SU punches, ribbon from stash.

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-

Red

 The challenge at Little Claire is shaped cards.  I belong to the monthly stamp club and the pic below was the kit for November.  I liked it so much I CASEd it :-)

Little Claire project card made from November kit.

The stamp is coloured with Promarkers and I used glitter glue and stardust pen for snowy effects

I cut the card blank out of Kraft on my cricut the red backing paper is also on the inside of the card, Nestie cut snowflake in red under the circle sentiment.
I would also like to enter:Lets ink it up #18  Christmas
Joanna Sheen's new challenge - Its begining to look a lot like Christmas I have just started to follow this new blog.
I love promarkers #94- Snowmen & snowflakes
Totally papercrafts #95 - Let it snow
Allsorts #132-going round in circles (circle sentemtn)

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

Bling it on!

Over at Less is More it is Week 43 Recipe - A Bit of Bling - Chrissie and Mandi have picked a good one this month!
I used: Pink Petticoat Diva download image, papermania glitter paper, promarkers liquid pearls, nestie and nellie s die, pearlised card stock and ribbon from stash.
I would also like to enter:
The Ribbon GirlJingle-all-way-to-christmas
I Love promarkers # 93-anything-goes
Papertake christmas-crackers

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)

3 French Hens

I made this card with the Penny Black Saturday blog in mind but was 22 mins too late to upload it..but I will enter Pennyblack at Allsorts November -All creatures great and small  (my camera battery was flat!) This lovely stamp is actually a birthday stamp and has 4 hens and a birthday cake but a bit of masking and cutting out and embossing and extra present instead of the birthday cake and Volia! a christmas card is born LOL.  I am very into chicken stamps at the moment as I am still in the honeymoon period with my three 'girls'  actually one is a White Sussex and I was getting pretty fed up that she had stopped laying since moving them to the poly tunnel for the winter....until I went to put some tools away and discovered 8 white eggs laid in the corner behind the tool rack! 
I would like to enter:Sweet stop sketches #sss134-November  I reveresed the sketch
Really Reasonable ribbon.#36 cas christmas ribbon RRR36  using the fab gold mesh ribbon
Ribbon carousel # 29 sketch  which I turned over
Christmas crafting #5twelve days of christmas
Crimbo-crackers Callenge #2 Make it sparkle!
Creatalicious challenges - for Christmas and make sure it sparkles.I just LOVE sparkle, I have been making christmas cards and using glitter all year!
I used: Image: new Penny Black 'Cluck Cluck Cluck' stamp, Promarkers,Nesties & Marianne star dies, SU punches, beautiful gold mesh ribbon from The Ribbon Girl, card and dp from stash, gold embossing powder on the presents.

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 38 take 2

This is my second attempt at Less is More week #38 and alsoSimon says stamp -Anything-goes , The Papershelter - Anything goes Little Claire Challenge I used:

Bo Bunny dotty ribbon from stash, Pink Petticoat fabby new christmas diva download, nellie circle die, nestie, papermania handmade glitter paper, Craftworks polka dot paper, gems & pearlised paper from stash.

I printed the image out on pearlised paper using the maxium ink settings on my HP printer and really fast poured over clear embossing powder and heat imbossed it.  I coloured in the holly with promarkers and added some viva red for ther berries and glamour dust on the leaves.

It is our 5th Wedding Anniversary today so I thought I would share with you my favourite pics of the bid day, we are outside the town hall in Toulouse where we got married in the Salle des Illustres, a most beautiful room where all the marriages take place if you live in the area. (we actually rented a flat in the catchment area for that reason!)

Louise

This is for my sister Louise's birthday.
I used: Image, Penny Black  Uplifting Occasion which I have wanted for ages and got last week, aqua seambinding, SU punch & Dp, Craftworks sentiment, promarkers.  computer generated '44' in curlz font. Paisley embossing folder, Wizard, Woodware trimmer. I used last weeks mojo monday sketch.

I would like to enter the following challenges: Pennyblack at Allsorts october inspiration photo-challenge of autumn trees and turquoise sky ( the DP actually has quite a bit of autumn beige and brown but it does not show up too well on the scan.) Penny Black saturday # -172 use a number Papertake get-in-shape (use 3 different shapes)

Time for Tea

This week at Less is More our challenge is

COLOURS

of

YOUR NATION'S FLAG!

I am British so it's the Union nJack and Red, White and Blue for me, although I could also have done red for the English flag of St George. I would also like to enter:Sweet stop #sss120, The shabby tearoom #-74-tea-for-two and Sir Stampalot - Whatever you Fancy

I used free stamps from magazine, promarkers, gingham paper from stash, embossing powder, card candy

A Place in the Sun

This week I got a parcel from Little Claire, I could not resist this stamp 'A Place in the Sun' as it reminds me so much of what I love about living in France.  Little Claire Challenge 10 is 'Pink & Brown' so I coloured in with the Promarkers, which I am getting better at using, the DS is a freebie Craftwork Cards from a magazine, the sentiment is also a LC peel off.  There is a bit of bling, the door handle is a black rhinestone! I would also like to enter: I love promarkers #72-include flowers, and a new Challenge for me The Paper Shelter - Anything goes

Little Cat

OLW55 - AnimalsI would like to enter OLW55 Cats & Dogs not enough white space!
would have been better without the 2 flower borders, one would have been enough!

Challenges: Less is More - Butterflies Another entry!
and alsoLady bugs crafts ~ 29-meow-woof-roar-squeak
DYSU# 21-animals

Today I purchased some more Little Claire digi downloads and have been playing on and off all day!
Both are one layer cards, I printed out and coloured using Promarkets, glitter glue and glamour dust.

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

Purrfect

Here is my card for the Less is More Challenge  week 15 One Layer Card EMBOSSING heat or dry ....  AND Challenge 7 'Sparkle' at Little Clair,  Crafty hazelnuts christmas challenge -20-dont-get-stressed,
Cute card thursday.#164-its-so-distressing
I just HAD to use this great new digi from Little Claire 'We Three Cats' I had e-mailed them earlier  in the week and asked for more digi's and Volia lots more were added!  I coloured it with Promarkers, stickles glitter glue in Frosted Lace and Silver, I embossed the star stamps (I think Personal Impressions) and heat embossed with silver WOW embossing powder then I tried using a bit of Distress ink, faded jeans that I put on with a sponge brush meant for glue... I'm not sure if destressing is really my style but its great to have a play! The sentiment is Fontdinerdotcom 'Sparkly'. This was done in a bit of a rush and some of the stars didn't stamp that well as my embossing ink is a bit dry.. I'm supposed to be packing as I'm off to England THIS AFTERNOON for a week to see my lovely daughters, sisters, Mum.. Can't wait! I just need to find some craft shops or stores with card making supply departments in NW1, or central London to while away the 'spare' time!

Penny Black Saturday Challenge

This is my very first entry, I needed a card for my nephew Ollie's 2nd birthday and as he is a boy I think this will do! also entered for the Docrafts PB challenge for a red white and blue card with 3 backing papers. The papers are from my stash, balloons in viva red pen. Mice coloured with pro-markers.