3rd and Final post for Today

Well this must be a record - 3 posts in one day and all challenge cards.

I have two cards for different challenges but both are also for my Wedding portfolio to show my Niece.

First off this card is for the ABC Challenge which is O is for Orderly, this is the challenge-

We would like your card to be balanced. This means that if you use a flower on your card it needs to be balanced by another one somewhere else on the card.

Here is my card for this challenge



The second card is one I have been trying to make all day but I have only just finished it, it is for the challenge at 365 Cards. Today's challenge brings us to the edge - of the card, that is. I challenge you to decorate at least 3 sides of your card.

You remember yesterday I said I had been on a little shopping expedition to the Range? well whilst I was browsing some of the new Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen stamps fell in my basket with out me noticing so I have used one on the edges of this card and tied a length of ribbon to the top edge. I love these stamps, the set is called Retro Rose and I just know you will be seeing a lot of these in the future.



I have used the same sentiment but in different ways to try and show her what is possible, hope that makes sense.

I am also entering these for a new blog I have just found called My Time to Craft, their theme this week is Love and Marriage, just the job for these cards I would say!

To finish the day off here is a card I made for my Daughters, Boyfriends Nephew's 5th Birthday!! still with me??

I printed out a colouring picture of Ben 10 and then scanned it back and re-sized it, I know these things are copyrighted but I figured if it was a colouring picture and it was free to download it should be ok to use.





Well thats me for today, back tomorrow to start again

Post No. 2 and more challenges

Wow, this is my second post today and I ma hoping to make it 3 by the end of the night, we shall see!

Ok another challenge card that meets more than one challenge.

This is the sketch at Card Patterns Challenge # 15 for this week, quite a simple design really.



and this is the colour Combination at the Creative Belli Blog for challenge #65, all Stampin Up colours or as near as you have to them. I have only recently started buying Stampin Up products so I only had 2 of the 3 colours, I don't have anything in the Cameo Coral so I matched my card base up in Bazzill and used Cameo.

Here is my take on these challenges

Not sure I really like it but as we always say 'it is what it is' and I am sure I will find a use for it sometime.

Cards - Day 74 - Handwritten Sentiment

Well today is a new day and we are both trying to stay positive about the work situation, Tony has a meeting later with HR when he will find out all the financial details so once we know that we can make some decisions about where we go from here.

I would just like to say a huge Thank You to everyone who left a message, thanks for thinking of us.

Onto todays challenge on 365 Cards, today's challenge is to use a hand written sentiment

I think a lot of us probably shy away from writing the sentiment on our cards, because we may not like our handwriting, so of course that's what I'm going to ask you to do! It doesn't have to be a long sentiment, as long as you handwrite it.

Well here is my card for this challenge



I wanted to make something as a Thank you card but without saying Thank you on the front, does that make sense? This card is for a special friend who has shown me great support over the last couple of weeks so I added the sentiment of 'My Friend' Because I dont like my handwriting I have written it straight onto the card using a brown pen so it blends in a bit.

I printed the paper from a digi kit I have called Promise from Shabby Princess so as I was printing it I made the paper double sided. I cut the end of the paper once I had cut it to size with my Nestabilities Label Die to shape the end. I folded the paper so both sides were showing and added the scallops to the underside of the fold.

Using my Rhonna Farrer stamps I added the large swirl to one side and a smaller one to the other, gems were glued onto the swirls in appropriate places to highlight it.

I managed to use another of the gorgeous flowers that Rose sent me from Paper Blooms which was layered with a scalloped circle cut in the red and a cream flower all held together using one of the brads I won a few weeks ago.

Hope you like it!

Cards - Day 73 - Tuesday Trio

With waiting for news of my Hubby and our boys I didn't get chance to do my card for the challenge yesterday over at 365 Cards but I have now managed to put one together all be it a little late.

The challenge was a Trio challenge where you had to use Circles, Scallops and Bling on your card.
I wanted to use some of the gorgeous flowers that Rose had sent to me so I chose to go with a flower garden theme

Here is my card



I took a white card and matted a piece of the green paper onto it, I have incorporated the circle by cutting it into the card after I had added the green. I then added a scalloped border cut using the 2 smallest scalloped circle Nestabilities to the outside of the circle and added the bling to to it.
I cut 2 more scalloped circles and layered different coloured flowers to these and stuck them to the front of the card, using a brown pen I drew the flower stems . The grass was created by stamping along the bottom with a small leaf stamp.

The paper I used to cut the scalloped edge was double sided so I used the centre piece to add to the inside of the card after I had layered it with the flowers.



The inside



I used the leaf stamp to add a border to the bottom of the inside of the card.

Sorry the photo's are a little blurry

Off to do today's challenge now

1 Card for 3 challenges - 365 Cards - Creative Card Crew and Creative Belli Blog

Well I thought the challenge on 365 Cards was going to be a no go for me today as they want you to make a card for Mother's Day, here in the UK we have already celebrated Mothering Sunday and as my own Mum passed away 7 years ago I wasn't sure I would be able to complete this challenge.

Then I read the spec again and this is what it says:-

It's an opportunity to honor a special mom (grandma, sister, aunt) in your life. The sentiment should reflect this.

So I sat and thought about the women who have come into my life and about the part they have played and immediately one person came to mind, my Daughter in Law Karen.

Karen was first my boss and my friend and that's how she met my Son, we worked together for a while and although we haven't always seen eye to eye she has been a significant person in my life, Karen helped me through a couple of tough years whilst having family problems and I am not sure she knows just how grateful I am that she was there for me, it was a time when I had personal problems and also the year I lost both of my Parents, so this card is for Karen, first boss then friend and now family.

I struggled with a design for this card until I saw the sketch for the Creative Card Crew Challenge, I think this is a lovely design so I have used this sketch for my card.



Whilst making it I remembered the challenge on the Creative Belli Blog where they want you to use Jumbo Brads or Jumbo Eyelets. If you do not have these items, substitute another piece of hardware that you have not used in awhile.

I had just taken out my MM tag Maker that I haven't used for at least 2 years so this fits the bill with this challenge as well.

Here is my card for Karen



The sentiment reads:-

The best part of life is when Family become your Friends and your Friends become your family.

I think this sentiment reflects the way I feel about the relationship between Karen and I.

Here is what I have used

Card base - Black bazzill
Papers - DCWV Wedding mat stack
Flowers - Prima
Sentiment from Bethany Harty
Ribbon and Brads from my stash

I hope Karen likes this card and it goes someway to letting her know how much I appreciate everything she does and who she is.

365 Cards # 63, Secret Crafter # 30 and Use it Challenges

Well today was National Scrapbook day, I had loads planned and what did I manage to get done all day?

I tell you - One card!! Why?

I had both my Daughter Sarah and 2 of my DIL's round to scrap, one of my DIL's; Karen is a very accomplished Scrapbooker but Marie has never done anything like this before, my Daughter has made a couple of things but is still very much a novice.

They both ended the day having finished a complete project so both were very happy, I on the other hand got nothing done as I was showing my DIL how to make this based on the one I made the other day



Marie wanted to make this after seeing Sarah's, she has used photo's of her 2 Sons.

At the same time both Karen and I helped Sarah to make these






These have been made into the cheap Ikea photo frames that cost about £1-00 for 3, from the angle I have taken the pictures you cant actually see they are in frames.
Sarah has used the photo's from her make over we got her for her 14th Birthday.

But I did manage to get this made once they had all gone home



This is for today's challenge on 365 Cards where we had to use 8 Flowers, I have made this using the green flowered paper, printed the sentiment which reads

A Mothers treasure is her Daughter

This was cut out using my nestabilities and I cut a larger circle in Pink to add the sentiment on to, I added a green ribbon and 8 different flowers, even though some are layered I still have 8 different ones.

This also covers the challenge at the Use it blog which is to use

Flowers - which I have

Fibres - which I have

Metal -which are the brads

Tool you dont often use- I used my old paper trimmer, I normally cut everything with a craft knife and a ruler.

A card to honour an important woman in your life - this is for my daughter.

Lastly it is for the challenge at the Secret Crafter Saturday challenge who want us to use Flowers on our cards, starting to see a pattern here!

An eventful day even if I didnt get alot done, have you done anything for NSD?

365 Cards, Cute Card Thursday and DU2DS challenges

I needed a card for my Granddaughters 6th Birthday tomorrow and although I now have a box full of cards and in that box I have many cards that I could have used when I looked at the challenge on 365 Cards today I decided to make a new one. In fact this card covers 3 different challenges.

Today's challenge on 365 Cards is called Age is Just Number

A number should be on the card - a date, age, whatever - but the number should signify the importance of the event.

The next challenge is for Cute Card Thursday this challenge is called Mirror, Mirror and they challenge you to use something shiny

The last challenge is for Dare You 2 Digi Stamp and the challenge is this sketch and of course to use a Digi stamp on your card.

So here is the card for my Granddaughters birthday

For 365 Cards it has to have a number which on my card is 6 and on the number 6 I have written today

For Cute card Thursday it has to have something shiny and the image is mounted onto Silver card and it also has the Silver handbag charm.

For DU2DS it has to follow the sketch which it does.

Spotted paper is Doodlebug which I mounted onto a white card base with the Doodlebug ribbon being tied around the card base. I used co-ordinating Doodlebug card in Bubblegum and Cupcake which I embossed with the Swiss dots folder before I cut the circles and outer frames using my Nestabilities.

The image is from Pink Petticoat and has been coloured with watercolours and Sakura pens then mounted onto another piece of Bubblegum card and then onto Silver before being added to the card.

Both the number 6 and the handbag charm have been added using 3D foam pads.

I hope she likes it!

Another card for the Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge

Now you cant have a Baby Boys card without making one for a Girl so I made this one in the shape of a Dress with a cute apron as well.

So here is another card for the Secret Crafter challenge #29 Shaped cards.



I have used Bazzill for the Dress and plain White card for the Apron, both have been stamped using my Rubber stamp Tapestry stamps in a combination of SU Jolly Rose, Certainly Celery and Almost Amethyst.
I have added a lace trim and some ribbon to the apron with a couple of pearls to the shoulders.

Hope you like it!

Onsie card to add to my Baby Collection!!

Today I have made a card that covers 2 challenges.

The first is for the Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge which is to make a shaped card

The second is for Cupcake Craft Challenge which is to use 5 different embellishments

your creation must include 5 DIFFERENT embellishments (not including your card, papers or images!). You can use more than one flower or brad for example, but it will only count once!!!

So here is my card



For the Saturday challenge shape I made a 'Onsie' shaped card and for the cupcake crafts my 5 different embellishments are:-

1. White ribbon and Ric Rac
2. Blue Buttons
3. Blue Eyelets
4. Blue fabric Teddy on pocket
5. White Heart shaped Jewels on sleeves

This card will be added to the collection of items made using these colours to take to show the lady who runs a local baby shop with a view to her selling them for me.

Hope you like it

Folded Flower Tutorial

Here as promised is the instructions for making the folded Flower I added to this card

Please be gentle with me as this is the first tutorial I have done so I hope it all makes sense.

For this to be really effective you need to use double sided paper, not card, the thicker your paper is the harder this will be to get it to look really neat. On my card above I used Double sided card but as I printed it myself it was only on thin card and the other petals are pages from a book I got off the car boot sale for 10p.

To start you need a scalloped circle, I cut mine using my Nestabilities, if you count the scallops mine are an odd number this will make the final folding a little different

Fold your circle in half and firmly crease the fold using either a bone folder or as I do your thumb nail

Now as you will see at one end you will have folded through on of the scallops, this is the side you need to start folding from, count up 6 plus the half scallop and fold so the edges are lined up

Ok so far

Now you need to fold that piece back so the bottom edge now lines up with the side edge

Now turn the whole thing over and fold up so that the bottom edge lines up with the side edge again

Now unfold and cut through the first fold you made

You now have 2 pieces

as you have an odd number of scallops you will need to fold one way and the other piece the other way so they are opposite to each other.

Hope that all makes sense

A whole load of stuff made today for only 2 challenges ... this is a long post!!

I just want to let you know this is going to be quite a long post but there is lots to see so please try to stay with me, maybe some strong coffee to help keep you awake before you start!!

OK first challenge today is for 365 Cards the challenge today is to make a card using acrylic,

Use it as the card base - front, back, or all - otherwise anything goes.

I am not lucky enough to have any fancy acrylic card bases but I did have an empty packet that held rims for my tag maker so I made this into a shaker card to go with the next project I have to show you.

I have some thin acetate so I cut a piece to cover directly behind the storage bit of the packet and used double sided tape to fix 3 sides of it, before sealing the top I tipped some beads, a few ribbon roses, some punched hearts and flowers and a small plastic baby bottle I have had lying around for a while.

I then replaced the card in the back of the packet with pink card added a piece of white and stamped on it using my Rubber stamp Tapestry stamps and a couple of small Baby stamps.



The back has a piece of the spotted and then white with the sentiment printed onto it.



This is a picture to show the side view.



If you haven't played along with the challenges on 365 Cards you really should have a go, we are a really supportive, friendly bunch. We have over 200 followers so some of you must have already seen the blog so now all we need is more of you to join in with us!

OK next project, you will need the coffee now!!!

This is for the challenge on Paper Blooms Challenge #4 Celebrate Earth Day

The challenge is to use something that you'd normally throw away or want to make new again in your project. Recycle packaging, containers, or alter something that you want to spruce up. The sky's the limit on this one!

This is an nearly empty packet that held pencils



This is what it looks like now




From the top

So I have a lovely container that is covered in double sided paper and embellished so i thought I would make a scrapbook to go in it.

It has been made using chipboard sheets that I have covered with the same spotted papers I used to make the card above and the Milk Cartons I made the other day

Still with me so far??

I had to use small, limited embellishments so it would fit in the box once it was finished

Each page has a poem on it and space for a photo, this page is for the scan picture

Details of the Birth

Now all the pages are really general pages so the Parents can choose the photos they want in here.

This page has an acetate sheet that covers the photo

A tag on a ribbon held on with a brad

This one is a pocket to slip the photo into

Lift the top spotted paper to add the photo, the frame is lined with acetate

The poem is printed onto the tag which slides under the photo mat

There is room for an extra photo on the bottom of the tag

Stamped border using my Rubber stamp tapestry stamps

Poem is in a Nestabilities frame

Again the rubber stamp tapestry stamps to make a background

Footprints edge the photo mat

Flowers and jewels embellish the last page

Well I think that's it for tonight, hope you managed to stay awake

Hope you like them all!!