Just to say ..............

Hi everyone from a very wet Somerset.   Sooooo cold I had to put the heating on today !!!!

Not giving in tho, summer skirts, t-shirts etc.  It's July not December !!!!!

Today's card is using the lovely de-coupaged Wellington from Papermania, and Bo Bunny papers from stash.  I have edged and distressed using the wonderful Tim Holtz inks, and layered onto kraft cardstock.  Tickets and embellishments by Tim, together with Lilli of the Valley postcard stamped card give meaning to the front of the card.  The inside has also been decorated and has been stamped with Wellington Sentiments.

The front

close up of front

from the side

inside

I hope everyone looking at this loves it as much as I do.

Crafty hugs to all

My first Blog Award and Anything Goes

Hello my fellow crunchies.

I have some really exciting news.  I am really honoured to have been nominated for the Liebster Blog Award and would like to thank Tina for thinking of me, thanks for all the lovely comments you leave on my blog too.

The Liebster Blog Award is used to show appreciation of smaller blogs (under 200 followers) and to help spread readership and joy.

As part of the tradition the award is to be passed along to five other blogs that have motivated and inspired me.

The name comes from the German meaning Dearest or Beloved, but can also mean Favourite.

To accept this Award you must:

1.  Link back to the person's blog who gave it to you, and thank them.

2.  Post on your blog.

3.  Give to five other Bloggers who you appreciate and value.

4. Leave a comment on the five blogs you choose and let them know.

Now comes the difficult bit ...........  how do you only choose 5 - yes only 5 blogs to pass this award on to.    I have (in the words of Lloyd Grossman) deliberated and gogitated and have come up with the following who have inspired me.  They are in no particular order and I could have chosen many many more.

1.  Tamara at  Posh Cat Crafts 

2.  Lee at Crafty Loops 

3   Hazel at hazelshandmadecrafts.

4   Karen at redrottiecardsandcrafts

5   Wendy at The-craftmonkey

ANYTHING GOES CHALLENGE

Well today's Tuesday and that means it's time for another great challenge over at Anything Goes.  This is the second DT card I have made for this blog, and I just want to say that the team is fab and has made me very welcome.  Thanks guys.

The theme of our challenge this fortnight is Boys to Men.  I can hear you all groaning from here ........ YES it's a dreaded man card...........  why oh why can't they like hearts and flowers and pink and stick pins etc etc etc.  All the things us girlies love .............. sadly they don't but hey don't dispair the fab DT team have come up with some great cards to give you plenty of inspiration.  So why don't you pop on over and join in the fun.

My card has been made for my son's 13th birthday this year.  He's 13 on the 13th.  He's mad on motorbikes and is very into all this union jack stuff about - hence the theme of the card.  I have used a basic card from stock, and the new Papermania Portabello Road papers.  The image is a digi from Prairie Fairy and is coloured with Promarkers.  The sentiment has been layered onto glitter card and is from Kanban.  I distressed the edge of the papers with TH distress inks and used  spellbinder nesties to create my layers.  The fab union jack was a dog tag from Poochie Pets.  

Hugs and happy crafting.

Flower Power

Hi everyone

Well what a fortnight it's been. Firstly thanks to everyone who left comments for me and hugs on my Blue Valentine post.  -  I apologise for not posting much this week, but I am moving so things have been very busy.  I have a lovely new little house that I am sure the kids and I will be very happy in.

Anyway today's post is a card I made for my fantastic sister-in-law  for her birthday.  The card is also my DT card for the wonderful Cutie Pie challenge this fortnight.  The challenge is flower power.

I have used a Make it Crafty image for this card.  I love these - they are fab to colour and always look wonderful. The backing papers are first edition.  The sentiment is from the Tulip range by Papermania.  I have of course coloured her with promarkers.  The edges were inked with TH Distress Inks.   I kept it quite simple as I wanted the image to really stand out and the backing papers are really glitzy.

I hope that you'll pop on over and join in our fab challenge.

Hugs to everyone

Cutie Pie Challenge No 11 - Come on over and have a go

Good morning Cutie Pies and my lovely followers, its

 Craftybird Lisa here with the brand new challenge over at The Cutie Pies. 

  This time it's something a little different and we hope that you will join in the fun with the Cutie Pie DT!  My first time of leading a challenge and I'm looking forward to picking the winner too!  This challenge is ideal for those of you who like altering things, scrapbooking, making boxes, bags, knitting, beading and more!  We have two fantastic sponsors, my Winning choice will win a prize from 'STAMP & CREATE' 

STAMP & CREATE LINK HERE

In addition we have another generous Digital Sponsorship from the wonderful Prairie Fairy!  A firm favourite with the DT, you will see some of the images used in their Work.

So don't be shy, lets see them here, as long as it's not a card you can enter this one!  The DT have had fun with this one, I hope you like their ideas and makes as much as I do!

So come on over to The Cutie Pies challenge site and join in the fun.

For this challenge I made a memory book out of paper bags.  I used Tim Holtz papers and black card from my stash.  The ribbons were from Stampin-up.  The tags and the fantastic car on the front were cut using my cricut.  All pages were edged with TH distress inks.  

from the top

one section open

close up of pockets and tags

the front

the side

I hope you like it and it has inspired you to make something a little different.  I loved doing this one and my baby brother (32) thinks it's great and is going to start filling it with photos and momentos to record his move into his new house.

I am entering this into the following challenges;

Paper Sundaes:  Clean and Simple

The Hybrid Chick - Ribbon

Allsorts Challenge - Free and Easy

Catch the Bug Blogspot - Anything goes

Little Claire Designs:  Anything but a card

Creations by Gillm:  Challenge 2 colour inspiration

The Poodles Parlour - Anything Goes

Wags'n'whiskers:  Home Decoration

Hugs to you all

Bright and summery - even if it's -3 outside

Well it's been absolutely glorious again today, albeit absolutely freezing......

And all this sunshine gave me the inspiration needed for my next card.  I wanted to give a feeling of all things good about summer, the sun, the colours of the flowers, butterflies, pot plants and great birthdays...

I have used a sketch and stash sketch (No 7) as the basis for this card.  They have some fab sketches in their library.  The image is a Wee Stamps image.  I think she's just too cute.  What do you guys think??

The papers used are from Stampin Up, Pampered Pets, Kate Knight Totally Tropical and papermania card stock.  I used a spellbinders die to cut the centre shape and the sentiment is from the Tulip range.  The butterfly charm is from my stash of broken up jewelry. The pink and orange butterfly was cut on the cricut and then glittered using stickles.  The edges of all papers were inked using Marmalade TH Distress inks.  The image was coloured with my fab promarkers.

I am going to enter this card into the following challenges:

Hooked on Craft Challenges :  Something Bright & Summery
I love promarkers: photo inspiration bright buttons
Crafts and Me - Brighten up your day
Divas by Design :  Anything goes
Sketch n Stash:  Free Choice sketch No7

My mums craft shop Challenges:  Fab n Funky

Thanks for popping in and having a look and for any comments you leave.  They are always much appreciated.

Hugs

And now for something completely ..........

different for me.   A few weeks ago I met up with loads of the other DC members and we had a fun day.  It was great and we made Christmas mini albums.  Well I have now finished mine and here it is......

This is the front cover

The first two pages

Then the next two

and finally the last two.

The back page is the same as the front.  We were not allowed to use any Dies or machines to cut out all the houses etc.  Each card lifts out and has three photo mats.  All the papers used were from my stash and the snowflake tops were cut by Angie.  

Previously to that I had been on a course at my local Garden Centre, Monkton Elm, and done a one day starter course on Memory Books.  This is mine from that course.

The front cover

inside the front cover

a couple of the pages with photo mat inserts

I had great fun creating this and used some butterflies from my stash to simply decorate

Recipe

Black cardstock

1 x A4 paper pack Kanban Oxford

PaperArtsy Stamp Set

lots of red and white tape and glue

four different MS punches

TH distress Inks