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Tuesday 29 April 2008

Ismaki Challenge #17 Manue

Here is my card for this weeks sketch. I am in the middle of making Communion & Confirmation cards as these events are taking place in May. My eldest daughter is being Confirmed & my 8 year old is receiving her First Holy Communion. I need to come up with several designs for each so this weeks sketch came in handy & I knew straight away what I was going to do with it.
The prayer is a section taken from a Confirmation prayer card, the ribbon is from Click on Crafts & the dove brads are from Poppicrafts.

Tilda & Co - Eye Eye It's A Natural Feeling

For this week's challenge it's abit of a double up, I would like to see you use Eyelets if possible ( if you do not own them, then you can leave that part out or use brads) along with anything natural. Could be fibres, Leaves, Straw, Twigs, Papers etc as long as it is Natural with Eyelets ( if you have them )
I've used Papermania Retro backing paper & mounted Tilda on a feather with beads threaded at the bottom. The sentiment is stamped directly onto the paper using See D's celebration words stamps & a pink flower eyelet from Poppicraft

Monday 28 April 2008

Mojo Monday #35



My first job this morning was a commissioned card so when I saw the sketch on this weeks Mojo Monday it made my job easier as I didn't have to sit pondering over a layout.
It's a very dull day today here in Leeds so the picture isn't that good. I've made an attempt at faux stitching but definitely know I need more practice in that department!! The paper is Papermania, the cardstock is Bassill with a little bit of cuttlebug thrown in. The embellishments are Papermania star gems & Prima Flower Lady flowers.

Mon nouvel ami Français


I hope I've translated that right lol!!

I've received an award from my 'New French Friend' Sammie who never fails to make me smile with her quirky comments & emails. I should really be sending this award straight back to her. So Sammie, consider it boomeranging back at ya! and I also give it to Michelle who made my day recently with a competition win. I always enjoy visiting her blog & shop, Poppicrafts, as she always has such gorgeous goodies for sale & is always sharing tips & ideas.

Thursday 24 April 2008

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun


This weeks challenge on Cute Card Thursday is 'girls just wanna have fun'. I love this image of Lola Rose from Pink Petticoat as it's perfect for all us girlies who like a glass (or 2 LOL!!) I've used more papers from my Papermania Retro Floral pack, I am so loving these papers, they are so fresh & funky.

Wednesday 23 April 2008

Cute Card Thursday


I've just snuck this one in before the deadline. This week 'It's a mans world' so had to get my Quickutz cricket set out.

Inky Doodle Fantastic Friday & Debbie's Birthday Blog Candy


The challenge this week, in Korins own words, is an easy one as most of us do this on our cards without even thinking. The challenge is to use 3 different embellishments eg brads, ribbon, blooms etc.
I've also used this card for Debbie's birthday blog candy check out her blog as she has some lovely cards.

Candy Thankyou's

I am behind in publicly thanking Chris for the PIF candy she sent me last week. It's gorgeous, with lots of lovely stamped images & embellishments. I was also one of 3 lucky winners of Kath's blog candy & received some lovely girly stamped images & embellishments.
Thank you both, I will post piccies here later today.

Tuesday 22 April 2008

Tilda & Co

This is my first go at the Tilda & Co challenge which this week is 'Girly But Blue'.
You don't see many girl cards/projects in blue very often, They are normally pink! Well i would love you to make your projects this week in BLUE! Has to be suitable for a female. This is a pretty broad challenge this week, It could be a simple card, an altered art project etc

All the embellishments are once again from Poppicraft.


Ismaki Challenge

I really enjoyed this weeks sketch and, as with all the Ismaki sketches, I know I will use it again.


Here is my intepretation of this weeks sketch.


I have a new addiction. Watercolouring. I find it so theraputic. I have about 20 Tildas ready to mount LOL!!
I treated myself to the Papermania Retro pad yesterday & love the colours & patterns of the papers.
All the embellishments on this card are from Poppicrafts.

Sunday 20 April 2008

No cards made this weekend

What an emotional day I had yesterday. As a family we have been involved with Irish dancing for 7 years now & each of my girls have started to dance as soon as they were old enough (around 5 years old). Yesterday was the first time all 3 competed together as my youngest, who is 4, had her first feis (competition). As you can see, all 3 did really well and all won trophies, but the youngest came 2nd in her age group & for a child who before bedtime on Friday was flatly refusing to dance it was no mean feat LOL!!

It was probably the proudest day of my life so far & it was lovely to be able to have the photo taken to mark the occasion.

So, needless to say, no cards made this weekend LOL!!!

Thursday 17 April 2008

Mojo Monday Week #33

This is my 'take' on this weeks sketch which can be found here. I really enjoyed this sketch & used it again (sort of) on the Papertake card below. I decided to use colours I don't normally use so went for blue & yellow. I think I need to be a bit more adventurous with my colour scheme.

Papertake Weekly Challenge

'All that glitters'. The challenge is to simply use glitter on your card. Although it doesn't show up very well in the picture, the butterflies wings are made from glitter card.



Daring Cardmakers Challenge

My entry in this weeks dare 'Butterfly Flutterby' . I've used the Quickutz butterfly die & trimmed the right-hand edge of the card so the edged insert can be seen.

Wednesday 16 April 2008

Ismaki Challenge

This is my attempt at this weeks Ismaki Challenge sketch
I found this sketch really difficult & I'm not sure about the final card . . . . it's lacking something!
This is my first attempt at watercolouring & I'm not sure about that either LOL!!
Anyway, here's the card, see what you think.

Sunday 13 April 2008

Katharina's 30th Birthday Blog Candy

To celebrate her 30th birthday Katharina is giving away a fabulous Hanglar stamp & some stamped images. If you have never visited Katharina's blog you really must. She has some beautiful cards and really useful tips & tutorials. Pop across & have a look.

Saturday 12 April 2008

Hi Everyone

Hope you are all having a lovely weekend. I have had some precious family time today & took 2 of my girls swimming this afternoon. With the girls at school all week & doing various activities on an evening it's nice to share some time with them where I'm not just a 'taxi' driver.

Yesterday I decided it was time to get the 2008 First Holy Communion samples underway. This is the 4th year I've made personalised cards mainly through school & church.
My inspiration for one of the cards for this year was the Golden Wedding Anniversary card I posted on Wednesday.

I've kept the basic card the same, changing the colours & adding a cross embellishment.


My intention was just to change the pink to blue for the boys but after talking to my friend who has 3 boys she thought it would still be too girly . . . . . . . . so . . . . . . . . I'm going to change the birds & swirls to swiss dots but I'm stuck for what to replace the pink ribbon with. Any ideas . . . . . . all will be very gratefully received!!!



I also spent alot of time yesterday therapeutically winding my ribbon prize on to dolly pegs. This was the delicious prize from Michelle at Poppicrafts. If you haven't paid a visit to her shop yet, you should. She has some fab 'bits & pieces', some I haven't seen anywhere else. I can definately say the ribbon is high quality & the designs on the cross grain are gorgeous.

Thursday 10 April 2008

What a busy day

I rushed around on Tuesday doing all my housework etc etc mainly because I had card orders I had to do on Wednesday but also because DH had a day of work & was watching over LOL!!!

I'm terrible at leaving card orders to the last minute & had 3 to deliver yesterday evening so yesterday seemed like a good time to do them !!






The first was a wedding exploding box for a couple getting married in Mexico but they are unsure which day next week it will be hence the blank space so I can put the d.o.m on afterwards. The mother of the groom wanted a shocking pink box & hopefully was pleased with what she got.




I also had a 50th wedding anniversary card to do so out came my trusty cuttlebug.







For the last order I had to go 'back to my roots' & get out my sizzix doll die. A friend of mine goes line dancing & the birthday cards she orders have to have glitzy line dancers on them. I've struggled to find anything else that will do other than these, but live in hope LOL!!


Wednesday 9 April 2008

Daring Cardmakers Challenge


Here is my card for the challenge on Daring Cardmakers blog 'Shrink to Fit'
***
So this week I'd like you to think small - not small cards, but small spaces of embellishment on regular sized cards.
You are allowed to cover no more than a 5x5cms area of your card with paper or embellishment - the rest of the card must be left plain.
***
All my cards used to have white backgrounds but now they seem bare without backing paper, although the cuttlebug embossing folders compensate hugely when the background has to be white.
I haven't put this card out to sell yet as I think it's so cute & don't want to let it go until I make another one but I'm sure when I made this one I used the last of the B's LOL!!!

Tuesday 8 April 2008

PIF Candy

I've been the lucky recipient of 2 lots of PIF Candy so it's my turn to put my first lot up for grabs. I've sorted out some goodies so the first 3 people to leave a comment on this post will win. The only stipulation is that you in turn must pass forward some candy.

**************************************************************
Thanks for the comments. Well done to Kath, Tracy & Lainey **************************************************************

Monday 7 April 2008

Poppicraft Challenge - I Can't Believe I Won

To say I am over the moon is the biggest understatement. Words like ecstatic, choked, and gobsmacked all spring to mind.

The challenge was to make a card showing an unusual use of ribbon & submit it to Poppicrafts blog to win 50 yards of ribbon.

My original post can be found here.

I've rung everyone I know LOL!! I've even had my poor brother trying to navigate his way round the blogging world. Can you tell I've never won anything before!!

Sunday 6 April 2008

And I even managed to make some cards.

I read a tip a while ago and although it's pretty obvious I didn't always do it. The tip was, each time you have a commission card to make, always make more than one. You will most definately need the extra cards at some time.

So now when I make any card I always make more than one. It's so much quicker to have a little production line going although with these I got a little ahead of myself and had the blue ribbon on the pink card LOL!!
These minature nappies are so cute and the little baby sentiments brads from Poppicraft finish it off nicely.
The backing paper is Kay & Co and I love the cuttlebug baby sentiments embossing folder.