Penguins In Love

At last my cardmaking orders have slowed down and I can concentrate on my own Christmas makings! My son finished school yesterday and the festive spirit is in full supply!

I wanted to share a card I made for me parents using a free die from Papercraft Essentials Magazine.

I die cut the penguins, heart and foliage using the free dies and the words I made using my Cricut Machine. My parents loved it!

Cardmaking Challenges I am entering:

Crafty Calendar - Its Christmas

Crafty Hazlenuts Christmas - Anything Goes

Crafty HazleNuts Extra - Christmas

Winter Wonderland - Anything Christmas

Sisterhood of Crafters - Christmas

The Merry Christmas Challenge - Christmas

Embossed Trees

I have just purchased the new Embossing Book from Fran Seiford of Stampendous. And I am hooked on embossing again! There are some fabulous ideas.

I decided to dip my toe in the water again with this card for the Mixed Media Card Challenge. The theme is Trees.

To create the background I used gold acrylic paint and torn book pages. I then used a tree stamp, stamping with Versamark ink and using different colours of WOW! Embossing Powder.

Once cut to size I used a black Promarker to colour the edges to give it some depth.

Watch this space for more embossing projects!!

I am entering the following challenges:

Make My Monday - Square Card

Simon Says Stamp Challenge - Make Your Own Background

WOW! Embossing Powder Blog - Anything Goes

We Love to Create - Mixed Media

Merry ChristMouse!

I can't believe its such a long time since I blogged - things are really busy with the run up to Christmas. Now all the craft fayres are done I have had time to start decking the halls.

The card I am sharing with you today is one I made using my Cricut Explore. It has been a best seller at Craft Fayres. I cut the mouse and before adding it to the card blank covered a torn piece of paper, sprayed with Silver Sparkle, to the bottom to look like snow.  I then die cut the snowflakes and added the fun sentiment.

I hope this makes you smile!

Challenges I am entering :

Brown Sugar Challenge - Red, White and Green

Chocolate, Coffee and Cards - Christmas

That's Crafty - Anything Goes

Crafters Cafe - Christmas

Crafty Creations - Die Cuts

Cardz 4 Guys - Winter Critters

Funkie Junkie - 12 tags of Christmas Week 4

Now that half term is over I hope to have a bit more time to craft, but this week has been taken up with hospital and doctors appointments!

I think my camera may also need the doctor :) as it seems to be taking very blurred pictures, so I apologise if this one isn't perfect.

This is my fourth entry for the Funkie Junkie's 12 Tags of Christmas Challenge (I am catching up slowly!) I interpreted the inspiration into a card. I used a very old stamp from my stash and coloured it with Promarkers and Liquid Pearls. The backing paper is in a vintage style from Kaisercraft. I created the embellishment using some hessian, ribbon and poinsettia diecuts covered with text paper.

Other challenges I am entering:

Creative Craft Challenges - Words

Stamping Sensations - Christmas

Back in action

Its been a couple of weeks since I've been able to blog. I went down with a really nasty virus Easter Weekend and have only just managed to get out of bed! The Easter holidays have been a wash out for me! and have left me extremely weak and wobbly!

I did manage to catch Hels on Create and Craft with the Melt Pot and have ordered some Beeswax which I hope to be able to play with soon! I have had my melt pot for some time but its not been used to its potential.

I made this card a couple of weeks ago after trying a different technique - stamping with Aquamarkers. I used a set of stamps from Docrafts and coloured them directly with the Aquamarkers. I drew out the colour using a water brush at the end.

I am entering this card into the following challenges :
Happy Campers - Flower Power
Simon Says Stamp  - Spring Flowers
Country View Craft Challenge - Butterflies

Happy Mother's Day

I hope all the Mums out there are being made to feel very special on Mother's Day and of course thinking of the mothers that are no longer with us.

I made so many Mother's Day cards over the last few weeks, but finally got round to making a special one for my own Mum!

I love Joanna Sheen's Holly Pond Hill CD and the lovely artwork by Susan Wheeler. So I made this card using printed sheets and the additional decoupage. I finished the card with ribbon and roses.

I am entering this card into the following challenges

Joanna Sheen - Mums The Word

Dream Valley Challenges - Mothers Day

Traditional Christmas Colours

The days seem to be flying by ever nearer to the big day. Its a busy time of year with nativity plays and carol concerts and the looming pile of presents to wrap!

I also had my 5 minutes of fame in January's Cross Stitch Crazy magazine this week! I was asked to be a member of January's reader panel which was fun.

Today I thought I would share a Christmas card with you, using more traditional colours. I made this card using a stamp from one of my favourite companies, Little Claire. I was really lucky to be the winner of their November challenge with my baby card. For this card, I stamped and coloured the image with Promarkers and then added the holly, ribbon and twine embellishment.

I am entering this into the following challenges:

Little Claire Designs  - Christmas

Dilly Beans - Traditional red and green

The Grape Fairy

Better late than never this is my entry for Try It On Tuesday which is fairies. I made this card using a Bravura stamp. I stamped and coloured the image with Promarkers, then highlighted the grapes with glossy accents. The wings I highlighted with Stickles and other areas of the card with a gold pen. Simple, but I think quite stunning.

New Year - New Challenge

I was recently asked to be on Its Crafting Time's Design Team for this year and jumped at the chance.  The new challenge begins today. This is my DT piece. I used Distress Inks without cleaning the stamp each time to get a range of blue and greens. The butterfly at the bottom was stamped and decoupaged to give a 3D element to the card.


The themes are as follows:


W/C  9th January   - Green & Purple
W/C 16th January  - Sketch
W/C 23rd January  - Buttons & Bows
W/C 30th January  - Newspaper


I look forward to seeing your take on the theme!