Another challenge card - this time for the ILWS Pinterest challenge set by Leanie. (If you would like to join in, or just see other entries use the link here). This week she has chosen the card on the left made by Andrea Ewen of EwenStyle.com. The idea is to CASE the style and design of the card but using SU products. I used Basic Gray cardstock and DSP along with Whisper White Organza ribbon, Just Believe stamp set and the Bird Builder punch for the leaves. The flower is made with the small Scallop Circle punch and the scallop border cut from the Tasteful Trims Bigz XL die. A couple of hearts punched from Glimmer Paper and some loops of Baker's Twine and I ended up with something that looked like a wedding card!!!!
Back tomorrow with a punch art card x

Fancy Fold

The card I am showing you today was inspired by one I saw on Jane's blog (aka Autumn Mist) - her card can be seen here. I was asked to make two cards for 60th birthdays and wanted to make something a little different (they were for the same person to give to two different recipients) so I thought I would give, what is apparently called a Joyfold card, a try. I have to admit that I'm not a fan of fancy fold cards but I was really pleased with the finished result so I could well be making more of this style in the future. This particular card is A5, therefore larger than the normal size, so I had to work out all the measurements I needed and found that A4 cardstock was not big enough so the flap on the left hand side is a separate piece of card which is glued onto the back. I cut the edge that would be glued on the reverse with an Edgelit die to make a fancier, and neater, finish. The colour scheme was Crumb Cake, Early Espresso and Very Vanilla and I used a variety of supplies - a mix'n'match of stamp sets as well as dies and punches. I won't go into detail as this is a design which can be adapted to any stamps, punches and dies that you own and which fit with the theme of the the card.
Tomorrow I will be back to show you the challenge I was set to make a graduation card with a 'nurse' incorporated!!

Simples Sunday

Last week I had a bit of a production line going making thank you cards so it was one of those times when I really need a simple design. In all honesty you really can't get much more simple than this!
I started with an 8cm square card blank and stamped the flower border with a stamp from Bordering on Romance. I then added a couple of River Rock leaves punched from the Bird Builder punch, a flower from the Boho Blossoms punch and a sentiment from Teeny Tiny Sentiments which had been punched out with the Jewelry Tag punch. Really, really simple!! Apologies for the quality of the photo but I had to lay the cards down to get them all in and couldn't quite get the light right.

LIM No.3!!!!

 

Oh dear another entry for the LIM challenge which is the third today!! This watch has been sitting around on my desk for a couple of weeks waiting to be made into a card so I have finally completed it to fit today's Sketch challenge.
I have seen a few people make the new SU Soda Pop Tops into watches using the Dapper Dad stamp set for the watch face but, as I don't own this set, I had to improvise. I used the clock stamp from Forever Young stamped in Versamark and silver embossed before punching the clock face with a Circle Punch. This was matted onto a larger punched circle of Brushed Silver cardstock before covering with Crystal Effects. The Soda Pop Top was flattened in the Big Shot and, when the clock face was dry it was adhered to the Pop Top, again using Crystal Effects. The watchstrap was made with Brushed Silver cardstock embossed with the Square Lattice Embossing Folder. The watch was positioned onto a panel of Twitterpated DSP matted onto Basic Gray cardstock and then onto a DL card blank and the sentiment is computer generated. A Basic Rhinestone was added to the centre of the watch face and a couple on the sentiment banner to add a bit of bling!
No more entries for this challenge I promise :0)

LIM Again!

I have managed to get a few jobs on my list done this morning, one of them being the mammoth task of tidying my Craft room - I am such an untidy crafter!! Whilst in there I came across some punched butterflies left over from another card but surplus to requirements and an idea immediately popped into my head for the sketch challenge at LIM. So what did I do? Yes, made another mess in my newly tidied room!!! I don't kow why but whenever the room is tidy is seems to give me license to mess it up again :0)
A really simple card for my second entry into the challenge using Elegant Eggplant cardstock and DSP, the Elegant Butterfly and Bitty Butterfly punches and a retired sentiment punched with the Modern Label Punch. Just to add a bit of interest I diecut the bottom edge of the panel with one of the Adorning Accents Edgelit dies and added a bit of paper piercing using the template in the Essentials Paper Piercing Pack. A few dimensionals, to fix the panel to the card blank, and a few Basic Rhinestones and second entry today DONE!

Less is More Sketch

Well was that Summer?? It is dark and raining here at the moment so, before I tackle the list of jobs to do today, I made a couple of cards for the LIM challenge which this week is a Sketch.

As this is quite a simple sketch the ladies have asked that the orientation stays the same.
My first attempt was one in Crumb Cake using a stamp from Fabulous Florets and a die from Apothecary Accents Framelits.  I started by cutting an aperture with the die in a piece of Crumb Cake cardstock and another in printer paper to use as a mask. The mask was placed onto the card blank before stamping the images which were coloured using a blender pen. I made a bow with some very long retired and never used, twill tape and stamped with a sentiment then placed this around the panel before fixing to the card with dimensionals. Not being very happy with the finished card I made another almost identical one but using white as the base. This time instead of using dimensionals to fix the panel I glued it directly onto the stamped card. Stamping onto ribbon is something new to me and the jury is still out on whether I like it or not!
I hope you all have a great weekend, despite the weather, and I will try to pop round and look at the other entries later on when my 'job's list' is a bit shorter :0)

Scientific Challenge!

 Well I've certainly been set a bit of a challenge this week by a work colleague. Two of her friends have recently graduated - one is going into nursing and the other into a scientific career and she has asked me to make cards for them. The nurse/graduate card is a work in progress at the moment but, after a lot of brain racking, this is the scientific one I have come up with. I have used a stamp from Just Believe and another from Summer Silhouettes to create the 'meadow' and the Elegant Eggplant butterflies are cut with the Beautiful Wings Embosslits die. The magnifying glass was made from Brushed Silver cardstock, acetate and Circle Punches and the handle was cut freehand. I added a bit of piercing around the circle and handle, again freehand, just to give a bit of texture. The sentiment is a retired one and I finished the card with a few Basic Pearls.
I will be back to show you my other graduate card when it's finished!!

More Birthday Goodies

First up today is this gorgeous co-ordinating set my sister made me for my birthday (all made with SU goodies of course!) The box (above right) contained some scrummy homemade treats and the mini milk carton (below) housed some birthday 'pennies'.

She also made this lovely box which was from my Mum and held some of my favourite chocolate
bars :0)

Another beautiful matching set from Maureen (below)

 

and more lovely handmade cards from

                                                                                                  

                                                            Gail                                                                      

 

                       Carole                                                                            Jen

                               

Thank you everybody, I really appreciate and love them all x x 

Birthday Cards from Card Swap Group

 I received some beautiful birthday cards from some members of the card swap group and, as promised, I am posting them for you today.




The first one is from Jane (the founder of the group) and I think it is absolutely stunning. Such a lot of work has gone into it so thank you very much Jane - I love it.
Jane's blog can be found here.

The next card is from Aileen. What I love about this card is that it uses neutrals (which are my favourite) but the touch of pink in the butterfly just brings the card to life. Thank you Aileen.
Aileen's blog is here.











Next up is this stunning card from Michelle. Again in neutrals but that little touch of colour really makes that lovely embossing folder 'pop'.
Love it Michelle!
Michelle's blog is here

This is from Alison. What a pretty and inspirational card - I love how Alison has used the Modern Label punch to form her DSP flags.   Thank you Alison (unfortunately I don't know whether Alison has a blog so, if you see this Alison, maybe you would let me know)

This one is from Victoria, Such a bright and cheery card and what an inventive way of using DSP. I love the way Victoria has coloured the birthday sentiment tag to match the DSP. Thank you Victoria
Pop over and take a look at Victoria's blog here

And last, but by no means least, is this fabulous card from Sue. I had the pleasure of meeting Sue, and her sister Carole, at a Craft Retreat 2 years ago and then spent another weekend in their company last year. Unfortunately there is no Retreat this year so we won't be meeting up again this year but we do keep in touch and we will be sending each other cards now we're both in the Swap Group!!
This is a fabulous card, beautifully stamped and has it's own little stand to display it. Thank you Sue.
Where's that blog you were going to do last year???? :0)


Well that's the end of my photo heavy post today but, I'm sure you will agree, all these cards are gorgeous and I'm very lucky to have received them.
Do pop back tomorrow to see more handmade cards and boxes I received from friends and family.

New Baby

 A work colleague has just welcomed her first Granddaughter into the world so this is the congratulations card I have made for her. I find working with pink extremely difficult as it's not a colour I like so by no means the best card I've ever made but it's the thought that counts :0) I used the retired All in the Family for the image, along with some Pretty in Pink DSP, (both diecut with the Labels Collection Framelits), Pink Pirouette cardstock and taffeta ribbon and the sentiment is from Friendly Phrases. I did a bit of paper piercing around the diecuts, using a template from the Essentials pack and added a couple of Basic Pearls.

Bordering on Romance

After a very hectic weekend I have just realised I haven't scheduled a post for tomorrow so this is a card I made a few weeks ago and have not got round to posting yet . I was planning on showing you some of the fantastic handmade cards I received on my birthday but I haven't had a chance to take photos yet. I promise they will be on here sometime this week!
For this card I used a stamp from Bordering on Romance and white heat embossed it onto some vellum cardstock. I coloured it on the back of the vellum with Elegant Eggplant, Perfect Plum and Old Olive before fixing behind the oval aperture in a panel of Perfect Plum cardstock which had been cut with one of the Oval Framelits dies. A piece of Perfect Plum Taffeta ribbon was tied around the panel and then matted onto a white card blank. The sentiment, from Made for You, was white embossed, punched with the Large Oval Punch and matted onto a Scallop Oval punch. Here's a little close up for you

Hopefully I will be back tomorrow with a less hurried post :0)

Simples Sunday meets LIM

This week's challenge at Less Is More is 'CASE IT' and the ladies have made two cards for inspiration. It doesn't have to be a direct CASE, it can be the use of the colours, the layout, the subject matter, technique or the complete card. As I wanted to mix'n'match my entry with my 'Simples Sunday' posts I chose Jen's card, which was this one on the right.
My card was very simple, so simple that I made it whilst waiting for the supermarket to open so I could go and get my provisions for the week!!
As you can see I used the colours and layout of Jen's card for my CASE-ing with Pool Party and Crumb Cake as the colour scheme. I used the Natural Composition Speciality DSP for the matting which has a lovely embossed pattern and the Boho Blossoms punch to make the flowers. The sentiment is from Teeny Tiny Sentiments, punched with the Word Window punch and matted onto a Curly Label punch. To see my original 'Simples Sunday - For Kids' cards which were posted earlier today click here.
I had a lovely day in London yesterday and on the way to Afternoon Tea at Fortnum & Mason's (the birthday present from my daughter) I took a photo of a line of red telephone boxes and, when I got home, played around with it until I got this. No David Bailey but a memento of a lovely day!

'Simples Sunday' for the kids

For this week's 'Simples Sunday' I have four cards to show you, all made with the Dinoroar set. I simply stamped them straight onto 10cm square card blanks and then coloured them in with an aqua painter. The set consists of the four dinosaur images, two sentiments and the tufts of grass - ideal for all those dinosaur fans out there. I am not really sure what colours they should be, apart from T.Rex who I know is green, so I've just made them up but you could do them any colour you fancied. Why is it that at some stage all little boys seem to go through the dinosaur phase? My grandson loves them and I can remember both my son and my nephew (yes all those years ago) were exactly the same.

I hope you're having a lovely weekend and I'll be back soon x

Card Swap Group

No Less is More entry from me today as I've gone AWOL (more about that later) but today's card is the one I have received from Michelle in the card swap group I have told you about before. Such a beautiful card which the photo doesn't do enough justice. Michelle has a blog here so why not pop over and pay her a visit. Thank you Michelle, I love it :0) Scroll down to the bottom to see more handmade cards made by little people!
I had a (big) birthday on Wednesday and it seems that this year my birthday is lasting over several days rather than one. On Wednesday I was spoilt by my friends and work colleagues with lots of  cards and presents and then, in the evening, I was spoilt even more at my son's house with a family gathering and even more cards, presents and food! On Thursday my lovely sister and two friends took me out to lunch which was really enjoyable (with more presents, cards & food!!). And why am I AWOL today? Well I am off to London with my sister and daughter for afternoon tea at Fortnum & Mason's (a present from my daughter & son-in-law), with a visit first to Covent Garden. How lucky am I?
I have received some fabulous handmade cards which I will show you next week but today I will show you the one's I received from my grandchildren 
            
  Sky (aged 4)                     Conor (aged 1) with some help I think!             Willow (aged 2)          

                                                        

                                                      Roman (aged 4)

and I just had to show you a close up of Superwoman which he said was Granny!!

All of my grandchildren (with the exception of Conor at the moment) love 'making fings' - I don't know where they get that from :0)