Monochrome card

Good Monday morning everyone. Hope you had a good weekend and had a chance to do some crafting along with everything else.
I have made a card to enter the Sketchie Challenge on Craftbubble.com and have had a whale of a time. This challenge really got me thinking about what to do to be creative but I challenged myself with the monochrome as well. I think it turned out rather well and I am very pleased with it.

See the challenge sketch at  http://www.craftbubble.com/index.php?do=/public/forums/display_group_topic/id_14214/Sketchie-Challenge---13-February-2010/

The focus was to make a handmade embellishment as the central feature and stamping could be used for the backing and sentiment.
I stamped white card with a flourish stamp and used my new Stampin' Up Wonderful Words ll for the sentiment. I used a Cuttlebug embossing folder for the central mount and matted it onto black and white, both have been edged with Sakura Jelly Roll pens. The ribbon across the middle was made by folding white paper and using a Martha Stewart punch which I then stuck onto black paper. I distressed the edges of the black and white spotted paper and the sentiment and then edged them with silver stickles. My central embellishment looks like a tag with another of my handmade flowers - but look what I have included here, just a little secret.

My gorgeous girls with beautiful smiles on their faces. In this photo Becca is twelve, Ella is three and Maddison is 1, taken last year on our way home from Lanzarote. It's wonderful having grand-daughters, they are such fun and an opportunity to spoil every now and then.

Here is the card with the phot tag out -

I think I will look for some other challenges to enter with this card. I hope you like it.

The card has been entered for A Handful of Stamps - open challenge

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If you are blog hopping today you might like to check out Sarah Wright's blog - she has some free candy

which will be available for entry until the 27th february  -   http://sarahwrightdesigns.blogspot.com/

Valentine

Happy Friday folks. Hope all is well with you and yours. Hi to Lauren, thanks for joining my blog, I shall be over to yours later to see what you are up to.
I am being impatient whilst waiting for my new mobile phone to arrive. Having got totally fed up with my current one that keeps crashing on me, I have ordered the i-phone and am joining my son, daughter and daughter-in-law as they all have one too. The door bell has gone twice already today so I am hoping it will be third time lucky.

I am posting my Valentine card today, which actually is card no:2 for my hubby. I made him one way back at the beginning of January but having looked at it again I am not so happy with it. So here is the one I have been working on. The photograph does not do the colours justice, but I have used red and grey with black and white. The distressed heart background is another from a CD by Papercraft World and I have edged it with silver stickles. The grey, mottled centre mount has been edged with a Martha Stewart punch and a matching one used for the two corners. The heart and key charms are silver and I have used a variety of hearts punched or cut on the Cricut.
I am entering this for the Cute Card Thursday Challenge - http://cutecardthursday.blogspot.com/2010/02/challenge-99-in-name-of-love.html
This will be my second entry to a challenge, so lets see how this one goes.
I must say a big thankyou to everyone on Craftbubble who have sent me such lovely messages about my work. Thanks girls they have really made me feel good (much needed this week with Mum in hospital).
Yey my phone has just arrived so I need to go and set it up. Well I might get on here again over the weekend - we'll see, if not have a great saturday and sunday to you all. Bxx

14th February.   I have just used this card to enter the 'Simon says Stamp What's Love got to do with It!!' challenge. http://simonsaysstampschallenge.blogspot.com/2010/02/simon-says-all-you-need-is-love.html
Also to Totally Gorjass Feel the lurve  http://totallygorjuss.blogspot.com/2010/02/feel-lurve-17.html
And ..... Crafty Creations Lotstodo challenge Love is in the air  http://inkythings.blogspot.com/2010/02/lotstodo-challenge-love-is-in-air.html
Also - Dutch Dare challenge Valentine Day card
And - Crafty Calendar challenge - Love and Friendship

I am so enjoying this!!!! Bxx

Peace

It's been a very busy week going up the hospital twice a day to see Mum. She seemed quite a bit better again yesterday but healing 2 broken ribs and a punctured lung is going to take some time.

In-between times I have been working on this card for my very first challenge. I hope to submit it on Craftbubble today as I used the sketchie challenge layout which also has a little twist of 'wings'. I wanted a distressed look and have tried out the Tim Holtz distressing tool which worked well, the stamp is one from my stash and I used the nesties labels to make the frame. The flowers were made from ordinary photocopy paper and aged mahogany and antique linen distress inks. Papers have been edged with gold stickles and vintage photo distress stickles. It's another different style for me - I am learning so much and enjoying all the experimentation. Thanks for looking. Bx

Free digistamp

This is just an adorable free digi stamp available from http://motivet.com/blog/?p=1724 . Have a look and save to use later on if you can't use it right now.

A Bookmark

Hope you're having a super Sunday. Today's post is of a bookmark and the idea came from an American friend of mine. Last year she suggested this was something I could make and I haven't got round to trying it out until this week. I think it's really cute and I have put her name on it and will send it to her for her birthday - so Joni if you reads this you know what will be winging it's way to you in the post.

                                   

 I have kept the embellishments flat so the bookmark will fit easily between the pages without marking them.

I hope you like the designs and colour pallettes. Enjoy the rest of the weekend. Bx

My little work of art.

It's the weekend, another week gone and a whole week since I started the blog. My son Ben is in Newquay with a group of friends on Matt's stag weekend and they have just come out of the sea having had a surfing lesson. Apparently it was warmer in the water than out, but a great time had by all.
The card I am posting today has taken me all week to finish, admittedly I have been doing other things in-between, but it has taken a great deal of thinking time as well as time given to the details. I am really quite pleased with it now that it's completed.

I guess this type of card will have a name, but I needed a way of making the card larger than a straight A4 piece of card would allow for and this is what I came up with. I took time to decorate the inside as well.

I used a stamp I already had and having inked it up I then masked it to complete the distressed background. I have used the Nestabilities for the message (Justrite Stampers) and the mount for the stamped image. The papers are from sets I have already bought and from a CD by Papercraft World. On the creamy flowers I have used gold Stickles and Adirondack Espresso, the smaller centres I made and then put it all together with a red brad. The green flower I made using flower shapes cut on the Cricut, distressing with the Espresso and misting with Cosmic Shimmer Mist, Lava Red. The leaves have been punched and misted with Golden Mint Cosmic Shimmer Mist. The hearts were cut on the Cricut and I used Aqua Cosmic Twinkles and Baby Pink Pearlidoodle. I used silver liquid pearls round the edge of the paper. I really enjoyed making and putting this card together and feel that it truly is a piece of art.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend. Take care. Bx

Quick card for today

Good evening. Life certainly can take a turn so quickly can't it. Suffice to say I was almost ready to post a new card yesterday and then had to deal with a family emergency. As you can see from todays card it was Mum who needed some help having had a fall, so here is the card I made for her today.

My lovely daughter Maddie, who studied design at university, has already critiqued it and told me there are several different styles in there. However I needed a main picture quickly, and these flowers has already been done, really I should have used a different patterned paper for the main mount but I had already chosen it for Mum as I thought she would like the roses. I have used the Cricut and nesties, my new Justrite stampers and embellished with Stickles and Cosmic Twinkles. The front is actually cut shorter than the back so that when flat you can see the Mum border at the side.

Hope you like it. Have a great weekend. B xx

They've arrived.

I can't believe it, my Justrite Stamper kits arrived today and now I am going to play, what fun. I must say I am very impressed with Craftbox for getting the order out so quickly, I only confirmed it yesterday morning on the phone and here they are, thanks everyone.

What inspiration I am getting at 'Cards by Kim', I just love her work. I am not a stamper and I very rarely colour in and Kim does, but how she puts her designs together, the distressing and embellishing and colour themes are amazing, her cards are so scrummy, go have a look http://kimpiggott.blogspot.com/ . I am hoping the cards I produce will now change and improve using the influence of Kim's creativity to enhance my own. This is a very apt quote.

 "Get over the idea that only children should spend their time in study.

Be a student so long as you still have something to learn,

and this will mean all your life."

Henry L Doherty.

I want to continue to learn new things and for me that's about looking to see what others do, not to copy, but to adapt and apply to my own style. We'll see what happens over the coming weeks.

My card today is one I finished yesterday. It is simple and provided me with an opportunity to think about how to put elements together. This is not a 'star' card but is one that has enabled me to think about how I put a design together and at the moment that seems to be taking me the most time. I do not seem to be able to see a finished creation in my head from the beginning, I start to put something together and it changes and goes through a metamorphosis, ending up to be something quite different. This one started with four circles and the quote in the middle of them, but look at it now, no circles, it has been put together in a completely different way. Even today I added more bling.

Can you see the difference between the two photos from one day to the next?

Hope you like it.

Thankyou for stopping by.

Take care. Bx

P.S.  I have just found Tabby Craft Designs as well, more gorgeous cards, oh so much inspiration out there. I spend more time looking than creating at the moment. Hey ho never mind, I am taking in sooooo much. Bx

A stamped notelet

Hi on this damp Tuesday morning. I have been working on a set of notelets over the past week and finally got them finished on Sunday night. The stamp is a new one I bought recently from my local craft shop, I just love the delicate head of the flower. Does anyone know what type of flower it might be?

I stamped it onto pearlised card using black Stazon then used my new Promarkers to colour it in, it was fun blending the greens together on the leaves. The ribbon is a reel I've had for ages and it fitted in well with both the design and the colours I chose. There are now 15 in my collection and I have numbered them on the back, I think it makes them seem like a limited edition set!! If I make some envelopes for them (as they are not a standard size) I could give them as a little present to my friends.

Vintage theme

Happy February, one month gone already, I can't believe it. Just as we thought we had got rid of the snow we awoke this morning to find we had half an inch covering everywhere. It was a glorious bright morning , and the sunshine was beautiful reflecting on the white snow, but it didn't last, it soon melted away. My son Ben, though, has gone to Poland today and it is -8 degrees, so he will feel the chill.

I just can't wait for my birthday and I have ordered some Justrite Stampers, so I shall be watching for the postman every day waiting for them to arrive. I hope you like the card I have uploaded today, I got home from work and wanted to get into making something with a vintage feel, so here it is. I love the distressed look and I think this goes a long way to achieving it. I also wanted to use my new borderabilities and nestabilites. Enjoy. Bx