And my secret is......

Good morning, yes I know how early it is for me, but I just wanted to pop on quickly as I can now tell you my secret......I am Guest Designer this week for the lovely Cynthia, aka Rainbow Lady!
I wanted to do something other than a card, so I have done a baby door hanger and I have also supplied a template, so you can all have a try at this.
Please pop over and join in the challenge, I'd so love to see all your creations.
Mine was made using some blue mulberry paper from my stash as backing paper and embellished with a sweet Hanglar and Stanglar image, some paper lace ribbon and little baby sentiments from K and Co, and flowers and brad from Poppicrafts.
I hope you like it and if you do, why aren't you over at Rainbow Lady's challenge blog downloading your template?

Tilda and friends ATC Challenge - Seasons Theme

Good evening, I hope you have all had a good day. I seem to get later each day in posting, however today I can honestly blame my Stickles glue, it just didn't want to dry!
Today I made some ATC's for the Tilda and Friends ATC challenge. I have been wanting to get these done for over a week but other things just kept getting in the way, however I have now completed all 4 seasons, thank goodness as I think the challenge is due to close soon.




The "Summer" image is my stamp but the other 3 images I have used for this challenge were kindly sent to me by crafting friends and I thought this would be a great opportunity to use them.
I hope you like them, I have to admit that I think they all look very sweet but then I am a big Tilda fan!

Penny Black - No Cards Allowed

Good evening, I hope that you all had an enjoyable Bank Holiday weekend. I didn't get to post anything yesterday, another one of "those" days I'm afraid. What with attending a boot sale in the morning, shopping and housework for my Mum, helping hubby with his shop, and finally a visit from our eldest son and DIL my day had ended before I'd managed to make any cards at all. Today has been quite hectic too, but I've managed to achieve an entry for the Saturday challenge from Penny Black No Cards Allowed - I know this is a tricker one than last week, but we want you to get your thinking caps on. You can make anything you like Bag, Note Book, Box, Candle, Tag, Tin etc but NO CARD please, and your creations MUST feature at least one Penny Black Image.
I decided to make a little notebook for shopping lists as my entry for this and I used the "Shop til you Drop" stamp. I've had this for ever and haven't used it in ages, so it was a nice excuse to dig it out of the drawer. The image is coloured with the Pro-Markers again and the backing paper is from the Dovecraft range, completed with some black satin ribbon, a pink flower, some gems and "Grafitti" alphabet letters. I hope you like it, I thought it was a nice, girly book to keep in your handbag.
My apologies for the awful scan, but I tried to get a decent image for ages and this was the best I could do. I really must learn how to use the digital camera!

Cute Card Thursday and Friday Sketchers

Well, the weather seems to have taken a turn for the better now that it's too late to do anything. Not that I mind really it gave me the chance to get some more challenge cards done, there seem to be loads that I want to enter this week!
This first card is for Cute Card Thursday's Challenge 24 - This weeks challenge is to make a card using BRIGHT COLOURS.

I decided to use Paper Nation's cute little girl with her windmill and coloured her with Marvy le plumes (I forgot I had these!) I thought the dotty background paper sort of linked up with the dots on her dress, some bright green ribbon from Poppicrafts, some little yellow flowers and blue brads from my stash and a little sentiment from K & Co and that's about it.

This second challenge is for Friday Sketchers and I decided to use some more bright colours for this one too. The image was sent to me by a friend and I think she's so sweet. I think she may be by Elisabeth Bell but not 100% sure, co-ordinating papers from my stash again, so no idea who they are by, I'm afraid and coloured with Pro-markers.

Challenge card No. 3

Good morning, I hope you have better weather than we do at the moment. I'm not usually here on a Sunday morning as we go to a boot sale, but we haven't bothered, as I'm sure even if it's open the field will be waterlogged from all the rain we had in the night. So an ideal opportunity to post the third challenge card from yesterday.

This is for the ABC Challenge F is for....Fairies!
The funky fairy is by Deby Moore and was a stamped image from my crafting friend, she has been coloured with my beloved pro-markers and liberally sparkled with Stickles "diamond". I'm not sure about the pink backing paper (found in my stash again), the aqua card has been cuttlebugged with "swiss dots", the acrylic letters are K & Co and the gorgeous ribbon is from Poppicrafts
I'm hoping that I'll get the chance to enter some more challenges today, I'd forgotten how enjoyable it is making little cards for these challenges.

Hooray!

Good evening, I'm very happy this evening as I've actually managed to complete some challenge cards! These are 2 cards that I've made today, I have actually made a third one as well, but the glitter is still drying on it so I may post it later, or I may not get to show you it until tomorrow, we'll see how the time goes.

The first card is for the Stamp with Sarah Kay challenge number 8 which is a sketch. I find these quite difficult to follow, that may just be me or maybe that's why it's called a challenge?
I think this is such a sweet little image even though I had to cut her down to fit in the frame. I don't quite know what happened to the puppy, he looks a bit like a lump of toffee and I'll have to do better next time, I'm not an 'animal person' in real life either. I don't know where any of the ingredients of this card originally came from, apart from the corners and pink flower which are K & Co, all the rest was from my stash.

The second card is another sketch challenge, this time from A Spoonful of Sugar The little cutie this time is from Hanglar and Stanglar (I'm sure that's NOT how it's spelt) and I thought she was just divine with her little basket of knitting, again I'm afraid all the bits are from my stash, so I have no idea what make anything is. That's the problem when you've had stuff for ages without using it, but I find it so difficult to use lots of my bits and pieces because they're so pretty I don't want to get rid of them.

Seaside Tilda and Edwin

Good evening, I'm rather late again tonight. I've had "one of those day" today, I had so many plans for different things I was going to do today and ended up getting none of them done, oh well the best laid plans....
I hadn't had time to make any cards today, however I made a couple of cards for some very good crafting friends the other day, and as they have both now received them I can pop them on here, what a blessing or there would have been no cards AGAIN!
I wanted to use my new Tilda and Edwin stamps so both of my friends got the same card, but with different papers and colours used. I hope they don't mind, but I didn't want any arguments, well that's my story and I'm sticking to it!
Anyway on to the cards...
I do think this little seaside Tilda and Edwin are so cute, they have been mounted onto 2 different backing papers and coloured with the wonderful Pro-Marker pens again. The cards have been finished off with some little flowers, gems and a sentiment done on the PC.
Both of my friends (you know who you are!) said they liked their cards, so I hope you do too.
Just a quick word about my surprise...I should be able to share it all with you next week, so until then you'll have to keep guessing!

What Katy Did

Good evening, I've been so busy today that I've just quickly popped on to post some cards I made the other day. I can't post what I've been working on recently as they are secret for a few more days yet. Mmmm now I've got you all wondering haven't I?
Anyway these 3 cards were made for no particular reason, other than I love these images, they remind me of some books I read as a child "What Katy Did" and "What Katy Did Next". The images are from Joanna Sheen's "Cardmaker's Year" CD, I love lots of the images on this CD, a lot of them are from the early 1900s and just so delicious.
The pictures were mounted onto backing paper from my "scraps" box that I thought matched the images and that's about it really. When I decide what I'm going to use them for I'll add the relevant sentiments etc. Anyway, I hope you like today's offering.

Reach for the Stars

Well I'm back with another offering today, I know, I know, I go from one extreme to the other!
This one is a little card for Sophie, who will be stocking some of my cards in her shop and it was just to wish her success in her new venture.
The sweet image is from Joanna Sheen's 'Dancing with Shadows' CD and the backing papers are from Dovecraft's black and white set, simply finished off with a sentiment done on the PC.
I hope she likes it (my scanner obviously didn't, it has a white border all around it in real life!)

Little Challenge Card

Good afternoon, I'm really excited today as I've managed to complete a challenge card, how sad is that? The reason for the excitement is that it's the first one I've managed to do in months! I'm really hoping that I'll be able to get back to joining in the challenges again as I've missed it so much.
Today's card is for Tilda and Co's challenge which this week is entitled "Cold as Ice"
The sun is now drifting away very fast and soon it will be as cold as ice....
Using the colours Blue & white Only . Show us how cold your projects can feel this week.

Now for those of you that have visited my blog before, you may be aware that I don't really like christmas cards very much, (not the traditional type anyway) but this card could easily be used as a christmas card. Anyway, it shows little Tilda, deep in thought (maybe wondering what Santa will bring her?) she has been coloured with my fab new pro-markers (I love these) and mounted onto a circle made with my new cuttlebug and nestability dies. The backing paper is sparkly blue and comes from my stash, I have also used some blue lacey backing paper from a 'Papercraft 4 you' paper pad by Mary Hughes, which I have cut out and popped around the edges of the card as a type of frame, at the bottom of the card is some plain, white cardstock that has been through the "swiss dots" cuttlebug folder. Some little snowflakes embellished with crystals are the finishing touch.
If I do decide to use this as a christmas card I'll pop a sentiment on the front.

Good afternoon, I'm afraid I didn't get to make a post at all yesterday. I woke up at about 5.30am with a terrible headache and despite popping pills on and off all day, nothing moved it. It seems I not only had a bad bout of sinusitis but also a migraine, well if you're going to do it, you may as well do it properly I suppose!
Anyway consequently no crafting got done yesterday at all and as I spend Monday's at my mum's I'm no further forward than when I posted on Saturday really.
I got a few cards made last week, so I'll show you one of those today.


This is a birthday card for my best friend's hubby. He loves anything to do with the sea and I thought that these images were quite reminiscent of the seaside and beach huts etc. so he may like them (I know I do!)

Cards are Coming!

Good evening, this post is very late but as I promised that I would try to post each day I wanted to pop something on the blog. I've no cards to share with you today either I'm afraid, but I have been working on a couple of things, so they may be ready tomorrow.
I received my Pro-Marker pens in the post today. I was very impressed as I only ordered them late yesterday afternoon from Silly Monkey Crafts, so that was excellent service. This is the first time I have ordered anything from their shop but I don't think it will be the last, anyway back to the pens. I'd been thinking about getting some for ages as I wanted something different to my usual water colours (I would have liked some Copics but they are just too expensive) and I had seen these used on a few of the blogs that I visit regularly and they were highly recommended by Caz. so I took the plunge and ordered THREE sets of the Manga pens. I've been using them today and they are FAB so thanks for the good advice Caz.
Apart from colouring in, I've also been playing with my Cuttlebug again today and I think I'm beginning to get the hang of it now.
I will try to get something finished and posted on my blog tomorrow, until then I hope you all have a good night (what's left of it anyway).

Playtime

Good evening and thank you for visiting.
There's no card today I'm afraid, I've been too busy playing with my new cuttlebug! I've embossed so many pieces of card with the swiss dots folder that I'll be using them till next year, but never mind.
I've also tried out my round plain and scalloped nestabilities and vintage die cuts (which was quite succesful) and the embossing borders (which wasn't quite so succesful) there's obviously a bit of a knack to these so if anyone has any tips I'd be very grateful!
Tomorrow I'm planning to play again, this time with my Bind It All, although quite what I'm going to make is still a mystery. So there may not be anything to show tomorrow either, but hey look on the bright side, at least you don't have to look at any more images from Fashion Boutique! lol

Ladies Day

Well the men had their day yesterday, so today it's the ladies turn.
All of the images today are from the Fashion Boutique CD by Joanna Sheen. As you can tell, I certainly have had my money's worth from this CD, I just love all the images on it and never get tired of using them, but I do apologise if you are all tired of seeing them!
I've tried to keep all of the cards for the shop very simple in order to "test the water" if they sell quite well and I'm asked to make some more I can add a few with some of my normal flowers, ribbons, gems etc.
I think I may make this the last batch of the cards for the shop and then I can spend some time playing with my new toys, and maybe even find time to enter some card challenges!
Anyway on to today's cards.







As you can see I have made good use of the two Cuttlebug corner dies on these cards, I think they just finish the cards perfectly and give more impact than a peel-off (which is what I usually have to use) They are both from a set of 4 Cuttlebug dies called "Vintage". Other than the corners I have just mounted the gorgeous images onto cardstock, added a strip of the co-rdinating backing paper and that's it really.
I do hope you like them and thank you for visiting.

Finishing Touches

Today my long awaited Cuttlebug arrived, I ordered this on August 4th so it feels like I've been waiting forever. Is it just me that wants everything to arrive as soon as I order it? Luckily a lot of the things I buy are either from Joanna Sheen or Cutting Edge Crafts and most of the time they arrive the following day which is wonderful, especially when you consider that both shops offer free p&p. Anyway the Cuttlebug was the first thing I had ever ordered from this particular shop and as I wasn't happy with either their comminication or delivery service, I won't be ordering anything from them ever again.
I had put a few of my "Gentlemen" cards to one side as I wanted to finish them with some corners from a cuttlebug die called "vintage", so I have now managed to complete them and they can be added to my other posting.



I've made some ladies cards today too but I'll post them tomorrow.

Gentlemen's Day

Today's batch of cards are of gentlemen, I can't say "men" because I'm sure all of these males are much too refined for that!
All of the images (except for the last one) came from Joanna's Fashion Boutique CD, (you've probably seen so many now that you don't need me to tell you that! lol) and the final one is from Cardmaker's Year.






Each of them was simply mounted onto cardstock, with co-ordinated backing papers forming the only addition to the images. Personally, I think these images are so fantastic that they really don't need anything else added, I hope you agree.

Children and Water

Today's little set is a series of 1930 style images of children around water. All the images come from Joanna Sheen's Cardmaker's Year CD, there are quite a lot of this style of image on the CD and personally I just love them, as I think they give a real "feel" of the period. All of them have been simply mounted onto cardstock and are very plain as I didn't want to detract from the lovely images themselves.



The first card depicts a little boy and his dog in a sandcastle and I've added a little charm of an anchor to echo the seaside theme.



The second card is a toddler watching some ducks on the pond. This little boy has got to be my all time favourite, what a cherub!


The final card is a group of children at the lake about to launch their yacht and again I've added a little charm, this time to echo the yacht itself. Unfortunately my scanner didn't like this card and kept chopping the top off, suffice to say that the blue band is really across the centre of the card.

Thank you for taking the time to look at my cards, I hope you liked them and while you're here why not leave me a comment too. I love to know who's been visiting me.

Daily postings?

I have decided that I will try and make daily postings on my blog. I'm not saying that I'll succeed but I will definitely try!
Today I have a few more cards for the shop, this time a little collection of "chocolate" themed cards, showing some delightful art deco ladies enjoying themselves.





The images are from... guess where? Joanna's Fashion Boutique of course!, each image has been simply mounted onto gold miri card, a small piece of matching backing paper has been added together with some corner peel-offs and that's it really.
I hope you like them, I think they definitely look like 'ladies that lunch'

Deco Style Cards

I can't believe it's been a week since I updated, and it's been quite an exciting one for me too.
My lovely husband decided he was going to treat me to some goodies, these were things I was supposed to have for my birthday but I've got them early.
I am now the proud owner of a Bind-It-All (plus accessories) and a Cuttlebug (plus dies, embossing folders, nestabilities etc.) I've been wanting both of these machines for ages now and I can't wait to finish all the other things I have on the go at the moment so that I can make time to just play. I know I'm spoiled, and that's just how I like it!
Anyway, on to the latest cards, some more to go in the shop using art deco style images taken from Joanna Sheen's fabulous Fashion Boutique CD.
This is a set of 3 deco ladies simply mounted onto co-ordinated paper and cardstock from my stash. I love these images, they have such a cute look to them and remind me of the magazine covers from this era, who knows maybe that's what they were.

Oh what a beautiful morning!

....as the song says. I have just got back from a boot sale...yes, I know it's pouring with rain but my lovely DH decided it wasn't too bad and would clear up, so off we went! Needless to say the heavens opened, although luckily we were on our way back by then so just missed being caught in the torrential downpour, and I was surprised by how many other lunatics were there too. I do feel sorry for those people who were trying to sell things, but on a brighter note, I managed to buy a couple of bits for my cardmaking. Anyway, some more of my little bits and bobs coming up.
The images on this first set are again taken from JS Fashion Boutique CD (surprise!) and are of a set of art deco ladies having cocktails, I've used some of the matching backing paper down the sides and just a little corner peel off and greeting on each.





Next is a set of two DL size cards, guess where they're from? yep, JS Fashion Boutique! now you're catching on to why I love it. Again I have used some of the matching backing paper, this time at the bottom of the cards, finished off with corner peel offs, a greeting and some little flowers and sticky backed gems.












I will scan the little doorholders later, but now I must make a trifle ready for a birthday tea for mum, we are picking her up later and her grand-children will be popping over to see her.

Right, that's done so here are my little doorhangers for baby. I think the whole idea of baby's doorhangers is just so sweet, I couldn't resist trying some out. I hope you like them.