Male Birthday Card

Good morning dear friends and fellow bloggers. I woke up yesterday with the most awful sore throat and felt pretty rough.  I don't "do" ill so it always comes as a shock when I feel a bit unwell.  Luckily it's just a bit of cold virus so I'm sure I'll live ... lol!

My Card

I used a Cardmaking Collection Pad from Joanna Sheen which I bought a while ago and have never used. I came across it at the back of a drawer  so I decided to use it to make this pretty quick male card.  These pages are decoupage but I decided to keep it flat which makes it cheaper for mailing.

Recipe

6" x 6" white base card

Navy card stock from stash

 Bricks and Bark embossing folder - Spellbinder

Image - Kevin Walsh Village Scenes pad

I have a few male birthdays over he next week or two so I will be posting them soon.

Hope this finds you all well.

Engagement Card

Good morning dear friends and fellow bloggers.  We have had such a bad time this year with serious illnesses and other very  bad news so it was lovely to answer the telephone the other evening.  It was my extremely excited niece ringing to say that her boyfriend had proposed to her on her birthday.  It was totally unexpected so you can imagine how excited she was.  And of course her answer was a very loud YES - or so I understand.  Ashleigh is 25 and James a year or so older so I'm hoping that it won't be too long before we are celebrating their wedding.

My Card

My card is an odd size of approximately 6.5 inches square.  6 inch was too tight for space and 7 inch was just a tad too big and left too much space between the corner die cuts and the main focal point. I made an envelobox using the Envelobox Creator from Crafters Companion. I had to put masses of bubble wrap round it so that it wouldn't get squashed in the mail because it had to go up to Co Durham. I forgot to take a picture of the envelobox and I also forgot to photograph the inside of the card! Typical!  Anyway, suffice to say both were lovely too. I started out by making the card white on white but then decided it needed just a smidgen of colour to bring it out so chose the pale pink WOC roses. I stamped the JustRite  image with Versamark and heat embossed with Detail Silver powder. Obviously the sentiment was computer generated.

Recipe

Embossing folder - Spellbinders Dainty Dots

Corner Dies - Creative Expressions "Austrian Collection "

Leaves - Creative Expressions "Faux Quilled Leaves"

Stamp - JustRite Birthday Vintage Labels 4

Die- JustRite Vintage Labels 4

Roses - Wild Orchid Crafts

Pearls - Hobby House

Well I hope everybody is feeling well and that those who have been under the weather are now on the mend.  We appear to have got back almost to normal with phone and broadband although a couple of days ago we had no phone or broadband for almost 24 hours because BT were having problems in some parts of the country, and Oxfordshire was one of those parts!  And then this morning we have been okay for broadband but had no telephone line for a few hours.  It's time BT got their act together because they really are pretty useless I think.

Well that's it from me for today.

OSAAT Challenge # 221

Good day to you all. This is my DT card for the new OSAAT challenge - Anything Goes ..... With Orange. 

My Card

I am using the image Spring Flowers by Alipeeps Designs which is available from our sponsor  Stitchy Bear Digi Outlet.   Now I am not an orange person by any stretch of the imagination, but I did manage to find some orange pearlescent card in my stash which I used for matting and also for the die cut.

Recipe

 Clear Dollar Stamps (now closed) - Daisy backing paper

Clear Dollar Stamps - Sentiment 

Woodware Large Daisy Punch

Spellbinders - Lacy Circles

Spellbinders- Dainty Dots Embossing Folder

Promarkers

Orange brads - from stash

We would love to have you join us in the challenge when one person could win the October Prize Pack, but the DT will also be choosing the Top Three - so what are you waiting for?

Christmas Card Club # 21 - Carol Singers

Good afternoon to you all. This post is not due until tomorrow but my OSAAT DT card is due then.  I don't like to make two posts on the same day and I'm sure my CCC friends don't mind this.

It was my dear friend Sue P's turn to choose the theme this time, and as you can see her choice was to have Carol Singers.

I am very cross with myself because I have a stamp of Carol Singers - but could I find the blessed thing!! I settled for this very sweet LOTV topper - and as soon as I had finished the card I found my stamp!  Grrrr!! Still that means I need to make another card to feature this stamp now!  The holly and ivy die cuts are from some pale green glitter card from my stash and are a lot more sparkly in real life. I chopped them up to spread them around more evenly. I  used Glamour Dust on the fur and the snow in the image and some soft gold glitter for the lamp. 

Recipe

Image - Lily of the Valley

Papers - Hot Off The Press

Sentiment - Hot off the press

Pearls - Hobby House

Ivy Corner - Signature Dies from Joanna Sheen

Holly corners - Cheery Lynn

Well  we now have our phone and broadband problems resolved and so hopefully I will be back to more frequent blogging soon. Hope everybody is well. We are enjoying a little sunshine at the moment after pouring rain all morning.

Take care!

More Fairies

Good morning.  Hope everybody is okay, or starting to feel better.  Just a quick post because we are having mega problems with our broadband connection.  We are in a very rural setting and at the very end of of the line for the exchange - only a few feet from the next county Warwickshire - so our broadband is never quick but at the moment we can barely use it. BT - when we eventually managed to speak to somebody after being on hold for 47 minutes!!! - said it will be resolved by Wednesday mid - morning. I'm sure I just saw a flock of pigs flying past!

I tried to post this yesterday but it wouldn't,  because of the broadband problem, so I'm trying again now.

My Card

This is a 7" x 7" card base from AnnaMarie Designs.These fairies are from the same set as Sunday's card. The background is a Lavinia Scenescape which I bought in January and never used.  I printed the png images directly onto the card stock again and flipped the top fairy. I then printed the main image onto cardstock,  fussy cut her and attached her with Pinflair to give a little height to an otherwise flat card. The mushrooms were a freebie Lavinia image from a magazine. Lots of glitter again.The fairies were coloured with Promarkers. I computer generated the sentiment  which I felt was very apt for this shy little fairy. Then just matted it onto three coloured layers. 

I can't tell you how long it has taken to do this post so I'm going to stop right now and try to publish it. 

Magical Day - OSAAT #221

Hello everyone.  It's time for another challenge at  OSAAT.  This time the challenge is Anything Goes ......With Flowers. So as long as you have flowers on your creation we would love to have you join us.

My Card

My card is 7"x 7" from AnnaMaria Designs. The backing papers are actually from the new LOTV Christmas pad ."Snow Princess".   Not a snowflake in sight but certainly flowerson the background paper to fit the challenge. I do like papers that are inter-changeable. The image is Pallaria from Beary Dust Designs. There are two other fairies in this set so watch out for another card soon featuring them.

I printed the png. image onto purple card stock, coloured with Promarkers and die cut with SB Opulent Ovals.  I computer generated the sentiment and then die cut with SB Labels 16. The flowers are Wild Orchid Crafts and I coloured them with Promarkers to match. The leaves are Sue Wilson's Faux Quilled Leaves and finally the pearls are from the Hobby House. Of course I had to add lots of glitter to her wings - after all a fairy needs lots of glitter doesn't she?  The fairy dust she is throwing is part of a freebie from Lavinia Stamps.  I stamped with Versamark and heat embossed with holograph embossing powder.  Doesn't show well in the picture at all I'm afraid.

The challenge will run for two weeks.  The winner will win the September Prize Pack and there will be the Top Three chosen by the Design Team.  Please join us!

Entered into:

http://movingalongwiththetimes.blogspot.com.es/2014/09/away-with-fairies.html

crafting at the weekend- anything goes

http://4kraftygirlzchallenges.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/challenge-27.html

Christmas Card Club #20 Winter Wonderland

Hello to you all.  Thanks for paying me a visit today - even though I am being a very poor blogger at the moment!   However, I think things are actually beginning to look up so I should be able to get back to some kind of routine again.  I would have said "normality" but I'm not actually sure what normal is anymore. I know there are a number of others suffering - or their loved ones are - so my thoughts and prayers are with you all!

This card is not actually due for posting until tomorrow but I have an OSAAT DT card due then and I prefer not to make two posts on the same day.

 Card # 1

It was my turn to choose the theme for our 20th challenge and I went with "Winter Wonderland.".  Although I said challenge the only challenge is to yourself, because sometimes there is something which takes you out of your comfort zone - and that has got to be good for us. 

I decided to make a box card because I haven't made one for quite some time.  I never quite know what to call these, whether it is a shadow box or a box card or what.  In the past I have actually attached it to a card base or have put a loop on the back to hang on the wall  but this time I have attached a stand to the back to make it like a picture.  I started out with an  8" square piece of card which when scored and folded makes a 6.5" square box with a 4.75" internal area to decorate.

My stamp is one of the very first I ever bought about 12 years ago and was made by an American company Petaluma.  I stamped it in black and heat embossed it with Pearl Plum embossing powder which gives a really subtle plum glow when the light catches it.  Unfortunately it is not visible in the picture.  That is why I cut  the back of the box from  a plum colored card and used the same colour for the pearls and the snowman's scarf.  However, even the plum card looks black in this picture.  Maybe I'll try again later.   The snowman was a freebie which I found on the internet and shrank it right down to fit the rest of the image.  Unfortunately I think the deer is too big - I should have used the smaller one in the set.

Memory Box - Frostyville Border

Memory Box - Twiggy Tree

Spellbinders Create a Flake Four - Snowflakes

Marianne Craftables - Deer
Marianne- Tiny Trees

Twinklets Diamond Dust - Roofs and trees

Lashings of Glamour Dust everywhere!!!!
Hobby House - Pearls

Card # 2

My second card was a last minute addition. I was looking through my digi folder for a snowman and came across this image which I bought last year and never used. I am almost sure it is called Winter Wonderland but I don't know which company it is from. All this one needed was more lashings of Glamour Dust, some Twinklets and a pop of colour on the cardinal (just for you Mary!) and the deer - and some "blobs" a la Ollie's Mam from Cosmic Shimmer Pearl PVA.  I matted it onto silver mirri which always seems to look black. Another Christmas card for very little effort at all!

Well that's it until tomorrow.

Entered into:
 http://craftyhazelnutschristmaschallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/chnc-challenge-19520-minutes-or-less.html (Card # 2 )
http://robynsfetishchallengeblog.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/challenge-230-use-die-cut-or-punch.html