Tyre Swing and Guardsman

A few weeks ago I printed out nine boy/male card kits from Paper Creator and then over the next two days I made them all up and have been showing them to you each Saturday for a while now, well I only have four more to go and today I thought I would show off two of them, with the final two next weekend.

This time around I have the Guardsman 6x6 card kit and the Tyre swing double front flap card to show you. I made up the matching box with the guardsman card (there is also a matching envelope included in the kit and the matching envelope for the Tyre Swing card.

Guardsman 6 x 6 card kit - Paper Creator

Bunting - Joy craft labels and tags dies

patterned papers on bunting are from my scrap box

Ribbon, buttons and cord - all Meiflower

Tyre Swing Double front flap kit - Paper Creator

Ribbon and buttons - Meiflower

This is one of those cards where you print a patterned paper on the reverse, I used the off-cuts from this paper as added decoration to the card front (the narrow strip down the left hand side and the curved piece the ribbon is attached to)

I attached the ribbon so that the card front could slide under it when closed.

Thanks for stopping by,

have a lovely weekend,

hugs,

Colette xx

Make a Splash!

Here's a card I made for the recent My Besties Newsletter. I made a side stepper card, with an extra "step" at the front, as I wanted my Bestie to look like she was floating along on her inflatable tyre ring (something I wouldn't need if I wanted to float, as I have my own built in spare tyre! Hehe!)

Image - img830 - My Besties (coloured in Photoshop)

Papers and splash - Pool Party - Just so Scrappy

Fish - Nitwits Collections - From the Sea

Wording - computer Generated

Shells - Marianne Creatables LR0230 

Mother of pearl card and jute - from stash

I printed out the wave paper and cut along the wave design, then added a bit of glamour dust to the edge of the top wave on each section. The back section containing the image is made up of three layers of  'waves' added with foam pads to give dimension, the image, fish and splash sentiment have also been fixed into place using foam pads.

I am entering this card into the following challenges

Aud Sentiments Challenge - Summer
Charisma Cardz -  #25 Recipe card 1, 2, 3 Recipe ( 3 shells, 2 fish, 1 image)

MilkCoffee Challenge - Summer fun
Paper Crafting Journey -  Anything but a Square
LEJ Designs  - #59 The Sun Has Got His Hat On

Thanks for stopping by,

hugs,

Colette xx

Congratulations....

.....to one of my Thursday morning card class ladies, Sandra, and her husband Les, who today celebrate their 30th Wedding Anniversary and to mark the occasion they are getting married again!

Les asked her to marry him again, on the same date, same time and in the same church as they originally married, so that's what they are doing today.

This time around her daughters and granddaughters will be bridesmaids, so she will be having a lot more than she did the first time around LOL!

As she is going to be far too busy to be blog hopping today, what with getting her hair and nails done and getting organised for the service at 4pm, I am going to show you the card I made for them.

Image - found on Google

Papers - Cherish digital scrap kit - Just so Scrappy

Gold mirri card

Cascading hearts A4 embossing folder - Creative Expressions

Sentiment - computer generated

Congratulations - Jellyka Love and Passion - dafont

Metallic edged satin ribbon and pearl embellishments - Meiflower

I would like to wish them lots of luck and hope that the next 30 years are as happy as the last.

Thanks for stopping by,

hugs,

Colette xx

Men at work!

Here's a couple of cards for boys made using Paper Creator kits. 

I love girly cards with all the sparkle and pretty ribbons and embellishments, but it's just not the same making cards for boys, so these kits are really handy for putting something together that doesn't take too long, looks effective and is perfect for boys.

Here we have one of the kits from the bookmark mega bundle, with matching envelope, Polka dot grosgrain ribbon is from Meiflower

and this one is the Trucker Triple over the edge card, with matching boxelope, gingham button and waxed card are from Meiflower

Today Meg and I are off to see a local amateur dramatic company perform Oliver, my sister-in-law has a small speaking part in it (she's playing a prostitute!) so we are going along to offer our support. It has been on each evening since Wednesday and was sold out most nights and I've heard nothing but good things about it, so am really looking forward to going.

Also I would like to congratulate my nephew Matt on getting a first in his degree (I come from a clever family, don't know what went wrong with me LOL!) I'm not sure exactly what his degree was in, but it's something to do with ophthalmology and he already has a job in a local opticians.

Well done Matt!

Thanks for dropping by today,

hope you have a lovely weekend

hugs,

Colette xx 

One layout, two cards

It won't be long now before the children break up from school for their summer holidays, so with that in mind  I thought it was time to make a card for my grandson to give to his teacher, I used a cute Digistamp Boutique image called Thank You Dan which is part of the Thank you Teacher pack and also contains a girl version of the image and some word art. I coloured him up using my grandsons school uniform colours.

Image - Thank you Dan - Digistamp Boutique - coloured in Photoshop

Papers - abcdefun - LLiella at Sweet Shoppe Designs

Flowers - X-cut Daisy punch

ribbon and gems - Meiflower

By changing one of the papers and using a pre-coloured Sassy Cheryl image I used the same layout to make a birthday card for a young lady

Details as above except for Sassy Cheryl image Lucy and her bear Paddy, which doesn't seem to be available any longer (I bought it quite a while ago).

Meiflower are currently having a Summer Sale with 10% off everything until midnight Friday 21st June, so it's the perfect time to stock up on all your ribbons, gems and diamante embellishments.

Thanks for dropping by,

hugs,

Colette xx

My Besties Pearls and Lace challenge

It hardly seems like 5 minutes since I posted my teams last challenge and here we are a fortnight later and it's our turn again. This time around the theme is 

Pearls and Lace

If you want to be in with the chance of winning $30 worth of digi images, then show us your Pearl and Lace creations using a My Besties image.

There are so many gorgeous images to choose from I always find it difficult to pick which image I want to use, but this time around I decided to go with the beautiful Daffodilla, but as it is now summer (well at least it's supposed to be) instead of Spring I used my artistic licence (bought cheaply at a local car boot sale, as you can probably tell LOL!) to colour the daffodils as sunflowers.

My Besties Image  -Img660 Daffodilla - coloured in Photoshop

Papers and butterfly - Just So Scrappy - Denim and Daisies Scrap Kit

Lifestyle Die - Doily Circle

Lace and pearl string - Stash

Ribbon and stick on pearls - Meiflower

The right hand edge of the card front follows the shape of the gingham border (comes in kit ) and is shorter than the card back, so the green curvy strip at the end is actually part of the card inside. I cut all the little scallops around the front card edge by hand, firstly out of the printed paper, then once the paper was stuck to the card front, I cut around them again, very time consuming, but I like the effect it gives.

Pop over to the challenge blog and check out the fabulous creations from the rest of my teamies.

613 Avenue Create - Anything Goes

Hobby House - Anything Goes

Digi Haven - Anything Goes with a Digi

Pennys Paper Crafty - 1 Image, 2 Papers, 3 Embellishments

Alphabet Challenge - I for Image

Glitter N Sparkle - 3 of Something (pearls in groups of 3 around die cut)
Sister act card Challenge - Anything goes

Challenges 4 Everybody -Anything goes

I would also like to take this opportunity to wish my gorgeous niece Nicola a very happy 21st birthday today, and a big congrats on your First with Honours in your Art and Fashion degree - being chosen to show off your collection at Graduate Fashion Week in London and being one of the 10 designers chosen by Victoria Beckham at Fashion week, to meet and have a chat with her, way to go Nic!

Thanks for stopping by,

hugs,

Colette xx

Happy Father's Day

Just a quick post to wish all the Dad's out there a wonderful day!

I lost my dad many years ago, but am lucky enough to have a lovely father in law, and I always like to send him a bit of  jokey card on special occasions. When I came across this card front on Craftusprint on Friday, I knew it was the card for him.

Although you can't tell from the picture, the poster and speech bubble are added with a layer of foam pads, and the image is decoupaged up with about 4 layers. I didn't add ribbons or embellishments as I didn't think it needed anything else.

We are off out for a family meal this evening, there will be 16 of us all together, with four generations of the family plus my daughters boyfriend's mum, so we should have a fun time.

Hope you enjoy your day,

hugs,

Colette xx 

Paper Creator challenge and my new Peacock!

Woohoo! it's the weekend again! shame about the grotty weather! At least there is something to look forward to as today is the start of the latest Paper Creator challenge and I got to pick the theme, which is

You don't have to use Paper Creator products, but if you do you get two entries into the draw for the £10 store voucher.

I decided to make three cards for the challenge, mainly because I used a fabulous Mega Bundle called Simple Cards, which contains 20 card fronts all using Sassy Cheryl images, (simple they may be, but they are also very effective).

Each one comes with two versions of the topper, (one with wording, one blank for adding your own) , matching inserts and the decoupage layers for the image. They all have swirls on too, which I thought would be perfect for glittering or adding gems to and at only £7 for 20 card fronts it's a bit of a bargain too!

Birthday Tweets

I added wording which I came across on the Sassy Cheryl blog to the blank topper and used all decoupage layers, then glittered around the inner blue line of the frame and all the swirls, added glossy accents to hair accessories and the heart on the envelope.The ribbon, birdie charm and tiny diamante ribbon slider are all from Meiflower.

 Swinging by to say Hi!!

I used the topper with wording and made up all the decoupage layers, added glitter around the inner edge of the frame, to all the swirls, her hair accessories and shoe laces, the string the star is hanging by and the spots on the star. I also punched some stars out of a silver glittery paper I bought at HobbyCraft many years ago, and added some yellow stick on gems from Meiflower to the ends of the swirls and the dot of the i.

and finally - Happy Thoughts

This time around I only used one layer of the decoupage, glittered around the inner edge of the frame, the hair bow, shoe laces, dress pattern and the little heart on ted's leg, added my own sentiment, (there is a freebie version of it on my blog HERE if you want to snag it)which is glittered around the edge and above and below the sentiment. The ribbon and charm are from Meiflower, as are the stick on gems which I went to town with, adding them to the swirls using a mix of turquoise blue and crystal, with a few more on the sentiment circle for good measure LOL!

Check the bundle out HERE.

Don't forget to pop over to the challenge blog and check out the rest of my teamies sparkling inspiration.

Now something that has nothing at all to do with cards - just before my birthday last month I came across a gorgeous metal peacock sculpture in our local garden centre that I thought would look lovely by the pond in my garden. I got enough money for my birthday to go and buy it (helped a little more by the fact that my friends daughter works in the garden centre and gets 20% discount) so yesterday, Julie, her daughter Alison and I went Peacock shopping, (which obviously included a small detour into the restaurant for cake and coffee LOL!).  Anyway, I thought I would show you a couple of pics of my new Peacock, standing by the pond, although I haven't quite decided exactly where it's final resting place will be yet.

as you can see from this photo I have a bit of a fantasy theme going on around the pond, with the fairy and goblin sitting on the side of the raised pond and the gargoyle in the background overlooking it.

The lower pond is covered with netting at the moment as my youngest grandson loves to run around out there, and we need to keep him safe, although he is pretty good and knows not to get too close to the ponds, we also need to keep the fish safe as there is a heron about and he has managed to get a few fish in the past.

Thanks for stopping by,

have a lovely weekend,

hugs,

Colette xx

Cream Wedding Anniversary card

I made this wedding anniversary card just using die-cuts, gems and little pearl heart embellishments. I think the card I used was rich cream and ivory, there is a slight difference in the colours which makes the die-cuts stand out a little from the base card.

Rich Cream and Ivory Card - Papermill Direct

Nellie Snellen Multi Frame Circles MFD020 Flower Circle

Marianne Creatables LR0130 - Doily #2

Lin and Lene - 1201/0012 Corner Die

Burgundy stick on gems and pearl hearts - Meiflower

Thanks for stopping by,

hugs,

Colette xx

Teddy Bea - Someone Special

A while ago I mentioned that my friend Julie had rung me up and asked me if I wanted to go the theatre with her and her daughter to see the Dreamboys, and somehow my befuddled brain translated that to Dreamboats, I thought she meant the musical Dreamboats and Petticoats, which I have always wanted to go and see, so I immediately said yes. It was only when talking to my daughter about it a couple of months later, and telling her that Julie must have got mixed up because I was sure she had called it Dreamboys, that I found out that I was going to see a male dancing/stripping group!!! so instead of a show full of net petticoats, rock n roll and jiving, it's going to be a show full of men, muscles and gyrating hehe!

Well the show is tomorrow night and I'm going to have to go - I've already paid for the ticket and it would be a shame for it to go to waste , don't ya think? LOL!

Before then I have a Teddy Bea card to show you.

Image - Teddy Bea_249 - coloured in Photoshop

All papers from Scrap box

Martha Stewart border punches-  half daisy and Deep edger Daisy Fan

Flowers made with X-cut Daisy palm punches in 3 sizes.

Metallic edged ribbon and gems - Meiflower

Thanks for popping in,

hugs,

Colette xx

A Christmas Chuckle

My first Christmas card of 2013, made on a beautiful warm sunny day, something not quite right there LOL!

In October 2010 I bought a decoupage download from Craftusprint because as soon as I saw it the idea for a card popped into my head, with DT work and other commitments I never got the time to make up the card but the download was never forgotten, every now and then it would pop into my mind, I knew it was in a safe place until I found the time to make the card.  Well guess what? that day finally arrived yesterday, I printed out my decoupage sheet, some papers and wording and set about making the card I had planned all those years earlier.

and what exactly does Mrs Claus find when she opens up her present.........

Cheeky Santa Doodles Decoupage - Lee Jacobs at Craftusprint

Digital Papers and frames - Holiday Hoopla and Santa Baby - Just So Scrappy and Crazy 4 Monograms Dotty Border - Tonic Geared border punch

Polar White flower soft

All wording computer generated

Ribbon and red gems - Meiflower 

Well there you have it, might have taken a while but I got there in the end!

I am going to enter this card into the following challenges

Crimbo Crackers  - #43 Make me laugh

ABC Christmas Challenge - K is for Kept safe (my kept safe item is my decoupage download)

Holly Jolly Christmas Challenge - Must be Christmas - Use 6 or more layers (santa contains 6 layers of decoupage)

Thanks for stopping by,

hugs,

Colette xx

Flipper Pyramage

Today I have a Paper Creator card kit that is decorated with flipper pyramage, something I hadn't heard of until I saw this kit. All the layers are taped into place along the top only so that you can actually flip them if that's the sort of thing you like to do with your cards LOL!

You can buy the Flipper Pyramage card kits separately at £1 each or purchase the mega bundle which contains 10 card designs for only £7.

Kit - Something Old, Something New Flipper Pyramage card

Ribbons and satin rosebud trio - Meiflower

I tried to replicate the arrangement around the stems of the glasses as best as I could with my ribbons and rosebuds.

Thanks for calling in,

Have a lovely weekend,

hugs,

Colette xx

Shaker card from Foam pad package

Every time I open a new package of foam pads I look at the acetate packaging and think to myself, that would be perfect for a shaker card. I have been collecting the packaging for quite a while now and when I opened a cupboard a week or two ago and they all came tumbling out, I thought it was about time I actually used one of them instead of them just taking up space (although I have only used one, there is still about 30 in the cupboard LOL!)

Here is my card showing how the packaging from this

became this

 

Golfing mini Kit - KaeLynn Winn at DAISIE Co.

Ribbon - Meiflower

Beads -stash,

Golf confetti - after much searching found on ebay

I tried to get a shot of the 'shaker window' from the side, as there is quite a bit of depth to it.

I was really pleased with the way it turned out and am definitely going to do some more, as the window is quite deep I am thinking of adding Smarties or Skittles next time, just need to think of a way for little fingers to get to the sweeties without tearing the card apart!

I am going to enter this card into the following challenges

MilkCoffee Challenge - Father's day or male inspired

Paper Crafting Journey - Masculine cards

Crafty Creations -  One for the boys

The Perfect Sentiment - #82 Father's Day/For a man

Try It On Tuesday -  One For The Men

Thanks for popping in,

enjoy your day,

hugs,

Colette xx

Wedding invitation sample

I was asked to do some wedding invitation samples using Meiflower's burgundy gems and pearls, although the colour is lovely in real life, they don't photograph well and I have about a million (just a slight exaggeration! LOL) photos of this card where they look black. I took pictures in every kind of light, over a couple of days and finally one sunny day I managed to get a half decent photo. The pearls came out really well, but some of the gems still look a bit dark.

Darice embossing folder - Circle interlock

Heart - Nellie Snellen Multi frame - Hearts and Swans MFD022

Flower die - LeCrea Multi die - Flower 002

Burgundy Pearls and gems (alternating rows) Meiflower

Burgundy ribbon and Pearl Hearts - Meiflower

Thanks for stopping by today

hugs,

Colette xx

My Besties Challenge and freebie wordart

It's team A's turn to host the My Besties challenge this week and our theme is 

Sew or add Buttons

You must use a My Besties image and follow the theme.

Top Prize $30 Besties digis

5 runners up each receive 5 digis

I thought it might be a good idea to sew all the papers onto the mats, even though it is 25 years since I last used a sewing machine. I started with the circle, but it was a bit of a disaster, some of it wasn't too bad, but some of it was so higgledy piggledy that it looked like my 18 month old grandson had done it! (I've hidden the higgledy piggledy part behind the image hehe!)

At that point I decided to just add buttons LOL!!!

Image - My Besties Slick Ozzie - Coloured in Photoshop

Papers - My Birthday Boy - Just So Scrappy

Wordart - made by me - scroll down and snag it

Base Card shape - Go Kreate XXL square frames Frilly #2

Spellbinders - Grand Circles

RicRac - Sizzix - Hydrangeas and Borders.

All Boy button - found in stash

Polka dot buttons - Meiflower

I am entering my card into these challenges

A & T Emerald Faeries - Dies/Punches

Country View Crafts' Challenge - Die cuts

Digi Galore - use digi - anything but square

Ladybug Crafts - For the men in your life

Scrap It Girl  - Use your dies

That Craft Place - Dies and Punches (ends 8th June)

Make it Monday - always anything goes
Digi Darla Challenge - Masculine

Kaboodle Doodles - For the Kids

ABC Challenges - W, cards only, E3, C10 - Masculine

don't forget to pop over to the challenge blog and check out the fabulous inspiration from my teamies.

Freebie Wordart

Left click each one, to make larger, then right click and save as.

Thanks for stopping by,

Enjoy your day,

hugs,

Colette xx

Out of this world

I've had a stinking cold for most of the week, and my poor blog has been neglected, but I am much better now so I'm back with another card.

For today's card I used the Out of this World Gatefold card kit from Paper Creator, perfect for your young astronauts.

I added all the decoupage layers and made up the matching envelope box.

Card and box printed onto Linen card from Papermill Direct

Ribbon, charm and buttons - Meiflower

Thanks for stopping by,

hugs,

Colette