Art Deco Roaring Twenties Birthday Card

If you are a regular visitor here, then you had better make sure you are sitting down before you read this next statement as believe it or not today's card is totally non-digi!!! 

The image is actually stamped with a rubber stamp! - the stamp came in a DoCrafts goody bag and as I loved it and really wanted to use it I bought the matching paper pack too, oooh no, stamping and proper paper what is the world coming to LOL!

I dusted off a distress ink pad in Peacock Feathers and set too, using the same pad  pressed onto a cellophane bag (just what was to hand at the time) to paint parts of the image.

I was soooo pleased with the finished result I immediately made it up into a card for my friend Karen's birthday (she's a huge Art Deco fan so I knew it would be perfect).

Stamp - Papermania Tall urban stamps Flapper

Paper - Papermania A4 Art Deco foiled paper pack

Tim Holtz distress ink pad - Peacock Feathers 

Frame die -bought at local Carole's Crafts

Amira Flourish die - Memory Box

X cut square palm punch Medium and small

 Papermania die cut sentiments - Art Deco - Foiled

Black iridescent Papermania Adhesive Gems

Cats eye  and round dazzlers - Meiflower

Feather from stash

I cut a rectangle of black card and deco paper and cut the corners off with  a square punch lined up with the edges. The Amira Flouish was cut in half, stuck onto silver mirri card and then cut around leaving a small border, the silver glittery section in the middle of the flourish is waste from another one I had cut from silver glitter card. The headband decoration is the waste from a hole punch in the same silver glitter card.

It may be a while until you see another proper stamped image on my blog, although saying that the new Bellisima range from Papermania has a rather pretty dress stamp that may tempt me to dust off the stamping supplies again!

I am entering this card into the following challenges -

Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes

Through The Craft Room Door  - Always Anything Goes

Artistic Inspirations  - Anything Goes / Sparkles

Crafting from the Heart -  Anything Goes / Use Dies

Eureka Stamps - Anything Goes

613 Avenue Create - #60 Anything Goes w/Optional Twist: Use your Stash

Fashionable Stamping Challenges - no digi allowed - Challenge #67 Anything Goes

Thanks for dropping in and taking a look,

hugs,

Colette xx

I Kinda "Dig" you!

I mentioned in yesterdays post that I was going to the theatre to see Ghost in the evening, well after a bit of a hair raising journey to get to the theatre - gale force winds making it quite scary - we arrived about 15 minutes before the start of the show, about two minutes after taking our seats all the lights in the theatre went out plunging us into total darkness, they came on about five minutes later and then continued flickering on and off, - about ten minutes after the show should have started an announcement was made saying that due to unstable electricity supply problems the show was being cancelled, so I never got to see it after all.
The show still has another week to run and it seems it's not too busy the second week, the theatre are confident that they should be able to accomodate people, so hopefully I will get to see it sometime next week instead.

Now what do sand and a bucket and spade have to do with Valentines day?

- well the answer is the quirky Drawn with Character digi image I've used on today's card and the cute sentiment that comes with it.

Digital stamp - Bucket n pail - Drawn with Character - Etsy

Digital papers and date circle- Love you - Just so Scrappy (no longer available)

Die-namics Double scallop border

X-cut palm punch - large heart

Organza ribbon, stick on gems and heart charm - Meiflower

I am entering this card into the following challenges

Creative Moments - #35 Anything goes/Love
Divas by Design  - Love

Fab 'n' Funky - #203 Valentine/Love

Through The Craft Room Door  - Always Anything Goes

Stamp n Doodle  - Valentine/Love

Thanks for dropping by,

hugs,

Colette xx

I Got Ya!

I think I am just about valentined?!!! out - I spent most of yesterday making my last few valentine's cards using some fab images from Drawn with Character, I will be posting one each day through to Valentine's day on Friday.

I love the face on this cupid, (I have another version too, which will feature on Fridays card), he is obviously very pleased with himself after managing to shoot his arrow through the heart LOL!

Digital Stamp - Cupid with Heart - Drawn with Character - Etsy

Digital Papers - Sealed with a Kiss - Crazy 4 Monograms

Marianne Craftables - CR1225 Hearts

X cut border punch - scallops

X cut palm punch heart - Large

Die-versions Alphabet - Little Lizzie font

Lace - Local Hobbycraft store

Pearlescent string - Meiflower

Beads - Stash

Paper Crimper

I am entering this card into the following challenges

City Crafter Challenge -  #198 Love Bug - Make a project including the word love

Ladybug Crafts Ink TLT Challenge  -For The One I Love 

Artistic Inspirations  - Anything Goes / Valentine's Day

Cutie Pie Challenge -  Cute Valentine

Kaboodle Doodles  - To My Sweetheart

I'm off to the theatre tonight to see Ghost, with my daughter, my friend and her daughter, I shall pack the tissues just in case LOL!

Thanks for stopping by,

hugs,

Colette xx

Birthday Candle bird brain

In my last post I mentioned that before I decided to enter their sketch challengeI had made a card for the February Digital Stamp of the month challenge over on the From the Heart stamps blog, you have to use their Stamp of the Month for the challenge, but if you enter you automatically get the next months stamp for free. 

Here's the card I made for the challenge.

Digital Stamp - Birthday Candle Bird Brain - From the Heart Stamps

Digital papers - Heartstrings - Crazy 4 Monograms

Tonic layering dies - Circle

CREAlies CLCS11 - Leaves

X-cut palm punches - Flower, large and medium

Brown pearls - Meiflower

The set comes with a choice of sentiments, here's the inside of my card showing you the one I used.

I am entering this card into the following challenges

From the Heart Stamps - February Monthly stamp challenge

Robyn`s Fetish - # 198- Animals or Birds

Make it Monday  - Always Anything Goes
Through the Purple Haze  - Anything Goes

My Craft Creations - Always Anything Goes

Thanks for dropping in,

hugs,

Colette xx

Baby Carriage!

In my quest to try and use as many of my dies as possible this year , today I have a baby card made almost entirely from dies (5) - I used a couple of punches, organza and satin ribbon and some stick on pearls too.

White Linen card - Papermill Direct

Sizzix nesting hearts die

CREAlies CLCS11 - Leaves

Memory Box - Piestra Tile

Marianne Creatables - LR0218 Baby Carriage

Spellbinders - Decorative labels eight

X-cut palm punch - pointed butterfly - medium and small

X cut Daisy punch - medium and large

Liquid chalks ink pad - Ice Blue

Blue satin ribbon, White organza ribbon and various sized stick on pearls - Meiflower

I used satin ribbon for the hood and blanket of the baby carriage by applying a narrow line of Collall tacky glue around the edges and sticking the ribbon down, once dry I trimmed around the edge. I also did the same underneath the die cut border - for both the pram and border I used a piece of 25mm ribbon and 10mm ribbon. This could easily be done with coloured paper, but I liked the idea of fabric.

Thanks for stopping by,

hugs,

Colette xx

Another sneak peek - First Love Ultimate Kit

I have a huge collection of dies, and when I say huge, I mean HUGE! I have hundreds and any of my friends who have been in my craft room can vouch for that fact LOL!

I have so many that half of them (probably more) have never been used, so my New Years resolution for this year is to use as many as I can, and I've made a start with today's card.

I've used the image, papers, scalloped topper and sentiment circle from Paper Creators First Love Ultimate kit - (which should be in store very soon).

I've re-sized the image (included in kit) to fit on to the sentiment circle.

Papers, Image, Sentiment, scalloped circle - First Love Ultimate Kit - Paper Creator

White Linen card - Papermill Direct

Embossing Folder - A4 Cascading hearts

Lifestyle nesting circles die

Spellbinders Borderabilities - A2 scalloped borders 1

Butterflies - CC Cutters die

X-cut palm punch - Pointed Butterfly large

Ribbon and gems - Meiflower

Woohoo! four different dies used, I'm off to a good start, I've got a couple more cards made using the papers in this kit with some more of my dies, so I'm on a roll, hehe!

Thanks for dropping by,

hugs,

Colette xx

I love you this much!

It's time to begin the challenges again at Paper Creator after the Christmas break, and for the first one of the year we are going to start off nice and easy with...

Anything Goes

We don't have much in the way of rules, just no back linking, a maximum of 3 entries per challenge and most importantly follow the theme, you don't even have to use Paper Creator products, but if you do, you get a second entry into the random draw to win £10 to spend in store.

Here's my card for the anything goes theme, using a gorgeous new Sassy Cheryl illustration called Come On Get Happy.

Digital illustration - Come on get Happy - Sassy Cheryl at Paper Creator
Digital Papers - Owl always love you digital scrap kit - Just So Scrappy
Go Kreate Large Frame Scallops
Lifestyle nesting circles dies
Die-namics die - Rustic Hearts
X-cut heart punch
Ribbon and charms - Meiflower I used split rings to dangle the heart charm from the O of the love charm

Don't forget to pop over to the Paper Creator challenge blog, check out the inspiration from the rest of my teamies and enter our anything goes challenge.

Thanks for stopping by,
Have a lovely weekend,
hugs,
Colette xx

Oh Baby!

Just a quick post today to show you a baby card I made using the fab Digi Darla image Blessings of Heaven 5. When I made this card HERE I printed the image out in two different sizes and used the larger image on the other card, so I put this card together with the smaller image and the left over papers, usisng the same layout but decorating it differently.

Digital Stamp - Blessings of Heaven 5 - Digi Darla (coloured in Photoshop)

Digital Papers - Bedtime Stories Girl - Crazy 4 Monograms

Lifestyle Alphabet Die - Lemon Drop - Maddy Lisa Crafts

X-cut heart punches large and small

Gingham ribbon, satin rosebud trio, polka dot buttons and heart dazzlers - Meiflower

I am entering the following challenges with this card -

Digi Darla- ABC challenge - (B is for Baby)

Fan-Tastic Tuesday - Must Be Square #19 Make It Feminine - It's got a baby girl, there's pink on it, a bow, flowers and bling so hopefully it counts as feminine?

Papertake Weekly W- Add A Bow & Use A Die

Party Time Tuesdays - #156 Use Ribbon

Through The Craft Room Door - Always Anything Goes

Thanks for dropping in and taking a look

hugs,

Colette xx

You go together like.....

...Cheese and wine, bacon and egg, salt and pepper or milk and cookies!

Here's a card made with one of the other digital stamps I purchased from Drawn with Character, I love the quirky humour of this one, and as soon as I saw it I knew I had to have it. I made it up into an anniversary card for my friend.

Digital stamp - We go together 1- Drawn with Character- Etsy (coloured in Photoshop)

Digital papers - Candy Kisses digital scrap kit - Crazy 4 monograms

Sizzix nesting hearts die

X-cut nesting postage stamp die

Sentiment - computer generated

Ribbon and buttons - Meiflower

I am entering my card into the following challenges

Artistic Inspirations  - Anything Goes / Ribbon

Card Mania -  Anything Goes

Love to Create  - Buttons

Make it Monday  - Always Anything Goes

My Time to Craft – All about Love

My Sheri Crafts -  Use a Digi

Digitally Sweet - Digital images/projects- No. 71 - Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by,

hugs,

Colette xx

Love is in the air!

This post should have been done on Saturday but for the last couple of days I have had the stinking cold that is going around at the moment, today is the first day that I haven't been aching all over, it's also the first day that I have lost my voice too - made Eric's day LOL! Both Eric and Meg had it first, and then, as usual, once I've looked after them and got them better I come down with it -Eric is back in work, Meg still needs looking after and I've got my youngest grandson Charlie nearly every day this week, so no rest for me.

I have to admit that I've also been distracted by the darts on the telly - the first couple of weeks of the year when the BDO World Darts Championship is shown from the Lakeside Country Club is one of the things I most look forward to after the Christmas break, and have really enjoyed it once again this year.

Anyway back to the cards and with Christmas out of the way, the next big occasion, for us card makers is Valentine's day, and with that in mind I'm giving you a sneak peek at two of  the new Sassy Cheryl illustrations - First love and Smitten - which will be available shortly at Paper Creator.

Sassy Cheryl illustrations First Love and Smitten - Paper Creator

Papers - Lovebirds digital scrapbook kit - Just so Scrappy

Sizzix Hearts dies

X cut heart punch

Sentiment - Computer Generated

Ribbons and gems - Meiflower

If you like to match your papers to the colours in your image, you should check out the First Love ultimate kit from Paper Creator when it becomes available, as well as the image it  also contains papers, a build a topper set, a ready to print card, sentiments and decoupage.

For this card I used the image and a couple of the papers. The card base was made by printing both sides of  A4 Linen card from Papermill Direct with one of the plain papers from the kit, before cutting to size and folding to make a square card.

The card is a sample for Meiflower which is why it is bedecked in pearls and gems, plus I love a bit of bling on a card and couldn't resist encrusting the die cut heart frame with all things sparkly!

Image and Papers - First Love Ultimate kit - Paper Creator

Sizzix Heart dies

X-cut heart punch

Sentiment - Computer Generated

Stick on gems and pearls in various sizes and colours - Meiflower

Thanks for stopping by,

hugs,

Colette xx

Sunglasses Alert!

If you are a regular visitor to my blog you will know that I don't really do soft muted colours, I would love to, I always think they look so classy whenever I see them used by other people, but my brain just doesn't seem to work like that and no matter how hard I try I always seem to end up with bright colourful cards.

Today my colours are so vivid, you may need to pop on a pair of sunglasses before viewing,

(I will not be held responsible for any damage to your peepers from viewing my card without taking the proper precautions LOL! You have been warned!) 

I had some really bright neon coloured ribbons and wanted to match the papers and my colouring to them, then I matted everything onto black card which really made the colours pop.

Digital stamp - Deidre Mosher at Etsy - Coloured in Photoshop

Digital Papers - Girls Just Wanna Have Fun digital scrap kit - Crazy 4 Monograms

Senitment - Computer Generated

X-cut border punch - Scallops

Lin and Lene  Designs corner die - 1201/0012 (cut down)

Neon coloured satin ribbons and stick on gems - Meiflower 

I printed the image twice, cut the cake from the second print and layered it onto the first with foam pads. The corner die was a lot larger, but I trimmed away the parts I didn't want to make it the right size for my project.

I love that image, they look like they really can't wait to get stuck into that cake.

Thanks for popping in,

hugs,

Colette xx

Bauble card with template

Phew! what a busy week it's been and now a busy weekend too. Our car was returned to us Thursday afternoon all fixed and ready to go, which has put a smile back on Meg's face because we can get her out and about again now.

We are off to see Boyzone on Sunday evening so it's a relief to have the car back and know we don't have to mess around with taxi's (which Meg isn't too keen on)

Today is the start of our last Paper Creator challenge of the year and this time around the theme is

Shaped Cards

Just pop over to the challenge blog and link up your shaped cards to be in with the chance of winning a £10 voucher to spend in store - you don't need to use Paper Creator products but if you do you get two entries into the draw.

I decided to make a bauble shaped card using one of the new Sassy Cheryl illustrations, Snowmen in Love, from Paper Creator. For my shaped card I made myself a template in Photoshop which you can snag from further down the page if you want it.

Image - Snowmen in Love - Sassy Cheryl at Paper Creator

Background paper - Winter Whimsy - Just so Scrappy, Crazy 4 Monograms collab

Glitter card - local Range store

Lifestyle nesting circles dies and nesting lace circles die

Joy crafts Winter wishes Ice Crystal dies 1, 2 and 3

X-cut palm punch Snow Crystals punches large and medium

Sentiment - Cuddly Buddly freebie

Ribbons, jingle bells, white metallic cord and stick on gems - Meiflower

I printed the template out onto the reverse of an A4 piece of vintage gold card, given to me by my friend Karen, I was originally going to use Kraft card and when I came across the vintage gold in my stash thought that it was very similar to Kraft in colour, but with a pearly metallic finish.

I cut out the bauble shapes scored along the top of the circle and used double sided tape to stick the top sections together giving me a bauble shaped tent card.

If you trim a small piece from the back of the card it should stand up.

Here's the template, just left click to make larger and then right click and save as

Don't forget to pop over to the Paper Creator Challenge blog and check out the fabulous inspiration from the rest of my teamies.

Thanks for dropping in,

have a lovely weekend,

hugs,

Colette xx

Ultimate kit part 2

Following on from Sundays post, here are a couple more cards made with the Joy ultimate kit.

This time around I made up the ready to print easel card that's included in the kit and a square card using the topper sheet.

I made an easel card base from white linen card to fit the ready to print kit, made up the card adding the decoupage layers provided to the snowman and finished off by adding a couple of ready made bows and some punched snowflakes

For this card I used a 6 inch square scalloped card base and printed out a paper and topper sheet from the kit. I cut a piece of the paper to fit the card front, rounding the corners before sticking on, then cut out the scalloped topper leaving a white border all around, which I glittered. I die cut a scalloped circle from the remainder of the paper and then used circle dies to cut out the snowman image and the centre from the scalloped circle to make a frame. I added the scalloped topper to the card front with foam pads and then layered up the image and scalloped frame again with foam pads, finishing off with an organza bow with diamante ribbon slider and punched snowflakes.

Joy Ultimate kit - Paper Creator

Lifestyle circle dies 

Sizzix framelits scallop circles die

X cut palm punch snow crystal - large and medium

Organza ribbon, ready made gingham bows, diamante ribbon slider and stick on gems - Meiflower

Thanks for stopping by,

hugs,

Colette xx

Bow Christmas tree, bow Christmas tree.....

....how full of bows your branches be! LOL! - sorry bad pun, but I had to do it, I've had the - O Christmas tree - song going around in my head since Wednesdays post.

This is another freebie digi stamp from Birds cards (link under card pic) and I was inspired by the sample card that was alongside the digi stamp.

Do you remember on Wednesday when I mentioned I had printed out the papers and images for three cards only to realise afterwards that the yellow ink nozzle was blocked, well this is another one of those cards. The colours should be Christmas red and green, but they came out this teal and purple colour, which I totally loved. The bows came ready made, I just tightened them up a little and trimmed the ends, the card is a sample for Meiflower so I had to make it 6x6 inches but if it was on an A5 card the bows could probably be stuck straight on without trimming.

Image - Leaf Christmas Tree freebie digistamp - Birds cards

Papers - Peppermint Patty digital scrap kit - Just So Scrappy (should be red and green)

X-cut palm punch - Star large and medium

Digi stamp Sentiment - Bits of Ivory Christmas - Cuddly Buddly

Ready made gold bows, organza ribbon and gems - Meiflower

Thanks for popping in,

hugs,

Colette xx

Dear Santa......

...all I want for Christmas is about 4 more hours in every day, and an extra day in every week, LOL!

It's just over a week since I last blogged and I have no idea where the time has gone, is it just me or are the days flying by? there are only 44 days until Christmas and I haven't even thought about Christmas shopping yet, never mind anything else. 

I have been busily working away in the background, and have about a dozen cards that need to be blogged, I just haven't had the time to sit down and blog them, so I am going to do that right now with this post and then schedule a couple more for through the week.

Today I have a Rocker Stepper card, using a fabulous Sassy Cheryl image and an amusing and very apt sentiment that I found somewhere on my travels around blog land.

Image - Half moon Santa - Sassy Cheryl at Paper Creator

Papers - Holiday Hoopla digital scrap kit - Crazy 4 Monograms

Label template - Paper Garden Projects at The Digichick

Sentiment computer generated.

Holly punch - X-cut small palm punch

Flower soft polar white

Gingham ribbon and red stick on pearls - Meiflower

Circle stepper card - my own template printed onto Papermill Direct linen card

I am entering this card into the following challenges

Brown Sugar –  No. 67 - Anything Goes

Sister Act Card Challenge - No. 32 - Anything Goes

C.R.A.F.T.  -#232 Christmas

Charisma Cardz - #44 Anything Goes

Fab 'n' Funky  - #192 Traditional Christmas colors

Bearly Mine Challenges - #111 Anything Goes

Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes

Sassy Cheryl's - #191 Anything Goes

Thanks for dropping in,

hugs,

Colette xx

Christmas Stackables

We are halfway through our Pink or Blue challenge over at Paper Creator, so you still have a week to get your entry in, if you fancy playing along and being in with the chance to win £10 to spend in store.

This week I have one of the new Christmas Stackable sets to show you, which after my blue advent calendar last week is in various shades of pink, so still following the challenge theme. 

These sets are easy to put together and you end up with a drawer which contains three matching cards (with inserts) and envelopes.

Christmas Stackables set 1 - Paper Creator

Here you can see the drawer, with the envelopes tucked underneath and the three cards surrounding it. I printed the included backing paper out three times and then printed the envelope template on the reverse, to make up the envelopes.

Satin rosebud trio, organza ribbon and tiny red pearls - Meiflower

Tiny holly leaves - old X-cut punch

Ribbon and gems - Meiflower

Star - old X-cut punch

Snowflakes - X-cut palm punch Snow crystal

ribbon and gems - Meiflower

There are 10 different stackable sets available in store.

Thanks for taking a look,

have a lovely weekend,

hugs,

Colette xx