Butterfly and flower cards

I'm a little late with this post as I meant to do it last night, but time just ran away with me and I never got around to it, then this morning I have been very busy helping hubby dismantle my craft room - awwww! ready for a re-vamp - hooray! The room used to be my grandsons bedroom so at the moment I have one red wall with spaceships and astronauts all over it, but by the end of the week the red will be gone and the wall will be a lovely bright blue, although you won't see much of it as it will be covered with cupboards, a worktop and shelving. I'm also having the carpet taken up and a new floor laid so I will be able to whizz backwards and forwards in my chair, from my work desk to the worktop which will hold my die-cutting machines and guillotine.

Sooo looking forward to it all being finished, as I am temporarily working on a table in the living room, and it is not the same as having everything to hand.

Today I have a couple of birthday cards to show you, both made with papers from the First Love Ultimate kit from Paper Creator.

Papers - First Love Ultimate Kit - Paper Creator

Lifestyle - Nesting Doily Circle

Memory box - Darla and Vivienne Butterfly dies, Chesapeake scrollwork

Ribbon, pearls and gems - Meiflower

Silver Angel hair paper.

The top and bottom borders are the waste from the scalloped punch and the bow is a triple loop bow.

Papers - as above

X cut - scalloped border punch

X-cut palm punch large heart and circle

Tonic layering circles die

Couture Creations Tied together embossing folder

Die-namics heart doily

Ribbon and pearls - Meiflower

I am entering my cards into the following challenges

Jo's Scrap Shack - Anything Goes

Sister Act Card Challenge - 47 - Anything Goes

That's Crafty! Challenge Blog  - Anything Goes

4 Krafty Girlz - # 13 Anything Goes

Crafty Ribbons - Anything Goes with Ribbon

Thanks for dropping in and taking a look,

have a lovely weekend,

hugs,

Colette xx

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

Gabby's Marvellous Adventure

Today I have an easel card to show you, which I have made a bit differently than usual. There are three sections, the middle one is in the style of a normal easel and the side ones are twisted easels, and they are different because none of the easels folds from the back of the card, which is my usual way of doing it, but are added to the card individually, so that I can place them wherever I want. It still folds in the normal way and fits into an envelope.

I have used one of the new Sassy Cheryl images from Paper Creator called Gabby's Marvellous adventure, printing it three times then cutting and layering the whole image over the large topper with foam pads for dimension andcutting a couple of the books from the third copy and adding them to the smaller toppers, again with foam pads.

Image - Gabby's marvellous adventure illustration- Sassy Cheryl at Paper Creator

Papers - Masked Marvels - Julie Billingsley at Sweet Shoppe Designs

Tonic layering circles and scalloped circles

Sentiment - computer generated

Ribbon - Meiflower

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

Birdbrain friends!

I was at the Craft show at Event City Manchester yesterday and you'll never guess what I bought? (If you're a regular visitor then you probably will LOL!)  Yes, I bought more dies hehe! After watching a couple of demo's I 'really needed' them, so look out for roses and fuchsia's on upcoming cards - providing I can remember how to make them LOL!

I've got a card to show you today using the I {heart} card sketches sketch no.52.

 I had bought some digi stamps from {From the heart stamps} earlier in the week and because I spent over $10 and entered the code from the blog I got the Stamp of the Month set for free. They have a monthly challenge where you have to use the stamp of the month , but if you enter, you get the following month's stamp of the month for free - just for playing along - so I thought I would give it a go. My card is made and ready to post, but before I had chance to blog it I noticed the sketch challenge, which only runs for a week, and decided to play along with that too, mainly because the circles in the centre of the grey panel, which I don't think are there other than for decoration, caught my imagination and an idea popped into my head straight away, once again using the Stamp of the Month set, so I made up the card and here it is!

Digital Stamp (inc sentiment) - From the Heart Stamps - Birthday Candle Birdbrain

Papers - Tweet Tweet - Just So Scrappy (only $0.75 in outlet store and contains 42 papers!)

Tonic Circle layering dies

Die-namics Photo corners dies

Stick on Gems - Meiflower

The stamp of the month challenge card will be following in a few days.

I am entering the following challenges

I {heart} Sketches Challenges - Sketch

Love to Create - Birthday / Anniversary

Delightful Challenges - Anything Goes

Crafty Creations -  for the birds

Suzy Bee's Bloomin' Challenge - #15 Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by and taking a look, 

Have a lovely Sunday,

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

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

Eat More Cake!

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

Birthday

now that couldn't be easier could it - we would love you to play along with your birthday creation, you don't even have to use Paper Creator products to enter and you could be the random winner of the £10 voucher to spend in store.

I have used the fabulous Sassy Cheryl illustration Avery Celebrates with cake,

The sentiment reads -

Birthdays are nature's way of telling us to eat more...

hmmm, but eat more what ? - 

see that little bit of ribbon hanging down from below the image circle, pull it down to reveal.....

...Cake, of course!

Image - Avery celebrates with cake - Sassy Cheryl at Paper Creator

Papers - My Birthday Girl Digital Scrap Kit - Just so Scrappy

EK success border punch

Grosgrain and Satin ribbon - Meiflower

 and I used this brilliant tutorial HERE (adapted to fit my design) to make the pull down wording.

Don't forget to enter the Birthday challenge and pop over to the challenge blog to take a look at the fabulous creations from the rest of my teamies.

Thanks for dropping by,

have a lovely weekend,

hugs,

Colette xx

Teddy Bo Friday!

I missed Teddy Bo Tuesday this week as I have been really busy, mainly having murder with the local hospital, over a pair of shoes for Meg.

12 months ago she had casts made of her feet to send off to a company in Germany to make her some new shoes (we can't buy shoes for her as her feet are tiny (she's 23 and her feet are smaller than my 8 year old grandsons), and really oddly shaped). Although she doesn't need the shoes for walking or standing, she suffers from really bad circulation and her feet are always freezing, last winter she had to wear fleecy bed socks over her socks whenever we went out, just for an extra layer of warmth, she also has severe osteoporosis in her feet and legs as she has never walked or put weight through them, so the shoes are protection against knocks which could result in broken bones - anyway, here we are 12 months and a number of phone calls to the hospital later - heading into another winter - and Meg still doesn't have any shoes to wear.

It turns out that the company in Germany are saying they have never received an order, and the hospital are saying they have sent the order twice (which seems odd as Meg has only had casts made once), so we now have an appointment for Monday for Meg to be re-assessed, which probably means she will be going through another Winter wearing bed socks!

Sorry about the rant, here's my card.

IMAGE - Oli_008 - coloured in Photoshop

PAPERS - Big Top - Just So Scrappy

Lifestyle circle dies

Grosgrain ribbon, waxed cord, spotty button and stick on pearls - Meiflower

Thanks for dropping in,

hugs,

Colette xx

Oli the Ephelump

You may remember Oli the ephelump from the Teddy Bo family, well he has had a bit of a make-over and is back again, after losing a little weight, and going to the gym to get a more streamlined physique LOL!

He has also managed to get himself a friend, of the female variety, called Molly who you can find HERE on Tuesday's post.

IMAGE - Oli_002 - coloured in photoshop

PAPERS and WORDART - Doodle Doo Digital Scrap Kit - Just So Scrappy

BUTTON and CORD - Meiflower

I also have a Teddy Bea card I made using one of the trio of tabs from last weeks release.

IMAGE - Trio

PAPERS and ALPHABET - Sisters digital scrap kit - Just so scrappy

Flower soft for pompom

Lifestyle Edge it dies for top and bottom border

Gems, bow and satin rose trio - Meiflower

Pop over to the Teddy Bo blog and take a look at the wonderful inspiration from some of the other DT members.

Teddy Bo Tuesday

We have some more new releases at Teddy Bo and Co today, the bears are there as usual, but we have a new set of characters for you to take a look at too.

Welcome to Oli and Molly the ephelumps, they are available in both digi stamp and pre-coloured versions.

I used Molly for my card today, Oli will be along on Friday.

IMAGE - MOLLY_002 - Coloured in Photoshop

PAPERS - Fruitytoot Digital Scrap kit - Crazy 4 monograms

BORDER DIE -Impression Obsessions - Border Duo 1

Ribbon and gems - Meiflower

Gayle also drew this beautiful Angel/Fairy which I just had to colour up and as October is Breast Cancer Awareness month I decided to make a card in commemoration of all the friends and family I know who have fought and won their battles and also those that didn't make it.

Image - Fairy - Teddy Bo and Co. - coloured in Photoshop

Couture Creations die - Tatted Lace Doily

Lifestyle die - Nesting square Doily

Stick on pearls, ribbon and charm - Meiflower

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

Thanks for dropping in,

hugs,

Colette xx

Furry Friday

Hi, I'm back with another Teddy Bo card today, I managed to get two cards made with the new images this week, so after posting one on Tuesday I thought I would pop the other one on today.

IMAGE - Teddy Trio (this is one of three images in the set) - Coloured in Photoshop

PAPERS, STARS - Brothers Digital Scrap kit - Just so Scrappy

BUTTONS AND RIBBON - Meiflower

Thanks for dropping in,

hugs,

Colette xx

Teddy Bo Tuesday Woohoo! He's back!

Today is a special day for more than one reason, as well as being my youngest daughters 23rd birthday (Happy Birthday Meg) we are also back with a new Teddy Bo release.

After quite a long break whilst we relocated from our tower in the depths of cold, wet Scotland to a Minaret (closest thing we could find to a tower) out in the desert of a hot and sunny United Arab Emirates we are back, yaaaayyy!

IMAGE - Teddy Bea #17 - Coloured in Photoshop

PAPERS - Denim and Daisies Digital Scrap kit - Just So Scrappy

DIE - Upsy Daisy - Die-Namics

We have some fabulous new releases for you this week,
check them out HERE

Pop over to the Teddy Bo Challenge blog and take a look at the fabulous inspiration from the rest of my teamies.

Thanks for dropping in,

hugs,

Colette xx

Princess Twinkle toes

Hi there, it's time for another challenge over at My Besties, this week it is my teams turn, but before I tell you this weeks theme I want to let you know about a few changes to the challenge.

You can now choose to do either - anything goes or follow the theme -  you still have to use a My Besties image for whichever part of the challenge you are following, and if you enter an anything goes card you won't be in the draw to win 5 My Besties Digi images (only cards that follow the theme than do that) but you will still be in the draw for one of the two runners up prizes of 3 My Besties Digi images. 

Another new feature is that  from now on we will also be having a DT favourite, so each week one member of the DT gets to pick their favourite card from all the entries and that person will win 3 digi images, there is also a special blinkie for the DT favourite.

We would love to see your creations using either the

Anything Goes theme

 or Use Purple/Lavender

Digital stamp - My Besties Princess Twinkle toes img 668 - coloured in Photoshop

Digital papers - Glorious Day - Just So Scrappy

Circle die - Lifestyle nesting circles

Doily die - Marietta Buckle - Memory Box

Metallic edged ribbon, purple stick on pearls and 2mm stick on gems (crown) - Meiflower

Don't forget to pop over to the challenge blog and check out the fabulous creations from the rest of my teamies.

Thanks for dropping in and taking a look,

hugs,

Colette xx

Sew cute!

Many months ago Mei (Meiflower) gave me a couple of needle charms and asked me if I could use them on a card. I immediately went looking for a digi stamp that would go with the needle and found this beauty at Stitchy Bear. I purchased her and coloured her up and then as usual with me got side-tracked and completely forgot to make a card. I came across the coloured image again yesterday and decided to get stuck in and make up a card, I love the image, she is just beautiful, and I had coloured her in my fave colour combo, so she had everything going for her LOL!

Image - BBKakes - stitcher Fae 2 - Stitchy Bear outlet - coloured in Photoshop

Papers - Birds of a Feather digital scrap kit- Crazy 4 Monograms

Ribbon, scissors and needle charm - Meiflower

I am going to enter her into the following challenges

One stitch at a time challenge - Use a Digi

Penny's Paper-Crafty - #144 Anything Goes

Sisterhood of Crafters - use a digi

Tuesday Throwdown - #164 Anything Goes

Make it Monday - W - always Anything Goes

Bunny Zoe's Crafts  - (September) Something Blue

Thanks for popping in,

hugs,

Colette xx

Monochrome

 It's time for another Team A challenge over on the My Besties challenge blog and the theme is

Monochrome (one colour)

I have to admit, it's not one of my favourite themes, as I love to use lots of bright colours, but I decided to go for a complete change and went with a grey colour scheme, I ummed and aahhhed over whether or not to have the flesh coloured or monochrome too, and after consulting with my design advisor (my hubby LOL!) decided to go with a totally monochrome look. The digital kit I used for the papers is in shades of pink, grey and black, and it was really difficult to just use the very drab grey papers, instead of the more colourful pink ones, but I think I have fulfilled the challenge criteria.

I think I should have put a coloured background behind the card when taking the photograph, because it looks like a black and white photo (at least I know the grey monochrome scheme was effective LOL!).

My Little Dimples My Besties Pals IMG935 - coloured in Photoshop

Papers and butterfly - Ooh la la digital scrap kit - Just So Scrappy

Fiskars border punch (hardly noticable behind the image and embellishments)

X cut palm punch - Petal - Large and Medium

Cheery Lyn Olive branches die

Silver grey pearls and large crown charm - Meiflower

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

Thanks for stopping by,

hugs,

Colette xx

Grip it and Rip it!

I just don't seem to have any time to do much these days, there is lots going on here, including Meg starting a 2 year course (providing she likes it!) on Monday. You wouldn't believe the amount of  phone calls and emails (including taking and sending pics of her toilet chair) backwards and forwards from the company running the course about Meg's toileting needs. I am not complaining as they are trying really hard to get everything sorted out so that she will be comfortable and happy when she is there, but if I've explained something once I have explained it a thousand times (slight exaggeration LOL!). The course is from 9am until 3pm three days a week, and Eric and I are now actually going in with her on Monday morning to show them how to manage her needs and get her back comfortably in her wheelchair - if she is not in right, she is not a happy bunny. 

Most of the cards I post these days seem to be made up from kits or without any coloured images on them, I have been doing quite a bit of colouring, honestly, I just haven't found the time to get them made up into cards, with DT work, childminding and getting Meg sorted for Monday.

Hopefully once Meg is settled things will calm down a bit and I can get some cards made with my coloured images.

Anyway enough of all that, I have a card to show you, that once again uses a pre-coloured image. It's a Sassy Cheryl illustration called Grip it and Rip it Max which is available from Paper Creator, and I think it's quite a cute image for a young boy.

Image - Grip it and Rip it Max - Sassy Cheryl at Paper Creator

Papers, big star and arrow - Feeling Blue digital scrap kit - Crazy 4 Monograms

Stars - X-cut punches

Buttons and cord - Meiflower

I printed the image twice and layered the second with foam pads, and also doodled a double line around the edge of the image just to add a little something extra.

Enjoy the weekend,

hugs,

Colette xx

Anything Goes Challenge

My craft room is finally getting back to some sort of order, I managed to get about half of the stuff back in last weekend, although we had the new boiler fitted in the week and I think I am going to have to empty everything out again to give the whole room a clean, there is a fine layer of brick dust over everything, but I will hopefully manage to get it all back in over this weekend, especially as it's a bank holiday here in the UK so we get an extra day, woohoo!

Today is the start of our easy-peasy Anything Goes challenge over on the Paper Creator blog. You don't have to use Paper Creator products to enter but if you do you get two entries in the draw, and the randomly picked winner, gets £10 to spend in store, so if you have a card made why not enter, after all you've got to be in it, to win it!

Image - That's what friends are for Sassy Cheryl illustration - Paper Creator

Papers - The Coastal Collection - Nitwits

Red cord and buttons - Meiflower

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

Have a lovely weekend,

hugs,

Colette xx

A new Bestie challenge

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

Include an animal

so to win $30 to spend in store just pop over to the challenge blog and link up your creation using a My Besties image and an animal.

I used a gorgeous image called Fifi and bubbles

Couture Creations Embossing Folder - Drink Me

Squeaky Clean digital papers - Just So Scrappy

Lifestyle nesting circles die

Sentiment - computer generated

Pearls - Meiflower

Flowers - Stash

Hop over to the challenge blog and check out the fabulous inspiration from the rest of my teamies.

Thanks for dropping in,

hugs,

Colette xx

All at Sea!

That title explains exactly how I feel at the moment  LOL! as well as having a reference to today's cards.

I still don't know if I'm coming or going, although I am beginning to see light at the end of the tunnel, and if that is not already enough cliche's for you then I'll give you one more - I think the end is in sight haha!

Just finished twenty one card samples for Crafty Devils (14 of which are Christmas cards) using some of the new Papermania goodies and Hobby house toppers, so lots more blogging to be done, and we are still only about halfway through the wedding invitations!

Today I have a couple of nautical themed cards for you (see the title does make sense) both suitable for young boys, and both made with kits from Paper Creator.

The first one is Noah's Flipper Pyramage kit which is part of a Mega bundle containing 10 Flipper kits for £7 the only other thing on the card is some gingham ribbon from Meiflower.

The second uses the Sail Away 6 x 6 card kit to which I've added a little wooden boat embellishment I found in my stash, and some ribbon and pearls from Meiflower.

Thanks for stopping by,

have a lovely weekend,

hugs,

Colette xx