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

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

Admiring the Star

I have scheduled this post to show you one of my favourite cards. The card is made using a pre-coloured Sassy Cheryl illustration called - Admiring the Star - which is available at Paper Creator. I printed him out several times and then decoupaged him with foam pads onto a snowy background, dangling the star over the front of the card on a piece of acetate, and adding tiny crystals from Meiflower, to the centres of some of the snowflakes. The sentiment is die-cut.

I love the simplicity of the design which is why it is one of my favourites, and it was so quick and easy to put together too.

Thanks for dropping by,

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

Scalloped rocker! and tag cards

A couple of weeks ago we had some devastating news when we found out my 82 year old Father-in-law has cancer, after going backward and forward to doctors and hospitals for weeks because he was in a lot of pain and being told it was just an existing condition (he has polymyalgia) and him insisting it was more than that, they finally did a body scan which showed up shadows on his liver and in his bones. He had a biopsy last week and they are doing a second biopsy this Thursday before they start him on any treatment. Although the cancer is widespread and they have told him they can't cure it, they seem to think it can be managed for now with treatment.

He has just received a rheumatology appointment  through the post for May 2014, which he has taken as a positive sign, laughing that they must think he will still be here by then LOL!

Today I have the last of the cards I made with the Paper Creator Joy Ultimate kit. I made a scalloped rocker, which because of the scallops doesn't actually rock, so I think I need a more suitable name for it LOL! and used the tags in the kit to make a couple of tag shaped cards!

I re-sized the topper base (from the make me a topper set included in the kit) to fit the 8 inch width of an A4 piece of card, then printed it out directly onto Papermill Direct Linen Card, scored through the middle and folded to make a scalloped circle tent card. I re-sized another make me a topper set to fit on to this base and  once again printed it and a couple of paper designs onto more A4 Linen card. I used circle dies to cut out my papers and matted them onto the scallop base, then added the topper and layers with foam pads. The sentiment is also included in the kit. I finished off with lots of glitter, punched snowflakes and ribbon and crystals from Meiflower.

Included in the extras section of the Joy ultimate kit is two tags, one with the snowman and the other with the swirly design across the bottom. I took one of each into my graphics program, rotated one 180 degrees and then lined the two tags up with their tops just touching. I then re-sized the whole thing to fit the long length of an A4 sheet. I copied this to make a second card base as two fitted nicely on one sheet of card. After printing directly onto Papermill Direct linen card, I scored and folded to make two card bases and then printed a sentiment and make me a topper set from the kit and used some off cuts from the previous cards for matting to build up a design on each card front, finishing off once again with punched snowflakes and some ribbons, gems and a couple of jingle bells from Meiflower.

Enjoy what's left of the weekend

see you Tuesday,

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

Ultimate Kits

Hi there, this week Paper Creator is introducing it's new Ultimate kits, these kits are great value for money, containing a Sassy Cheryl illustration, a selection of colour matched papers, a ready to print easel card, a fancy layered topper which comes in two sizes, and a couple of extras too and all for only £3 - the topper is designed to be used with dies and the sheet tells you which die to use. If you don't have the correct dies then that's no problem either as the shapes can easily be hand cut which is what I did as I didn't have the matching die.

I was lucky enough to get a chance to play with some of the kits before their release this weekend and to show how versatile they are I decided to make a collection of cards all from one kit.

Today I will show you a group photo of the cards I made and one of the cards with some quick instructions for making up, and then during the week I will show the other cards individually.

I used the Joy Ultimate Kit for all these cards.

First up is the bow front card.

For this card I started with a white 6 x 6 inch square gate fold card.

I covered the front panels with swirly paper from the kit.

Next I cut out the scalloped topper base, then with the card closed, I laid the scalloped base centrally across the "doors" of the card, drew around the shape with a pencil and cut out.

I fixed striped paper from the kit to the inside of the card and then with the "doors" closed, added the topper to the striped paper, through the closed doors to match the shape. I used a circle die to cut a mat and  fixed the topper layers into place using foam pads.

I cut a piece of acetate the same height as the card but 2cms wider than the card base then put double sided tape around the inside of each door and fixed the acetate inside the card - this makes the bowed front.

I punched two borders from another paper from the kit, trimmed to length and added to the top and bottom of the card, fixing ribbon across one piece before attaching to card.

To finish off I added a bow, word art from the kit, some die cut hearts and a punched snowflake.

This picture shows a better view of the bowed shape.

Joy Ultimate kit - Paper Creator

Lifestyle nesting circle dies

Memory box Precious Hearts dies

Tonic geared border punch - Diamond swing border

X-cut palm punch snow crystal - large

Metallic edged ribbon and stick on gems - Meiflower

See you in the week with another card from the collection

hugs,

Colette xx

Ho Ho Ho

Today I have a quick Christmas card to show you using a Sassy Cheryl illustration called Better Not Pout Santa. I used the alphabet set that came with the December Magic Digital Scrap Kit from Crazy 4 Monograms for the HO HO HO's

Santa's head has been decoupaged and decorated with glamour dust and a small pompom and is attached to the card with an Action Wobble spring which means that if you give him a little nudge or when you move the card around his head wobbles about.

Image- Better not pout santa - Sassy Cheryl at Paper Creator

Papers - Peppermint Patty digital scrap kit - Just So Scrappy

Alphabet - December Magic digital scrap kit - Crazy 4 Monograms

Action wobble spring - Woodware - Grafton Crafts

Grosgrain ribbon and pearls - Meiflower

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

Icy Christmas greetings!

When I saw this Sassy Cheryl illustration of Maddie ice skating over at Paper Creator, the idea for this card immediately sprang to mind, I wanted it to look like she had written the greeting in the ice with her skates and then was just skating off.
To get the length I needed I decided to make a DL landscape card by cutting two pieces of card each
21 cms long by 10.5 cms wide, then scoring one piece from top to bottom 2cms in from a short edge, applying double sided tape to the 2cm section and fixing the two pieces together lining up the edges to make the DL landscape card base. I used my quickie glue pen to trace over the wording and then applied liberal amounts of glamour dust to give the impression of sparkling ice crystals.

Image - Figure eight style - Sassy Cheryl at Paper Creator

White Linen card and red card - Papermill Direct

X-cut palm punch - Snow Crystal medium

Ribbon and gems - Meiflower

Thanks for looking,

hugs,

Colette xx

Fa la la la la!

Where is the time going? I swear it was only April yesterday and now it's October! (starting to feel like it here now too, cool, windy and dark). It won't be long before the clocks will be going back and we will be in the Winter.

Of course, Winter means Christmas, and today I have a quick Christmas card to show you. The  design was printed onto one sheet of paper, cut out, ribbon fixed into place, attached to a blank card base and decorated, only took about 20 mins to make.

Image - Fa la la la la Snowman illustration- Sassy Cheryl at Paper Creator

Digital Papers and stitching - Winter Whimsy - Crazy Scrap Chicks

Circle frame - CR1248 Circle, flower and leaf stitch - Marianne Craftables

plus lifestyle nesting circles (to cut out the centre)

Sentiment - computer generated

Ribbon, gems, and ribbon slider - Meiflower

I'm off to the Sincerely Yours Craft show at Leigh today, need to stock up on my smooth printer card 250gsm, from Anna Marie designs, it's about £11 a pack on the website, but you get two packs for £12 at the show and there is no postage to pay, I'm sure I will probably buy lots of other stuff too, but the card is the main thing I want.

Enjoy your weekend.

hugs,

Colette xx

A Simple Gift

How are you all on this Saturday morning, if you are up for a challenge we have a very easy one over at Paper Creator starting today. The theme is

Use Dies or Punches

couldn't be simpler could it, most of us these days probably have at least one die cut or punched item on our cards,uou don't even have to use Paper Creator products, although you get two entries into the draw if  you do, and the winners prize is a £10 voucher to spend in store, so what are you waiting for.

My card today uses a Sassy Cheryl illustration called Simple Gift of a flower, it has been so dark and dreary here recently that I was drawn to the bright colours of this image.

Simple gift of a flower - Sassy Cheryl at Paper Creator

Digital Papers - Born to Shop - Just So Scrappy

Rocker base and image frame - Lifestyle Nesting Floral doilies die

Lifestyle nesting circles die

Daisies - Die-namics - Upsey Daisy die

Sentiment - Computer generated

Ribbon - Meiflower

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

Thanks for calling in,

have a lovely weekend,

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

Can U hear me now

Phew, what a busy week I've had, been making Christmas card samples for Meiflower, mainly using her Crystal blossom sequins, diamante ribbon sliders and buttons, will be showing them over the next week or two. I still have a few wedding invitations to show and some Christmas samples for Crafty Devils using Papermania At Christmas and Tilly daydreams collections and some Hobby house toppers, just don't seem to be able to find the time to get them all blogged.

Today I have a card made using a Sassy Cheryl illustration, available from Paper Creator.

Image - Can U hear me now - Sassy Cheryl at Paper Creator

Papers and brackets - Chaos Digital scrap kit - Crazy 4 Monograms

Ribbon, buttons and cord - Meiflower

Thanks for stopping by,

have a lovely weekend,

hugs,

Colette xx