Masculine Monday

Good morning,

I thought this week I would share some of the cards I made last Sunday, I had another crafting madness day, or as my friend Ruth would say a Rubber Rapture day!

Today's card uses the Well Worn DSP, which is just fab for men's cards

I used the scallop circle die, and circles die, layering them over each other to cut out the centres. The background is also spritzed with chocolate chip to give texture, it's simple but great to show off all the different DSP in the collection.

Hope you'll pop back soon, xx

Concord Crush Aviary

Good morning,

I thought I would share another of the cards I made last Sunday before I start on today's craft marathon, I was asked to make several cards for the same person, I always find this more challenging, so here is the first of a series of cards I made for Maddy who turned 18 on Friday!

I started by making the background paper, I stamped the various birdcages in different directions using my stamp-a-ma-jig to get them placed correctly, them I used my spritzing tool to give some texture (if you click on the photo you should be able to see this better) I sponged the edges before mounting onto Concord Crush CS, I used a piece of retired DSP for the stripe in the middle called Lap of Luxury (I'm trying to use up some of my beloved retired stack of DSP's!) I added three cages with birds for my focal point, popping up the central cage on dimensionals, I love the little owl, he's so sweet!!

I couldn't help myself, when I cut out the sentiment I had to add a couple of birdies here to.

Pop back tomorrow for the next instalment of last weekends crafty day, xx

Simply Stampin' Colour Challenge

Good morning,

Its so cold outside today so I hope that you are snuggled up warm inside with some crafty project to fill the time. I have finished my Christmas cards now - phew! But I do still have a few presents to wrap. I like to make a few presents each Christmas, last year I made Chili Jam, and this year I've made sweet treats for a few friends, delicious Chocolate and pistachio fudge. So I decided I would use this weeks colours to make cute little gift bags for my fudge.

I thought these colours would be perfect to make little traditional Christmas pudding bags.

They just need to be filled with the yummy fudge, I hope my friends will like the bags and enjoy the sweet treats inside!

To make your own bag simply cut two circles from Chocolate chip CS and run then through the Big Shot with the Polka Dot embossing folder. Next cut two scallop circles from Vanilla CS using the Scallop circle die, glue these to the top of the Choc Chip circle and cut away the excess. I don't have a small circle punch so I used the centre circle from the medium Daisies die in Cherry Cobbler CS, you will need six of these. Lastly for the holly I cut four ovals in Wild Wasabi CS with my Oval punch, scored them in half and cut semi circles to give them a holly shape, glue these to the top of your scallop circle icing and you should have two puds!

If you'd like to give the Simply Stampin' challenge colours ago, click on the link and join us!

See you soon, xx

Viva La Throwdown

Good evening,

I really wanted to get another of this months Viva La Verve sketches done, the end of the month is fast approaching and I still have another to get finished before Thursday!

 I needed a great colour combo to go with it so headed over to Color Throwdown where they have a gorgeously girly one.



I have swapped the large tag for three small ones, and do you spy new product?? Yes the punch is a brand spanking new one, it's also great for threading ribbon threw!

Are you ready for Monday? Coz it's just around the corner, see you then. xx

Paper Players and Shabby Tearoom Challenge Card

Good evening all,

What a day, my cat is poorly again! This time he has a dental abscess, which means a very swollen lip, and a thoroughly fed up puss. The poor little man doesn't know what to do with himself. He's struggling to eat and drink, as a result he has no energy and coupled with a very high temperature his joints are sore so he can't jump or co-ordinate himself properly. So we have more antibiotics and painkillers, which he will also not be happy about.

Anyway back to happier things, I'm always on the look out for new challenge blogs and I found this one last week, it's called The Paper Players. This weeks challenge is a colour combo of triple pinks.

I was a little worried about this combo until I got the colours out of my stash, they look really pretty together, here is the very feminine card that I have come up with.

I am also entering this card into another new challenge I'm found called The Shabby Tea Room whose theme this week is polka dots, I love polka dots so I can see me entering this one more than once!

Hopefully the rest of the week will be less eventful than today, xx

Happy Birthday Mum!

Good Morning,

Today is my Mum's birthday! I really don't know what I'd do without her, she is my best friend, and I love her more than I could ever say. So I wanted to make her a birthday card using her favourite stamp set which she picked out of the mini catalogue, Nature Walk.

I think that she would make a great crafter, she is brilliant at drawing (although she'd never admit it) and has also enjoyed decorating and making things for her home. I'm hoping to get her to take the leap into the world of paper craft someday.

I had seen a gorgeous card using this set somewhere, but can't remember who's blog it was on. I always have my phone handy when I'm at the computer so I can take a quick picture of any cards that I'm inspired by.

So here is the card I've made for her,

I have used a few items here for the first time, including the stamp set, the card stock vellum, and the big buttons. I have used DSP from to different paper packs, the bottom half is from Greenhouse Gala, and the top is from Lap of Luxury. Stampin' up usually retire all the designer series paper packs with the launch of the new catalogue is if you've been hankering after one, time is running out.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend, xx

Anything But A Card

Good Evening,

I'm hoping that I can just sneak in this entry to the Simply Stampin' challenge this week before the deadline.

As you can see from the title this week we have been challenged to come up with anything but a card, this has been tough for me as on the whole I only make cards.

I decided to make a bag, an excuse to get my big shot working. I used the scallop circle die, to make the bag itself, and the Fun Flowers die to decorate it.

I'm really quite pleased with the result, not bad for my first try anyway!

I have used one of the very bright and funky patterned papers from the Greenhouse Gala DSP packs, and picked out one of the colours from the paper for my flower, finished off with a brights button.

I hope the ladies like it!! xx