Fairy Freebie

Another card made today this time for the Butterfly Challenge. I've used a stencil which was free with Papercraft Essentials along with a stamp set. I decided to use some Sparkle Medium but didn't want a plain background. I reached for my papers but then noticed the card that the stencil and stamps came on and thought it would be perfect. The sentiment is Sparkle Medium again but through a Dreamweaver stencil. I was going to add some card candi but decided to use the sparkle through a corner of the stencil on the white card

Winter Scene

I do hope you've all had a lovely Christmas and are enjoying your boxing day. I had a lovely Christmas Day, very relaxed and quiet with OH doing the cooking and me sat in front of the fire doing my new jigsaw. We didn't need the fire as it's still warm here but as it's likely to be our last Christmas with an open fire, we lit it anyway

We were going to go for a walk today but it was quite miserable so we had another quiet day indoors so I got some time in my craft room. I made a card for the Hobby Art challenge which is themes Winter - can't believe that I've started on my cards for next year!. I've based it on a card I made back in 2010 although I have changed it a little.

Hobby Art Winter Scene-its stamp set
Hobby Art Animal Fun stamp set
Spellbniders Nestablities
Nellie Snellen Deer die
Stampin Up Word Window punch
Cuttlebug Swiss Dots folder

The Three Wise Men

It's our last challenge of the year at Cardz 4 Galz and to celebrate the season our theme is Christmas This is a card I've made for some friends (thanks for the picture Pam) in different colour ways  - I just love this sentiment by Woodware. A very simple card so great for batch making

Our new challenge at Cardz 4 Guyz is Traditional Christmas Colours. I'm sad to say it's another last for me as I'll be leaving the design team at the end of this challenge

I've made another center swing card using a Hunkydory topper and card adding die cut embellishments

We'd love to see what you come up with for this challenge but please make sure your creation is suitable for a male

Christmas Animals

Our new challenge at Cuttlebug Mania is Christmas Animals and it's the last one before our Christmas break. In fact it's my last card for the Cuttlebug Mania design team. We're moving abroad next autumn and have a lot of work to do on the house before we go so I'll need to concentrate on that in the new year

Back to the challenge and I've made a center swing card with a Hunkydory set matted onto a scalloped Nestability. The deer dies are by Nellie Snellen and the snowflakes by Marianne Design

Vintage Christmas

Our new theme at Cardz 4 Galz is Vintage Christmas. I've used a cute set by Hunkydory called Festive Doorstep. A few snowflakes cut with a Marianne Design die from red mirror card and a ribbon to finish

Ooops - I must remember to press publish when I schedule a post!

This is a card I made for a friend at Slimming World whose Birthday it was this week. I followed this layout from Sketch Saturday 

And as I used Penny Black's Fluffy, I'm also entering it into the Penny Black Die Cut/Punches challenge

I even put a little Freddo inside too

It's the first of the month so we have a new challenge for you at Sparkles Christmas Challenge and I'm sad to say that it's my last card as a member of the design team. I've got such a lot going on next year that I've decided to step down from the design teams I'm on and concentrate on what needs to be done. I'll still be making card, just not to any timescales

Our challenge this month is Die Cuts and of course Christmas and our sponsor this month is

And here is my card

Memory Box Country Landscape but I can't remember the makes of the deer and snowflake dies

CAS Christmas at Cardz 4 Guyz

Our new challenge at Cardz 4 Guyz is CAS Christmas. I think Christmas is a great theme for CAS cards because of the snow element so for my card I've used Peter The Polar Bear by Hobby Art

A very quick and easy card but great for a male

"Q" Is For Quadruple

The current theme at The Butterfly Challenge is Q is for Quadruple. For my card I've used a layout of a card I did at a workshop with Jenny Mayes of Hobby Art quite a while ago. It was at the Worthing craft show which sadly finished a few years ago as although not quite local for me it was always a great show. I've moved things round a little but it is basically the same layout and it works so well for so many images. Apart from the main card everything is snippets so I'll be showing it in Pixie's Snippets Playground

As usual, the glittering on the flowers and butterflies is very hard to capture

Build a Snowman And a Quiz for You

OK, this is quite a long post for me but bear with me and there could be a prize at the end of it for someone

When I saw the challenge at Freshly Brewed Designs. I remembers a page I'd bookmarked a couple of years ago - remember when we used to bookmark pages rather than Pin them? THIS is the page that I got the idea from and there are a couple more I'll be trying too

This is quite a simple card so I can't believe it's taken me three days to make it. I knew what embossing folder I wanted to use but could I find it? Of course not. It took the whole of Wednesday afternoon to find it but my folders are now nicely organised. Thursday, I cut all the pieces out of snippets and went to emboss the blue card when the cat came into the craft room demanding food. He's not one to be ignored so I took him downstairs, fed him and went straight back to my craft room to find the embossing folder had disappeared! I know I'm not a tidy crafter (I often think about entering at What's on Your Workdesk? Wednesday but it's more like what's not on mine) but that was ridiculous. I went back downstairs assuming I'd left it on the side while feeding the cat but no sign of it there either. Back in the craft room I thought if I got on with the rest of it, the embossing folder would appear from it's hiding place. I glittered the edges of the circle with a hologram embossing powder and stuck the face on. I was quite please with his face but then realised that I'd stuck it to the un-embossed side . I managed to cut the nose off and turned it over to start again. Sticking the pieces on again, he looked quite grumpy so I added a couple more dots - now he just looks gormless but I'm not doing it again. Still no sign of the embossing folder so I put all the bits in a bag and got on with the handbag charm in my previous post (I couldn't find my jewellery tools for that either but that's another story)

By the time I found the embossing folder I needed some food and as OH is away, cooking was down to me so I left it until today to finish. I got the bag out, embossed the blue card and set about putting it together. Blow me down with a feather - there was only one arm! I couldn't find the same colour snippet so had to cut another two.  Finally the finished card

Well, if any of my followers have made it through all that and would like to guess where I found the embossing folder, I'll put a little prize together for the first person to get it right in the comments

I'm also entering this into the following challenges:

Pixie's Snippets Workshop - Snippets
The Sisterhood Of Crafters - In The Meadow We Will Build A Snowman
Colour Throwdown - Chocolate Brown, Orange and Blue

Handbag Charm

The Hobby Art challenge this month is to use your favourite stamp. I've cheated and used three sets - Forest Friends, Owls and Ornate Owls - to make a handbag charm. I've stamped the owls onto shrink plastic and coloured with Promarkers before shrinking. Some leaf beads and crystal beads were added to finish

I'm also entering this into the following challenges:

Crafty Girls Creations - Anything Goes

Paper Sweeties - colour challenge 

Fashion Chic

Our theme this week at Cardz 4 Galz is Fashion Chic. I'm still clearing out my stash and came across these embellishments that I made at least 7 years old. They're peel offs put on acetate and then glued and glittered from the back.

A quick and easy card but I may have another go at this when my peel offs come to light!

I'm also entering this into the Sunsational Stamps challenge which is to use glitter. They're also offering a free digi to use so I'm going to try and find time to enter again

Fun In The Snow

Time for a new challenge at Cardz 4 Guyz and this week out theme is Fun In The Snow. I was going through my wooden stamps to see which ones I could part with and came across this one called Sleigh Bear by Hobby Art. Of course it's staying in my collection so I've inked it up and cut it out and I added a touch of colour with Promarkers.. I was going to add some glitter to the bears but decided to use glitter card for the base and snowflakes instead. The glitter card is really smooth and non shed from the Works and is far more sparkly in real life.

Embossing At Cuttlebug Mania

Our new challenge at Cuttlebug Mania is Embossing and our sponsor this time is

FABRIKA FANTASY

We were lucky enough to be given a digi image to use and I chose Happy Mouse. There are some really sweet and cute image so why not pop over and have a look

For my card I've used this layout from Friday Sketch Challenge

And here is my card

Die-namics Stitched Rectangles

Embosilicious Floral embossing folder

Favourite Christmas Colour Combo

Our new challenge at Cardz 4 Galz is Favourite Christmas Colour Combo. I must admit that I have cheated here as my true favourite would be blue but I do like something different for Christmas so I've chosen pink and white. The snowflakes and letters are cut from some new Xcut adhesive glitter card and it cuts really well

Spellbinders Happy Days die set
Xcut snowflakes dies
Xcut Headliner die

Trains, Planes and Automobiles at Cardz 4 Guyz

Our new challenge at Cardz 4 Guyz is Trains, Planes and Automobiles. I've based my card on this layout from CAS(E) this Sketch

The car and sentiment are from Taylored Expressions Wheely Great set. The splatter is from Stampin Up's Gorgeous Grunge set

There's lots of scope for this challenge so we'd love to see what you come up with

CArdz 4 Galz - Girly Bears

Our new challenge at Cardz 4 Galz is Girly Bears. I've used this layout from Sketch Saturday

 The bear and backing papers are from a Me To You Ultimate kit called Especially for you (the flower looks green in the picture but is actually turquoise)

More Than One Fold at Cardz 4 Guyz

Our new challenge at Cardz 4 Guyz  is More Than One Fold. I've done a 4 step card and cheated by using the Sizzix Happy Days die set. I know you can make this shape easily enough without the die but I'm dangerous with a craft knife so treated myself to this set. The backing paper is from a pad I got in Lidl some time ago

Dies:
Sizzix Happy Days
X Cut Headliner Alphabet
X Cut New Baby Icons

Many Thanks at Cuttlebug Mania

Our new challenge at Cuttlebug Mania is Many Thanks and our sponsor this time is

Crafty Sentiments Designs

I've based my card on this layout from CAS(E) This Sketch

I always forget that this Thanks die stays in the card but I think it works well. I've used Ken Oliver Colour Bursts to colour the tag butterfly and letters and sprayed the tag with some shimmer mist

Crafty Individuals Butterfly die
Memory Box Thanks die
Tag die free with a magazine
Embossalicious Chevron folder

I'm also entering this into the following challenges:

The Butterfly Challenge - Z is for Zig Zags

Less Is More - Fire Colour Challenge 

Pixie's Snippets Playground  - the tag and butterfly are both cut from snippets
CAS on Sunday - Use a Tag

Okra Anyone?

When I first joined Slimming World, I tried quite a few new (to me) vegetables and one of them was okra. It didn't taste of much but it was something different. We had a stir fry at lunchtime and I remembered seeing somewhere about stamping with them so I kept the offcuts and I've just had a play. Oh my, such pretty little flowers and you can have a lot of different sizes from just one finger

I've used my Brilliance Rocket Red Gold ink pad. This is one of my all time favourites as it's such a rich colour with lots of shimmer and I've got a couple of them so I've used the oldest for this. The splatters are Sunflower Sparkle Perfect Pearls Mist

Difficult to capture in a photo but this shimmer is why I love this ink pad

If you do give this a go, I wouldn't recommend using your best ink pad. Okra has a slightly slimy inside and despite wiping it away, it still oozes a little. Also, for the better definition, it's best to remove any visible seeds although they can add detail to the petals

I'm entering this card into the following challenges:
Pixie's Snippets Playground - Okra snippets
CAS on Sunday - Use a Tag
Less Is More - Fire Colour Challenge

Teenager at Cardz 4 Galz

Time for a new challenge at Cardz 4 Galz and this week we want your project to be suitable for a teenage girl. I was lucky enough to win a Hunkydory set called Tots To Teens so I've used one of the sheets from that for my card. The balloons are from a die that was free with a magazine earlier this year

Get Well Soon at Cardz 4 Guyz

Our new challenge at Cardz 4 Guyz is Get Well Soon. I've used one of the shaving foam backgrounds I made at class a couple of weeks ago and cut the top with a die from Xcut Nautical Build a Scene set. The whale is from Stampin Up's Oh Whale set embossed with clear ink and raised with silicone The sentiment is from the same set

We'd love to see what you come up with for this challenge but please make your creation suitable for a male

Christmas Decoration at Sparkles Christmas Challenge

Our new challenge at Sparkles Christmas Challenge is Christmas Decorations and our sponsor this month is

DEEDEE'S DIGIS

For my card, I've used Deedee's Merry and Bright set and used the pre coloured version (you get both in the set as well as the sentiments) and this layout from Tuesday Morning Sketches

I've enlarged the lights to make the embellishments, embossing them with Crystal ep. I stamped the yellow one with the word Merry from Stampun Up's Tint Tags set and used the Crystal embossing powder on the lights on the image

Buttons & Bows at Cardz 4 Galz

Our theme this week at Cardz 4 Galz is Buttons & Bows so lots of scope there

I've used a Woodware stamp called Bubble Bloom Clarisssa. You may have realised that I love these stamps as there is so much you can do with them

We'd love to see what you come up with for this challenge

Numbers at Cardz 4 Guyz

Our new challenge at Cardz 4 Guyz is Numbers so I've made another calendar for hubby's study. I've used beer mats as the base and the papers and elements are from Docrafts Nature's Garden Ultimate pack. As I said on Sunday, I had great problems getting pictures of this and totally gave up trying to show the dimension on the elements

We'd love to see what you come up with for this challenge but please make your creation suitable for a male

Trees at Cuttlebug Mania

We've a new challenge for you at Cuttlebug Mania and this week the theme is TREES

                                                       
                                                       Our sponsor this week is:

One of the girls at my craft class said she'd pinched her husbands shaving brush after we'd used them for inking backgrounds - "he's welcome to the shaving foam" she said. So of course I told her she needed that as well and last week we had great fun making shaving foam backgrounds. I've made a couple of cards with them and this is one. The inks I used are a mixture of food colouring and some Pergamano inks.

Dies, Spellbinders Labels 8
Stamps, Hobby Art Wonderful Day, Autumn Scene-Its and Tractor

I'm also entering this into the Hobby Art Autumn challenge

N is for Numbers at The Butterfly Challenge

The new theme at The Butterfly Challenge is N is for Numbers. I don't have any special Birthdays or anniversaries coming up so I've made a hanging calendar for my craft room. I first made one of these several years ago at a crafty weekend with friends and I think it was one of the first times we used "shoebox" cards. Now I nearly gave up getting a picture of this and tried hanging it on the back of a door, in the window, on the floor - you name it, I tried it. I the end I went in the garden and hung it against the sheets drying on the line - we've had a beautiful day here in Sopley. I totally gave up trying to show the dimension on the decoupage and the sheen on the butterflies!

 The base is made of six squares cut from a cereal box and the papers and decoupage are from the Papermania Lucy Cromwell Ultimate pack. The small butterflies are from a Robert Adams die and the large one is a Marianne Designs die cut from pearlescent card