World's Best Dad...

Good morning again, dear Blogger friends! Hope you didn't have too hectic a weekend as Christmas fast approaches?! We had a lovely visit from my Mum, sister and nieces and it was nice to catch up and see the girls! I think I'm almost organised with pressies...well, I think I am, maybe I'd better check before Christmas Eve?!
Anyway, I have another paper creation to share with you today, this time with a male theme...

Card Recipe - 

Trimcraft Widflower 6x6 Paper Pad

Prima En Francais 6x6 Paper Pad

Globe postcard topper A Play on Words CD

For You and World's Best Dad sentiment A Play on Words CD

Die-namics Photo Corner die

Spellbinders Petite Ovals

Lemon Grosgrain ribbon

Green Pearls

I cut down the front of the card to create a shortfall and decoupaged the suitcase and globe for added dimension...

...All edges were inked with Vintage Photo DI and a touch of glitter to highlight the globe, sentiment and compass. A printed insert was added inside on cream paper to finish.

Have a magnificent Monday (I have a day of flower arranging and dress rehearsal for the kid's Nativity!) and I'll be back again soon with another card to share!

Hugs,

I'd like to enter my card as a second entry into Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge for the month of December!

Just calling to say...

Good morning, my lovelies!  I hope you're having a fabulous Friday...almost the weekend!

It's another Jen inspired creation today, this time taking inspiration from her card HERE..

Card Recipe - 

5 x 7 Card blank

Pink Gingham and Aqua Polka dot from Sewing Set and Pink Plaid and Green Swirl from Lamp Set, both from A Play on Words CD

Telephone .png mask over pink gingham shaded with Tea Rose, Watermelon and Pastel Beige Promarkers

Spellbinders Standard Circles & Scalloped Circle

XCut Labels dies

Distress Inks - Victorian Velvet, Stormy Sky & Peeled Paint

Stitching

Baker's Twine

Pearls

...I rediscovered this XCut die set after relegating it due to the coating being too thick in places on a couple of the dies and not getting a clean cut.  This ever so sweet cloud shape die was in the set and it found it's way onto the card (and maybe another one too!)  I thought it looked a bit like speech bubbles or thought clouds?!  I did a bit of hand stitching on this one and used my Zutter to punch the notebook type holes in the label.  The inside was finished with a printed insert.
Short and sweet for me today, I have a couple of card orders to fulfill and then it's housework! The clutter is taking over again! 
Crafty hugs,

 

I'd like to enter my card into the following challenges :

Creative Card Crew

#77 Anything Goes until 4th Jan

A Little Bit Crafty

Anything Goes...but NOT Christmas until 29th

Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge

Anything Goes until end of Dec

Crafting day!...

Good afternoon, dear Blogging buddies!  Today, I have thrown caution to the wind and sat at my crafty table ALL DAY, creating!  I needed a bit of time off from the festivities and was totally inspired by the uber talented Jen's cards from Deconstructing Jen - I am loving her style of cards at the minute and although I don't have a lot of dies like she has (I'd love to spend a day in her craft room!) I always find HUGE inspiration from her designs!  I have ended up with 6 cards...yes, that's right 6 and another one ready for a topper to go on!  So, I will have some crafty makes to share with you up to the big day - I will be scheduling them, so they may be short and sweet (I need to find a quicker way of posting as it takes me an age to upload pics, crop and write a blog post, so am going to try doing a card recipe rather than boring you all with the details!)

So for today's card, I have taken inspiration from THIS card that Jen made...

Card recipe -

5x7 Chocolate Brown card base

Orange gingham and green leaf paper from Lawn Mower Set

Red polka from BBQ Set, both A Play on Words CD

Kraft card for mat and layering

Marianne button flower and leaf die

Spellbinders Labels Eleven

Distress Inks - Rusty Hinge, Walnut Stain and Peeled Paint

Polka Dot Satin ribbon

Narrow brown Satin ribbon

Pearls

...I created the sentiment in PS and added a printed insert to finish.

Hope you're having a totally terrific Thursday and I'll be back tomorrow with some more craftiness!

Hugs,

I'd like to enter my card into the following challenges :

Sentimental Sundays 

#237 Anything Goes until 20th

Sister Act Challenge

Anything Goes until 8th Jan

Creative Fingers Challenge

Anything Goes closes today

Crafty Creations

Something to Die For until 23rd

Scribble and Scrap

Anything Goes until 20th

Has anyone found a brain?...

...Because I don't know where mine's at!?!  I HAD intended to post this on Sunday, to share the cards we made at our last workshop of the year, but with all good intentions, it is now Wednesday...it is Wednesday isn't it?!  I am trying to finish off ready for the big day next week, but seem to be finding myself coming backwards!  I've managed to post off cards that needed sending today, plus a number of Birthday cards for people who so inconsiderately have their Birthdays in December! (Only kidding, I love you al really!) I don't even know if I have bought all the presents I need and to be honest, don't know if I even care as I have now run out of money...oh, the joys of Christmas!  I am DETERMINED to be more oganised next year as I am not feeling very festive at all this year due to the fact that, despite knowing it is coming all year, I have once again left it until the month of December to start sorting things out!  I am making myself a promise for my New Year's resolution that I am going to hand make the majority of my presents next year and before December arrives too!  Here's hoping...

Anyway, enough of my Bah Humbugness, here's the cards we made on Saturday...

..The first was what I've seen called as a tissue box card - this is it folded down flat to go in an envelope...

...and popped up!  The base resembles a tissue box with the slit in the top, hence the name, I presume...

...We created a pocket on the back to add money or a gift wallet.  The Dr Seuss verse I found online and is supposed to be a touch of irony!...

...Our second card was made using heart dies to create Christmas trees...

...We created a front step card to give more dimension to the trees and added a sentiment cut with SB Labels Eleven.
So, there we are - better late than never?!  I hope you are getting on with your festive arrangements a little better than me and I hope that the Christmas spirit finds me soon....maybe a bottle of Rosé would help?  Oh, and if anyone finds a brain, can they please send it to me via any means possibe!
Big crafty hugs,

Embossed cards...

Good afternoon, dear Bloggers!  I'm popping in to share the cards that I made for the girls at our workshop.  I needed a simple design that wouldn't take long as even if a card only takes half an hour to make, times that by 9 and that's four and a half hours!!  After a bit of deliberation, I decided to go with embossed cards and a drybrush technique using white emulsion - we've done the technique a couple of times in class and it went down well, so I dug out my folders...

...I inked the card first with Bundled Sage and Dusty Concord, then embossed before dry brushing with white emulsion in a crosshatch motion to give it a soft, vintage feel and a slight fabric texture...

...I mounted the embossed panels onto gold card and adhered to the card bases which are just C6 ones then finished with some glitter and pearls. Et voila!...nine cards a waiting...hope the girls like them despite being a bit of a last minute thing!  (If any of you are reading this, then I hope you have a fantastic Christmas and look forward to seeing you all in the New Year!  Hugs, Lisa x)
I'll be back tomorrow to share the last workshop makes of 2014! Until then, have a great Saturday!
Crafty hugs,

Passion for Promarkers - Mega Christmas Challenge 2014...

 This card was chosen in the Top 3 at Inky Impressions, thanks a lot, ladies!

Well, it's that time of year again and this week sees the launch of our very special Mega Christmas challenge over at Passion for Promarkers, which runs for a whole month and ends on 6th January 2015!
Both design teams have thoroughly enjoyed creating for your inspiration and also visiting all your blogs to see the wonderful projects that you made, however it's time for us to take a little break to catch up on last minute gifts and cards.  To make up for the lack of challenges for this month, we have some fantastic prizes up for grabs!

Our theme for the Mega Christmas challenge is “bingo”.  You are welcome to make Christmas cards but as the challenge will still be running after the ‘BIG’ day you can of course make any type of creation as long as you use the bingo board.  As time is precious for our DT at this time of year we are limiting the number of entries you can make to just 3 for this month long challenge.  Please remember to be eligible for our prizes you must use your promarkers, flex markers, tria markers, metallic or aqua markers.
Here is the bingo board you must use for your creations (you can use any line horizontal, vertical or diagonal).  Please tell us which line you have used in your post:

So now for the exciting bit – the prizes!

Letraset are generously offering 4 lucky winners a 6 pack of promarkers (blending set)!

DigiStamp Boutique are generously offering one lucky winner a prize of a £10.00 voucher to spend in her store.

Bugaboo stamps are generously offering one lucky winner a $30.00 voucher to spend in their store.

Polkadoodles is offering one lucky winner 2 gorgeous digis called ‘Dollie Sleepyhead’ and ‘Dollie Trendsetter’.

Michele R Designs are offering one lucky winner a €10.00 voucher to spend in her store.

Little Claire Designs are offering one lucky winner a gorgeous stamp set called ‘changing birdhouse’.

A Day for Daisies is offering one lucky winner a $12.00 gift certificate to spend in their online store.

Crafty Sentiments Designs is offering one lucky winner 3 digis of their choice from their online store.

Both design teams will be sharing some inspiration with you but as it such a long challenge we will be posting the inspiration from Team 1 today and then in two week’s time we will be posting inspiration from Team 2. 

So here's my creation for the challenge...

...I decided to make a stepper card as I have not made one in AGES!  I used the snowman digi and papers from 12 Cards of Christmas and an embossed snowflake background, inking the edges with Distress Inks and matting onto coordinating cardstock...

...I added some silver spider's web, picot edge borders and Marianne snowflake die cuts with WOC mini roses in the centre.  The image was coloured with my Pro/Flexmarkers and cut using Spellbinders Labels Eleven (my fave die shape of the moment!)...

...I managed to fill 3 lines of the bingo board with my card Ribbon-Die Cut-Buttons, Ribbon-Free-Blooms and Die Cut-Free-Glitter, so it's nice and easy to play along!
I loook forward to seeing all your wonderful creations and hope that you all have a very Happy Christmas and fabulous New Year!

Just to re-cap the challenge will run until 6th January 2015 and you can enter a maximum of 3 times.  Unfortunately during the Mega Christmas challenge we will not be choosing a top 5 passionista but this will re-commence for the first challenge in 2015. Team 2 will be back on 23rd December to share their gorgeous selection of cards, so don’t forget to hop on over to the Passion for Promarkers blog for more wonderful inspiration.
I'd like to enter my card into the following challenges :

Natalie and Amy

Cute and Cuddly Christmasuntil 29th

Crafts4Eternity

Winter until 11th

Brown Sugar Challenge

Winter until 11th

A Gem of a Challenge

Anything Christmas until Jan 3rd

Inky Impressions

Snow ends today

Christmas stuff...

Good evening, my lovelies!  No...I have not fallen off the face of the earth again, I am just crazy busy making things for various Christmas fairs and trying to make a start on my own Christmas preparations...with little success to be honest!  I desparately need a day to blitz my house but can't find the time for that even!  I keep telling myself it's 'lived in', but often wonder by who, as surely 4 people can't make so much mess! (Who am I kidding, I can make enough mess on my own!)
So, I thought I'd pop in and share some of my crafty makes...




We've been having a bit of a craft night on a Tuesday evening, myself, MIL and our vicar (who is often comaperd to the vicar of Dibley and who, like me, has a passion for making things and has discovered the benefits of a hot glue gun!) The first thing I decorated was a willow wreath...

...then some wicker hearts (if anything stood still for more than a minute, it got a larch cone glued to it! Love them!)...

...We decorated little wooden birdhouses with pretty papers, gilding flakes and distress inks...

...Made some lovely wooden heart trees...

...I'd like a whole forest full of these!  Then I did some crochet hats and a scarf from wool scraps...

...It's also my youngest son's school fair tomorrow evening and I was asked to do a lucky dip for the children (no easy task, I can assure you!)  So I decorated chocolate bars for some of the prizes...

..and then, to top it off, my little man said he needed a teddy for the Name the teddy game he was holding.  I sat for 2 hours this morning, crocheting teddy a pretty winter hat and scarf...

...only to be told when little man came in from school, that he didn't need it anymore!?! He also imformed me that he was quite happy to give the teddy a home!  So, although absent, I am not idle!

Hope that all your Christmas preparations are going well and that you're enjoying the start of the festive season! Keep warm - it's fairly chilly out there tonight!
Hugs,

Passion for Promarkers - Bloomin' Marvellous!...

Good morning, my lovelies, on this cold and frosty Tuesday here in North Wales!  It's been a bit of a shock to the system (and my central heating) having this cold snap, but it's better than the wet stuff we've been having!
Anyway, today sees the start of another challenge over at Passion for Promarkers and this week it's my turn to sit in the hostess chair!  I have chosen a nice, easy theme of Bloomin' Marvellous, so I would like to see those flowers on your creations...this could be a floral image, die cuts flowers, shop bought flowers or even a flower border!  Just remember to be in with a chance to win this week's prize, you MUST use your Letraset products (i.e. promarkers, flex markers, aqua markers, tria markers, metallic markers or neon markers).
Speaking of prizes, this week we are being sponsored by the fabulous Polka doodles and Nikki is offering one lucky winner the chance to get their mits on the gorgeous digi called ‘Fredericka debutante’.

 ...Last week, I was lucky enough to win this gorgeous Wee Stamps Sarah digi from the uber talented Mariska of Sending you a Little Smile (thanks Mariska!)...if you haven't seen this lady's work, then hop over to her blog and take a peek.  Her colouring and 3D paper piecing is AMAZING and her finished projects are always just beautiful!..

...Of course, I coloured Sarah with my Pro/Flexmarkers and thoroughly enjoyed doing so too!  I decided to go with a traditional Christmas colour combo and found some papers in my stash to match...

...To go with the challenge theme, I made a pointsettia style flower using my daisy and round petal flower punch and added a couple of mini larch cones, some sweetheart blossoms and mini roses from WOC.  I used a MS clay corner and frame which I made in brown clay and dry brushed with white emulsion (I am loving this technique and it's great on embossing too!) The pretty glitter ribbon is the last of a piece that I had on my scraps tin, so I may just have to buy some more!
Well there you have it, my second Christmas card of the year! (apart from workshop ones!)  I am really pleased with how this little card came out, though it's another to add to the 'awaiting boxes' pile!
I hope you can find the time to join in with our challenge this week and look forward to visiting all of your blogs to see your wonderful creations!  Don't forget to hop on over to the Passion for Promarkers blog to see what my talented teamies have been up to!
Big crafty hugs,

 I'd like to enter my card into the following challenges :

MilkCoffee

Lots of Embellishments until 3rd Dec

Card Mania

Use a Digi until 28th

Crafty Catz

Winter Theme until 27th

Pennys Paper Crafty Challenge

Anything Goes finishes today

Craft Your Passion

Baby it's Cold Outside until 30th

Stop the Press...

...I've made a card!  I know?!  I seem to have misplaced my Mojo lately - well, for cardmaking anyway!  I have been busy crocheting hats, creating Christmas decorations and glueing larch cones onto everything in sight, to make items to sell at our Christmas fair in December but I have had no inclination to sit and make a card!  So, to remedy this, I printed off some papers and image from the sewing design set of A Play on Words (not that I have a favourite, of course!) and set about making...

..I pasted the sewing machine .png in my graphics program and layered the sewing machine emboss image over the top, to get this coloured emboss effect, which I really like.  I made some handmade flowers using my punches, including the small star flower shape which I got in my order from The Works - allsorts of items ended up in my basket as there was 25% off including the sweet little bobbin and the pretty buttons, plus a few paper pads (about 6 in all), a mixed ribbon pack and some Christmas gift fillers.  There's 30% off if you spend over £30 this weekend, so I'd better not visit their website!...

...I inked all the edges of the layers with Walnut Stain DI and added some salmon pink, wide, satin ribbon and look!...I even managed to finish the inside with coordinating papers and a panel for writing on!...

...Now all that's left to do is make a box for it to go in...darn bobbin!
Well, that's it from me - a flying visit today - Mum's coming any time for us to plan cards for our workshop next weekend and I need to clear a 6 inch square to work on my crafty table! Have a wonderful weekend and hopefully, the sun may make an appearance!
Big crafty hugs,

I'd like to enter my card into the following challenges :

Fab n Funky Challenges

Challenge #237 - It's Our Birthday until 18th

(HAPPY BIRTHDAY GUYS!)

Pile it On Challenge

#45 Special Occasion until tomorrow

Get Creative

#1 Anything Goes / optional stitching until 16th

Creative Moments

Anything goes / optional twist Celebration until 17th

Fan-tastic Tuesday

Anything Goes / twist Ribbon until 17th

Deep Ocean Challenge

#90 Handmade flowers until 16th