I heart Squirrels....

Hello,

Well that has been a busy old week! Fortunately Friday is here - whoop!

Since moving to NYC, we have developed a big love for Squirrels..here in StuyTown they are very tame and everyone feeds them nuts!

You might remember a few weeks back I submitted a card to the Northridge Publishing Cards blog and got a little prize. Well I saw the latest 'challenge / submission' request and I couldn't resist.

The challenge is to make a card using wood veneer..

Excellent, as I have just recently acquired some sheets of wood veneer paper.

I got busy and the main photo you see today is my finished card. The Squirrel I bought with my last prize from entering, I cut the leaves with my Silhouette and the sentiment sticker is by Recollections @ Michaels. The paper is by Pebbles and from their Lakeside stack.

I am SO pleased with my card - it's so fun, hence why I am posting it today, as it's a fun make for a Friday.

Have a great weekend.

Cx

Moving Along With The Times - 4 things that begin with L

Hi,

It's time for Team B to showcase their talents :) and welcome you to another Moving Along with The Times challenge.

This week is 'Use 4 Things that being with L on your card' as chosen by Hazel.

This is a tricky one, so I thought I would be a teeny bit naughty and cheat a bit!

My 4 things are -
Lapin
Leaves
Lilac
Labels

Can you see my cheat :) 'Lapin' is the French word for Rabbit and I figured I could use my 'Lapin' as Hazel hasn't specified in what language the 'L' things need to be from :)

The Lapin and lilac leaves paper are by Pink Petticoat, the big label is one I had in my stash, but it was a horrible colour, so I used my Promarkers to colour it in Plum, which fits the colour scheme. Then I embossed it using a Sizzix fancy leaves folder. The smaller label is one I punched after printing the sentiment.

Normally my Hubby steers clear of my craft endeavors, but when I told him about the Lapin (Lapin is a private joke between us) he suggested that I cut it using my Silhouette and added googly eyes..

I was a bit blown away that he had an opinion and was surprised when it turned out that he was right!

Now its your turn to make an L focused card, but before you do, pop over to MAWTT and see how well the rest of Team B have interpreted this challenge.

Cx

WOYWW #247...tidy desk, busy mind..

Well here we are - Weds again and time for WOYWW..that wonderful time of the week, where we join Julia over at Stamping Ground and showcase our desks.

My desk is pretty tidy right now. It was a tip, but then I had a mad frenzy of activity on Monday night and did lots of stuff, so its all clear now...bar my mouse, a punch, roll of foam tape, box of charms and some finished cards in front of my Promarkers (I will take better photos to show you them later in the week).

My head is full of things for my trip home, in an attempt to calm myself down, I have been packing up a little travelling craft kit for my trip..I am curious to know what everyone else puts in their travelling kits, mine seems to be growing to the size of my craft space!

I recently bought some lovely grungy stamps by Bo Bunny, as I saw a Stampin' Up set I liked, but couldn't justify the expense..

I have made a couple of cards so far and I love them..here they are just for you WOYWWers.

Thank You Grunge

This one is based on a Pinterest idea that I LOVE and I even managed to use my new Heart Gems that came in the post from JT.

Happy Anniversary Grunge

Don't you just love new stamps :)

Cx

A big heart...

Hello!

I am still in no challenges mode, which is quite nice, as I am finishing off some things for my Ma, packing for the trip home and having a general play with my stash!

The main card today is an Anniversary card for my friends. It was actually going to be slightly different, but I stumbled across some of the Pink Petticoat sentiment ribbons and it became what you see today :)

I love the wood backing paper and the heart strip is glittery and part of my precious Hippie Chick papers by DCWV. The heart came from Paper Presentation here in NYC, they are normally extravagantly expensive, but they had a sale on a while back and I acquired these brown ones and some green ones.

I'm a bit disappointed with my photo - but I have a new lamp in the craft room and I am still adjusting to the light settings...

Have a good day.

Cx

Working birthday..

Hey,

It is nearly the weekend and Hubby and I are off to Atlantic City tomorrow - whoop whoop.

When I first started my new job I got asked to make a batch of birthday cards for my work colleagues. It was a bit of a tricky one for me, as I was asked to add names to all of them.

The main card is my fave - made for one of the AM's at work - Charity, she is a lot of fun and I have a great bar story about her...but this is for another time! Her card was made with chevron paper by recollections a gift from JT, one of my Silhouette pinwheels, peel-off Happy Birthday and name cut using the Silhouette, adding a little bit of bling above the 'I'

Here are the rest of the cards, I made 6 in total!

For Sharifa 

Sharifa - butterfly embossing folder by Darice, all card stock from my stash, butterfly from JT, name die-cut using the Silhouette, the Happy Birthday is a peel-off that I recoloured.

For Taylor

Taylor - green spotty backing paper and washi tape by Papermania, bow and name cut using my Silhouette, the Happy Birthday is a peel-off.

For Bill

Bill - sorry about the fuzzy photo..the backing paper is by American Crafts, a bit of bling and peel-offs for both the sentiment and the name.

For Terry

Terry - I used some newsprint paper, because Terry comes from a newsprint background, some blue bling, peel-offs for the Happy Birthday and the name cut using the Silhouette.

I left out one card...because I had to remake it because the first attempt was so hideous :)

Hope you like them! Have a good weekend, wish me good slots in NYC.

Cx

Balloon Dog...

Hello!

Where has this week gone?! Thursday already!

WOYWW was very enjoyable yesterday, so many cool desks out there...I wish I had time to visit all the entries.

Today's card is for my Godson, he is 12 so I wanted to make him a fun card..I think this nails it with the text..he might feel the balloon dog is a bit young...

The dog and the sentiments are from a set called..'Party Animal' by Lawn Fawn.

The backing paper is by Recollections and I die cut the star using an xCut die.

I punched 2 of the corners with a photo corner punch, as it looked a bit boring all squared off.

I'm going to have a further play with this stamp set and see what I come up with.

Cx

WOYWW #246 - winning booty!

Hello,

Yes it's already time for WOYWW..that special time of the week where we join our hostess Julia over at her blog Stamping Ground for the weekly global desk nose..

My desk this week is full of booty! You can also see my glasses, mouse and other bits and bobs.

I entered this card into a little challenge and won a $10 voucher, which I turned into $25 for DCWV Deals..and I bought of this fabulous stuff.

Lots of papers including lovely self-adhesive fabric paper (drool) and a box of recycled chipboard shapes and letters. JT is getting half the papers..

Here's a close-up of the shapes..love the skunk..I think I need a skunk stamp!

Chipboard Animals!

It's been a tough time for my family since the last WOYWW my Ma has been very sick for a couple of months, but following some developments over the weekend she is on the road to recovery. So now I am feeling a bit less stressed.

I think this little card in progress sums up how I feel right now.

Happy Hexagons

Next week is my last NYC WOYWW for a couple of weeks, as Hubby and I are heading home for 2 weeks. YAY!

Cx

A reminder..

Hi,

Hope you all had a good weekend.

I had a good one, busier than I would have liked, but I still managed to squeeze in sometime at my desk.

Recently I have been a bit challenge crazed :) This weekend I decided that I would have a challenge break and just have a little play.

I have a great subscription to Cards Magazine and there are always really amazing cards in the magazines. So I thought I'd choose a few and have a 'remake' session - changing them slightly, so they fit my kit!

The main card is my fave of the bunch.

I saw an idea in the January 2011 edition by Mandy Starner and I realised that I had a similar cloud paper and bird punch. Unfortunately I can't show you Mandy's card (or any of the other original ideas) because you can't copy the flash pages in the magazine.

I am pleased with my card and it is going in the post this week for a friend.

The next card is a bit out of the ordinary for me -

Collage style card

It is based on a idea that I saw in one of the magazines and frustratingly I can't find the magazine!! Hubby thinks its a bit busy and I agree, but I do like it..a lot!
I have a great set of dies by Marianne creatables, that has a label and all these cool little button dies. I die cut them in all different colours and along with some petals, butterflies (both from JT), hearts, Candi's and sequins I kind of threw it all together! I found the random foam bird buried deep in my embellishment box!

Detail close-up

I really love the simplicity of the next card, also from January 2011 by Gretchen McElveen - I always forget about this set of fancy shape dies by xCut..so it was nice to be reminded that I have them and to dig out my stapler! I also loved the fact that I got to use flowers and random strips of paper too!

Just a note...

There are a few more of these magazine remakes..
I'll post them later in the week, as they are still drying! It was really fun to make these cards and just have a play with my kit and remind myself of what I actually have :)

I didn't get a chance to do card challenge reveal with JT yet, so that will be coming later this week!

Cx

p.s - please note I have credited all the original card makers

Giving thanks..

Hello,

Today I am giving thanks for my Ma.

She's made it through a very rough time..remaining positive and smiling.

She rocks.

This card is for her and for everything she has ever done for me.

Cx

Fabulous friend...

I have a lot of fabulous friends, but this gorgeous card is for one in particular :)

I am feeling all pleased with myself, as I made this card for the Card Concept challenge this week -

Why am I so pleased..well I stepped WAY out of my comfort zone and had a go at 'Freestyle Collage'..now I am not entirely 100% sure if my card does fit the bill..I think it does and I love it whatever!

It was fun to work entirely in pink, I didn't realise how much pink stuff I had!

The base for my card was the recoloured Pink Petticoat image and from there I looked for things to complement it - the sparkly square, card base and doily are all by Papermania, the 3 hearts were punched using my fave Woodware punches. The pink flag, is actually a Vogue Weddings cake topper?! That I saw on sale in TJMaxx and thought one day they will be useful. For a final touch I glittered up the image and voila! Card.

Once again it was nice to step out of my comfort zone and do something a bit different. Not too different, just a bit.

Have a Happy Saturday, I am off to call my Ma, who is hopefully on the road to recovery following a couple of very difficult months.

Cx

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Hey!

It is actually Valentine's Day, after what feels like months of making Valentine's cards (I started early because of OWH) the big day is here.

Hubby and I usually give each other a card and that's it..every day is Valentine's Day in our house :)

To celebrate I am entering the Retro Sketches #101 challenge this week -

I am not a big fan of diagonal lines on cards..it makes me nervous..so using this sketch was me stepping out of my comfort zone..which I am all about in 2014!

I am pleased with the outcome and the card actually got sold at work on Monday, so somebody will be receiving it today, which is nice.

The heart paper is by Amy Tangerine and the red and green papers are from my stash. I went with a big heart at one end, as I thought it was more impactful and then added a little one right at the end for a bit of variety.

The sentiment is by Hero Arts.

More stepping out my comfort zone to follow methinks...

Have a Valentine's Day, even if you don't celebrate it, use it as an opportunity to be nice to everyone around you :) And have a great weekend.

Cx

Moving Along With The Times...Fantasy..

Hello,

It's snow time here in NYC (again..6th major storm this Winter)..

It is Team B's turn this week over at Moving Along With The Times and Vicky is our hostess this week, with a theme of Fantasy.

I have to admit I was a bit thrown by the theme, then when Vicky explained what she was thinking I knew exactly where to go...JT! Ha ha my craft buddy came to the rescue and suggested I look at KennyK stamps for inspiration.

So my card is probably not the usual Fantasy themed card, no fairies, just an awesome dragon and his fierce rider!!

The stamp is by KennyK and it is called Dragon Rider! I decided to colour it in Purple, as my Auntie Connie is a HUGE dragon fan and she loves the colour purple, so I thought that I could send the card to her afterwards.

The background paper is by Recollections and part of a huge block of multi-coloured animal prints that I got on sale.

The tricky part for me was thinking of an appropriate sentiment...you can feel my predicament right! Once again JT came to the rescue and I think it has worked well.

Pop over to MAWTT and check out the awesome creations by Team B and join in the fun.

Cx

WOYWW #245....aaaaaaaaaaaargh

Honestly!

Do you ever get the feeling that you have bitten off more than you can chew?!

Well before I get into that, let's talk about WOYWW shall we..WOYWW is where us crazy crafters link up via our wonderful hostess Julia's blog Stamping Ground..we nose at desks, make friends and share our brand of crazy. Join in why don't you!

My desk / craft space is mental right now...you can see my plastic box of Papermania paper flowers - there are 2 pink ones on my desk, a stack of digi stamps and papers and glitterglue left over from some stuff I have been making, a heart punch and some remnants from the heart punching, my new purple pencil, my glasses, zebra print scissors (by Fiskars), my mouse and a big stack of goodies that arrived from JT tonight with a VDay card from her - love JT, she rocks.

The ongoing quilt project (aka #wtfwasIthinking) is gathering pace, as I am now actually doing the quilting part and I HATE EVERY MINUTE OF IT!! Ha ha sorry to all you quilters out there but I am SO not cut out to be a quilter, such a shame, as it would seem I can make pretty quilts.

I am midway through making a top..it's simple, but I lost focus....

Top that I am working on

I have a million cards to finish kicking around all over the place and there are lots of yummy challenges I want to enter - aaaaaaaaaaaargh!

My new job is super busy and very rewarding, so now because I need a break when I get home, I am joining the cats and becoming a late night crafter..

Despite all the moaning I am rather happy right now!

Thrilled to be going home in 2 short weeks and (sorry Julia) I got a free room in AC, so Hubby and I are popping there for a quick weekend beforehand!

So thrilled that I made you lovely WOYWWers this beauty...a little Valentine's card from me to you

Valentine's Card for the WOYWW Posse

Big fat kisses to you all (see told you I was happy).

Cx

Drunk chicks..

Hey,

I keep seeing lovely cards on various blogs made using a sketch by Seize the Sketch. I keep missing the deadline, but this week it would seem the planets have aligned for me :)

Here is the sketch -

My card has been making me chuckle..the image is by From The Heart stamps and I discovered them because of the current "challenge" that JT set me.

The sentiment is by FTH as well and I recoloured it before printing it and the stamp out. I coloured the stamp using Promarkers and CHALK!! I suddenly remembered that I had a big box of chalks and as I wanted the glasses to be subtle I broke them out and used a pale grey chalk to highlight the glasses. SKILLZ!!

The papers are all by Recollections and the chevron paper was gifted to me by JT. I embossed a piece of the green paper using my fave Sizzix big dots folder and punched it with a Woodware circle scallop punch.

Throw on a Candi and my card is ready to go.

I will definitely be making more cards using this stamp.

Cx

Love is in the air...

Well it is nearly Valentine's Day!

The KennyK challenge for this fortnight is "Anything Goes + Love"

I wanted to have some fun and make a card that would work for both Valentine's and maybe an Anniversary.

I chose my fave KennyK stamp SexyCupid and coloured her to contrast with the backing paper - which is part of the All about Girls Stack by DCWV. I cut the frame using my Silhouette and punched some co-ordinating hearts with 2 different Woodware punches. I added little touches of glitterglue here and there.

The sentiment was white, but I coloured it pink to match, using the same Promarker as Cupid's dress - getting brave now!

I love it, it's all glittery and fun and love.

Cx

Hearts, hearts, hearts..

Hey,

Today I am entering the latest Fusion challenge (#3) -

I loved the photo inspiration and the sketch and thought this was a good opportunity to have a go at 'Fusion'

My card has come out really well and feels very CAS.

I used 2 different Woodware heart punches and an ekSuccess mini star punch. I decided to add stars, as all hearts wasn't cutting it for a change!

I love spotty papers and so decided to make the central heart a spotty one, I threw in a couple of hearts punched with star paper, just for variety.

I considered using a musical note stamp, but lots of people have already done that with this one and better than my attempt, so instead I used a stripey diagonal stamp by My Mind's Eye (Hello) which worked much better for me.

The sentiment is by Hero Arts and one of my faves.

This card is going into a little bundle with others for sale at work.

Cx

Happy Birthday JT!!

Hey,

Hope you are all having a good Saturday so far.

I thought I would enter a challenge and wish my good friend and Craft Buddy JT a very Happy Birthday!! I would imagine right now she is running around doing stuff, as she is having a party - waaah I want to be there.

The other evening I was trawling through my stamps and I came across a really pretty tree - part of the Birdsong collection by Papermania.

I don't know why, but I thought that Color Throwdown might have some colours to help me bring it to life!

Guess what? They did..the colour scheme this week #278 is perfect for the tree and for Valentine's Day cards.

I coloured the tree using Promarkers and used a mix of the Pistachio, Pink and Red to colour the flowers and the birds. I used the Crumb Cake for the tree itself.

Originally I just had the green strip of paper between the sentiment and the image, but it felt flat and then I saw a scrap of pink ribbon on my desk...throw in a Candi and voila! Perfect!

This little beauty is going on the pile for my work VDay card sale on Monday!

Have a superb weekend everyone.

Cx

Over the edge..

Hey,

So I do love to make cards that have things hanging over the edge..so when I saw the current CAS-ual Friday challenge #127 was Over The Edge..I knew it was for me :)

I tried to convince JT to play along, but she is not a fan of over the edge!

I am currently all about using stamps that I have had for a while and either not used or not been brave enough to use!

For this card I decided to try out the washi tape style stamp by My Minds Eye..It is part of a set that I bought when I first moved to NYC and I haven't used the set at all!

I thought it would be fun to step out of my comfort zone and focus my stamping in one corner.

I'm a bit impressed with the end result! It's so simple, but so effective.

Then I punched a label using my fave ekSuccess punch and the sentiment is by Technique Tuesday, all the inks I used are by Studio G - I love their inks, cheap and good. It did take me a while to figure out where to position the label.

Once my card was finished I felt like it was missing something, so added the little stamped circles and some bling - complete!

I feel like I should dig out all my 'border / strip' style stamps and make a million different versions of this..

Have a great weekend everyone and Happy Birthday for tomorrow JT.

Cx

Punching..

Hey,

I have a subscription to Cards Magazine. It is produced by Northridge Publishing and I love the cards that they publish..some of my fave bloggers get featured, which makes me feel all warm and fuzzy on their behalf!

I recently noticed that they run a  Cards challenge on their blog.

The current challenge is "Cards with Punched Shapes" - given my ENORMOUS collection of punches, I figured that this would be fun for me to enter.

Because of the amount of punches I have, I was a bit unsure where to start..I rummaged through my punch drawers and came up with the idea of using all circles.

I wanted to step out of my comfort zone a bit and so punched the backing paper - I used Woodware circular punches for the big and medium circles, the tiny ones were made using an EK Success single hole punch. It looked nice with the cardstock showing through, but I wanted to co-ordinate more and so added some of the stripey paper behind the circles.

The big blue circle was embossed using a Tim Holz distressed circles folder and then I added some twine and a tag - which I made using a punch (see I told you I had lots of punches).

I'm pleased with the final card and think that it will be great for a guy.

Cx

WOYWW #244...Hello Beautiful!

Hey there,

Happy WOYWW from Snowy NYC...meh! So OVER snow..

Don't know what WOYWW is? Well pop on over to Stamping Ground and join our wonderful hostess Julia for the weekly global desk nose.

So what can you see on my desk this week...well that LARGE thing of beauty is my shiny new TechBaby, an All-in-One computer - no need for a tower, it has all the gubbins neatly inside and its a touchscreen - YUMS. It is a congratulations on your new job present from me to me :) As a nice twist / treat you can see me taking the photo in the screen!
You can also see a big bag of hearts (Valentine's cards), glasses, pens, tweezers, there are various (hidden) cards in progress, some DT makes and some for challenges, my notebook is there - I keep all craft related notes in there, I love a notebook. My notepad is on my desk too, along with a letter from my Grandma.

Obviously my desk had to be re-arranged to fit in the new tech baby, so a few things have been relocated around the room..but the Promarker storage remains!

Finally before I go off to have a nose, here is a photo of a card I made over the weekend for my Brother in Law..he loves a pun! The camera and the wording - except Birthday - were cut with the Silhouette.

Snappy!

Have a great day everyone, stay warm.

Cx

100 Sketches later..

A big congratulations to the Retro Sketches team for reaching their 100th Sketch birthday!

I love their sketches, so hope they keep up the good work.

I am entering the 100th challenge this week. The sketch is a good one.

I had an idea in mind..but I tried that and it looked hideous :)

The main photo is my 2nd attempt, which I am much happier with.

Ingredients - 

Backing paper - Amy Tangerine Yes Please for American Crafts

Washi Tape - Travel theme by 3M

Corrugated card - DCWV

Card Candi - Craftwork Cards

Sentiment - Pink Petticoat

Punches - Tag and Circle by Woodware

Bakers Twine from my stash

I cut down the tag, as it was a bit fat for how I wanted it to look here. I love Corrugated card..I always want to touch it.

Overall a very pleasing make and a sketch I will be using again.

Cx 

Craft Buddy Challenge..

Hey there, hope you had a great weekend and enjoyed the SuperBowl! I certainly did as my beloved Seahawks finally won a Superbowl...GO HAWKS!!!

A couple of weeks ago, JT and I set each other a challenge. She sent me a sketch and a colour palette -

 

Very me, very workable.

My lightbulb moment came on a Weds (nearly 2 weeks ago) whilst working from home in the midst of an epic snowstorm. I glanced across my desk and spied my shiny new pinwheels and then realised that the paper they were made with, would be perfect for the challenge colours..

The main photo is my take on the sketch..slightly bending the rules, but as this is 2 friends playing together, I figure JT's gonna let it slide.

I think I bent the rules, as there is only one embellishment and the Teal colour of the flower and the sentiment are not really the Cyan of the provided colour palette.

Whatevs :) I love it, it's so big and bold and slightly cray cray and I think I know who it should go to!

JT and I did the grand reveal yesterday during a fun Skype call..she made 3 cards!! I loved her take on my sketch / colour combo and she liked mine too. Although we are both agreed that mine will have to be hand delivered to someone as posting it will bankrupt me :)

We are setting another 2 week challenge tomorrow - can't wait!

Cx