Stars and back...

Hey,

Well it snowed a LOT last night here in NYC. So it's SNOWDAY..meaning I get lots of bonus time at my craft desk..here's a photo of StuyTown for you.

StuyTown in the snow

I had a lot of fun in the latter half of 2013 entering challenges every week. It helps me focus and means I get to make things that I might not otherwise attempt.

I am continuing with the challenge fun with this entry to Mojo Monday #326.

I went with the square version, I find round cards a bit problematic...

My ingredients were -
Chevron and star papers by Studio Calico
Black and green papers by Co-re dinations
Sentiment stamp by Lawn Fawn
Mini star and heart punches by EK Success

I love stars and I was very pleased to find the Lucky Stars set by Lawn Fawn just before Christmas..I have managed to use it quite a bit and even managed to make some OWH cards with it before the deadline.

I think my card has a very masculine feel..I might have to keep it for Hubby...

Cx

Just for you...

Hi,

As it has been a snowy weekend (well mainly Saturday) here in NYC..I have been indoors playing with my stash.

Color Throwdown has been calling my name since Wednesday..the colours are very me!

I decided that I would use a new stencil (by Crafters Workshop) and make something for my Ma..hence the Just for you sentiment!

It's actually not a card it's a big 8x8 thing!!! I didn't want to send Ma another card. She has this little area in her TV / dining room where she keeps pretty things and I thought this might work in a frame or something.

I experimented with the stencil a bit because I didn't have a colour that matched Certainly Celery in my ink pads. So I used a Promarker (Frosted Leaf) and coloured some of the leaves before using Dusty Concord and Broken China Distress inks for the rest of the stencil. The end result has made me very happy!

I think my colour matching is pretty obvious this week, but just incase..
Baja Breeze - backing paper (by Co're-dinations), punched sentiment (by Pink Petticoat) and Broken China ink
Certainly Celery - leaves on stenciled image (Promarker Frosted Leaf)
Whisper White - backing paper (by Co're-dinations) and ribbon
Orchid Opulence - paper strip (by Co're-dinations) and Dusty Concord ink
Smoky Slate - backing paper - that I stenciled on to and the ribbon

I am excited to pop this in the post to Ma..but for now I am going to put my feet up for an hour or two and watch some NFL..Go Seahawks!!

Cx

Merging the challenges...

Hey there, so before I head to Atlantic City, I thought I'd enter the Color Throwdown and Freshly Made Sketches challenges this week.

I thought the colours would work really well with the sketch.

Given that am I deep into Valentine's right now (for OWH), the colours really felt like 'love' to me - hence my spin on it. I also thought it would be fun to not make something Christmassy, as that seems to be all I am doing right now :)

Ingredients are -
Regal Rose - card by Paper Cellar and punched heart using a Woodware punch
Black - punched heart using a Woodware punch
Riding Hood Red (& White) - spotty card stock, stamped sentiment by Craftwork Cards using Reddy Steady Go ink by Hobbycraft
Pear Pizzaz - border using Co're dinations cardstock

I think this card is fun...do you like how my sentiment matches the dotty paper! I did have another layout ready, but once I chose my stamp I had to make a new card :)

Wish me luck in Atlantic City..see you on Tues.

Cx

Colourful mistake....

Hey there, hope you had a good weekend..

Hubby and I laid low, as it is COLD here in NYC, but it meant that I got to finish off my Christmas cards and nearly finish the advent calendar I am making our Niece.

In amongst everything else I had enough time to make something for ONE challenge and I love the Color Throwdown (#269) palette this week, I chose CDT as my challenge this weekend.

My main photo is my second attempt at this card..I had made what I felt was the perfect card for the challenge - then I had a stamp malfunction...

I had to cover the stamp mess-up (you can just see it poking out from underneath the label) with a punched label and a peel-off..meh! I am going to use the card, it's too pretty to waste :)

I am very happy with my final card, it was fun to make as I dug out a favourite American Crafts teacup stamp. I coloured it using Promarkers in Pear Green, Warm Grey 3 and Dusty Pink, which I think are a match for Pear Pizzazz, Soft Suede and Dusty Durango. I used peach and vanilla Co're-dinations papers.

The sentiment is by Hero Arts and I think it works really well here, I stamped it using a soft grey Studio G ink. The final touch is a Candi (as usual).

Cx

Spring Birthday!

I've been inspired by my work colleague Katie to make a whole series of pretty spring birthday cards.

You got a sneak preview of what I've been up to on WOYWW 188. I dedicated some of my lazy weekend to finishing these cards off.

Today's main photo is of the first spring card I made, that was shown on my desk earlier in the week. This is my favourite of the 9 cards I made.

I really like working with the Pink Petticoat papers and my trusty HP printer and good quality ink-jet card from Rymans really did a great job. The Autumn Blossoms and Pear papers are my favourites :)

I get the feeling this is going to be a long post, so I'll start out telling you what I used to make these cards, there are elements of some or all of these items on each card.

I used the following items:
- American Crafts coloured twine
- Pink Petticoat digital papers (papers are from various collections including the new colour palette update, autumn blossoms and little big dots). I also used tiny everyday sentiments also from Pink Petticoat.
- Papermania Vintage Notes buttons and big bloomers. Also used and by Papermania are the Capsule Collection big bloomers
- The plain paper flowers are all from random craft stores
- Core'dinations coloured core stock, from various collections
- Woodware tag punch
- I used A6 card blanks, double-sided foam tape, UHU (yep, I might have mastered it...) and a mini-dot permanent glue roller.

Here are the rest of the photos -

Orange & Walnut - Butterflies & Flower

Blue Hydrangeas & Flower

Pink & Blue - Spotty Circles & Stripy Flower

Green & Orange - Big Dots & Stripy Flower

Green & Yellow - Pears & Damask Flower

Apricot & Green - Green spots, Apricot Wild Roses & stripy flower.

Pink & Grey - Pink Wild Roses and Grey & Pink Flower

Baby Blue & Turquoise - blue checks, turquoise and baby blue flowers

I am so pleased with these cards, can't wait to get them to Katie and get some up on the website..

I also spent the weekend watching bball and NFL games and making Valentine's Day cards, which I'll be showing you soon.

Cx