More Christmas and a challenge...

Hey,

Hope you all had a great weekend and if you were celebrating Thanksgiving, I hope you had a wonderful time with your family and friends..I most certainly did.

Do you remember the Snazzymoose I created a few weeks ago?

Well here are 2 cards I made with some of the remaining moose...

I used Papermania wooden frames and mounted them onto Lawn Fawn card blanks, then added my Snazzymoose. Simple.

I couldn't stamp onto the blue card, so used a peel-off. 

Here is a red version - 

I love the simplicity of these and I thought they would make a great entry into the PDE Linky Party challenge -

Happy Monday to you all.

Cx

Playing in the craft room...

Hey,

So recently I've been doing all kinds of playing, making random cards for my personal use.

I thought I'd show you a few of them.

The main photo is a fun birthday card for a guy - I used new-ish Neat and Tangled block stamps, a Crafty Cuts Happy die, a SSS stitched rectangle die and some inks. I die cut Happy out of white card stock and blended some distress inks to get the mottled colours.
It turned out well and I made a few more in different colours.

The card above I made purely to show a non-crafty friend what would happen when I used the new scalloped ovals and the stitched oval dies - both by MFT.

I thought they would work well with one of my latest freebie stamps - the birdcage. When I opened the package a bunch of patterned papers fell out - sweet! I based all the colours around the busy floral paper and kept it as clean as possible.

LOVE the new oval dies.

My final card uses my new Simon Says Stamp Lila's Heart stamps and dies. Aren't they gorgeous! I coloured the girl and the hearts using Promarkers. I stamped the different heart stamps in various colours onto the white background paper. One of the hearts was die cut and mounted for a bit more dimension.The sentiment is also by SSS and is from the Square Sayings set.

Fun cards - they use my stash really well and are already winging their way to new homes..

Cx

Happy Birthday Florence!

Hey,

So our Niece Florence is 2 today - she was born shortly after we arrived in NYC.

Sadly that means we don't know her as well as our Nephew, but we are getting there..

I bought the new Baby Party Animals stamps and dies from Simon Says Stamp with no real plan..

Then I realised I hadn't made a card for Florence...I think it's perfect for her and popping out some of the items really works (thanks Jenn)

I smudged the happy birthday to you stamp..but she's 2 and it's handmade..

Happy Birthday Florence..

Cx

Yes Flamingos Can Fly...

Hey,

Hope you had a good weekend.

Hubby and I had a very relaxing weekend.
I also got a happy craft surprise, because I got a Cut Above mention for my entry to last week's challenge over at Paper Players. How cool is that!

I saw the Simon Says Wednesday Challenge this week - Things that Fly..I knew I had to enter, as I have a love affair with things that fly - birds. planes, etc but on the flip side, they scare me a bit :)

I decided to use a Pink Petticoat Flamingo, as I think most people don't realise that they can and do fly, but at night and for up to 300 miles without stopping - awesome right?

So I coloured the Flamingo using Promarkers and fussy cut him out.

I had the background on my desk already - made a few weeks ago using a Clear Scraps spiral stencil and Wendy Vecchi textured embossing paste.

To add a bit of sparkle, I got out the stencil and laid it over the embossing paste, using a super fine brush I added some metallic glitter paint over the embossing paste. It worked out well and my ancient pot of paint is still going strong!

I put the card together, but really couldn't find a sentiment that worked..finally I stumbled across some Birthday peel-offs and a light bulb went off in my head!

I'm pretty pleased with my card..despite the epic hunt for a sentiment :)

Cx

60th Birthday Pop-up card...

Hey,

I thought today I'd show you the card I made JT's Momma for her 60th birthday last month.

Since moving to the US, The Nixon Seniors have been amazing to Hubby and I.

Last year for my 40th birthday they surprised me with a wonderfully hideous cake, champagne and a gorgeous backgammon set. I really wanted to make Momma Nixon a special card.

I used a mixture of 2 card templates. The papers are by American Crafts and the sentiment is a peel-off.

Here's a side view, so you can see the papers on the sides.

I really love making these pop-up cards.

Cx

Moving Along With The Times..To Someone Special..

Hey!

Its time for a new challenge with Team B over at Moving Along With The Times.

This week our hostess Shell is asking us to make a card 'To Someone Special'.

I really struggled with this theme for some reason?! Then a lightbulb went off and I made the beauty you see here for my Aunt.

My Aunt Connie aka AC, is totally crazy, cool and adorable. I often send her my challenge makes, as they can be a bit unusual and she seems to love them.

So this little card is just for her, for Christmas. I used an ancient Woodware wreath peel-off and then decorated it using bling, pearls and Stickles glitter glues in gold, red and turquoise.

The sentiment was from another set of peel-offs and the leaves are from the wreath sheet.

I had forgotten how much I love the wreath peel-offs. Isn't it great to rediscover parts of your stash!

Come and play along with us over at MAWTT and check out the fabulous creations by the other Team B ladies.

Cx

See it...want it...

Hi,

Recently I was having a nose around Amber's blog - Damask Love. I really like her work and she has taught me a lot!

She used these lovely Dahlia dies by SSS

I decided I had to have them and ordered them, they turned up on Saturday morning, so I settled down to play..

I followed Amber's post and made the main photo and these cards.

I love them and working with Gelatos is such fun. The delicate die is a bit fiddly, but worth the effort. I also used my Xyron here, for getting adhesive onto the back of the delicate Dahlia..making them much easier to stick down.

Cx

Cards for men...

Hi,

YAY!! It's Friday...this week has been HARD!!

I am most excited as JT and I are doing another Skype playdate tomorrow - whoop whoop..it's gonna be epic!

I am also pleased to see that this is my 96th post of the year!! I am on target for my goal of 200 posts this year..there is no reason for that number, other than I want to achieve it. It will mean that for the 2nd year running I have taken this blogging thing seriously and that makes me super proud.

I often struggle to make cards for men, however when making for my work colleagues it all just seems to flow..

I am the 'resident' card maker at work. We are a small company that are growing, so it is nice for people to receive a handmade card with their name on, it retains our family feel. I love making these cards, as I get to experiment a bit.

The main card is for one of the AM's - his birthday is Monday and as you can see he is going to be 30 - hence the retro tech paper - from Graphic Stock. Unfortunately when I stamped the sentiment originally, it smudged, so you can see a bit of a crafty repair!

This card is for one of our board members who is a numbers guy..I made a different card for him originally, but I didn't love it, so cut the sentiment and his name off of the original and started again. Much happier with this one - the number washi tape felt like a nice touch.

As you can see I have been obsessed with blue bling whilst making these :)

Happy Friday everyone and have a great weekend.

Cx

Moving Along With The Times....White on White Christmas

Hi,

It's time for Team B over at Moving Along with the Times and we are hosted by Hazel who has chosen a theme of  - White on White Christmas.

I think I've cheated slightly with a bit of silver, but I tried for all white and my stash wouldn't co-operate :)

I have had the angel peel-off for ages and never had the perfect opportunity to use it. The snowflake folder by Sizzix is a fave of mine and I love it in white. I added a bit of white ribbon because it all looked a bit flat when I laid it out!

It's quite a grown-up Christmas card for me!

I hope you are planning on joining in the fun this week - but first pop along to MAWTT and check out the other gorgeous white creations by the team.

Sad day for me, as I had to say goodbye to Lemon this morning :(

Cx

Freestyling butterflies..

Hi,

I am very happy it is Friday, it has been a hard week :(

To celebrate I am entering Card Concept #7 - Use a Butterfly theme -

I decided to give 'Freestyle Collage' another go - once again I hope I have interpreted it right, because I have only attempted this a couple of times..

The main photo today is my entry - I know I always say how pleased I am with things, but this little beauty really put a smile on my face!

I used the colours of the butterfly in the inspiration photo as my starting point. I decided to use a hexagon Silhouette file I have and because I wanted the hexagons that sit inside the frame to be different colours I cut 3 of the hexagon file - meaning I have 2 to play with another day - YAY!

I rooted through almost all of my paper searching for the right backing paper, the piece I have finally settled on is by Studio Calico. The butterfly was trial and error - I tried different sizes before settling on what you see now and they were cut with a xCut die. I added bling and a peel-off sentiment.

Here's an angled view for a better look at the butterflies.

Angled view

I love it - it's fun, it's bold and it's a bit different - freestyle I hope :)

Happy Friday everyone.

Cx

I love dress forms..

Hi,

I really do love dress forms and I will be eternally grateful to my Hubby for purchasing me a 'real' one as my Christmas gift.

I needed to make a quick card for a friend and decided to use a fave stamp by Kaisercraft, it is the main photo today. I'm sorry that my photo is blurry, as this card is gorgeous!

I used a sparkly black paper and a text paper scrap for the background, the ribbon around the stamp was a gift from JT. I added a bow that I felt matched the text paper - also from JT. The decorative photo corners were created with my new EK Success punch - $4 on sale on Saturday!!
I have already delivered the cardand my friend is very happy.

Making this card sparked a few ideas for a gift for a friend and so I whipped out the Silhouette and cut some dress forms. I decided to go a bit wild and use some things together that I wouldn't ordinarily.

The next 3 cards are lots of fun and I think my friend will love them.

1. Silhouette cut dress form

1. I really love this card, all the patterns are such fun and work really well together. The background is my Heidi Swapp chevron stamp, the lattice paper was from JT, the pink and black strips are washi tape. The sentiment is one I found on the floor near my recycling bin!! I added lots of little bits of bling for a bit of sparkle

2. Stenciled dress form

2. I decided I wanted to use the negative part of the Silhouette cut out and stencil it onto a card. I stamped the Kaisercraft graphic stamp and then stenciled the dress form partly over it, so it would show through. I love using the Silhouette negatives as stencils..very cost effective! I added washi tape, bling and a sentiment. You can see I used the photo corners...again!! I really like this card, it's a bit off the wall for me!

3. Negative cut dress form

3. As I was all about dress forms last night I thought I would enter Fusion Challenge #7 - 

I settled on the photo inspiration because I already had the negative piece from the Silhouette cut and the colour worked well. I dug out a piece of fancy script paper for the background and added a little black tab for the sentiment (which is a peel-off). I finally opened my pack of black blingy gems and used a WHOLE strip of them :) I decided to add a bit of bling to the black tab, as the sentiment was floating a bit. 

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

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

Stencil tree fun..

So Atlantic City was BIG FUN...

The fun has continued as when I returned I saw the CAS-ual Friday challenge this week...

CFC122: Show us your Clean And Simple projects that feature a tree or trees.

Perfecto! I have been itching to use my new(ish) tree stencil by Crafters Workshop, but haven't had the right opportunity.

As you can see my main card today features it...

I am getting better at working with stencils (aka more ink on the paper than on me and the desk) I used Walnut Stain Distress ink to stencil with.

The sentiment border was made using Recollections papers from Michaels, pearls from AC Moore and the sentiment is an old one from my stash.

I added little touches of glitter glue for a little shimmer (shimmer mists are next on my 'techniques' to learn list).

I've decided this card will be going to JT's sister.

Cx

Big and Small..

Hey there...

Well its back to work today after a lovely 4 day break for Thanksgiving...big thanks to JT and the Nixon family for being so warm and welcoming to Hubby and I...we ate like Kings.

JT and I did some serious craft shopping and played our usual $20 challenge..so to celebrate my massive haul (which I will show later in the week) I thought I'd use some of the items to enter Color Throwdown #270

I blew a bulb in the craft room so my photo is not great :(

My ingredients are -
Gumball green - the ink I used to stamp. The stamp is by Tim Holz and part of a set that I have wanted for ages, they were part of my haul...the little rectangle to the right of the image says 'Birthday'
Silver - the Happy peel-off
Crumb Cake - is the backing paper and is by Studio Calico and is also new!
The white is obvious :)

I like the addition of the bling at the bottom and the top left-hand corner, I also like the contrast between the Happy Birthday words, I like this technique of splitting phrases. Overall I think it's a little bit odd, but I'm happy with it.

Have a happy Monday.

Cx

Blingy Christmas..

Hi,

Well it was snowing a bit this morning here in NYC! Which is cool and worrying all at once....

I worked late night, wolfed down a BBQ dinner with the Hubby and raced home to make something...making things relieves the pain of a bad day :)

I love embossing, so the current CAS-ual Friday challenge was perfect for me...

I also wanted to make a fancy card for my Grandma...as I am not convinced that our contemporary ones are right for her..

I think this card has the right CAS balance, I love the Sixxix snowflake embossing folder and the flowers are actually a font (dingbats) that work in my Silhouette Portrait - clever eh?

The glittery sentiment Peel-offs, I have had forever and have been doing that 'saving for best' thing...really got to stop that...soon I won't be able to use anything in the craft room!

I hope Grandma likes her card - the rich burgundy colour of the flowers and the label remind me of her.

Cx

Free stuff...

Hi, 

Hope you all had a good weekend. I had a nice peaceful one.

I love it when I get free craft goodies and the image on today's card was a free download from an old craft magazine that I decided to re-visit a couple of weeks ago. I was delighted to discover the downloads had not expired and got a whole set of digi stamps with a summer theme.

I had a friend in mind when I made this card, so I used colours that remind me of her. The background paper is by American Crafts and I coloured the stamp using Promarkers. The sentiment is a coloured peel-off.

A happy, cheery card to start the week.

Cx

Steampunk with a bit of burlesque...

To be fair, I don't really understand Steampunk, but I do love the Steampunk Burlesque stamps by KennyK and so when JT alerted me to the fact that the KennyK challenge for the next fortnight (#152) was Steampunk...I felt it would be rude not to enter.

JT has already made her entry, which I love and she's a bit meh! about it, I love it the colours and the use of Jettpack Jayne.

The main photo today is of my card and the image is Helga Frost by KennyK, I think she is a bit Vampiric, so coloured her skin tone in Ivory - way paler than I would normally use, but she now looks very icy - love it.

I matched all the colours of her outfit to the cog paper (which was a freebie and is the last piece of it). Great to have such a broad range of Promarkers to work with, means I can match colours on the stamsps to the papers I am using. I felt it was lacking something and so added the pinstripe Candi's here and there for a bit of interest.

I am not normally a fan of gold peel-offs, but I think they work well here. I added some glitter glue here and there - here are some close-ups so you can see the detail better.

Helga Frost detail

Glitter and Candi detail

I am SO over the moon with my card, it came out even better than I had visualised and it is rare for me to be so happy with a challenge card.

Because of this I decided that I would enter it into another the I love Promarkers challenge too, which also happens to be Steampunk.

Hooray!

Cx

Happy Birthday Hubby

As you can gather from the title of my post it is Hubby's birthday today...

We have been having fun celebrating his birthday, starting with an amazing dinner at Tommy Lasagna, which does 8 types of Lasagna and as Hubby can eat Lasagna like Garfield he loved it..

The main card is his card and I believe it's an uber glam version of me - LOL..well not really it's Mae West by Kenny K and I just coloured her to match my skin tone and hair (if I had any..) I really like the blue and black Zebra paper, I think it makes it feel quite edgy.. It says Happy Birthday Baby, because I always call him baby..soppy I know :)

We are going to have a nice relaxing brunch today and I have a stack of cards from the UK for him and the odd gift or two.

Hope you all have a lovely Sunday too.

Cx

Dressform fun..

Hello!

Hope you all had a great weekend.

Hubby is home and we had a great weekend.

I decided to have a play with dressform that has been sitting on my desk and made these cards last week.

The main photo is for my new friend Layla it's her birthday today. I finally found a use for the random heart peel-offs that come with the Happy Birthday peel-offs, I never know what to do with these! The heart scallop border was made using the new American Crafts Knockouts punch that was also on my desk last WOYWW. The pretty paper butterflies are from Michael's and are part of their 2 for $3 range.

The next card is for a friend that sent me my fave Salad Cream from the UK.

Dressform Thank You

Because the dressform is so detailed I wanted to use elements that complimented it and didn't make the card too fussy. I also liked the idea of using Butterflies with the dressform and it seems to have worked well.

I don't usually stamp directly onto a card blank, but I thought the white card would be a great canvas for the stamp and it was nice to try something different.

I'll be playing with the dressform more, so watch this space..

Cx