Commissioned Bookmark

Well, this was a first for me.  I was asked to make a substantial bookmark for a customer - ie not flimsy so it would be left going back with books to the library!!  I used a piece of A3 card and folded it in half and then cut it across about 10cm and that was the actual width of the bookmark and it folded over tent-fold over the top of the page.  The images are from the Card Creations Di Kaye Art Deco CD and I used various different images and as the recipient liked dogs I picked a few images with dogs on them.  The papers are all off-cuts from my scrap box.  The embellishments include sentiments from magazine freebies, brads, gems, Papermania glitterations, charm, papers flowers and of course a beloved tassel.

I am entering this bookmark into the following challenges:

Craft Your Days Away - Girly n glitter
Cupcake Craft - Books and stories
Spoon Full of Sugar - Animal
Fab n Funky - What 'eva
One Stop Craft - Fashion through the years
Crafts and Me - Gems and sparkle.

Sir Stampalot Challenge - September 2010

Over at the Sir Stampalot Challenge this month the topic is "distress it".  Do I need and excuse to get my paper distresser tool out???  I have used various tiny scraps of paper from my scrap box and distressed all the edges, hacking a bit more in places for extra texture, and all the pieces were then edged with a Midnight Black Versamagic ink pad to highlight the distressing.  The image is of a little bear called Squeak from the Daisy and Dandelion range and I have simply coloured him with a mixtures of Promarkers and Copics to give him some shading.  I have made the power flower using my Cricut and again distressed the edges a bit, scrumpled the layers up and edged with the same Midnight Black ink pad.  The card is simply finished off with a sentiment off the computer, gems and some fabric hearts.

This card also fits the following challenges:

Stamptacular - Distress it
Pear Tree Designs - Animals
Spoon Full of Sugar - Anything with an animal
Fab n Funky - What 'eva
Oldie but a Goodie - New beginnings and an old stamp - I would just like to wish the Oldie and Goodie Design Team success in their new challenge blog venture.

Crafty Ann's Challenge No 23

Another fortnight has come around and it's time for another Crafty Ann's Challenge Blog challenge.  The topic this fortnight is "monochromatic".  I decided to go out of my comfort zone and decided to go for shades of brown.  I used Crafty Ann's bird on a blossom perch and printed the image onto some of Crafty Ann's papers, Abstract 2 Earth Tones and then used a mixture of browns from the Abstract 2 Autumn Tones and Earth Tones for the backing mounts.  The bird I have decoupaged up three layers.  The branch I coloured in with Promarkers and highlighted a few areas Promarkers.  The card is finished off with some sticker strips, skelton leaves, card candy, ticket sentiment from Crafty Ann's, butterfly die-cut and some decorative ribbon trim.

This card fits the following challenges:

Lots to do - Butterflies and insects
Gingerloft Challenge - Anything goes
2 Sisters - Monochromatic
Crafty Catz - Paper Piecing
Stamping Vacation - Fountain of Youth
Stamping Vacation - Animal applause - anything with a beak
One Stop Craft - Photo inspiration
Cowgirl Sunday - Anything goes
Pile it On - Pile on the layers
Pear Tree Designs - Animals
Incy Wincy - Celebrate
Spoon Full of Sugar - Animal
Flourishes - Use ticket on card
Paperplay - Autumn is coming.

Pollycraft Challenge - 6/9/10

Over at the Pollycraft Challenge this week the topic is Christmas but no red or green - yikes!!!  It wasn't too bad in the end as I used up snippets of blue papers - light blue, mid blue and turquoise.  I used my Aurelia Joy digital image from Pollycraft as I think she looks so elegant out in cold.  I have coloured her in with Promarkers, torn around the image and then distressed the edges with a chalk ink pad as well as distressing the backing papers with blue and black chalk ink pads.  The card is simply finished off with various items cut on my Cricut including some snowflakes.

This card fits the following challenges:

Bah! Humbug - Xmas Carol or Song - I chose "Joy to the World"
Daring Cardmakers - Sapphire - I chose blue
Sweet Stampin' - Winter Wonderland
Gingerloft Challenge - Anything goes
Sarah Hurley - Snowflakes
Stamp, Scrap and Doodle - Christmas
Cowgirl Sunday - Anything goes
Simon Says Challenge - Holiday Fun.

An Old Windmill in Amsterdam

I had made this card for the Charisma Cardz challenge this week of a project inspired by a song - so I thought of this image and "an old windmill in Amsterdam" as the song - but guess what - I missed the deadline!!!  The card is made with lots of pieces of downloaded paper scraps I had in my bottom drawer, some of which I have torn and the others punched with my Martha Stewart lattice punch.  The flowers are made from an X-cut flower punch and a stamen punch with the centres put on 3D foam to add some dimension.  The image is so peaceful and is from the Digi Doodle Shop and I have coloured it in with Promarkers but coloured the sky and around the grass and also around the sentiment with my glitter chalks.  It adds a very subtle glimmer to the picture.

This card fits the following challenges:

Digi Doodle - Write me a message
Crafty Calendar - Blue and flowers
Paper Sundaes - Mixed mediums (Promarkers and glitter chalks for me)
Cowgirl Sunday - Anything goes
Totally Stampalicious - Paper flowers
Kaboodle Doodles - Photo inspiration
Everybody Art - Handmade flowers
Gingersnap Creations - Punches.

Joanna Sheen Card Swap - September 2010

The topic over at the Joanna Sheen Card Swap this month is "DIVA - shop 'til you drop - girly stuff - shopping - shoes - hats - bags etc".  Yikes!!!  For those that know me I don't do bags, shoes, buying clothes unless I am really really desperately in need of something and I still hate shopping for them so this topic was certainly a challenge for me.  I have used a The Creative Cottage digital download of backing papers, shoes, boots and handbags for the card and took it into My Craft Studio to align the pieces neatly for the front of the card and printed out some extra handbags to decoupage.  For the insert I made the topper less opacity and then inserted some free My Craft Studio shaped nesties to put the text onto.  The card is finished off with some fibres, pink handbag charm with ribbon tied through, a ticket sentiment and two of matching flowers, the top layer being scrunched up and then inked.

This card fits the following challenges:

Digi Doodle - Write me a message
Sew Many Cards - Grandparents day, Thank you or love
Totally Papercrafts - Charming
Gingerloft Challenge - Anything goes - here sees the start of another new challenge blog.  I wish you a lot of success and will try and take part as often as I can
Ooh-la-la Creations - Stripes
Created by Hand - Thanks
Flourishes - Use ticket on your project.

Commissioned Birthday Card

Here is another of the cards I was asked to make for one of my customers.  The remit was a 60th birthday card for someone into animals/gardening etc.  I have used my Joanna Sheen Jayne Netley Mayhew CD again for this one and yet again I have used the same image as I did for a commissioned card a while back.  It's quite intricate to cut out as the layers print out over 3 sheets of A4 card but it's well worth it in the end.  To mount the image I have used some blue mirri card, a matching backing paper to the image and a light blue and dark blue abstract paper from Crafty Ann's as this matches the colours so well.  The card is finished off with a verse, sentiment off the computer, a flower/pin spray made by my fair hands and some card candy.

This card fits the following challenges:

Pocket Full of Posies - Winged things
A Crafty Little Place - Anything goes
Penny's Paper - Birthday
Crafty Calendar - Blue and the option of flowers
Daring Cardmakers - Saphhire
Our Creative Corner - Letters or numbers on project
Crafty Emma - Floral frenzy
CD Sunday - Animals
Pile it On - Pile on the layers.

Glitterbabe Challenge - 2/9/10

Over at the Glitterbabe Challenge the topic this week is "free up a freebie and very sparkly".  Well I haven't been taking part in many challenges of late as I was getting ready for my charity stall but now that's finished and although I have a few commissioned cards to make, I thought I'd rebel and just do a challenge card.  I have used Stef's little baby chick - isn't he cute.  Shall I let you into a secret?  As Stef said the challenge had to be sparkly I've added some Sakura Stardust clear pen to his nappy so he's got a glittery nappy in a certain light!!!  A friend was given some cards/papers from a colleague and being a good friend she shared them with me.  I thought this arch shaped card would just do the trick for this chick.  For the centre of the card I used strips of paper I'd used for a commissioned card and made it into a lattice which was a requirement for another challenge (see below) and then backed it with some sparkly glitter paper.  The image I coloured in with promarkers.  I have embellished the card with an "it's a boy" sentiment from the Card Toonz CD by Andy Carolan, some fabric hearts and finally some small metal baby feet charms.  I won these in some candy last year and thought they'd go well on this baby card.

This card also fits the following challenges:

Crazy 4 Challenge - Use lattice on your project
One Stop Craft - How sentimental
Stampin' Sisters in Christ - Use metal on your project
Paper Players - Anything goes
Cupcake Craft - Let's go digital
Stamping Vacation - Occasion Oasis
Daisy Doodles - Anything goes
Cute Card Thursday - Material girl - fabric hearts
Stamp Something - Something cute
Papertake Weekly - Just the one - one image for me
A Crafty Little Place - Anything goes
Creative Cottage - Celebrations
Fab n Funky - Living in a material world (fabric hearts)
ABC Challenge - C is for charms
Totally Papercrafts - Charming
Dare U 2 Digi Stamp - Shaped card.

Sew Many Cards Challenge - Friday 27/8/10

Well I was determined to make a card for the Sew many Cards Challenge using one of my Sew Many images I have already got coloured in.  Their challenge this week is "happy birthday".  Tayla with her blanket I coloured in some while ago whilst experimenting with fur using the blender promarker pen.  I'm still not sure I like her fur but I decided to stick with her and give Jovi a well deserved rest (as Jovi is still my all time favourite!!!).  I have distressed the edges with Tim Holtz's Brushed Cordhuroy ink pad.  I have used various scraps of papers from the bit box along with a star, banner, arrow and ribbon sentiment from a magazine.  The card is then just simply finished with some peel-offs and card candy.

This card fits the following challenges:

Crafty Emma - Anything goes
Sweet Stampin' - Distressed birthdays
Cupcake Craft - Let's get digital
Daisy Doodles - Anything goes
Papertake weekly - Just the one - for me is just one image
A Crafty Little Place - Anything goes
Penny's Paper Challenge - Birthday.

Why I have been so quiet!!!!

I thought I'd better explain why I've been so quiet in the blogging world of late.  Yes, I've been away for a week recently to Rhyl but I also had a card stall at Knuston Hall yesterday so I had lots of things to make for this over the last few months.  I can't do a lot at once so it's been a little bit here-and-there.  I'm not sure for definite, but I think there might have been more visitors than last year to the Knuston Hall Open Day (they hold some wonderful talks and courses and include many wonderful tutors like Pauline Loweth who we get to see on Ideal World/Create and Craft with her wonderful parchment).  The weather was kind to us.  I sold £40.50 worth of cards and as per my norm 50% of all my sales go to charity so I gave £20.50 back to Knuston Hall to go towards the Help for Heroes charity.

Here are a few pictures of the stall:

There were many visitors to my stall yesterday which meant a lot and my cards, those of a family friend and also cards that have been donated to me for my charity work all went on the stall and sold.  Thankfully I do have some left as my regular monthly stall at a business complex starts again this Friday.  I had a special visitor to my stall yesterday.  Irene who I met via the internet lives nearby and came and paid a visit which meant more than words can say.

I would just like to say a personal thank you to those with websites and those in the blogging world/forums that donate items for me to use for my cardmaking, donate cards and those that give me "freebies" all your help has helped me to do this stall and will continue to help me in my charity work.  THANK YOU TO YOU ALL!!!!

Commissioned Birthday Card

A customer wanted a card for her grand-daughter and as we used the topic of Goth for her daughter's card to her niece the thinking cap had to come on.  In the end she said she liked football so as I had no images of girls playing football off I went to Crafts U Print and found this lovely bright and cheerful image by Gordon Fraser.  I didn't have any suitable backing paper so I made by own by using a little football See D's stamp and stamping with black Versafine onto pink card.  The card is simply finished off with some faux ribbon with stitching, some spotty ribbon, an insert, a sentiment off the computer, stamped the word "footie" which also came in the See D's stamp set and some gingham ribbon.

This card fits the following challenges:

Cute Card Thursday - Dieing for a punch
Pixie Dust - Stitch it up
Crafty Emma - Anything goes
One Stitch at a Time - Girlie or colour scheme or both
A Crafty Little Place - Anything goes.

Commissioned Birthday Card

A customer wanted a birthday card for her niece who is into Goth-style things.  Yikes that's something I know nothing about!!!  As I had nothing suitable off I trotted to Crafts U Print and found the image by the designer Mishara Armenia and I hope I have done the image justice.  I just backed the image onto pink and black card and then decoupaged the image up one layer.  I then went around the hearts with my Sakura Stardust clear pen.  The card is finished off with a sentiment off the computer, insert, fibres, fabric hearts and finally some gems.

This card fits the following challenges:

Crafty Emma - Anything goes
One Stitch at a Time - Girlie or Colour Scheme or Both
Craft Your Passion - Pink and black
A Crafty Little Place - Anything goes.

Commissioned Wedding Anniversary Card

A mother and daughter both wanted various cards for various people so here is the start of them.  The first one is for a wedding anniversary for the customer's brother and sister-in-law.  I've used all my suitable images I had so off I went to Crafts U Print and got this lovely image from the designer Sandie Burchell.  I loved the different style of the pyromage ie being oval and three in a row.  All the pieces I have edged with a dark moss chalk ink pad along with the main sheet.  The card is finished off with an organza ribbon, Joy Craft die-cut silver butterflies, sentiment off the computer and I used my My Craft Studio Tattered Lace CD to make the 8x8 insert to go inside along with using a Crafty Ann's Digi Shop backing paper.

This card fits the following challenges:

Flutter by Wednesday - Anything goes
Alphabet Challenge - R is for roses
Crafty Emma - Anything goes
Allsorts - park inspiration
A Crafty Place - Anything goes.

Commissioned 60th Birthday Card

I was asked by someone at work to make her friend a 60th birthday card with the following requirements:  bagpipes, camping, Scottish highlands and tennis but NO really girlie things like feathers etc.  Yikes!!!

To the rescue came an image I had coloured in for a Crafty Ann's Challenge some weeks ago - The Lazy Hazy Days of Summer.  I coloured the image in and then thought the water and stones looked too dark for a summer picture.  I had also added some heather (or plants like that) to add some detail between the grass but then wasn't sure it was around in the summer so I "saved" all that hard work and thought I might use it sometime.  Thankfully I had a second copy of the Papernation camping couple but no backing paper so I couldn't use that.  I used my Promarkers again to colour the image and chalk ink pads to distress the edges.  I added different tiny flower to this image and also put some in the pot in the caravan.

For the rest of the card I used some backing papers I downloaded from Cardmaking Downloads and I used them in conjunction with some Crafty Ann's Digi Shop digital papers.  I think they all worked well together.  The bagpipe image I got from Crafts U Print and is by the designer Gordon Fraser.  I decoupaged this image to get it more height.  The 60 today and flower on the front of the card was done with my Cricut machine.  I've read the instructions better this time and managed to do the shadowing of the numbers properly this time.  The overall card is finished off with a verse, flowers (lots and lots and lots of them), ribbon, Papermania glitterations  and a ticket sentiment from Crafty Ann's Digi Shop.

This card fits the following challenges:

Lili of the Valley - Dotty about circles
CRAFT - Milestone birthday
Meljen's Designs - Happy Birthday
Digi Doodles - So distressing
Sew many Challenges - Happy Birthday
Crafty Emma - Anything goes
Sweet Stampin' - Distressed birthdays
Allsorts - Park inspiration
Cupcake Craft - Let's go digital
Daisy Doodles - Anything goes
A Crafty Little Place - Anything goes
Stampin' for the Week-end - Anything goes.

Card for Monday's Stall

Here is another card I have put together for the stall on Monday.  The image is from a My Craft Studio CD but as I've printed out so many and mixed them all up when cutting them out, I am at a loss as to which CD it is from now.  I have used various pieces on the element sheet for the front of the card (main image, ribbon, backing paper) but the rest I have used on the inside and the back of the card so there is no waste whatsoever.  I have distressed the edges of the backing paper with a dark brown chalk ink pad whereas the topper mount and sentiment has been edged with a Copic.  The image and backing paper I have highlighted in various areas with Sakura clear Stardust pen.  I have made the flower with a Stamp I got earlier in the year in the Stamp Addicts sale - it's a bit fiddly to cut out but very effective.  The card is finished off with the sentiment off the computer, epoxy yellow dots and a bronze pearl.

This card fits the following challenges:

Craft Your Passion - Make your own flower
Ooh-la-la Creations - Elegant ladies
Fab n Funky - 3 papers, 2 embellishments and 1 image
Cute Card Thursday - Dieing for a punch
Crafty Emma Challenge - Anything goes
Allsorts - gain inspiration from a garden or park
Stamp, Scrap and Doodle - Get well or good luck
Stamping Vacation - Name that card - Even sugar doesn't have you beat when it comes to being sweet!!! - my interpretation is a lovely sweet cocktail!!

Jak Heath's Blog Candy

Jak Heath has some AMAZING blog candy up for grabs to celebrate over a million hits on her blog - yes I did type right a million!!!  That's a wonderful achievement but if you are a regular visitor to Jak's blog you'll see why.  She's also celebrating over 1000 followers.  Click here and go and have a look at her candy which ends on 3/9/10.

Dezinaworld Spot Prize

I have only just come across Dezina World's Spot Prize for a Thursday so I have entered a card I have made for the stall on Monday.  The topic this week is "black and white and a splash of colour".  It's using some black and white decoupage I bought from Joanna Sheen's website some time ago and is mounted onto silver (as my other splash of colour) and a mixture of papers I had to use up in my bits and bobs basket.  The card is simply finished off with a die-cut sentiment from Red Hot Bed and some card candy.

Crafty Ann's Challenge No 22 - Friday 27/8/10

Well another fortnight is up and it's time for another Crafty Ann's Challenge but the start of its new home on Blogger.  Click here to go and have a look.  The challenge this fortnight is the following sketch:

For my card I had printed off all the papers and took away on holiday but didn't manage to make and then noticed Crafty Ann had designed some gorgeous tartan papers so I had to change one paper for the blue/green tartan.  I have used two of the polished stone backing papers as well as one of the pre-coloured digital images.  The card is finished off with some shapes cut out with my Cricut and some card candy.

I shall look forward to seeing the creations everyone comes up with and please remember to go to the Crafty Ann's Challenge Blog new home.  See you there.

This card also fits the following challenges:

Stamping Vacation - Just Picture This  - what an amazing picture Denise has taken.  I have taken the colours as my inspiration
Totally Papercrafts - Keep it clean and simple
Christmas Stampin' - A non-Christmas card.

Card for Craft Stall

Hello everyone.  I have been away for a week to Rhyl in Wales and the area is fab.  The weather was kind to us most of the time which helped.  I took my cardmaking stuff away with me as I have a Card Stall on Bank Holiday Monday and need to get a bit more stock made up.  This is one card I have made using a My Craft Studio Walk in Wonderland image.  I have used some backing papers that I was given in a magazine which are pink and brown spots.  It's taken me a while to use them up but I have reluctantly done so now.  The lace I have pleated at the side which took me a while to do as it kept unfolding.  The card is finished off simply with a sentiment off the computer, a circle image off the My Craft Studio sheet and some gorgeous gems from America which it has taken me a while to open the packet and use!!!

This card fits the following challenges:

Craft Your Days Away - With wings
Karber's Challenge - Birthday
Ooh-la-la-Creations - Elegant ladies
Flourishes - Lace
Flutter by Wednesday - Anything goes
Lili of the Valley - Dotty about circles
Cute Card Thursday - Dieing for a punch
Charisma Cardz - Hot, hot, hot.