Just For You

Tis the season for amour and I love making valentine cards because I am a really soppy and romantic person.

This card is made from a lovely freebie paper pack that came from the latest issue of Simply Cards & Papercraft. It's all tweety birds and love hearts and in bright funky colours so suits me down to the ground.

I used the latest sketch at Inspirational Card Sketches for the layout. The backing paper is a red on red swirly design. The wavy heart strip was cut from another piece of the paper. The white card was embossed using the Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folder. I edged it with a black inkpad and distressed the edges with scissors. This is a technique that I have seen many people do but haven't had a go at myself. I like the fluffy edges it gave to the piece and can see me doing this again.

The central image is also from the free papers. I stuck it onto card to make it stronger so I could mount it on 3D foam. The little hearts are some great dimensional stickers I got from Paperchase on Saturday. I got oodles of really funky hearts for a £1. Last but not least the sentiment was added from the same paper pack.

I have incorporated the following challenges into this card :-

• Inspirational Card Sketches #49 - Layout of Card
• 365 Cards Day 280 - Put red & white stripes somewhere on your card (heart embellishment)
• Creative Card Crew #42 - Distressing
• Corrosive Challenge #46 - Distressing
• Creative Inspirations #43 - Use something New received in the New Year
• Flourishes - Feel the Love
• Get Creative With Ann GCA #73 - Love Is In The Air
• ABC Challenge - L is for Layering

My First Inchie

OMG, you would not believe how many times I took this photo without it blurring ! I even scanned it in but as there is a lot of gold it just din't look right at all.

Thanks to my very good friend Sarn I have made my tiniest work of art to day, and inchie (hence the ruler in the photo to prove how tiny it is!!) I thought a 3" x 3" card for a 365 Cards challenge was small, well this was titchy !

I've been able to fit 3 challenges into this little beauty and if I can find one from last week I can make that 4, they are.....

• Chocoholics Friday Challenge on our Cardmaking forum
• Stampin' B's Challenge #15 - Include a butterfly (2nd entry)
• Get Creative With Ann GCA #49 - Include something that flies (4th entry)

So, lets start with the deets. The base of the inchie is a piece of brown cardstock. The next layer is white cardstock, the next layer a piece of Craftwork Cards paper which I trimmed with zig zag scissors, the red spotty paper is HOTP. The butterfly is a metallic holographic sticker from a big sheet of assorted sizes, fortunately some were tiny :) Last but not least I wrote a B in the corner for butterfly. This could signify I may make an alphabet version and do one for each letter..... or it could be that I was trying to be a bit arty LOL

All the little scraps were on my desk so now I'm going to be looking at EVERY scrap and thinking I can make something with it now. I want to have a go at a Twinchie next as I think it will be a lot easier to work on the bigger size.

Watch this space...

365 Cards Day 140

It's the last day today for Shortcuts sponsoring 365 Cards. I've managed to make the whole week and I've made another acetate card. I've really enjoyed using it this week and I think I will try to incorporate it into more cards. It's been great to use a material that I wouldn't normally and it makes you think about placement of adhesive more to cover it up on the inside.

I have incorporated the following challenges into this card :-

• 365 Cards Day 140 - use Paint on your card (Twinkling H20's on image)
• CPS Sketch 124 - Layour of card
• Cupcake Craft Challenge 48 - Blossoms & Butterflies (2nd card)
• Stampin' B's Challenge #15 - Include a butterfly in your project
• Get Creative with Ann GCA #49 - Include something that flies (3rd card)
• Allsorts #10 - Only use 1 piece of anything

The card blank is the rest of the card that I cut down earlier in the week with the last of the same sheet of acetate. I added a strip of patterned paper from Craftwork Cards. The stamped image was from a swap we did on the forum and it is coloured in with Twinkling H20's. I love these little pots of paint as the shimmer is so very pretty. If you enlarge the picture you can see it especially on the butterflies and the Penny Black hedgehog. This was matted onto red card and the corners were trimmed off with my ever faithful punch.

The little frame has been in my stash forever, I think it's a HOTP one and the rose sticker I think came from Poundland on a massive sheet of assorted flowers and butterflies.

I've managed to complete a full week at 365 cards. That's 7 entries into the Shortcuts competition..... yippeee !!! Good job it's Sunday to Saturday as I will be out all day tomorrow and won't be able to make a card for Sketchy Sunday. Hopefully I can catch up during the week.

Not sure how my cardmaking will fare next week as I start my new job on Monday. It may take me a few days to settle into a routine but I really hope I can fit at least one card a day in.

365 Cards Day 136

Hello Tweeties !!

First I would just like to thank all the people who have given me such good wishes for my interviews tomorrow. It really is a boost after the sheer amount of things we've had thrown our way recently. If you all keep your fingers crossed maybe, just maybe I might get a job offer tomorrow. I mean, I haven't bought anything crafty since the end of March. A girl's got needs you know !

Seriously though, thank you very, very much, it means a lot to me to get such support from you, my crafty friends. Big hugs and kisses to each and every one of you xxx

What's Black and White and red allover?

My cutie little card that's what! That was today's challenge at 365 cards and I have incorporated the following challenges into this card :-

• 365 Cards Day 136 - Colours of Red, Black & White
• 2 Sketches 4 You - Laura's Sketch #30 for the layout
• My Time to Craft #69 - A bird in the hand
• Crafty Creations #23 - Birds
• Get Creative With Ann #49 - Spread your wings and fly

The black and white paper is from Clare Curd's 'The Big One' from Papermania, the red spotty is a very old one from HOTP. It came in the very 1st pack of anything I bought from the USA on Ebay in about 2003 !!!

The black scalloped strip on the side was handcut using a Fiskars shapecutter template. I had no chance doing it THAT neatly with the shapecutter so drew it with a pencil and used my trust small pair of Fiskars scissors. I sandwiched it between the card blank and the paper. I used my Martha Stewart punch on the HOTP paper and there is a velvet ribbon in the centre to add some luscious texture. The birdy is a digital freebie that I have used loads and loads and there is a link in one of my earlier posts. I matted this on a cardstock circle and used my nesties to cut a scalloped one. This is edged with a bit of black inkpad and mounted on 3d foam pads. Last but not least the sentiment was made on the computer, matted on black card and raised with foam.

365 Cards Day 135, GCA 49, TPE 23, CCC 48 & Paper Blooms, ABC

I've had a pretty good day today. It started off with me applying for jobs on the tinterweb and I've managed to get 2 interviews for Wednesday afternoon. One is for a job that I would really like so I'm keeping my fingers crossed on that one. he doctor is really pleased with my BP and I don't have to see him now for 2 months and I've managed to keep up with the 365 Cards challenges this week, that's much better than of late.

After all the rotten luck we have had lately it would be nice to see the tide turning for a bit.

• So this little beauty was made primarily for today's challenge at 365 Cards and incorportate the following challenges :-

• 365 Cards Day 135 - Create a window on your card using see through material
• Get Creative with Ann #49 - Spread your wings & fly
• The Pink Elephant#23 - Red, Light Blue and a darker blue
• Cupcake Craft Challenges #48 - Blossoms & butterflies
• Paper Blooms - make a shaped card
• ABC Challenge - W is for Window

The base card was cut using a free flower template that I got off the Inspire Me website. I cut a window from it to fit the size of the message die cut (can't remember where that came from but thik it may have been a QVC kit) I used my Nestabilities to cut a frame, an acetate window and another frame to sandwich it inside. The card base has been covered with a spotty paper from Clare Curds 'The Big One' from Papermania.

I added a tiny gem to the inside of the card as the flower centre on the die cut. The butterflies are textured cardstock stickers by Papermania. There was a lot of handcutting on this card but I'm pleased with how it turned out. Sorry for the shadows on the photo, I had to take it very late tonight and need to go beddy bies now.

365, GCA, Creative Card Crew, DCM & Created By Hand

This card is so bright and sunny echoing the weather we have been having in Birmingham up until the last few days.

The main sun image is a free colouring book page by a childrens artist called Elizabeth O. Dulemba. There are some fab designs on there which would be useful to many cardmakers. I love the piggy, he's sooo cute :) and there is a great elephant on there too.

When I saw this sun I thought it would look great layered in different colours and I think it has worked really well. I printed it 4 times and cut the relevent layers out of each colour. All the sun papers are from HOTP. The textured card base is DCWV and the spotty paper is The English Paper Company. I was trying to add a sentiment but it just didn't look balanced so I decided to leave it off.

The sun has been given a bit of a makeover with blue eyes, green eyeshadow, rosy red cheeks and a bit of red lippy. She's looking good !

This card fulfils 5 challenges, details as follows:-

365 Cards Day 100 - Make a card using the bright colours of red, orange, yello, green & blue

Get Creative With Ann # 44 - Theme of summertime or beach

Creative Card Crew # 13 - Make a card for a child. as this card is in primary colours I felt it would be bright and happy for a child. Also it is a childrens colouring book page.

Daring Card Makers - Weather themed card

Created By Hand - Create art using circles of any kind - the centre of the sun and the spotty paper.

365 Cards Day 98, GCA #43, Dutch Dare #51 & Flourishes

It's Pam's 11th wedding anniversary today, Day 98 over at 365 Cards, so the challenge we were set was to make an annivesary card where the predominant colour is white. This card has been made to fit in with 4 challenges in total, details below.

365 Cards Day 98 - Make an Anniversary card where the main colour is white

Get Creative with Ann Challenge #43 - Clean & Simple (limited layers and embellishments)

Dutch Dare # 51 - Decorate the inside of your card

Flourishes - Make a 10 minute card (I didn't include choosing the materials in that time)

The size of card is a 4" square. I picked a love quote from a DCWV rub on book and added this to a fake nestability mat which I have edged in blue pearlescent ink. The ribbon is a self adhesive one by Docrafts and the silver heart charm was added to a jump ring and came from a card set at Poundland.

The inside was decorated with an offcut of HOTP paper from the Sapphire cardmakers pack. I used my Martha Stewart border punch on it to pretty it up a bit. The tag is from the same kit, I punched the bottom edge, stuck on the last bit of ribbon and added a Craftwork Cards card candy for the 'brad'. Papermania silver peel offs provided the sentiment and the little hearts.

Well, that's me completed a full week's card challenges at 365 and now it off to bed as it is gone 1am in the UK. Night Night ZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzz :)

Edited 08/06 I have just found out that I won the challenge over at Get Creative with Ann for this card :) Look at the lovely goodies I have won! Thank you Ann