Happy Halloween👻

Happy Halloween! As you can see my two lads had fun carving pumpkins today.



It feels like forever since I posted but as I got a little inky for Halloween I thought I'd put my bits and pieces here.

First up is a card I made for my good friend Linda - thanks again Linda!



A couple of years ago she sent me some gorgeous Halloween papers that I hoarded until now. I used a Sizzix flip it die set which made it so quick and easy to make this type of card.



I used the sentiment from Lawn Fawn's Trick or Treat mini set. On the flip side of the sentiment piece I used the witch image from Hero Arts Ghostly Greetings set.



I again used Hero Arts Ghostly Greetings set for the little tag on this Halloween treat that I put together for my sister.



The trick or treaters here have finished for the night and we had a lots less callers compared to any other year. So we've got a mountain of treats left - I might just have to put the kettle on for a cuppa and have some chocolate treats with it.

Afternoon Tea Birthday Box Card

My sister and I put together an afternoon tea on our Mam's birthday. I just took a quick photo as we were starting to put everything out on the table, so lol it's definitely not artfully arranged for a photo, but it's the only photo I got of some of the spread before we started to eat! Anyway I thought it would be a nice idea to use the afternoon tea theme on the birthday girl's card.

Die - Docrafts Flower Doily (under the mini teacup and saucer candle)

A little while ago my friend Linda gave me a pretty die which was perfect for the card - thanks again, Linda! The die is Afternoon Tea by Joy Crafts which I've already enjoyed using over and over again. To make the box card base I used a die I bought recently, Lawn Fawn's Scalloped Box Card Pop-up die - love it! I made my first ever box card a few weeks ago using instructions I found online, but I have to say this die by Lawn Fawn means I can make box cards so quickly and easily.

Dies - Scalloped Box Card Pop-up (Lawn Fawn), Afternoon Tea (Joy Crafts) and Advent Drawer Deco (Tonic Studios)

The tea set was cut out from a scrap of patterned paper and the little hearts were cut from the tiny scraps I had left over using the hearts die from the same Lawn Fawn set.

To finish I cut out numbers from glittery gold card using Tonic Studio's Advent Drawer Deco die set.

I'm submitting this card into Simon Says Anything Goes Challenge.

Linda's Christmas Tree Challenge

The other day my friend Linda set a challenge to make a Christmas card with a tree on it. You'll find the challenge and Linda's gorgeous Christmas card with a tree here on her blog.

To start I embossed a panel of kraft card and after adhering it to the card base added baker's twine borders - just love using red and white baker's twine on Christmas cards! I wanted to use Lawn Fawn's super cute Trim the Tree set so after a little stamping, colouring and cutting had a decorated tree to add to the card. I've added stickles to the star and Glossy Accents to the lights but, unfortunately, with the overcast conditions here didn't manage to pick up the sparkle and shine in my photo.

Stamp set - Trim the Tree (Lawn Fawn)
Embossing Folder - Snowflakes (Cuttlebug)

While I had my supplies out I also made a matching gift tag.

Stamp set - Trim the Tree (Lawn Fawn)

I'm happy to have added two cards and tags to my stash for Christmas and since Linda and I are going to set each other Christmas card challenges each week in July and August I should have a nice little pile of cards and tags by September.

Out of Season Quilts

I haven't posted in quite a while as a lot of my spare time over the past few months was spent making table decorations and tags for favours for a charity fund raiser which was held last month. We also had a lovely holiday in Florida in June and I enjoyed spending some of it with my friend Linda and also got to meet up with my friend Kelli who I worked with years ago when I lived in Florida. I haven't seen Kelli in 22 years but it felt like only yesterday when it came to chatting with each other. The whole family enjoyed the holiday and I have to admit a lot of crafty shopping took place:) My goodness the crafty shops were amazing, so big and so well stocked - I must have been grinning from ear to ear and didn't know where to look first! In all the excitement I forgot to take photos inside the shops but we went to JoAnn, Michaels and a wonderful shop in Lakeland called Violette's Scrapbook Store with room after room of tempting goodies. They had a fantastic room for classes and I saw some brilliant projects on display for upcoming classes. It really is a must place to visit if you are in the area, just wish I lived a bit nearer to it!

Anyway enough about shopping, now onto making! My friend Linda is an avid participant in the Merry Monday Challenges and creates a card for nearly every one of the challenges set each week throughout the year. It's such a great way of building up a stash of Christmas cards and I keep meaning to join in on the fun, but of course nearly every week time just runs away on me too quickly. The Merry Makers are taking a well earned break during July and August so in those months Linda and I are going to set weekly challenges for each other so she keeps up with making her Christmas cards and I get a start on making mine. If you would like to join in with Linda and me for either or both of the challenges set, we'd love to see your cards - just leave a link in the comments section on Linda's blog or here so we can find your card/s.

So Linda, it's challenge time and the theme I picked for this week is "A Cosy Quilt for Christmas". Not only do I absolutely love quilts but Linda gave me an amazing package of goodies in Florida and included MFT quilt dies that I absolutely love and can't stop using - thanks again, Linda!

Dies - Die-namics Diagonal Quilt Square Cover-Up (My Favorite Things) & Mini Snowflakes (Lawn Fawn)
Stamp - Very Merry Christmas (Hero Arts)

As Christmas draws closer I always seem to be in a rush to make tags as well as cards so for our weekly summer challenges I'm going to try to make a tag to match the challenge card. Lol I'll probably be doing well to make two Christmas cards each week so we'll see how it goes with the tags:)

Dies - Quilt Cuts 2 (WPlus9), Die-namics Pierced Rectangle Frames (My Favorite Things) & Mini Snowflakes (Lawn Fawn)
Stamp - Woodland Wreaths (Wplus9)

While I'm showing you a Christmas card and tag in July, why not a St Patrick's Day card in July too! This is the card I sent to Linda way back in March and never got around to blogging.

Dies - Quilt Cuts 2 (WPlus9) & Shamrock (Impression Obsession)
Stamp - Celebrate Everyday (Hero Arts)

I'm delighted to see Linda has posted her challenge, you can find it here over on her blog. It's a great one and I can't wait to get started on it!

Happy 4th of July to all those who are celebrating! We have our own celebrations going on here with our older son's birthday today:)

Snowflake Card and Bag

I love using kraft, white and red on Christmas projects and as I still had Hero Arts Hand Drawn Snowflakes and Fancy Cut Christmas out on my table, I thought I'd make another Christmas card and a matching gift bag.

To make the card I white embossed the snowflakes on a panel of kraft card and applied white ink around the edges. After die cutting the sentiment out of the panel I die cut the sentiment again from glitter card and inlaid it into the panel. For some extra sparkle I added a sprinkling of gems.

Hero Arts - Hand Drawn Snowflakes and Fancy Cut Christmas

Next it was on to my gift bag. After die cutting the bag, I embossed snowflakes on the back and front panel. Again I used the inlaid technique and added some gems and baker's twine once the bag was assembled.

Hero Arts - Hand Drawn Snowflakes and Fancy Cut Christmas
Lawn Fawn - Goodie Bag Die

I'm submitting the card into Hero Arts Holiday Card Making Challenge and the gift bag into Simon Says Stamp Wrap It Up Challenge.

Making Roses out of the Messy Bits

Recently I bought a beautiful set of Spellbinders dies called Tudor Rose and used a couple of the dies on a card, gift bag and set of cards for a friend's upcoming birthday.

I have lots of what you could charitably call experimental pieces but in reality they are messed up inked or painted backgrounds that didn't work out and could never use in solid pieces!

Anyway over the years I've found that these kind of yucky panels can look okay if used in smaller amounts rather than in big solid pieces. Because of this I never dump my inking disasters as they'll always get used up in some way.

For the flowers I used the die cut inlay technique which I always enjoy. This is the card I made for my friend

Die - Tudor Rose (Spellbinders)
Stamps (Hero Arts) - It's Your Day & Be Happy

and this is the matching gift bag.

Dies - Tudor Rose (Spellbinders) & Goodie Bag (Lawn Fawn)
Embossing Folder - Textile Texture (Cuttlebug)

Since I was enjoying making the flowers and clearing out some of my messy pieces, I continued making flowers and put together a little set of cards to include with my friend's birthday pressie.

Die - Tudor Rose (Spellbinders)
Stamp - Making the World a Better Place (Hero Arts)

Die - Tudor Rose (Spellbinders)
Stamp - It's Your Day (Hero Arts)

Die - Tudor Rose (Spellbinders)
Stamp - Everyday Sayings (Hero Arts)
Embossing Folder - Butterfly Corner (Darice)

Die - Tudor Rose (Spellbinders)
Stamp - Everyday Sayings (Hero Arts)
Embossing Folder - Butterfly Corner (Darice)

It's hard to see in the photos above, but each flower is layered in the centre and I've applied Wink of Stella (love that stuff!) on the flowers for some lovely shimmer.

I'm submitting these cards and gift bag into Simon Says Stamp Friends or Superhero Challenge.

Cow Wrangler

I wanted to join in on a couple of Simon Says Stamp Challenges - the Make it Masculine Challenge and Flickr Challenge #20 with this cute and summery inspiration photo:



The greens in the inspiration photo made me think of the cows here out on the lush green pastures during the summer and the smiley sun in the photo inspired the cartoon cow and circular window. For masculine cards I usually try to keep things fairly plain and simple but like to throw in some humour and texture at the same time.



Stamp - Birthday Farm Animals (Simon Says Stamp)
Dies - Bundle of Stitched Shapes (Simon Says Stamp), Grassy Border (Lawn Fawn) & Circles Nestabilities (Spellbinders)

I die cut the card face using the rectangle die from Simon Says Stamp's Bundle of Stitched Shapes and then die cut the circular window. The die cut grass was layered behind the window and I used a piece from an old pair of jeans for the background. After stamping and colouring the cow I paper pieced the sentiment in orange because it's so often used for stitching and tabs on jeans. Once the cow was complete I nestled him in the grass and adhered the card front to a kraft card base.

Flower Gift Bag

This morning I wanted to make a gift bag to hold a small pressie and gift card for my sister so gathered together some patterned paper scraps and supplies to make it.



Stamps (Hero Arts) - Butterfly and Flower Stamp & Cut and It's Your Day
Dies - Goodie Bag (Lawn Fawn) & Curvy Leaves (Elizabeth Craft Designs)

After die cutting the two pieces for the goodie bag, I stamped the sentiment on the bag front with Hero Arts Butter Bar Ink and added some stitching. Once the bag was assembled I added the embossed flower and die cut leaves.



A button was added to the flower centre and I applied clear Wink of Stella to the flower and leaves - unfortunately it's a dreary, grey day here today so I wasn't able to capture the lovely shimmer on the flowers and leaves.

I'm submitting this gift bag into Hero Arts Nature Challenge and Simon Says Stamp Add a Little Texture Challenge.

Just a little reminder in relation to the Hero Arts Hostess Hop - you have until 11:59pm PST tonight to comment for a chance to a prize pack of Hero Arts goodies. Day 1 of the Hop starts here. Good luck!!

Dotty Gift Bag

I'm joining in again on the Spots n Dots Challenge over at Simon Says Stamp's Flickr Group.

I wanted to make a little gift bag so had a rummage through my patterned papers and came across a Recollections set called Today Tomorrow Forever which has a lovely mix papers including dotty and wood papers that I wanted to use for this project. Recently I bought Lawn Fawn's Goodie Bag die and used that to die cut the little bag. It's such a quick and easy way of whipping up a bag in no time - love it so much! Then I cut a panel of wood patterned paper, and from it, die cut the goodie bag handle and used the banner from Simon Says Stamp's Bundle of Stitched Shapes to finish the shape.

Stamp - Birthday Farm Animals (Simon Says Stamp) Die - Bundle of Stitched Shapes (Simon Says Stamp)

After adhereing the banner to the bag I stuck a little branch on the banner and tied the bag with raffia. I stamped the chicken from the Birthday Farm Animals set, coloured it with Promarkers and did a bit of paper piecing.

As the paper I used for the bag has glitter on some of the dots I thought I'd add a bit of sparkle to the chicken using clear Wink of Stella. I tried to capture some of the sparkle on the chicken's head in the photo below.

After having very mild weather over Christmas, it looks like we're having our cold snap now. It was -3C this morning when I went out and we're due some snow tonight - brrrr!

Christmas Hogs & Kisses

I recently got Simon Says Stamp's Birthday Farm Animals set and since I love the images and am still in full Christmas card making mode thought I'd use one of the funny farm animals on a Christmas card.

Stamps - Birthday Farm Animals (Simon Says Stamp), Trim the Tree & Sweet Christmas (Lawn Fawn) and Happy Holidays & Designer Snowflakes (Hero Arts)

To start with I clear embossed snowflakes on kraft card, added some white card at the bottom and cut this background out using one of the dies from Simon Says Stamp's Bundle of Stitched Shapes set. Then I had some fun with the little hog. After cutting him out and colouring him with Promarkers, I changed his party hat into a Santa hat and gave him a present and candy cane to hold from Lawn Fawn's Trim the Tree set. Then I die cut a speech bubble from Clearly Besotted's You Said It die set and used a mix of sentiments from Simon Says Stamp (Birthday Farm Animals) and Lawn Fawn (Sweet Christmas). To finish I added a tiny pom pom to the Santa hat and frosted lace stickles to the brim of the hat and on the ground. It's really foggy here today so unfortunately I didn't manage to capture any of the subtle shimmer in my photo.

I'm submitting this card into a few Simon Says Challenges - the Flickr Challenge #6 (die cutting), the Anything Goes Challenge and the Work it Wednesday Challenge (anything goes). I'm also submitting the card into The Die Cut Diva's Any Holiday Challenge.

Snowflake Christmas Ornament

Every year I seem to have a mad dash in the lead up to Christmas as I try to make a lot of Christmas cards to send to family and friends. So shortly after last Christmas when I was talking to my friend Linda we thought it would be a great idea to make two Christmas cards each month throughout the year to save the flurry of cardmaking before Christmas. Well Linda is all up to date (and maybe even a little ahead) in her cardmaking, but let's just say I'm not!

So I decided to pull out some supplies again this morning to make another Christmas card.



Dies (Simon Says Stamp) - Eliza Snowflake & Kate Snowflake
Stamp (Lawn Fawn) - Trim the Tree

Over at the Simon Says Stamp group on Flickr Barb has a fun challenge going on which is watercolouring. So I thought I'd make a watercolour background for a snowflake Christmas ornament. I used three watercolour paints (two blue & one white) to make the background. I think there are layers and layers of paint on the panel at this stage as I'd be just about happy with it when I'd add something and mess it up! Anyway when I had an okay background I decided to call a halt and just added a few more splashes of paint.

Next it was time to make the ornament. When Simon Says Stamp released a whole range of pretty snowflake dies last year I fell completely in love with them. For this card I die cut two different snowflakes and applied star dust stickles to them.



After the snowflakes had dried, I layered them together using foam pads and added some string to suspend the ornament from the panel. The sentiment was embossed in silver and to finish off the card I added a sprinkling of gems.

I'm so happy to have my quota of Christmas cards made for this month, now I just have to catch up on the rest of the cards I was supposed to make throughout the year!

Creative Process Blog Hop

Deborah Nolan a very talented, funny and sweet crafter kindly invited me to participate in the Creative Process Blog Hop, a perpetual hop that highlights card makers and provides a look at how they do what they do and why they do it. If you haven’t already visited Deborah’s blog you can find it here. Not only will you get to see lots of wonderful projects, but I guarantee you’ll enjoy giggles along the way with Deborah’s great sense of humour and way with words. Deborah also organises the fun Card Chain Challenge - if you'd like to join in on the current challenge you can find it here.

Everyone who takes part in the hop is given the same set questions. Here are my answers to those questions:

What am I working on now?

The shorter answer would probably be what am I not working on now?! At the moment I’m mainly working on making items, to donate to an animal rescue centre and a special school for children, which will be sold at craft fairs in late November.

I’ll be making lots of cards with dogs, hoping they will sell well and am using Lawn Fawn’s cute Critters at the Dog Park set (love Lawn Fawn’s generous angel policy). I just wish when I ordered the set from Simon Says Stamp that I also ordered the matching die set! Anyway I’ve made a little start on all the stamping and cutting:)

I’m also making fabric brooches and lavender sachets. I’ve wanted to make lavender sachets for a while and bought some lavender for our garden this year specifically for that purpose. My sister gave me bunches and bunches of lavender from her garden and now that it’s dried out, I’m ready to get cracking on making some sachets. This is just a test piece using upholstery fabric, distress inks and Memory Box stencils my friend Linda sent me – thanks again, Linda.

Earlier in the year my older son made a steampunk airship for one of his art projects in school. A couple of old watches were left over and since he doesn’t want them, I’m grabbing them to make a necklace and something else (I’m not quite sure what yet!). I just love the look of the old watch gears, the more modern watch innards aren’t a patch on them as you can see from this photo.

How does my work differ from others in my genre?

Oh now this is a difficult one! I definitely don’t think I have a particularly distinctive style but I like trying to come up with different ideas. Although I can’t pinpoint how my work differs from others, I feel that everyone’s work differs from others, as can be seen through the wide range of ideas and completely different interpretations of themes that people come up with for challenges or even under time pressure in scrambles.

Why do I create what I do?

Why do I create? Well it’s like an itch I have to scratch, and the itch is only satisfied when I finally get to make whatever ideas I have swirling around in my head. My hubby is similar, but in his case it’s writing music, so he totally understands why I sometimes drop everything to get whatever it is out of my system. Why do I create what I do? As far back as I can remember (and we’re talking a lot of years;) )I’ve always enjoyed crafts and there was always a supply of crafty bits and pieces at home for us to play with. I’ve tried out many crafts over the years but cardmaking has become a firm favourite for a number a reasons, including the wonderful friends I’ve made through cardmaking, how relaxing the whole process is, the fun of putting together something from scratch, the endless number of techniques (and goodies!) that are out there and as someone who couldn’t draw to save her life (or win at Pictionary!) I love having lovely (and recognisable) images to colour and put on my projects. I have to admit that I still have some UFOs from my quilting days, so it is great to have taken up a hobby in which I have no unfinished objects hanging around the place!

How does my creative process work?

Lol another good one that made me think! Well I suppose when I’m making something I usually have a particular family member or friend in mind. So I think about what they might like colour and style wise. Sometimes I know straight off what I’m going to make and other times I haven’t a clue. Even when I know exactly what I want to do, I’d say 80% of the time the idea evolves as I make my card/project. When I’m in my haven’t a clue phase I usually pull out some stamps, embossing folders, inks and dies and mess with my supplies until I’m happy with what I’ve come up with.

I rarely create at night unless I need to make something in a hurry or else if I’m just cutting out bits and pieces or colouring. I much prefer to work early in the morning or during the day – it’s just a pity that thing called work can get in the way a bit for those timings!

Who am I tagging for the next round of the Creative Blog Hop?

I’m tagging a wonderful friend I’ve made through cardmaking – Trinh Arrieta. Not only is Trinh one of the sweetest people I know but she never ceases to amaze me with the fabulous and creative projects she makes. I’ve lost track of the amount of times I’ve said “wow” when I’ve visited her blog or received one of her brilliant cards. If you haven’t already seen Trinh’s blog you’ll find it here and next Monday she’ll be posting about her creative process – I know that will be a treat for sure!

Thanks for visiting today and well done for making it through my rather long winded post!

Trick or Treat Shaker

I finally had a little time to stamp earlier today and I thought it would be fun to join in on Lawnscaping's Critters Galore Challenge.

For my critter I decided to use the bat from Lawn Fawn's cute Trick or Treat set and made a Halloween shaker card. Sorry my photo isn't great - I always find it hard to avoid getting reflections on the acetate layer on shaker cards!

I embossed the sentiment on a piece of green card and die cut the label shape. To make the shaker I added some lovely green sequins my friend Trinh (thanks again, Trinh) sent me and an embossed Waltzingmouse Stamps image (Very Vintage labels No. 10) which I cut out and used as my frame. The Lawn Fawn bat was cut out and coloured with ProMarkers and I couldn't resist adding a couple of googly eyes before perching him on top of the shaker. To finish I just added a strip of lace to the side of the card.



Stamps - Trick or Treat (Lawn Fawn) & Very Vintage labels No. 10 (Waltzingmouse Stamps)

The last time I made a shaker I had a problem with the little bits inside the shaker sticking to the sides of the foam pads but I saw a tip somewhere which suggested rubbing talc or flour on the sticky parts before assembling the shaker. It really seems to have worked well but I'd love to hear if any of you have any other suggestions as it took a while to get rid of all the traces of flour!

Trick or Treat

I know it might be a bit early to be making Halloween bits and pieces but when I was out shopping earlier I noticed that some Christmas items are already creeping onto the shelves, so maybe I'm not too early for Halloween after all!

Anyway there are a couple of challenges I wanted to play along with - Teri's Fabulous Friday Challenge over at Moxie Fab World and Simon Says Stamp's Stamp It Challenge

The photo above is the one to be used for inspiration for the Moxie Fab World Challenge. It inspired me to make a garland, use yellow, orange and black, and also to use chevrons and triangles. For the Simon Says Stamp Challenge you have to stamp - lol I love nothing better:)

So first up is the little garland. I die cut circles from plain paper and patterned paper. On the orange ones I stamped Hero Arts' Tiny Flags using spiced marmalade distress ink and on the black circle I embossed the Lawn Fawn sentiment from the Trick or Treat set.



Stamps - Trick or Treat (Lawn Fawn) & Tiny Flags (Hero Arts)

The cute candy corns which are from the same set were stamped, coloured with ProMarkers and covered with glossy accents.



Next up are a couple of cupcake toppers, again using the same dies and stamps. At Halloween they will be stuck in cupcakes that are spookier than the mini chocolate chip ones I have here:)



Stamp set - Trick or Treat (Lawn Fawn)

Well since Halloween wouldn't be Halloween without treats, I had to make up a little bag of treats and a tag.




Stamps - A Little (Hero Arts) & Trick or Treat (Lawn Fawn)

The tag was embossed and pieced and I again added candy corns that had been coloured and glossed. I used baker's twine from a Halloween assortment pack from Doodlebug Design. Only a little over eight weeks to Halloween now but I think these treats might be eaten a little before then;)

Adam's First Challenges

My twelve year old son Adam was very excited when he heard about Simon Says Stamp's Summer Vacation Kid’s Challenge and this morning decided to make a card before his breakfast.

It took him a bit longer than he thought it would to make the card (lol that happens to me all the time too!) but he just wouldn't take a break for breakfast until he was finished. Well first off he rummaged through my stamps to find all the images he liked and then he drew a rough idea of what he wanted to do.

He particularly loved using the Big Shot and was delighted with how quickly he could cut a strip of grass with it.

Die - Grassy Border (Lawn Fawn)

Something else he really enjoyed was doing the colouring on the dog and ice cream. His first practice stamping is on the piece of scrap paper underneath.

Stamp - Critters at the Dog Park (Lawn Fawn)

Stamp - Fantastic Birthday (Hero Arts)

Here he is sticking the last stamped piece to his card and the final touch was when he added sprinkles to the ice cream.

The bonus was eating the extra sprinkles that he had "accidentally" poured out for the top of the ice cream;)

So here's the end result of all his hard work, fueled only be some sprinkles:)

Stamps - Hero Arts (Be Happy, Picnic & Fantastic Birthday) & Lawn Fawn (Critters at the Dog Park)

I just love Adam's card and all the fun he had from start to finish making it. The super happy dog with the best ever treat in his bowl and the sun with the happy face and sunglasses make me smile every time I look at this card:):) Hope you enjoy it too!

As Adam added texture to his card by using sprinkles he's also submitting his card into Lawnscaping's Texture Challenge.