Mixed Bag

Been a funny old week so far, I've got a lot of family birthdays etc this week and next so been making quite a variety of cards. First one is for a Great Grandsons 4th birthday.  Got these cute animals free with a magazine and while they are not my normal type of stamp I think I will be using them quite a lot for kiddiewinks cards.

 I'd like to pop this card onto Fashionable Stampings Challenge - Lets Go Wild

and here's a few more

21st for Great Grandson

1st Birthday for Great Great Grandson

30th Birthday for Grand daughter

Grandson

and our daughters dog's 2nd birthday LOL

forgot to scan some of the others, caught up now until June so time to play now I hope.

Little Things

I was thrilled to be asked to do a guest designer spot for Try It On Tuesday, a challenge I've followed for years.  When I was told the theme I was in a bit of a panic about what to do but while searching around I found this little chipboard frame with the nine squares, I think from Crafty Individuals a long time ago.  I used to make inchies quite a lot at one time so dug out my 1" square punch and punched out nine squares from bits of brusho papers in "The Pile" and stamped various little bits and pieces, the white embossed ones don't show up very well on here though.The orange button from my button tin seemed a perfect match, threads from box full of fancy knitting wools never used as I can't knit LOL 

No Place Like Gnome

This month at Stamping Sensations the challenge is Butterflies/fairies and fantasy.  For my DT card I have used Stampendous Whisper Friends for the gnomes and flowers and Sweet Dixie stamps for the fairy door,notice,leaves and grass.  I am not normally much into cute stuff but I fell in love with the gnomes at first sight and then the fairy door took my eye too!  Hope to see you on our challenge this month, there is this fabulous prize for the winner

Just remember we are a stamping challenge and we must see stamping as the focal point of your entry, digis are accepted if they are hand coloured,

Snowflakes

Time for a new challenge at Sparkles Christmas Challenge and this month it is my choice and I have chosen snowflakes.  The snowflake embossing folder was already out from making my last card so I embossed a piece of Silver white shimmer card with it. I wanted to use teal with it and this was the nearest I could find in my stash. The large snowflake die is Tonic winter snowflake which I cut in the shimmer card and the teal and slightly offset them.  The sentiment is from a very old set of Hero Arts stamps. Hope you will join us in this months challenge.

Rudolph Day Again

Time for another of Scrappy Mo's Rudolph day challenges again. I'm determined to keep up this year even if its just another one card to add to the box.  I already had some Hobby Art Stamps out from the last card I made so decided to do another little scene. This is much smaller than the one done with the stencil, its a 5x7 card which is a size I'm used to working with.  Used the cuttlebug embossing folder (I think this was the first embossing folder I ever bought ?) The little deer at the front is from a freebie set from last year and its just a nice size to fit in with the other stamps I've used. I'd also like to enter these challenges

A Snowflake Promise - anything goes  Christmas or winter theme

The Holly and Ivy Christmas challenge - anything goes as long as its Christmas

The Great Outdoors

This week at Cardz4guyz, the challenge, chosen by Julie is The Great Outdoors. I had really wanted this Clarity Stencil for a while but kept telling myself I didn't need it but last weekend I found myself clicking the buy now button once again !  Actually its a lot bigger than I thought and I've had to make a  7x7 card to accomodate it, not fan of big cards so may not be using it much ! The stamps are from Hobby Arts other than the rabbits which are Inkylicious.  Hope to see you on our challenge with a card for a Guy in your life.  This is my last DT card for Cardz4guyz as I have reluctantly decided to step down, I've enjoyed being part of the team for the last couple of years but I'll still be making lots of cards for the men in my life.

I Spy........

Not been doing much crafting this week as I've been trying to get some work done in the garden most days, the last few days have been really sunny although its still cold out of the sun.  My usual annual fight with celandines ,know I'll never completely eradicate them but have to try and keep the numbers down. Could not believe there are already greenfly on one of my clematis, must remember to go and spray them tomorrow. usually try first of all with soapy water but if that doesn't work its out with the bug spray!   Last night I did manage a little play with my oxide ink pads, for some reason I forget to get a yellow one so as I was ordering that I thought I might as well have the others I don't have ,just waiting for them to arrive now, always think a bit of yellow lifts things. Anyhow this is my first play with my new Indigo Blu stamps( another  birthday present), do love the flower stamps in the set. The butterflies looked a bit dull so I added a bit of wink of stella, wasn't too impressed with that so added some glamour dust glitter as well.  I'd like to enter my card into

Allsorts Challenge - I Spy ........... something beginning with B-  Blue and butterflies

Shades of brown

This week at Cardz4guyz Caz has chosen Shades of Brown for the challenge. For my card I have used the sand pipers and reeds from Stampin Up Wetlands set and the sentiment is from another set.

Kraft card base and a bit of corrugated town card. The two background papers are actually a light brown although they look grey on here.  Hope you will join us in this weeks challenge with a card for a Guy in your life..

Black and white

Saw Rubber Dance challenge for Black and white with one other colour and thought I'd have a go at it. Then I didn't know what stamp to use, first p

of all I found this Stampendous Dance in the rain and thought I'd use that and then I found another stampendous  Steampunk lady and after that a couple of creative expression ones I thought might do, Ended up making four cards in all but I had also got out some Banksy style ones that I've never used but thought I'd better stop now as its well after midnight.

Here are the other three cards, no idea what I'll use them for but enjoyed making them

Rubber Dance  Challenge - Black and white plus one colour of your choice

Raindrops on roses

A friend has just sent me two sets of Rose stamps, they are just beautiful!  For my card I stamped the smaller rose head in versamark and white embossed, the coloured the card with Distress oxide worn lipstick ( goes on like a dream !) gave it a bit of a spritz and wiped off  the embossed images. The main rose done in exactly the same way and fussy cut. The leaves are from an altenew set,used the D.Oxides again for them. The Die cuts were a birthday present from another lovely friend(they are spellbinders marvelous squares)  The raindrops are glassy accents with a bit of glitter added.

I like to enter my card in these challenges

Fashionable Stamping _ sound of music-my favourite things (raindrops on roses)

My Time to craft - No designer paper

and

The sisterhood of crafters - stamp it

Life

Found time for a bit of inky play last night.  This card didn't work out at all like I planned but then my cards rarely do.  I think the background is made with distress oxides but it was in a pile of papers so I'm not sure. Stamped the Beautiful you girl and coloured her with Inktense pencils, the puddle is from some free stamps and once I'd stamped it I wished I hadn't ! but carried on regardless. I stamped the whole quote on the piece I had cut off the background paper but it looked too heavy in one piece so chopped it up . Stamped round the edges with a Kaisercraft edge stamp and stamped a few blotches which don't really show up on here.

I'd like to enter this into

Try it On Tuesday challenge   - Add a quote

                                                               and
                                            Addicted to Stamps Challenge - Make your mark (Inktense pencils)

Animal Antics

The challenge at Cardz4guyz this week ,chosen by Sian, is Animal Antics, for my DT card I have used a very old Penny Black stamp and a sentiment stamp by Butterfly Kisses.  I have had a very busy weekend and had to make this card in a hurry late at night but even though its quite simple I was quite pleased at how it turned out. Now I've just had my customary fight with Windows 10 to try and edit it !  My daughter has taken my old laptop to a friend who has a computer shop to see if they can remove all the photos from it and install Windows 7 on it .  I'm getting too old to fight with all this technology !  Hope you will join us this week with a card for a Guy (any age) .

Easter Bunny

This week at Cardz4guyz the challenge ,chosen by Cyndi, is Easter or Spring. I have lots of flowery stamps etc that I could use but struggled to find something masculine. Came across some serviettes a friend sent me last year or maybe the year before, she had made some lovely cards with them which gave me the nudge to make this. The background is embossed but it doesn't really show on here,the foliage at the bottom is a little stamp from creative stamping magazine. Hope you will join us in ou challenge this week.

Daisies ?

We have an anything goes challenge at Stamping Sensations this month so |I've gone with my favourites  of making a messy background to stamp on.  This is my second go at making this card, first one I started with a brusho background and started to paint with brusho paint but it bled all over the place ! I have never had that happen before and can only think it was because I had used water colour card whereas I normaly just use my ordinary stamping card. This background is a mix of dylusions with a lot of water added to dilute the colour and a homemade ink spray. The stamp is Stampendous Daisy Thanks,bees from two different sets and the greeting is a magazine freebie

There is a fabulous prize on offer this month

PDA sell quality cardstock, pre scored cards and envelopes, essentials such as Spellbinder dies and embossing folders, Imagination Crafts beautiful Sparkle Medium, and some cute charms and crystals from Hobby House. The website is always changing, so call back regularly for all the latest products. There is a fabulous £40 voucher for the winner.

Christmas candy canes

This month at Christmas Sparkles the challenge Chosen by Sandra is Christmas Candy.  I was a bit thrown by this as I've never really thought about candy canes in respect of Christmas although I think they are more popular in the States but its surprising what turns up when you start rooting through stash! firstly I found the candy cane paper freebie ages ago from Simply Homemade magazine (when did that one disappear ?) and then among a box of freebie stamps I found a set of Nitwit stamps which had also come from the same magazine, probably together.  I stamped the Santa onto a new die  ( from The Works, they had lots of different sets at very, very good prices and they cut beautifully )coloured with Promarkers. The small candycanes are from the same set.  Look forward to seeing you on this challenge getting ahead with your Christmas card stash !