TGIF peeps! Bring on the weekend!

Morning readers,

I've a make to share with you today ... got to ink some new stash (always so satisfying). Think it came out OK, it's sold anyway, to the pal that prefers her cards sentiment free!

My C6 card

Materials used:

• White, 250gsm, C6 card and envelope
• Card in white, cream and brown, for my card front, insert and matting
• MFT images (from set CS.852 "sketched blooms" - Nov 2024 - NBUS) stamped using Ranger Archival library green and Versafine Clair charming pink inks - I really think I'm going to like this set!
• Stardust stickles to bling up my bloom

I'll be entering the above make for the following challenges:-

1. NBUS - challenge No. 68 - USE NBUS
2. Dream Valley Challenges - challenge No. 326 - ANYTHING GOES
3. Lil Patch of Crafty Friends - challenge No. 242 - ANYTHING GOES
4. Krafty Chicks - challenge No. 744 - ALL OCCASIONS
5. Love to Craft - challenge No. 83 - ANYTHING GOES

I made a start on my Christmas decorations too .... well, they're down from the loft! When do YOU put yours up? I came over all Christmas-y so put my tree up on Thursday! Don't panic, it was JUST my office USB tree ...

I was recently a TOP PICK at Krafty Chicks, thanks so much peeps, I really appreciate it.

Monday and here comes another week!

Morning readers,

Hope you all enjoyed your weekend and that the weather was kind to you and any plans you may have had! We enjoyed a splendid meal with friends on Saturday and a lunch with another friend on Sunday so our weekend was particularly sociable and calorific!!

I've a make to share with you today ... a gift tag for a partially sighted pal so, bright colours and large text it is then.

The front and back of my tag

And here's how the gift looks, now it's wrapped, along with the card my tag was made to match ...

Materials used:

• Snippet of 300gsm white card
• Go Kreate nesting tag dies used to cut two identical tags
• Dylusions circles image (from DYR34421) stamped using Memento tuxedo black ink
• Copic and Pro Marker alcohol markers used to colour
• TPC Studio birthday sentiment (from SCO10) and Paper Artsy Eclectica (from ESA21) stamped using Versafine Clair nocturne ink
• Crystal stickles to add some bling to the front of my tag
• Narrow white grosgrain ribbon, to attach the tag to my gift

I'll be entering the above make for the following challenges:-

1. Snippets Playground - challenge No. 490 - USE SNIPPETS
2. Pattie's Creations - challenge No. 223 - ANYTHING GOES
3. Creative Fingers - challenge No. 286 - ANYTHING GOES
4. Krafty Chicks - challenge No. 736 - STAMP ACT
5. Creative Inspiration - challenge No. 19 - ANYTHING GOES

And here's a card, one of a batch I've been making as part of a Christmas gift - without sentiment so the recipient can choose the occasion they want to use it for.

My C6 card

And a better view of the beautiful shine of
the Gansi Tambi starry paints

Materials used:

• White, 250gsm, C6 card and envelope
• Card in white and chocolate brown, for my card front, insert and matting
• Rubbadubbadoo pocket watch image, stamped using Versafine Clair nocturne ink
• Gold glitter gel pen used to add sparkle to the hanging loop and winder of my pocket watch image
• I mixed white and light brown for an "antique watch face" colour and painted my pocket watch image
• Once dry I added a fair bit of water to the yellow gold Gansai Tambi starry colour before "splattering" it over my image panel

I'll be entering the above make for the following challenges:-

1. Addicted to CAS - challenge No. 268 - MASCULINE
2. AAA Cards - challenge No. 275 - CAS (Clean And Simple) + (optional) AUTUMN COLOURS
3. Simply Clean And Simple - Oct challenge - ANYTHING GOES + (optional) BLACK AND PURPLE
4. Penny's Paper Crafty - challenge No. 581 - ANYTHING GOES
5. Ellibelle's Crafty Wednesday - Oct challenge - ANYTHING GOES

I discovered that I was selected as a TOP PICK over at Addicted to Stamps and More yesterday, thanks so much peeps, it's always so good to know that people like my work.

Monday and another week beginning - hope it's a good one!

Morning readers,

Hope you all enjoyed your weekend, we're now in autumn!!! Hard to believe it's already September and I'm only half way through making my Christmas cards - best I get a wiggle on sometime really (REALLY) soon.

I've a make to share with you today ... I needed to make a tag to match a birthday card, for my brother (a keen cyclist) and here's what happened

Materials used:

• Snippets of white card
• Create It nesting tag die which I used to cut two die which I subsequently glued together
• Cuttlebug Birthday embossing folder which I used to emboss one of my die cut tags
• On the other tag I used my MFT HB All sentiment (CBSHA126) which I stamped using Versafine Clair nocturne ink and my Stampendous cycle/tree image (from SSC2006 Sunrise/Sunset) stamped using 1st and 2nd gen impressions of Versafine Clair morning mist ink

I'll be entering the above make for the following challenges:-

1. Penny's Paper Crafty - challenge No. 579 - ANYTHING GOES
2. Everybody Art - challenge No. 562 - ANYTHING GOES
3. Can You Handle The Pressure - Aug 24th challenge - ANYTHING GOES + (optional) LEAVES
4. Love to Craft - challenge No. 82 - ANYTHING GOES
5. Lil Patch of Crafty Friends - challenge No. 237 - ANYTHING GOES

And the card it was made to match? Well, here it is, along with the wrapped gift

I was picked as a TOP PICK over at Love to Craft for my entry to their August challenge #81, thanks so much peeps, appreciate it

TGIF - Bring on the weekend!

Morning readers,

Every now and again I feel the I urge to reorganise my "schtuff" and I recently had "one of those" feelings - this time it was my drawer of ink pads!! I was rummaging for something I KNEW I had in the drawer but couldn't find in my trusty Ikea "Alex" drawers, where I've kept my ink pads for ages - it's full to the brim!! I DID find two ink pads I'd forgotten I had, in addition to seven ink pads that have been sitting on the top of the drawer unit, as there was simply no space inside! It was plainly time to do something about it. Having completed my move around I have been FORCED to concede that perhaps, just perhaps, I MAY have too many ink pads - some stacks are five high!!! Not a decision I made lightly! I'm not even going to mention the four storage boxes containing my Distress Inks .... oopsie! However, as a result of this move, it did encourage me to use a number of pretty elderly Adirondack inks and ... still juicy!! Check out my lovely collection of ink pads and the resulting ATC

I've a make to share with you today ... an Artist Trading Card, measuring just 3½" x 2½", surprising what you can squeeze in to such a small area!

Materials used:

• ATC blank
• Snippets of card in white and Costco double sided
• Hero Arts postage images: A2204 "Bridge travel", C2211 "Impression" and C2213 "Italia" stamped using Adirondack inks in bottle and mushroom and MFT jelly bean inks, including on to Heffy Doodle low tack tape which I then cut out and used as a mask - great to use these wood mounted stamps as I've had them for years (and years - maybe almost 20 years) and they simply don't see ink often enough
• Adirondack lettuce ink applied to the white space, whilst the masks were still in place.
• Clearly Besotted "triangle fade" stencil overlaid and a layer of the bottle green ink applied using a makeup brush
• Kaisercraft images (from "Just landed" - dating back to 2020) stamped using Versafine Clair nocturne ink

I'll be entering the above make for the following challenges:-

1. Retro Rubber - challenge No. 233 - TIC TAC TOE - see below (I did the middle row, top to bottom - stencilling and green and most people travel in the summer so I'm hoping that works too)
2. Polkadoodles - challenge No. 25 - ANYTHING GOES
3. Gem of a Challenge - challenge No. 12 - ANYTHING GOES
4. Lil Patch of Crafty Friends - challenge No. 232 - ANYTHING GOES

I've another make to share with you today ... a Christmas card, well it WAS Rudolph Day earlier in the week and I didn't get a chance to get to my Table of Craftiness on the 25th, so .....

My C6 card

And a closer view of the image

Materials used:

• White, 250gsm, C6 card and envelope
• Card in white and Red, for my card front, insert and matting
• Picket Fence image and sentiment (C-115 "Baby it's cold outside" - April 2024 - both are NBUS) stamped using Versafine Clair nocturne and tulip red inks
• Twinkling H2O (Icicles) and Imagination Crafts mica water colour paints to colour my image

I'll be entering the above make for the following challenges:-

1. Rudolph Days Challenges - June challenge - ANYTHING CHRISTMAS GOES
2. Peace on Earth - challenge No. 66 - ANYTHING GOES + (optional) mood board
3. The Holly and Ivy - challenge No. 165 - ANYTHING CHRISTMAS GOES 
4. Creative Inspirations - June challenge - CHRISTMAS IN JUNE
5. NBUS - challenge No. 63 - USE NBUS

Optional mood board

                                                 

I was a TOP PICK over at Krafty Chicks this week, for my entry to their CAS challenge, thanks so much, really appreciate it. I only blogged this on Wednesday, obviously just snuck in as they were closing the challenge, how lucky was that?

Monday and January already feels like it's in full swing

Morning readers, 

I've been AWOL for a short while .... hubby got sick at the end of November, with what started as a cold for both of us (which I quickly shook off) but developed in to pneumonia for him and then ... after playing nursemaid and housekeeper for three weeks I came down with a (far less serious) chest infection myself, a little before Christmas. As you might imagine, our Christmas totally passed us by and we would probably have been eating soup or sandwiches but for the marvellous surrogates, who plated up and delivered our Christmas "meals on wheels", and a lot of family, friends and neighbours who so generously offered to do shopping on our behalf - thank you ALL so much, you know who you are, it was so appreciated. Thankfully, I am now almost fully recovered and hubby is well on the mend too - pheww, shan't mind if we never go through something like that again, we got familiar with the doctors and nurses at our surgery and a lot of the "gates" at our local hospital too!, no complaints once we got in to the system.

Needless to say lethargy and illness took its toll on us both and I even lost my creative mojo, even suspending blog posts for a short while but .... I've a make to share with you today ....... and I'm sure you are surprised to hear that it's a small batch of Christmas cards! Me too! Well, you shouldn't be .... I got some new Christmas stash and wanted to break the seal - I was a tad surprised by the size of the word "Christmas" so broke out the 6" square card blanks - not too many of those left now!

My batch of three 6" x 6" cards

One of my batch of 6" x 6" One Layer Cards
- perfect for mailing abroad

The front, back, inside and the front/back of the envelopes

Materials used:

• Three white, 250gsm, 6" x 6" square cards and matching envelopes
• Paper Artsy sentiment (from JOFY68 - Xmas 2023 - NBUS) stamped using Versafine Clair nocturne ink
• Paper Artsy Star (from JOFY68 - Xmas 2023 - NBUS) stamped using Versafine Clair morning mist and cheerful inks
• Paper Artsy "Merry" (from JOFY65 - from 2019) stamped using Versafine Clair tulip red ink
• "Sunburst" Twinkling H2O used to water colour my stars ... however, once the twinkly paint dried I didn't care for the effect with the grey ink so ... I took my trusty "S" thickness Faber Castell pitt pen and traced around the outer stamped edges, MUCH better!
• Crystal stickles to bling up the large worded font

I'll be entering the above make for the following challenges:-

1. NBUS - challenge No. 58 - USE NBUS
2. Moving Along With The Times - challenge No. 162 - NEW CRAFT ITEM
3. Pearly Sparkles - challenge No. 91 - CAS (Clean And Simple)
4. Merry Little Christmas - challenge No. 54 - ANYTHING CHRISTMAS GOES
5. Krafty Chicks - challenge No. 697 - STAMP ACT
6. Word Power - challenge No. 1 - ANYTHING GOES but the sentiment MUST be the eyecatching focus

I was also a TOP PICK over at the Merry Little Christmas Challenge Blog, for challenge No. 53 - thanks so much peeps.