Flowers for Mum...

Hello everyone!! :)

Just popping in to share the card I made for my mum for Mother's Day this year... I was pleased with this for several reasons- I had fun making it; I liked the end result; it was finished a week before Mother's Day (a record for me and very helpful to the stress levels!! lol); I managed to use no less than four stamp sets/dies from my SMS Challenge drawer on this one card (Go me!! ;D ); and last but definitely not least... my mum loved it, too... which is the most important thing, but the others help, too!! lol

Anyway, here it is...

A pretty, springlike card... perfect for Mother's Day :)

I borrowed the sentiment from Jen when she was over here the weekend before M's Day and it was the perfect centre piece on one of my new Nesties with a bit of texture from my amazing PTI Linen Plate. The stunning flowers are from WMS and I can't quite believe they have been in unused 'til now :S But I used the newly released matching die set, too, and it worked out just as I was hoping... always a bonus!! lol

I also decorated the insert as this was a special card for a special person!! :)

{The List}

Cardstock - A6 top-fold blank - Papermill Direct - Pink Smooth, White Plain

Stamps - Waltzingmouse Stamps - Funky Flowers; SU! - 'Happy Mother's Day' (don't know the name- sorry!)

Dies - Waltzingmouse Stamps - Funky Flowers Die Set; Spellbinders - Nestablities Labels 16; PTI - Linen and Canvas Impression Plate

Inks - Hero Arts Shadow Inks - Soft Purple, Soft Blue, Soft Pink; VersaMagic - Thatched Straw, Aloe Vera

Tools - Cuttlebug, one half of a pair of broken scissors to distress edges

Finishing Touches - Clear Wink of Stella Brush Pen

No challenges for this one, I just wanted to share :) I'm not sure how much I'll be around in the next few weeks as I have friends coming to stay next week and so don't expect to have much spare time or energy... I am so excited to see them- last time they came, they were only able to pop in for a few hours, this time we get several days!! :) I will, however, have a couple of scheduled posts going up for a fun GDT stint during May!! :) If I can remember how to do a DT post after so long, that is!! ;) Thanks for stopping by today... have a lovely week everyone!! :)

A Vintage Christmas... and Anything But Square at Dream Valley :)

Hello!! :)

Well, I’m finally here to share my card for our latest challenge over at Dream Valley- I’m exceptionally late with this as it should have been posted last Sunday but I’ve had a mixture of feeling really quite ill and trying to catch up with all the things I’ve not got round to doing due to feeling so rotten for the last month so have only just managed to get on my netbook to type this up... but, as we are a fortnightly challenge, you do still have another week to enter... so, I’d best get straight on then!! :S Our challenge this time is ‘Anything But Square’ and as always, any type of creation from cards to jewellery, scrap layouts and altered items will be welcome... just so long as it’s not square!! ;) We’re sponsored by OSCC and Meljen's Designs this time!! :)

And this is my belated offering...

It’s actually the card I made for my mum for Christmas last year... I had a pretty little circle card I made specially for this challenge, photos taken, edited and ready well in advance... but, when I came to upload the pic for the challenge blog... yup- I couldn’t find them anywhere!! How hopeless!! I’m normally unusually organised with my card pics- have to be with my permanently befuddled brain!! :S – but they seem to have disappeared completely... so I’ll share those when I’ve re-edited the originals and, in the meantime (whilst trying not to panic!!lol), I managed to find this one ‘not square’ card in my overflowing folder of as-yet-unposted bits and pieces...

It’s an A5 top-fold card with a panel of the same card matted on and is almost entirely made from Waltzing Mouse Christmas sets... I just love Claire’s Christmas designs so much- they really make me feel the magic of Christmas and it seems basically impossible to make anything but a lovely card from them!! :) I used a Spellbinder’s die with Claire’s co-ordinating stamp and a WMS sentiment for the focal point and then made a frame and branch for the bauble to hang from with the gorgeous Festive Foliage set.

The only non- WMS stamp was the ‘’Twas the night before Christmas’ poem from Inkylicious (another company whose stamps I love!!lol), which I stamped all over the background in Antique Linen DI to tone in with the AL edging around the whole panel. I also smeared some Antique Linen Distress Stickles all around the edges, too... I had so much fun with this card, I love doing things like this!!lol

And a close-up of the decoupaged pine cone branch and my six-loop bow (only meant it to be four loops but I was getting carried away!!lol) in gorgeous Venetian Red seam binding :)

The List:

• Top Fold A5 off-white Linen card blank (made from A3 card), plus almost A5 piece for image panel
• Stamps- Festive Foliage, Compliments of the Season & Vintage Ornaments from Waltzing Mouse Stamps and 'Twas the Night Before Christmas from Inkylicious
• Inks- VersaFine Vintage Sepia & Olympia Green and Antique Linen DI
• VersaMark, Gold embossing powder and heat tool
• Spellbinders Heirloom Ornaments Dies
• Venetian Red Seam Binding from The Ribbon Girl
• Antique Linen Distress Stickles

I’d like to enter this in the following challenges: Divas by Design – Christmas in July :) ; Crafter's Companion - Ho Ho Ho Christmas :)

So that’s it from me for now- do pop over to Dream Valley to see the fab creations from the rest of the DT... you still have a week to enter!! :) I’ll see you soon, I hope- if my brain and body play nice and let me get anything done, that is!! :S I hope you’re all well and have a good week- thank you for stopping by and bearing with me and my haphazard blogging habits!! :)

ETA: No idea what the strange and not very pretty white background to some of my text is but I can't get rid of it so please just ignore it, it's not intentional!! :/

A Brave New World... and a Mother’s Day card :)

Hey there folks!! :)

Hope you’re all well and had a lovely Easter!! :) Now, don’t worry, I’m not going all literary on you- the brave new world of my title has nothing to do with Aldous Huxley and everything to do with crochet!! ;) I thought as a couple of people were lovely enough to say they wanted to see my first crochet attempts that I should get on here to share before it’s time for my next Dream Valley post at the weekend...

I have been feeling very down and stressed recently as well as struggling with the usual physical symptoms of my M.E. being worse and found even making cards was increasing the stress rather than helping it as it usually would, which is why I have left the paper stash alone for a while and have been trying other things instead... the first of which was crochet :) I have wanted to have a go at it for years but have put it off because I knew I would find it painful on my hands and, well, there are just always so many cards to make and other things (like computers and phones and generally everything!!) to make my hands hurt that I haven’t got round to it... but one night I decided it was the perfect breather from cards and so, armed with two books, a YouTube instruction vid (here) for a simple beginner’s flower on my phone and my mum (to translate all the jargon!!), I had a go :)

To say I can now crochet would be a huge overstatement... but I can now crochet this particular little flower!!lol Took a long time and a lot of patience from my lovely mum but I got there in the end!! :) I did find it hard on my hands but was able to do more than I expected that first evening... the hardest part was actually the counting and remembering the pattern as my concentration and memory are basically shot atm thanks to the M.E.- don’t know how I’d get on with anything more complicated!!lol

I started with some old wool but it’s cheap acrylic and was splitting and fluffing up too much to really see what I was doing (especially when I’d pulled it apart after getting it wrong ten times over!!lol) so I moved on to some old embroidery thread which was much easier :) The nice thing about making these little flowers (only 4cm-ish across) is that they will lend themselves to cardmaking so I haven’t wasted any energy or thread... always a plus!! :)

I then decided to try and make a multi-coloured one (I was running out of long enough bits of thread at this point as I only had a few leftovers from my friendship bracelet- making youth!!lol) and a few days later, I used it to make one of my Mother’s Day cards...

I was all about the simple approach with this one as it should have been in the post already and, frankly, I really wasn’t in the mood for faffing with paper!! :S I used my Blossom Nesties ‘cos a) they’re small so less space to fill and b) they’re pretty enough to look good with little faff :) A bit of paper, a fab WMS stamp set and some pearls later and I had a reasonably nice, very easy card!! :)

The List:

• White card blank
• Blossom Nesties
• Forever Friends Springtime paper pad
• Waltzingmouse Teeny Trees stamps set
• Tea Leaves and Pixie Dust VersaMagic chalk ink pads
• Cat’s Life Press sentiment stamp
• Tiny butterfly punch (from Lakeland years ago)
• Sakura Clear Stardust pen
• Pink Flat-backed pearls
• oh- and 1 small crocheted flower :)

Well, there you have it... my first attempts at crochet :) It was tricky in ways I didn’t expect and, to be honest, the concentration issues may pose more of a barrier to doing more complex things than the pain would so will have to wait and see if I can progress to bigger and better things... but if not/until then, I can make some cute little embellies!!lol At the mo’ I’m knitting a shawl (having not knitted for a couple of years because of pain, either) and I’m hoping I’ll finally have it finished in time to share with you at the weekend!! :) 

Silhouettes for Christmas at Dream Valley :)

Hello everyone!! :)


I’m excited today to be sharing my first DT card for Dream Valley Challenges... I’m excited in advance, though, writing this post early and scheduling it (which will hopefully work this time!!lol) as it’s actually my birthday and I’m not sure I’ll get chance to get on the computer as I think I’ll need all the little energy I have left after struggling with a cold all week to cope with my lovely birthday visitors!! :) But, to get back to the point... lol...

We have a wonderfully easy challenge for you at Dream Valley this time (which is just what we need in this the ‘headless-chicken season’ as I tend to think of it!!lol) and we'd simply like to see your 'Christmas' creations... told you it was easy!! :) As this is such a hectic time of year for us all, this challenge is going to run for four weeks which will see us well into the New Year, ‘til January the 8th to be exact, so plenty of time to share those last Christmas cards after the event if you don't get chance before!! :) We have several sponsors for this challenge, too, including One Stop Card Crafts... pop over to the Dream Valley blog for all the details!! :)

Now, I haven't really been well enough due to the cold bug in my system to spend any time at my desk- or even try my usual trick for those bad times of crafting in bed!lol- but luckily I had a card just waiting to be shared with you and hope I'll be forgiven for not making a new one specially... so here it is...

I fancied getting inky and doing something a bit different the night I made this and so a play with some of my fab new stamps from Inkylicious was called for!! :) I started off trying to create the sky with my (barely been out of the drawer since I got it! :S) brayer a la Barbara Gray... not sure if it was the ink (I had to use DI as that was the only dye ink I had in the right shade and I've never seen Barbara use those) or just that I need a lot more practise, but it was very hard going for my arms after the first couple of tries and I really wanted to get a card made so I reverted to the old faithful Cut'n'Dry!! I kept the rest of it really simple to let the scene take centre stage :)

The beautiful images are ones I've had my eye on for a while and they're stamped in VersaFine (they stamped perfectly first time, too despite the town one being so big! :) ) and the panel then matted and edged with Stickles as it all looked a bit dark. I also used a waterbrush to paint a subtle shimmer of Clear Stardust over the moon (which I'd masked with a random Nestie circle I found in my desk... might have been a shade too big?!lol) but it's not showing well in the pics... v pretty in the flesh, though!! :)

I tied a double bow with two colours of seam binding and then stitched- yes, me, stitched... and stabbed myself, of course, trying to tie the knots, as my illness-addled co-ordination really seems to hate me trying to use a needle and thread for some reason!! :S lol - the little jingle bell to the back of the knot... I was trying to make a fairly flat card to start with but I seem to be unable to resist bows, and multi ones at that, at the mo' and there really had to be a bell on this card of all cards, didn't there!?! :)

And to finish it off, I added one of the gorgeous sentiments from the fab Waltzingmouse Compliments of the Season set again... they are all so lovely but this one really seemed perfect for this scene... and everytime I catch sight of it I start singing 'Walking in a Winter Wonderland' to myself- one of my fav Xmas songs!! :)


The List:

• 6"x6 Sq. Scalloped In The Edge card blank
• White card
• Scrap circle shape for masking
• Distress Inks: Stormy Sky and Dusty Concorde
• Stamps: Silhouette Town and Sleigh from Inkylicious; 'Sleigh Bells Ring' from Waltzingmouse Stamps' Compliments of the Season set
• VersaFine Onyx Black ink pad
• White paper coloured with Black PM for mat layer
• Sakura Clear Stardust pen
• Stickles: Frosted Lace
• Seam Binding: Lady Lavender and White (coloured with Midnight Blue PM) from The Ribbon Girl
• Jingle Bells
• Clear Gems

I'd like to enter this card in the following challenges (which I'll link up as soon as I have chance to get online!): CES – A Traditional Christmas :) ; Joanna Sheen - Christmas Wishes :) ; My Mum's Craft Shop - Traditional Christmas :) ; SecretCrafter - All Creatures Great and Small :) ; Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes with the option of something dangly :) ; Pollycraft - Christmas Fun :) ; Stampin' For The Weekend - Christmas :) ; Sarah Hurley - Christmas (whoops- missed this one!! :( ) ; Little Claire's - Family Christmas :)



Well, that's my first card for Dream Valley- I'm still v excited and really looking forward to being on this lovely team... thanks, Melly!! :) Thanks for stopping by and I hope you like it!! :) Please pop over to the Dream Valley blog to see the fabulous work from the rest of my new teamies... there's lots of lovely inspiration for you!! :)


Not sure when I'll be back as I've got a fair few cards still need making after losing last week to this cold... think it's going to be quick and simple ideas all the way from this stage... thankfully, I have all but two of the special family ones sorted already, thanks to DT projects inspiring me earlier than usual!!lol Hope you are all keeping well, warm, dry and as little blown about as possible!! :)

It’s All Christmas-sy at Forever Friends!! :)

Hello again Bloggers!! :)

I'm back again as promised- if slightly later in the day than intended!!lol As it is now officially December- how!!??!! O_o - it is time for our next Monthly Challenge over at Forever Friends & Co. And it's an incredibly easy one for you as 'It’s All Christmas!!' is our theme and, if you're anything like me at least, then all you'll have the time to think about is getting those Christmas cards, tags and gift ideas made!!lol We are being sponsored by the lovely Di's Digi Designs for this challenge so come along and join in the fun!! :)

I went all vintage-y with this one, inspired by this lovely FF stamp and some new acquisitions from the amazing Waltzingmouse Stamps- their gorgeous Festive Foliage set to be precise!! :) - and made my own background paper by stamping on parcel paper... then I got out a host of Tim Holtz's Distress fabulousness and let myself play with DIs on the edges of everything and the absolutely indispensible Antique Linen Stickles on all the corners- in my usual 'spread it around with my fingers' style of application!! :) 

I must say that, despite spending ages fiddling with this pic in two different photo editing programs, it still looks a bit more green around the gills than it really is irl- the other pics probably show the colour better but this was the best I could do!! :S

I coloured on Kraft with my Prismas- my first attempt at colouring these lovely bears with pencils on any kind of card and it’s not great but I'm reasonably happy for a first attempt!!lol

The largest snowflake is another MS punch- which I got for just over a fiver in the sales last year!! :) - and the others are Make it Crafty Chippies which I inked with DIs, then covered with Distress Crackle Paint... I actually used White Picket Fence- thought I had some Antique Linen but apparently the day I remember putting that in my basket while shopping online was one of the rare occasions I managed to rein in my stash-addict tendencies!!lol But it didn't matter as it took on the colour from the inks anyway... so no need to buy any other colours after all!! :) I also added some Stickles to them after the paint was dry, too- that I really must get some more of!!lol

The lovely sentiment is from the WMS Compliments of the Season set- another stunning set!! :)

The List:

• 5"x7" Kraft card blank plus another to cut up for the image
• Image - Forever Friends wooden stamp from Docrafts, stamped in Memento and coloured with Prismacolor pencils, OMS and paper stumps
• Cream cardstock
• Martha Stewart PATP Cherish punches
• Kraft parcel paper
• Festive Foliage and Compliments of the Season stamp sets from Waltzingmouse Stamps
• Versafine ink pads in Olympia Green and Vintage Sepia
• Distress Inks- Vintage Photo and Peeled Paint
• Make it Crafty Chippies snowflakes
• Distress Crackle Paint- White Picket Fence
• Distress Stickles- Antique Linen
• Mink Flat-backed Pearls from Crafty Emma's
• Natural Jute Twine from The Ribbon Girl
• Sakura Clear Stardust pen (just a teeny bit on the hats) 

I'd like to enter this in the following challenges: Cupcake Crafts - Colour on Kraft :) ; Ready Teddy Go - Anything Goes :) ; Joanna Sheen (the first ever challenge!! :) ) - Christmas :) ;  Anything Goes - Cutting Corners (if the corner punches used for my image mat are enough and second entries are okay?) :) ; Pollycraft - Christmas fun :) ; Fab 'n' Funky - Anything Goes :) ; Divas by Design - Anything Goes :) ; Sweet Stampin' - Punches and Dies :)

Please pop over to the Forever Friends & Co. blog for a look at the gorgeous cards my teammates have created- we have some fab and talented new ladies joining us on the DT for this challenge, too!! :) - and we'd love to see you joining in with your FF images... or if you don't have any at the mo' then any animal on your card will do so long as you follow the theme!! :)

Thanks for stopping by my little corner of Blogland today- hope you'll pop back soon!! :) I have plenty of things just waiting to be posted so I'll try and be back soon... but I really do need to get a wriggle on with the ol' Christmas cards so need to spend some time crafting as well as posting!!lol I had some good news this week as I've been asked by the lovely Melly to join the team at Dream Valley- I'm really looking forward to my first challenge with them in a week or so- on my birthday in fact!! :) Thanks for all your comments on my card yesterday, too- I really do appreciate them all and am doing my best to make it round to a few people at a time whenever I can manage it myself as I know it's been far too long in most cases!! :)

Spooktacular!! ;D ;D

Hello there!! :)

I'm back again with a quick share- something I'd hoped to post yesterday but I think my inspired week caught up with me- that's the trouble with inspiration, my body can't keep up and so it's exhausting!!- and I spent all of yesterday feeling lousy and too ill to even think let alone think about writing a blog post, though I did finally feel upto managing to edit the pics ... typically, at about the time I should have been heading to bed!! lol Well, at least we had that extra hour – I put mine very good use (not!!) and slept through it…  ;)

So, onto the cards... now, I don't normally do Hallowe'en cards- in fact I think these are my first ever- but when the lovely Robin, Artist and Owner of Bows & Berries Digital Stamps Shop and the My Partner in Crafting Crime challenge, sent me a couple of digis from her fab Hallowe'en release I just knew I was going have to have a play... unfortunately, because of my aforementioned printer issues, it was kind of late in the day before I was able to, but I have managed to get a few cards made and in the post to friends!! :) Kinda had fun, too- you can let go a bit with creations for something fun like Hallowe'en, I think!! :)

These first two are using Robin's fab Silly Pumpkins- they are so fun, I love their grins!!lol I always print/stamp more than one of an image as I so often find I mess up the colouring somewhere along the line but both of these came out okay so I stamped a polka dot background straight onto two base cards- two different colours just for a bit of variety!- and embossed it... the powder didn't take brilliantly for some reason but I didn't worry too much as I knew I was going for a distressed look anyway, and then added a line of black Stickles for definition :)

I coloured with PMs- much like my pink and green card last week, a lot of these pens have probably never been used before but I'm thoroughly in experimentation mode with my PMs at the mo'- and loving it, even when the results aren't quite up to scratch, 'cause I'm still learning!! :) Then for the distressing... I often apply ink, then use my scissors or paper distresser, then add more ink (because of the white line you get just inside the edge if you distress first and the white fibres you can see if you distress second and don't apply more ink, iykwim), but this time, with two contrasting colours if ink pad sat open in front of me, I decided to try using the opposite colour the second time and, for this sort of fun card, I rather like the effect :) Oh, and I added the doodled spider's web (against all my better spider-fearing instincts!!lol) and little lines in the corners for interest... and promptly felt I'd ruined the whole thing... 'til I remembered I was going for distressed and rustic again... that's my story and I'm sticking to it!!lol

Then I remembered I had printed off a couple of the gorgeous lil’ B&B 2 Cute 2 Spook ghostie, too, so thought I'd make a couple more quick little cards :) And they were very quick- dinky little 4" Sq. cards with a mat, tag for the printed greeting and bit of ink on the edges...

 ...and the little spook took no time to colour with just some pale grey shading and her cute little bow to worry about!! :) If you need anymore Hallowe'en cards, treat bags, decorations, etc. in a hurry for tomorrow, then I'd really recommend this digi!!lol

The List:

For the pumpkin cards:

• 6" sq.  Scalloped On The Edge white card blank
• Silly Pumpkins Digi image from Bows and Berries Digital Stamp Shop
• Coloured with Promarkers – hope you won't mind but, as I seem to have used a ridiculous number of pens and have recently finally got around to labeling the ends of them all, I have taken photo and will add this after the list to save my energy (and patience!) dictating, correcting and capitalising every single pen name in my voice software!! :S (The square one is a Spectrum Noir, and the clear capped one is a Copic Blender as I find the brush tips easier for blending out to white)
• Polka dot border stamp from Waltzing Mouse's Off Beat Background set
• Dusty Concord DI and ???  Big and Juicy ink pads
• Clear embossing powder and heat tool
• Black Diamond Stickles
• Sakura Clear Stardust and Clear Glaze pens
• Black and purple flat-backed pearls

For the little spook card:

• 4" sq.  White card blank
• 2 Cute 2 Spook Digi image from Bows and Berries Digital Stamp Shop
• Coloured with Promarkers – using colours I already had out from the pumpkins, pic above
• White card for matting
• Dusty Concorde DI
• Computer generated greeting
• Sakura Clear Stardust and Clear Glaze pens
• 3mm and 2mm gems

I'd like to enter these cards in the following challenges: Dream Valley – Anything Goes :) ; SweetStampin' – Anything Goes :) ; The Secret Crafter – Spooky or Whimsical :) ; Craft Your Days Away – Autumn/Fall :) ; Charisma Cards - Anything Goes :) ; Fab'n' Funky - Hubble, Bubble, Toil and Trouble :) ; Divas By Design - Something Spooky :) ; My Mum's Craft Shop - Spooktackular :)

Well, thank you for stopping by today and for all your comments on all my posts last week- think I shall be taking it a bit slower on the posting (and actual crafting :( ) front for the next little while as I need a rest but will hopefully be back with my DT card for the next FF challenge on Thursday :) In the meantime, I hope you've enjoyed my little bit of spooky fun today... and have a spooktacular night tomorrow!! ;D ;D

Cupcakes for Grandad and a Sweet Challenge over at My Partner in Crafting Crime!! :)

Hello everyone!! :)

Sorry I'm a little late with this one- today's been a bit of an off day for me so far and I've been struggling to get myself going at all!! :S Anyway, on to what I wrote last night so I'd be all ready for a nice early post today... the best laid plans and all that!! ;) ......

Well, another fortnight has passed in a flash and so it’s time for another new challenge at My Partner in Crafting Crime... and this week it’s a scrummy one: ‘Sweets & Treats’!!! :) So we’d like to see something edible, sweet and delicious on your cards- and, if you’re anything like me, you’ve got plenty of yummy (and calorie-free!) things in your stash so we’d love to see you come along and join the fun this time!! :) You could win some fab digis from our sponsor Bows & Berries, too!! :)

I decided to go for a cupcake theme to give one of the LOTV stamps from the Time for Tea range, which I bought earlier this year, its first inking (shameful I know- I’ve had it for months!! :( lol) and so my card was going to be in sweet and pretty pinks and lemons... but then I remembered my Grandad’s birthday was coming up and pink went out of the window!!lol Maybe I'll get around to the pretty card sometime soon but this is what I made for my Grandad and the challenge:

I got some cupcake shaped base cards from Anita’s last year and made a card I loved for a friend’s birthday straight away but it was a bit fiddly so I’ve not used them again since- it would be easier if I didn’t bother to fold the paper for the base but I really think it looks so much better that way... and I’m a glutton for punishment apparently!!lol

I decided on a kraft and coffee kind of colour scheme as this was a masculine card and started by drawing around the shaped base card onto some scrap to get the shape I wanted- slightly bigger and with a softer shape than the base- so it would sit over the folded paper ‘case’ :)

For the cake case, I cut a strip of a spare kraft envelope, which I stamped with a polka dot stamp from my first Waltzing Mouse Stamps purchase (not my last, I suspect!!lol) in a creamy coloured chalk ink :) The stamp was surprisingly easy to line up to repeat the pattern, too :) I scored the strip and folded it all up- that’s the fiddly bit but worth it, I think... for someone special anyway!!lol I tried using my paper crimper but the creases weren’t sharp enough to let me gather them more at the bottom for a realistic look... I’m a recovering (mostly!) perfectionist and that just wouldn’t do, I’m afraid- especially as my Grandad’s a perfectionist, too!!lol The lovely greeting is from a Craftwork Cards Goody Bag which a vv lovely blogging buddy picked up for me at the GNPE show a couple of weeks ago, along with the Flexmarkers I used to tone down the white a tad to match the rest- thank you so much again, hon, if you're reading this!! :D :D – and the natural twine adds a bit of texture and interest.

I used some of my lovely Core’dinations Chocolate Box cardstock for the ‘Topping’, which I embossed with a snowflake folder that I love for all sorts of things, not just snowy Xmas cards, and thought would be good for looking like sprinkles!! :) I sanded the card before and after embossing then added shimmer spray and Stickles around the edges and on a few of the sprinkles :) The finishing touches- for the outside, at least- were a big pearly button and some more twine :)

The final thing- that I almost forgot to do- was an insert to hide the slightly shabby looking inside of the spine of the card, which I decorated as well with a little cupcake stamp :)

The List:

• Cupcake shaped card blank- Anita’s from DoCrafts
• Core’dinations Chocolate Box cardstock
• Cuttlebug Snowflakes embossing folder
• Perfect Pearls Pearl Shimmer Mist
• Stickles in Platinum and Distress Stickles in Antique Linen
• MOP button and Natural Jute Twine from the Ribbon Girl
• Kraft paper
• Polka dot stamp from Waltzing Mouse’s Off Beat Background set
• VersaMagic Wheat ink pad
• Craftwork Cards sentiment
• Kanban Fairy Cakes stamp set, Versafine Vintage Sepia ink pad and Whispers Brush Markers for the insert

I’d like to enter this in the following challenges: Dream Valley – Buttons :) ; Creative Inspirations – Let’s Celebrate :) ; Crafting For All Seasons – Fall Colours :) ; Bows & Berries – Glitter :) ; Birthday Sundaes – Buttons :) ; OSAAT – Use your favourites (I’ve used Kraft, Shimmer Spray and Stickles on this one!! :) ) :) ; The Squirrel and the Fox – Anything Goes :) ; Just Some Lines – Fall Colours :) ; DYSU - Duos (Two colours- cream and coffee/kraft) :) ; Crafty Sentiments - Happy Birthday :)

Well, thanks for stopping by- do please go and take a look at the PCC blog to see the creations from the rest of the DT and welcome some lovely new DT girlies, Ashley, Dianne and Rhonda, to the fold!! :) Oh, and do enter the challenge if you can, too, of course!!lol Can’t wait to see all the yummy creations you come up with- better get used to being hungry now, I think!!lol 

Hope you all have a great week... might even feel like the summer we never got by Wednesday if the rumours are true although at the mo' it looks and feels like it's about to pour down!! :)