Easter, Tulips and Polka Dots...

Hello Everyone!! :)

I hope you all had a lovely long Easter Weekend? I'm back with my post for March (to keep up with my target of posting at least once each month throughout 2016!!) and I have a few very last minute Easter cards to share...

I needed some cards in a hurry so reached for the gorgeous two-step tulips from CBS' new With Love set and some chalk inks...

I decided I wanted a larger vase to balance my tulips than the one in the set so used one from another favourite CBS set from last year, stamped and masked it before stamping the tulip then coloured with a very light FlexMarker for depth. I also added a sentiment from an old-faithful Woodware set.

I knew I wanted to use  some of the fabulous polka-dotty card Jen had let me have for the bases so found a few complimentary shades of paper in my stash and added a punched border and some butterflies... go me- that's the second time in the last couple of weeks that I've dug out those punches having not even looked at them for aaaaages!!! lol Then just some WoS sparkle on the flowers and butterflies and I was done... I actually made five cards altogether but for some reason only photographed three of them so for two evenings work (on rather exhausted days!), I was pretty pleased with how these came out!! ;)

{The List}

Cardstock - Polka Dot card from Anna-Marie Designs (I think!)

Stamps - Clearly Besotted Stamps - With Love, Simple Silhouettes; Woodware Clear Magic - All Through the Year

Inks - Memento - London Fog; VersaMagic - Pixie Dust/Pink Petunia, Thatched Straw/Pumpkin Spice, Spring Pansy/Pretty Petunia and Tea Leaves

Colouring Medium - Flexmarkers (mainly Dove Grey but I think I grabbed a couple of brighter blues in there by mistake too!! ;D)

Papers - DoCrafts - Forever Friends Springtime; First Edition - New Leaf and Spring Feast

Tools - X-cut Scalloped Border punch; Martha Stewart Butterflies punch

Finishing Touches - Clear Wink of Stella

Challenges: Less Is More - Polka Dots; Addicted To Stamps and More - Make Your Mark; Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - Anything Goes

Phew!! I might actually manage to hit 'Publish' before midnight and keep my one-a-month goal on track!!! ;) Thanks for reading everyone, see you in April!! :) (Btw- *how* the heck is it April tomorrow?!?! Somebody please slow time down a bit for me or I'll never be ready for Christmas... again!! :/ )

Just Peachy... :)

Hello!! :)

I'm just flying by with a quick post for a couple of challenges- CBS' colour challenge and LIM, where the theme is flowers :) 

Yep, I just couldn't resist another little play with the stunning Love Blossoms set from the latest CBS release!! :) Steph and Jenny seem to manage to come up with  a new contender for 'My Favourite CBS Set Ever' with practically every release!! lol

I kept it simpler this time and also managed to keep a bit better to the CBS colour palette... peach is not a colour I normally like so these ink pads don't get a huge amount of use... but I have to say, now they're made, I really like the colour combo!! :) A few green leaves really lifted it and provided some additional interest, too :)

A gratutitous close-up... just 'cause the cherry blossoms are soooo pretty!! lol 

{The List}

Cardstock - SU! - Old Olive; Papermill Direct - White Plain

Stamps - Clearly Besotted Stamps - Love Blossoms, Paired Up (leaves) and Fabulous Fuschias (sentiment)

Dies - Clearly Besotted Stamps - Love Blossoms Die Collection

Inks - VersaMagic - Pixie Dust, Pink Grapefruit and Tea Leaves

Tools - Cuttlebug

Embellishments - Docrafts Anita's - Pearls and Gems; random sequin from my stash

Challenges: Clearly Besotted Challenge - Colour Palette :) ; Less Is More - Flowers :)

Okay, I'm off to link up now... thanks for stopping by and I hope you'll come back tomorrow to see my take on the next sketch at Sketch Saturday!! :) Happy Friday folks!! ;)

Spring Blossoms :)

Hello :)

Today I have a quick card to share for the CBS challenge, which is Spring... the perfect challenge to use one of my sets from this month's release (Steph is clever like that!! ;) ), the unbelievable fabulous Design A Tree :) I love this set so much already... this card came together in moments and is the tip of the tip of the iceberg of options for this set!! :) {I am on the last minute for the challenge today despite writing this post a week ago... I was all ready to hit publish when I realised I hadn't actually got the pics off my camera and on to the computer yet, let alone edited them... and I've not been feeling to great this last week so it has taken me til tonight to get there!!}

I simply stamped the trunk and flowers in colours inspired by the gorgeous photos of our local Cherry Blossoms which my mum has been taking while out walking the dog, then dipped the tip of a paintbrush into my green ink pad and dabbed it in short, sharp motions on my card for a spiky grass look :) Selective inking for the sentiment, a perfect little off-cut of paper and I was done... so quick and easy!! :)

Oh, and of course, I had to add a bit of sparkle, too :)

{The List}

Cardstock - Papermill Direct - Buff and White Plain

Stamps - Clearly Besotted Stamps - Design A Tree

Inks - VersaMagic - Sahara Sand, Pretty Petunia and Aloe Vera (I think! :S)

Papers - First Edition - Spring Feast

Tools - Xcut Border Punch - Scalloped

Finishing Touches - Glitter - Wink of Stella Clear and Sakura Clear Stardust

Challenges: Clearly Besotted Challenge - Spring :) and Less is More - Makes Me Smile - this card makes me think of Cherry Blossoms, which I love and in turn make me think of my little sister, who I love dearly... plus, new CBS loveliness and pretty ink and cardstock colours always make me smile!! :) :) :) (This is such a lovely idea for a Challenge, too!!)

Okay, that's it from me for today, I'm off to link up then to bed... I've just come from a lovely Skype chat & craft session with Jen- we both ended up playing with our jewellery stuff rather than papercrafting!! lol One of these days I will actually get around to sharing some more of my jewellery with you all... I have been having a lot of fun with it lately and it's fab having Jen along for the ride now, too... think it's jewellery on the cards for our Sunday afternoon/evening while she's here as well!! :)

Oooh, before I go- I just wanted to say thanks for all the lovely comments on my last cards, especially the Harry Potter one for LiM... I was soooo chufffed to be ShowCASed over there so thank you, Chrissie and Jen!! :)

Round and Round... aka Geeky Fun!! ;)

Hello everyone!! :)

I'm back with a card for this week's LiM where the challenge is entitled Round and Round... so we need to use circles... pretty simple!! :) Although, saying that, this is not my initial idea... but I was sat at my desk playing with some glasses die cuts I'd cut a few weeks ago and not had chance to use yet when it struck me that this idea would fit the challenge perfectly... and- being the utter Harry Potter geek I am!!! :) - I just had to do it that second...

I have to say, uber-simple as it is, this card makes me *soooooo* happy!!!! :) Told you I'm a HP geek!! lol

The words are the spell to cast a Patronus Charm in the HP books... which, if you haven't read them (or seen the movies!) casts a physical embodiment of positive energy in the form of an animal (the person's Patronus) to protect them and others from the soul-sucking, evil Dementors :) So I thought this would be a perfect Good Luck/Thinking of You type card for a fellow HP geek!! :)

The words were created from an alpha stamp set and I hand drew the lightning scar :)

While this won't fit the challenge, I also made this at the same time and thought I'd share it in the same post... 

I don't normally go for puns in my cards although I like them in general (I love words and language so how could I not like a good pun?!!) but I simply couldn't resist this... such a happy happy cardmaking session this one... and I am grinning all over again writing this post... this feeling is why we all make cards, isn't it?!! :D :D

{The List}

Cardstock - Papermill Direct - White Plain

Dies - Impression Obsession - Sunglasses

Stamps - Craftwork Cards - Typewriter Alphabet; Clearly Besotted Stamps - Fabulous Fuschias

Inks - VersaMagic - Midnight Black

Extras - Black Fineliner to draw Lightning Bolt

Challenges: Less Is More - Round and Round :)

Thanks so much for stopping by today and for indulging my geeky moment!! :) Hope you like the cards even a teensy bit as much as me!! lol 

Thank you so much for all the lovely comments on my last Sunshine card!! :) Have a lovely weekend folks!! :)

Sending You Sunshine :)

Hello again!! :)

I'm back for another flying visit (too much to do and waaaaaay too little time or energy this week!!) with a card for this week's Less is More, which is to use Three of something... 

I have a trio of threes on my card... I used three stamps, three ink pads and three groups of three gems in three shades!! :)

It was a very simple card, just inking the SSS circle and Uniko Triangle/Arrow/Ray stamps with yellow and then a little orange and stamping... I just needed to mask a little to extend the rays in the bottom right corner... but that just made it more fun!! :) I needed a 'make it just for the heck of it' fix badly when I made this and that was accomplished in just 15 minutes with minimal mess... and it also used a stamp from my SMS drawer... perfect!! :)

{The List}

Cardstock - Papermill Direct- White Plain

Stamps - Simon Says Stamp - Lots of Dots; Uniko Studio - Accent Essentials: Arrows; LOTV - sentiment (came with an image stamp)

Inks - VersaMagic - Thatched Straw and Pmpkin Spice; Memento - Esspresso Truffle

Embellishments - Gems - Anita's 3mm and 2mm wheels

Finishing Touches - Sakura Clear Stardust 

Challenges: Less is More - Three :)

Okay- I'm off to get something to eat now, then (hopefully!) I will feel well enough later to make my Gran's Mother's Day card... it really does need to go in the post!! :S Thanks for stopping by and for any comments!! :)

LIM... with lots of glitter!! :)

Hello :)

I'm back to share another Less is More card with you... I am so enjoying joining in with the challenges over there again!! :) This card is far from perfect but I had such a lot of fun making it that I decided I would share it anyway- here goes...

This week Jen and Chrissie wanted to see us use Stencils or Masks... I don't actually have any of the newer thin stencils (yet- I am (im)patiently waiting for delivery of a Simon Says Stamp order that should remedy that!!) but really wanted to try that type of thing... so I used the only one I had, which I created myself on my Cricut a couple of years ago (for this card) with an improvised paper circle mask and some acrylic paints. Only trouble was, as the stencil's Doeflex, it's actually a bit thick for using with the paints... so I have blobby hearts :( But I still kinda love it :)

I doused the paint in Glamour Dust before it dried and then, in an attempt to camouflage the blobbiness a bit, I went around the hears and filled in the rest of the circle with lashings of Clear Wink of Stella... didn't work fabulously but it's definitely sparkly!! lol

Such pretty sparkle... I don't think I've made a card without my Wink of Stella since I got it- and that's fine by me!! :)

{The List}

Cardstock - Papermill Direct - Black Smooth

Heart Stencil - homemade 

Colouring Medium - Docrafts - Artiste Acrylic Paint - Lagoon and Blackberry

Dies - Nestie Circle; Simon Says Stamp - Holiday Shapes (little heart); MFT Die-namics - Happy Hellos

Tools - Cuttlebug, sponge aplicators

Embellishments - Glamour Dust

Finishing Touches - Clear Wink of Stella

I'm entering this over at Less is More - Masking or Stencilling :)

Okay, so that's me done- I hope you'll excuse the blobby hearts and just enjoy the fun design along with me for this one!! :) Thanks so much for stopping by today!! :)

An easter card? This early?!

Hello again everyone!! :)

I'm back at last with another LIM card... wasn't sure I would make it this week as I first had to wait for my new cardstock (ordered last week!!) to arrive so I could put my card together, then had to wait for my body to stop messing me about so I felt well enough to get the pics taken... oh, yes- and there might have been a Skype chat with Jen and a CBS release that took up most of Wednesday evening too... !! ;) But I'm here now, so I'll get to the point...

Jen and Chrissie asked for Yellow and Green cards this week... at first my mind flew to tulips and daffodils... but then I started really thinking about all the unused stamps I had uncovered in the last week for mine and Jen's challenge (more on that later!) and I remembered this little LOTV bunny :)

He's simply coloured with Pro and FlexMarkers, edged with yellow ink, embellished with some Mimosa seam binding then added to a Lime Green card blank with a bit of Wink of Stella on the flowers to finish... nice and easy... I think this may be my grandparents' Easter card :) Must be a record for me to have an easter card made more than six weeks early!! lol

{The List}

A6 Top-fold card blank - Papermill Direct Lime Green

Stamps: Image - Lili of the Valley - Spring Swing; Sentiment - Clearly Besotted Stamps - Spring Blooms

Ink - Memento - Espresso Truffle; VersaMagic - Thatched Straw

ProMarkers and FlexMarkers (no colours, I'm afraid... so out of practise I put them away without taking note)

Seam Binding - Ribbon Girl - Mimosa

Wink of Stella - Clear

Corner Chomper

Challenges: Less is More - Yellow and Green :)

This card also fits with my own Clean & Simple Characters series, which aimed to get me using more of my many character stamps and has been sadly neglected since the first post last year!! :(

I've been busy making cards this week but can't share just yet as the recipients read my blog... but I'll be back soon!! :)

Thank you so much to those who left comments on my last post to... a lovely warm welcome back to blogland and I sooo appreciate it!! :) Hope you've all had a lovely week so far!! :)

{{ Also, Please excuse any oddities with my blog design- I redesigned my header to get a long-overdue makeover in place with some help from Jen... and I love it- much more me and in keeping with my card style these days!! :) ... but there are still a few details I haven't got to yet!! :) }}

White Wedding...

Hello again!! :)

Thought I’d just pop back in for a flying post as I wanted to add another card to the Less Is More 1000 entries effort and not sure I'll get another chance this week if I don't do it now- despite needing my bed!!lol :) So, this is a very quick and simple card made a few weeks back when my mum found she needed a wedding card in a hurry...

The stamp is one I’ve had for a while but not got around to using- after searching high and low for it online as well!!lol A few scraps of card, some embossing powder and a bit of white organza ribbon- organza is so perfect for weddings!! :) – and I was pretty much there!! :)

No colouring to keep it quick- I don’t think this stamp really needs colouring, though, which is even better!! :) Good job I never remember how hard shiny surfaces are to photograph when I'm making my cards, though, or I'd never use pearl/satin/mirri etc. which would be a shame- sorry about this pic!! :S

I had the idea to twirl the ribbon rather than leave it straight as I just fancied a change at the time but I think it looks pretty, especially as the edging shows through the sheer main part!! :) Shame I’ve not remembered to do it again since!!lol

The pearls seemed to balance the design with a bit of dimension on the plainer side of the card- thankfully!!lol

I used:

• 6”x6” hammered finish card blank
• Scraps of white pearlescent and silver textured card
• Nestie Labels 1 Die
• Stamps: Bride & Groom and ‘Mr & Mrs’ wooden stamps by Stampendous; ‘On Your Wedding Day’ from LOTV rubber stamp sheet and swirl (beside couple) LOTV Clear Additions
• Versamark ink and silver glitter Embossing Powder
• MS Cherish border punch
• White Organza ribbon
• Silver Flat-backed Pearls

I’d like to enter this in the following challenges (in addition to LIM’s Anything Goes :) ) : Truly Scrumptious – CAS :) ; Totally Papercrafts – Clean and Simples :) ; Creative Inspirations – Let’s Celebrate :)

Thanks for stopping by again and thanks for the comments on my last post!! :) Maybe sometime I’ll actually get around to showing you the cards I’ve been planning to for the last week or three... in the meantime, I hope you have a great end to your week!! :)

Ooh, almost forgot- what do you think of the new look blog?! I discovered the fabulous Background Fairy and Graphics Fairy blogs a few months ago- go and have a look, there are so many great Vintage images and all free!! :) - and used a background and elements from there in combination with some elements from my graphics program (Serif) and some of my own Nestie-style shapes to put it all together as I just wanted to play and see what I could do- as well as liking the idea of having something unique for my blog!! :) It's just taken me 'til now to feel like putting it all up!! :) There are a few things I already think I'd do differently another time... but I'm not wasting all that work!!lol 

Gorjuss in Purples :)

Hello!! :)

Well, I didn’t get back here as quickly as I’d planned again as I just didn’t have the spare energy last week as I was busy trying to get an ordered Wedding card ready for today- took a bit longer than expected on way and another but worth it in the end, I think, and I’ll share it sometime soonish!! :) I did have another couple of cards I in line to share next but this one has sneaked its way in early as I thought it was a perfect contribution to Chrissie and Mandi’s  attempt to get 1000 entries to one challenge over at Less Is More this week!! :) I’ve not been able to enter over there for a long time- which has made me sad as I was so enjoying it and proud of entering every week in the beginning, but my health has a mind of its own on that one at the mo’... Anyway, I couldn’t but respond to Lady and Diva LIM’s appeal for entries, especially with an Anything Goes theme to make it nice and easy!! :)

I coloured this Gorjuss image last week as my first entry into a MiC challenge- I’ve never been brave enough to enter before as the standard is so high but last week’s was Colour with Purple, which- aside from being an easier first go than merging images or colouring a sunset!! ;) – is my fav colour and one I’ve had major problems with my PMs despite now having every purple PM there is!! :S Seemed to go a bit better this time, though- possibly as I used a different type of card, will have to experiment with that more, I think!! :) And I made it into a really simple card with some inked edges, seam binding and teeny gems- not sure if it’ll be a Christmas or winter birthday card yet so I’ll add a sentiment when I know!!lol Need to keep my options open as my stash of spare cards, so helped by all my LIM inspired entries earlier in the year, has been very depleted by having to raid it so often when not well enough to make these last few months!! :S Just glad they were there when I needed them, though!! :)

And a close up of the image- my camera hates purple and this was the shot I could get closest to the true colour with (warmer and pinker than it looks), so apologies for the incredibly uninventive framing!!lol I really like these deep purples so, if I can get them to work and blend again next time, I’ll definitely be using them more!! :) I used Blue Greys on the hair and fox as I thought this would tone better with the Purples... but the fox looked weird so I added some pale purple... and it still looked weird... so I gave up!!lol

The List...

·     DL white card blank

·         Gorjuss Girl ‘Foxy’ image from Sugar Nellie stamped in Memento

·         Coloured with: Clothes- PMs- Mulberry and Plum, Fuchsia Pink and Mulberry; Skin- PMs- Almond, Satin, Blush and Pale Pink; Hair- Spectrum Noirs- Black, Blue Grey 1 & 5; Fox- Spectrum Noirs- BG1 & 5 and PMs- Lavender, Lilac and CG1

·         Sakura Clear Stardust

·         Dusty Concorde DI (edges)

·         Anita’s 2mm Gems

·         Seam Binding

Thanks for looking and for any comment and also for all the comments on my last cards!! :) Hope to be back before too long with another card- have a good week in the meantime!! :)

Super-quick CAS Congratulations :)

Hello again!! :)

A super-quick post (I hope!!lol) to share an Engagement card I had to magic up in super-quick time last weekend and keep me going in my goal not to miss a Less Is More challenge!! :) This week’s challenge from Chrissie and Mandi was to make a Thank You or Congratulations card- which was a very happy coincidence for me as the night before I found I needed an Engagement card for the Saturday night!! Eek- even for a CAS card that’s not long for me to come up with an idea... tends to take my brain a while to get going!!lol So, I fell back on an old design that I first made a couple of years ago...

It’s extremely simple and needs little explaining beyond the ‘ingredients’: 

• Tall Slim (8” x 3” or A5 folded in half lengthways) white card blank
• Anita’s wooden Heart stamp
• Versamark inkpad
• silver sparkle embossing powder
• a bit of spare card for the heart that’s raised in the middle
• Woodware ’Wedding Words’ clear stamp set for the greeting (I also embossed ‘On Your Engagement’ inside using the set)

 ...and that’s it!! :)

It’s so hard to get a good picture of virtually entirely white cards so apologies for these but you can just about see the glitter in the powder- it’s silver as opposed to the holographic you often get which I think is far more subtle!! :) I really like the extreme simplicity of this, especially that it has no colour- I’ve used the design for Anniversary and Valentine cards with different greetings as it’s so simple to make when I need a few cards to make more variety in my stock box!! :) I do prefer it with a more script-y font for the wording though, I think, but this was the only ‘congratulations’ I had to fit!!

Okay, I’ll stop wittering now and go have another rest!! Thank you so much to everyone who has left comments on my recent cards and I really am very sorry that I haven’t been managing to visit many of you, LIMettes and others, recently- I haven’t been able to spend very long online and haven’t had the energy to leave comments when I do get to look around but hopefully the enforced rest will start to help soon and I’ll be able to get back to visiting you all soon- I hope so as I'm really missing the inspiration of hopping around blogland!! I do hope, Chrissie and Mandi, that you don’t mind me still taking part with a card each week even though I sometimes can’t manage to visit many others despite my best efforts?! Thanks also to my newest followers- I will return your visits soon if I can find links to your blogs, and I hope you’ll continue to like what you see of my creations here!! :)

Well, that turned a short post into a long one again, didn’t it!! No hope for me!!lol Hope you’re all well and have a lovely weekend!! :)

 

Daisies, daisies... :)

Hello!! :)

Well, it’s been a while since I went a whole week between blog posts, I think :S I have quite a few cards I was planning to show you and I’d hoped to get a couple in before my LIM card this week... I’ve just not had much energy or been feeling up to doing anything much, though, so have decided before I do anything else and risk being too tired to post again, I’ll share the LIM card I managed somehow to make yesterday in a very brief patch of (sort of!!) clear-headedness... I say ‘sort of’ because I made so many silly mistakes which I then made worse when trying to fix them in my befuddled state that I clearly wasn’t very with it at all... think somehow missing areas of the stamp completely when inking up, smudges and spilled water splodges to name a few :S ...but I think it’s all come out ‘okay’ in the end- so long as nobody looks too hard!!lol

The LIMettes were asked this week by Chrissie and Mandi to create something following the simple recipe of 'Off Centre'- thankfully for me a far easier task than the last couple of weeks as I instinctively do this most of the time :) I still decided, though, to go for something very simple again (to try to minimise the possibilities for me to mess up!!Hmmm, that worked out then!!lol ) and just use one of my new Sheena Douglass stamps from her Poppies and daisies set- which I got primarily because I wanted the poppies but typically I reached for the other stamp first and I think I’m going to love these daisies even more... as soon as I have the energy I’m dying to try this in several other colourways!! :) 

I coloured the image very simply with Prismas- should have been paying a bit more attention to the shading but you can’t have it all and I needed most of my attention not to fall off my chair!!lol The sentiment is from the same stamp set, too. Think I really need to find myself some more interesting larger sentiment stamps as I don’t have many and they really do make all the difference with CAS cards!! :)

I used:

• 6” Sq. Card blank
• Sheena Douglass A Little Bit Sketchy Poppies and Daisies stamp set
• Memento London Fog
• Prismacolor pencils, Zest-It and paper stumps

Ooh, what a nice short list for once!! :) So, a very quick and easy card to make and, though there are improvements to be made next time, I’m really happy with it as a simple CAS card and my first attempt at colouring that particular image- and I do feel much happier for having achieved some small thing this week at least, which is why the LIM challenge and ethos is so perfect for me as I wouldn't have even been able to contemplate starting a more involved card atm!! :) You know, it wasn’t even until I sat back to look at it finished that I realised I had, yet again, made a One Layer Card without even thinking about it!!lol I did wonder if I should have added some pearls or an embossed border but didn't trust my judgement at the time and I think that, looking at it again afresh this morning, I'm glad I didn't... but am still wondering if it's just a bit too plain... any opinions/suggestions gratefully welcomed as I'd really like to make some more of these soon!! :)

I'd also like to enter this in the current CES challenge- Spring Colours/Image :)

Well, I’m going to leave it there and disappear off for yet another rest, I think- hopefully I’ll be back with one of the other cards just waiting to be posted before too long but in the meantime I hope you’re all well and have a really lovely time over the long weekend!! :) Thank you so much for stopping by and to anyone kind enough to leave a comment- I have so many comments to catch up on atm and don’t know when I’ll have the energy I’m afraid but I really, really appreciate you taking the time!! :)

hugs,