Birthday Balloons... Sketch Saturday Week #309

Hello everyone!! :)

I'm back with my second Sketch Saturday GDT card... the sketch is a little more out of my typical comfort zone this time but I had fun with the card and am pleased with the end result... plus, it's another in the box that will be suitable for those oh-so-tricky men!! lol Here it is...

I went with my new Balloons die set for the main elements (Jen picked this up for me from the lovely Sally at Craft Mojo while she was at the Leigh show a few weeks ago... we allowed ourselves a teeny cheat on our papercrafts buying ban as she was going to be surrounded by stash all day... and I was very happy that Sally ahd a stall there for me to cheat with!! lol) and cut a sentiment out of them to keep the whole thing as simple as possible :)

I really like the bright, fun colours of this one an think it will do for male or female, young or old in the end :)

{The List}

Cardstock - 6x6 inch card blank - Craftwork Cards; Core'dinations Gemstones for balloons and mat layer

Stamps - Clearly Besotted - A Little Sentimental

Dies - Paper Smooches - Balloons; PTI - Block Alphabet Lowercase and Numbers

Inks - Memento - Bamboo Leaves; VersaMagic - Tea Leaves

Papers - Papermania Forever Friends - Party Time 6x6in pad

Tools - Cuttlebug

Embellishments - DoCrafts Anita's - 3mm Gems

Finishing Touches - Sakura Clear Stardust pen; Sakura Clear Glaze Pen

The sponsor at SS this week is Simon Says Stamp...

... and here's the sketch for you...

I am hopefully resting up after a wonderful week with my friends (they left yesterday to head off to their friends' wedding), so fingers crossed Blogger plays nice and posts this for me!! :) I hope you can join in and pop over to the SS blog to see what Jen and the rest of the DT have come up with!! :) Have a great weekend folks!! :)

Summer Butterfly... Sketch Saturday Week #308 :)

Hello!! :)

So... a while ago, Jen asked me if I would like to be a Guest Designer for the month of May over at Sketch Saturday... and- funnily enough!- I said 'Yes!!'... so here I am today very happily sharing my first GDT card using a fab sketch by Jen... which is also a birthday card for a wonderful and butterfly-loving crafty friend...

This is a simple card... just a piece of DP, one die cut butterfly and some vellum- with a touch of sparkle and a few pearls added, of course!!- but I was really pleased with how it came out... I have shied away from sketches recently but felt like my layouts were getting a bit stale, so I'm glad Jen's offer gave me a push to try something different :)

Told you there was 'a touch' of sparkle... the butterfly was cut from a glittered paper... but I still added several coats of amazing Wink of Stella to the rest... and then couldn't resist adding a bit more to the background piece, which was also already glittered!! lol

{The List}

Cardstock - Papermill - Pale Turquiose Smooth

Stamps - Clearly Besotted - Dandelion Dreams (sentiment)

Dies - Clearly Besotted - Elegant Butterflies Die Collection

Inks - Hero Arts Shadow Inks - Soft Pool

Papers - First Edition - Summer Breeze; DoCrafts Anita's - Vellum

Tools - Cuttlebug, half a broken pair of scissors for distressing edges, Heat Tool, my teeny-tiny sewing machine

Embellishments - Flat-backed Pearls

Finishing Touches - Clear Wink of Stella

Extras - Embossing Powder - WOW! Clear Semi-Dull

This week's sponsor over at Sketch Saturday is Whimsy Stamps...

... and here's the sketch for you...

Whew... I'd forgotten how much more there was to add to DT posts!! lol I do hope you'll join in, though, and you should definitely pop over to the SS blog to see what Jen and the rest of the regular DT have come up with!! :)

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!! :)

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!! :)