Happy New Year and a new 2011 card challenge!

Happy New Year to all my lovely readers I hope 2011 finds you happy and healthy! I have decided to make 2 new years resolutions:

1. Create more.
2. Update my blog more often.

and I have found a way to do both.

Introducing Paper and Ribbons 52 Cards Challenge.
I am in awe of those crafters that can make a card a day, unfortunately I can't keep up and one a month is too few, so every week I will set myself a challenge to create a card a week based on three simple prompts. It could vary from:

Cosmo Cricket/Ribbon/Male Card
Stamping/Die Cuts/Buttons

See? pretty simple! and to upload the picture to my blog. This week's challenge started on Monday uses the following prompt:

Embossing/Lilac/Yellow

I'd love it if any of you wanted to join in and posted links to your cards (tags or other projects using the challenge theme) in the comments, if enough people join I'll add Mr Linky to make it easier.

I am also nearing my 100th post so hope to offer up some blog candy or a prize at random to someone who has entered the challenge!

Here is my card for this week

I hope to see you next week :)

Birthday Wishes

Ugh, I have a cold and feel very sorry for myself at the moment and if one more person says 'I hope it's not swine flu' I will throttle them!

Whilst I have been home sick I have been working on a birthday card for my Nanna's birthday at the end of the month, I usually end up leaving it to the last minute and I hate rushing a card as I like to put a bit of thought behind it.

This card started off in the same vein as my mother's day card, I knew the look I wanted to create and started pulling bits together. I originally started with some pretty green K&Co Madeleine paper and chipboard butterflies and a victorian cherub embellishment, but when I talked to my Mum about my original idea she wondered if I could make something in blue as it's my Nanna's favourite colour and this is what I came up with.


I started off with the padded idea, i tried it on thin chipboard and funky foam but didn't get the little indents I wanted so tried it again with felt as the padding and it worked better than I expected. I added the MM Paperie flocked paper but because of the padding it was had a large step between the two hence the frame. If I had been thinking a bit better I should have raised the flock paper to the same depth of the padding.

I haven't used Grungeboard before but it's a great medium to work with. I hand cut the butterflies from GB, embossed with cuttlebug folder, painted then decorated with glitter, distress stickles and perfect pearls. I mounted them over some tulle and added some ribbon tails. I have had the lace for almost 20 years (I almost fainted when I realised that, how can I be so old??) and handstitched some seed beads at the edges.

My only problem is how to pack it, it's definitely not going to fit in an envelope!