52 Cards challenge 2014 - Week 25

I'm running a little bit behind with last week's 52 cards challenge "Whatever the weather", I did make this a few days ago but have been so busy with work and the weather has not been good enough to take photos so I have only just gotten round to taking them.

Patterned paper - Echo Park. Vellum - Anita's. Sentiment - Papertrey Ink.

Cloud cut file #18294, Sun cut file #17341

I already had this card in mind a couple of days before as I was itching to use my new paper smooches rainbow die.

I cut the rainbow shape six times from card stock scraps and arranged them into rainbows, I assembled one on the front of a die cut journaling card from Lawn Fawn and layered the card over a glittered sun from the Silhouette store, the clouds were also cut from vellum on my silhouette using the Echo Park cloud cut file that matches the background paper, I simply duplicated the image, made one slightly smaller and changed the cut line to dotted lines and it mimics stitched clouds.

The sentiment was stamped with an ancient rainbow pigment pad I found in my stash using the PTI Up, Up and Away sentiment set which was then embossed with clear embossing powder on vellum which was overlaid on card. Oh! I forgot to mention that I sewed a little border on the edge of my card stock and went over the printed raindrops with glossy accents. It really is a cheerful card :)

One last thing I thought I would share is a picture I found from a couple of weeks ago of some more crafty goodies I purchased, i'm such a naughty girl!

I have wanted the dainty bow dies for such a long time as well as the Lawn Fawn Let's Polka 6x6 pad, those yummy neon Freckled Fawn enameled dots and how sparkly are those Prima embellishments? I hope I have some time this week for some serious crafting.

Lastly, I created this card from the scraps and pieces I had on my desk from this card.

Happy hump day everyone x 

52 Cards Challenge 2014 - Week 13

March seems like it has been such a long month, I guess it's because February was so short, but even with it being a long month I have not really had much time to craft, or take photographs it seems, I made this card for the 52 Cards Challenge on Monday and have only just got around to photographing it.

Patterned paper and die cuts - Crate Paper. Stamps and Die - Avery Elle

(via Make the Day Special) Resin embellishment - Etsy.

Fortunately this came together quite quickly, although I decided to die cut some foam tape for the sentiment and got it all stuck in my lovely new die! I'm looking forward to make a few sets of cards using the lovely Simply Said - Hello stamps and dies over the next couple of weeks.

I hope you have had a relaxing weekend,

Ang.

Happy Tuesday and 52 Cards Challenge - Week 12

Isn't the weather wonderful? Spring has truly sprung, the burst of colour from spring blooms, the shock of pink from the cherry and almond trees, green grass and the dawn chorus, it has to be my favourite season!

Without further ado, here is my entry for this week's 52 cards challenge;

and here is the inspiration image

Now, I am going to admit to cheating a little with this challenge, the card was already in process, all the pieces were ready, it just hadn't been assembled, plus it kinda goes with the orange and the yellow in the inspiration picture.

This is a card for my mother-in-law, whilst I like the colours I am not too happy with the Coming Up Roses stamping, I just can't seem to find the right balance with it. I bought the gathered fabric ribbon on sale, it was the only colour they had that I liked, after using it on this card I knew I needed some more and luckily when I went back they also had it in white, it adds such a soft feminine touch.

Speaking of spring, I thought I would share some of my favourite spring photographs from my hometown.

Happy Tuesday, I hope spring has sprung in your neck of the woods!

Ang x

52 Cards challenge 2014 - Week 10

I am running so behind just lately. Here are my entries for this week's 52 Cards Challenge, the prompts are wood, plastic and stickers.

Paper - Oh Darling, The Pier, Crate Paper. American Crafts. Flair - American 

Crafts. Enamel Dots - MME. Washi tape - Hema. Stamp and dies - Papertrey Ink

 Paper and Stickers- Party Day, Crate Paper. Wooden Stars - Studio Calico

Die - Papertrey Ink. Ribbon - Etsy.

I have been having fun with my recent Crate Paper purchases! I think they have to be my favourite manufacturer, it's helped that TK Maxx and Homesense have been carrying a number of their items, along with some great American Crafts stuff.

I've also been lucky enough to acquire some more Wplus9 stamps and dies courtesy of Make the Day Special, it's dangerous to shop there! The other Crate Paper loveliness is from Sarah's Cards.

At Homesense I also picked up some washi tape with mixed prints on it including gorgeous doilies in silver and gold for £2.99. As far as the chalkboard stuff goes I think this is a new line in with other stores, except the price is quite a bit cheaper here.

These are some other little bits I picked up, 1-3 are all from the 99p store 4-5 from The Works and 6 is from Hobbycraft. Tiny sequins for shaker cards, mica looking glittery stuff, microbeads in darling little bottles, cameos, rose ribbon and some gorgeous pearl and diamante embellishments that I'm going to be forced to use (I just want to look at them!). I will add that these purchases are over the space of the past month!

Anyway, nearly bedtime, hope you had a lovely sunshiney weekend.

Ang.

52 Cards Challenge 2014 - Week 9/Taking Inspiration..

For the 52 Cards Challenge this week Nat has chosen the following picture of a beautifully decorated cake as our inspiration.

Elements to be inspired by in this pic:

• Colours - white/mint/pink/gold 
• Embossing 
• Doilies
• Ruffles/pleating
• Ribbon
• Fancy buttons/brads
• Pearls 
• Dimensional flowers

All of these elements spoke to me and said 'Mothers Day Card' (Mothers Day in the UK is on Sunday the 30th of March) I had also been reading one of my favourite blogs by a wonderful Polish cardmaker,  Dorota_MK who makes the most stunningly beautiful cards, tags and projects, I decided that I would also make the card inspired by her style, taking elements from a number of her recent projects and this is what I came up with!

To me that equated to lots of layers and little details like the distressed edges, the vellum doily, the gold glitter swirls, sigh, I really enjoyed making this. It's not my usual style but I loved using some of the pretty embellishments I have accumulated over the years and my silhouette certainly got a workout with the swirls, feathers and rose. I wish I had as much time to devote to every card as I did on this. I think my mum is going to love it!

I need to plan something similar for my Mother-In-Law so watch this space! I am also having fun with Chalkboard products that I hope to share later in the week.

Thanks for reading,

Ang.

52 Cards Challenge 2014 - Week 7

Just popping in to share my card for this week's 52 Cards Challenge.

Card - Bazzill. Watercolour Paper - Winsor and Newton. Stamps - PTI.

Embossing Powder - Stewart Superior. Ink - Ranger, PTI, Memento.

This is my take on one of my favorite techniques by Betsy Veldman. Very soft and really relaxing to create too, I just love the Larkspur stamp set.

Thanks for looking,

Ang.

52 Cards Challenge 2014 - Week 6

This week for 52 Cards, the challenge is to create a card where the vast majority of items on it are from the same collection, as Nat said, "it shouldn't be too hard, right?" At first i thought this would be a walk in the park, i have a number of collections where i have the coordinating embellishments and thought i would be able to put a card together in 10 minutes flat. Wrong, so very wrong.

Card - Bazzill. Paper and die cuts - The Girls Paperie (discontinued). Twine- 
American Crafts. "on this day, all about you" My Minds Eye. Die - PTI.

I have been hoarding this Girl's Paperie collection for a couple of years or more, I love the whole shabby chicness of it, however this was my second choice of paper. I had originally pulled out the Farmhouse collection by October Afternoon, but try as I might, I was not inspired and after a long evening I ended up shoving all of it in a box and throwing it in a drawer, as much as I love it, I think the 'farm/child' theme was a misguided buy by me :(

Once I moved on to the loveliness that is Paper Girl, this card was a breeze, I do like collage style cards but need to learn when to say enough is enough when it comes to adding embellishments.

It is a friend's birthday this week and I needed to whip up a card and gift wrap idea, fast! I can confidently say that this took less then 10 minutes but looks fab when all put together, bright and cheery.

The paper is from a huge stack of Making Memories paper that I bought on sale, and have barely even touched. I have decided to try and use the paper when making coordinating card/gift tags/gift wrap to use up as much of it as I can. The card was accented with some punched stars, glitter sentiment and glitter dots, I also wrapped the gift in the paper and used a Martha Stewart label for the tag and covered the envelope. Done!

I don't tend to get too personal on my blog, but I have been going through a tough time at the moment and am rarely able to venture outside so this has been a bit of a life line for me to 'talk' to other crafters. I just wanted to take a moment to say thank you for reading and for all the kind comments, they are very much appreciated.

Ang x

PS - After 45 minutes i gave up trying to get the text to display correctly, sorry!

Keeping it simple

Today I have a couple of cards to share, the first one was created for both the CAS-ual Fridays CFC126: Colour Blocks and 52 Cards Challenge - Pale, Glitter, Love and the second was a way to use up the scraps from the first card. I love it when that happens!

This cluster of hearts caught my eye in the Silhouette store, I was originally going to go with reds and pinks in the aperture but the 52 cards challenge helped to change my mind. I do enjoy more clean and simple designs at the moment and this is one of my favourites.

I could not throw away the die cut hearts from the middle so went with a simple cluster and embossed sentiment. Valentines Day will soon be upon us, I really need to make some more cards!

Thanks for reading,
Ang.

Edited 11th September - The design is circle hearts by Kristen Magee, Design ID #25156 available from the Silhouette store.

52 Cards challenge 2014 - Week 2

I'm following along with the 52 Cards Challenge hosted over on Nat's blog Kool Kitty Musings.

Here is the colour palette for this week

and this is what I came up with.

 Card stock - Bazzill, patterned paper and die cut - My Minds Eye, 

twine - American Crafts, washi tape - Hema.

Card stock - Bazzill. Patterned paper - Close Knit, Crate Paper, button

card - October Afternoon. Stamps and Dies - PTI. Twine - American

Crafts. Button - Jenni Bowlin. Flowers - Dainty Paperie.

I then promptly forgot i made the first one and made this. I chose the paper first and tried to work from there, for some reason it doesn't work for me, it just feels like it's missing something. Well, whatever it is, at least I have 2 cards finished!

Have a great weekend.
Ang

Crafty Templates - One for the Guys

I am a bad blogger! I completely forgot that I had not shown my Crafty Templates 'One for the Guys' cards that I made for May. Lots of lovely American Crafts Campy Trails and Cosmo Cricket Social Club, it is still in stock in the Crafty Templates store so I urge you to check it out :)

If you are looking for the 52 cards challenge you can now find it at the lovely and talented Nat's blog Kool Kitty Musings, please do drop on by!

52 Cards Challenge Announcement

Hello Friends!

Since starting the 52 cards challenge I have made some lovely new friends, seen some beautiful cards, boosted my own creativity and hopefully helped a couple of you increase yours.

It is with a heavy heart that I have decided I can no longer continue with the challenges. I could post the prompts every week, but I like to participate too and don't feel I can carry on without being fully 'invested'

Unfortunately other things in my life have taken over and I just don't have the time to continue. If you would like to take over please let me know and I can email you all the prompts so you can carry on.

I will still be posting here on my blog and look forward to creating more projects in the future.

Thank you for your continued reading and participation :)

Ang

52 Cards Challenge Week 19

Hello. I hope this Monday finds you well? Here are the prompts for this week's challenge

Green, Embossing, Get Well

Here is my take on it

I covered the base in paper by October Afternoon, inked the edges with Spun Sugar Distress ink and sewed it onto the card base. I stamped the sentiment on the journalling card and glued it down, I then cut a circular shape using decorative scissors from Bo Bunny Paper and sewed this to the card base. I didn't have any matching embellishments so I created one using my scalloped and circle nesties. At this point I realised I hadn't used embossing! so I embossed the layers of the flower :)

Until next week x

Supplies used: Paper; Bo Bunny, October Afternoon. MME journalling card

Some more challenge cards

I had so much fun with the card I made for the challenge this week that I instituted a new rule, if I cut into a sheet of 12x12 I have to use the whole sheet up, so I did!

This one uses and old Stickeroos sticker I had, a piece of a doily from Basic Grey and some yummy lace and Maya Road pleated ribbon.

More of the same but this time I added a cute cabochon earring that I had from a set from Primark.

I purchased this photo frame the other day from The Range and thought it needed a little something extra

I added some handmade flowers, gems and some leaf ribbon. I lightly rubbed over the wood with some Gelatos to add some subtle colour, I just adore the way the 'shingles' came out. The insert is removeable so you can add your own photo (the glass is also kept within the frame) I love it!

52 Cards Challenge Week 17

Apologies for the delay, birthday shenanigans took over! Here are the prompts for this week:

Red, Kraft and Tools.

I went with the tools prompt for my theme and used a miniature gardening trowel on a Father's Day card ready for my father-in-law.

I used the cute Cosmo Cricket Garden Variety paper and Papertrey Ink die and sentiment.

Have a great week!

52 Cards Challenge Week 16

Good morning friends :) I am so excited as I type this, I am looking forward to a week and a half off starting from Thursday and I hope to get some quality crafting in during that time!

Onto the prompts for this week:

Tangerine, Yellow and Garden.

I decided to use some of my lovely new Hero Arts stamps and Gelatos for this week, here's mine;

I misted the stamp with water and rubbed over different colours of Gelatos and stamped on a textured card base, added some white twill and the sentiment.

Supplies used: Hero Arts CL431 Watercolour Petals stamp , Faber-Castell Gelatos, white twill, Papertrey Ink sentiment, Martha Stewart Classic butterfly punch.

Have a great week and remember there is still time to enter my prize draw which is open until 23:59 Monday 25th April and I will be drawing the winners on Tuesday April 26th! (my birthday - yay)

52 Cards Challenge Week 15

Hello! I hope you are all continuing to enjoy the challenges. Remember, this is to help you create more, don't worry if you 'fall behind' you don't need to catch up, pick and choose the challenges as they suit you and your busy schedule. I must admit I have so many projects on at the moment, I have missed a couple of birthday's/anniversaries and I need to make some belated cards to apologise, I have my DT cards to finish and I have a few other projects on the go so I really had to use the prompts for this week to get it done!

The prompts this week are

Brights/Bling/Ribbon

Here is mine

I added some gems and sequins to the paper and a little bit of ribbon and it was finished, a nice quick easy card that looks nice qand sparkly in real life :)

Have a great week!

Supplies used: Cosmo Cricket Delovely Paper and Sentiment and Doodlebug Ribbon

100th Post Prize Giveaway and 52 Cards Challenge Week 14

Hello! When I started this blog I did wonder if it would be a passing fad and I would lose interest but I love sharing what I make with family, friends and visitors and it has really helped me boost my creativity!

I am happy to celebrate my 100th post! and to celebrate I am pleased to have a blog candy giveaway filled with some of my favourite things and there are 3 prizes :)

Prize number one

Fiskars Threading Water Punch
Hero Arts Clear Design Everyday Sayings CL342
Hero Arts Clings Hearts Trio CG160
5 packs of Studio G clear stamps and stamping block
1 Studio G wooden stamp
6 bottles of Tim Holtz Distress Stickles
2 packs of American Crafts Gem set brads
4 Promarkers
1 Sizzix Sizzlet Flourish Die
1 pack of flat back multicoloured pearls
1 bottle of turquoise glitter glue
1 set of flower earrings (just remove the backs!)
1 peach cabochon bracelet (easily separated)

Prize number two

Martha Stewart Classic Butterfly trio punch

Prize number three

Inkadinkado Paperwork Greetings Clear Stamps 97614

All you need to do to enter is:

1 - Be signed up to follow my blog if you aren't already;
2 - Leave a comment on this post :)

Entries are open until 23:59pm GMT on Monday 25th April and I will draw the winner using a random number generator on my birthday Tuesday 26th of April.
Now, on to this week's card challenge. This week's prompts are:

Blue, Stamping, Circles

I needed to make my Mother's Day card and decided to use the prompts for this week. I wouldn't normally have gone with a blue colourway but I was really happy with how it turned out. I decided to use 2 out of the 3 prompts.

On a recent trip to the US I bought some Faber Castell Gelatos and they are just fab to work with. Solid sticks of colour in a lipstick style tube, you just lightly mist your stamp with water and run the gelatos over the stamp and stamp. They give a lovely watercolour look and you can stretch the colour out further using a water pen brush or add more colour by taking a damp brush directly to the gelato and painting on the stamp. I just love them!

I had bought my mum a necklace for Mother's Day but wasn't keen on the box so I made a matching gift box and tag to put it all in and finished off with stamping on the envelope. If you would like to make a gift box take a look at my easy tutorial here.

Supplies used: Hero Arts Botanical Etchings Hydrangea stamp, Papertrey Ink Sentiment, Faber-Castell Gelatos, Bo Bunny Double Dot cardstock, American Crafts Cardstock

Have a happy week and thank you so much for reading :)

PS - All of the challenges so far can now be found under the 52 Cards Challenge page under the header.