Oodles of Doodles

I made this card for this week's Limited Supply Challenge and it ended up looking nothing like I thought it would, that is happening to me a lot lately.

I really disliked Doodle This in the Spring Mini but then I ended up ordering it with the half price offer of buy Polka Dots and Paisley, along with matching wheel and paper and get a set for half price. I was going to order Office Accoutrements, but then with a rush of blood to the head, I ordered this one. I still only like this flower though and I think it will date quite quickly but for $15, I figure it doesn't matter!

This is the first time I have ever used Apricot Appeal as the main color, I have used it as an accent before, but never in this amount. I really like it, it is such a soft orange and it seems to go with quite a lot of colors, so I think I will be using it far more often.

I am using lots more eyelets too, now I have my trusty crop-a-dile. I just love that tool if you'll pardon the expression, lol.

I have a dilemma

This card is for the Color Challenge on Splitcoast this week. I bought this Magenta stamp from ebay and I have a dilemma, I can't decide whether it is a Christmas stamp or not. I am veering towards it being poinsettias and holly, so if it is, woohoo, I have made my first Christmas card this year. :)

The colors I have used are Cranberry Crisp, Old Olive, More Mustard and Cool Caribbean. It is hard to tell but there are stickles on the centre of every flower for a little bling.

So what do you think? Christmas or not?

It's an old one!

Wow! I haven't made a card all week! Shock! Horror! Where's my mojo?

I had some new goodies arrive yesterday including the gorgeous Au Chocolat paper, ooooooooh, it's delicious! So, hopefully my mojo has climbed into the box and is having a good sleep! :)

Anyway, here is a card I made and never uploaded, it was for the pocket card class.

I can't remember what 12 x 12 paper I used, but it was such a simple card, took me about 30 minutes, and I never and I mean NEVAH make a card in less than 2 hours!

The rubber stamps are from Papertrey.

I promise, this is a one-off

I promise, I am only going to do this on my blog once, because as my son is adopted, it is important to maintain his anonymity, but I am just so amazingly proud of him. And this blog is about my stamping life and not my family life really.
I don't talk about him on my blog very much, but he is truly the most beautiful thing in my life, he gives me and his dad so much joy, laughter and happiness.
He has severe dyspraxia (I think in the US it is called apraxia) and ADHD, with very severe verbal dyspraxia and he now attends a speech and language unit to help with his educational problems.
Anyway, last night Rob and I went to watch him in Snow White and the Seven Dwarves with his mainstream school year (the Speech and Language Unit is attached to a mainstream school), he was a hedgehog, one of the woodland animals, and although I am his mum, he was amazing.
He is in the picture with Sneezy and a mouse. He has come so far in so short a period of time. At 4, he was incredibly shy, incredibly lacking in confidence and very aware that no-one could understand a word that he said. He used to cry constantly, hide at the back, fidget and not sing. Last night,at 7, he was hamming it up like a good un. He was singing on the stage, reading the words of the song off a projector behind the audience (he still has extreme difficulty with reading), smiling, laughing, over-acting and having so much fun with his friends and I was soooo proud.
So forgive me this one indulgence in talking about my family, but yesterday was a good day! :)

Design team cards

OK, I know this card is a little "out there" but it was designed around the Cactus Pink ribbon that I received from Ribbon Mad the company I design for.

I love my Cactus Pink decades dingbats stamp set that I have and it matched the ribbon, so I just had to use it. Although in the picture the dark color looks black, it is actually chocolate chip. So the colors I used are Chocolate Chip, Cool Caribbean, Real Red and Creamy Caramel.

The sentiment is from SU's Out of This World and I think this card is perfect for an older boy's birthday, kinda 8-13, especially over here in the UK where my son and his friends do not appreciate "cute cards"!

Another butterfly

OK, I promise to put this set down now, lol. I just can't seem to leave it alone!

The butterflies are stamped in Cool Caribbean and over-embossed with silver. The Caribbean piece has curly circles stamped in Caribbean and whisper white craft.

I think the ribbon looks like butterfly wings.

OK, OK, I promise to use a different set for the rest of the week, lol!

Butterfly Kisses

I just can't seem to put this set down. It is by Paper Trey and is called Butterfly Kisses. I used it today with one of my favorite 12 x 12 papers, Chatterbox Parlor Paisley and Parlor stripe.

My eyelets are so wonky, but hey, they add character! :)

Inks I used are Old Olive and Elegant Eggplant and voila, one very simple card!

Coaster box

I am a design team member for Ribbon Mad and if you are in the UK, you can find them here.

This month, Carole the owner sent me the most beautiful kit that included a gorgeous bag of brown ribbon and some really cute Cactus Pink papers and ribbons.

As you may have gathered, I absolutely adore ribbon, so it was a real honour to be picked by Carole for the design team, and I just have the best time making things for her.

I made this coaster box with the chocolate ribbon that Ribbon Mad sent me. I used Basic Grey Urban Couture papers and my trusty scallop punch.

I also used the Happy Harmony set by Stampin Up and all the bits and bobs came in the ribbon kit, the flowers, the brads, the buttons etc.

I think I am going to fill this box with chocolates for my mum. She is diabetic and so can only have a few at a time, so I get her some diabetic chocolates from Thorntons. I hope she likes it!

What's with all the baby cards?

Don't ask me why, but I seem to making lots of baby cards at the moment. I don't know anyone who's pregnant, so it's really weird. But I do love making them.

This one is so simple. Guess what, a cuttlebugged background! :) Then the baby bottle is made using my cuttlebug and the ribbon slider is Riveting by Stamping Up. If I made this card again, I think I would sponge the edges slightly, this card is a little soulless and I think that sponging the edges of an image always adds life and movement. Ah well, next time! :)

I find simplicity so hard

This is yet another simple card as I try really hard to keep my cards simple and elegant.

I originally did this in brown but I was really unhappy with it, it was so blaaaaah! It just didn't have any lfe, so I asked a friend her opinion and she said it needed some bling and maybe needed to be done in a different color.

So I took her advice and pierced a lot of the card including some of the image and I added some rhinestones. It's hard to see in the picture, but I embossed the image in Iridescent Ice embossing powder, so it is quite sparkly!

The swirl is Rhonna Farrer swirls one and the sentiment is me using my Paper Tray set yet again! :) It can be found here www.papertrey.com

I love being RAKed

I love being RAKed and who doesn't, so I was so excited to get this card in the mail, isn't it just adorable, I love it? It was from Cindy Keery and you can find her blog here http://imagine-dream-create.blogspot.com/ I read her blog every day and she is so talented and interesting, she also has an amazing ability with watermarks that goes way over my head.

But thank you Cindy, you are so kind, I love my card! :)

I love new rubbah!

Well, in this case it's new acrylic because this is a new unmounted set by Paper Trey called Butterfly Kisses and you can find it at www.papertrey.com.

I think this is my favorite card sketch, especially if I have double sided paper, I love the way it looks and I wish I had got more of this paper, it is really cool.

The butterfly is stamped in Cameo Coral ink and then the spots are stamped in Creamy Caramel craft over the top and it is then embossed with clear embossing powder, it is so shiny and cool in real life.

I think the sentiment is so pretty too!

This one I'm not so happy with. I have used Basic Grey Romani paper which I love, but I think that the stamping is a bit washed out.

I stamped the butterfly in Cool Caribbean and then I stamped the floral overlay in Almost Amethyst craft and embossed with Iridescent Ice embossing powder, but it's hard to see in the picture.

I think there is too much Caribbean, so what I might do is take the panels off and add some texture or stamping to the Caribbean base card. I think this one also needs some ribbon, so this one is a work in progress, lol! :)

A funny thing happened

If you read me blog or look at my gallery on Splitcoast regularly, you will know that I am terrified of color, I am a real soft subtles girl, I like soft and elegant.

Anyway, my friend Jen's inkpads and craft items regularly talk to her, check out her blog, it's in the list on the right, and you'll see what I mean.

Well, unbelievably, my Bold Bright ink pads started shouting at me! They wanted to be used and they wouldn't shut up! In my craft room, I have full size pads in every color family except BB, I only have the spots, but the spots were screaming at me, they insisted on being used!

This is the card they drove me to make, lol. Sorry, more cuttlebugging after I swore I'd stay away, but it waved at me and I got distracted.

The image is SU Sassy Stems and I watercolored using my aquapainter and ink pads in Yoyo Yellow (Yucky Yellow to me), Green Galore (green gunge to me) and Ballet Blue that I love, well it is from the Rich Regal family. I covered the flowers and water with diamond glaze and in real life it looks like an epoxy sticker. The ribbon is from Jody's share that I entered, I love all my ribbon, I have a real weakness, not as bad as Jody's, but bad enough!

Finally, thanks to my crop-a-dile, I am finally using my huge stash of eyelets, love these floral eyelets.

Hopefully my ink pads will stop shouting at me now!!! :)

Chocolate Blossoms

I'm sorry for not posting for the last week, I just haven't felt like crafting, but thank you Beate for the encouragement! :) I did try the Inspiration Challenge but my card was terrible so I binned it.

So yesterday I did the Technique Lover's Challenge which was to make a card using coffee and cream colors.

I am really happy with how this turned out, I even managed to tie the ribbon straight!

The set I used is Blossoms Abound by Stampin Up and the sentiment is by Papertrey and I really love it. You can find it here http://www.papertreyink.com/

I promise to try and post every day, lol, notice I am only promising to try! :)

On a similar theme

I actually made this card before the one below that was for the color challenge and I much prefer this card. It is far more "my style", if there is actually any style involved in this card, hee hee!

It's what gave me the idea for the color challenge. I must admit I am far happier with a Soft Subtle ink pad in my hand than with a bold bright, but according to the number of comments I had on my Bold Bright challenge card, others prefer me with a bold bright ink pad in my hand, go figure.

I promise for the next week, I am going to stay away from my Cuttlebug embossing folders. I am beginning to bore myself. :)

Riot of Posies

I made this for today's color challenge. It's a little bit busier than I am normally comfortable with, but I just love the American Crafts designer paper.

When you see the main flower in real life it is so bright and shiny as I stamped in craft and clear embossed it.

My new crop-a-dile arrived today and wow, I am so impressed. It is a-may-zing, I really didn't believe the hype, but it cuts through really thick chipboard with no effort at all. So, of course, I had to use it and so there are 3 little eyelets at the bottom of the card, they are quite hard to see.

Recycling!

This is the same card from March 6th, but I took some advice from a friend and rejigged it a little. I moved the flower panel onto the green background which gave me room for the sentiment. I'm not sure that "cute" is the right sentiment, but it was the only round one in the set, lol.

My favorite part is the two lots of ribbon, I just used moss and chocolate together.

I now think that the card is far more balanced than before. The cute circle offsets the flower and it doesn't stand out so much. And the "so very" tones down the pink stripe.

Sorry, I know this post is a bit precious, lol, but I wanted to explain why I was unhappy with it and what I did to change it.

Blogger friends

I can post this card now as Beate has received her card. This is the card I made for my stamping heroine Beate. She got it today, so that's brilliant.

How much bling can you fit on one card! Well, lots if you're me. You can't see but the centre of the flower has glitter in the centre and I had to use all my toys, it would be rude not to, lol.

So I used my Cuttlebug on the background and sanded it, because it is DCWV white core, you sand away the burgundy and are left with the white core.

I also used my new brads and my new Cuttlebug ribbon slider die. So the friends slider, slides up and down the ribbon.

I am so glad I decided to buy In Full Bloom, it is just a joy to use and is rapidly turning into one of my favorite sets. I don't think you can make a bad card with it.

My new philosophy today is to actually send out more of my cards, so if you are on the Blogger RAK list or on my Chatter thread (you know who you are), expect a card or gift really soon, the Chatters laugh at me, I am so behind on my RAKs. But I sent some out last week and I will send more this week, yes that means you Kim, Lisa and Carolina!

Oh my gosh, that's bright

This is the card I did for today's Limited Supply Challenge to use only Bold Brights. Now this is a challenge for me, I am not a BB girl. I like soft subtles or earth elements.

But I think this turned out OK. The 12 x 12 paper is by Doodlebug and this helped with the overall choice of colors. The colors remind me of ice cream and children and especially the beach!

Guess what? Another card that's been cuttlebugged. Wow, I am certainly getting my money's worth out of that machine, I love it. A card looks naked with no cuttlebugging on it now, lol!

Lazy card

This is a card I made for the color challenge on Tuesday and I am labelling it my lazy card. All the elements except the Cuttlebugged pieces are from the Simply Delightful scrapping kit by Stampin Up. So there was no stamping involved, just stickers!

I should definitely do more of these cards because they are sooooo cute! :) And more importantly sooo easy, which fits in with my new mantra of no stressing!

I'm neurotic!

As you may have gathered by now if you read my blog, I am completely neurotic! I'm ok with that though!

I put way too much worry into a card, it is just a piece of flipping paper at the end of the day, but no I have to turn a piece of paper into the Mona Lisa!

I am trying really hard though to stop being so neurotic and just make something I like.

Well today, I have made a card that I absolutely love! HURRAH! you all shout! :)

I love this card. It is using Imeldabella from www.stampingbella.com. I also used my new, favorite sentiment set Paper Tray from www.papertreyink.com. The double sided paper is from Pebbles Inc.

The thing I always struggle on the most is the layout of my card, so last night I decided to print out all the old sketch challenges from Splitcoast and just pick the ones that I like and didn't try the first time around. Why didn't I do this earlier? They have really inspired me.

My favorite part of this card, the frayed ribbon! :) It is the Technique Lover's Challenge this week and I think the frayed ribbon really looks like hair! I know, I know, it doesn't really, but I think it does.

I didn't like this stamp

I bought this stamp on my shopping expedition on Saturday and I got it home and decided I didn't like it any more. It is Aspire by Penny Black and I thought it was one of their brushstroke stamps, but it isn't, it's tiny little flowers.

But then Jody (TexasJodyLynn) showed me some cards she had made with the set and it was the one that I had liked when she had made her cards, so I had bought the right stamp.

You just have to use water to spray on the stamp to make it run slightly. So this is my first attempt with the stamp. I'm not 100% happy with it, but then as you are learning if you read my blog, I tend not to be happy with a lot that I make, lol. The ribbon and the layered piece are chocolate not black!

I do like the cuttlebugged piece, but I didn't make the stamp run enough. And wow, I am finally using my primas! Don't hoard is my mantra at the moment, because I just get bored with things so quickly, I need to use them up!

I nearly exploded!

Oh my goodness! Look what I got in the mail today! I nearly exploded with excitement! lol! This beautiful card is from Beate, thank you so much, I love it!

Beate also wrote the most gorgeous note inside the card too. Wow, just wow! Thank you Beate, I was so touched!

Now I have to get over my insecurity and send one to you! Consider it done! Great big hugs, sweetie!

ATC swap

I have finally done it. This is the ATC for the swap. I think it turned out well. I love the little shrinky tag.

The paper is just gorgeous, it is by Me and My Big Ideas.

So, for today, my big drama is over! :) I have done my ATCs and hopefully I will remember to put them in the mail tomorrow.

I have also sorted out my crafting messy cupboard and I found my glitters, woohoo! I have missed my glitter.

Also, I bought a stamp set yesterday and I have lost it already. I am getting scattier by the day! I really need to get more organised in life in general, so I might swing by the Fly Ladies website for some advice!

Sorry guys!

Sorry guys, no new card today. I took Fi and 2 ladies from our craft club to our favorite stamp store. It is about 50 miles from where I live, but it is so worth the journey. 50 miles is a big deal when you live in the UK, I know 50 miles is your local neighborhood in the US :).
I bought so many cute things, I bought cute scrapbooking paper, a couple wooden stamps, some really cool skateboarding boy clear stamps and ribbon slider die cuts for my Cuttlebug.
And even better I have come up with an ATC design that I am happy with, so I am so much happier today! I'll post it tomorrow, I promise!

ATC

I am a member of an ATC swap on Splitcoast and I am finding it so difficult. Afer all my protestations of I will no longer feel the pressure, I will do what I like, I am feeling stressed.

I think it is because this is only the second ATC I have made. I don't make them, so I don't feel comfortable doing them and I don't feel confident in a way I do when I make a card that I like.

Gosh, I'm neurotic, lol!

I don't really like this ATC, so back to the drawing board for me. I am going shopping tomorrow to my favorite craft store about 80 miles from me! I'll see if I can find some inspiration there, I certainly flipping hope so! :)

I don't seem to have made much since the pocket cards, but I have put all my stuff away and my craft room is tidy again, so I think I'll go and try to create! I'm an artiste, darling! :)

More pockets

Sorry, I know it's another pocket but I haven't made anything else this week as I had to make samples for the class. The ladies loved making the pocket cards, so that was really good.

I hate the day after a craft club night though, because I still have to put all my stuff away! If I don't do it

straight away, it sits there for ages whilst I try to ignore that it's there! 4 boxes and 2 great big huge bags of stamps need to be put away!

Can you believe this is the first time I have used Happy Harmony, isn't it a cute set. I love it!