Card In A Hurry !

So just before he left the house earlier my other half suddenly asked... "Did you make a birthday card for my Mam?"...

Well I would have if he had given me a bit more notice.

What followed was a mad half hour knocking together probably the quickest card I have made in a while. The rose image is a die-cut decoupage by Hunkydory - very handy for occasions like this. The image took minutes to quickly put together and I cut two strips from the leftover scrap from the image. While the glue dried on these I printed off a computer greeting and insert and had the whole thing put together in about 15 minutes!

I've entered this card into today's challenges at:

Daring Cardmakers - Focus on flowers

Crafts 4 Eternity - Less Is More

In Sympathy...

The challenge at both The Sisterhood of Crafters and The Pink Elephant at the moment is to make a sympathy card, something that nobody actually enjoys making but is more of a neccessary evil. I've used a flower image from the Digistamp Boutique and coloured it using the palest promarkers I have.

I've mounted the image on black paper and added a computer generated greeting. No embellishments, no bling, no ribbon, this takes the clean and simple look to extremes but befits the occasion.

Enjoy Your Retirement!

There seems to be a lot of folk retiring lately - the place I work at is undergoing restructures in every department at the moment and a lot of people are taking advantage of early retirement and redundancy packages, This card is for Terry who I have lift shared with for the past 7 years, a great bloke who is looking forward to putting his feet up!

The image is the wonderful Jim from The Digistamp Boutique, stamped coloured and decoupaged - simple but effective. I've entered this into the following challenges:

Kaboodle Doodles - a project for someone older than me

Penny's Paper-crafty Challenge - masculine

Papelitos Stamps Challenge - masculine

Monochrome Wedding Shoe

Today's card is made with one of my favourite digi images - the gorgeous wedding shoe by just inklined. I made a pink version of this card a few months ago and I've had loads of requests for different coloured versions ever since. The funny thing is I've never used this image for a wedding card!

The shoe is coloured with Spectrum Noir pens - I got a set for my birthday and I'm still experimenting with them as I find them 'wetter' than promarkers. I've decoupaged the front of the shoe for a more 3D effect and added diamantes. The gossamer bow makes this a very touchy feely card.

I've entered this card into the following challenges:

Charisma Cards Challenge - Monochrome

Stamping For The Weekend - Monochromatic

60th Birthday Card

I love making easel cards - they look so different to anything shop bought and are so easy to make. Today's card is a 60th birthday card for an auntie made in this style.

Usually easel card are quite fussy and flowery but I've kept this clean and simple. The numbers are printed from Wordart then hand cut and I've kept embellishments to a minimum. It actually looks much better in 'real life' - the linen card I've used is so white!

I've entered this card into the following challenges:

Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge - Gold, Silver or bronze

Allsorts Challenge Blog - Going round in circles

Crown Bowls Crisis!

I really thought I would have trouble with this card because of the subject - I was asked to make a card with a crown bowls theme! Panic set in because I couldn't find a suitable digi anywhere - there's definitely a gap in the marget for more male sports related digis! Then I remembered that the Jolly Nation decoupage brand had a female bowler and I hoped they would also have a man - luckily they did and my local craft store had one in stock.

These decoupage images have a lovely comic feel to them - just the sort of thing a small boy would want to give daddy. The blue and green colour scheme has a sporty feel to it and I couldn't resist adding some 'masculine bling' in the form of coloured card candi. I also coloured his hair to make him look younger!

I've entered this card into the following challenges:

The Squirrel and Fox Challenge - make it sporty

Less Is More - colour scheme of blue and green

Come and Get It  - adult birthday

Clean and Simple Wedding Invite

I've been asked to make the wedding invitations for a friend's sister and have been putting together a few ideas for her to choose from. As she is getting married abroad she wanted this to be the focus of the card so I have searched high and low for appropriate digi stamps. I found this aeroplane on a child's colouring page and adapted it with hearts in Publisher.

I used the same hearts to make a trail coming from the plane and coloured the images with promarkers.

She's not getting married until next year but as I'll have about 40 to make I want to make an early start. I still need to play about with layout and font - as my other half put it, 'Is that plane nose-diving to a crash landing?' 

I've entered this attempt into the following challenges:

CAS-ual Fridays - featuring things you see in the sky

Paper Crafting Journey - anything goes

Cute Card Thursday - clean and simple

Red Shoes..

I had a little chuckle making this card - I always remember something my Mam used to say... 'red shoes - no knickers'!!! I don't know where she got that pearl from but it has always made me think twice about buying red shoes.

The shoe is gorgeous though! The digi image is from the Digistamp Boutique, coloured with a ruby red promarker and I've added some red gems and ribbon for a touch of bling.

I've entered this card into this week's Digital Tuesday Challenge - Monochromatic.

Bright and Cheerful

Today's challenge at Secret Crafter is to make a 'bright and cheerful' card.

While watching the men's gymnastics this morning, I sat  making up decoupage toppers and here's one on the cards I put together for my box. I make loads of cards for 'mam's' as they are so difficult to find in shops, and no one I know says 'mum' so they are a good seller.

This topper is gorgeous! It's from a sheet of toppers by Kanban, which I feel are quite expensive but they are so pretty. I've added some sparkly gems as highlights on the flowers and added a gossamer ribbon bow.

These olympics are going to be a productive time if I keep this up!

 

A Relaxing Retirement

I really liked the effect of the greeting done in die-cut letters on my last card so I carried on with the same for today's card. I needed a retirement card large enough for lots of people to sign so ended up making a huge A4 card the only spec I had was something 'pretty and girlie' (obviously an early retirement and not an OAP!)

The digi is a delightful image of a lady relaxing with wine and chocs in a wonderful bubblebath - I found the image in a file called 'Digis 2008' and I'm afraid I don't know where it is from. I do wish people would label freebie digis with a name so that when you download them it records where they are from! I've coloured it using pastel promarkers and added a couple of gems to provide a bit of bling.

I've entered this card into the following challenges...

Papertake Weekly - something girlie

Make It Monday - anything goes

My Time To Craft - make it wet

First Holy Communion Celebrations...

Today's card is one I have been asked to make to celebrate a very special occasion - my friend's son's First Holy Communion...

 

I struggled at first to find any suitable images that weren't either too old fashioned or too cutesy - most of the stuff available is of very prissy looking angelic boys, and Andrew is anything but! I found this lovely die-cut decoupage in my local craft store - it only took a couple of minutes to put together! I didn't want any fussiness on the card as it's for a boy so I kept it plain and simple and just used the image and some die-cut letters.

I've entered this card into the following challenges...

Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge - Use pastel colours

Unstampabelles - A celebration card (no stamps allowed)

Gold!

My favourite challenge of the week - Less Is More - is probably what helps me get out of bed on a Saturday Morning. Thanks Chrissie and Mandi - without you I would still be in bed 'til noon! It's the first week of the month therefore it's a colour challenge - GOLD - a perfect colour for Nanna's birthday card. 

The numbers were done in WordArt and hand cut. To disguise any uneven edges I've inked them with a dark gold inkpad but I desperately need some number dies - anyone know who does them? The background is embossed using a Swiss Dots folder. I've used a matted star Nestie under the numbers and finished off with a ribbon from a chocolate box!

My Favourite Girly Digi

Whenever you need an image for a girly card you can depend on Pink Petticoat - I bought a set of Lola Rose 'Birthday Wishes' a few years ago and I've had loads of usage.

I've coloured Lola's dress by paper piecing using a lovely pink and brown polka dot paper. I've added co-ordinating brown gems and used some Pebeo Gloss Touch to add texture on the cake frosting.

I've entered this card into the following challenges:

Anything Goes Challenge Blog - Polka dots with a birthday theme

Bunny Zoe's Challenge - Girls girls girls
Make It Monday - Anything goes

Less Is More - Logo Inspiration

A very clever challenge at  Less is More  this week - to use the blog header image as inspiration for a card...

I took four elements from the image for my card  - the font (I used Baroque Antique Script), the music (on the patterned paper by Sandylion), the dull gold colour (on my butterfly) and the flourishes (represented by the ornate dies used on the corners).

Wedding Hearts

For the current wedding challenge at My Time To Craft I thought I'd try to make a version of a card I've seen in a few places... hearts decorated as the bride and groom.

For the groom I placed a grey heart with a 'collar' cut into it over a base white heart and added a 'tie' made from a blue ribbon and black pearl buttons. The bride has a white 'v-necked' heart over a flesh coloured heart and I've decorated the neckline with lace and a pearl flower.

This was a vey quick and easy card to make and would be easily adaptable for civil partnerships. Ideal for matching any colour scheme aswell.

Thinking Of You

A very productive day... three loads of washing done, a visit to a papercrafts show returning with a bag full of goodies, the other half deposited at the Stadium of Light to see the Chilli Peppers and a new frock bought for a wedding! I finally had time to sit down for a cuppa and crafting session at 6 o' clock tonight resulting in this card for the challenge at Less Is More - Paper Piecing.

Paper piecing is one of my favourite techniques and so quick to do. The image is from the Digistamp Boutique and the papers are from the Papermania sets below:

In fact this was so quick to make I'm going to make a handful for my box at work... after I've finished my mountain of ironing!

Pink Wallpaper

I love making cards using freebies!  Today's card started life as a wallpaper sample - I am always popping into decorating shops and getting samples that look as though they can be used on cards. I think this stuff is called anaglypta (sp?) or at least that's what my mam calls is - the stuff that adds texture to walls then you paint over it in whatever colour you fancy...

After matting a piece of the wallpaper on some pink card I painted splodges using paint samples and also painted some heavy paper in the same colours. Once dry, I carefully cut the paper and rolled it to make paint rollers - the handles are made from wire and tiny pieces of that rubber tubing kids make bracelets with - Scoobydoos I think thay are called.  Voila - a perfect clean and simple new home card.

I've entered this card into this week's challenge at CAS-ual Fridays - make a clean and simple card using the colour pink.

Sunderland Forever

The card for today is for a lifelong Sunderland football fan who has reached a special milestone birthday.

The main image is of course the club badge of Sunderland Football Club. I've printed the image 3 times on thick white paper and decoupaged parts of the badge to give a 3D effect.  I've matted the image on a large red nestie circle and added a red and white striped backing paper, the colours of the team's home strip.

I've entered this card into the following challenges:

Try It on Tuesday  -  Anything Goes

Cards For Men  -  Sports theme with a sentiment

Happy Father's Day

I thought I'd share a last minute Father's Day card requested by a work colleague whose dad is always helping her doing jobs around the house. Digistamp Boutique's DIY Jim seemed the ideal character to use for a specialcard for him. I found some very masculine looking striped paper in my stash and coloured Jim in using matching promarkers.

I've entered this card into the following challenges...

Fab n Funky challenges - Father's Day

Papercraft Star - Father's Day

Crafting For All Seasons - For a Man

Card Makin' Mammas - Father's Day

Blue and Green Birds and Butterflies

While flicking through various card challenges last night I came across a gorgeous colour challenge at ColourQ...

I love the pale lime green colour and couldn't wait to have a go. I knocked together a digi picture in Microsoft Publisher using a bird scene by Birdie Brown and the same butterfly I used last week by Anji which was then coloured using promarkers (Powder Blue, Cornflower, Indigo Blue, Meadow Green). I also decoupaged the butterfly, flower heads and birds' wings to add dimension.


The image was then matted on to navy and pale green paper, and I added a swiss dot embossed background, which was also matted. I finished off with a couple of card candi pieces coloured again with a promarker.

I have also entered this card into the challenge this week at Digital Tuesday where they want to see a card with a butterfly on it.