Happy Birthday !!!

This is an 8x8 scalloped edge card I have made to celebrate ANYTHING GOES CHALLENGE BLOG's 1 year anniversary :D Doesn't time fly when your having fun?;D

They are having a Birthday Blog Hop, which I hope to be joining in later today, so why don't you nip over to wish them Happy Birthday too?

I have taken inspiration from, and would like to enter the following challenges;

Oldie but Goodie#20Lots of Layers

Simon Says Stamp and Show# Favourite stamp(Sarah Kay's Spring Blossoms/Rose's Garden)

Cards and More#28 Recipe 1Bow/2Stamps/3dp's(2 from Kate Knight/1 from Brenda Pinnock)

Spoon Full Of Sugar#154 Flower Power

Creavil-challenge #8 Wrinkled background (cumpled/sanded/inked pink floral paper)

Anything Goes Challenge Blog#42 Masking (Masked Rose's garden and overstamped with Spring Blossom)

Enjoy XXX

Dabbling with Doone

This is a collage piece I have been making, following a set of highly entertaining instructional video's by the lovely Donna of Doone's Doings.

It is a 12x12 piece, using dps from Anna Griffin and Paper Artsy, and rub ons from Crafter's Companions Fairyopolis collection. The sentiment reads "Where flowers bloom, you will find fairies"(CC rub on)

There is loads of other "stuff" I will make a separate page about later(when I've finished the display frame)

Just thought you might enjoy something a little different :D I certainly enjoyed making it, it's been way too long since I made my own art, I used to paint pictures straight onto the walls when Shorty was a kidling :D Thanks foe the inspiration Donna :) XXX

I would like to enter this piece for the following challenges;

Sentimental Sundays#57 Anything but a card(collage wall hanging)

Creative Belli#118 Tool Shed (paint brushes, haven't painted for years!!)

Allsorts Challenge#105 Things with Wings(butterfly,bee,fairies)

2 Sisters Challenge#41 Anything Goes

A huge mountain to climb...

Well the word Darcy at 52 Pages gave us this week is MOUNTAIN...a large pile similar to...

I thought of all the beautiful mountains and hills in the world, then hit the ground with a thud as I spotted the "mountain" of washing waiting for me on the landing!!

Every morning it greets me as I step out of my bedroom, each morning I shovel it into the laundry basket and wash it away....yet the next day.. it is there again...

I showed this page to my eldest(hoping for a quiet epiphany) and do you know what he said????

"Cool! Those little crumpled clothes look fantastic :) "

No, I didn't crumple him up and stuff him in the basket.....though I did seriously think about it;D

Now blogger is really bugging me cos it won't let me type below the pic, just did it on another post, but not this one so I'm of the craft and calm down :S XXX

Howling at the moon

Challenge90 at HDH Macabre Mondays, is to design a piece of artwork to be worn as a pendant. I don't have any jewelry making stuff, so I've doodled a piece instead.

The challenge is being sponsored by a company called "Kasket Kustoms: Accessories to DIE for!" (what a cool name :D)

Hope this counts as an entry, cos I'd love to wear it :D XXX

A Scrap of a thing..

This one feels like a bit of a cheat :D The challenge at Try It On Tuesday this week is to make a "Scrapling". That is to make something from one of the many off-cuts we get when trimming an A4 piece of card to make a square card.

I decided to make a bookmark with the crease as a fold over at the back. I also decided to use only bits that were already lying around on my work desk(which gave me plenty to go at haha!)

I am entering this project for the following challenges;

Try It On Tuesdays# Make a Scrapling

ABC Challenge#Vis for Violet

Theme Thursday# Texture/Layers(the purple card stock is hammer finish, and the shiny burnt orange is also textured)

Flutter By Wednesdays#156 Clean and Simple

Perfect Partners

This week the Creative Cowgirls would like to see you "geittin' your groove on!" So "get jiggy" and dance yourself into a crafting frenzy :D

I've gone for a "saturday night fever" glitterball effect, though the pics don't do the blingyness of the papers justice...The black swirly card is holograpgic, and the frame V glittery. I also added some stickles to the dancers ensemble.
The image is called "Couple" and is from our sponsor this week TELLENS PLACE DESIGNS
I would like to enter this carsd for the following Challenges;

The Paper Variety's# Star Studded Challenge

Truly Scrumptious#57 Anything Goes

2 Sisters Challenge#40 Use a Digi

Page 20 ENDEAVOUR

Darcy's "word for the week" is ENDEAVOUR.

Do you give in the first time you fail at something? Or like the spider in the old story, do you try and try again.

Me, I believe in knowing your limitations, BUT!!! until you know what your limitations are, you should just keep having a go :D

The spider web paper is from Crafty Chaos Designs, called Gothic Bruise (printed on economy setting), and the journalling on the tag is the 1st verse from a poem called "Invinctus" by William Ernest Henley, and reads;

Out of the night that covers me,

Black as the Pit from pole to pole,

I thank whatever gods may be

For my unconquerable soul.

And I do.... never give in, never surrender!! (to misquote a famous line from a cult space movie :D)

And they called it Puppy Love...

Try It On Tuesdays challenge this week is "rolling back the years to the 70's", so what better than a Sarah Kay image?

I thought my cousin Kim was Sarah Kay in the 70's. She had gorgeous floral wallpapers, dresses by Laura Ashley, and long wavy hair :D

My fav popstar was Donny Osmond, (yes, I did have his poster on my wall) and I had the Puppy Love album.

I would like to enter this card for the following challenges;

Try It On Tuesdays# Rolling back the years to the 70's

Anything Goes Challenge#41 Eyes down it's bingo time(Full house)

Tuesday Throwdown#49 Card for a Baby/Child

A Spoon Full Of Sugar#152 Anything Goes

Altered book box(loads of pics)

I've been making art journal pages(there will be 52 in total), and Darcy asked me how I was planning on fastening them together.......

I was planning on using my bind it all tool, easy! But the pages are getting too thick to join, so I have decided to store them in a box. But what box?? Then whilw trawling Hobbycraft for a bargain (yes you can find them if you try) I found this papier mache book box.......

and my pages fit !! Well they are a bit shorter than the box but it'll do :)

Bit boring though, so lets decorate it, yay!

I don't have any of that posh gesso stuff, so I use watered down matt emulsion to prime the box.

Inside and out....
Then (after letting it dry) I added a coat of black matt paint (I use matchpots)
I just painted the outer cover black, so the paler section looks like pages.

Next I printed off a selection of papers I received from Crafty Chaos Design called Gothic Bruise......

cut them to size, and scruffed them up a bit.

I decided which pieces where going where, and stuck them onto the surfaces.

Now I just had to decorate the front cover....

I started by adding a title, which I chose because of the skull papers on the inside :D

As well as alluding to the personal nature of the journal pages.

I printed an image from a Dezinaworld collage sheet, called Faux stamps 1, onto vellum and glued it on.
Then I added a few Tim Holtz grungy bits...

and I have storage for my journal pages :D (might add some more stuff yet)

Thanks for looking :D XXX

I am entering this project for the following challenges;

ABC challenge# U is for underneath

Creative Belli#117 the letter S (storage)

MAWTT#98 2B's (box,book,black)

Final set of poppies

This is the 4th and final set of poppy cards I am making to send to Janet at The Stamp Man Challenge, for her fund raising collection on behalf of The Royal British Legions Poppy Appeal

I have used another stamp from the set of 6 sheets of floral stamps I bought from QVC last christmas(no designer named)
I have packaged the cards in an empty cellophane box(originally held blank card stock)

I will put them in the post asap :D

I would like to enter these for the following challenges;

2 Sisters Challenge#39 How does your garden grow?

Stamping Vacations No No Challenge# No embossing

Do You Stack Up challenge#19 Add a Tag

Cute Card Thursday#164 So Distressing

Happy Friday 13th!!!

HAPPY FRIDAY 13th!!! To those of you who worry about this date I wish you much love and protection, and may all your mishaps be easily repairable :D XXX

This is page 19 of the art journal I am working on with Darcy at 52 pages for 2011, and I can't say enough about how much I am enjoying this exercise :D

This weeks word was DESCRIBE, and the task was to choose just 5 words to describe yourself, and 5 words to describe the most important person in your life.

Choosing the person was easy, my hubby of 25 years(together as a couple for 29 years), but just 5 words! That was the tricky part.

I gave us 4 individual descriptive words each(practically perfect I'm counting as 1, as in Mary Poppins), but the 5th word is counted for both, as together we are STRONG. 2 halves of the whole, ying and yang etc. We are total opposites, which means we are able to cope with just about anything life throws at us, cool :D

Doing this page reminded me of a day in school, many many years ago. When asked to describe something in 1 word I said it was NICE. My english teacher derided me saying "couldn't I think of a better word than that ie; SPECTACULAR or AMAZING or ELECTRIFYING?" I replied that "yes, I did know those words, but the situation we were describing was just NICE, there is nothing wrong with the word NICE. I like NICE !" When asked on their opinion my classmates said the word NICE was how they would describe me, not PRETTY, ATHLETIC or anything like that, just NICE, and they liked me that way :D

So I've lived my life trying to be NICE :D (but just sometimes mwahahahahaha..........)

:D XXX

I would like to enter this page for the following challenges;

Simon Says Stamp and Show# Anything Goes

Stamping Vacation challenge# Every journey begins and ends with you!

Wednesday Stamper# Think Happy Thoughts

And more Poppies for Janet

This is the 3rd set of cards I have made for Janet's challenge at The Stamp Man this week. She is hoping some people will let her have their poppy cards to sell on behalf of the Royal British Legions Poppy Appeal later this year. I have decided to send her a box of 12 poppy cards, of which these make nine :D

I have used a stamp from Joanna Sheens Poppy Fairy set.

Challenges I am entering are;

Creative Card Crew# May Flowers

Theme Thursday Challenge# Garden

One Stop Crafts Challenge#130 Birthdays

My Beasty Boy!

It's Tag Day at Try It On Tuesday!! And the theme for this weeks tag is "One for the Boys".

My eldest was 21 last saturday, (I haven't seen him yet, as he has spent the weekend in Cornwall with his uni buddies) so I've made this tag card for him when he returns :D

The image is "Lil' Frankie" from Tickled Pink Stamps....

and on the back I've put a sentiment to remind him who we are :D

I am entering this card for the following challenges;

Try It On Tuesdays# Tag Week," One for the Boys"

HDH Macabre Mondays #88 Mark of the Beast(6x3, 6layers/6 sparkle cuff buttons/6black pearls)

2Sisters Challenge#38 Distressing

Charizma Cards Challenge#18 No Cards

Digi's With Attitude!#25 Make us Laugh

:D XXX

Quite Contrarywise!!

Welcome to this weeks Creative Cowgirls Challenge "Anything goes"

I've chosen to make a "Get Well" card, using this beautiful image from Michelle Perkett called "Alice's Tea Party For One"(though I've made it tea for two)
I made the "teacup" background paper using a stamp I received from the gorgeous Glitterbabe :D It is a gatefold card, and the inside is decorated with rose paper I printed from a Joanna Sheen cd(can't remember which one), while the pink damask paper and teacup topper are from my Anna Griffin Spring collection.
Our sponsor this week is Michelle Perkett, who produces some of the most beautiful images on the market, and is kindly awarding 3 images to the winner, and 1 image each to the top3

I would like to enter this card for the following challenges;

Stamping Vacation Lots of Paper challenge# Paper with large flowers(inside of card)

Crafty Catz weekly challenge#Give us a Quote/Sentiment

ABC Challenge# T is for Two or more Images

Prairie Fairy Fridays#52 Here come the Girls

Sentimental Sunndays#54 Anything Goes

Cards of Rememberance

A bit of a downer as posts go today :(

A work colleague of hubby's passed away last week, she was younger than us, and had only been feeling ill for a few weeks. After going to the doc's for a quick check up, they found she had cancer (every where!!). She and her family hadn't even had time to let the news sink in before she was taken from them. Hubby only found out as he had made a trip to her office to see how she was feeling, and walked in as her other colleagues were being told the sad news. Hubby had known her for the best part of 20 years, and considered her a valued friend and is very upset about the whole thing. As a family, we deal with death in a very open and matter of fact way, yet it is the 1st time hubby has lost someone in such a quick way.

He asked me to make a card for him to take to the funeral on monday, but he didn't want it to be sad. He says she was a lovely cheery person, and she loved flowers. So this one is for Patty, who will be sorely missed

Inside I have put a verse by Christina Rossetti, from her poem Remember;

"Yet if you should forget me for a while

And afterwards remember, do not grieve:

For if the darkness and corruption leave

A vestige of the thoughts that once I had,

Better by far you should forget and smile

Than remember and be sad."

This is the second set of poppy cards I have made for Jane'ts poppy appeal over at The Stampman Challenge Blog
For this set I have used a Joanna Sheen Poppy fairy stamp, and kept them clean and simple.

Not for Challenges XXX

Poppy appeal!

This weeks challenge at The Stamp Man is "Poppies", and has been set by their dt member Janet.

She is hoping to collect some cards to sell later this year as a fundraiser for the British Legion Poppy Day Appeal. You don't have to donate your card to be in the prize draw, but I will be. In fact, I have already made 3 more cards that I will post another day, and am planning to make more.

I have always made a point of teaching my children to respect the sacrifice made by our armed forces, so that they have the right to disagree with anything they want to. Just because they may not agree with certain "reasons for conflict" does not mean they have the right to disrespect those that died for that right in the past.

Come the 11th hour, we stand in silence, respectfully wearing the medals awarded our kinfolk during WW1 and WW2, and pray for the safe return of our forces overseas.

For these cards I used a poppy stamp that was part of the "6 sheets of Floral stamps" from QVC(they haven't put the designers name on the set)

:D XXX

Challenges I would like to enter are;

The Stamp Man# Poppies

Crafty Ann's Challenge#40 Happy Birthday

Fab n Funky#71 Put those papers away(background papers made with leaf stamp)

Oldie But Goodie#18 Say It with Flowers

Indulge yourself!!!

OMG!!! I don't believe it!!!

Darcy gave us the title word INDULGE for this weeks page.

I set up this post in advance, with title and labels and date to post automatically.

Yet I was so busy INDULGING myself with my crafting goodies that..............

I SPELT IT WRONG ON MY PAGE!!!!!!!!

It wouldn't be quite so bad, if I'd noticed BEFORE I'd uploaded the picture, but noooo! I was so busy INDULGING in the silence of having the house to myself after 4 weeks of staggered school holidays, that I scanned the page onto my old computer, copied the image to my memory stick, copied it to my laptop, uploaded it to my new post, THEN NOTICED!!!! AAAAAAaaaarrrgh!

It is staying as a reminder of the dangers of OVERINDULGENCE (which I've probably spelt wrong too:S)

A Show of Hands

This card is another one for the charity shop. I'm quite enjoying making cards I don't have any use for (that didn't sound right, but you know what I mean :D).

I've discovered that, by placing a contrasting piece of card behind the scalloped card, scanner will let me scan the whole thing. It's the little things that make the difference to your day :D

I made the backing paper with a chalky ink pad with "feet" and "hands" stamps from that Create n Craft members gift set, and the "dummy","soother", "pacifier"(take your pick) on the topper is another from the same set. Bet you can't guess where the sentiment stamp came from??? :D

I made this card for the following challenges;

Do You Stack Up#18 Purple

Theme Thursday# Hands

Wednesday Stamper#Hands Up

Simon Says Stamp And Show# some hands

:D XXX

Burtonesque Zombie?

Now the Burtonesque Dolls asked "what would a Tim Burton style Zombie look like?", so I couldn't resist a little doodling, and this is what I came up with mwahahahaha...........

Still a gentleman, even though he has been overtaken by circumstances beyond his control. Neatly turned out, with a rose in hand, should he meet a young lady while roaming the streets :D Shoes polished and hair combed, as is only proper! A Gentleman should always present himself to the best of his abilities, whatever circumstances he finds himself in :D

I woulds like to present him for the following challenges;

Burtonesque Dolls#It's a Burton Zombie

HDH Macabre Mondays#87 Freakers Free For All

The Paper Variety#Let's get messy! (probably won't count, but I thought they might like a giggle. You don't get messier than a zombie!)

PS The Mistress of the Macabre has a special candy give away for passing the 400 followers mark, but only til Friday 6th May, so get over and sign up quickly mwahahahahaha............

:D XXX