Mother's Day card

Hello!.. Happy Mother's Day to all the mums, and hugs to all those who need them.

I've had a bit of a busy day and some lovely pressies - I got daffodils and tulips, and hubby enlisted the lovely Teresa's help to choose me some fab goodies from My Crafty Heart, so I've got gorgeous new stuff to play with too :o)

I'm just popping in quickly with the Mother's Day card I made for my mum - it's a decoupage one which is what she likes at the moment...

Items Used

8" square card blank - Craftwork Cards

Decoupage image - Docrafts Country Companions CD

Papers - Country Companions & Wellington Sunny Days CDs

all printed onto linen card from Papermill Direct

Flowers - Wild Orchid Crafts

Memory Box Corner Bow die (cut up) - MCH

Memory Box Macarena Corner die (cut up) MCH

Sentiment - Pink Petticoat

Stickles in Diamond

I'm entering my card for the following challenges

Joanna Sheen - Mum's the word

Dream Valley - Mother's Day

Totally Gorjuss - for Mum

So, not really my usual style, but Mum loved it and that's the main thing.  I'm a bit miffed too - I ordered flowers and chocs to be delivered for her on Mother's Day and they arrived yesterday... I searched around and specifically chose a florists that said they could deliver on the actual day, and paid for delivery when I could have got them delivered free on a different day.  So I'm not impressed really!  At least they arrived I suppose, could have been worse...

**Enter my candy here**

Hope you all have a lovely evening :o)

Flower Arranging

Well I hardly dare say it, but I think we're all starting to feel better now... which means tomorrow we'll probably wake up with a new bug!

I was asked for a couple of simple 'Grandma' cards for Mother's Day, so I thought I'd use one of my LOTV stamps from the recent spring release.

Items Used

Elegant Edge card blanks - Craftwork Cards

Stamp - Flower Arranging - LOTV

Colouring - copics

Sentiment - computer generated (Zipty Do font)

Papers - Promises - LOTV

Whimsy corner die

Pearls from my stash

Diamond stickles (in flower centres)

I'm entering my cards for the following challenges

Jellypark - Bunny Hop challenge

Fab n Funky - cute & cuddly

Addicted to Stamps & More - clean & simple

Cute Card Thursday - spring fever

Lili's Little Fairies - for Mum/ Grandma/ special lady

**Enter my candy here**

Hope you all have a lovely evening :o)

For Mum - DigiStamp Boutique DT

I'm not having the best week, but I'm boring myself moaning lately so let's move swiftly on!

I made these cards days ago, using the new For Mum set from DigiStamp Boutique, but haven't had chance to blog them... obviously it's a Mother's Day set, but the images could easily be used for Mum birthdays too and you get gorgeous matching papers too :o)

Keeping this short so I can visit some of your blogs... I'm so behind now, there's no hope of me ever catching up but I'm trying!

Hope you all have a lovely evening :o)

**Enter my candy here**

Without Words - a time for renewal

Hello everyone!

Well, what a rotten weekend I've had!  I was just saying on Saturday morning how much better I was feeling, and hoping all the bugs were done with for a while... By Saturday evening I'd started with a tummy bug and was very very sick!  Now Dex is off school poorly, I've got so much to do and I'm soooo behind with all your blogs - really sorry :o(

Luckily I made this one last week... Our new challenge at Without Words is 'A Time for Renewal' with a focus on spring or Easter.  We're sponsored by the lovely Janet at Pink Gem Designs.  I made another Mother's Day card (surprise, surprise lol).  We'd love to see lots of you join in - but don't forget, you need a hand-coloured image and a clean & simple design.

Items Used

Digi stamp - Chloe with Daffodils - Pink Gem Designs

Colouring - copics

Paper - Prima Meadowlark

Sentiment - Pink Petticoat

Memory Box Corner Bow die - MCH

Pearls from my stash

I'm entering my card for the following challenges

Simon Says Stamp - anything goes

My Mum's Craft Shop - spring has sprung

Songbird - Mama, I Love You

**Enter my candy here**

Hopefully I'll be around to do a bit of catching up with you all later... Hope you all have a lovely day :o)

I Give You My Heart - Sugar Nellie DT

Hello!  I'm here with my DT card for the Sugar Nellie blog, and you won't be surprised to see that I've made another Mother's Day card... this time using a lovely stamp from the Simply Sassy range :o)

I should really have used a different colour for her dress - I realised too late that the blue blends in with the sky a bit too much!

Items Used

Scalloped card blank - Joanna Sheen

Stamp - Sugar Nellie I Give You My Heart - Funky Kits

(also available as a digi stamp)

Colouring - copics

Sentiment - Mother's Day set - DigiStamp Boutique

Papers - NEW Bo Bunny Prairie Chic - MCH

Butterfly - Prima Papillons Zephyr - MCH

Buttons - NEW Bo Bunny Isabella buttons - MCH

Gems - NEW Bo Bunny Isabella Jewels - MCH

MeiFlower Pearl Heart in Silver - MCH

MFT Corner die

I'm entering my card for the following challenges

Charisma Cardz - use at least 5 different patterned papers

Totally Papercrafts - love is in the air (hope this counts!)

Flutterby Wednesday - 3 or more layers

MAWTT - lovely ladies

The Sugar Bowl - anything goes

Sincerely Yours - Mother's Day

Saturated Canary - good vs. evil (mine is just 'good' which feels like cheating!)

A bit of a flying visit today... still got more to do in the craft room before I pick the boys up from school, and I've promised them a couple of hours at Monkey Bizness after school too.  I'm taking my Kindle Fire with me though, so at least I can catch up with a bit of commenting while they play!  Hope you all have a lovely day :o)

**Enter my candy here**

CAS Mother's Day cards

This morning I spotted some new papers at Pink Petticoat, similar to the gorgeous Isabelline set but with pretty pinks instead of the yellow... obviously I couldn't resist... well this is me, and it's paper!  I've made a set of simple Mother's Day cards - some using Isabelline and some using the new Marshmallow set... all very similar but I thought I'd show them all anyway.

Grr... having another wonky photographer day!

Items Used

Marshmallow & Isabelline papers - Pink Petticoat

printed onto linen card from Papermill Direct

Sentiments - Lovely Mum set - Pink Petticoat

NEW Prima Divine Butterflies - MCH

Memory Box Isabella Butterfly die - MCH

Gems - NEW Bo Bunny Isabella Gems - MCH

Off for a quick commenting catch up!... Hope you all have a lovely evening :o)

**Enter my candy here**

Fluffy - My Crafty Heart DT

Hello!  Hope you're all having a good week so far.  I'm a bit busy with the Mother's Day cards (for orders and the shop), so I'm not getting much blogging time.... Should be more or less done by the weekend though and then I'll catch up properly with you all.

I've used one of my favourite stamps today - I'm not usually very good with my stamps, I tend to use them once (or not at all) and then forget about them!  But I've used this one quite a lot, it seems to work for lots of different cards and of course it's very cute :o)

You'll have to excuse the wonky photos... I just can't seem to take decent pics of anything that's not square!

Items Used

Base card cut with Grand Nesties - Decorative Circles

Stamp - Whimsy Fluffy Hanging in There - MCH

Colouring - copics

Sentiment - Lovely Mum set - Pink Petticoat

Papers - NEW Prima Believe - MCH

Memory Box Corner Bow die - MCH

Butterfly - NEW Prima Divine Butterflies - MCH

Resin flower - MCH

Viva Decor Pearl Pen in Light Green - MCH

Ribbon & pearls from my stash

I'm entering my card for the following challenges

Inky Chicks - Mother's Day or Birthday (2nd entry)

Cupcake Craft - shaped cards

Forever Friends - animals and/or butterflies/ birds (2nd entry)

Addicted to Stamps - kraft

Joanna Sheen - layer it up (2nd entry)

Hope you all have a lovely evening... well, what's left of it anyway :o)

**Enter my candy here**

Sweet Stampin' - Mother's Day/ Special Lady

Running late again!... I'm here with my DT card for Sweet Stampin', where our challenge for this week is 'Mother's Day or For a Special Lady'.  We're sponsored by Kobie's fab new Hobbycutz shop and our monthly sponsor is The Ribbon Girl.

Items Used

Scalloped card blank - Joanna Sheen

Sentiment - Lovely Mum set - Pink Petticoat

Papers - Prima Meadowlark

Bird Cage - Hobbycutz

Yellow flower - NEW Bo Bunny Buttercup Daisies - MCH

Other flowers - Wild Orchid Crafts

Nestabilities Labels 14 dies

Memory Box Corner Bow die - MCH

Memory Box Macarena Corner die (cut up) - MCH

Pearls from my stash

I'm entering my card for the following challenges

Fab n Funky - flower power

Perfect Sentiments - floral fantasia

Inky Chicks - Mother's Day or birthday

Totally Papercrafts - hope for spring

I've been into the gift shop today with another batch of cards, and couldn't believe how many had sold... there were hardly any left!  Which is great, but I really need to get much faster, or perhaps I could learn to live without sleep... and my poor house will never be tidy!

Hope you all have a lovely evening :o)

Sketchy Flowers - DigiStamp Boutique DT

Hello!  Sorry to have been so quiet this week... I've still been crafting, but I just haven't felt like blogging anything... We've all had this nasty cold, and then yesterday was the anniversary of our 2nd son's stillbirth.  I've had a very negative tearful week, and thought I just wouldn't inflict myself on you all!

Sooo... I shall try to get back to 'normal' from now on, although I must admit I'm feeling quite uninspired and negative about my cards too....

For today's card I've used one of the fab new Sketchy Flowers images from DigiStamp Boutique - there are loads of gorgeous new images this month!

Items Used

Digi stamp - Sketchy Flowers - DigiStamp Boutique

(image used twice, one of them flipped)

Heartfelt Paper set - DigiStamp Boutique

Sentiment - Mother's Day set - DigiStamp Boutique

Pale pink glitter & gems from my stash

I'm very behind with all your blogs, so I'm off for a little catch up... Hope you all have a lovely evening :o)

Mother's Day book card

So... the perfect time to try making a book card for the first time is when you've left it right until the last minute to make your Mother's Day card, right?  Well it is in my world lol...

As usual, I put off trying one of these because I thought it'd be really hard to do, and it's really not - a bit fiddly, but otherwise fine.  I've forgotten to find the tutorial I watched first though, so I'll link up to that later.

**Edit - here's the tutorial I followed, there's also a link to the matching video tutorial if you find it easier that way**

I've used one of the gorgeous new images from the Easter Collection 2 from DigiStamp Boutique - you could win this set if you play along with my Waste Not Wednesdays challenge this week.  I've coloured this cute bunny with promarkers and flexmarkers.  The papers are 'cute as a button' from Raspberry Rd, printed onto linen card and inked with 'new sprout' memento ink.  The sentiments on the front and on the tag inside are both from the Mother's Day Set from DigiStamp Boutique.  I used the MS scallop dot punch on the inside panels - I would've liked to have used the doily punch but it just chews up linen card and quite a few other things unfortunately!  Flowers are a mix of stash and Wild Orchid Crafts, ribbons from my stash - the pink one on the front is lovely soft velvet :o)

I'm entering my card for the following challenges:

• Totally Gorjuss - spring
• One Stitch at a Time - girly
• Moving Along With The Times - special lady
• Colour Create - pink, blue, sage & white/ cream (not sure if my green is quite right so please delete me if not!)
• Delightful Challenges - someone special
• Simon Says Stamp - bit o' green
• I Love Promarkers - anything goes
• My Mum's Craft Shop - mum's the word
• Papertake Weekly - one for the girls... or mum

Hope all you mums have had a lovely day being spoilt... Huge hugs to all those who need them today, I know it's not an easy day for some.  My main present (the Magnolia spring club stamps) obviously didn't arrive as they've not even started sending them out yet, but I did get some tulips and chocs and a lovely card, and we've spent a few hours at my mum's so it's been nice.  Hope you're having a good evening :o)

Sweet Misty

This is the last of the cards that my auntie ordered, I really ought to get a move on with my own mum's Mother's Day card now!  Di's mother-in-law has a horse (or horses, not sure) so that gave me a good excuse to use the lovely Misty from DigiStamp Boutique - I haven't used her for a while, isn't she sweet?

The papers are from the digi set Oh So Shabby from Raspberry Rd, printed onto linen card and lightly inked around the edges with antique linen distress ink.  I've had my eye on Raspberry Rd papers for a while, but I couldn't work out whether it was ok to sell the cards I made with them - finally got round to sending them an email at the weekend and had a speedy reply back saying individual handmade items are fine to sell... so I downloaded quite a few different ones, they're all so pretty!

I've coloured Misty with Prisma pencils, although I used flexmarkers for the sky.  I've made a terrible job of the colouring really, but I've got yet another rotten cold and I wasn't really in the mood.  So sick of the constant colds, I'd only just got rid of one!

I'm entering my card for the following challenges:

• Papertake Weekly - one for the girls, or mum
• Digital Tuesday - think spring
• Simon Says Stamp - Mother's Day/ special girl

A few of you have asked how I do my clouds... now there's next to no chance of me doing a tutorial, but this tutorial is where I started, although it's actually for copics, so I adapted it first for promarkers and then for flexmarkers.  It's all quite random so mine ends up looking very different to the original, but it's a fab tutorial so a great starting point if you fancy having a go yourself.  If it helps, the flexmarkers I use are 'glacier blue', 'cloud blue' and 'blue grey 2' and I go over the whole thing with the blender pen.

Hope you all have a lovely evening :o)

Mother's Day flowers

Today's make is another Mother's Day card that my auntie asked for - this one's for her mother-in-law...

I've used a lovely flower image and sentiment from the Mother's Day Set from DigiStamp Boutique, coloured with promarkers and flexmarkers.  The sentiment was cut out with a Labels 14 die and then lightly inked with 'lulu lavender' memento ink while it was still in the die.  The paper is Dovecraft and cardstock is core'dinations - all leftover bits from my scraps.  The butterfly was cut with my favourite little Kars punch, and the gems and pearls were from my stash.

I'm entering my card for the following challenges:

• Simon Says Stamp - Mother's Day/ special girl
• Crafty Creations - stripes (2nd entry)
• Crafty Catz - Mother's Day or special lady
• Allsorts Challenge - say it with flowers (2nd entry)
• Craft Your Days Away - Mother's Day

I don't make so many CAS cards at the moment, but I need to get back into them again - I'm considering having a stall at a local festival... well, I think I will be doing it... so I need to get making!  I've got until June though, so plenty of time really.  Just need to get a bit of confidence and force myself to book it!

Hope you've all had a lovely day :o)

Bella with presents - The Stamp Basket DT

It's my regular day to post on The Stamp Basket blog and I decided to use one of the very cute Bella stamps from Wild Rose Studio.  I thought I'd have a go at a centre step card, as I've been wanting to try one for ages.  I wanted it fairly big though, so I sort of combined a couple of different tutorials I found and made this one which is 8" wide.  They're actually very easy once you've worked out the measurements, so I'm sure I'll be making more of these.

I'm not happy with my photos - the colours are a lot softer than they look here, and the flowers are not bright pink, they're a soft purple!

Items available from The Stamp Basket

Wild Rose Studio - Bella with Presents stamp

Wild Rose Studio papers - Bella & Annabelle's Meadow

Off-white ivory lace 3/8"

I coloured Bella with promarkers, flexmarkers and prisma pencils, the sentiment is from Cuddly Buddly and the flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts.  I was a bit baffled when it came to embellishing, and I'm really not happy with the flowers this way... I was trying not to add too much though, because it was supposed to be for my auntie to give to her mum (my grandma) for mother's day, and she doesn't like anything too fussy.  I might end up using it for my mum instead lol!

I'm entering my card for the following challenges:

• My Mum's Craft Shop - spring is springing
• Simon Says Stamp - Mother's Day/ special girl
• Dream Valley - Mother's Day

Morgan's been to tea at his 'girlfriend's' house this evening - they're 9 years old, I no likey!  She seems a very sweet girl though and she does seem to be a good influence on his behaviour.  It's not so long ago he would've pulled a face and told me off if I even mentioned girls though lol!

Thank you for all your lovely comments on yesterday's post, I really appreciate them all :o)  

Waste Not Wednesdays wk10

It's week 10 of my little Waste Not Wednesdays challenge, to get us all using up those neglected stamps and stash.  If you'd like to join in, just use something uninked or unused, or you could use paper scraps or those flowers you've got tucked away in a box - anything you like that needs using :o)

I also need to announce my winner from last week, and Mr Random.org says that lucky person is...

Number 3 - Sarah!

Congrats hun, and thanks to everyone who played along.  Sarah, I can't show you your prize yet because I was hoping it would arrive today and it didn't lol... should come tomorrow though.  Send me an email with your address and I'll get your goodies posted when I've got them!  Back to 'just for fun' for the challenge this week...

Today's card is a simple one - my auntie asked me for some cards and she prefers them quite CAS.  This one is for her little girl to give to her Grandma (who is my Grandma too lol).  I really wanted to make this one in pink, but I resisted because Grandma can't stand pink!  I've used a previously uninked stamp from a Country Companions set, coloured with prisma pencils, with lots of diamond stickles on the flowers.  The papers are Cosmo Cricket - not neglected as such, but I've had it ages and there's only a few sheets left now.

Also, I have a little bit of exciting news!  Me and some of the other Pink Gem Designs DT girls (Lisa, Mandy and Jenny) were asked to make some cards using a fab set of die cuts and papers that Janet provided as the free cover gift for Creative Cardmaking magazine.  The mag came out a few days ago, but I had to wait until I had it in my hands before I could tell you - I needed to actually see my cards in there before I said anything -the paranoid part of me said they might not have been good enough for the mag... I know, I know, Katina don't shout at me lol!  Anyway, here's a little look at my first 'appearance' in a mag :o)

I need to run now, because I've spent far too long waffling as usual, and I've got Morgan's parent's evening tonight.  Back later to catch up with you all though.

Mother's Day card - at last!

Oh I'm terrible - I was actually finishing my mother's day card this morning!  I'm always so last minute with everything, something I really need to try and change.  Anyway here's the card...

The card is a large 8" square.  I bought this Wild Rose Studio stamp with my mum in mind - her fave flowers are daffodils, so I always get her a couple of bunches of daffs along with whatever else I buy her.  I've coloured Milton with promarkers and koh-i-noor pencils, and cut out an extra daffodil so I could 3d it.  The (very busy!) papers are Doodlebug, butterflies cut with a MS punch, Papermania gem stickers coloured with promarkers (on butterflies), Pink Petticoat sentiment.

I'm entering my card for the following challenges:

•  Secret Crafter - butterflies
• Totally Gorjuss - sketch
• Passion for Promarkers - bugs
• My Time to Craft - mum's the word
• Paper Play - for mum
• Crafty Sentiments - mother's day
• Stampin for the Weekend - for mum
• Paper Sundaes - spring blossoms
• Creative Inspirations - mother's day/ mum
• Crafty Calendar - April showers bring forth May flowers

Hope all the mums have had a lovely mother's day - hubby made a cooked breakfast and I had lovely cards and gifts (although I'm not sure if Dex is willing to part with the chocolate orange!).  Hugs to all who find mother's day difficult.

Mother's Day turtle

I'm very late tonight so I'll keep it brief!  I've made this one for an order, for a lady who likes tortoises... so although this is actually a turtle, I've tried to colour her in more tortoise-like colours.  No idea if I've managed it, but she's cute anyway!

The image is Shelly Turtle and Flowers from Digistamp Boutique, coloured with promarkers and koh-i-noor pencils, with glamour dust on the bow.  The papers are a mix of Imaginisce and Dovecraft, with Kraft card.  You can't really tell from the pic, but the pink dots on the Imaginisce paper are all fuzzy :o)  Sentiment is a digi one from Cuddly Buddly, flowers cut with an x-cut punch with Papermania button centres.

I'm entering my card for the following challenges:

• The ABC Challenge - P is for pink
• Creative Belli - animals
• Charisma Cardz - 4 legged friends
• CRAFT - Mother's Day

My mum's mother's day card

Yay, I've finally finished my mum's mother's day card! I've been wanting to make it all week, but I've got too many cards to make and not enough time at the moment!

I've used another sweet Coco bear image from Digistamp Boutique - my mum loves daffodils so hopefully she'll like this. I've coloured Coco in with promarkers and used a Woodware inverted corner punch on the corners. The papers are from a Pink Petticoat download that I've had printed off for ages and not used, cardstock from my stash. Green Tara flowers, Papermania button and ribbon, the sentiment is another Pink Petticoat download.

I've also decorated the inside because my mum likes them like that. I've used a lovely new Prairie Fairy daffodils image and kept it very simple. The photo of the inside isn't very good unfortunately - the card is a large 8x8 square and it was a bit hard to get a decent pic of the whole inside.

I'm entering my card for the following challenges:

• Sweet Sketch Wednesday - another lovely sketch
• Secret Crafter - anything goes
• One Stop Craft Challenge - spots and dots
• Challenge Up Your Life - flowers
• Bee Crafty - spring
• Teddy Stampers - to mother, with love
• Daring Cardmakers - a host of golden daffodils

I actually started this card intending to enter it for the Just Cute Bears challenge which was mother's day, but I'm too late by a couple of hours - oops!

Mother's Day card

I've made this card for my MIL for mother's day - I love making cards for MIL because she's always really pleased with them :o) My mum is slightly more difficult - haven't made her card yet!

I've used a sweet Elizabeth Bell digistamp, coloured with promarkers (surprise surprise lol). Cream scalloped card blank from Craftwork Cards, red cardstock from my stash and Cosmo Cricket paper. The lace was a recent bargain find from a local market stall - 3 metre lengths for 50p! I bought a few different ones and would've bought more but hubby was with me! Buttons from Bunny Zoe's, Papermania flowers with pearl centres from stash, downloaded sentiment from Pink Petticoat.

I'm entering my card for the following challenges:

• Truly Scrumptious - fab sketch + 'good enough to eat'
• Simon Says - mother's day/ girly
• Pile It On - 1 colour + neutral (I have used a bit of extra colour on my image, hope that's ok!)
• K L Stampin n Scrappin - buttons
• C.R.A.F.T. - mother's day/ flowers