I've got your back...

I'm sorry not to have posted for a little while. I've been crazy, mad busy with work. Add a seemingly never ending sinus infection into the mix and you'll understand why crafting has temporarily taken a bit of a back seat.
So today its been a real treat, and an absolute tonic, to sit at my desk colouring, cutting and sticking again. And what a treat to play with the adorable clear stamp set BB Knead You from MFT.

You'll doubtless have noticed that there are some very cute cat sets around at the moment. I think Knead You has to be my current favourite as the images and sentiments are such fun. I can see myself coming back to this set again and again.

My card was very quick and easy to make. I stamped the front kitten and masked her (she looks like a girl-cat to me) and then stamped her buddy. After colouring, I fussy cut the feline friends and pop-dotted them against the stenciled background. I'd already printed the sentiment on my PC so had to be very careful when I stenciled with Distress Ink as I didn't wanted to smudge it. Finally, I matted and layered and added a star that I had leftover from a previous card. All very simple and all very sweet!

While I haven't felt up to crafting I have been cruising blogland and noticing some super fun challenges on offer. I feel a little dizzy linking up with so many challenges but here goes:

LIM Lucky Dip - Recipe 2 legs or 4

(Or in this case 8 legs!)

Addicted to CAS

(Or animalS)

CAS(E) this Sketch

(I know, little old me playing along with a sketch challenge!!!)

Wednesday Challenge; Anything Goes

CASology: Story

"I've got your back because..."

Now, I better go clear-up as I've been a very untidy crafter today!

A quick Card Makeover!

Do you ever make a card and post it on your blog... receive some really positive comments and still think 'Naw, I just don't like it'?

Well, that's what happened with this little card made for a Less is More Challenge back in April. I decided to re-use the image and here's the result.

Better? I think so. I cut out the LOTV image with a circular die and then positioned it to the side on dimensional dots. A sentiment and a gem gave balance to a very quick and simple make.

I'm going to link-up with the lovely ladies at Seize the Birthday today. Their current challenge topping is to 'Use the Negative'. I know this isn't really what they meant but I do feel as if I've turned a negative into a positive by re-modelling my original card!

And BTW, last time I joined-in with a Seize the Birthday Challenge those sweet gals gave me this lovely shiny new badge. So kind of them!

Enjoy what is left of the weekend everyone.

April Card Chain Challenge Reveal!

No matter how much I fiddle with Picassa I cannot get a good picture of my April CCC card!

I used the 'smooching' technique to create a fun, colourful background to go with the big, comical bird but unfortunately it hasn't photographed well at all. To me it just looks like the big, comical bird threw-up on the card!

The big bird is from The Alley Way Stamp set called Bird Brain. This is such a fun set with a variety of different images to make you chuckle. I paired the image with a seemingly appropriate sentiment sentiment from Hero Arts.

I sent my card to Mynette  and received this little beauty from Toni in Seattle, USA.

Finally, I'll announce the winner of my CCC Candy: it's you Shirley B!

Well done to Shirley for correctly guessing I'd stepped away from my beloved LOTV stamps and chosen a crazy pink bird instead. Shirley, If you could please email me your snail mail address I'll organise some goodies for you!

As always I'll leave you with the link to the current CCC sign-up here and a health warning that this challenge is completely and totally addictive!

That's what friends are for...

We've got a super fun new challenge over at Naughty Or Nice as we celebrate friends! I had such a fun time with this theme and couldn't resist creating not one but two cards.

For card #1 I wanted to make a little scene with two friends leaning towards each-other. I used two TGF cuties and a whole heap of masking to achieve it. Unfortunately, my camera has washed-out the colours on this card which is actually bright and cheery IRL.

My second card is a little bit of sweet but snarky fun. This is one for a friend who may share your slightly crazy sense of humour... Luckily I'm blessed with a few of these! Actually, this card makes me think of two Year 6 girls who are regulars in the school library where I work. They totally adore each other and are everything besties should be but come the zombie apocalypse...

The patterned papers for both cards are from Echo Park's beautiful Here & Now collection. No prizes for recognising that the sweet friends on card #2 come from Some Odd Girl. I love how their happy smiles play-off against the wording and to accentuate this I added some white Wink of Stella to their teeth. I'd forgotten how much I love TGF and Some Odd Girl and really enjoyed colouring all of these adorable images. Mmmmm, note to self: shop your stash more often!!!

I'm also linking with the lovely ladies of the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge which, this week, is a Blogland favourite: Anything Goes.

So please pop over to the Naughty Or Nice blog to see what my less than angelic teamies have cooked-up for their fabulous DT cards.  If you do drop by you'll also find exciting information about how you can join us as a guest designer on our blog next month!