Shopping Our Stash Challenge #394 - Hello Cupcake.

Those lovely people at Shopping our Stash have reached Challenge #394 and have picked the fun theme: Hello Cupcake!

I knew I wanted to play along, but wasn't entirely certain which image/images I'd use. I had to complete another card first, so decided to turn the idea around in my head while I worked. I needed a sentiment stamp from the set Bitty Bears by MFT and suddenly noticed that one of the bears was holding a cupcake - problem solved!

This card looks so twinkly and sweet IRL, but has proved almost impossible to photograph.

Edited to add: Here's a slightly twinklier version...

and another.

I love that you get an stand-alone cupcake with this set and couldn't resist adding one to the head of the bear in the middle - he looks so pleased to be balancing it! The lower sentiment was printed on vellum (works so well!) and the HAPPY BIRTHDAY die is also from MFT. I've lost the packaging for the stencil, which is one of my favourites to colour with Distress Inks. I added Wink of Stella to the cupcakes, Glossy Accents to the balloon and the noses of the bears.

The current SOS challenge is open until 6th May and the DT cards are a delight!

The Library Challenge #31 - Chocolat

I'm loving the last few days of the Easter break as I'm spending my time in my craft room.This means extra time playing in some of my favourite challenges. Today, I'm sharing a card made for Marina's The Library Challenge. 

This is a bit of a bus-man's holiday for me as I'm a real life librarian!

I can remember when this book came out and how we very quickly had long waiting lists for it in the library where I worked. The waiting lists grew again when the Juliet Binoche and Johnny Depp movie came out a little later.

Here's my card for this challenge: I knew I wanted to use this cutie from Personal Impressions.

I stenciled that gorgeous Tim Holtz rose stencil again after stamping and masking. I decided it would be fun to paper piece the chocolate box and the bow. I also had to stamp and colour a second head and a second arm so that the layers 'looked right'. What appear to be dirty marks on the card are actually raindrops on the window as we're 'enjoying' sunshine and showers today here in the UK.

Thanks to Marina for this fun theme. There are some lovely cards in the linky gallery, plus Marina's gorgeous inspiration cards, and the challenge continues until May 4th.

CAS Christmas Card Challenge - Elf

Hi everyone, I hope you are having a good day!

One of the things I've discovered since opening my own Christmas card blog (The Christmas Kickstart Challenge) is how many inspirational Christmas card blogs there are! Seriously, there's no excuse for not having a whole heap of Christmas cards ready and waiting come December this year.

One that I'm loving is CAS Christmas; not only do these guys have a great badge (I soooo want to create an ombre Christmas tree card) but they also have some great challenges AND they are all about CAS!

This month their challenge theme is ELF!

I couldn't resist colouring up this adorable Stamping Bella Odd Ball Elf image to play along.

I've paired him with a fun MFT sentiment and some very old Christmas DP from the depths of my stash! He looks a little hungover - I wonder just how many candy canes he's got through?

Happy crafting, card buddies!

The Christmas Kickstart Challenge #9 - Christmas Bunnies.

A bunny is for Christmas not just Easter... Well, no, a bunny is for life, but it's a fun way to cue in the new challenge over at The Christmas Kickstart Challenge which is:

Christmas Bunnies

So break out your bunny stamps and come and play along! 

I surprised myself by finding two Christmas bunny images in my stash, otherwise I was going to 'adapt' an Easter/Spring bunny.

This little cutie comes from Purple Onion Designs and is the work of the very talented Stacey Yacula. The sentiment is also from POD. The background was created by sponging Versamark through a stencil and then heat embossing. It looks lovely, but was a bit of a faff to do!

My second card for the challenge features a sweet little Lawn Fawn rabbit out on his sledge.

My final card features some stenciling and is very, very different to my usual style.

I layered up two stencils and got all inky with my Distress Oxides. The rabbit/hare stencil is from fellow crafter Sarah G. She has an online store where you can buy her gorgeous stencils, stamps, cards and gifts, and I love just about every single thing she has for sale there!

Finally, let's wish Elf Gail (AKA Iona Bunny) a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY! She has a rabbit-related giveaway on her post.  

Please join Gail and myself as we celebrate all things leporid (bunny) in this new, fun challenge!

Seize the Humour...

I did warn you that I was having way too much fun with Challenge #138 - N is for Nerd over at The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers.

I think this card is based on a meme I must have seen ages ago. It's something we say to the cat on occasions when there is tuna fish in the offing. 

I did a little altering on my favourite MFT kitty and am most pleased with his gloves/gauntlets.

I'm inflicting my sense of humour linking up to Seize the Birthday Challenge #163 - Anything Goes and also to Addicted to CAS who have chosen the code word 'Humour' for their current challenge.

The DT inspiration and the galleries at these two blogs are where I'm heading now while I enjoy a cuppa.

Hope you are having a happy Monday wherever you are.

Happy Easter!

We're bathed in sunshine here in the UK and enjoying a lovely bank holiday.

Here's a very simple card I've made for my parents. I'm CASE-ing Lynne CASE-ing me with this card!

Have a happy day everyone, and here's what Custard has planned for his Easter Sunday. He's an old boy now, but still likes to sleep in the shade of the apple tree when we are in the garden.

The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers Challenge #133 - N is for Nerd

Edna makes a great nerd doesn't she! I love her expression which goes so well with the T-shirt.

I have to be honest and admit that I had heaps of fun with this challenge and could have kept churning out card after card once I got going!

Here are my 'His 'n' Hers' nerd cards:

Love these glasses from Paper Smooches.

And here's a little extra nerd fun courtesy of Google!

This just begs to be made into a card - possibly a pop-up of some sort!

The sistahs had fun with this theme too, and I know you'll love Queen Samantha's tea-spittingly hilarious card. So join us do and find your inner nerd!

Seize the Birthday #163 - Anything Goes!

As you may well know I'm a big fan of Seize the Birthday and although I'm sure I should be making Easter cards, I'm in full birthday card mode today! I blame the Seize-ettes for having an Anything Goes Challenge on offer.

After seeing Jane's cards featuring this image on her blog, I decided to take the plunge and order the set from Making Cards Magazine.

Picket Fence also have this image available, but with only the one sentiment. Their version is slightly smaller.

I'm so glad I got the magazine version as you get several fun sentiments in addition to the sweet main image.

First of all I made the blue card. I was going to colour the girls, but got a little heavy handed with the stencil work (Tim Holtz Roses stencil). I decided to leave the image uncoloured as I quite liked the effect.

Card #2 turned out more like I'd imagined:

I think I prefer this version.

I tried to capture the sparkle of Wink of Stella on this shot - can you see it? Nope, nor me!

Thanks for dropping by and happy crafting everyone!

The Christmas Kickstart Challenge #8 - Frosty and Friends!

Frosty the snowman was a jolly happy soul

With a corncob pipe and a button nose

And two eyes made out of coal

Frosty the snowman is a fairytale they say

He was made of snow but the children

Know how he came to life one day...

Challenge #8 is all about Frosty and his snowman or snow-women mates!

I'm afraid I've been rather busy over the last few weeks so have only been able to make one card for this challenge. However, it does feature my all time favourite snowman image Snowy by Penny Black. The tree background is another favourite stamp, this time it's from Hero Arts and is stamped in Cement Shadow ink to create the impression of being in the distance behind Snowy.

Why not drop by and join in all the snowy fun... There's a familiar Guest Elf in town!

The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers - Challenge #132 - K is for Karma

"Karma, karma, karma, chameleon..."

Edna is looking fabulous as she channels her inner Boy George today. You'll be singing that in your head all day now!

The sisterhood are drawing their inspiration from the spiritual concept of karma for this challenge.

My card features my favourite Katzelkraft cat, and some stenciling in my favourite colour. This card came together so easily and was great fun to make.

Talking of fun, why not head over and take a look at my dear, snarky sistahs creations for this challenge - you'll be glad you did and may even pick up some positive karma along the way!

Card Chain Challenge - March 2019 Reveal

Reveal time seems to come around faster and faster each month! However, this is no bad thing when the reveal is as beautiful as this!

Our themes for this month were this sketch

a bright and cheery colour combo

and Spring, flowers and friendship, and stamping or decoupage.

Here's the card I sent to Cat:

The tiny gem in the middle of the heart is green (I aced the colour combo!) and that gorgeous background stamp is from Simon Says Stamp.

I was delighted to receive this gorgeous card from longtime stamping buddy, Dawn:

It's even more twinkly and beautiful IRL.

If you'd like to see the full reveal post you can visit by clicking here and you can play along by heading over to the current sign up post here.

Happy crafting everyone!