Kwernerdesign Colour Inspiration Challenge and an unhappy cat!

It is pouring with rain here in England, and has been for a few days. My cat, who is called Custard, is very unhappy about this. He just sits looking out of his cat flap and clearly expects me to be able to stop the rain!

At least the bad weather means that I don't have to feel too guilty about staying in and playing along with Kristina's latest challenge.

This simple little 'Thank you' card is for a dear friend called June. She never forgets to send myself and my hubby a birthday card and gift, so this is to thank her for her friendship and kindness.

Once again, I struggled with Kristina's colours. I also struggled with my second experiment with chipboard. I was hoping to clear emboss a pattern onto the chipboard shape, but it didn't quite go to plan. However, it has given the chipboard a nice texture so I'm not too disappointed.

All of the cardstock is Bazzill, the stamps are from Hero Arts and I used Versacolour inks.

I cannot believe that it is raining so much, my garden is turning into a swamp - can cats swim?

Traveler's Inspiration 2#

I love the photo that Tina has picked for her challenge this week. It was taken by the very talented Anthonette Chavez and is a picture of Taos Pueblo, in New Mexico. Visit Anthonette's blog to read all about it... and to see the pictures of her visit there with her family. I have to say that I am totally smitten with her gorgeous little boy, he is such a cutie!

I decided to use the colours from Anthonette's photo, but also to use the shapes. I added the middle panel to mimic the shape of the pueblo. I wanted to use blue card to match the vivid blue sky, but it didn't look right. Instead I went for tone-on-tone, using kraft after seeing Kristina Werner's stunning tone-on-tone card. I've also taken inspiration from Anthonette's card here. It's such a simple, beautiful card and really echoes the embroidery on the slippers in Tina's photo.

I wanted rectangles on my card to reflect the doors and windows of the pueblos, so opted to use my stamp punch. Kristina created this great card over on her blog using a stamp punch. She bought her punch sometime ago, but hadn't got around to using it until now.

My punch has a similar story: my hubby bought it for me a few years ago. Although I liked it and have made a few 'joke' stamps to go on envelopes, I couldn't really think of what else to do with it.
Kristina challenged everyone to use something that had been hanging out in their stash for a long time - so I decided to use this punch!
Needless to say my hubby is delighted that I have finally used it!

Traveler's Inspiration Challenge

Don't you just adore this picture of Tina's?

I got back from Italy yesterday and wanted to play along because this was Tina's 1st challenge, even though I've missed the official deadline. If you have never discovered her wonderful site just click here and enjoy!

I love the colours of those slippers, and tried to get as many into my card as possible.



The card is for my friend Sally, who worked with me at the library for about 10 months before she retired last year. She is very stylish and feminine, and I know she will love the colours from Tina's picture. Actually I think she'd love a pair of those slippers too, but then wouldn't we all!

This is my first experiment with chipboard - it's a bit odd to work with as the surface is so soft. Any tips and hints would be very welcome!
As you can see I had a bit of trouble with my gel pen faux stitching. I will cover the bit I messed up with a gem or a teeny heart before I send the card.

I am still searching for the ultimate gel pen as none that I have tried so far seem to flow very well and I end up going wobbly. (Also I am still having a bit of trouble with my hand/wrist after being in plaster earlier this year).
It's hard to tell on this picture but the 'happy birthday' sentiment is over stamped with the Hero Arts Raindrop stamp. The chipboard is Maya Road (beautiful shapes) and all of the cardstock is Bazzill. The paper is so old that I have no idea where it came from, it's really pretty and is ideal for using in little strips as I have done here. I will be very disappointed when it all gets used up.

And here I am on the hotel balcony overlooking beautiful Amalfi. My hubby always picks the best holiday locations!

Lost, one elephant...

Its Colour Inspiration Challenge time again and this week Kristina set us a challenge based on the colours of her manager's skirt! Love those shoes...

One of my friends from work is poorly at the moment so I thought I would make her a card. I love the little elephant from the Hero Arts set and have been looking for an opportunity to use him. With grey in the challenge I decided to go for it!

How I wish I had a better camera.

Whilst making the card I managed to mislay the little ellie. It took both myself and my very kind hubby about 20 minutes to find him, he had fallen onto the floor and was hiding amongst the patterns on the rug!

Dad, you are tree-mendous!

I buy alot of my supplies from the wonderful Papermaze. They are so helpful and friendly, and have a huge selection of great products. On their blog Scrap, Paper, Scissors I noticed that
they are having a Father's Day competition, so decided to enter the card that I made for my Dad.

I love making cards for the very special people in my life, and let's face it they don't come much more special to me then my Dad! He is funny, kind and caring and has the ability to be enthusiastic about just about anything and everything!

If you are wondering why there is a robin in the tree...

I just had to put one there because my Mom and Dad have a robin that comes to their garden every day to be fed by hand. They have called this robin 'Sid', although I expect that it is really a 'Sidette' and that she has a nest close by.

Card Recipie: Unity tree stamp - Giggle Grove set, Bazzills cardstock, Dots stamps from Hero Arts (I love it so much), Versacolour inks, Chipboard birdy - 2 Crafty, Scraptrends large dot, Ali Edwards Font.

Happy Father's Day for Sunday 17th June, hope you enjoy it however you celebrate!

What's the Buzz?

I made this little card for my friend's daughter, Katie. She is getting that little bit more grown up now so I didn't want to do anything too young.

The stamps are from Elzybells Arts Stamps. Elizabeth has created a lovely range of rubber and polymer stamps that are very cute and feminine. I like the fact that you can decide whether to order the rubber stamps wood mounted or not. A great space saving option. The Elzybells blog is now one year old and so Elizabeth has some offers that are worth checking out.

I stamped and embossed the image and sentiment, and then coloured using Versacolour inks. I decided that it needed a bit of a lift so added some glitter glue to the petals. The background image on the left hand panel is Hero Arts stamp 'Dots', again stamped in versacolour. I have to admit that am totally smitten by this new stamp!

I first noticed it a few weeks ago when the Hero Arts blog went 'Green' for the week. Tami made this gorgeous flower and used the dots stamp. I loved this flower so much that I decided to make one in pale pink tissue to use on the gift for my beautiful new niece Sian. The instructions are very easy to follow and the flower made the packaging look really fancy and special. I immediately ordered the dots stamp and am now deeply in love. I think I even dreamt about it last night!!!!!