The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers #50 - O is for Old

I'm delighted to have found time to play along with The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers today. Dearest Edna is looking a little older than usual...

And has a little snow on the roof as the saying goes!

Here's my card featuring my favourite AI character 'Jean'. I've discovered that Jean doesn't appear to be available to purchase at AI now which I think is a pity as she's such a fun old girl.

As always the lovely Jean was enormous fun to colour and fussy cut. I did a little stencilling to create a simple background and then used my dies to create the speech bubble and layering.

I'm off to take a look at the other entries for this challenge as I love all the snarky fun that's always on offer over at The Sisterhood!

Clean and Simple.

I like to play along with Seize the Birthday whenever I get the opportunity. The current challenge has extra toppings of 'Clean and Simple' so I decided to hit the craft room!

To make my card base I sponged white card with Distress Inks and then used Versamark to stamp Etched Flower Background from My Favorite Things. I used Winter Wonderland embossing powder which means the flower outlines look wonderfully twinkly. A little die cutting with 'Sending' from Simon Says Stamp, a raised sentiment plus a scattering of sequins and my cards was finished.

It's such a shame that the photographs are so poor as this really is a very pretty card. I just couldn't get my card finished in time to catch the better light levels. And I can't offer to re-photograph it as I've already posted this card to a former colleague who is celebrating her birthday tomorrow!

I'm also linking to Time Out Challenges #47 as their Birthday themed challenge has an optional 'technical twist' of sponging. This is a new blog for me and I'm loving the DT cards for this challenge.

Happy crafting everyone!

Naughty or Nice Challenge #23: Let's get silly!

The Troublemakers have got their 'sillies' on this month and would love for you to join us in some New Year funny business!

Once again, Danielle's fun graphic really hits the spot!

And here's my offering...

I love the sweet, punny humour of this clear stamp from Avery Elle and hope it tickles your funny bone as much as it does mine! Who would have guessed that Vikings could be so cute.

This was such a quick and easy card to assemble once I'd finished colouring. A little die-cutting and some stamping, then I used dimensional dots to lift the Viking and added a heart. I also added some Diamond Glaze to his horns for extra fun!

I may put this away for my hubby's Valentine card... Or I may just rush downstairs and give it him now!

To see what my teamies have created and to get silly with our current challenge please drop by at Naughty or Nice. 

House of Cards January Challenge - Use embossing and/or colours

Happy New Year everyone!

We're getting 2016 off to a great start over at House of Cards today with a technique and a colour challenge all rolled into one!

Isn't this a gorgeous graphic? I love the colours and was delighted to find some card to match the darkest green of the palette. 

This little stamp set stole my heart when I spotted it over at Make the Day Special. Adorable or what!

I wasn't sure how to colour the alpaca so did a little Googling and found this crazy picture. It's official: Alpacas are cute!

Our technique for January is embossing. I used an oldie but goodie embossing folder plus I heat embossed the wording... Job done!

As always there's plenty of inspiration to see over at House of Cards so why not take a look and join in our January Challenge?

Ho Ho Ho!

Happy Christmas everyone!

A bear is for Christmas and not just birthdays...

Before I get to today's card I just want to say a big, and truly heartfelt, 'thank you' for all your supportive comments on the post where I talked about my problems with atypical face pain. You are all so kind.

I'm sorry this isn't the best photograph but I literally grabbed the camera and started clicking as soon as a teeny, tiny ray of sunshine hit my desk!

I knew I wanted to try a 'no colouring' style card after seeing some great inspiration dotted around blogland. I had a few ideas floating around in my head but needed this post on Maureen Merritt's stunning blog, Mama Mo, to give me my light-bulb moment!

The background was created very speedily using Hero Arts' beautiful Star Galaxy coloured with Distress Inks, which I blended on the stamp using sponge. The bears are from MFT Birthday Bears and the sentiment from Mama Elephant Merry Greetings both of which were purchased from Make the Day Special... Or as I like to think of it: Make the Jo Poor! Seriously people, I have noooo willpower when it comes to stamp shopping. The gifts were paper pieced from some pretty little scraps and then the ribbons and bows received a Wink or two of Stella.

I like the fact that there are three bears and that the sentiment has three words!

Now, I'm off to take a look at Day 5 of Taheerah's Advent Caledar Extravaganza, which I am loving!