A little Tilda time!

I didn't expect to feel well enough to make a card today. Yesterday morning I just had to head home early as I was soooo poorly. I'd finally succumbed to the latest bug to hit the community where I work. Everyone has been going down with it since the weekend and yesterday it was my turn.
When my hubby came in from work he was very surprised to see me in my PJ's and dressing gown! I explained that I was feeling unwell. He wanted to know how ill I was and asked a crucial question - 'have you made a card today?' I said no, I had felt too ill. 'My goodness, you haven't made a card... do I need to get an ambulance?'
HA HA, he's such a funny guy (not) !!!!!

Today I decided that I would get up and try a little gentle card making as I was feeling a bit better and anyway, it was TILDA time!
I always enjoy seeing Tilda images and Tilda cards, but have never bought any Tilda stamps.
I love this sweet 'Tilda with flowers' image (thanks again Lynne) and knew it would be perfect for a card for my lovely Mom-in-law. Her birthday isn't until mid October but, well, I just felt 'Tilda -ry' today!

The sun peeked out briefly as I was taking the photographs, but I am sorry that they are still a bit dark.
I used watercolour pencils to colour Tilda, so I couldn't get all those fabulous shadows and accents that all you Copic and Promarker Divas can achieve. However, she looks OK and is actually much brighter than she appears here. The cardstock is Bazzils and the sentiment is from Hero Arts. I added some pretty daisy vellum, oodles of gel pen, Diamond Stickles and a tiny pearl for extra 'ooooh'!

Now here are two pictures that I couldn't resist sharing....

Isn't my little niece adorable? This picture was taken about 6 weeks ago and has been greeting me on my computer desktop every day since then. I snapped a more up to date picture when I went to my sister-in-laws a few Sundays ago, but this picture remains a favourite.
...and, never one to be outdone, Custard wishes it to be known that he is cute too!

This was taken at bedtime two nights ago. Custard is quite a bright cat; understands when we tell him 'bed' and heads upstairs. We did try to teach him 'basket' but this caused some confusion as it is a bit too similar to the other 'B' word he understands, which is 'biscuit'!

Happy crafting everyone!

Saying thankyou!

I really am a lucky girl as I have received some lovely gifts over the last few days!

Firstly, a very big thank you to the lovely Lynne for the stamped images she sent so that I could road test a few before making a purchase. As if this wasn't kindness enough they arrived in this beautiful little wallet! Lynne's colouring of that cute little Tilda image is breathtaking and the wallet is so beautifully made.

Lynne is such a sweetie, and a very talented card maker... she is also something of a dare devil as you will see if you take a look at her post for yesterday!

My next 'thank you' is for the adorable Paula as she has sent me a 'Me-Me' blog award!

Thank you Paula, that is so kind of you!

After accepting this award the recipient has to share seven secrets and then pass the award to seven people of their choice. I hope that Paula won't mind if I take a few days to 'chew' on that one before awarding my 'magnificent seven' and sharing my seven deadly sins/secrets!

I was hoping to feature a photograph of a truly beautiful necklace that Lauren sent me after I admired it on her blog a little while ago. However, there isn't much sunshine around today and the pictures that I took do not do her gorgeous jewellery credit. I will re-shoot it in better light and include it in a later post. Lauren is planning to start her own Etsy shop. I think she will be very successful as this necklace is beautiful and her artwork is outstanding.

My final 'thank you' is for my Mom's friend Pat. Yesterday at Mom and Dad's Golden Wedding 'Friends' Party, Pat gave me a HUGE tub of pigment ink stamps! I just had to make her a card to express my gratitude! My parents will be celebrating all week long as it is my Mom's birthday tomorrow, and then it is the big 'Family' party next Sunday. Lot's more fun to be had!

Mom's friend Pat has three cats, so I know she will love this image from Eat Cake Graphics (thanks Lynne - I love it!). The little fish bones are from a wonderful Allnight Media set of cat stamps that I love. I stamped the black card with paw prints from the same collection in Versamark and clear embossed. However, they just don't show up as the light is so poor today. The big flower stamp is also an old and much loved stamp friend and it's from The English Stamp Company.

I thought that this little card was perfect for The Secret Crafters Saturday Challenge #51 as the theme is 'Animal Antics'. Can you guess who the huffy kitty might be???

Anyone who has ever been owned by a cat will know that this is just 'oh-so-typical' cat behaviour!

Happy crafting everyone!

A two Challenge kinda day!

I am constantly in awe of you girls that can effortlessly combine multiple challenges to create beautiful cards!
Two challenges in one card is my limit... any more than that and I have to move Custard the cat along the sofa so that I can lie down for a while.


Card Patterns Challenge #33 features this lovely little sketch, so I decided to combine it with Challenge 50# over at The Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge: 'One for the Girls'.

I first spotted this beautiful stamp several weeks ago over at Beth's blog Inkyfingersrule. As you know I am a big fan of Beth's cards. I was blown blown away by this fabulous card that she made for a Sketch Challenge.

I hope that Beth doesn't mind that I have taken inspiration from her use of black as a background to create my card. I wanted something dramatic for this image, which is one of the stamps from the beautiful Grace Girls collection from Doodlefactory/Starvingartistamps.

I coloured the image using the wonderful Mr Holtz's Distress Inks and my trusty watercolour pencils. A little clear embossing powder and my heatgun worked a little magic and made the image beautifully glossy!

The sentiment stamps are from Hero Arts and the circles are from my much loved Kelly Pannaci set. I am pleased to say that the paper (Black tie) is from some scraps left over from a previous project - so guess who feels ever so slightly pleased with herself right now!

The other stamps in the Grace Girls collection are equally beautiful, so don't be surprised to see them all appearing over the next few weeks.

Happy crafting everyone!

Make a child smile challenge

The lovely Nikki from Sealed with a Stamp has decided to celebrate her one year 'blogiversary' with a very special challenge. Nikki is asking everyone to make a card for a child who is poorly. This challenge is running until October 16th when Nikki plans to randomly draw a winner. There is some rather lovely candy on offer too!
I began my career as a Children's Librarian and used to read to children in some of the local hospitals. This was a wonderful, though sometimes challenging experience. I have some amazing memories of these brave children so felt extra inspired to play along with Nikki's challenge.
One of my favourite stories as a child was the wonderful Danish children's poem 'Wynken, Blynken and Nod'. Sadly, my copy of this beautiful little book disappeared years ago during a house move. However, I couldn't believe my luck when I discovered a digi-stamp image of Wynken, Blynken and Nod over at the fabulous Mo's Digital Pencil!
I have a little project planned for my adorable niece with this image, but first I decided to use it to make my card for Nikki's challenge.



I am sending this card, along with the poem, to a very special little girl called Mollie.
I read about Mollie on the Post Pals website. She has a very rare condition called Fetal Warfarin Syndrome, which was caused because her mom was prescribed the drug Warfarin during early pregnancy.
I hope that this little card and poem will make Mollie smile.

Bunny-Zoe candy!

I'll be back later to share some cards, but first I just wanted to tell everyone about a blog candy offer over at Bunny-Zoe's...

Nikki's blog has now received over 150,000 hits. Being the generous girl that she is, Nikki wants to share a little candy with her blog friends. The winner of her blog candy will receive a £25 voucher to spend on goodies in her store Bunny Zoe's Crafts. She ships worldwide so everyone can enter. Nikki has a great selection of cute stamps and other crafty loveliness in her store which is just sooo tempting!

You might also like to take a look at Nikki's cute blog as she has a little extra something for her readers too!

It's the weekend at last!

It might be the weekend but I haven't had time for cardmaking today as there have been lots of chores to do and birthday gifts to buy. However, I thought I'd just take time to share a little card I made last week.

I know that I should stop making Maisy cards, but she is so very cute and slightly addictive!

Once again I made myself use my scraps to make this card and I have to say that I am quite pleased with the result. I thought that the little Hero Arts sentiment looked a bit lost on it's own, so I added four little kisses to balance things up a bit. The little stamped circles come from that lovely Kelly Pannaci clear set again. I just love how they echo Maisy's little flower! I am sorry that this picture looks so dark, it is much brighter in the flesh!

I also want to share some photographs of Custard that I'd sent by email to Elise. She is the guest designer over at Card Patterns this week so I decided to have a bit of fun!

They do say never work with children and animals...

At first Custard was a little grumpy because I was bothering him during nap time. He had been resting for about 3 hours by this time so I didn't feel too guilty. I also didn't feel too guilty because he had already woken me at 3am that morning!

Custard is a wonderfully good natured cat and so, after a few minutes, he was delighted that I had given him a piece of paper to play with. It is a shame that I couldn't make a video of me trying to stop him eating the paper!

Here he is channelling his inner Fonz...

....and here he is after he decided to do 'super cute!'

I am glad to say that the Sonoma County contingent of Custard's International Fan club seems to have enjoyed the pictures!

I'd also like to congratulate the wonderful Beth as she has been featured as a Trend Alert 'trendsetter' over at a brand new site called Torendi (apparently that's Japanese for trendy!)

You might like to take a look at Beth's blog Inkyfingersrule. If you aren't familiar with her work you are in for a treat. She is super talented and creates fantastic and totally unique cards.
I especially like the way she uses black card, with white stamping, to create really stylish backgrounds.

Torendi looks as if it will be a really exciting online shop, and a great source of inspiration. The girls plan to showcase materials from around the world and to push the paper crafting boundaries a little, so it should be lots of fun!

Well, I must go and feed my lovely husband now so happy crafting everyone, and I hope that you all enjoy the weekend!