Flutterbies

Here's my 2nd card for the evening. The latest challenge on MSE is to use your old scraps (offcuts) of paper on a card. I've gone one further - the image was also a scrap. After I coloured the image I managed to guillotine through the little chap's head. For whatever reason, I didn't throw him away (pack-rat, moi?), so here he is with an extra bit of DST. ;)

A flying visit from me to upload 2 cards. These have taken me a week to make between them as I've been trying to be good and only craft before bedtime - and not when I'm supposed to doing my dissertation. :p

This card is for the challenge at Creative Card Crew to follow a recipe - 3 flowers, 2 papers, 2 brads, 1 ribbon and 1 button. I've cheated slightly and counted the ribbon as 1 of my flowers *blush*.

This really will be my last card of the week - if I fail my exam on Friday I'll have no-one to blame but myself!
I couldn't resist entering this week's challenge over at the Creative Card Crew blog. I had coloured this image ages ago, and printed off the Funky Fairy paper last week, so it hasn't kept me from my revision for too long. ;)
Right - back to the books!

I've never entered the Basic Grey Challenge before (possibly because I find it so difficult to cut into my Basic Grey papers, lol) The challenge this week is a colour combo of brown, pink, and yellow. I hope it doesn't matter that I haven't used any yellow - some of the DT also stuck to only brown and pink.
I don't know why I buy flowers and ribbon in different colours any more; I've coloured the large flower and ribbon with a cinnamon promarker to match the colours on the image.

Lauren's on the look-out for some wedding-themed inspiration, so here's a card I made for a friend. It's not the best photo I'm afraid. The background is a lovely shimmery lilac paper. The hearts were cut out of gold card using a Quickutz Squeeze double die, then run through the 'bug using the Divine Swirls folder. The hearts are mounted with foam tape so they stand out more than you can tell from the pic. The little red heart embellishment came with feathery bits attached.

Here's my entry for the latest MSE challenge. I'm supposed to be revising (don't tell my daughter I'm on here!), so couldn't take the time to do real sewing; luckily the challenge states that you can use faux stitches. :D
I'm not very happy with the sentiment. It's the first time I've used a Memento inkpad; I'm not sure why it produces lovely crisp images but blurry writing? Oh well, maybe it's just me!

This card is my entry for two challenges this week; Creative Card Crew have a Princess Party theme, and Lili of the Valley are looking for charms in their So Charming challenge.
This is my first challenge card featuring my new MS doily lace punch - I'm never buying another punch! I love the MS punches as they're so easy to use. I also got the crop-a-dile out, I really need to use it a lot more before I can say I've had my money's worth!

Monochromatic cards take me right out of my comfort zone! The challenge at funky fairys this week is Black and White; pop over and have a look at the Design Teams' cards, they're amazing!
I was lucky enough to win last week's challenge (with the card in the post below), and would like to say thanks for the great download prize. :)
This card uses Funky Fairy bp (swirls) to qualify for entry into the challenge - I hope you like it!

This is my entry for this week's challenge at Funky Fairys. I'm quite happy with this card, after a week or two of missing mojo!
The bp is Funky Fairys Simply Swirly; I don't know what the image is though. The green ribbon started life as ivory, but I coloured it with a Marsh Green Promarker to match the card; I then cut two slots into the card to feed the ribbon through. You can't really see it, but the image has been chalked at the edges with a shimmery pink.

It's week 21 of the Creative Card Crew challenge, and here is my entry for 'Girls Just Wanna Have Fun'. It features two Greetings Farm images mounted on blue card that has been run through the cuttlebug in the swiss dots folder. Bp is Papermania.

Oh dear, my mojo has disappeared :-[
The only card I made this weekend ended up in the bin, and now I'm probably to late for a couple of these chaleenges. Oh well, I'll post it anyway! (Not that I'm happy with it - oh no!).
The challenges in mind were the MSE challenge - Thank you and embossing; Creative Card Crew - Polka dots; and Funky Fairys - Girly. The pink vellum has been embossed with the Swiss Dots folder in the bug (I hope that qualifies for 'polka dot'?), and the backing paper is Funky Fairy (from the pink range).

Here's a card I made last night for the Mojo Monday challenge. My head is so far gone today that I nearly forgot to post this one. :[
It's another sketch challenge (possibly the easiest nicest sort of challenge?). The image is one of Greetings Farm's, DP is Papermania Oriental Spice, and I've also used my MS punch and Paisley folder in the bug. The bow on the ribon was a little flat on one side here, I've since managed to unstick it so it's even on both sides. :)

I will start this post with an apology - I am pedantic!! It actually pains me to type "Fairys"; to my mind it should either be "Fairies" or "Fairy's" - I am, however, being faithful to the spelling used on the Funky Fairys Challenge blog.
Okay, rant over. *blush*
The challenge this week is to follow a sketch, and you must use at least one Funky Fairys product - in this case the pink swirls paper (downloaded from the Funky Fairy Inspiration blog).
I know I usually blame my poor photography skills for making my cards look wonky, but I have actually stuck the top butterfly askew. Oh well, I'll keep telling myself that this is part of the charm of homemade cards!

I'm not sure if I've managed two challenges with one card before? Oh well, this one fits the Creative Card Crew Challenge #19 - Create a Scene, and the challenge over at Lili of the Valley - Animals.

I wasn't sure of the effect after attempting to trim the Secret Garden paper, so covered the dodgy tips with punched flowers. As is often the way, something that was added to cover a mistake has made the card look better than it otherwise would have looked. Well I think so!

Here's my 1st card using my nesties :)
I couldn't resist using the scallop dot punch as well - talk about overkill!
The DPs are K&Company Isabella, and the stamp a Forever Friends sale bargain. The colouring looks a bit iffy in the photo, I don't think it looks that bad in real life.

I've had this coloured image matted on the orange mulberry paper for weeks now and the card covered with green flowery paper, but I just couldn't figure out what else I was going to use to draw the two together.
When the ribbon challenge came up at CCC, I decided to have a look through my ribbon box to see if anything would match the green and orange papers; this orange check ribbon just jumped out at me.
I've kept it simple, just a circle of ribbon with the image stuck in the middle to make it look like two loops. I'm glad I finally got the inspiration to use the card and image!

Having woken up ridiculously early this morning, I decided to have a play with my new Martha Stewart border punch. I don't think I went too fussy on this card (apart from the ribbon - I'm not sure about that!). The gorjuss girl image is one I had coloured and cut already, so I mounted it on white card, chalked the edges and matted onto pink card.

The card looks black in the photo, but is actually a nice chocolate brown. It looks much better in real life!

The punch - Scallop Dot - is the easiest I've ever used; if I can manage to get an even border out of it then it must be simple, lol. Now I want the Doily Lace punch even more. :P

My best friend has swine flu, so I couldn't resist an excuse to make a get well card. It just had to have pigs on, didn't it?!
The background paper was made using a clipart image; the nurse is from the Greetings Farm range (thanks Rusty!).

It just doesn't feel right making Christmas Cards in July! But that is the latest challenge on the cardmaking forum on MSE, so who am I to argue! Lol.

The stamped image is Anya from the Greetings Farm (Thanks as ever to Rusty); the sentiment came from a sheet of peel-offs that were free with a magazine; and I can't remember what or where the paper came from!
I'm not too sure about the silver fibres; they look a bit messy to me, but I like the idea of a bit of Christmassy bling.

The timing was perfect for this challenge at CCC - my friend has just asked me to make her a wedding card. :)
I'm not sure how clear the picture is - I've used a scrap of handmade paper that was too short to cover the front of the card, so I've edged it with cream lace top and bottom. I used a corner punch to get the hearts at the corners of a gold card square and added an embellishment of flowers.
My friend is very happy with it, and I must admit that I am too!

Challenge #16 over at CCC was, as the title says, "Whatever the Weather". I'm not sure if this entry has made it on time - I get later every week. :(
I'm not sure that I really like 12x12 papers (this one is from Basic Grey's Cupcake range); the patterns don't seem to work so well on smaller cards. The image is from the Greetings Farm Anya range, and the sentiment was printed off the computer.

The title and the pic say it all really - this week's challenge on Creative Card Crew was a two-coloured card, one of which had to be black. I had to choose pink, even though I'm not really a girly girl (honest I'm not!). I really struggled with this card - while not wanting it to be too fussy, I wanted it to have something to give it some interest IYKWIM. The gorjuss girl is thanks to Rusty; tags cut with the Quickutz Squeeze; swiss dots and (what do you call that pattern?) black paper under the ribbon were done on the cuttlebug.

I just had to use this image (thanks rusty!), and then remembered I had these tags tucked away somewhere. I've only been cardmaking seriously for a few months and already I have things stashed everywhere! (My daughter is ridiculously amused by the fact that I have a ribbon box!?).
Anyway, back to the card. I think Swiss dots will be featuring very heavily on future cards ;)

Here's my entry for the latest CCC challenge (I always seem to be scraping in at the last minute with this challenge). The challenge is geometric, so I've stuck to a simple DP from Papermania Secret Garden range; the sentiment has also been stamped onto a tag cut from paper from the same pack. The stamped image is from the Greetings Farm range (thanks Rusty!). The dots theme is carried over to the green card, which has been embossed on a cuttlebug with the Swiss Dots folder.

Here's my card for the latest CCC challenge - Child's Play. This was just a very simple, very fast make - where has my mojo gone? :(
The paper is from a Smirk pad (Love & Friendship). All I've done is add a sentiment and some glitter sakura pen to add some interest to the paper.

Here are two door hangers that I made for my neighbour's daughters.

I've used Greeting Farm angels, and Smirk and Basic Grey Eva papers.

Also the two bookmarks that I made for them - the first project to use my crop-a-dile.

Late again! Oh well, I've actually made 2 cards for this challenge as I wasn't too keen on the first.

Thanks, as always, go to Rusty for the images!
The first card I'm sure everyone recognises as Tilda; I've used basic grey 'eva' papers, and the pink flowers along the bottom were a gift from Mandy (thank you!).




The second card uses one of the gorjuss girls. I much prefer this card even though the papers were just really cheap ones (I'm not sure what they are). I think the orange paper finishes it off perfectly.

Oh dear - I've really lost my mojo this weekend :( I had my last exam on Friday, and I've done nothing since. I've just made this card quickly as I didn't want to miss the CCC challenge, which this week was (as the title says!) 'Shape It'.
I cut the oval from a card blank using a Fiskars oval template, then stamped the images (7 Gypsies and Dovecraft) in sage and black Whispers inks. I've tied 2 scraps of Laura Ashley ribbon around the join to add a little interest. It's not my favourite card, but at least I've tried something new!

Having been ill all week and unable to concentrate on revision, I took my mind off it with some card-making. These are my first ever Gorjuss Girl cards; I don't think I'll ever be able to part with them, lol. There's no sentiment on the blue card yet, I'll wait until I either have an occasion or see something that I think will look 'right' on it.














I felt the need to keep these two cards fairly simple and uncluttered, I think these gorjuss girls make enough of a statement on their own.

















My daughter loves this stamp. I think when I made this card, it was as much to cheer myself up with these bright colours as anything else.

Finally the camera is working! This is my entry for this week's Creative Card Crew challenge - Minimal. I've had this card blank for ages; I never know what to do with such heavily textured cards. The paper was free with an old magazine, as was the sentiment. A simple card, I hope it fits the brief.

Here's my second card for the Cute Card Thursday challenge (see below). It's the first time I've made more than one card to enter into a challenge, but it's for such a good cause I decided to do one card for a girl and one for a boy. Big thanks to Rusty for the stamped images.
Apologies for the poor quality photos - I'm still having to use the camera on my mobile phone.

The challenge on Cute Card Thursday is to create a card that will "cheer someone up or make their day". They are asking that every card entered is then forwarded to a child via the Post Pals website. Reading the testimonials on the website shows how such a simple act really can make a difference.

This week's challenge at CCC is to have some form of embossing on your card - this card has some flowers embossed from a brass stencil on the green card. I like the simplicity of this card and the fresh colours; it's not often that I'm happy with a card that doesn't have more DP on it.
This is also the first card I've made that features an image coloured with copics - I think I shall be buying more colours!

The latest challenge on MSE is to make a 'green' card. At first I thought there was something missing on this one, but I think I'm actually quite happy with it now!
DPs are Dovecraft; ribbon and stamp are Papermania (the stamp was free with this month's copy of do crafts Creativity magazine). The butterfly was embossed from a brass stencil onto pink vellum, cut out, and detail added with a pink Sakura souffle pen.
Not sure how I'll get this into an envelope without squashing the butterfly!

There's some blog candy on offer over at cindersmcphee's. Go on over and have a look at her revamped blog :)
Until someone can tell me how to add links to blog candy in my sidebar (or preferably how to add another sidebar for links on the right-hand side of my page!), I'll be adding them as new posts. Apologies to anyone who links from their dashboard thinking they're going to see a new card.

This week's challenge at CCC was to follow a sketch. I'm not sure if this is too busy? It took me forever to decide what papers to use - I went for Basic Grey in the end. Apologies for the poor quality photo - I've broken my camera so had to use my phone for this one.

This week's challenge at Creative Card Crew is 'Round and Around.' I've cut a round circle of white card for the stamped images (Smirk again, wouldn't you know?!); matted on a circle of pink card, and there's a circular brad in the centre of the flower.

I'm so excited! The lovely Steph over at Much Ado about Nothing had a giveaway on Friday, and I was lucky enough to have my name pulled out of the hat (Thanks Steph!). I've won this lovely set of Laura Ashley items, I can't wait to have a play with them. Do have a look at her blog, Steph's a very talented lady.

The current challenge over at MSE is a 'water' theme. I've seen some lovely entries, they're all so different. I made this a few nights ago when I should have been studying, but haven't had time to post anything until now. I had a sheet of 12x12 paper (used on the bottom of the card) that just screamed 'surfing' to me. I've no idea what I'll ever use it for though!

As you may have guessed from the title, the challenge over at Creative Card Crew this week was to make an Easter Card. I don't tend to bother with Easter cards, so this is the first I've ever made and has just been given to a friend. I've copied the design of the chick from Pink Petticoat's free Easter download (here); as it's a free download I'm hoping it's okay to copy it! I drew the shapes on pastel yellow and pink card, then mounted on foam tape to provide some depth. The backing paper is Papermania; I've coloured in the centres of the flowers with a glittery gel pen to add some interest. The paper flowers have Papermania brads in the centres. As usual , I've struggled with the sentiment - I hope it doesn't look too bad.

There's a challenge every two weeks over on MoneySavingExpert, the latest challenge being to create a 'thrifty' card. Apologies for the wonky pic - I'm useless with cameras, lol. The cost of this card worked out at 6 pence (for the card blank and envelope) - I do feel that I cheated somewhat as the backing papers, sticky ribbon and small flower embellishment were a gift from another MSE regular (thanks Mandy!). The large double-layer flower was cut by hand, using a stencil for the shape. Of course, no sentiment ;) When I decide I need to use the card I may add one, depending on the occasion.

After not managing to complete a card for a week (nothing seemed to go right!), I finally managed to make a card in one go. I 'borrowed' the idea for the layout from a card I saw in the newsagents, used pastel card and basic grey papers. The stamp is Smirk, with marshmallow drops and ribbon to finish off. I'm rubbish with sentiments; I can never decide what to put so often don't bother. I've used a peel-off on here so that you can see the texture of the card beneath it (done on a Fiskars texturing board).

The challenge this week over at Creative Card Crew is to produce a card using textures. Here's my entry then: I've used Smirk Love & Friendship papers, the bottom one is glittery; a Smirk fairy princess cut out, mounted on hot pink corrugated card; Smirk ribbon and a yellow paper flower with a pink heart gem in the centre.

I hope you like it! I'm totally in love with the Smirk range and couldn't wait to play with the papers.