Sweet sixteen

Hello again!

 

I thought it was about time I updated this blog.....

Life has been challenging lately mainly due to my back problem and carpal tunnel in my hands but I'll get through it :)

 

A few challenges I should have told you about earlier although they run for a month so plenty of time to get creating :)

The first one is the mini challenge at Creative Craft World.

The theme is 'ANYTHING GOES' and it can be any project so long as it is smaller than 12"x12"

There is a fabulous prize to be won and the winner is chosen by the Design Team.

 

The second challenge is also at Creative Craft World and it's the Beat the Christmas Rush one.

If you'd like to get ahead with your Christmas cards this year then this challenge is for you!

 

I also have a card to share today.

It was my lovely daughter's 16th birthday last week and this is the card I made her.

Very quick and simple.

It was also my hubby's birthday too but he had to make do with a bought card :o

The papers are MME 'On the bright side' 6x6 pad and the 16 is cut out with the Silhouette Cameo.

I covered some chipboard with matching paper and cut out a heart with a Sizzix die.

The font is MTF cupcake.

 

 

Although I've been quiet on the blogging front all that will change over the weekend!

I've had the opportunity to play with the new March scrap kit (on sale from 1st March at CCW)

and I have 3 new scrapbook pages to share.

I'll upload them over the next few days and as Saturday sees the new scrap map challenge I'll also have a page to share for that too.

 

Thank you all for your support lately, I've had some lovely emails and comments and I appreciate them all.

 

Take care,

Sarah xx

4 cards using CCW's November Mini kit

Hello again!

I just remembered last night that I had to post these cards for the new mini challenge at

Creative Craft World today!

We've been so involved with the Christmas Countdown that the regular challenges have been a bit forgotten about.

We'd love you to take a moment and enter your projects.

 

Lou very kindly sent me this month's mini kit to have a play with and with the gorgeous mix of colours, I was able to make a male card as well as more feminine cards.

 

 This cute little mouse is from The Paper Shelter, the sentiment is a Daisy Bucket stamp and the brad is K&Co.

 

 The sentiment on this card is computer generated using 'LoosieScript' and the oval is cut with Nestabilities.

 I 'm sorry I can't remember the make of this stamp.  To save on space I removed all my stamps from their wooden blocks and I never made a note of the names!

It's coloured with Koh-i-Noor woodless pencils.

The button is by Fancy Pants and I tied twine through it. 

The brads were stuck on with pinflair glue gel after I removed the pins from the back of them.

I find that if I'm placing brads close together on card it can be hard to get them in a straight line.

Also the card crinkles when I pierce holes closely together so I find gluing them on gives a neater finish :)

The sentiment is computer generated using 'PhontPhreak's Handwriting'.

 

The flower stamp on this card is by Elzybells and the button is American Crafts.

Everything else is from the kit.

 

Thank you for reading both my posts today,

I'm a little behind in my commenting but I will be round to visit you soon :)

I  hope you have a lovely day

and if you pop back tomorrow, I'll have a link to Sue's project.

 

Take care,

Sarah xx

I'd like to enter some of these in the following challenges:

Loves Rubberstamps ~ fun with ribbons

Oldie But A Goodie ~ anything but Christmas (Sailing card...stamp, brads, button, twine, more than 6 months old)

Incy Wincy ~ hip to be square (Sailing card)

Crafty Cardmakers ~ more than 1 punch/die cut (Flowers/butterfly card...2 die cut circles, 2 punched butterflies)

Whoopsi Daisy ~ die cuts and punches (Get well soon card... die cut oval, punched flowers & Flowers/butterfly card...2 die cut circles, 2 punched butterflies)

 

Pink Christmas Card

Back with my 2nd post today and I have a pink Christmas card.

A while ago I won a voucher to spend in The Paper Shelter and I've had great fun spending it.

There are so many digis to choose from, I hardly knew which ones to pick!

 

This is the one I've used for my card today.

 

It's a precoloured image but it also comes with just the outline for you to colour yourself.

My crafting time is limited at the minute so the precoloured image is very handy!

I inked around the edges of the image with Versamark and embossed with WOW embossing powder.

I also heat embossed a strip of pink card and then cut the snowflake with a Tim Holtz die.

It's really sparkly in real life!

I added Stickles to the snow on the log and around her feet.

Then I layered it on pink card, tied twine around and finished with a pink button.

Then layered it all on a pink card blank with foam pads.

 

Thank you for stopping by my blog today,

Don't forget to stop by tomorrow for Trish's Christmas planner!

Enjoy the rest of your day :)

 

Take care

Sarah xx

 

I'd like to enter this card in the following challenges:

In The Pink ~ pink CAS (I hope it's CAS enough!)

Bearly Mine ~ pink Christmas

Crafty Sentiments ~ Christmas

Hooked on Craft ~ Christmas no red/green

Christmas Countdown and a card

Good morning everyone,

 

I have to apologise for being a bad blogger...life is just busy with the children at the moment.

 

But... I have some exciting news!

At Creative Craft World, it has become a yearly tradition to have a Christmas project every day for the month of November.

 

 

I will be posting a link every day to one of the DT blogs and I hope you will visit them

to see the exciting goodies they have made.

My own projects will be shared over the next 4 Mondays.

 

To start us off today,

Sue has made some fabulous Christmas tree decorations

and you can find the tutorial on how to make them HERE
and there's also a prize to be won.

 

 

 

I also have a card to share today!

Phoebe was invited to a 6th birthday party on Saturday and I left it to the last minute to make the card so I hastily threw this together on Saturday morning...not a good idea!

I was stressed and Phoebe was 15 minutes late.... not that she even noticed!

 I cut the shaped card, paper, sentiment and butterflies with the Cameo.

Then tied some pink gingham ribbon in a bow and topped with a pink button.

 

As part of the present I bought this pink fluffy pencil case and made a personalised zipper pull.

This was much to Phoebe's relief....Phoebe has an identical pencil case and Rachel loved it so much that she took it home from school and was reluctant to give it back.

In the end (after a week of pleading) Phoebe told her if it wasn't brought in the next day that I was going to have to tell her Mum and teacher what she'd done and she would be in a lot of trouble!

Thankfully the pencil case was returned the next morning :)

 

 

It's made from felt and is lightly padded. I cut the 'R' from white felt using a Sizzix alphabet die,

then ironed it on with bondaweb and added a couple of 'x' stitches.

 

 

Now I have to make Phoebe a zipper pull too!

 

Thank you for joining me today.

I'd love you to come back tomorrow for the link to Ali's Christmas project.

 I might even have another of my own projects too...

Take care

Sarah xx

 

I'd like to enter my card in the following challenges:

In the Pink ~ clean and simple pink (If mine is not CAS enough please delete it!)

Flutterby Wednesday ~ anything goes but must have butterfly or fairy on it

Nutcrafters ~ Ribbon or twine

Simon Says Stamp ~ shaped cards

Die Cuttin Diva's ~ anything goes (must use a die cut)

Make it Monday ~ anything goes (papercrafts)

 

Golden Wedding Anniversary

Hello again!

 

Today I have a personalised anniversary card which I was asked to make.

 

To make the card I cut and creased a 15x15cm card blank from a sheet of A4 smooth cream card.

Next I printed the sentiment using the computer on a 13x13cm cream square and tied seam binding ribbon around it, finishing with a bow. 

 

 

I layered the square on the card blank and cut 2 different sized hearts from gold card using Nestabilities dies.

I embossed one with a cuttlebug swirls embossing folder in the Big Shot.

Then I adhered the larger heart flat on the card and raised the embossed heart (slightly overlapping the other) with foam pads.

To finish I added 3 tiny pearls to each of the hearts.

 

 

Regular readers of my blog will know that I'm not too keen on working with gold card

but you know what?

It's growing on me!

I love this card and you might see more gold creeping in from time to time :)

 

I hope you have a lovely day whatever you do

and I'll be back soon with more projects.

Sarah xx

 

Ps. Pop over to Creative Craft World for some exciting news about our birthday blog hop starting tomorrow.

3-2-1 with Less is More

Good afternoon!

 

With the summer nearly over and the children returning to school on Friday

it's time for me to get back to blogging!

 

I love the Less is More challenges and Make it Monday and although I tried to get time to play along this summer it just didn't happen but on Saturday I had a little free time and this is what I made.

 

 

The challenge for LIM this week is a recipe and I used 3 words - 2 animals - 1 ribbon.

 

The base card is 14x14cms tent fold and I layered a pink 11x11cms square on top.

The little elephant is cut with a Sizzix die from an Echo Park 'hello summer' paper pad.

I inked the edges with TH antique linen distress ink and added a black brad for her eye.

The word 'sorry' is an Elzybells stamp (unfortunately not available anymore) and the 'I forgot' is part of a Personal Impressions stamp which I inked with an SU marker.

The wee bird is cut from a sheet of paper from the EP pad.

 

 I layered the elephant and bird with foam pads and I added two pads on top of each other just under the ear to prop it up a bit higher. Then I glued a strip of ric rac ribbon just underneath to 'ground' them.

 

 

When I finished that card (and making the most of my 'free time'...)

I made one for a boy.

 

The base of this one is cream card and I layered Bazzill kraft card on top.

The elephant is cut from an Echo Park 'note to self' paper pad.

My recipe this time is 3 words - 2 doodled lines - 1 animal

 

 

By this stage I should have been back to my 'mum' duties but I had been asked to make a baby card and I thought these little elephants would be perfect!

The photo is not great and the card is already away so I can't retake it but you'll get the idea :)

 

It's for twins Edward and Ruby.

 

This time it's on a 7x5" white card blank and I printed the sentiment on the computer

using 'annie use your telescope' font.

The names are stamped using Elzybells alphabet stamps with versafine black ink.

I added clear dew drops to look like bubbles.

 

That's it for today!

 but I'm going to schedule more posts for this week.

I have been doing quite a bit of sewing over the summer

and have also been to classes to make some christmas projects .

Rather than mix the papercrafts and sewing on this blog, I've created a new blog just for sewing.....Richard is laughing....

he says if I can't keep up with one blog how will I manage two!

Well, I'll just have to prove him wrong won't I!  lol
 

My new blog is dillydoodle (if anyone is interested click here!)
Here's a wee peek of my latest project...

 

 

Thank you for coming to visit today :)

See you soon

Sarah xx

 

Vintage card with a Cardmaker's Delights topper

Good Afternoon!

Last week I had a lovely email from Tracy at Cardmaker's Delights

and she offered to send me a sample pack of the card toppers she sells.

I had a look at her website and jumped at the chance to have a play with them :)

They are excellent quality and the colours are beautiful.

I made this card using the topper from here.

It's for my Mother-in-Law for her birthday next month.

I started by distressing the edges of the topper with this little tool and then inked them with vintage photo distress ink.

I layered it on black card and distressed the edges of it too, then machine stitched them together.

The papers from a Prima Almanac 6x6 paper pad and I inked the edges of the cut pieces before machine stitching them.

The flourishes are cut with a Sizzix die and the layered butterfly with a Martha Stewart punch.

The lace, pearls, pins and button are from my stash and I tied black hemp twine through the button before attaching it with a glue dot.

The weather here is just beautiful and as I'm feeling much better

Mum, Lydia and I went for an early morning walk by the river, a short drive from where we live.

The sun was shining and the birds were singing, it was so good to get out of the house!

I really hope you are having a lovely day wherever you are :)

Thanks again for coming to visit

and I will have a Father's Day card to share tomorrow.

Take care

Sarah xx

I'd like to enter this card in the following challenges:

Divas by Design ~ flourishes

Just Keep on Creating #2 ~ anything goes + travel stories (Best holiday ever was St Lucia, beautiful scenery, delicious food, fantastic beaches, great company)

The Sisterhood of Crafters ~ old fashioned

Penny's Challenges ~ anything goes

Bunny Zoe's ~ anything goes

Whimsy Stamps ~ vintage / shabby chic

Creative Craft Challenges ~ distressing

Die Cuttin Divas ~ buttons, banner and / or birthdays (die cut used Sizzix flourish)

Party time Tuesdays ~ vintage or shabby chic

Sweet Stamps ~ anything goes

Guest DT for Gingerloft Challenge

Good Morning!

I've scheduled this post for today, so I hope it works....

A few weeks ago I won a challenge at Gingerloft

and part of the prize was a guest spot on the design team for the challenge this week:)

Tami sent me this little koala image to use.

Isn't it cute !

and ....

they're giving it away free for you to use in this week's challenge :)

You can download it here.

I printed the image on card and coloured it with Copics.

I inked around the edges with Old Paper distress ink and matted it on white card.

Using a square of  bazzill (Cocoa) cardstock I embossed it with a wood effect embossing folder.

Then I tore it roughly around the edges.

Using a Cropadile I punched half circles at the top and bottom of  the base  card and tied hemp twine around it.

I printed the digi sentiment (also from Gingerloft) and cut the circles with Nestabilities,

then adhered them to the card with foam pads.

I hope you like it and take a minute to check out what the Gingerloft Design Team have made :)

Thank you for the lovely comments you've all been leaving me.

I really enjoy reading them, and some are very funny :)

Thanks for visiting and have a lovely day.

Take care :)

Sarah xx

Mini Scrapbook Album using CCW April mini kit.

Good Morning!

Following the little peek I gave of this yesterday,

here is the finished project! Did you guess what it was?

It's a little mini scrapbook album of my Grandparents Wedding Day.

Sadly, I never got to know either of them as they both died in tragic circumstances before I was born.

When Lou from Creative Craft World sent me this month's mini kit to have a play with,

I was delighted!

It's absolutely gorgeous and packed full of Prima yumminess :)

You can see the kit HERE and at only £7.99 it's a real bargain.

Or even better ~ if you subscribe it's £6.99 + free UK shipping!

You don't have to use the kit to enter the challenge.

All you have to do is make something smaller than 12x12 and add your link here.

It runs for a whole month, so no excuses!!

I've added loads of photos

so I do apologise if it takes a long time to load on your computer.

(especially to my Mum since hers takes forever!)

Regular readers of this blog will know that I am not known for being 'inky' or 'vintagey'

but I've surprised myself and loved getting messy :)

To make the book, I cut white chipboard with a Sizzix originals Album cover and page die

by Brenda Pinnick.

I inked the edges of the pages and photos with Vintage Photo distress ink.

Isn't the 'cherish' charm gorgeous! It's very solid and feels really good quality.

 I cut the flower and black border on this page with the Silhouette Cameo.

The background on this page is cream card which is inked with Vintage Photo distress ink and then stamped with a TH flourish stamp which was stamped off on scrap paper first.

I cut a piece of vellum with a nestabilities die, inked the edges and layered on top.

The envelope is cut with the Cameo and also the black 'lace'.

I'm amazed it cut it out so intricately!

If you're thinking of getting a Cameo all I can say is, you won't regret it!

 I really love the heart button!

It's Prima and was one of  a selection of beautiful buttons in the kit.

 The background on this page is plain Bazzill card which is inked and stamped with a TH script stamp.

The black paper 'lace' on this page is the same cut file that I used on the envelope page only this time I made it bigger.

 I left the back of the book plain so I can add more pages if I want to at a later date.

 Just a close up to show some of the texture on the pages.

There is too much detail on each of the pages to describe properly how I made it.

I think this post is already long enough!

If there's anything you see and you'd like to know how it was done

just send me a email and I'll do my best to help :)

I really enjoyed making this book and it is very special as we have very few photos of my grandparents.  It's good to keep their memory alive :)

In the 1940's
my Grandmother was in hospital and gave birth to a baby girl when she took a kidney infection.

At that time penicillin had just become available and she was given an injection to fight the infection.

Unfortunately she took an allergic reaction and died (aged just 24) leaving a husband and 4 young children. My Dad was only two at the time.

Thank you for taking the time to visit my blog today :)

Why not pop over to the Creative Craft World blog and see what the other DT members have made with this month's kit.
I'm off to the Craft Show in Belfast today and I hope to get some nice goodies
(not that I really need them!)

Take care :)

Sarah xx

I'd like to enter this little book in the following challenges:

C.R.A.F.T ~ wedding/anniversary

Cropstop ~ handmade paper lace

Cute Card Thursday ~ metallica

Creatalicious #33 ~ butterflies and add some flowers

I Brake for Challenges ~ anything but a card

Just keep on Creating ~ anything goes

Allsorts ~ buttons and threads

Make it Monday ~ anything goes

Totally Papercrafts ~ all buttoned up

The Pretty little Ribbonshop ~ to die for
Divas by Design ~ anything but a card

Bunny Zoe's ~ ribbon or twine
Simon says Stamp and show ~ anything goes

Less is More - Doodling....

Good morning!

The challenge over at Less is More this week is Doodling!

I've been debating over the weekend whether or not to post these cards...

I'm embarrassed....

when I see the beautiful and intricate cards everyone else has made :)

You can probably tell it only took 5 minutes each to make them....

I love doodling on cards but it's always been faux stitching or simple dots and lines.

This really was a challenge for me and not one I'm totally comfortable with....lol

I used a Sakura Micron 005 pen for the doodling and added some colour with SU markers.

The scallop card is cut with the Sizzix square scallop die.

Try not to giggle too much at my efforts..... lol :)

I'm off now to have a yummy lunch at Mum's.

While it was lovely having the children off school for 2 weeks ~

it was great to send them back this morning and have the house to myself!

I hope you have a lovely day whatever you're doing

and thank you for visiting my blog :)

Take care :)

Sarah xx

Less is More challenge - Don't scrap it!

I finally got Richard's card made.....on his birthday - how bad is that!

Thankfully the Less is More challenge this week was just what I needed for inspiration - it's to use your scraps and I'm sure like everyone else, I have loads of them :)

I mentioned in my last post how I was trying to think of something funny/sarcastic to put on the card but I didn't quite manage it!  He thought it was funny anyway (helped by the quote inside that my lovely cousin Vicky gave me!)

I would take a picture only I didn't have time to print an insert and my writing is terrible!

 The ribbon is from my scrap tub, papers from the scrap drawer (except the card base) chipboard is scrap as well.  Says a lot about me giving my husband a card made of scraps  lol (I do love him really ;))

I covered chipboard with brown card and cut out the numbers with the Cuttlebug 'red tag sale' die.  Then stamped them using the blotches? stamp from Stampin' Up French Foliage set using white ink.  I'm sorry I can't remember where I got the brads from - there wasn't any packaging with them. The white card is embossed with the Stampin' Up square lattice embossing folder (my favourite!)

Here's a wee pic of my ribbon scraps - they're usually for the children to have a rummage through...

and my scrap drawers, I'm afraid I'm a bit of a hoarder and keep tiny pieces as well....

I'm off now for a yummy birthday lunch ~ no calorie counting for me today :)

Thank you for visiting

I'll be back this evening to catch up with you all!

Sarah xx

Birthday card using Wryn digi stamp

Hi everyone :)

It's my eldest daughter Lydia's birthday today and this is the card I made. I discovered this little image over at Tiddly Inks and I think she's a wee cutie.  The papers I used for the card are, Echo Park - playground.

 I used the leftover scraps to cover this little notebook

  

  For the  butterfly, I covered chipboard with spotty paper and cut it out using this Tim Holtz movers and shapers die in the Bigshot

 Just a quick post for today but I'll be back tomorrow with my project for the Creative Craft World mini challenge - it's a mini book :)

Thank you for stopping by today!

See you soon

Sarah xx

I'd like to enter this card to the following challenges,

Sweet Stampin - 3 in a row (ribbon, button, spots)

Allsorts - anthing goes

Card Makin' Mamas - birthday

Totally Papercrafts - ribbons &/or bows

ABC dt - red, white, pink (2nd entry)

DYSU - layers

Supplies

White card base - 7" x 5"

DP - Echo Park - Playground

Image & Sentiment - Tiddlyinks.com

White tulle

Divine twine - peppermint

Clear adhesive gems

Button - Cosmo Cricket

Coloured with Copics