Let it snow!

I have finally decided to sit and post again once the house is quiet, I am always full of good intentions but I have actually made myself do it tonight!. I have been really busy making cards, but I haven't managed to get these photographed yet - that is my task for tomorrow.
I have been making lots of smaller simpler cards as I am doing a craft fair two weeks before Xmas. I have decided to go for the make them cheap and sell as many as I can approach so they are not as intricate as I would normally make for myself.
I'm not sure I will make any money - but I hope to cover the costs on materials. It also gives me a reason for using some of the papers and card that has been sitting in my garage forever, and I enjoy sitting 'colouring' in the evening if I get chance. You will see from the cards I post that I have re discovered silver holograph card - I forgot how great this stuff was!
Let's hope I sell some - I'm not sure it will be a great success, as most people will be going to a high street store that I won't name and buy 10 'handmade' cards for £1, but I will give it a go!

Tonight's post is a card I have made for my sister in law and family for Christmas. She is a nightmare as soon as we get to this time of year as she absolutely loves the snow and is always moaning that we don't get enough. Me - I'd rather live somewhere hot all year so we definitely differ.

I have used the snow angel Nikki stamp from Ladybug Crafts Ink, she has been coloured with Copics in pale green and orange - I coloured her first and then I was lucky enough to find the right coloured papers afterwards - the papers and ribbon are from a scrapbook kit I have had for ages. I have used glamour dust on Nikki, holographic glitter for the snow and the lovely white pom pom ribbon which was given to me by Sue. I punched the snowflakes out of off cuts of white cards and covered them with glossy accents and diamond dust. I Promise to post again soon!!!!

Debs xxx

Sorry it took so long.

Sorry it took so long to post anything. I have been so busy that I just haven't got round to getting on the computer after the kids have finally gone to bed. I'm not sure if it because the days are shorter but by the time they go to bed I am done for. Maybe I am just getting old :(

I have been busy stamping and colouring images to be made into cards, but it took me until today to make some of these up.

The post I am doing tonight is a card I started to make when my friend Sue came round my house a couple of weeks ago to 'play', but I didn't finish this until today as I had not added a sentiment and it needed one to fill in the gap.
I used the winestool Nicky stamp from Ladybug Crafts Ink, she has been stamped in Memento black and coloured with Copics, I have used the Nestabilities to cut and emboss the frame and this has been sponged with some pale purple ink to match the backing paper (which I borrowed from Sue - so sorry I can't remember what make this is.) She has been mounted on some soft green Bazill, and I have used a really nice patterned paper that I bought from QVC - it was a scrapbook set and it was massive, so I am still using loads of the bits, this was also cut out with the Nestabilities. The sentiment is an Elzybell stamp as is the tag. I have coloured around this with my Mauve Shadow Copic and added Stickles in stardust. The flowers are from Prima, the centre is an epoxy dot also from Ladybug Crafts Ink and the dark purple ribbon was 'borrowed' from Sue's stash.

This just goes to show what I can do when I have a friend to help:) I struggle with the design side of card making so it is great when Sue and I get together as I always end up with something I would never have done on my own - mainly because I am still quite nervous composing a card unless I am just matting and layering in straight lines, and because Sue has just got such a great eye.

Right - I am off to bed, otherwise I won't be any good at work tomorrow. I will post again soon (hopefully!).

Debs xx

 

Card for my Dad

It's my Dad's birthday at the end of November and I always make him a card, although I can't believe I am finally organised this year and I have made this already. My Mum and Dad live in France and I normally finish his card and post it two days before, so he never gets it in time!! He always forgives me though as he loves to receive a handmade card.

I have used a digital download from Doodle Pantry and I have coloured this with Copics. It took a long time to colour this and I must admit that I got bored halfway through colouring the leaves!
I am pleased with the result but I can see where I could have improved with the colouring - I just need to practice more. I'm sure my Dad won't notice:)

I mounted the picture onto white card that had been misted with Moonglow moon shadow mist in bucket o'blood, and this was mounted onto paper from Eastern Promise paper pack by Dovecraft.

I didn't have enough matching card to stamp the sentiments so I coloured some white card with antique linen distress ink and this nearly matches. This was mounted in the same way as the picture.

I feel really pleased that I have done this one already, so now I can make more Xmas cards!

Thanks for looking.

Debs xx

Cracking Christmas

I have made this card to send to my friend Sue who is running a Teal Cards for Ovarian Cancer Fundraiser on her blog, please go to http://www.suesassortedramblings.blogspot.com/.  for information.

I think he is so cute.


I used more of my Elzbell Art Stamps, both the image and the sentiment. I coloured these with Copic's, glittered the cracker and the paper hat in diamond stickles and matted onto navy card, one of which had been misted with moonglow in treasure island aqua. 
I then layered this onto some handmade paper in teal that has been in my stash forever. I softened the edges by wetting and tearing, and then glittered with stickles in crystal.


I will try and make some more for this great charity before the finish date.


Have a great week - I will try and post again soon.


Debs xx

From Ted with love.

Thank God it's Friday - I have had a really bad week at work, so I may need to do some online retail therapy this weekend to cheer myself up:)

I made this card using one of the Elzybell Art stamps and I thought he was so cute that I only needed a simple card. I coloured him with Copics and added Crystal Glaze to the heart, once dry I cut him out and mounted onto white card with foam pads. I then backed this with red card and added to a white card. I stamped the sentiment and mounted this in the same way.

I really liked the result as this looked really clean.
I must try and take the photos in daylight though as I have made shadows all over this one! I need to see if I can sneak my HB new camera to take some decent shots of any future cards.

I hope you like Ted as much as me.

I am entering this card for Paper Romance - challenge 15 - clean and simple PRC15
I will try and post again tomorrow.

Debs xx

I want to ride my bicycle..

Tonights post is a card I made using another of my Elzybell art stamps - this one was called bike ride. I love this image as she looks like she is having so much fun on her bike. This prompted me to look on the website and I have managed to bag quite a few more stamps (credit card to the rescue:)it is a real shame but the website closes down on 30 Sept.
I coloured her with copics, added stickles in diamond to the top and headband and mounted this onto pretty sparkly pink paper and mirri board (I haven't used this for ages - I forgot how good this could look).

I stamped the Happy Birthday sentiment and mounted this in the same way. I then added these to the front of my card. I should have positioned these in a different way as I was left with a large space in the right hand corner. Trust me to use foam pads that wouldn't come off! Basically my card was too big and I should have cut this down.

I then decided that I would add some black gems in a swirl - I should have drawn this first as this looks a little like a drunk snake! It didn't look right so I added some crystal flowers at the end. Lesson learnt as I added these with crystal glaze and this dried rather quickly, and I couldn't move these around when it looked odd.

I also needs lots more practice with colouring hair - I feel a long session on you tube coming on....

I am sure the person I send this card to will not notice all of these things and as I always say each card is 'unique' which covers all sorts of mistakes.

I am entering this into the challenge at the Scrapbook Sisters challenge card launch as the theme is pink and black.

Anyway, more tomorrow (hopefully!)

Debs xx

1st Xmas card

I have made my first Xmas card as before the summer holiday I had received new stamps I had bought from Elzybells art stamps  but I hadn't even inked them. I stamped this gorgeous mouse and coloured him last night and I couldn't resist making him into a card straight away. I use this weeks sketch from Friday Sketchers as I always have trouble constructing a different card - I am very much a straight line, matt and layer the image crafter, but I am trying to get out of this habit... This sketch has been brilliant as this goes against everything I normally do. I am entering this into the Friday Sketcher Challenge.

I have used two papers that I have had for ages that are part of a DCWV Xmas book.
I have mounted the mouse on a left over piece of card where I cut a frame from a card with the nestabilities, this was embossed with the cuttlebug and chalked with pale pink chalk. I discovered when I was mounting the mouse that there was another piece of card stuck to the back which was perfect so this was chalked with a soft green. The ribbon with dots on was left over when I made my friends wedding cake and this ties in with the dots on the paper. The pink ribbon was white but I coloured this with copics as I didn't have the right shade.

I am really pleased with this - I think I will be using this stamp quite a lot over the coming months!

Oh well  - best be going to bed!

Debs xx

Back in the game!

Sorry it has been so long - the summer holidays have been really busy. We bought a house just before Xmas last year and every room is covered in woodchip paper that has been painted rather a lot with nice shiny vinyl paint!! We are trying to decorate the boy's bedrooms as the Twin's is currently pink. The house is original 1976 retro - but not in a good way. I have made a couple of cards but hadn't managed to post these so one of these is today's post as the light isn't good enough to take a photo of the other one - I will try again tomorrow.

The download is from doodle pantry and is called Harold duck. This card was made for my friend Katie who was leaving our office as she has managed to get herself a brilliant new job.

The papers are from a QVC scrapbook set, Harold was coloured with Copics and I used stickles on the flower. The gems are from Hot off the press, some of the papers were run through the embossing folders on the cuttlebug, the flowers are from Orchid Crafts.

I also made a card for my nephew today as it is his 13th birthday tomorrow.

I used a digital download from digi stamp boutique called Dexter, I coloured him with copics, mounted him on some bazill card and paper from DCWV, and added stickles to the present (not that my photo's really show this) and buttons from Woodware. He opened his card tonight and he really liked it.

I have spent a lovely day today crafting. Hopefully I will post more of my efforts tomorrow.

Debs xxx

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Kikki with cakes

Been a busy weekend so I thought I would do a post before going to work :(

I made this card for my friend's daughters 13th birthday - we went to the BBQ on Saturday, luckily it was only down the road from us as the boys were so bored (13 and 11 - don't mix well with girls!!), so we let them go home while we sat in the garden in the sunshine catching up.

I used a digi stamp called kikki with cakes that I bought for the bargain price of 66p from Pollycraft. I coloured her with copics, added some orchid craft flowers and stickles ( that stuff is genius - Idon't know what I would do without it!), and layered her onto some papers I bought years ago in a scrapbook set from QVC. I was really pleased with the colours as it is girlie but without resorting to pink.

Have a lovely day. Debs xx

A little bird told me.

Tonight's card is a last minute birthday card for my father in law as I had forgotten it was his birthday today until last night. I really struggle with male cards, as I never know what to put on them, I think this works OK.

I have used a freebie digi stamp from Digital Pantry, called tweethouse which I coloured using my Copic's that arrived yesterday ( I am soooo in love with these!). I then cut this out using my friend Sue's nestabilities and my cuttlebug, added some stickles in crystal on the leaves, some glossy accents on the bird's beaks and put this on foam pad onto a piece of black card I had sprayed with copper moonglow shadow mist. I generated the sentiments on the PC and added these to scraps of card I had left from the bear in the bath card.
Even though this was a simple card I am really pleased with the result.

More later. Debsxx

On a roll...

I have made two more cards that I want to share with you,
Sorry for the photo's - I need to try and get the lighting right so my camera will actually focus!
I am really pleased with both of these. I have use stamps from Elzybells art stamps which I love, and coloured these with Prisma color pencils and blended with Zest it and blending stumps.

The 1st card is a bear in the bath, which I made for my colleague at work, who is notorious for spending 2hrs a night on her Nintendo DS in the bath, so I thought this was apt. I was really please with the copper bath - I couldn't find my embossing pen so I used an embossing pad and a paintbrush - it took a while! I followed this weeks sketch from Friday Sketchers - this was my 1st sketch and I really enjoyed using this.

I have used moonglow moon shadow mist in bucket o'blood, that I got from Lindy's stamp gang for the background card, I used the mesh embossing folder in the cuttlebug which was hilighted with perfect pearls in rust. The bath foam and bubbles were hilighted with perfect pearls in interference violet, the bubbles and water on the floor were accented with glossy accents. The sentiment was computer generated.

The second card is a bear with a heart of flowers.

I have used stickles in diamond on the ribbon, the flowers are from Orchid crafts, which I have also added stickles to. The background was embossed in the cuttlebug, and chalked using a versamark chalk pad, in pale pink. again I generated the sentiment on the computer as I didn't have the right shade of ink pad (more to add the the shopping list come pay day!)
 Debs x

I have finally made a card!!!

After way too long I have finally unpacked my craft gear and made a card!

My friend Sue came to my house on Weds night and we made a card each for a spoon full of sugar card drive. One of their design team Michelle was involved in an accident which has resulted in her losing an eye. Please make a card for Michelle as this is such a great cause.

Here is the card I made - I am really pleased with this, and it has made me realise how much pleasure I get from making cards. The only downside is the growing list of new craft things that I really want!

Debs