Betty Boop Red White & Blue

For my card today I used this fabulous image of Betty Boop found here and coloured her up in red and blue Promarkers to tie in with my Sizzix papers.  I printed her twice and used a Go Kreate die to cut out the bike on a tag and her face separately on another tag and then mounted them one on top of the other to reobtain to the whole image.  It seemed like a good idea at the time but I'm not entirely sure I liked the effect after colouring her up.  I scanned a Harley Davidson fridge magnet onto card stock to get the little embellishment added a single crochet flower and two Stampin Up sentiments. Some eyelets, ribbon and Craftworks Candy were the only final touches.

I am entering my card into the following challenges:

Passion for Promarkers -have a "birthdays" mega celebration to celebrate challenge 150 and 3 years;

Papertake Weekly - want to see "True colours" of our national flag - red, white and blue in my case;

My Mum's Craft Shop 58 are cooking up a "recipe" with 3 flowers (2 of mine are stamped), 2 papers and a ribbon (I only used one ribbon but it's in two places which I hope is okay);

Creative Card Crew - 11 want to see some dimension; and

Creative Inspirations - 164 are "anything goes"

Happy Crafting, Peeps!

 

Now Wash Your Hands!

Did I ever mention that I have a great fondness for all things froggy?   I was about to do some blogging earlier this evening when the hubster called to me from outside:  "open the door" he said, "I have a present for you".  The present was quite big and quite wriggly and he leapt out of Tom's hands.  I picked it up and decided to show him my blog...

Like many of you he didn't find my last card terribly interesting and decided to take off...

Not one to ever be cruel to a living thing as long as the living thing has 4 legs or fewer (I have to confess to having no truck with creatures with 6 legs - except perhaps butterflies and ladybugs - and those with 8 legs stand no chance at all) I gathered up this cute little chappy and returned him safely to the garden before washing my hands.  By then, however, I had lost the desire to blog and I had a pina colada instead!

Stampin Up with Fiskars

One of my earliest stamp purchases was this cute flat bed vehicle by Stampin Up. It comes with all sorts of things you can put in the back.   It's been used only once before.   When I found a set of Fiskars sentiments, I knew I would combine one particular sentiment with the SU pick up truck.  Three year's later - I have done it!
I so liked the Dorcas-inspired hilly scene I made recently that I opted to do something similar but this time for a man so I have kept it VERY simple.  I've used my fabulous Memory Box die for the top again, inked up the sky (badly) with my brushes, the hill (better) with a dabber and coloured my pickup truck with a combo of Promarkers and Copics.

I'm entering my card into the "Anything Goes" Challenges at Bunny Zoe's Crafts and Crafty Emma's.  It is so sad to say goodbye to Emma and her lovely DT.  I'm also entering at Cupcake 192 who don't want to see any DPs (gasp!) on a birthday card!

For My Auntie

This card is for my auntie who is very unwell.  I'm hoping cute Henry Enjoying Spring (a Whiff of Joy image) will make her smile.   I have used some new K&Co papers, two Martha Stewart butterfly punches, an MS leaf stamp and punch and a Nestability label die for the framing.  My favourite elements are the pretty flowers made with a Papertrey Ink Die and topped with a Recollections sun punch.  Henry was coloured with Promarkers and Copics.

I am entering my card into the following challenges:

Creatalicious - 33 Butterflies and Flowers

Papertake Weekly - Cute, cute, cute

Deep Ocean -  25 What a Wonderful Woman

Crafts and Me - 83 Punches and Dies
Charisma Cardz - 18 Pink and Girlie

When in doubt...

... Use Lettering for Boys!

I found three challenges to inspire me to make a card for my niece's hubster's birthday card:

Cute Card Thursday - 215 One for the Boys

Creative Card Crew - 10 Sentiment as a focal point

Raise the Bar - 103 Report Cards (letters and text)

I was fortunate enough to snag a nearly new Cricut Expression to replace my smaller Cricut and I thought I would try it out today.  It's a bit more complicated than my older version but I managed to cut this simple lettering.  My DPs are Graphic 45 Le Cirque for  "Chris" and a new Recollections stack for the background and "Birthday".  I added a little Marianne car and a banner of red to match.





Pants!

My first job when I return from a trip (see post below for pictures) is to make a thank you card from my cat to his honorary "auntie" who looks after him while I'm away. Here is a photo (of my cat not his auntie!). He is glaring at me because he wants me to open the back door for him even though he is standing right next to his cat flap!
Being black, I find it incredibly difficult to colour a feline image to reflect my little chap so they don't always turn out so well but I can't bring myself to do it in a different colourway.  My coloured image looks more like a bear but I am trying to fatten my boy up - I think we had a feline intruder in the house while we were away, eating my baby's dinner!
I used some DCWV papers from the Citrus stack and teamed them with a PTI die cut tag, a tiny Stamps Away sentiment, two ribbons and a Penny Black image.  A Marianne corner and some pearls and a bow have also been added in an attempt to balance the black.  His pants and his little kisses tags have been decoupaged for a little dimension but sadly I don't think that's very visible in my photo.

I'm entering my card into the following challenges:
Mojo Monday - fab sketch
Kaboodle Doodle - 117 add some dimension
Papertake Weekly - anything goes
Creative Inspirations - 161 animal antics
Bunny Zoe - 23 ribbon or twine

Florida

I'm back.    I've spent the last three and a half weeks on the Gulf Coast of Florida enjoying glorious warm sunny days whilst my family and friends back home in England suffered cold, wind and rain.  We stay in a modest two bed condominium on Siesta Key, a short walk to the 3.5 mile beach voted the "Best Beach in the USA" last year and it's paradise.  I thought I 'd share a few photos.  The unit has two bedrooms and two bathrooms and a screened in balcony. It is available for rent.  If anyone is interested, drop me a line.  The condominium has a website too although the photos of our place are old before refurbishment.
Once I've unpacked, I'll be back for a visit to y'all and a spot of crafting myself.

Lavinia Lady of the Rose Garden

This is Lady of the Rose Garden by Lavinia stamps and you can find her here.  This was a card that just wouldn't come together and then suddenly did whilst I wasn't looking.  The background paper is Prima and the horizontal piece might be Basic Grey, I'm not sure.  The sentiment is Stampin Up mounted on another Stampin up label and punched with a Stampin Up punch on top of a Nestie die.  I coloured my image with Copics and added a wide ribbon of tulle  topped with a grossgrain ribbon and a bow.

I am entering my card into the following challenges:

Sweet Stampin - use more than one ribbon

Stamptacular Sunday - 160 loaded with layers

Creative Card Crew - 9 ribbon

Deep Ocean - 24 punches and dies; and

anything goes at

Creative Inspirations 160 and Simon Says Stamp

Movin on Up - Homeward Bound - to The Last Castle

I am such an admirer of the fabulously talented Dorcas of Dorcas Designs.  
Earlier this year she made at least three cards where she stitched a landscape of hills in different DPs and they were so striking.  You can see one of them here.   I don't sew but I loved the idea and so I CASED it for my card below.

The recipient of my card and her husband have a little boy and a cat and they are pictured at the top of one of my hills looking down at their new home.   I actually merged a photograph I took of our daughter's family with a clip art cat for the silhouette.  I was convinced that the little house is a Tiddly Inks image but I can't find it anywhere on their site so if you know who it's by, I'd be delighted to find out so I can file it in the right place on my computer and credit it here.   I coloured it in Copics, added a Martha Stewart punched fence with some MS punched branches covered in a little flowersoft for the flowers.  The sentiment is word processed and the bow is from my stash.

My favourite part of this card is the skyline.  This is one of my relatively recent acquisitions - a fabulous die by Memory Box and I made my first attempts at "cloudy skies" in the background. This meets the challenge at Raise the Bar.   I know my sky isn't very good but hopefully my clouds will get better in time.

I am entering my card into the challenge at Deep Ocean where they want us to be inspired by a song.  This could be "Movin on Up" by M People or "Homeward Bound" by Simon and Garfunkle or "Home on the Range" or the "Green, Green Grass of Home" - take your pick! 

The house on my card is called "Crumbles".  Apparently, before the mahusive refit, the house being bought was in a bit of a "shambles" but the new owner's little boy thought he had heard mum and dad say it was "crumbles".

I am also entering into My Mum's Craft Shop who also want our makes to be inspired by a song or movie title.  I can't say that any of the songs above are favourites but if an Englishman's home is his castle then I'm going to pick "The Last Castle" as the inpsiration for my card. It is a fabulous movie with Robert Redford and is certainly up there in my top 10.  I hope the recipient views her newly refurbished home as a castle and that it will be her last move for a long while!

Lastly I thought I'd have a go with

Paper Sundaes (#116) and Stamptacular Sunday (#159) both of whom have a "freebie/anything goes" challenge

To Case or to Copy

Half the enjoyment of blog hopping for me is seeing the wonderful creations of wonderful crafters and gaining inspiration from them.  I often case elements or layouts of other people's work and I always credit them where possible.   I made a new discovery not so long ago- a blog by Tracy at I wanna Build a Memory that I absolutely LOVE.  Her colouring is fabulous and her style so versatile.  One particular make - a photo album - really caught my eye.  I had been struggling to make the right card for a dear cousin for days and the cover of Tracy's album struck me as just perfect for what I needed.   Do take a look at Tracy's album which you can find here - the inside of which is as beautiful as the outside.  I wanted to make my creation a bit different but frankly the elements of Tracy's design were too perfect not to follow and I ended up with more copy than case but I did ask Tracy first. 
I used the same Cuttlebug embossing folder as Tracy because it's so perfect for this look but I added a criss cross of my favourite ribbon, some Marianne die swirls and skeleton leaves and flowers made with some paper from my scrap draw (it might be LLB but I can't guarantee it).  I heat embossed my alphabet stamps and added some tiny Recollections punched flowers with Distress Ink Stickles centres too.
I'm hoping dear cousin will like it and I'm very grateful to Tracy!

I am entering my card into the following challenges:

Crafts and Me - 3D

My Mum's Craft Shop 52 Celebration

Creative Card Crew - 8 Kraft

Sir Stampalot - Happy Birthday

Crafty Creations - 165 Flower Power

Sorry I haven't been around for a while, I had to step out  but I hope to spend some time catching up with my blog buddies tomorrow.

Katy Perry - "Mannequin"

I wanted to make a card for my cousin a fabulous seamstress.  I saw a perfect Tim Holtz set of stamps and also a lovely Papertray Ink stamp and die set and I purchased them both.  I also knew I already had a dinky little button Cuttlebug embossing folder - its one that is just a thin strip rather than A2 and I set about making a card with no coloured focal image.  I so struggled with the design of where to place my elements but I think I got there in the end and I'm pleased with the result which is very different to my usual makes.
My background paper is the supreme Prima Reflections.  I found some text on the web about various stitches and copied it into Word, converted the typeface to Old English and then copied it into Photoshop where I used an eraser of varying opacity to rub away some of the lettering before printing it to the right size for my project.  Copying from Word into Photoshop really blurs the text and it is almost completely unreadable but one can pick out the odd word like "fabric".  I'm a bit OCD and I prefer it when a text background bears some relationship to my project!
I stamped the large TH mannequin onto my background DP, my DCWV mount (from the Neutrals stack) and over the top of my text in brown ink individually and layered them up after stamping.   I stamped the circular Spool label from the same TH set over the top.   I used my Cuttlebug button embossing folder in the top left, added an old fashioned sewing machine image from an Artsy Collage stack and a strip of ruler from a DCWV Tattered Time stack.  There is a litte lace beneath it.  I wasn't sure if I wanted to use a terracotta stamp for the PTI mannequin or an aqua one so I used both and popped them up on dimensional squares.  The gorgeous singer sewing machine charm was my final touch.

I am entering my card into the following challenges:
Cupcake Craft - 185 Sound of Music
Inspired by Katy Perry "Mannequin" or,
at a push, the Do-Re-Me song from the Sound of Music movie
where this is ... wait for it...
"Sew - a needle pulling thread"

Bunny Zoe's - 22 Shabby Chic/Vintage 

I'm never actually sure what this means but this is my interpretation.

My Mum's Craft Shop 50 Stamp it
Truly Scrumptious 77 Use Lace
Stampin for the Weekend 6 and Simon Says Anything Goes

Saturated Canary

I just had to do a little shopping at the delightful Krista's Saturated Canary store recently.  Have you seen her new releases?  They are gorgeous. And I was lucky enough to  win one yesterday in a blog hop from the lovely Coops.  Thank you Coops and thank you Krista!  When I went shopping, I was still coveting some of her less recent images and I picked up three of them.
This one is called Enjoy the Rain and I LOVE her!  You can find her here. 
I teamed her with my gorgeous DCWV Mariposa papers, coloured her with Copics and added just a word processed sentiment, a button, some ribbon and twine.

"Twine" is the current theme at the Saturated Canary challenge this week

and I am also entering my card in to the following challenges:

Raise the Bar - In the Garden

Deep Ocean - Butterflies

And "Anything goes" at

 Creative Inspirations 105, Cute Card Thursday 209, and Sweet Stampin  

I've seen lots of recent moans about how badly blogger is behaving at the moment and I must say that it's driving me nuts!   30% of the time I can get into a blog but I can't get into the comment box and 30% of the time I can't get into a blog at all!  I do hope they get it fixed soon! 

My Mum's ABC Papertake Digital Pencil

I am so enjoying playing along with Mo Manning at the moment.  There are lots of images out there that I love but I always find Mo's so versatile and I am determined to not leave the ones I own uninked for too much longer!
Today I am using Diva.  You can find her here.  I have coloured her with Copics, Promarkers, Flexmarkers and even used a few Prisma pencils and teamed her with Papermania and Sizzix papers, some LLB purple lace, some gems and a charm.   I rather like her flowersoft and stickles feather boa and her stickled crown and Spica glittered jewellery.  I am grateful to best matey, Julie - with whom I have spent a most enjoyable play day, for her idea for the sentiment which I word processed. 

I am entering my card into the following challenges:
Mo's Digital Pencil - 127 Bling it On
Papertake Weekly - Bingo - I used Gems, Free (charm) and Lace
My Mum's Craft Shop - 49 Lets get digital; and
The ABC Challenge - L is for Lavender and Lace

A Truly Scrumptious Cute Card Digital Fixer

A very special blog buddy, talented crafter and sometimes accident prone DIYer is having a birthday and I just had to buy this adorable Mo Manning image called Fixer in order to make her card.  You can find her here and there is an equally lovely boy version too.
I used Stampin Up papers for my card because I know the recipient likes lemon and lilac as a colour combo.   The lovely DT at Mo's Digital Pencil challenge site want us to use "buttons and bows" this week.   I chose a large organza ribbon for my bow and added some punched and glazed square buttons as well as the little heart.  My Fixer is framed in a new Nestie frame.  A spanner charm just finishes it off.  I hope the recipient doesn't mind my wordprocessed sentiment which I cut with two SU punches.  She did mention in a recent post that she had progressed from "choklit" to alcohol!

I do feel the need to mention, as a specific warning to the recipient of my card, that DIY is best performed in sturdy footware and a hard hat although this little cutie does look very fetching in her sneakers and baseball cap!  Also, for the more mature DIY lady - full make up and hair-do are advised in order to look beautiful for the emergency crews should they be needed - and hopefully they will NOT be needed - in the event of an accident!  Step away from the chainsaw, young lady!

In addition to participating with Mo's Digital Pencil, I am hoping to get away with entering my card into Truly Scrumptious where the theme is lilac, lemon and cream (my lemon is a little on the mustard side I'm afraid - it's clearly an organic lemon rather than one of the plasticky yellow ones!), and also Cute Card Thursday who want to see a birthday make because they are celebrating their own birthday.

Is it Mothers' Day or Mother's Day?

My mum has been staying with me for over two weeks and is due to go home again on Sunday - Mothers' Day in England.  It's been quite hard to make her a card because she likes to sit with me in the Craft Croft.  She plays solitaire games on my pc and I play on the other desk.
I did manage it and this is what I came up with, photographed in the dark!

My papers are Julieanne by K&Co with DCWV mounts.  I used a beautiful ribbon of vintage roses - a gift from the lovely Janiel.   Thank you so much PQ - they are perfect!   The lacey edge and the little bouquet of roses are from my stash, as are the ribbon and button.    The "Love You" sentiment is Hero Arts and the ticket is by Autumn Leaves.

My image is "kisses" by the uber talented Mo Manning.  You can find her here.   I coloured her with Copics. and added stickles to the dots on her dress and her petticoats.  Her necklace charm and shoes have been glazed.

This is only my second ever step card and I have never made one with a central panel before.   I botched my first template but got it right the second time around and I'm entering my card in the challenge at Mo's Digital Pencil for "try something different". 

I'm also entering challenges at
Papertake Weekly - "For the girls or Mum"
Simon Says Stamp - "Mothers' Day or special girl"
Totally Gorjuss - "Anything goes with a button"
One Stop -"Mothers' Day with Ribbon"; and
Paper Sundaes - "Feminine Flair"
And I just realised that I forgot to enter into Hanna and Friends who want a centre step sard.  It was seeing this challenge that made me decide to do the centre step card in the first place.  Duh!