Tah-Dah! Guest Spot on Cuteable!

I've been featured as a special guest on Cuteable this morning! Have a look here at what I have to say! I was asked to pick 5 handmade items that I think are cute and to write a little bit about why.

Thank you to Lynsey for giving me the opportunity to show the world just how bonkers I am! Cute false teeth eh?!

Generosity

Well, I am back from Harrogate and a few quid lighter (although didn't spend almost as much as I thought I would) but laden down with packages from the very wonderful Kath!

Myself, Jozza and Kath had arranged to meet up at The Northern Papercrafts Extravaganza on Sunday, held in Harrogate. Kath had some samples to drop off at the Craftwork Cards stand (slightly jealous that she gets to play with all the lovely stuff!) so it all worked out really well for a mini Funky Hand Design Gang meet!

We met up in the cafe area and had a good natter. Kath, to the surprise of Joz and I produced some wonderous packages out of her bag! Here are the ones meant for only me:
A beautiful little triangular box with a very cute birdy image on it (look at the ribbon!) and a lovely folder - all matching colours!

And just look what was inside the box!! Needless to say, it was ribboned back up again sharpish, before any little monsters realise what is inside and scoff the lot! That goes for the big Daddy monster too!

Inside the folder were lots of stamped images - I didn't have chance to properly look but I think they are all Penny Black (yeah!!)

Then I had this to open:


I am instantly recognising the Craftwork Cards card candy, plus papers and sentiments (forget love - fall in chocolate heheheheh!) And more stamped images! Penny Black again and some Daisy and Dandelion too!

I said earlier that these were the packages meant for me. I've not photographed the Easter finger making puppet sets or the tubes of Mini Eggs that Kath sent for the boys. Not that any of it has been eaten - just the light was fading fast and I wanted to get the photos taken!

Samuel and Jacob don't actually know yet that they both have surprises waiting for them and I can't wait to see what they say!!

And for once, I think both Jozza and I were lost for words - Kath's generosity is very, well, generous!! The funny thing is, Kath is just like she is on her blog but real and funny!

A big thank you to Kath for the treats and also to Jozza and her friend for making me laugh when I shouldn't!

Shall we do it again sometime?!

PS Met Kirsty Wiseman too!!

Gold Wire and Bead Wedding Heart

One of the members of staff at Nursery, Leighanne is getting married next Saturday and I wanted to make her a card. As that is what I do! She told me on Thursday that the theme was gold hearts, so I decided to go with just that for this card.

The Creative Card Crew challenge is:

Warm Colours

And gold is a warm colour! Just that I've not used any others! I wanted it just to be this heart and bead embellishment that I made. I did think about layering it up onto gold vellum and white embossed card, but decided against it.

I made this heart with thick gold wire for the shape, and it is double thickness and then threaded some gold buggle and seed beads onto some thinner wire which was then wrapped across the heart shape. It took me about half an hour to make it and I had to make sure that the actual shape of the heart didn't distort. It is attached to the card with wire - I made holes with a pin and then threaded the wire through, twisted the ends on the reverse and then glued to secure them.

Simple card but I think it works!

• Heart embellishment: Made by me

Just For You - Forever Friends

The Forever Friends challenge this week is to:

make a card for your mum.
If you don't want to make a Mum card, then feel free to do it for a female occasion

As Mothers Day has passed and my Mum's Birthday isn't until October, I decided just to make a girly card. I used a sticker from I think the Celebrations triple pack which I mounted onto white card stock and then onto pale pink. I then used 3d foam pads to layer it onto some lovely pale pink pearlescent card and then some hot pink card. All edges have been rounded and inked.

The blue ribbon is from my stash and I used the left over bits on the side of the image.

• All card: From my stash
• Image: Forever Friends Celebration stickers
• Ribbon: From my stash
  
  

Handy Man

This week, the Pink Elephant has a sketch:

I used the image intended for last weeks Stampin' Chic challenge which I just did not get around to doing. I've coloured it with watercolours and a little bit of silver gel pen. All edges have been rounded and inked. The textured background is a sheet of card which is just the perfect colour!

Card candy and tiny nuts added too.

• Textured background: From my stash
• Image: Clare Curd Signature Range coloured with watercolours
• Card Candy: Craftwork Cards
• Other embellishments: Scrap store
  
  

Homer / Lisa Simpson Monster...

The Cupcake Craft Challenge this week is

Monsters

And I've inadvertently made one that looks like a cross between Homer and Lisa Simpson....

Ah well! I freehand drew the shape onto some lovely bright yellow slightly textured card, chalked it and drew a wobbly thin black line around the edges. The spikes and spots were made in the same way. And I dabbed a bit of glitter glue here and there for a bit of bling.

The teeth were cut from white card and also chalked.

Samuel has been invited to a joint Birthday party mid April so one card down, one to go!

• All components: From stash
  

I'm Off To See The Wizard, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz..

No, not really! But I am off to the Great Northern Papercrafts Extravaganza on Sunday in Harrogate!

Just thought I'd let you know.

And because I get twitchy when I don't blog every day.

Yep. Cart me off now.......

Christmas Cards All Year 'Round Challenge - March

I know, Christmas cards in March! The monthly challenge on Christmas Cards All Year 'Round is:

Since this is the month of the lucky leprechauns and Spring I thought it would be fun to create an all (or mostly) green Christmas card and include some kind of leaf on it. (for eg. a holly leaf)

This time I decided to try and make 5 similar cards but to use the holly leaf as the main focus. The holly is my own template cut from a lovely green card that has flecks in it. I've chalked it and then inked the edges in black. A little bit of glitter glue was added to the tips and also the centre of the leaves. The berries are card candy with a large dollop of red glitter glue!

I've printed directly onto the card stock again (makes life soooooooo much easier!) and I've used Big Mini Dots download from Pink Petticoat - there are actually two shades of green that I've used as I wasn't sure which one I liked the best.

I've doodled around the edges. I started using my trusty thin marker but that gave up on me so then used two black gel pens - one was glittery so there are subtle differences. And the ribbon is from my stash - it was wired but I took that out.

Sentiment is an acrylic Studio G stamp.

• Printed directly onto cardstock: Big Mini Dots download from Pink Petticoat
• Leaf: My own template
• Card Candy: Craftwork Cards
• Sentiment: Studio G acrylic stamp
• Ribbon: From my stash
  
  

Daisy & Dandelion Thank You

The second Daisy and Dandelion challenge is:

Thank you

I've used one of the sheets in the decoupage pack (really easy to use - just pop the bits out and layer them in number order) but realised that I'd missed out layer 2 but you can't tell can you?! Note to self: more concentration next time!

The backing paper are strips from Funky Daze which have been rounded and inked. The sentiment I don't know the maker as it is not marked, and the chocolate organza ribbon is from my stash.

I quite liked using the easy peasy decoupage so look out for more!

• Backing papers: Funky Daze from Funky Hand
• Image: Daisy and Dandelion decoupage
• Sentiment: Don't know
• Ribbon: From my stash
  
  

Sketch and a Birthday

Decided to combine two challenges with the one card as I liked the layout for the Sketch and Stash challenge and also the Daring Card Makers challenge, plus I needed to make a card for my cousin Claire who has her Birthday at the end of March.

The sketch is:

And the DCM dare is:

I want the focus of your cards to be the girls. It can be any style, any theme, and any recipient - as long as she is female.

All the backing papers are from the Funky Hand element (Boys and Girls) of the Craft4Charity cd plus the flower has been printed onto vellum and I've used one of the shapes from the Cuttlebug Baby Face alphabet die set to cut it. A pewter daisy brad attaches it to the card. I've inked all the edges with pink and fading black ink to give a bit of definition.

And the stamp is a new purchase (I now have 6 of these!) and it's from the Smirk collection. To be honest, I didn't actually choose to buy the stamp; husband and I were in The Range looking for a black rubber mat for the back of his car so boxes did not slide all over the place, and I had a quick walk through the craft section. He picked this stamp out of a bin thing and commented that it was nice and did I want it? How could I say no?!!

The sentiment is a Studio G acrylic stamp and I've coloured the image with watercolour pencils and added a bit of glitter glue on the two glasses.

So Claire, if you've read this then expect it on your doormat very soon! And a Happy Birthday too!

• Backing papers: Boys and Girls from Craft4Charity cd
• Image: Smirk, coloured with watercolour pencils and a bit of glitter glue
• Sentiment: Studio G acrylic stamp
• Dies: Flower from the Cuttlebug Baby Face alphabet set
• Brad: From my stash
  
  

Mothers Day 2009

Be warned - this is very photo heavy! I had a really nice Mothers Day this year - I had a lie in until 8:30am (although had been up 4 times between 4am and 6am with Jacob, the pest) and then whilst I was getting ready to go out the boys presented me with these:

Samuel had made me a shopping list at school, the front is covered with felt and foam stickers (he likes giraffes and dinosaurs, so of course, I do too) plus the random bit of fluffy glitter at the bottom. On the back of the shopping list notebook he wrote:

He also made me this certificate type hangy thing. And if you know me, the drawing is a very close likeness (I do like how he has grasped the basics of perspective). I'm not sure why he loves me and he could not work out what he'd written either. So that will remain a mystery.

Jacob, at nursery had made me this lovely card

And inside is a photo of him holding a message (I get the impression all the kids were made to hold the same message!) and just look at his join-the-dots writing - he really concentrates when he does his writing and not bad for a three year old!

I also got a card with a chimp knitting on it (not sure of the connection there) and a box of chocolates. Which is now a part box of chocolates and I presumed that you really did not want to see those!

We then set off to the South Lakes Wild Animal Park which is in Dalton-in- Furness, Cumbria, about an hour and a half drive for us. We've been a few times before when Jacob was a baby but this was an all together better trip as it was a special Mothers Day weekend - Mums got in free when accompanied by their children!

We saw loads of different animals - its not a huge place but the space is used really well and there are viewing platforms where it feels that you can just reach out and touch the animals. Lemurs have the run of the place as do the ducks, peacocks and emus.

There are two baby rhinos, and here is one with its mummy (photo taken from one of the viewing platforms)

There were also two pests sat on a bench

This lemur sat really still for me, but refused to look directly at me

Same with the peacock

And this emu took a fancy to me but I kept away from its beak!

I actually thought this was a statue until it blinked!

At least this parrot kept still long enough for me to take a photo (Samuel was by this point telling me which photos he wanted taking so he could take them into school to show his class)

Dotted around the park are sculptures of the animals which of course need to be sat upon

And me and the boys went on the little train. It was really windy and Jacob didn't want his photo taking.


So there you go - great day had by all!

More Fimo Buttons

I made all these a few weeks ago but just not got round to blogging them yet. Although a few have found a new home and I've used a few on this card this is as far as they have got.


They were actually supposed to be blues and greens but decided to go with pinks, purples and reds, plus I've still got some left from the ones I made when I did the button swop last month.

These odd shaped ones are made without moulds and I've pushed seed beads into the fimo before baking. I think I should have been a little more forceful with the seed beads as some have worked their way loose.

The heart shaped buttons have been made with a shape cutter - I'd have never got them so uniform and straight without it!

So, that's it. Hope to do some more soon. At some point....

Have A Monster Birthday!

The second Creative Card Crew Challenge is:

NO PAPER - KEEP IT CLEAN
Now, before you all panic, it is easier than it sounds. We all love our designer papers, don't we? But you can also achieve some wonderful results when you don't use the papers. So why not give it a try? You just might amaze yourself.

I'd bought the funky monster dome plastic stickers earlier in the week from the pound shop (amongst some other needy craft supplies!) and wanted to make a monster card with them so this challenge fitted in perfectly! I've used card from my stash - a smaller circle in the contrasting colour is layered onto a larger circle, all inked with my very fading black ink pad and then a strip of bright orange card added with rounded corners.

The sentiment has been stamped in black ink with a mini Studio G alphabet set. I've a lot more of these stickers in the pack so you may see some more of them!

• Monster stickers: Pound shop
• Coloured card: All from my stash
• Sentiment: Studio G mini wooden alphabet set
  
  

An Award

From the very talented Karen of Crystal Velvet Weddings I have been awarded this:



And because I'd started this post and then saved it as draft I forgot about it until now when I had a look down my list.... Sorry Karen!! I was awarded it because Karen thinks my work is stunning and inspirational - wow eh?!

I am to list 7 things I love, which are:

1. Blogging
2. Being able to indulge in crafting
3. Chocolate
4. Seabrook Prawn Cocktail Crisps
5. No queues when shopping
6. Kids that behave (ha!)
7. A win on the Lottery (ok, this is a would love item!)

I am supposed to pass it onto a further 7 people, but I just cannot pick 7! So, feel free to take the award.

Thank you again Karen - you are a star! And go and have a look at her beautiful jewellery - I wish I'd have known you 9 years ago!

PS - Karen - I'm on with the article request just had a bad week with this and that...

Funky Girl

The challenge this week on Dottie's blog is a sketch:
For my card I have used one of the Holly and Madison downloads which I have coloured with watercolour pencils and have neatly cut round her too. All the backing papers are scraps from previous projects and are from Funky Daze. I've rounded and inked all the edges too with green and blue ink.



Although I've not put the three dots at the top right hand of the card (like the sketch) I thought that the dotty paper would suffice..... or not?!

Sentiment has been double stamped with blue (it didn't look strong enough on its own) and then with black ink, and it is a Studio G acrylic clear stamp. All the flowers are from Jozza, the heart embroidered button is from my recent button swop with Jacqui and the brads are Papermania. The scalloped border has been created with a Martha Stewart punch.

• Backing papers: Funky Daze from Funky Hand
• Image: Holly and Madison download from Charmed Cards and Crafts
• Flowers: From Jozza
• Heart Button: From a recent handmade button swop and from Jacqui
• Border Punch: Martha Stewart
• Sentiment: Studio G acrylic stamp
  

Pink, Spots and My Buttons

The Challenge on Pink Elephant this week is to use

Buttons

I'd made the little flowers (used one of the free templates from Simply Cards and Papercrafts magazine) with Funky Daze backing papers, inked the edges and then cut the petals deeper but then decided that the buttons I was originally going to use just did not look right. The pink was too pale and the buttons were too small.

Then I remembered I'd made a batch of fimo buttons a few weeks ago (I've not yet got round to blogging the photos I took of all of them - how bad am I?!) so used those!

They are a bit rough and ready but I like the quirkiness of them plus I'd pushed some pink and silver seed beads into the fimo before I baked them.

The flower stems are a swirly flourish set of clear acrylic stamps from Studio G. And that's it! Really simple - and I do like cards that happen that way!

• Backing paper: Funky Daze from Funky Hand
• Buttons: Made by me
• Flower template: From Simply Cards and Papercraft magazine
• Stamps: Studio G acrylic stamp set
  
  
  

Penny Black Challenge - Week 40

It's week 40 of the challenges over on Penny Black, and this week it is a sketch

Admittedly, I am just about in time for this one but I did make it a few nights ago and then forgot to take a photo of it.

The image was sent to me by Kath and I've water coloured the image. The backing paper is a lovely lightly ribbed green thin card that I got in a kids pack some time ago from a book club thing at nursery. See how precise I am?! I've used a Martha Stewart punch on it and inked the edges. Oddments of ribbon have been added across the green card and I've used two colours of Prima Esprit flowers and brads and then cheated and used card candy on the edges!

• Green card: From my stash
• Image: From Kath and water coloured
• Punch: Martha Stewart
• Flowers: Prima Esprit, green and yellow tubs
• Brads: Papermania
• Card Candy: From Craftwork Cards
  
  

Have Your Cake And Eat It!

The Secret Crafter Challenge for this week is:

Have your cake and eat it!

For the first time ever, I've actually printed directly onto the card stock - I've used Pink Petticoat Big Mini Dots download (had to trim the card a little for the margins). And I did say that I'd be doing the cupcakes again! Made them the same way as before, but this time cut, what I hope will look like, bites out of the cake (although husband said it look like a rat had gnawed them....)




And I've added a co-ordinating strip of card to back the cupcakes onto and the obligatory brown satin ribbon.

I was thinking of adding a sentiment underneath but couldn't decide on what. So will leave it blank until I reach that decision!

• Card stock: Big Mini Dots download from Pink Petticoat
• Backing papers: Huge Funky Love
• Template: From Simply Cards and Papercrafts magazine (thanks to the person who pointed it out to me in the previous post!)
• Ribbon: From my stash