Making a Start ....

.... on Valentine's Day cards! I am trying to be organised and now with Christmas out of the way (for a while until I start chipping away at those cards!) I thought I'd make a start on Valentine's cards, so be prepared to see quite a few in the coming weeks!

I have a little basket of them placed outside the Managers office at nursery and I sell quite well - last year I only had a few left!

The current Crafty Garden challenge is this sketch which was originally for a layout, but can be adapted for a card.I've used papers from Patti Picklicious cd by Kirsty Wiseman which have been printed onto wonderful 300gsm ivory linen effect card. I've dotted tiny black dots around the edge of the main panel for a little definition.

The heart stamp was a freebie on a magazine last year which I found in my stash. The two flowers have been layered and are from The Craft Garden - there is a matching tiny red button in the centre but you can't see it too well.

I really do like these papers especially the red so be expecting more of these!!

• Backing papers: Patti Picklicious by Kirsty Wiseman
• Flowers: From The Craft Garden
• Stamp: From my stash
  
  

As Promised - Part 2

And here is the final completed album I made for Hayley and Stephen.

Mr Blogger likes these photos better!

• Papers: Printed - Papermania 12 x 12 doublesided 'Brown Ornate Clusters', Plain - Bazzill Basics
• Flowers: Prima
• Pins: Made by me
• Everything else: From my stash as left overs from making the Wedding Stationery
  
  

As Promised

As promised here is the full completed album of Donna and Danny's Wedding.

Eeek! Just realised that Mr Blogger has kindly flipped some of my photos - why??!! You'll just have to tilt your head to view those. Sorry!

• Papers: Printed - My Minds Eye 12 x 12 double sided 'Bella Bella', Plain - Bazzill Basics
• Everything else: From my stash as left overs from making the Wedding Stationery
  
  

Get Funky! Challenge 4 - Autumn Woodland

It's the start of a new month which means a brand new Get Funky Challenge! For November, it is the turn of the very talented Enfys to set the challenge and she choose:

Autumn Woodland

This can be interpreted however you like but as long as you use at least one item from Funky Hand (and there are a lot to choose from!) you will be in with a chance to win a £20 voucher to spend on Funky Hand products and you have until 30 November to enter. You will also be treated to a sneak peak of the brand new cd that Anice is busy working on - the colours are fantastic and it will be something very different to the previous Funky Hand products!

The Design Team have been very busy with this challenge and there are some wonderful examples - so pop on over to Get Funky to see them and also to find out who won Allison's October Halloween challenge!

I attended 3 Weddings over the summer - in fact it was 3 Weddings in 6 weeks so I now am in the middle of making 3 acrylic Wedding albums for the happy couples! Hayley and Stephen is now complete and now David and Janis' is also finished!

David is one of my cousins and now lives in Edinburgh with his lovely wife Janis and here is my interpretation of the November challenge:

I've used papers from Now That's Funky - the Sweetie Pie collection as they fitted in well with the colour scheme from the Wedding.

They had a piper playing in full Scottish dress as Janis walked down the aisle and also as they walked out of the room as husband and wife.

The bridesmaids wore a wonderful shade of orange - quite unusual but very striking, so the album colour theme revolves around orange, off white and brown.

I've used a number of past sketches from Carol's Sketch Fun Challenge blog to help me with the page layouts and each page is mirrored on the reverse (mostly!) Carol has stepped down from all her Design Team commitments due to the success of her status as an independent Stampin' Up demonstrator. She is greatly missed by the Funky Hand Design Team and I will sorely miss her but will still 'see' her on her challenge blog and SU blog. So I thought it apt that I use Carol's talent for sketches in this challenge. Thank you Carol for the inspiration!

All the Wedding photos were either taken by me or my Dad.

The butterflies on the last two pages were on the glasses on each table when we had our meal so a few of them came home with me! The one above is two layered up to show off the wings.

So there you go! Quite a mammoth post but I really did need to show the whole album! I hope you can join in with this challenge over on Get Funky - good luck and you have until 30 November to enter!

• All papers: Now That's Funky - Sweetie Pie collection
• Ribbon: From my stash
• Gems: Hearts - Club Green, Round - Pound Shop
• Flowers: Orange - Prima Daisy Doodles, White and tiny brown Prima's - The Craft Garden
• Brads: Papermania
• Pins: Made by me
• Butterflies: Taken from the tables at the Wedding!
  
  

Lots of Blooms!

I really must stop blog hopping. It is very bad for my time! I've found another challenge blog! Actually, I tell a lie, I found it whilst searching for white Prima flowers on ebay. I'm in the process of making three Wedding acrylic / acetate albums (I've only shown two of them to you as the third will be revealed as part of the Get Funky November challenge!) and I've run short of white Prima flowers.

So I ventured onto ebay. Found a seller with lovely blooms and a direct website link. So I click and I then buy!! A nice mixture of different sized and coloured Prima blooms and I must say, very quick shipping! Ordered on Monday afternoon and arrived on Wednesday and cheap postage and packing rates too!

Anyway, whilst on the lovely flower website (The Craft Garden) I notice that they have a blog and also a challenge running! It is a monthly challenge and this is their first one, which is:

To Use Flowers

Yeah! So I have - two more sides of Donna and Danny's acrylic Wedding album are completed.

In case you were wondering, the strange reflection on the acrylic is the French door handle as I take my photos in front of the huge windows.

I bought a lovely selection of blooms and the white Prima flowers will be on the third Wedding album!

• Backing papers: My Minds Eye 'Bella, Bella' 12 x 12 double sided papers and Rayher brown 12 x 12 paper
• Everything else: My stash
  

Another Page Completed!

Both acrylic / acetate Wedding albums are coming along nicely, and I did like the current Friday Sketchers challenge which is this sketch:


So I've complete another page (two sides) of Hayley and Stephen's album. You'll have to excuse the reflections on the acetate!

The papers again are Papermania 12 x 12 double sided 'Brown Ornate Clusters' along with Bazzill Basics 12 x 12 paper. The ribbon, flowers are brad are all from my stash.

Not many pages left to complete now!

• Papers: Bazzil Basics 12 x 12 paper and Papermania 12 x 12 double sided 'Brown Ornate Clusters'
• Everything else: My stash
  
  

I Remembered!

This time I remembered to remove the green film! I've completed another page (well, two sides) for the Wedding book by using this weeks Sketch Saturday challenge which is:


Sorry about the quality of the photos - taken using the kitchen lights as it was still dark.

Used the same papers as before - Papermania double sided 12 x 12 Brown Ornate Clusters, the photos have been layered onto Bazzill 12 x 12 Carob paper. I've rounded and inked the edges too and the chocolate brown satin ribbon is left over from making the actual Wedding stationery, and too the heart gem.

The chocolate brown flowers are Prima which I bought specifically to make the book and the others were freebies from an overseas website a while ago. I must stop looking at them and use them more! The centres are Papermania brads.

I've not completely followed the sketch as I've missed off the sentiment, but I felt the pages didn't need one.

• Double Sided Paper: Papermania 12 x 12 Ornate Brown Clusters
• Brown paper: Bazzill Basics 12 x 12 Carob
• Everything else: From my stash

Sketches By Tamara # 91

It's been a while since I followed one of Tamara's sketches - this is sketch 91: And I've finally used one of my Craftwork Card oriental stamps! This one is Akina and I've used chestnut Whispers ink and then coloured her with watercolour paints and pencils.

Papers are Simply Elegant 6 x 6 and I've also inked the edges. Sentiment is from a 4 block stamp and the flowers are wonderful freebies that I got from an internet site (so sorry but can't remember where as I've unpacked them!) - the white ones are from one pack and the brown printed one from another. Brad is from my stash.

I really liked working with this stamp, so expect to see more in the future! The detail is really amazing too - very delicate!

• Backing paper: Simply Elegant 6 x 6
• Image: Craftwork Cards
• Sentiment: 4 sided sentiment stamp
• Flowers: From my stash

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