A mixture of challenges!!

Hello everyone,

Back from a weekend away and have just about caught up, it's been one of those days when craft time was on and off all day so it feels like it took forever to make this card !
It's for this weeks Less is More and the very generous Mandi and Chrissie are letting us choose three of the past 29 challenges to mix up and produce a card with ..... what a fab idea I hear you say .... the hard part is choosing three!

In the end I decided on

Wk#1 - Pink and Black ( I missed the first week so I just had to do this one )

Wk#4 - Three Squares

and

Wk#12 - Off Centre

As you can see the large outer frame is raised up so the stamped flower panel sits inside the aperture and the two smaller squares overlap the edges slightly. The images and sentiment are from a 'new to me' PTI set called Gracious Vases and I've used my distress inkpads (Victorian Velvet and Black Soot)  to colour the vases and flowers.
To add an extra dimension I used some pink leatherette strap tied around the frame and, I faced my demons to add some fine glitter accents to the images .... I now have very sparkly jeans too ! (sigh)



Thanks Mandi and Chrissie for another great challenge, it was great fun looking back through the challenges and older entries too :)

As I've used my PTI stamps I'm also entering this into the current challenge at A Passion for Papertrey which is anything goes .... may even get a chance to make another before Monday when it closes :)

Don't forget Thursday brings a new challenge over at St Luke's Charity Card Challenge please pop by then to see what we have in store for you :0)

Oh .... just wanted to ask if any of the Limettes from the UK are going to Alexandra Palace in September to the Big Stamp and Scrapbooking show, details here. I thought about going but not sure what day yet...would anyone want to meet up??? Just a thought?

Anyhows ... thanks for looking , love to hear what you think X

A Flying Penguin!!!

When I saw that Simon Says Stamp's Challenge was to use Lawn Fawn stamps on a sketch this week, I couldn't let it pass without making a card and I thought I'd give the little penguin from 'Critters in the Snow'  the chance to fly ....

I decided to use the umbrella from 'Partly cloudy' as my parachute and masked out the brolly handle.
I cut away the negative space to allow the blue to show through the frame and then used black thread to attach the parachute to the little penguin ... et voila!
I've tried to pretty much keep to the sketch and just turned it through 90 degrees whilst keeping it nice and CAS too :)

Hope you're enjoying the weekend whatever your doing, and as this is a scheduled post I just hope the weather is behaving for everyone in the UK .... it's normally pants on Bank Holiday weekends!

Thanks for looking and sorry for the lack of blog hopping, normal service will resume when I get back home :)
X

Autumn Trees

Hi Everyone,

I'll be back to scheduled posts as we are visiting relatives this Bank Holiday Weekend, although I do have access to a computer this time, unlike last weekend when we were living in the middle of a field!!

I'm too late to enter, but I decided to use the Waltzing mouse sketch from this week and make a card for the ColourQ challenge which is still open :)

I used my WM 'Tiny Trees' stamp set as they just happen to fit the colours well, they are as close as I could get to the Colour Q palette !
Haven't made my mind up if it looks like a moonlit scene or not ..... the yellow disc was meant to be the sun!!

It's very fitting to make an Autumn tree card as there's a definite change in the air and the mornings have that back to school feel to them. Reminds me of going back with new enthusiasm, new uniform and shoes and most important a new pencil case full of new pens etc ... I'm still a sucker for a stationary shop now :0) Lol

Catch you again tomorrow with another card that isn't too late for the challenge!!!
Thanks for looking , bye X

Something that Moves

I finally got round to making my Less is More card, I haven't missed a week since I joined on week two and didn't want to falter now!

This weeks theme is

 Things That Move

 which could be an actual moving component

 or an image of something that moves.



Given more time I would have loved to try and make a slider or pop up card but seeing as we are at the end of the week now I've opted for an image of a scooter .... a Spiffy Scooter to be precise ....

This Paper Smooches set has not had much use yet and is perfect for a moving object as well as fitting with a couple of other challenges too :)

The Polaroid frame is from a Lawn fawn set called 'Say Cheese' and I decided to distress and ink the edges to give an aged appearance, the sentiment is from a different LF set called 'Cruising Through Life' .... who'd have guessed???

 

Oh and by the way I promised to let you know when Emily at Make The Day Special had Paper Smooches in stock, well she has now and is also waiting for the newest Lawn Fawn stamp sets too .... it's so good to be able to buy these fab stamp sets over here now :)

I'm also entering this card into the Wee Memories challenge #64 as they require a Masculine card and I reckon this could make a good valentines or anniversary card for a guy????

..... and with some amazing planning and fore thought this also fits nicely in with the travel theme over at The Paper Variety too!

 .... oh and The Paper Variety are having their first birthday celebrations starting on the 7th September with lots of giveaways and competitions so pop over here and find out what it's all about .... you might even spot Hannah, she's on the design team :)

You are in with a chance of winning a prize just by displaying this blinkie on your side bar and spreading the word, go grab it from this post here.

I have not had a chance to visit all the other Limettes blogs yet but I will get round to that later today .... still playing catch-up after our weekend away :)

Cheerio and thanks for looking X

A Clean and Simple Christmas card

Well this is the second card I managed to make yesterday between household jobs and trips to the computer shop! I wanted to play along with Clean & Simple stamping this week because they are joining up with Jingle Belles, a "new to me" challenge blog to get you making a Christmas card every week of the year to avoid mayhem come Christmas time ....sounds a top idea to me :)

I spied this MME Christmas paper in my off cuts box and it pretty much lead the way on my card from the colour combination to the wreath design that I cut on my Cricut machine

I tried to incorporate some smaller elements as per the sketch but felt they didn't look right so I've just left it as the wreath. The vellum wrap came about when I realised I wasn't going to be able to stamp on embossed card stock!!

I'm also entering this card into Jules Crafty Snippets Challenge as I managed to not use any new pieces of cardstock for this creation, apart from the card base of course :)

I'm looking forward to getting cracking on my Christmas stamps this year, since starting my blog and discovering my love of CAS cards I feel they will all have a new lease of life :)
I keep them in seperate boxes from the rest so it'll be like opening an early present to play with ... probably wont stop me from buying more tho!!! Lol :)

I'm hoping to make my Less is More card today ... still haven't got round to playing this week!  I'll hopefully post it tomorrow ..... Sooo many cards so little time and a busy weekend ahead again!

Thanks for your time again today, I really appreciate your comments when you visit X

Edited to add : Oh poop! I've done it again ..... I missed the Jingle Belles deadline (sigh)

CAS-ual embossing

Oh my ..... what a day , it seems it's our turn to have computer problems and our laptop has gone to laptop hospital! We have a home computer too but the monitor has a slight colour cast because it's second hand so I hope the photos look okay , I've had to rely on the bells and whistles in Photoshop instead of my eye :)

This card is for CAS-ual fridays this week and which closes in a few hours time! I'm not usually this late but I got there in the end.
This week we are to use embossing on a card .... dry or heat, so I've used both :)

 I'm enjoying that white space again and have to say quite like the heat embossing for a pop of colour too :)
The stamps are from an Inkadinkado set and the embossed strip is a cuttlebug folder. The sentiment is one of my favourites from Penny Black because it has a lovely 'hand-written' look to it.

We were quite panicked this morning when the laptop problem became apparent as we had not backed up a lot of the photos on it but luckily the guy in the tech shop was able to retrieve them .... phew what a relief :)
Just a word of warning though to make sure you back everything up on these machines, it's easy to think they are so reliable and "I'll do that another day!!!" Sermon over . LoL

Thanks for calling by, I have another card to share with you tomorrow X

We're back !

Hi everyone,

As the title suggests we are home from a brilliant weekend away in Norfolk, the weather was excellent in the day ..... bit chilly overnight and early morning , never good to wake up and see your own breath as you exhale!!!!
As promised I have chosen a few pictures of the kids (not really kids at 17 and 15 now but you know what I mean), not many of me as I'm a little camera shy ..... oh and our canvas 'home from home'

The campsite was on a farm and had a really relaxed feel to it,  you could pitch where you fancied and campfires were allowed too.
We haven't camped for a number of years because it wasn't successful with James when he was younger but he enjoyed it much more this time round and Hannah being a lot older now was another helping pair of hands. We tried our hand at self catering too, here we are cooking up a pasta bolognese ....

We visited the Wizard Maize Maze near Sheringham which is a past favorite because they have a big jumping pillow that James loves to throw himself about on .... in fact he loved all the extra activities more than the maze !

James and Dad on the go-karts

..... and they still need to be pushed on the basket swing!

Sunday was supposed to be the best day although the sun took a while to show it's face on the coast.  James just loves to play in the sand burying his hands or feet ! ...... not fussed with going in the sea, especially the North sea as it's so cold, they're were some crazy people having a swim tho!!

The beach local to the camp site is just pebbles so we went down in the evening to see the sunset and let James throw the pebbles into the sea ..... another of his favourite things to do at the beach.
This chap was just positioned perfectly for a sunset shot!

and it was the perfect place for a family photo, with the camera on timer on a tripod.

and finally my fave two photos of my babes from the hols, you can see from this first picture the Norfolk coast is not exactly tropical!!! I'm sure there's a market for fleece swimsuits here, Lol.

you'll notice James doesn't really do posing for photos but this is just him and one of his little quirks that makes him James ..... all 6 foot 2 of him! yep he's the tallest but youngest in the family now!

Thanks for sticking with me through the piccies, I hope to get back into the craft room this eve and get cracking with some of the challenges before they close although I'm annoyed my lightbox has stopped working and I wanted to do some embossing for CAS-ual Fridays this week ...... may need to re-think my idea !

Thanks for all your lovely comments whilst I was away and I hope to catch up with your blogs too ..... I bet you've been creating some fab stuff :)

Back soon X

Once more at the beach!

Hi everyone,

If this scheduled post works I will currently be heading to a fun attraction in Norfolk .... like a Maize maze or the beach .... but more than likely sitting looking at the rain pouring down !

So to completely jinx the weather I thought I would post a card suitable for the St Luke's Charity Card Challenge and remind you that you still have time to enter this month with a seaside theme card

(please note - I will not be wearing or using any of the items below on a Norfolk beach!!!)

I've used my newest Lawn fawn set with a stamp and mask that I bought ages ago. The stamp prints the dots to look like the perforations between a set of postage stamps and the mask allows you to stamp or add background but leave a narrow border around each section , I have no idea who the company was that I bought it from as it was a local stamp fayre, but it hasn't seen much ink over the years so I'm pleased to use it at last !

Please join us over a St Luke's Charity Card Challenge , enter a card and spread the word ... it's for a really good cause :)

Thanks for looking and I'll catch up in the week X

A sort of CASE???

Hiya Everyone,

This card is for the photo inspiration challenge over at Jay Gees Nook which is a wonderful montage of items in shades of purple and the smart welly boot in the centre just had to be part of my card !

... and whilst looking through my well thumbed copy of Stamp It magazine I saw this card by Meg Craig which I had also seen on her blog Corgi Creations here , I really love all Meg's creations and I just had to use this same design ......

Megs Wonderful card



My dubious CASE

I say dubious because I don't know how similar it has to be to call it a CASE??

The sentiment didn't look right in the white space at the bottom so I've left it as that...white space .... and put the sentiment at the top, that's what I'm not sure about!

The wellies are from a PTI set called Green Thumb and I've used the masking method to get them one behind the other, the clouds are cut using a MFT die-namics die and the white panel is stamped with the Hero Arts Envelope Pattern Bkgd stamp ... oh and the sentiment is from the same stamp set, love that saying , it's almost as good as Billy Connolly's quip "There's no such thing as bad weather, just the wrong clothes!"

Well thanks for looking today, I have one scheduled post for this weekend as we are away camping and my mojo seems to have gone ahead of me on holiday this week! Must be the stress of finding and organising equipment that we haven't used for a few years and have packed and unpacked in a house move since !!!

I will hopefully return refreshed, but knowing us and camping , a bit soggy!

I have just returned with Hannah from collecting her exam results and she has two A's for Biology and Psychology at AS level and  an A for Maths at A level (she's taking double maths which is in effect taking two A levels in two years instead of one). We are so proud of her, she's one smart cookie :)

Catch you next week with some photos of our weekend, bye X

CASu'whale' Fridays

I'm pleased to be joining in with Casual Fridays again this week, last week was not for me as I have no glue dots and I don't really do 'loose' glitter ..... much prefer it immersed in glue if I'm going to use it!

This week is a sketch to follow as the girls at Casual Fridays have teamed up with the Clean and Simple sketch blog.
I decided to use my new PTI set called Whale wishes that I won at A Passion for Papertrey a couple of weeks back

It's quite a simple card that came together quite quickly actually and not a lot more to say only that the waves are cut with a die-namics die, so a short and sweet post this morning so I can get James ready for a trip to the supermarket .... parental suicide or what!!

Thanks for taking the time to visit my corner of blogland today X

Getting Inky

Well it's been a quiet Saturday so far and this morning I had a chance to dabble with inks in my craft room for this weeks One Layer challenge at Less is More. This is unfamiliar territory for me as I don't really do mess ...... although looking at the state of my craft room most of the time you would beg to differ, I mean inky fingers type of mess!
I must have thought about it once as I have three bottles of Adirondack alcohol inks in my draw so I tried a few unsuccessful ideas with sponges and gloss card before pulling out an old CD to use as a palette to apply my inks to.
As I dotted the ink around the CD the idea of a Christmas Wreath came to me and I was curious to see how it would look

I pressed a piece of A4 card onto the inky CD and then cut the card base around the image to make sure it was central. The end result was a very stylistic Christmas wreath in Cranberry and Lettuce Alcohol inks and I've added Acrylic drops in the same colours and gold stickles too.



It needed a bow and I hope this counts on a one layer card (I see Mandi used ribbon) and the sentiment could do with being a tad higher so it's more central, but overall I'm quite pleased with my first jolly into the world of Alcohol inks :)

I'm looking forward to what all the other Limettes come up with this week ...... I'm hoping for some more inspiration for my unloved inks!

I had time to play this morning because the household seemed to be wanting a lie-in, especially Hannah who came back a very tired, dirty but happy camper! It sounds like they had loads of fun and all her new found cooking and camping skills will come in handy when we go next weekend :) Oh and the washing machine was on within half an hour of her getting in the house thanks to James !

Thanks for looking and hope you're having a great weekend X



Stocking up for Christmas!

Okay, it's a punny title I know but I quite like it! come and see why....

This card is for this weeks 'Simon Says Stamp' challenge which is ALL WHITE with the exception of a coloured image .... (ooops I used a red ribbon too, hope that's ok??)
The stocking is heat embossed with red powder and the top to the stocking is flocked after using stamp n bond embossing powder.
I embossed the raised panel myself using a brass stencil and a light box because I didn't have a suitable EF to use and I quite like designing my own too :)
The pine branches are from a pack I ordered pre-punched from a lady on eBay two years ago! .... there are loads in there and they'll last ages, I used a lot on last years Christmas cards!

I wanted to use my new PTI stocking stamps as they are a gift from one of my blog buddies Jen W at JENerally Speaking, we did a stash trade recently because we had some doubled up items in our craft space and in my package I also had this gorgeous CAS card from Jen ..... I just love those cherries on the Kraft cardstock :)

so funny to think it started it's journey in hot, sunny Bermuda and ended up in cloudy, no sunny ....  no wet .... no windy  Britain!  Arrr the Great British summer, changeable is always guaranteed !

Thanks so much again Jen :)

Well we got Rolo back from the vets yesterday and luckily he has no fractures but a very nasty infection in his toe! They managed to clip his feet all up whilst he was under and we can now see how red and thickened his skin is so I think the next step is allergy testing as this has to be the underlying cause to his on going troubles ..... good job he's insured! He's a little monster for looking at his feet, he just won't let you touch them! He's not impressed now though because they have been shaved and he looks rather silly :)

Hannah comes home today and from the sounds of yesterdays text message she's looking forward to getting back :)

Thanks for calling by and have a great day X

The Red, White and Blue

Well I said I would be back , and here I am because the flag colour challenge at Less is More has had me thinking and turning over ideas in my head!
I've covered the St Georges flag in my first card , albeit the red being a little dark , but the colours of the Union Jack have proved a bit more difficult ... it's quite an unusual colour combination unless your thinking of parties, birthday's? .... or what about presents????

..... having searched for a suitable stamp and then not been impressed with the ink colours I have (must rectify this), I decided to diecut my own shapes for presents and use coloured twine for the trims and bows.
Not sure I've got the 'ground' oval in quite the right place but this is the first time out for these stamps, more practice needed I think!

Thank you for all your wishes of good weather, it worked, we had a lovely day out Tuesday at Hunstanton walking along the beach with the dogs. James enjoys just 'being' on the beach...picking up shells,  playing with the mutt, drawing in the sand etc but all the while moving along. I didn't take the camera with me as Hannah has the small one with her and my DSLR is just a hassle when you've already got your hands full and a certain lad doesn't like having his photo taken either!!!
It was quite a tiring doing it in a day but we are hopefully going camping one weekend soon so we can return for another dose of fresh Norfolk air :)

I have a child free morning so hopefully get some more crafting in right after I've left the dog at the vets .... he has an ongoing toe problem at the moment and now it's time for x-rays!

Thanks for popping by X

Very British Candy!

I wasn't sure what to call this post as this weeks challenge over at Less is More is to use the colours of your Nations flag, I've gone with the red and white of the St George's day flag and made a Christmas card!
Red and white just says Christmas to me, so I've used one of my older Sizzix dies to make these candy canes .....

..... I've cut 3 white and 3 red canes so I could layer the colours and then added dimension using promarkers and a white gel pen.
I was so pleased to find a matching ribbon, I think it's a recycled loop of ribbon from an item of clothing, and I used my bow maker to get three bows from it which I would never have done tying it by hand!
I may be back in the week with a red,white and blue design .... I mainly craft at night in the hols and ran out of time yesterday evening!

I'm also entering this card into this weeks Simon says Stamp challenge which is Christmas in August.

So Hannah went off to camp yesterday and the house is very quiet without her. I wont hear much from her as you don't tend to ring home when your 17 !!! but she'll be back Friday, so not quite a full week but long enough to have a bag full of dirty clothes and a need for a proper bed! James will enjoy the dirty washing at the end of the week ..... he just lives to put the washing on, it's one of his obsessions to watch the clothes tumbling round ....... shame he's not interested in the ironing!!!

That's all for today, we have a day trip planned for tomorrow so lets hope the rain holds off as we are going to the coast!

Thanks for calling by today X

Something a little different!

Just a quick post for a Saturday evening as I finally got round to making a card for the Tuesday Trigger at Moxie fab World before it closes tomorrow.
I'm still new to this photo inspiration type of challenge but I just loved this photo and pretty much new what I wanted to do!

I used my very old Hero Arts deckle squared background stamp with versamark and then applied chalk in different shades to blend together before making a mask from four of the squares and then moved it around the grid to over stamp with the periwinkle flower. 
It's not my usual style but it was great stepping out of my comfort zone, hope you like it too :)


Well that's all for tonight as I need an early night ... Hannah is going off tomorrow morning for a weeks camping with the guides as a young leader/ranger and our estate car has been ear-marked to help carry kit from the storage container to the coach, it'll be an early start for a Sunday morning!

Thanks for calling in X

Another Fruity Moment!

Hi Everyone,

I'm back with another card for Less is More because my "Fruitastic" Paper Smooches stamps arrived today and I just couldn't pass up the chance of using them, they are perfect for this challenge .....

(please click on the picture, blogger has made it blurry)

..... I love how the apple looks like he's the spokesman of the group so I decided to give him a speech bubble for the sentiment which is made from a Die-namics die and stamp set ! 
These stamps are so cute, here is the whole set...

 as you can see the fruity possibilities are endless depending on the colours you use !
I have been asked about buying the PS stamps. I do order mine from the US, and if you only order one set at a time they avoid customs charges and the P+P is very reasonable. Kim has just branched into selling her stamps wholesale so I'm sure it wont be long before a UK supplier sells them ... I'll keep you posted :)

I'm so glad you enjoyed the pictures of the mutt in my last post, I haven't told him how cute you all think he is as he will probably want his own "Dog Blog" !!!  Perhaps when he catches one of those pesky moles he can :)

That's all for now, I'm loving all the cards on the LIM blog this week especially , there's some really inventive fruit making going on using punches and shapes you'd never think of using!

Thanks for looking, hope you liked it  X

A Pear of Cards!

Morning Everyone,

Saturday morning saw the half birthday of Less is More , Hip Hip Hooray. 
I joined the fun on week two ( the first week of my blogs existence too ) and have never missed a challenge since ... it will always be my favourite challenge no matter what Mandi and Chrissie request of us, as it's made me rediscover my stamps and realise there is a place and a group of crafters out there that appreciate cards with white space :)

It just so happens that this week is not only a milestone but a Lucky Dip week and the challenge is

FEELING FRUITY

..... now, my new 'Fruitastic' paper Smooches stamps are still somewhere between here and Arizona so I had to think again and then I remembered my Home Accents Cricut cartridge ......

I took the colour inspiration from a re-usable shopping bag from Tescos and made a CAS design card by interchanging the sections of 4 different coloured pears and using enamel accents for the pips ... the enamel is a lot more runny than I imagined and I didn't make a very neat job of it !

The sentiment is stamped onto a Tim Holtz sizzix file tab that has then been cut down to a narrow strip to make a faux embossed border and a simple strip added below the pears too.
Sorry the card looks a little tipsy in the photo :)

When I had finished I saw the negative pear image on my desk .......
 the stencilling bug bit again and card number 2 was born ...

I love the challenge of making a stencilled image look 3D and I'm pretty pleased with how these turned out using Chalk ink and then adding a touch of Brushed Corduroy on a sponge for the dark flecks :)

I cut my own stencil for the hearts and stalks before printing the punny sentiment with the computer using a font called Windsong ... I think.

Finally, I thought I'd share a few pictures of our darling dawg having discovered a new mole hill in the garden this morning

..... yep he really stands waiting and listening like that for ages! I'm not sure if he's waiting to see Mr Mole pop his head out and surprise him but he really becomes obsessed with the thing until his nose looks like this .....

...... then you know he's made a complete mess of the mole hill and the lawn.... OH DEAR!

Needless to say we try and get to them before he does!!

Enough rambling from me now time to link my card up to LIM, there's loads of fantastic cards already to look at so hop over and see for yourself.

Thanks for visiting , I really appreciate your comments X

St Lukes Charity Card Challenge by the sea

Morning Everyone,

Well pinch and a punch and all that... a new month which means my first card as a design team member over at St Luke's Charity Card Challenge and the month of August gives us the theme 
 

Beside the Seaside

it can be anything connected to this theme from boats and lighthouses to ice cream and flip flops we'd love to see your cards in the gallery this month.

Here's my take on the theme and I've used paper, card and vellum to make a coastal scene ... I think I've been inspired by the cliffs and lighthouse at Happisburgh in Norfolk, if you know the area you'll know the lighthouse is getting closer and closer to the sea every year!!!

.

The idea behind the monthly challenge is to raise extra money for the St Luke's Hospice by you kindly donating the cards  you make, they can then be sold at the Charities organised fun days throughout the year. This is not a rule for entering the challenge but every little helps so please hop over to the challenge blog here to see the prize for this month as well as the rest of the design teams cards and join us at the seaside ... see you there :) 

Thank you Tara and the team for inviting and welcoming me onto the design team, it's such a great cause :)

Bye for now X