Happy Valentines x 3

I thought I had better share this year's Valentines offerings before it becomes the 15th.  As usual I started out with one idea and then came up with another and then ended up making three cards in the end LOL!!  Like a lot of crafters I always have doubts over whether a handmade card is as good as a large all singing and dancing shop bought one, hopefully three cards are!!

The first one is based on a jokey name I have for Mr P - my cash cow (a couple of years ago someone who knows nothing of our finances and my pension situation jibed that I treated Mr P like a cash cow - which we very quickly turned into one of our little jokes - I ask him for money and he moos at me in reply ROFL!!!!).  I have quite a few of these Penny Black cow stamps and I made my own sentiment using a Stampin' Up alphabet roller stamp.  (And I have already thought up a cow related sentiment for next year - I had better make a note of it as I have a brain like a sieve!!)

The paper is a magazine freebie and the gemstones are from Poundland, the stitched rectangle is a Memory Box die.

For card no 2 I used a free printable but sadly I haven't labelled where it came from and when the sheet was printed there was no clue on that - so if you recognise it please let me know and then I can give due credit.  Mr P loves hippos so I cut out the hippo and mounted him onto a heart embossed with a Stampin' Up folder.  Once again the sentiment was stamped with the Stampin' Up alpha' roller stamp and the paper is from Craft Creations.

I couldn't resist sticking some googly eyes on the hippo - I got a huge bag from Poundland in all different sizes and this is the first time I have thought about adding them to an image, they certainly make him look even cuter!!

And the third card is using a Digistamp Boutique digi-stamp which I then coloured in with Promarkers - I find that I have to be very careful with the colouring as we have an inkjet printer and it is very easy to smudge the ink if you aren't careful.

The papers are magazine freebies, the sentiments are from Stampin' Up 'Good Greetings' Hostess set and I coated the hearts with a layer of glossy accents to make them lovely and shiny.  The gem hearts are from Poundland.

More Christmas Cards

Here are some of the special Christmas cards that I made for my parents and for some blog friends that I haven't had the chance to share yet.

This lovely digi-image from DigiStamp Boutique was just perfect for my monkey friends from the Mum's Monkey blog with a sentiment from Lili of the Valley.

A new to me stamp by Stampendous and I only got it inky once for my Dad's card. It is a lovely image and I will definitely be using this again in 2015 as it is perfect for so many of the male species in our family!!

 And my Mum's card - she loves robins so I used a Papermania stamp which was coloured with Promarkers and I cut the shaped card using Spellbinder label dies.

Blogtoberfest 2014 Day 16 - Throwback Thursday

Some cards I made last year and I haven't blogged yet.  This one I made for our neighbour to give to her daughter for her birthday.

 The little dog is a digi stamp from DigiStamp Boutique and the papers are lovely textured ones by First Edition (Boho Chic).

And this card was for my sister's wedding anniversary last year.  One of my favourite Penny Black Christmas stamps.  Her anniversary is just before Christmas so I often use cute Christmas stamps for her cards.

Blogtoberfest 2014 Day 12 - DigiStamp Boutique Christmas Word Art

When I have so many Christmas cards to make for my own needs plus ones to sell for my fundraising, I am always looking for ways to speed up the cardmaking process.  So sometimes I use digital stamps for making quick and easy cards and often turn to DigiStamp Boutique.  That is where I got these lovely Christmas Word Art digi images.

I printed them onto smooth white cardstock and as they are already coloured in, they just needed highlighting with glossy accents and glitter glue.

 

All that was left to do was mat them onto coloured cardstock and add some punched snowflakes.

Beat the Christmas Rush - Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer

It is time to share the cards that I have made in April for Sue's Beat the Christmas Rush challenge.  I always try to make some production line style cards for this challenge to boost the number of cards that I will need to have for my fundraising and for my own needs. 

I used a digistamp from DigiStamp Boutique, it was one of their monthly freebies.  It came ready coloured and all I needed to do after printing was add some glossy accents to give him a lovely shiny nose!!

I used four inch square card blanks and covered them with papers left over from kits - they are all Stampin' Up papers apart from the red paper with pink swirls (which is possibly Echo Park) so that has made a small dent in my scraps pile.  A little gem in each corner blinged them up a little.

Week 4 - 52 cards challenge

The week 4 challenge was to take inspiration from this picture

I loved the white on white, the lace of the doily and the little pop of colour, so these are my cards that I hope reflect that.

The floral hearts were a monthly freebie from DigiStamp Boutique, coloured with promarkers and then matted onto two hearts cut from white cardstock with some Cheery Lyn doily heart dies.  I embossed the background with a heart embossing folder.

For my Christmas versions I made wreaths of punched holly leaves (Woodware), the red berries are flat backed pearls (Sarah's Cards) and the embossed background is a Sizzix folder.

All the sentiments are by Stampin' Up.

The Dreaded Male Cards

I found some male cards that I made end of last year lurking in my 'to be blogged' folder.  I don't know why I have always struggled with making male cards - it might be because my favourite embellishments are butterflies, blossoms and bling and they don't go down too well with the men LOL!!

I thought I would share them just in case anyone else is struggling with making them.

Warning - this post is picture heavy!!

All the stamped images are by Penny Black, except for the last card which is a digi-stamp from DigiStamp Boutique.  The papers are all kit leftovers or free papers from magazines except the two footballing dogs and the crossword hedgehogs and they are by Wild Rose Studio.

Happy 75th Birthday Dad!!!!

Today it is my Dad's 75th Birthday!!!

This is the card that I have made for him using a lovely digi-stamp from DigiStamp Boutique

The papers are by Crate Paper but I have no idea of what range as they came from my kit leftovers bag.  The mats are cut with Stampin' Up frame dies.  The stars are from Poundland and number 75 is AC chipboard Thickers coloured with a Sky Blue Promarker.

DigiStamp Boutique Reindeer Cards

Last year I used a lot of these pre-coloured Reindeer digistamps from Digistamp Boutique to make last minute cards.  They were so easy to glam up with a bit of glossy accents on the nose and Icicle and Stardust Stickles to give them some sparkle.  This year when I looked through my box of Christmas stuff I found that I had some leftover from last year so rustled up these cards with them.

Warning this post is a bit photo heavy!!!

DigiStamp Boutique Snowmen

As well as using the cute santa digi stamps that I had used yesterday, I also used some lovely Snowmen which also came from DigiStamp Boutique.