Sarah's Cards retreat Sketch challenge

On the first evening of the retreat we had a sketch challenge - I had taken a monthly kit and some spare photographs just in case I needed anything for challenges.

This is the layout that I did using Sarah's Cards January kit - Fancy Pants 'Happy Together'

A photo of Wendy and I at the Cardinal Colours Seaside retreat last September.

Additional supplies used

Fiskars Apron lace border punch
Martha Stewart Monarch butterfly punch
Blue pearls - Sarah's cards

Penny Black @ Allsorts April challenge part 2

This is my second card for this month's challenge at Penny Black @ Allsorts.

Supplies used -

Papermania black and white papers
Wild Rose Studio sentiment stamps
Stampin' Up punches
EK Success daisy punch in 2 sizes
Ribbons from stash

And a close up of the watercoloured image -

Penny Black @ Allsorts April challenge part 1

The challenge this month at Allsorts is Black and White Plus One.  I've managed to make two cards for the challenge and this is the first one -

This stamp is one of my fave Penny Black's - now I don't care much for anything that buzzes but I think this image is so so cute LOL!!  I have watercoloured the image with Derwent pencils and lightly glittered the wings with Stardust stickles.  The flowers are punched with an EK Success daisy punch and the leaves are a MS punch.  The sentiment is Personal Impressions and the oval punches are Stampin' Up.  The patterned paper is from a Papermania 6x6 pad.

A close up of the image -

I will share the other card in my next blog post!!

Ribbon Girl Colour Challenge No 7

There is currently a blog giveaway over at the Ribbon Girl Blog for their lovely bakers twine in the full colour range

This month's colour challenge on The Ribbon Girl Blog is Red,White and Blue.

This is the card that I made -

Supplies used -

Star paper - treehouse memories
Creative Memories star punches
Sentiment - Wild Rose Studio
Sentiment punches - Stampin' Up
Buttons from stash
Airmail bakers twine
Bazill cardstock
Image - Penny Black

A close up of the image -

A trio of Easter cards

I have now finished making Easter cards so these are the last ones to show you.  On these I have used the sweet chick in a basket stamp from Garden Friends -

All of these cards have been embellished with a Martha Stewart butterfly punch and butterfly border punch.

Other supplies used

Woodware scalloped circle punch
K&Co paper
Hobby House pearls
Happy Easter - Stamps Away
Just a note to say - Wild Rose Studio

Easter Extravaganza - Penny Black Saturday Challenge week 147

The challenge this week at PBSC is to make an Easter card.  When making Easter cards I usually turn to this set of Penny Black stamps - Garden Friends.

One of my favourites in this set is the cute bunny with roses and the little bird sat on top of the spade -

Supplies used

K&Co patterned paper
Sentiment - Stamps Away
Plain and scalloped SU oval punches
Large woodware oval punch
Martha Stewart frond punch
EK Success retro flower punch
Ribbon and gemstones from stash

A close up of the stamped image watercoloured with Derwent pencils -

Lets Dance - Shimelle's 6x4 Love

As I mentioned on an earlier post I loved this month's sketch so much that I have done a second layout for it this time using landscape photographs.

Some more photographs from my sister Lucinda's 40th birthday party - I didn't take any of these photographs - one of my BIL's friends is hoping to become a professional photographer so he took pictures all evening for some practise.  I think it was a great idea as my photographs taken in that sort of light are usually rubbish and I usually come away from parties with maybe only one or two half decent pictures - I have printed out loads of photos from this party as they are so good.

I used Bazill cardstock, ribbons from my stash and two different border stamps.  The tiny butterfly is from a new set of Artemio stamps that I bought whilst in The Netherlands and the lace border is MME Stella & Rose 'Remember' set.  The title is done with plain chipboard Thickers and coloured with a purple Marvy pen.  The punched butterflies are a Martha Stewart punch and the pearls are from Hobby House.  The plain scalloped border is a SU punch and the doily lace borders were punched with a Martha Stewart border punch.

Penny Black Saturday challenge - Say it with Flowers

The theme this week at PBSC is Say it with Flowers and this is the card that I made

The patterned paper is K&Co and the image is one that I stamped on a weekend away with a friend's stamp - thanks Dee!!!  The image is matted and then raised up on foam pads.  I punched the white flowers using an EK Success daisy punch and punched and shaped the flower centres using pale yellow card, a cropodile and a Leonne Em floral punchcraft shaping tool.  The sentiment stamps are Hero Arts.

Thank you for taking the time to take a peek at my work.

Sisters - 4x6 photo love (March)

Well we are now onto the third class for Shimelle's 6x4 photo love so are now using three photographs on our layouts.

This is the first layout that I did using the sketch and ideas from the class -

I used some photographs from my sister's 40th birthday last year of two of my nieces on the dance floor.

I used mainly Bazill cardstock apart from Basic Grey Wassail to make the rosettes from.  The title was done using Thickers and I used a couple of Martha Stewart punches to make the borders.

I loved the sketch so much that I did another layout using landscape photos - I will blog that layout very soon.

When we met god (& the rest of the band)

There is a great sketch challenge this month on the Scrapology blog  - B is for bunting

As soon as I saw the sketch I knew I wanted to use one of the photographs that we had taken in Holland last month when we met Marillion at their convention..

I used for the background a sheet of Upsy Daisy 'Home Sweet Home', which I gutted so that I could use the stripey reverse for my bunting.  I covered the gap with smooth Bazill and MME 'Good Day Sunshine' Rock On .  I stamped circles on the cardstock using Artemio dotty circle stamps and I also punched out some of the circles to decorate the lower edge.  The tickets are from Maya Road and the title is done with Dear Lizzy Sparkling Thickers.  If you are wondering what on earth the title is about well it is quite simple - the guitarist Steve Rothery is often referred to by fans as god and there is a song on Anoraknophobia called 'When I meet God'.

You have plenty of time still to enter the challenge as it doesn't close until 5th May.

A Royal Giveaway

Over on The Ribbon Girl Blog they have some lovely red, white and blue blog candy to giveaway.

Go and take a look and whilst you are there also take a little look at the shop website, they have a wonderful selection of ribbons and also sell bakers twine, seam binding, charms and buttons.

Tandoori Nights

As winner of the March sketch challenge on Sarahs's Cards blog, I had to do a layout for the blog for this month's challenge. 

I used My Little Shoebox die cut paper and cardstock & embellishments which were left over from a monthly kit.  I used a photograph of Sy, Wendy and I on one of our post-crop visits to my local Indian Restaurant - the Dean Tandoori.  Most months we will go out for a meal after the crop has finished before Sy has to drive back to London.

The title was done using plain chipboard thickers coloured with a Creative Memories pen and the stamped border is a MME Stella&Rose clear lace stamp.

Belated Mothers Day card

Poor Mum was really ill on Mother's Day so didn't want to have any visitors so I was a bit late in giving her the card that I made.

I chose this lovely new Penny Black cling stamp - I adore geraniums, the red ones are one of my favourite summer flowers and I love to have them in the tubs in my garden.  So when I saw this stamp with this cute fat bunny I just had to have it.

The patterned paper is K&Co, the flowers were cut using new flower dies that I bought in The Netherlands and the swirl is a Sizzix 12" border die.  The sentiment stamp is Stamps Away and the image has been watercoloured with Derwent pencils and lightly glittered with Stickles.

A close up of the stamped image and flowers

Anita's March Class - Once Upon a Time

We had a messy time for our March class as Anita had us using glimmer mists.  We also had the fire brigade on high alert as we made flowers from organza melted over the flame of a tealight candle.

I did this for my wedding album -

A close up of the flowers -

Thankyou Anita for another fabulous class.

Layered Lace Class - Parents of the Groom

This is the final class page from the retreat that I have to share with you.  Lianne took this class and showed us how to use the lace paper from the Dear Lizzie Enchanted range (American Crafts).  The lovely soft colours meant that it was ideal for my wedding album so I used a photograph of Richard's parents.

At first glance it looks a very simple layout but there was lots of handcutting to be done and lots of layering.  I loved the thickers that were included in the kit - they are a gorgeous pale green glitter and I have loads left over for future layouts.

Thankyou Lianne for a lovely class.

What a weekend - what a trip!!!!!!

Words can't really describe our first Marillion convention - amazing, brilliant, wonderful just doesn't seem enough, I am still grinning from ear to ear every time I think about the weekend.

And then we had our wonderful time spent with our friends in Nijmegan - even though we hadn't seen some of them for over 33 years, the time apart just melted away. 

Lots of photos will follow soon - at the moment I am just too tired to get round to uploading them from the camera.  But in the meantime here are the photos from when we met the band and yes Richard has now finally found my off switch - put me in the presence of my heroes and I can't think of a sensible thing to say, so I err on the side of caution and say virtually nothing - I think my smile does show how happy I am though.

And yes Richard is now refusing to wash the shoulder that H rested his chin on!!!!!

  

And yes these will be appearing on layouts very very soon.

Have a Micey Nice Day

I bought this stamp set last April at Ally Pally and have only used a couple of the stamps so far, it was time to get this sweet image inky!!

And this is the card made with the trio of mice

Supplies used

Mat - nestability
Patterned paper - Brenda Pinnick
Flowers - EK Success retro flower punch, Martha Stewart frond punch, self adhesive pearls from The Hobby House
Butterfly - EK Success
Sentiments - Hero Arts, Woodware

A close up of the image -