Day Out

I haven't done a weekly challenge on UKS for ages but the one set last week by the Crafty Magpies was an interesting one and there was a great sketch to use.

This was a great challenge for stash busting as I used a piece of cardstock leftover from an Anita class and the leftovers from a Sarah's Cards retreat class - My Mind's Eye 'Fine and Dandy'.  The thickers used were also a set that I had had for eons and barely any letters left in it so I had to use a zero for the O.

The criteria for the challenge spelled out the name Magpie -

M - use metal - I used metal brads for flower centres
A - use an alphabet  - I put a title on the page using foam thickers
G - use the above sketch from Got Sketch
P - use paint, punches or pearls - I used punched flowers and butterfly, plus pearls used to embellish butterfly
I - take inspiration from a quote - I used the following " It is easy to say how we love new friends, and what we think of them, but words can never trace out all the fibres that knit us to the old" George Eliot
E - add embellishments - I mad flowers and a butterfly.

I used this photograph of me and my oldest friend Allison - we don't see each other very often but when we do the years just disappear and it is like we have never had any time apart - I just love friendships like that.

Scrapology May Sketch Challenge - V is for Vines

Once again there is a lovely sketch and challenge on the Scrapology Blog and there is still time to enter as the closing date is 5th June.

This is the sketch that we had to follow

I did a layout for my wedding album

Supplies used

Papermania cardstock
K&Co paper
Bazill bling
MS Doily lace punch
EK Success retro flower punches
MS Butterfly punches
Sizzix 12" Scroll border die
Prima alphabet
Self adhesive gemstones - Prima and Sarah's Cards

Close ups of the embellishments

Document 2011 - January

I'm doing this a little bit out of order as I did February's pages first.  And now I have completed my pages for January -

 The main layout is of my parents and I modeling some of the silly presents given to us by my nieces and nephews at our post-Christmas party.

I used Sarah's Cards February kit - Glitz Designs 'Love Nest', MLS alphabet stickers and Sunrise natural thickers coloured with a marker pen and then glittered with Cinnamon Stickles.

And the 6 - 6x4 page

January was a pretty quiet month, the main events of the month were the post-Christmas family party and Cardinal Colours opening a shop in the High Street of my little town which is very handy so I popped along for opening day.

Fabulous Three Days of Crafting

Instead of going to Debden this year we had a weekend of crafting a little closer to home at our usual monthly crop site Cardinal Colours.

We started on Friday afternoon till late that evening, then crafted all day Saturday and then Sunday till 5pm.  We rounded off a lovely weekend with a meal at the Old Polegate Station.  It did involve a bit of travelling to and fro' for some but I must admit I did enjoy getting to sleep in my own bed each night!!

A lovely group photo of us in the lovely garden -

 

People at work -

Sy and Liz

Wendy

Sarah and Julie

Becky and Teresa

Lynne and Carol taking time out in the garden

Meal out -

Sy experiments with a new look -

Experiment no 2

Thank you Ladies for a fabulous weekend - I hope we can do it again sometime soon.

I was quite productive and got almost 12 layouts completed which I will share here over the next week or so!!

Sarah's Cards May Sketch challenge

Another fab sketch challenge this month at Sarah's Cards

This is the sketch -

And the layout that I did inspired by it -

My mum and I enjoying an afternoon in the shade on the sundeck of MPS Rotterdam on our Rhine cruise last year.  I actually look quite cheerful considering that the temperature was over 40C and I was positively wilting in the heat.

Supplies used -

Sarah's Cards January Kit - Fancy Pants 'Happy Together'
EK Success butterfly punch
Martha Stewart monarch butterfly punch
Self adhesive pearls from Sarah's Cards

Shape Up - Penny Black @ Allsorts - second card

I really enjoyed making this card for the Shape Up challenge on the Penny Black @ Allsorts blog so I made a second card again using a card blank from a Kanban kit bought eons ago.

This time I used some cute hedgehogs and the patterned paper is from a Papermania pad.

 

And a close up of the hedgehogs

I have coated the ladybirds in glossy accents to make them lovely and shiny but that doesn't really show up in the photographs.  I cut the backing mats with spellbinder nesties and embossed them with a cuttlebug folder.

Scrapology May Card Challenge

Scrapology now run a monthly card challenge and this month there is a lovely sketch to use and the theme of Thanks.  If you want to join in there is plenty of time as the challenge doesn't close until 15th June.

This is the card that I made with one of my new Penny Black stamps -

Supplies used

Thanks sentiment - Stampin' up and punched out with SU scallop oval punch
Woodware oval scallop punch
Scalloped borders - SU border punch
Papers - Anna Griffin
Daisies - EK Success small pointed flower punch
Leaves - Leone Em ash branch punch
Pearls - Hobby House

The Ribbon Girl - colour challenge #8

The colour challenge this month on The Ribbon Girls Blog is Pinks and Lilacs.  I wanted to do something pretty quick and easy as I am busy packing for a 3 day crop with my regular crop friends at Cardinal Colours.  I really enjoyed making this card for the Clean and Simple challenge  on the PBSC blog so took my inspiration from that and coloured this sweet snowman in pink and lilac.  I then found this lovely piece of organza ribbon in my stash - I wish I could remember where I had got it from as it is so pretty and I would love some more.

I think I will make a few more cards like this for my for sale box as they are really quick and easy to make.

A close up of the snowman

There is still another week to join in with the challenge as they last for a fortnight.

Shape Up - Penny Black @ Allsorts

The challenge this month at Penny Black @ Allsorts is to Shape Up!!  You could use any card shape except square or rectangle.  I was going to make some scalloped circle cards with my nesties but then I remembered I had some card blanks that I had found when sorting out some really old stash.  They had come in one of those huge bumper boxes of Kanban stuff from QVC and must had been purchased over 6 years ago when I first started cardmaking.  So I challenged myself to see what I could do with them. 

The little bunnies were on a long stamp so I carefully cut out the individually images.  I covered the card blank with some papermania paper that was another one of my early misguided craft purchases.  The little daisies were punched from an ek success flower punch and the centres were punched using a cropadile.

A close up of the stamped images -

The mats behind the images were punched with an SU punch and then embossed with a Cuttlebug folder.  The sentiments are Hero Arts. 

I enjoyed using a different shape card blank for a change and have made a second card for the challenge which I will share in another blog post.

Penny Black Saturday challenge - week 151

The theme this week at PBSC is Clean and Simple.  I must admit that this is a style of cardmaking that I do struggle with as I do like a few embellishments on a card and I find it difficult to restrain myself.  But ever up for a challenge this is what I did -

I embossed the background with a Cuttlebug embossing folder and I am pleased to use this one as it rarely gets used.  And I have kept embellishments to a minimum with just three pearls at the top of the card.  It took me as long to make this card as I would normally take over an embellished card as it is a style that doesn't come naturally to me.  I will definitely make more like it, I do quite like it LOL!!

Shimelles 6x4 love - April page

Well we are now up to April's class which means four photographs on the page.  This is where it starts to get tricky for me and where I start hyperventilating at the thought of having to do interactive bits on pages.  But I gritted my teeth, found four suitable photographs and did this layout -

I used some photographs from our Scottish Islands cruise in May 2008 on the lovely Lord of the Glens.  The patterned papers are Crate 'Restoration'.  The alphas are My Little Shoebox stickers and AC Thickers.

And a close up of the photo under the flap -

And I have just realised that I have managed to do a layout without adding flowers or butterflies - how on earth did that happen?????

New baby gift and card

One of our neighbours has recently had a baby girl so I made this little basket filled up with goodies as a gift for her.

I learnt how to make the basket at one of Anita's aka The Inky Blossom classes.  We originally made the basket as a Christmas project to hold sweets.

I also needed to make a card too but don't really have any stamps for a new baby card, then I remembered that I had some decoupage sheets of Margaret Sherry designs from a magazine freebie yonks ago.  So I made this little card to go with the gift -

And I'm paying in pain, But it's the cost of the high

The Marillion weekender at Leamington was absolutely fabulous but I am now paying the price for three very late nights and having to get up early each day - next time we will go self catering so that I get enough sleep.

After the first night with my facebook friend the lovely Laura who had travelled from Italy for the weekend -

And the guy is Andrew one of the Parrotheads who are famed for wearing loud shirts, shorts and flip flops to the gigs even in winter!

This was my view of the stage most nights -

And believe me that is a good view compared to what I usually have at The Assembly.  They had put a ramp up the steps at the back so that those in wheelchairs were in the raised area but once people stood on the steps in front of you then any height vantage was sadly lost - I am a shortarse at only 5'3" but once sat in my chair I shrink even lower so the minute a six footer stands in front of the chair I see nothing.  I did resist temptation to poke people up the butt with my walking stick LOL!!

A good place to store glow sticks when not needed on the Sunday night for voting -

What three very late nights and early mornings did to Richard -

Our hotel The Old Mill at Baginton -

I can't believe how quickly the three days went and yes the weekend was so worth feeling so fatigued and unwell now.  I am still replaying the gigs in my head and look forward to when it is released on CD.  Only 22 months till the next round of conventions start LOL!!!!!

A day out at Raby Castle

Last June we spent a lovely weekend up in the North East - the weather was glorious whilst we were there and we spent a lovely day at Raby Castle with Auntie Audrey.

 

Supplies used - 

Crate Restoration

American Crafts glitter Thickers

Assorted blossoms from Sarah's Cards

MM Noteworthy journalling sheet

American Crafts cardstock

MME Stella and Rose Lace border stamp

Swirls cut on Big Kick with 12" border die

18 Today

I wasn't able to go to Melissa's 18th birthday party as we already had tickets to a Marillion gig that night so on her actual birthday she had a small family party at home.  Her mum had made her a beautiful pink glittered cake.

Supplies used -

American Crafts cardstock
Upholstery thread for the bunting
Pink patterned paper - Crate Restoration
Yellow paper - Cosmo Cricket Togetherness
Maya Road chipboard frame - painted, lightly glittered with pink stickles and covered in glossy accents
Butterflies - EK Success punch and Sarah's Cards adhesive gems

PBSC Week 149

The challenge this week on Penny Black Saturday Challenge  was Milestones.  I made this card ready for a 40th birthday later this year.

Supplies used

AC Dear Lizzy glitter thickers
SU scalloped punch
Patterned papers are Basic Grey but not sure of the range as they were in my scraps bag

 A close up of the stamped image -

Document 2011 - February

Yes I have finally got round to starting my Document 2011 project and typical me I am not doing it in order LOL.  I have started with February as I already had these pictures printed.

For each month I will do one 12x12 layout and one page of six 6x4s.  Some months if it has been a really busy month then I will do two of each.

This is the 6x4 page and I must say they are so difficult to photograph - if anyone has any hints or tips on how to get a good piccie when taking them inside the page protector then please pass them on.

February was a pretty eventful month, I won a blog hop prize, got some beautiful red roses for Valentines Day from DH.  We went to the theatre to see Hairspray and then a trip up to Leamington to see Feeder.  Plus February saw the first Twilight Addicts retreat in the Cotswolds for which I baked some Twilight cupcakes.

My 12x12 page for the month is about how lovely the cupcakes were - everyone agreed it was definitely love at first bite!!!

For both pages I used Sarah's Cards February kit - Glitz Designs 'Love Nest'