52 cards catch up

I have been playing a bit of catch up with Natalie's 52 cards challenge - here are some that I did over the weekend -

Week 24 - peach, layers and flowers

Penny Black T for transparent
Lili of the Valley sentiment stamp
EK Success flower and corner punches
Paper from scraps bag

Week 27 - pale blue, grey and white/ivory

Penny Black T for transparent set
EK Success butterfly punch
Personal Impressions sentiment
Stampin' Up oval punches
Paper - Papermania

Week 29 - light green, glitter and felt

Penny Black - Royal Mail
Penny Black - sentiment stamp
Stampin' Up punch
Paper - Papermania
Cuttlebug snowflake die
Felt snowflake

Proost!!

This month's challenge over on Sarah's Cards blog is a sketch challenge.

And this is my version of the sketch -

The photo is of our Dutch friends, Bart and Annemie with Richard and I and my parents when we went to visit them back in April.  On Queen's Day which is a huge national holiday in the Netherlands we went to a beautiful open air museum at Arnhem.  We had this lovely photo taken in the little brewery there.

I used Sarah's Cards April kit - Lily Bee 'Buttercup'.  The title is AC Sunrise Thickers coloured with an amber promarker and covered with glossy accents.  I adored the buttons included in the kit (Bella Blvd Tie Die) and extravagantly used the whole pack on one layout.  The butterfly is a Cheery Lynn die.

Double The Trouble

The theme this month at Penny Black Saturday Challenge is Double the Trouble - to use two different stamps.  I have made a couple of cards for the challenge.

My first card uses a stamp from the Micey Day set and I added a little mouse on the end of the procession from the Critter Party set.

I coloured the images with Promarkers and added glossy accents to the balloon to make it shine.

Other supplies -

Bazill cardstock
K&Co paper
EK Success flower punches
SU oval punches
Sizzix leaf die
Personal impression sentiment

For my second card I used Royal Mail stamp and added the little mouse running with the envelope from Bubbly T for transparent set.

Other supplies -

Stamps Away sentiment stamp
Woodware scalloped circle punch
DCWV paper
Bazill cardstock
Stickles

Whiskers and Wings

The monthly challenge at Penny Black and More @ Allsorts is Whiskers and/or wings.  I had the most perfect stamp for this challenge - Bee Costume.

I coloured the image with Promarkers and lightly glittered the wings with Stardust stickles and the daisy centre with yellow stickles.  The sentiment is from Cuddly Buddly.

Other supplies -

Woodware scalloped circle punch
EK Success butterfly punch
Paper - Papermania
Gemstones - Poundland

The Dreaded Male Cards - Part Two

I recently showed some cards that I had made for an order for male cards, here are the rest of them -

Using a Sugar Nellie stamp - 

Using digi stamps from DigiStamp Boutique -

Penny Black, T for transparent set - Hello Friend

And finally Penny Black 'Hedge-word'

The Dreaded Male Cards - Part One

I recently was given a card order and my heart sank as she mainly wanted cards for boys and men - I have a bit of a mental block when making male cards, probably because I can't use my favourite embellishments of butterflies and flowers.

I made quite a selection for her to choose from, so here are some of them -

Using Penny Black 'Fishing'

Using Penny Black 'Moo Birthday'

Using a lovely wizard boy from Lili of the Valley, the sentiment which is just perfect is also from LOTV -

I will share the rest of them in another blog post

The last day of the spa break

Jess also set a challenge for the Twilight Addicts cybercrop - use more than one photograph, use 3 different patterned papers and use at least 2 different alphas.

I used three photographs from a spa break at Champney Springs two years ago.  The papers used are Pebbles 'Fresh Goods' and I handcut the bunting from one of the sheets of patterned paper.  The title is a mixture of Lilly Bee alphabet stickers and American Crafts Thickers.

Thank you Jess for a lovely challenge!!

Two more cybercrop layouts

A couple more layouts from the recent Twilight Addicts cybercrop that I took part in a couple of weeks ago.  Gemma set two challenges for us - the first was to use more than one photo, use something that you bought because it was pretty but didn't really know how to use it and to use up old stash.

I had bought a pack of American Crafts heart bunting with no real idea of what I might use for it, so decided to have a go at using it on this wedding layout.

The patterned paper used is by American Crafts and at least two years old, the vellum butterflies are Jenni Bowlin and leftover from a page kit. 

Gemma's second challenge was to use something round on the layout, use tearing and something sparkly.  I used a Sarah's Cards kit - Pink Paislee 'Hometown Summer'.

The photograph is of two of my cousins wearing the jumpers that I knitted for them that Christmas - it doesn't really show in the photograph but the jumpers have 1,2,3 knitted on the fronts.  My sparkly elements are gemstones around the scalloped circle frame and the stitching around the edge is metallic pink DMC thread.

Thanks Gemma for setting two great challenges!!

Team GB inspired jewellery

Inspired by a fantastic two weeks of watching the Olympics I decided to make some red, white and blue earrings and bracelet.

I used some red, blue and clear 8mm glass beads and Tibetan silver barrel beads for the bracelet.

And red, blue and clear 4mm bicones for the earrings

These will be perfect to wear on International Night on our Christmas cruise - they go beautifully with the blue and red top that I already have for that night.

These are also my Monthly Make for August

Earrings

Since making these earrings I have made a load more ready for my first fundraiser for Children with Cancer Fund.  This jewellery making lark has become quite addictive LOL!!

 Brown and green Czech glass -

 

 Blue Czech glass -

Milky white acrylic and clear Czech glass - 

 Blue Czech glass -

Mauve and purple Czech glass - 

 Green Czech glass with brown glass and green seed beads - 

Pale blue Czech glass -

Lilac Czech glass and pale mauve glass - SOLD

Thanks for looking xx

Norty Boys & Ny Alesund

Within our UKS Social Group - The Twilight Addicts, we have recently had a mini cybercrop.  Lisa set us two challenges.

The first challenge was to use a favourite tool, a sketch, stash that is over a year old and to use either funny photos or have a funny title.

This was the Pagemaps sketch that she gave us to use -

I adapted it to use on a single page layout.

I used Basic Grey Two Scoops and chose dies and punches as my favourite tools.  The photographs are of Vern and Rodger - two little friends that joined us earlier this year at Meadow Barn.

Lisa's second challenge was to use a piece of equipment that you have hardly or never used.  Also to use 3 sheets of paper that you hate or dislike, use 4 or more photographs and use a favourite sketch to make a double layout.  At first I thought what a horrible challenge but this ended up being one of my favourites this weekend.

I used a Sarah's Cards kit that I really didn't like, this happens rarely but these papers just weren't me and I have struggled to use them.  They are Crate Paper 'Season'.  The tool that I have barely used was one that I have never used - the iTop bradmaker.  I won it in an online competition and have never used it so had a lot of fun making my own brads to co-ordinate with the layout.  I don't have a favourite sketch but I loved a lot of Shimelle's 6x4 love classes especially the May class - I have tweaked it slightly and made my photographs a bit smaller so that I could use 6 instead of 5.  Other supplies used are the Stampin' Up scalloped border punch and two different sets of AC Thickers.

A closer look at each side -

Thank you Lisa for two lovely challenges!!

Ahoy There!!

Another great sketch from My Creative Sketches

And this is my layout using the sketch

I dipped into some of my much older stash and used K&Co Wild Saffron - the swirl is a rub on and the floral embellishments are also from the same range.  The title is cut using Sizzix alphabet Yarn.  The photograph is of Richard on last year's week spent afloat on the Lancaster Canal - on the only nice dry day that we had all week!!