Baby Elephants

I came up with the idea for these cards when I was browsing back through some of my old cards. I bought the Cuttlebug animals set when I was in America last year and I think I've only ever used them once. I began by making up a few toppers and it was only when I put the colours together I thought that they'd make lovely images for a new baby card.The coloured card used is doodlebug crisscross. The wording is cut out using my Naturally Serif sizzix alphabet, one of those long ones!

I've managed to quite sucessfully tie a couple of nice bows, using a grey organza ribbon.

Its been a while since I've used my bigshot for anything other than my nestabilities and embossing folders, so it made a nice change. These dies are really lovely and I've made some toppers up ready to make cards with using the other animals in the set. They were a bit fiddly though and were quite time consuming as was cutting out the lettering. I really love the end result though so it was well worth it.

Pinky The Pirate!

I was asked to make this card for a lady who sails ships for a living. I dont really have much other than my new sugar nellie pirate stamp, which I'v tried to make a bit more feminine by colouring it in shades of pink.
I've used the same layout that I used for one of my mum's cards as it was quite a simple one! The little ship is part of a font I downloaded recently, which I've printed directly onto the doodlebug card. I've used my mini Marks rubons, for the sentiment. They are by American Crafts and I got them from hobbycraft recently. Its a whole book of individual letters, its fab!

I'm not normally a great fan of Hobbycraft if I'm honest, but recently its been getting some really yummy stuff in, like all the American Crafts range and K&Company and I noticed today when I happened to "pop in" they have a lot more of the Making Memories range too. I held back though and didn't buy much atall.

A Few More Quick & Easy ones!

These were all very quick and easy to make. I've used the spotty paper from Shabby Princess and the image is a free stamp that came with papercraft inspirations last year.
This one is made using another one of my own printed sentiments and papers from the Epsom Site.
And finally, another using the free stamped image but this time I've used my cuttlebug embossing folder on doodlebug crisscross card instead of the patterned paper.

Replenishing my stock!

I've had a hectic few days this week. I decided that I needed to fill up my card box as I've sold quite a few lately, so I set to work on some quick and easy cards. I was browsing through some of my old cards and my handbags and a shirt card stood out so I thought I'd start there.I think this one is my favorite. The papers are from my new Dovecraft Hint of Pink set. All coloured cardstock is Doodlebug crisscross. I think the black and pink make a very striking combination. The sentiments are all printed onto white card and mounted in scalloped circles using my nestabilities. I made the template for the handbag card myself, using an A6 card as the base and just cutting out some curves to the corners. The handle is cut out seperately and fastened into the card by cutting a few slits in the back of the card. I originally made a handbag card after seeing Vicky's stunning collection of handbags. Again, this one is made using the Dovecraft papers, only a grey and pink combination this time, which also work really well together. These cards sell really well with the ladies my mum works with, and also for people who want cards for little girls! All together I made 10 handbags yesterday and I was quite glad but very pleased when I'd finished! And Finally, here is my folded shirt card. The papers are a set by Shabby Princess and cardstock is doodlebug crisscross. I've used my doodlebug mini brads as buttons.

Thank You & Thank You!

First of all, A Big Thank You goes to Michelle at The Card Grotto for sending me this yummy lot of blog candy! I won part 3 of the Blogoversary celebrations which got me all this! I can't wait to get started on it!


And secondly thanks go to Julie for passing on the Blogging Friends Forever Gold Card...Sorry its taken me so long!
I have been really busy making cards over the past few days and hopefully I'll get some of them uploaded soon. It feels like ages since I last blogged so I need to catch up and get visiting some other blogs too.!

A Scrapbook Page and a Candle!

**Edited to include some better photos of my scrapbook page**

Following on from my post of 6th August, I've finished making my mums birthday presents! I'm really fed up with buying presents for the sake of getting something, so this year I decided to make her presents instead. I had a go at candle stamping a while back but it didnt go well! I heated the candle a lilttle too long and it started to melt! I had another go after seeing Kerry's gorgeous set on her blog recently, and thanks to Kerry's helpful advise I was able to make a matching box too. I wanted it to match the papers I'd used on the card so I just scanned them into the computer and recloloured them slightly and printed them directly onto the card I made the box from. For the sentiment on the candle, I used Kerry's tip of printing from the pc directly onto the tissue paper.

For a first attempt, I'm really happy with this. I think my mum will love it! Ive already been out and stocked up on some more candles and will definately be making more of these.

This next set is for my little boy to give to my mum, his Nanny! This was a bit more challenging for me though as I've never done a scrapbook page before. I made the page in the frame first and then came up with the matching card.
My mum always calls Adam, "Nanny's Little Man" and that was the first thing that came to mind when I thought of making the page for her. I've used a making memories paper pack that I bought a long time ago, the spotty one is my favorite! The photo's were taken recently when we went out walking in Salcey Forest, which is in walking distance of our house! its great to have somewhere like that right on your doorstep!

I bought the frame for £6 from Wilkinsons! Its a 12x12 frame and hobbycraft sell the same box frames for £14.99! I know where I'll be getting mine from! The chipboard letters came with a magazine I bought a while ago and I've used my sharpie permanent markers to colour them in. I wanted it to be quite a simple page, and have gone for 3 matching photos which I've mounted and given a scalloped edge. All of the edges have been inked to give them a bit more definition.
They are stuck down with foam pads so they stand out a bit more. The 3 sayings are all things Adam says when he's puddle jumping, "splashy water" "muddy puddles"and "yuk". "yuk" is what he says after he's put his finger in the dirty water and then has a taste of it! I have no idea who taught him to do this!

I have to say I'm really pleased with both of my creations. I'm not sure that I'm ready to become a scrapbooker just yet, but I'd be happy to do the odd one as a gift or if I get inspired by a nice photo. It did take me a couple of attempts with different papers before I decided on this version. I hope my mum likes it!

I Love your blog

I've been given this award by both Chrissy & Lainy! Thank you both so much and sorry its taken me so long to get round to adding it to my blog. I've been busy the past week getting my mums birthday presents ready, but I'll do a seperate post for those!

I am supposed to pass this award onto at least 7 blogs that I love, well there are about 777 blogs I love, but the blogs I visit regularly have all already had this award so I won't pass it to them again. I will proudly display it though! Thanks again, it means a lot!

Subscribe for updates...and help!

Hi all, I've just added a new widget to my blog which allows you to subscribe for e-mails telling you when my blog has been updated. I subscribe to a couple of blogs and find it really useful especially with such a huge list of blogs that I like to visit.

I wonder if there is anybody who can give me some advise or suggestions? I want to make a scrapbook page for my mums birthday, with a picture of my little boy, and the caption Nanny's Little Man, as thats what she calls him! Sadly I dont have many pictures of them together as my mum's a camera dodger! I havent done any scrapbooking before, but I want it to be a bit special and I dont really know where to start. My friend did one for me for christmas last year and framed it in a nice 12x12 box frame from Wilkinsons. Although its to be a picture of my little boy, I want it to be quite feminine too. I have just over a month to do it, so I'd better get my thinking cap on. These are the pictures I was thinking of using.

I quite like this picture of my mum, stepdad and Adam. It was taken a good year ago though and on my mobile phone so the quality is not very good.

Well, its not raining today, so far! the sun isnt quite out either but at least its dry. hope it stays nice for the weekend as we are away in the caravan and its not as much fun in the wet.

Another rainy day...

...where has the summer gone? It is August isnt it? I guess we can't complain too much though, we've already had a much better summer than we did last year. Maybe its all the sun thats kept me so inspired over the past couple of weeks! Firstly I would like to say thank you to Tracey for giving me the Wylde Woman Award, its very kind of you!

I have a couple of cards to share with you today, the first being a pirate card using the Sugar Nellie pirate. I love this little cutie.
I was inspired by these cards that Kerry made a while back and decided to make myself a template for a scalloped frame. The papers are from one of the Kirsty Wiseman kits and this is the first card I've used my new cuttlebug embossing folder on too. I've added the sentiment to the frame using making memories rubons and the coins are from an Epsom kit. I wasnt sure what else to do with this card. I have a treasure map that I wanted to use, but the image covered most of it so it was barely recognisable. I am pleased with the end result though.

I've had these Dovecraft papers for a while and have hardly used any of them, so I started these cards by chosing the papers and then coloured the images to coordinate. I think these colours are gorgeous together.

I made this card a couple of days ago at the same time I did the pink one for Michelle's Challenge. Again the papers are from Dovecraft. This is my new set! the jumbo brad in the cente of the flower is also Dovecraft, A Hint of Pink, hence the name for my card!

I'm not so keen on this paper, so I decided to try and make it a bit more interesting by edging all of the leaves with my sakura quickie glue pen and embossed them with clear embossing powder. I think it has lifted the card and made it a bit more interesting. Definately a technique I will use again!

And finally, a litte orange and blue number. The orange paper is from Shabby Princess and the blue floral paper is from Epsom. A bit of a brave colour combination for me. I saw the sketch on somebody elses blog a couple of days ago, but I think it suited their card better than it has mine!

Well thats all for today. I'd better get on and do some housework now. Hope you all have a good day and that the sun comes out soon!

Girls Are Weird....Sizzix Alphabet

I have the "Girls are Weird" Alphabet set by Sizzix but I don't really use it anymore. I am therefore going to list it on ebay, but just wanted to pop a note on here just in case anybody is interested? It seems a shame for it just to sit in the draw and gather dust! I must have a clear out of some of the other bits I no longer use....

Leave me a message or E-mail me if you are interested. I paid £100 for it new.

Michelle's Blogoversary - Round 3!

Tomorrow is Michelle's Blogoversary and she is very generously offering a third lot of blog candy! This part is open until 8th August. All you need to do this time is leave a comment linking to your blog. Entries for parts 1 and 2 must be in by 12 noon tomorrow!

Michelle's Blogoversary Round 2

For the second part of Michelle's Blogoversary challenge, the brief was: "What I want you to do is to make a card using one colour group - yes ... just the one!! You are able to use one other colour for the base of the card, card to stamp on etc but the rest must be made form one colour group, as many shades as you like. Pattened paper is allowed as long as it only has the colour group on it or the base colour e.g. white. If using a stamped image you may colour it in with different colours as long as the main colour is on there somewhere!! "

And here is my entry...A Hint of Pink!

Literally everything I've used on this card is pink. To start with I've printed a Pink Petticoat Image onto a pale pink doodlebug crisscross card in pink ink! and I've lightly watercoloured it in pink too! I've used a layout that I've used a few times lately and its my favorite at the moment. I've then layered the image onto more doodlebug crisscross card, which I've embossed with the swiss dots embossing folder and Ive scalloped the edges. I then added two lovely pink flowers secured with a pink brad, and to finish I've tied some pink organza ribbon and added 3 pink adhesive stones to the top corner. I think this one certainly fulfills the breif!

Michelle's Blogoversary Round One

Hi there, Michelle over at The Card Grotto celebrating her one year blogoversary and is holding some challenges with prizes to give away. This is open until 4th August. Now I've never entered any challenges before so this is a first for me so I hope I've done ok. The first challenge is to make a card using this sketch.

And here is my entry... I have used the Tilda stamp, coloured in using my Whispers markers. Cardstock is doodlebug crisscross which I've embossed with the cuttlebug perfectly paisley folder. I've then added two orange flowers which I've inked to give them a bit more depth. The sentiment is a making memories rubons.

Not bad for a first attempt? And it only took me a few minutes to make. A first for me, usually I spend about 3 days on 1 card! I dont know what has com over me just lately, I'm all inspired! I hope it lasts. I think it is these gorgeous stamped images Gina sent me! Thank You Gina!