Very Delish...

Good morning again peeps...hope you are all well. I can't stop sneezing today...I don't feel ill but I gotta horrible feeling something is trying to take hold.

Anyway, today I bring you a card made using a ribbon slider from Delish....

Here is a close up...all I've done is fold my ribbon and threaded it through the slider.

I've used one of my all time fave Hero Arts sentiments "to someone special" stamp, and for the background I have used Baroque Motif stamp from Stampin Up.

Gotta go...see you soon!

Black and Gold....

I woke up this morning to find I had won last week's Penny Black Saturday Challenge...what a fab way to start the weekend!

The PBSC challenge for this week is....Winter Wonderland. And here is my entry.

And yep...more acetate! Can't get enough of it at the moment. I was going to do white snowflakes but at the last minute I changed my mind and decided to go for a contemporary black and gold colour scheme.

The Penny Black snowflake is called "Starflake" and the sentiment is also by Penny Black. I just added a few Kars bling gold stars to the centre of each snowflake. The big jewel is by Prima. I think it could have done with a few more snowflakes, but it's too late now as the light has just about gone for today...so please just pretend!

I took these shots...not nearly as aesthetically pleasing as hubby's photo in my last post...mind you the sun hasn't even popped it's head for a second today so I couldn't have got a similar shot today if I'd tried.

Well, I'm off to finish my Christmas cards for family and friends...I have got a right old production line going!

Enjoy your weekend.

Sunny days and dark nights...

I've really been cursing the dark evenings because by the time I get in from work it is too late to take any photos.

Sunday night I made a card, and thought OK, I'll photograph it before I go to work the next day. I set everything up ready including the camera and tripod and went to bed. However, it has been so gloomy and dark in the mornings this week that it just hasn't been possible.

So I thought, that's it, it will have to wait until the weekend.

Well, my hubby was at home in this morning, and unbeknown to me, as everything was set up he took some photos of my card. When I came home he told me that he'd taken them because the sun came out and was streaming through the window.

Now I have learned that, because my craft room has a lovely big window and is normally quite well lit, bright sunshine is not a good idea for photography. Ideally I like an overcast day as long as it is not really dark, and I turn my card away from the window otherwise generally they end up over-exposed.

And then I thought...sunshine and acetate??? probably not a good idea. So I didn't build up my hopes. When I first saw the photos I thought that there was far too much shadow from the sunlight and I wasn't going to put any of them on my blog...but then I looked again and really loved the way the stamped design reflected through the acetate.

If it had been a brighter morning this photo would never have been taken, as I would have taken the photo, not hubby.

I'm so glad he did.

• Medallion and sentiment stamps by Stampin' Up
• Jewel by Prima
• Ink: Midnight blue Stazon

The mystery is solved...

A short post to say a huge thank you to Mrs O, aka Sharon, for her lovely comment on my blog, and for identifying the manufacturer of the Christmas sentiment stamps that I used in my post of 08/11/09 and in my post earlier today.

The sentiments are by....drum roll...Delish Designs!! Of course I should have known as I adore all products by Delish. Apparently though they are like gold dust at the moment and very difficult to get hold of! If anyone does have any luck can they let me know and I will pass the information on.

In the meantime, er hem...I shall try not to throw away the wrappers of my stamps...

Christmas for the Guys

Phew...two challenges in one day..not bad eh? For my second challenge of the day I have made a card for this week's Penny Black challenge called "Christmas for the Guys".

Before we go any further, have you noticed anything missing from my blog?? Yep, male cards. Unless I can glitter it, include copius amounts of ribbon and add lots of bling, I just don't do it!

So I decided restraint was called for....of course one should not stereotype but I feel there needs to be a bit less of the glitz and glamour for a male card.

Well here is my attempt...

OK...there is a bit of bling...

....and actually quite a lot of ribbon lol...but I decided to tie a masculine knot rather than a bow!

The beautiful Penny Black stamp is called "Twinkles". It's the first time I've used it, and I just love it stamped simply on to Kraft card. I used Midnight Blue Stazon...oh I do so love this colour on Kraft, and then just added some navy satin ribbon. The sentiment is also Penny Black.

Well I hope you like my attempt at a masculine card...whats that? you think it's a bit girlie? I know, I know lol, but this as near to a male card as you're ever likely to see on my blog!

Very Bravo Kraft...

...this is the title of the colour challenge over at Splitcoaststampers for this week. The colour combination is Very Vanilla, Bravo Burgandy and Kraft.

First I stamped my Stampin' Up tree, from the set "Lovely as a Tree", several times to create the backdrop. The beautiful sentiment stamp is by Delish Designs.

To complete my card, I cut out a tree and raised it up to give it a bit of dimension.

A bit of ribbon and a button, and voila, card done. When I first saw the colour challenge I wasn't sure, but now I really like it. And I do love my Kraft card so I was willing to persevere! I did try layering the card up with some burgandy card, but I felt it looked to heavy so I left it out.

Well, I'm off for a walk shortly....and yes we do have gale force winds and rain! But you see I love a bit of bad weather...if I lived in America I would definitely be a storm chaser lol!! I wouldn't want bad weather all the time you understand...but I live approx 500 yards from the beach, and when the waves are crashing onto the shore, I just love it. For me it beats fighting your way round the shops doing the Christmas shopping any day!

Will catch up with you sometime this weekend...have a good one.

Beauty is in the eye...

...of the beholder, and it certainly was when I saw this gorgeous sentiment stamp by Rhonna Farrer from the Autumn Leaves set

" Spring Swirl".

I didn't want it to be one of those stamps that I buy because I really like it, but then it just sit in my craft box unused. So I decided to make an acetate card, using the main sentiment from the set.

I stamped the background in "Peeled Paint" ink by Tim Holtz and then stamped a damask design by Papermania. The squiggly line stamp is by Inkadinkadoo.

However, when it came to stamping the sentiment on to the acetate, there were a lot of naughty words said, as I messed it up 3 times before I finally just about got it right!

On my first attempt I skidded with my ink pad on the acetate. On the second attempt I stamped the sentiment too far to the left so it would have been completely obscured by the ribbon. Then I didn't press down hard enough and it didn't stamp out properly. The end result you see here was my 4th attempt! Even now it's not stamped quite central...but I'm not wasting anymore acetate!!

Finally the nightmare of photographing acetate. By the time I had finished my card last night it was dark, so I photographed it at 7.30am this morning before work! It was very overcast but I think this is better for acetate as there isn't so much glare.

Hope you like anyway, see you again soon.

PS:I found one craft knife by the way, but have lost a large pair of scissors instead!! I give up!

Christmas in Monochrome...

I saw an article in a card making magazine recently about making your own Christmas card baubles and decided to give it a go.

I punched out some circles and then stamped them with these beautiful stamps from B Line Designs, called "Brocade". And as I have the postive and negative stamps I've used both for my creations.

Here is a close up of the bauble..I have just added some clear gems for a bit of sparkle.

The beautiful large gems are by Imaginisce. I got mine from my local Hobbycraft.

I think these baubles would look really good in other colours and other stamped designs. I will definitely be experimenting with this idea.

These are really simple cards I know...but simple is all I've got at the moment. Time runs away with me again and I can't believe it's Sunday again already.

Well, I'm off on a mission today...I've lost my craft knife...my most used crafting item and it's just disappeared. Actually if I'm really honest, this is the second craft knife I've lost this week!!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend...see you soon.

EDIT: Sorry to those of you who have enquired about the sentiments-I don't know who makes them as I threw the wrapper away-doh!! If anyone recognises them I would be very grateful if you can leave me a message so that I can pass the info on.

Bella Bleu

Hi again everyone. I write this feeling very under the weather...yet again I seemed to have picked up some nasty virus. I swear I am a magnet for viruses..in fact I truly believe I have one that has taken up permanent residence in my bloodstream, and just pops out now and again when I'm a bit low just to let me know it's still around!

Anyway, enough of feeling sorry for myself and on to my latest creations made a few days ago. I have indulged myself in my new SU stash.

I have used the new SU Bella Bleu papers...I so had to force myself to cut into these babies..

The ornate frame is by none other than Mr Tim Holtz...isn't it a beauty?

The gorgeous envelope template is by Priscillastyles. I really love this template. What you can't really tell from my photo is that is it approx 2cm deep, so perfect if your card has a bit of dimension to it.

The SU stamp set is one of my fave's from the new catalogue called "Autumn Days". I have used Not Quite Navy SU cardstock to match with the Bella Bleu papers.

Well I really enjoyed making this set...hope you like. I'm off for a lie down...see you all again soon!

A Challenge and a Walk in the Woods...

Yesterday hubby and I took a walk through the local woods. It was a little bit overcast but very still. Anyway, we were under a canopy of trees when it started to rain....we could hear it above us but because the trees were so dense the rain didn't reach us...however the rain started to strip the leaves from the trees and suddenly we were in the middle of a cascade of falling leaves. It was quite simply wonderful. Kinda wish I'd had a camera but then no photo could have done it justice.

This morning though we have torrential rain and gale force winds. Actually you know, I don't really mind..as long as I'm all cosy indoors!

Being tucked up indoors today has given me the chance today to make a card for the Penny Black Saturday Challenge and the Colour Create Challenge, where the challenge is to only use white apart from the image.

The beautiful stick pin is from the Pretties Kit by Stampin Up, which I bought a while ago.

The stamp is by Penny Black which I bought last year...I used the Cuttlebug holly embossing folder to create the background and applied Glamour Dust to the holly. Then I've just added some pearl gems and white ribbon to finish. At least I got this challenge right unlike my last post!

Well I'm off to enjoy the rest of the day...hope you do too!

The challenge that nearly was...

Hi again folks...seems such a long time ago since my last post...I've had such a busy week at work, and I've been on a training course as well...I've had very little time to get in my craft room. So so glad Saturday has finally arrived.

I have been very naughty recently and bought heaps of SU stuff from the new catalogue...this beautiful medallion stamp was first on the list...

I was going to enter this for this week's SCS Colour Challenge...the colours are Cameo Coral, black and Kraft...I made the card and was about to post it on their website....when I realised I'd forgotton the Kraft!! deffo my age I think...but as I've admitted before I don't do challenges very well as I get so engrossed in what I'm doing I completely forget what the challenge was in the first place...well that's my excuse anyway :)

The beauty of this stamp is there is very little you need to add...in this case just a Prima jewel in the centre and a bit of ribbon. I think this stamp works really well as both a statement piece and as a subtle background stamp....I just know I will use it a lot.

Well, it's back to X Factor tonight...what happened with Danyl last week!! How could he have ended up in the bottom two?? Ooh I get so emotionally involved with it all lol.

If you hear some mad woman screaming this weekend it isn't because it's halloween...it will be me coz the twins got voted in again!

Stamp Duos

As much as I love my crafting, as we all know it can be expensive, so it is really nice when you see a bargain...and the little Papermania Stamp duos are just that...for approx £1.99 you get a couple of really versatile little stamps..and the designs are fab too.

For the card above I used a snowflake duo...I stamped one of the snowflakes in Versamark onto green card to create the background...and used the other snowflake stamp to create the tag.

Below is another of the stamp duos...

I used the square stamp to create this gift tag...really really easy to make...

The green paper is also by Papermania.

Well, I'm staying indoors today...the weather is pretty horrible here. Still I am looking forward to the extra hour tomorrow...I've got a million and one things I could do with that hour but I suspect I will spend it fast asleep!