Smile With Your Heart :o)

Hi everyone

Did you have a good weekend?  We had lots of visitors yesterday.  It was Father's Day but we also had family and friends over.  We were doing quite well until we realised we didn't have a dessert!!  How could we forget that?!!  Anyway, Mars Bars to the rescue! We chopped them up and served them instead, with some little flapjack bites.  Luckily they were very good friends, and family will forgive most things lol

I have a card to share with you today.  I wanted to use some of my new goodies, two Martha Stewart punches and my Basic Grey Lemonade pad, so this is what I came up with....

I don't often do cards just with sentiments.  In fact I never really did them at all until a couple of the girls on the Play Date Cafe team did them and I thought I must try that!  That's what I love most about blogging, you try so many more things than you would if you just worked in isolation.  I get so much inspiration from other bloggers, thanks everyone!

This card uses the fab sketch over at Card Patterns. I had started to make a card with their sketch last week, but completely missed the deadline so I may share that with you another time.

I know there's supposed to be something resembling flowers on the left, but hopefully you can forgive my central button bow instead!  I am really pleased with how this turned out, especially my lovely little butterflies, they are so much fun to do!

The sentiment is from the {ippity} set, 'Fall For You' and the checkerboard background in the scallop circle is made using the 'Bit of Burlap'.  I wasn't sure what to do with the Burlap one to start with, but it stamps so well and gives a lovely delicate background, funky too!

If you'd like to buy either of these sets just drop me an e-mail.  See sidebar for details.  I am hoping to get a separate page up and running soon.

Enjoy the rest of the hop! 

Very quick posting!

Hi everyone

It's been a manic few days. How's your week going??

This is just a very quick post, but I wanted to share a card with you today while I have a minute to spare!  I hope to be back later with a few more, but it will depend on how the day pans out!

This is a very quick and simple card that I made for the latest Card Patterns sketch. The paper from Basic Grey just does all the talking for itself - I am in love with those bright colours!!!  I turned the sketch on its side for my card.  Actually looking at it now it's not much like it, but if you look at the top right of the sentiment label you will see that there is a tiny heart on there, that's supposed to be the circle on the sketch lol.  It's all there, you just have to know where to look for it ;o)You may not be able to tell but there is a large block of paper at the top, then the red patterned strip at the bottom.  The sentiment says, 'It's ok to have everything you want' lol.  I hope that includes lots of papercrafting goodies!!

Enjoy the rest of your day.  Back soon! 

Home Sweet Home

Mmmm, 'Home Sweet Home'... My Marmie always says, 'It's not a house, it's home'!  We've been living here nearly a year now, but it's funny how it takes a while to settle in and eventually call it your home.

I made this card for the Card Patterns Sketch Challenge #58.

When I saw this challenge I had a few ideas of what papers to use, but decided to make a new home card with these ones.  As you can see I've moved the label over a bit.  That was only because I wanted to use my wide red ribbon, otherwise I would have left it where it should have been!  For once I've actually pretty much followed the sketch ;o) 

I LOVE this pad of papers by K & Co, so much so that it's nearly finished :o(   Any excuse to go shopping for papercrafting supplies though!  :o)

I had a go at paper piecing over the weekend, so I thought I would apply the same kind of technique to this card, but using die cuts instead.

What conjures up 'home' for you? It's quite a difficult one to describe, isn't it? It's that feeling of when you walk through the door at the end of a long day and breathe a sigh of comfort. It makes me think of my little Lulu (dog) wagging her tail the minute I get in as if she's not seen me for months when it might have only been half an hour!   It's knowing you can be completely at ease.  For me that means bundling all my hair on top of my head and tying it up with a clip like Pebbles in the Flintstones, as I'm often called at home by Ian and Natasha! 

It's about being surrounded by people that love and care for you, and you them in return.  Then it's the other little things like the smell of fresh coffee (in my case Caramel or Vanilla flavoured!), flowers in a vase on the window ledge, and a freshly made bed.  Sometimes it's nice to take time out to just think about the little things of life, don't you think?

Dies: Sizzix 'Home Sweet Home #2', Nesties label
Card:  Bazzill cardstock
Inks: None (sentiment printed on computer)
Accessories:  Yellow sticker by Mei Flower, wide red ribbon from stash

Have a great day/evening :o)

Birthday Wishes

Hey there everyone, it's the weekend!!

I have a very quick card to share with you tonight as I hadn't realised how late it was and really need to get some beauty sleep.  It takes a lot of sleep to look this good you know lol

Here's the card....

I made this for the Card Patterns Sketch #55 Challenge, using my nesties, Amy Butler paper and stamps, and swarowski gems to finish.  Hope you like it.  I tweaked the sketch a little as you can see.  I get a bit carried away and forget what I'm supposed to be working to sometimes lol.  Just hopping over there now to post it, I'm nearly at the deadline for entering!   Back with some more over the weekend.

Sweet dreams, or enjoy the rest of your day depending on where you are!  I'm off to dream up lots of new card ideas...hopefully!

You'd better sit down...I stamped a card!!!

Have you recovered from the shock yet?!  I stamped a card, and I'm actually quite pleased with how it turned out for once!  If you have only just come across my blog you may not have known that I am only just starting to get back into my stamping, and when I do stamp it has tended to be still using my die cutters but adding little stamped sentiments.  I have been trying to get my head around the fact that stamping can actually look modern.  I guess it's me showing my age, where I started out stamping so young lol.  I thought I'd push the boat out this time and stamp a bit more for a change!!

Now, this card is like one of those optical illusions, is it straight or not?  lol.  Actually it is, but you do have to look twice just to make your mind up!  The sketch is from Card Patterns #54.  The plan was to use some string or something along the right hand side, but it didn't look right so I ended up leaving it off.  I have also used a bit of artistic licence too. The flower is now my little sentiment label and as you can see on the opposite side to where it's meant to be!

1. Cut Basic Grey 'wide tie' paper to fit front of white card, rounding all corners, adhere to card
2. Cut out two rectangles, one in blue cardstock, the other in Basic Grey 'skinny jeans' paper
3. Adhere to card at angles as shown
3. Stamp outline tree on white cardstock and a solid stamped tree on a separate piece of dimpled cardstock
4. Distress edges using Tim Holtz inkpad (using dimpled cardstock for this helps to achieve the mottled effect)
4. Cut around solid stamped tree and pop dot partly over the outlined tree
5. Stamp the sentiment on a piece of blue cardstock, cut off edges into banner shape and adhere to the card


Stamps: Kanban Clear Stamps - 'Spring Silhouette'
Paper: Bazzill Cardstock, Basic Grey 'Boxer' - 'Wide Tie' & 'Skinny Jeans'
Accessories:  Tim Holtz 'Broken China' distress ink

Have a lovely evening!  I'm off to watch a very dated 'Babylon 5' with Ian.  He got the series for Christmas and we are slowly watching about 100 episodes of it lol.  It's terrible sci-fi acting, but worth a giggle!!