Cute Card Thursday Sketch

Got round to making a card (finally) for the latest challenge at Cute Card Thursday, which is a sketch by the very talented Katharina. Here's my take on it:

This is one of half a dozen commissioned cards for a friend - her daughters and some of their friends are taking part in a dance show at the end of the month. I'm making life easier for myself and am only doing three designs, so two of each. I'll show the other ones once their finished off.

I've used a new Sugar Nellie stamp and coloured it in with water colours, my nestabilities, a computer printed sentiment, gingham paper which I've had for ages, some ribbon and a few gems.

Also, I've been making this set of cards over the last week, all based on the same idea, with computer printed sentiments in the bottom right hand corner. I used mainly DCWV cardstock and embossed it with Cuttlebug folders, and then embellished with toning flowers, ribbon, brads etc. from stash. I really like all the colours and how the cards look together, but they are also nice individually. And so simple! Hope people at the craft fair will like them, too :)

Busy week this week with school events, hubby going to London and final preparations for the fair, and then as a treat after the fair, a trip to Artstamps Scotland in Edinburgh on Saturday - to spend any hard-earned pennies! Thanks for stopping by!

DCM Animalia

Made a card for the latest Daring Cardmakers challenge entitled "Animalia", and I've based it on the latest sketch over at My Paper World.

The horse is a Magnolia stamp, and I had it all coloured in for quite a while, so when this animal challenge came along, it was the obvious thing to use. I've also used a SU! stamp for the sentiment, layered on a scalloped circle, a couple of buttons from stash, a MM clip, and brown spotty background paper from Dovecraft. The layout follows sketch #10 at My Paper World. Had fun making this, I really like this horse, it looks so friendly :)

My girls are off school again today - seems like they're never there! Met some friends up at the local country park, had a picnic and the kids all played. It stayed dry, but it was pretty chilly actually, and we ended up cutting our visit short. Two country parks in two days - we had a family trip to another one just outside Edinburgh yesterday, where hubby took photos of the beautiful bluebells, and the girls and I zoomed down the long, long slides (the higher one is at least three storeys tall!) - great fun!!! Have a good day, everyone, and thanks for looking!

Playing with Paper

Finally got to play again today, at least for a little while. It was wet outside today, and amazingly, the girls kept themselves entertained inside (well, mostly...). So hubby worked on the computer, and I sat at the next table, surrounded by my crafty stuff. I felt really productive, but in the end, I was only happy with some of my creations...

First off, I want to share this ATC for the latest challenge over at Tilda and Friends, entitled "Glorious Green". Enjoyed this, as green is one of my favourite colours:

Tilda is watercoloured and has a paperpieced top, I wrapped some embroidery cotton round the card and secured it with a button, and I added a stamped sentiment by Studio G. Really quite pleased with this one, hope you like it, too.

Next up, this is for the 2nd challenge over at new challenge blog Stamp Something, on the theme of Thank You. Gave some of my SU goodies an outing, I really must do that more often!

I used SU! Not quite Navy cardstock, embossed with a Cuttlebug folder, and both the sentiment stamp and the wee flower in the middle are from the "Seeing Spots" set. Used my Stamp-a-majig to centre the flower, it works really well and is not as fiddly as I feared! Ribbon and buttons are from stash.

And finally, one of the cards I wasn't so happy with today, but I'll post it anyway.

The sentiment stamp and the cardstock for the scalloped circle are SU!, paper is We R Memorykeepers, ribbon is from Ribbon Oasis, and brads were from stash. I like the colours, and the layout (can you tell?), but I think the little flash coming out from under the circle is too much. But since I've attached it rather securely, I'm afraid it's there to stay...

Had a busy old week this week, with prizegiving at Girls' Brigade on Monday (what a difference a year makes - middle daughter was so much more confident this time!), visit to the dentist on Tuesday (quick and painless, but have to go back to get a permanent filling put in), and then eldest daughter's residential trip Wednesday to Friday. She was not a happy bunny the night before they left, but she put on a brave face and overall, quite enjoyed the experience. I have to admit, I quite enjoyed the relative peace and quiet, too, for those two days, because there was a lot less bickering... I know, I'm a bad mother!

Right, gotta go, might get another challenge card made before bedtime - thanks for stopping by!

CCT, ATC and FS

Quick post before bedtime - still not getting round to crafting much, but managed a card for Cute Card Thursday and Friday Sketchers in one, plus an ATC for Tilda and Friends.

I've made my card using another Dinky Dolly stamp, coloured with watercolour pencils, some DCWV patterned paper (I love those floral, glittery ones!), some orangey-mustardy paper, quite a few little dark purple Primas, to which I've added little orange gems. With these, the card qualifies for the "Gems and Jewels" challenge over at Cute Card Thursday, plus I've losely followed the sketch on new challenge blog Friday Sketchers (go check it out, it's got a wonderfully international DT who create a lovely variety of cards!).

Not so sure about this ATC, it's rather plain. I'm still struggling with the size of the Magnolia stamps, pretty much all of the ones I've got are about as high as an ATC, and there's not much room to play with width-wise either. I'm hoping that as I'm getting more confident with my stamping, I'll become more creative, too, trying out different techniques and stuff. So anyhow, this one here has one of my new Tildas, plus some Studio G stamped butterflies - I hope that makes it qualify for Tilda and Friends' challenge entitled "Bugs".

"Looking forward" to a "fun" day tomorrow - having to go to the dentist to have a filling replaced that came away over the weekend... Not my favourite! Intending to treat myself afterwards to some shopping in Edinburgh! Thanks for stopping by!

Just because...

Made a few cards, just because...

On this Tilda card, I was actually playing with my new watercolour pencils, and even though this is not my best effort, I can say that I'm absolutely delighted with them, and their beautiful colours! It's so nice to have a wide range of colours available now, too, instead of just 12 basic ones. Hope I'll get to grips with them soon! Apart from the new pencils, I used a new Tilda stamp, my long-neglected retro flower punch, some ribbon from Ribbon Oasis, patterned paper from a Little Sizzles pad and a few yellow brads. Sentiment stamp is Studio G.

I liked Nicola's sketch #8 so much that I used it again to make a few more simple cards for the craft fair at the end of the month:

Still really liking those springy colours, especially the pinks and greens. Blooms are Lakeland, cardstock is Paper Mill, pp is from that infamous Costco pack (my last sheet of green with white polka dots - what will I do?), ricrac and leaves are cut with QK dies, buttons are from stash and sentiments were stamped with magnetic letter stamps.

Back to the routine tomorrow, kids were off school Monday and Tuesday here. I can't believe how lucky we were with the weather these last few days! It was pretty warm most of the weekend, and then yesterday and today were gloriously sunny, too! The girls were outside so much, playing with their friends - our neighbours even had the sprinkler on for the kids today! Needless to say, my girls were over there like a shot. You would think they'd come home fairly clean, having been showered somewhat, but no, they were filthy!!! Had to stick them straight into the shower and get all that mud off their legs... :)

Middle daughter enjoyed her sleepover and will probably go again quite happily. Youngest daughter wants to go on sleepovers now as well, seeing her two older sisters have just been, and has been wailing with disappointment when she was told "no", she'd have to wait a few more years... Eldest daughter had fun at her sleepover, too, but is still not looking forward to the class trip next week when they'll be staying away for two nights. I just hope she'll have such a fabulous time that she'll completely forget what all the fuss was about... Oh well, enough rambling again, thanks for stopping by!

Time flies...

Wow, it's been a week since I last posted - I don't seem to be fitting in much crafting time lately (and no blogging, since there isn't anything to blog about). My youngest is currently very keen on playing outside in the street, but since she's not even quite four yet, I can't let her go on her own. There aren't many kids around here during the day anyway, so that doesn't help. Why are kids so keen on playing out in the front? There's a slide in the back garden, a wee trampoline, a rocker, but no - she wants to ride her bike in the front! So I'm out there with her, a lot, and I don't get anything done. No housework, but more frustratingly, no cards! Well, the girls were at their grandparents' yesterday afternoon, so I finally managed to fit in a couple of challenges. First up, an ATC for Tilda and Friends, around the theme of May Celebrations.

Well, there's not much celebrating going on here, but I placed Tilda on a pile of punched out daisies and added the word "May" with letter beads. Maybe I should make on for every month? Anyway, I like the fresh colours, and it has a spring-like feel.

Secondly, a card for the latest challenge at Cute Card Thursday - "In the Garden".


I coloured Tilda with her watering can and teamed her with some leafy, green paper, trellis-patterned purple paper, a purple bloom and a stamped greeting. Apologies for the squint picture!

Happily, the weather forecast hasn't been very accurate this week and instead of forecast downpours, we've had a fair amount of sunny and mild weather, and the world has suddenly come to life! Plus I'm feeling a lot more lively myself, a little bit of sunshine makes a huge difference! I'm packing away the winter coats, the hats, scarves and gloves, and I'm getting out some lighter, brighter clothes, which feels nice! Of course, all the girls want to wear now are the summery clothes, but this is Scotland, and I'm having to convince them that most days, they will still need a fleece on top of their t-shirts, and that strappy sun dresses will have to wait (and indeed, may never get an outing if we don't go away somewhere sunny on holiday...).

Eldest daughter is going for a sleepover at her friend's down the road tonight, and middle daughter is going for her very first sleepover tomorrow night - at our next-door-neighbours', so if she suddenly feels the need to come home in the middle of the night, it's not a big deal. Strange for me still, not to have all children in the house at night... And it's always oddly (or blissfully?) quiet, even if there's only one of them away. Anyway, I'll stop rambling on. Thanks for stopping by, and hope you'll all have a lovely bank holiday weekend!