injury

I'm sorry I've not blogged for a while but my poor mum fell down a slope on a golf course and has dislocated /Fractured her ankle ,The consultant said she has literally smashed her ankle and one of the worst he has ever seen . So 2 lots of manipulations and 2 lots of surgery and now home non weight bearing - so I have come south to look after her - been here for 2.5 weeks - honestly if I couldnt have come then what would have happened to her - The NHS just sent her home with no idea how she would sleep ,shop , clean and just survive - NOT IMPRESSED , She was lucky that she has a downstairs spare bedroom and bathroom that she can use , a friend of her's is recovering from 2 lots of hip surgery and is living on a sofa- shes in her late 80's WTF !!!because no checked her home ......what a total disgrace RANT OVER sorry 

Anniversary Card AAA card #93 challenge

While we were away on holiday it was our 27th wedding anniversary which we spent in Verona .But here is the card I made for my husband - hope you like it
It was made with a clearly Besotted set which I bought second hand - I love this CaS style card -even though I say so myself I was very pleased with the finished card.

I thought I would enter this in the latest AAA Challenge #93-Words have Power as the words on the heart are "I Love you "
http://aaacards.blogspot.co.uk/2017/06/cas-game-93-words-take-centre-stage.html

please feel free to comment - feed back is great........

a post at last

            Sorry for not posting for a while - but been on an amazing holiday to Italy and 2 Balls and end of tennis match season bash which all lead to me getting a flu bug - so no posts to the blog for quite a while ............ Italy was stunning we did a whistle stop trip over 17 days Rome ,Florence ,Tuscany driving around ,Florence (again ) Verona and Venice .
           We had only been back 8 days when we went to Magdalene Cambridge Ball - a white tie event where the dress code for ladies was long dresses and ideally opera gloves though not essential !!!!! really .......it was 33 degrees C ... this ball is amazing as its Champagne all night (literally ) and it finishes at 6am with a survivors photos on the river Cam...then flew home after a few hours sleep to get ready for another Ball locally to where we live !!! Some social whirl thats for sure .....Back to normality now

Mess but fun

This is a birthday card for my husbands goddaughter  - Shes a History of Art student at university . I used several Stampin Up sets - then added some random brushos - I also used foil around the butterfly but it does not show up in the photo but added some lovely shine and depth
- A bit of a mash up but I really liked the end result ( Am I allowed to say that !

Goodies

this was a lovely haul from Simon Says Stamp - just a few treats - now I need to get on and make some cards and play with all this lovely stuff .It actually arrived a few weeks ago but been so busy hence no blogging for a while......... And now I'm about to go on holiday ......but hopefully I will get a few cards made first -watch this space

I started to write this post but the dreadful bombing and loss of innocent lives happened in Manchester- feeling sorry ,tearful  and anger .

Thank You Card

Rubber Stamp Tapestry

Whatever next 2 cards posted in one day ! But no challenge - I needed a quick thank you card for a friend - so I managed to find these peg stamps - I had forgotten how pretty they are .But my camera which is very old was playing up so the photos aren't that great - well I'm blaming the camera and not my photography skills or the card -lol,

close up 

Cas Colours and Sketches #220 - 70th birthday

Ok - its true I have become challenge addicted ! Sorry here's another one ,I had a 70th card to make - and was struggling a bit because this lady was one of triplets and one of her sisters died quite recently so her birthday will be a mixed feeling I suspect -so searching for inspiration I had seen this challenge earlier and my card pal Jenny suggested Cas Colours and Sketches - so without ado here's the card
http://cascoloursandsketches.blogspot.co.uk/2017/04/challenge-220-sketch.html

Papertrey

Casology #Season -246

Every week I check out Casology and add amazing cards to my pinterest board - so this weeks challenge was interesting ummmmm ! What does Season mean to me - I happened to have the tennis on TV and I had a quirky light bulb moment - season means changing sport -the beginning of spring means the start of the Golf season ( with the Masters on TV ) and summer is Wimbledon and Tennis , Autumn is beginning of Rugby and Winter is skiing .....So with that in mind here's my card.
It was coloured with a mixture of inkintense and watercoloured pencils -I haven't decided whether I will use it as a Fathers Day card or A male Happy Birthday- hence no sentiment at the moment .I will enter this in the Casology Challenge -Season .thank you for looking

http://casology.blogspot.co.uk/2017/04/week-246-season.html

Art Impressions

Less Is More -Stripes # 325

Was thinking about card making and looking at Less Is More and the amazing cards there and saw the latest challenge - and had a "light bulb " moment - then began the search for a certain stamp ! I was absolutely delighted when I found it and a few others (dare I say I forgot I had !!!!)
In the past I have struggled to make this work but decided bad taste colouring was the only way forward ......I hope this has enough stripes !
It was coloured with distress inks (with water) and Atyou Spica pens for sparkle
I am entering this is in Less Is More #325 Stripes
http://simplylessismoore.blogspot.co.uk/2017/04/challenge-325-stripe.html

Blog One year Old

wow I have just realised that it has been a year since I entered blogland as a blogger -this was all because my crafting friend Jenny of http://theotherficklepixie.blogspot.co.uk/
said I should start one - so one year on I am still blogging and entering competitions - thank you to all of you who have visited from far and wide ,given advice and encouragement ,cost me a fortune in new craft gear- which I just had to have ..........and been it's been a ball - here's to another year of crafting - Thank you

Debbie

Casology -Grow

I needed to make a card for my Uncle - who has a great sense of humour - so looking for inspiration I looked at a few challenge blogs and came across Casology -theme this week is Grow - sooooooo I came across this StampinUP stamp ( which I have had a while ) and I think it ticks the boxes - after all cheese grows better with age - doesnt it ! and the sentiment is funny - Happy Birthday Uncle Alan ,On the plus side it is clean and simple with lots of white space
http://casology.blogspot.co.uk/2017/04/week-245-grow.html

Update 25th April 2017 - I just discovered this card got an honourable Mention in the Results - thank you casology for my badge (please feel free to see on my Challenge badges Page )
http://casology.blogspot.co.uk/2017/04/week-245-weekly-winners.html

Less is More - spring walk #324 -Uniko Gerbera

I saw the Less is More Challenge and thought ooooo I have a lovely stamp set from Uniko which I could use - they are such pretty flowers - I stamped and embossed them in white superfine powder from Ranger , then used my NEW distress oxides to blend the colours in a technique I saw by Gina K .I will enter this in the LiM challenge

http://simplylessismoore.blogspot.co.uk/2017/04/challenge-324-spring-walk.html

Cats on a card-NBUS

I have had this stamp for a while and Have only just got round to using it -I had so much fun colouring the cats - I used distress inks as water colours and using the tim holtz fine water brush ( which is the best btw )  I managed to layer the colours giving a small amount of shadowing ( I hope )

I will enter this in a few challenges :-
Stamp IT
http://thesisterhoodofcrafters.blogspot.co.uk/2017/04/stamp-it-challenge.html
Anything Goes #339
http://craftycreationschallenges.blogspot.co.uk/2017/04/339-anything-goes.html


I have now sent this card but realise that I forgot to ground the cats oh well - nothing I can do now -lol

Goodies from SimonSaysstamp

I have waited sooooo long for these to arrive - and it was worth the wait - now I need to order some more oxides - they are stunning to use - cards will follow over the next few days while I play with them .Fun times 😅

Male Birthday Cards

This was made for my brother-in-law and was using my new infusions from IndigoBlu - It was a "happy " accident (I think) .I masked off  a panel and stamped the clocks in versafine and then wet the panel and sprinkled the infusion powder , I then moved the colour around -carefully or so I thought ......... when I took off the masked paper I discovered he infusions had spread under the masked paper - but actually I liked the effect .The "Happy" die was die cut several times and glued together -then stamped the birthday and added a few tonic nuvo drops in glossy black -Voila

I still find male cards soooooo hard 

Birthday Boy

Birthday Boy

PTI

This was card for a 6 year old boy - I used my new PTI matching dies and stamps .I stamped the balloons and banner with the stamp set.Then  I actually used 2 out of  3 dies in the set and stuck them onto each other .I am really pleased with the effect - I think  its a very CAS card - what do you think ?
I am entering this card in CAS Colours & Sketches
http://cascoloursandsketches.blogspot.co.uk/2017/03/challenge-214-sketch.html





Ummmm think it must have been a blue/green card day 

Birthday cards

Art Journey

 This first card is using my new Art Journey stamps and a new stencil (a script stencil can't remember the company - sorry ) .It was blended in toning distress inks and stamped in the same colours .I decided to add a Penny Black butterfly and fussy cut it .I did add Wink of Stella to all the butterflies which sadly didn't show up on the photo :(
I love the colour combo of this challenge so I am going to enter YNS colour challenge -click the link and go see
http://yournextstamp.com/blog/sketch-and-color-challenge-59-more-inspiration/

Anniversary Card

My best friend was celebrating 11 years of marriage -and this was the card I made .I love this die but cannot remember where i got it from .I die cut it twice so that I got 11 hearts - then i coloured the hearts and added glossy accents (what would we do without it ! ) Hopefully It arrived on time as I was on my way skiing when I posted it !

I love a Freebie

I bought some stamp sets from StampinUp and got a free set .This was the resulting card - I used my Misti to stamp the flowers by colouring the flowers in sections with distress Markers. Then I moved the colour "around " to give the flowers some depth ,This was a card for a lovely lady who was turning 93 years young !

new stamp set- More fresh cuts

Wow its been nearly a month since my last entry on my blog - thats because we have been skiing in Utah - and what a wonderful time we had.A friend came down from Pittsburgh to stay with us to ski -which was such a laugh ----- a whole year till we go again ....sigh.......
   Anyway back to cards - this was one of the many things that I have bought recently ! (Some are still to arrive - its all Tim Holtz fault ! )
This set is from Wplus9 - which I ordered after watching an amazing tutorial on YouTube here by Lydia Brookes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4wrrJa77gQ&t=5s
My card is no where near as beautiful but I will be practicing with it .

OMG - more goodies

      Well I've been shopping again - well sort of - I have had some things on order for a while  but they have only just started to arrive .As a result I have a mass of new things to play with ........when I get the time . To go to my craft room I feel that the housework has to be All done ( well that's the theory anyway!) But tennis often gets in the way .... and now we are about to go skiing so I am starting to plan the packing ..... so you can see why nothing gets done in any shape or form .

      Anyway here's some of the things that have arrived this week -

So Suzy Stamps

Wplus9

indigoBlu flitterglu kit

I did however manage to make a birthday card for a tennis friend who is a very good artist - so at least I did have some fun in the craft room - which still needs sorting desperately .

totally Tim Holtz

I masked off the areas - blended distress inks then did stamping with the same distress inks - first and second generation stamping .The flowers in the foreground were stamped with versafine  (a navy colour )to give some depth to the card but keeping it one layer.I then splashed some gold shimmer in drops over the card.
      Hope you all have a good crafting weekend .Feel free to comment- I love hearing from you all😄

Card -50th and goodies (more)

Morning blogland -I live on the East Coast of Scotland and woke up this morning to snow ! Which is pretty unusual- only a scattering mind you -but still very pretty ,Sadly now virtually gone but is absolutely freezing here - so a day for staying indoors and hopefully into the craft mess -oops mean craft room
Here's a card I made yesterday ,

It was a friends 50th and she is a tennis coach so the original idea was for a tennis related card but in the end settled on Wimbledon colours .The set used was clearly besotted stars and Tim Holtz -numerics - I wish there was a die set to go with these
The inks were from SSS (simon says stamp )As you can see I tried to ombre the two colours ,not as successful as I had hoped - hey ho
The other photo is more goodies from Netherlands -Art journey - set is called Natures Flowers - I have wanted this set for years after I saw a card on pinterest and looked up the blog- heres the link
https://herminesplace.wordpress.com/tag/stempelen-stamping/page/7/
She makes the most amazing cards - well artwork - there are some seriously talented people out there

Clearly Besotted/Tim Holtz

Art Journey

thank you for taking the time to have a look and feel free to leave a comment - its lovely to read what you think good or bad or for advice

Ooops more goodies

Oh dear its confession time - I have made several purchases from the USA and this is the first one to arrive so that means I have even more new  NBUS to play with ......and worse still I have at least 5 stamps sitting in a basket at Simonsaysstamp -eeeek I blame CHA so many new goodies to tempt you .These goodies are from PapertreyInks .The botanical set was an anniversary re release .I had tried to buy this set literally years ago and had even contacted PTi begging them but they had no plans to ever re release , I am so over the craft moon that they have arrived ....So as they say all expensive things come to those who wait !! Now I need to get on and use them and not just shove them in a box of other NBUS goodies - better go and make some cards and enter a few challenges to boot .

PapertreyInks

Thank you -Challenges and Jofy

Jofy

 I needed to make a "Thank you" card and luckily the Muse Challenge #201 was a stunning card by Valentyna -and The Sisterhood of crafters -theme was "Simply Made" so having seen their beautiful cards -I used Valentynas green and pink color scheme and tried to shape my stamp but sadly it wouldnt bend enough-and with a theme of Simply Made -I made this card. I used Chameleon pens to colour the flowers and leaves -then added Atyou Spica to the flower head for added sparkle interest-I will enter this card in the 2 challenges -thank you reading

atyou spica pens

http://musecardclub.blogspot.co.uk/2017/01/muse-challenge-201.html
http://thesisterhoodofcrafters.blogspot.co.uk/2017/01/simply-made.html

ooo update I made it into top 5 Of Muse #201-thank you to everyone who voted = over the moon x

New Home - Muse Challenge #200

My best friend has recently moved and I needed to make a card and was checking out some challenges and Muse was the first one I looked at (as usual ) ,So taking inspiration from Jenni Murray card for challenge #200 (see below).I set about planning a card - So I placed a house where the flower is but used the colour red for the door ,the leaves were replaced by flowers and coloured with my newly acquired chameleon pens and with Atyou Spica scribbled on top for blingyness (is that even a word ) , the dot background that Jenni used -I replaced with a 3 circle stamp , I will enter my card in the challenge.Thanks for the inspiration Muse

http://musecardclub.blogspot.co.uk/2017/01/muse-challenge-200.html

Sympathy and Challenge

Sadly I had to make another sympathy card today - so was looking for inspiration .... I came across these challenges-Card Concept and inkspirational
http://thecardconcept.blogspot.co.uk/2017/01/cc65-january-18-fresh-bold.html


the colours were so striking and the "Fresh and Bold "theme gave me something to start with . I used distress inks -Worn Lipstick ( for the pink ) and  Dried Marigold ( for the orange ) ,With the black and white pictures in the background of the photo I decided to add the birds -which gave me the Flutter ,The style is very CAS  I think ,I am also going to enter Inkspirational Challenge -flutter
http://inkspirationalchallenges.blogspot.co.uk/2017/01/challenge-126-word-prompt-flutter.html

Thank you if you decide to leave a comment - 💬

Cas-ual Fridays Challenge-Valentines Card

Cas-ual Fridays -love notes

Well now Christmas is over -Valentines is on the way - I usually wait till February to make a valentines card -but while looking at beautiful cards made on challenge blogs- I came across this challenge and decided to use it as inspiration and enter the challenge .I stamped the image in Delicata Shimmer Ink - I then decided to add the stencil heart - using distress inks - worn lipstick- In real life the pink has a bit of the shimmer ink mixed in - adding to the gold effect .My husband loves listening to music so this card is for him💕This stamp set was also a NBUS !!!
http://cas-ualfridays.blogspot.co.uk/2017/01/cfc165-everything-turns-to-gold.html

First Xmas Card 2017 - Fusion Challenge

After a chat with Jenny about challenges - I went in search and saw this challenge( at her recommendation ) -Fusion and thought I have a great stamp which I have only used once or twice years ago - so out it came and this was the card I made ,so I have entered it in the challenge
http://fusioncardchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2017/01/fusion-3rd-anniversary.html

OMGoodness

       My crafting internet friend Jenny - of the most amazing blog- see link below- has come across the most unbelievable  blog/site -Paperplayful - its must list every challenge virtually in the world .I will use this site for future inspiration - I only wish i could tell them how amazing their hard work is - it doesn't have a comment section :(
http://theotherficklepixie.blogspot.co.uk

http://paperplayful.blogspot.co.uk/


Back to the cards - I needed to make a few notelets - this is one of them ,The stamp is from Technique Tuesday and I was playing with my chameleon pens .You cannot see is this photo but I outlined the flowers with Atyou Spica pens ,the sparkle is amazing - I actually stamped the card with a view to the flowers being at the bottom not on the side - but before I wrote inside I changed my mind ! Hey ho - its a prerogative to change your mind -isn't it !

Engagement Card

Card-io

I had some lovely news - a really lovely friend has got engaged - about Christmas time .So I wanted a card that showed that time of year .I made a stencil from acetate packaging - an old sizzex die ,then used my Card-io stamps to make a romantic scene,Using the dry baby wipe technique to blend the night sky and lamp light ,The edge of the "mat" is a stitched die .Bizarrely the "mat" wasn't a correct size for the die (decided to do after everything else) but with careful fiddling I managed to get the "mat" stitched so to speak .The sentiment is a favourite from Uniko 

Santa

Have you ever ordered and bought a stamp and when it arrived thought - blast or other words to that effect - because it is either much larger or smaller than you expected !!!
This was, one such stamp - it is stunning BUT I found it difficult to get the best from it . Luckily I saw a youtube video by the amazing Jill Foster for Penny Blackinc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtgxFaNhg-A&feature=share

and after several attempts this was the resulting card - I have a moon mask set by Clarity which i used to make the moon behind Santa.The card was 15cm x15cm ,I made the card for my lovely Hubbie - who loves Father Christmas stamps .I used a mixture of Distress Markers and ink to colour the stamp - all of this was only possible because I have the original MISTI .Thank goodness - happy days x

Old but wonderful

My son on Christmas eve said "Mum I need a card for Dad !" this was the resulting card and  super fast .I have had this stamp for a few years and it is so lovely - this time I just stamped it in Black Onyx - versafine ink - and left it at that ! I used my Misti to make sure it stamped perfectly ,(god I love that gadget ) .
I used a card size of 15cm x 15cms.The stamp is from Crafty individuals -Jingle Bells Rooftops .
I had to go on the site and check is name and can see more stamps that I absolutely NEED (Please note Need not want or require ) 
Very CAS I think and OLC