Faith in nature .....

Second card of the day.

I borrowed the stamp for this card from my Mum unfortunately we don't live very near to each other (it's a 300 mile round trip!) so sharing isn't very easy!!!

The stamp is from the 'Faith in Nature' set by Stampin Up.  I also used Stampin Up Inks - Not Quite Navy and Lucky Lemonade.  The twine for the frame also came from my Mum but I've no idea where she got it from.

I'm going to enter this into the challenge on "Less is More".  I think it fits the criteria better than the cute elephants.

Two Cute elephants .....

I've had a busy week so far - not a great deal of card making but an awful lot of craft shopping and card design chatting with my Mum! But now down to business I need to get crafting. 

My first card of the week is using the cute elephant digi stamp from Little Claire Designs (see my previous post for details) I flipped the design so that the elephants would look at each other and hold onto the sentiment banner.  The elephants are paper pieced with free paper from a magazine (but I can't remember which magazine or when.

I used some bakers twine to attached the sentiment to the elephants!

I am going to enter this into three challenges:

Seize the Birthday where anything goes, as long as it's Birthday; Little Claire's Designs where the challenge is to create a Child's Birthday Card; and "Less is More" where the challenge is to use string or twine.

Little cute elephant ...

This is the first evening of the half term holidays and as I work in a school office that means a week off work!!  Will it be a week of housework, tidying and washing or will it be a week of fun .... we'll just have to wait and see.

After mentioning Little Claire Designs in my previous blog I popped along last night to see what was new.  I discovered that they have a blog too! and they run challenges!  So you know what's coming next .. I decided to have a go.  The theme is a 'child's birthday' you can find all the information here.

I downloaded from Little Claire Designs a cute elephant digi stamp and paper pieced it using some free paper from a magazine.  I've used very gentle colours (except for the background layer)  I may have another go and maybe next time I'll try it with bright cheery colours.

I had to show the cute elephant in close up

Birthday flowers ....

My friend is celebrating her 50th Birthday this weekend so I thought I would make her a special card that made no direct mention of the number 50!! 

I have a stamp sentiment from Little Claire Designs that I think is ideal for a 50th - it says "Don't think about the candles it's the memories that count".  I love Little Claire designs and have quite a number of their stamps especially the sentiments.

I took inspiration for  the layout from one of the sketches from the clean&simple challenge - it's a good job that they give you two weeks to enter otherwise I would be too late.  Here's the sketch:

And here is my card:

I had to include a close up of the cute sentiment.

When I've been wandering around and looking a other craft blogs it's been really useful to see what supplies they've used to complete their designs.  I though I would give it a go although the list will not include everything because all my supplies don't have the original packaging!!

The card stock and the paper came from my stash - the pink striped paper was a freebie from a magazine.  The circles were created using a selection of small flower stamps from different sets and stamped with the following inks from Stampin Up - Lucky Limeade, Regal Rose, Riding Hood Red - and Distress Inks - Tea Dye and Pine Needles.

The only thing left to do is upload it to clean&simple!

A Tree Trio.....

With the amount of rain we've had this afternoon I think I should have been building a boat instead of making cards!

This week's challenge at "Less is More" is based on the theme of TREES.  I've made quite a number of cards for Christmas that feature trees but the rules of the challenge don't allow for linking back (this is a great idea) so I had to think of something else.  This is what I came up with - back to black and white with the merest hint of sparkle!

This is a die that came free with a magazine - it's very fiddly to use but with the help of some waxed paper I managed to do it.  You'll have to look real close to spot the sparkle!!

Sew mice ......

Once again I've taken this week's challenge sketch from clean&simple this time I've come up with a Thank You card.  I've also tried a different technique (for me) of colouring a stamped image with pro-markers but I think I need more practise!! I've had trouble with the black from the image bleeding into the colour - I need to establish the best ink pads to use with alcohol based markers.  This is the result:

I used small buttons to add detail and texture

Enjoy!

Paper Angel 2 .......

I've decided against doing the housework ..... instead I'm going to craft all day.  I'm fairly certain that the housework will still be there for another day unless the helpful elves visit overnight!!

Less of my ramblings.  Here is the second card I've completed using my current favourite Angel stamp and my current favourite technique of paper piecing.  The card is based around this week's sketch  for the challenge on clean&simple number 263! I like the sketch so I may make another card in this style.

The stars are peel offs - the closest to bling in my stash!

I visited a new blog this morning (new to me!) they also run weekly challenges - this week is anything goes as long as it's a Christmas Card and as this is a Christmas card I thought I would enter it there too.  Oops nearly forgot, you need to know the name of the blog C.R.A.F.T.Challenge 

Paper Angel ......

What a week that was!!  Not a great deal of time for crafting .... which always makes me sad but sometimes paid employment and housework has to take precedence.

I've been thinking about card designs I just wish they turned out as good as my imagination!  I thought I would have a go at the challenge over on "retro sketches" - in fact I've done nothing but think about it until this evening when I found some time to have a go.  The sketch for this week is:
     

The challenge is to design a card using the elements of this sketch - this is my attempt.

Paper pieced angel

I'm really not sure about it.  I love the image but I'm not convinced about the final layout especially the ribbon.

See how cute this angel is!

I think I'll still upload it to the challenge!

Black and White Christmas .....

My parents are quite divided when it comes to black and white cards - my mum loves them but my dad can see nothing nice about them.  As you will know the last Christmas cards I made were white on white - so I thought why not just introduce one more colour and see what happens.  My idea also happens to fit the challenge over at the 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown blog - where the challenge is to make a Christmas card without using green and red.  So here is my challenge entry.

The black on this card actually has a silver speckled coating

It's easier to see the silver speckles on this photograph.

I also tried the same layout but using a matt black card for the layering - the jury is still out in my house as to which is preferred.  I'll leave it up to blog readers to decide.  Here is the second card with the matt black card.

Back to textiles........

I've been so involved with card making recently that my poor sewing machine has been feeling left out.  I've a number of craft fairs coming up this Autumn and I need to get making otherwise my table is going to be empty!!!!

Last night I made a start and with more and more people using e-readers I decided to make some covers - it took three attempts to get the size right!  The first was too small and the second two big but I'm delighted to say that it was third time lucky!! So here is the first successful one and I have material cut and ready for more,  I just hope they prove to be popular!

Hopefully spots are in!  I do have some different fabrics so there should be plenty of choice.  If ever get organised I'm also going to set up an Etsy shop to see if people are interested in buying from me!

White Christmas ..... Take 3

This is the last 'white on white' .... for the time being at least!!!

As I went to bed last night I remembered that I had embossed some 'stamps' that my  Mum has and I began to wonder whether they would work simply mounted  white on white.  I added a little ribbon and a peel off sentiment to complete the card - here is the result.

The detail

This is for Chrissie at "Less is More" and will be submitted to the challenge!

I didn't think that I would ever make a 'white on white' card again after I completed my first one but now I'm beginning to think that they make a great change from all that colour!  I didn't realise that I owned so much white card but all different whites!!

White Christmas ..... Take 2

If at first you don't succeed try, try again .... so here is the second card I've made 'white on white' but this time I've added some texture by embossing a section of the card and the Christmas Trees.  I'm still not convinced but I'm not one to give up trying - there may well be a take 3!!!!

Maybe I should put this on "Less is More"  too!  I might just put it on the Keep it simple challenge as well.

White Christmas.....
If you've been reading my blog recently you will know that I have been entering challenges on other blogs.  I thought it would be fun and I also hoped that I would get feedback from others on my cards.  A big thank you to all that have taken the time to visit and leave a comment or just visit.

This week I thought I would try the "Less is More" challenge again ..... I'm not sure it was a wise choice and I think it could be a case of a 'challenge too far'!!  It's a colour challenge this week and the colour is WHITE.  Now I have never attempted a white on white card and having tried today I'm not sure that I will be trying again!!  Anyway for your delight and consideration here it is!

Just a hint of silver

These are not very good photographs but they are the best I could manage with my camera - I don't think my camera likes white on white.  I'm still not sure whether I like the design or not, maybe I should have another go ........ maybe not!