Wedding Anniversary

Today is my 20th Wedding Anniversary. This is the card I have made for Steve. I was really lacking ideas and certainly couldn't come up with something associated with China, so I got out my new wizard shapeabilities pendant die (I know, Lynne. I said I was going to wait!). The paper is from a 12x12 Penny Black sheet. Next time I have a go at this I will use card, I think. I just hope he likes it! I got some inspriration from Robert, but mine is no where near as good as his. I was trying for a masculine look, so didn't add any jewels or pearls, but I think it needs something.

Ink, water and a brush

I've been having a play with adirondack inks and a water brush. I used the Cabin Fever and woodland rainbow pads for the first. I have had this stamp for years. It is by Chapel Road, I think.
This second card uses the woodland rainbow pad and a stampin' up stamp - one of my favourites. By this stage I had decided that the water brush was too wet and I reverted to a very fine paint brush and a pot of water. If you just stamp using these pads you don't see the full range of colours, but add a tiny bit of water and they seem to come to life. These both look a bit autumnal - must find something summery!

Using my new stamps

I've not got a lot of mojo at the moment, but I've managed a little play with my three sets of new stamps from Elusive Images . I ordered Tall trees and the Damask Blocks and won the birthday words as blog candy. I've used the Artylicious Damask Delights cd for backing papers too. The honeysuckle stamp and the 'for you' sentiment are on the Delightful Damask Themeplate.
The colour scheme on this last one is something I want to experiment further with. The purple and jade go so well together.

What a day!

I've not got much done today besides the card for passion for promarkers, as I ended up spending half the day in casualty. Don't worry, Meg hasn't broken anything, but she has a very bruised foot. Hopefully she will be able to walk normally by the weekend, but it is going to be an amazing bruise! I still haven't gone shopping, so there is very little food in the house and we ended up ordering a Pizza for tea! It's the six weeks holiday and you would think I'd be able to manage my time a little better! On top of that it has rained constantly all day. I hope tomorrow is a bit less eventful! On the up side, my Blog Candy from Glenda has arrived, so I will be pressing them into use very soon! Thanks again, Glenda!

Passion for Promarkers challenge - Rose Pink and Lime

For PfP this week I decided to try Sophie (from DigiStamp Boutique) as a blonde. The backing papers were by Craftwork Cards - a wonderful freebie from the middle of the Creative Cardmaking magazine. I used Promarkers in Rose Pink, Lime, Apple, Ivory, Blush, Pastel Yellow and Saffron. I'm giving myself a break from challenges for a couple of weeks, but don't worry folks - I still own all those promarkers and will be back soon!

Getting Inky!

I'm definitely feeling much better! My cold has almost gone and I'm able to think out of the cute box! Here is my first play with the Graphicus Tall Trees stamps.My fingers are so green! I popped to get some glue from Honeypot Crafts today, and spotted a card that Phill had made that was simply gorgeous. I asked what he had used and he told me Distress Inks in mustard seed and broken china with a bit of black round the edges. I was inspired! Thanks, Phill! Here is my take on those colours. The base card was sponged over with water too, which muted the colours a bit. I wan't sure if it needed anything else. What do you think?

What's a girl to do?!

What do you do if you've got a whole afternoon to yourself, you aren't going to work for 6 weeks and you don't want to go out for fear of being accused of having swine flu? Surf the internet for digistamps and do some colouring, that's what!

Yes, I spent more money at DigiStamp Boutique yesterday, but aren't these images sooo cute?
The cat is called Olive, and as I have so many friends who have cats, I know they will be very popular. Now for the next one. I have said before that I like to see little girls with all their features. I am not a fan of Smirk, Gorjuss or Tilda, but wanted a girl with eyes, nose and a mouth. Let me introduce Sophie, my next digistamp purchase from digistamp Boutique. She has all her features, cute stripey tights and some rather daring heels for her age! I coloured her with promarkers in Cool Aqua and pastel pink. I'm pleased with the hair and skin tone on this one too.
Finally, I stamped a messy rabbit and coloured that too. Background papers on all three are from Funky Fairy. The little flowers and the swirls are free downloads from their inspirations blog. The scribble swirls are from the cupcake crazy download in their shop. I didn't buy this one yesterday though. I 've had it a while, honest!

I should perhaps have gone for a different colour backing paper on this last one - a bit too much brown I think!

I was reaching for the tissues every few minutes yesterday, so I couldn't get too inky, but I could colour!

More Owls

Digistamp Boutique have a competition that if you make a card with their offer of the month then you can win the following months offer for free. Hope that makes sense - I have come down with a stinking cold and seem to have a head full of cotton wool! Anyway, here is my offering. I used promakers to colour the owls and used antique linen distress ink to shade the cuttlebugged and stamped moon (Stamp was cracked background by crafty individuals) The paper was a free background from papercraft inspirations magazine website.

Been busy!

Of all the cards I listed at the weekend, I have made most of them in a mad few days. The first is a wedding card for a colleague getting married in early August. her dress has a red train and the flowers are going to be red and ivory roses, so this is what I came up with. The oval frame was stamped with DI in antique linen using two crafty individuals stamps. the rose bud outline is from Stamp to your Art's Content. the backing paper was from my artylicious floral fantasy cd. The main rose and the small heart are from the Elusive Images Harlequin Rose Plate from Graphicus.
That first card was to prove I can still stamp, because I seem to be using a lot of digistamps at the moment! This owl one was from Digistamp boutique and goes by the name of Bernard! I coloured him with promarkers.

This cow is a stamp from Pink Gem designs, and again I coloured it with promarkers. Finally the leaving card is for a colleague who got a new job on Friday and will be relocating to near Birmingham very soon. The stamp is by Penny Black and I love the fresh simpicity of it.

Passion for Promarkers challenge 8 - Ruby and Gold

Here is my entry for this weeks Passion for Promarkers Challenge - Ruby and Gold with a twist of Jewels and Gems. The image is a digistamp from Sketching Stamper Digistamps. The stamp used for the background is a clear stamp which I picked up very cheaply - can't remember who it's by.

Besides Ruby and Gold, I used promarkers in lime green, apple, pastel blue, pumpkin, ivory, blush, sandstone, terracotta and cocoa. The hair is looking better after the tutorial - Think I need her shampoo ;o)

Green Belts!

I've only got time for a very quick post tonight, but thought I would show you Megan and I sporting our new Green belts (6th Kyu) that we were awarded this afternoon.

Some 'Blokey' Cards

I was asked by a friend to make some cards for the men in her life. Her Dad, brother, husband and brother-in-law all have a birthday in the next two weeks! I didn't have anything stamp wise that was suitable for what she had asked for, so I checked out some digistamps and found these at DigiStamp Boutique. He is called Jim and amazingly likes all the pastimes of my friend's men! You can download three image files for £1.99, then resize to whatever you need. Okay, so I had to have both sets, but I will get my money back on these five cards, so any more will be a bonus!
I coloured them all with my promarkers and used papers from funky fairies and from my stash. Several people at work expressed an interest, so I'll be making a few more to help my spend /sell balance to look a bit healthier!
All of the sentments were from Craftwork Cards. I am hoping to get round to something a bit more 'arty' over the weekend, although most of Sunday is going to be spent at Karate Gradings. I need to do 2 birthday cards, a silver wedding, a wedding and a leaving card... guess I'd better get cracking!

Passion for Promarkers challenge 7 - Cornflower and Cocoa

Look on my sidebar to see what Caryn has awarded me for my messy Rabbit last week! It has cheered me up no end! I was expecting this week's colour combination to be quite easy, and I could have used it on several images, but my problem was the sketch. The layout looked so beautiful, and the DT cards are gorgeous, so why does mine look a bit naff?

Ah well, it will have to do, but if anyone can offer me any tips on sketches, please do! The image is the lovely Willow from Whiff of Joy. I used promarkers in Cornflower, Cocoa, Sandstone, Blue Pearl, Ivory, Blush, Saffron and Apple. The sentiment is from craftwork cards. Thanks for looking xxx

Flower pot card

This idea has been in my head for about three weeks now and I've finally got round to doing something about it! The card came from Craftwork Cards (Floral goodie bag) and was plain cream. I used distress inks on it and then teamed it up with the Ruby Tuesday flowers from Graphicus. I coloured these with distress inks too and spayed the outer petals with Aubergine creative colour sprays. I put a circle of card over the back of the flower, as it looked a bit messy! BTW- if you are wondering where my card is for Passion for promarkers this week I haven't managed to take a decent photo yet - I'm waiting for daylight!

A couple of Birthdays

My good friend Julie has a birthday this week, and I was really stuck for ideas for her card, but yersterday we were talking about birds in the garden - wrens in particular, so I thought I would do something with this one. The text stamp and the Wren are from Crafty Individuals. The flourishes are from Personal Impressions. I sprayed card with a mixture of creative colour sprays for the background and stamped over with Adirondack and versafine inks. The wren was stamped in stazon onto shiny card and coloured with distress inks.
This card was made for our neighbour,who celebrated his fiftieth yesterday with an eighties- themed party. He plays guitar and used to be in a band, so I thought it would be a good opportunity to use my Inkadinkado rockstar set that I had for my Birthday. I put mirri card through the cuttlebug and grunged it up with brown stazon for the background.

A quick wedding card and look what arrived!

A workmate asked me for a wedding card on Tuesday- for this weekend! I had bought these lovely swirls and flourishes stamps(Personal Impressions) from hobbycraft last week, so decided to use them with gold embossing powder and some flat backed pearls. The sentiment was computer generated and cut out using labels 2 Nestabilities. I won't be doing any more heat embossing until the heatwave is over, as I had to have a shower afterwards!
I've been all excited twice this week - once when I won some super blog candy from Glenda (will post something as soon as it arrives!), and again when my parcel from Joanna Sheen arrived. I now have super organised promarkers. Before this I had a box that was rather noisy and I had wrecked two pencil cases by forcing the zip! At Joanna Sheen they sell the best value promarkers I have found at £1.59 each and P&P is free! I ordered on Sunday Night and they arrived at work on Tuesday - how good is that? It is so good to know I can find the right colour without tipping them out on the floor!