ATCs for Friendship Swap

Today has been a real mixture of ups and downs.....2 of my littlies have a yucky bug, and that has taken a lot of my time today, but I must confess to getting crafty when they both had a nap on the sofa!!

Over on the Cardmaking Downloads forum, the theme for February's ATC swap is LOVE, FRIENDSHIP or RED. After much indecision, I went for Friendship.

I used a wonderful download by Debbie Lauder, which was originally designed as a DL card kit to make these shaker ATCs. Click on the link HERE and pop over to Crafty Stash (Debbie's website) and have a look around.......she is a VERY talented lady!

So, here's what I did:

I used the insert to make the frame, cut out the centre and backed with acetate. I used the main card-front as the inside/main focus of the shaker box. I used foam pads and seed beads in gold and green to make the shaker boxes, then mounted it onto an ATC sized card in a co-ordinating design. I inked the edges of the box and the ATC. The sentiment reads "FRIENDS are what makes each day special." ....Now who could argue with that!

I am entering these into the competition over at CRAFTY STASH which is a freestyle theme, as long as it features a download from the Crafty Stash site.

I would also like to enter A Spoonfull of Sugar #139- Anything but a Card.

Thanks for looking, and Happy Crafting!

A Special Day!

The challenge over at Pollycraft this week (#80) is SPECIAL BIRTHDAYS, and it just so happens that a friend of mine became a Grandma today, and gave me the perfect opportunity to make a card and enter the challenge at the same time!

Here's my card:

I followed this week's Sketch Saturday sketch (week 142), so am also entering that challenge too!

 The image is a freebie called 'baby Roger' by Helen Laurence and can be found on her 'Ellephantastic blog' here. I coloured him with Promarkers and cut him with my lacey circle nesties. He is mounted onto pink glittercard, with tiny pink gems.

 There is a pink gingham bp, glittercard, grosgrain and organza ribbon, layered according to the sketch, and the sentiments are computer generated using Cool Dots font, one cut using a nestie, the other on the guillotine. As you can see, little Heidi arrived today, weighing 5lbs 15ozs. 

I also added some flower buttons, which I filled with Stickles in an upturned Card Candy dot!

Finally I added some flat-backed pearls, a die-cut photo corner and inked the edges to finish.

I would also like to enter the following challenges:

• Craft Your Passion #45 - Use Pink.
• Die Cut Dreams #83 - It's a Girl!
• Lexi's Creations #33 - Bears.
• OSAAT - Make it Pretty.
• Crafty Emmas #23 - Cute & Cuddly.
• I Love Promarkers #52 - Birthday...(mine is for a 'Birth' day!)

Thanks for looking!

New Week, New Followers, New Award!

Well, its a new day, the sun is shining, and I feel very positive!

I must apologise for being so tardy in welcoming my newest followers, it is lovely to see you all, and here they are: Tammy, Ria, Jamie, Pauline, Helen, Catherine, another Catherine, Anne-Marie, Chrissy, (can't find a link, please let me know Chrissy and I will add it)  Pat, Maxine, Kirsten, and Samara!

And one of my latest followers and fellow DT member at For Fun Challenges has sent me this award.....thanks so much Pauline!

Here are the rules for the Liebster award, and the list of five bloggers I'm sharing it with:

1) Accept it, write a post about it and display it.

2) Pass it on to 3-5 fabulous but yet unknown blogs [not ones with large amounts of followers] and tell them they have been awarded the love blog award.

3) Link back to the person who awarded it to you.

The aim is to bring great, but not well known, blogs to light. What a GREAT idea, as there are SO many out there, and SO MANY GREAT but as yet unknown ones!

So, without further ado, here are my choices:

1) Anne-Marie a new follower, a family oriented person (like me), with a fun blog and fab creations to share! 

2) Kirsten her cards are AMAZING! Also part of the Allsorts challenge blog (go check it out!)

3) Pat such wonderful knitting and sewing, and one of my new followers!

Thanks for looking, I hope to be back later with a creation of my own!



The Crafty Pad Wanna See HEARTS!

So tomorrow's the big day, and I'm wondering how many of you still have your cards to make for your loved ones?! I am TERRIBLE when it comes to making family cards, they nearly always get left until the last minute!!! Well, if you're like me, then this week's challenge at THE CRAFTY PAD could be just the one for you.....this week we want to see....

HEARTS

....on your project!

 We have a fab sponsor this week too,

CREATIVE CRAFT WORLD

The lucky winner will receive some items from the fab TEA HOUSE range.....here's an example of what they look like:

(PLEASE NOTE: These are NOT necessarily the actual items you will receive, just an EXAMPLE of the Tea House range.)

Back to the challenge, and here's what I came up with:

I went for something other than red, lovely as it is, I have seen quite a LOT of red lately!! It's a pop-out stepper card, and I have used the adorable 'TED'S LOVE' image, one of Debbie's very own creations, and you can find him HERE (just scroll down the page.) I Printed the BP directly onto the card, and coloured my teds to match, using Promarkers.

I cut around the image, and popped it onto a heart-embossed mat cut with nesties. I added a blue ribbon, and a die-cut heart ribbon slider in glitter-card. The fab 'lovehearts' alphas are attached with foam pads, and were a freebie download (so sorry I can't remember where I got them :/ ) Finally I inked the edges and added some gems.

As I (for once!) was organised and have already made a card for my DH, my son decided he would like to give this to girlfriend, along with a box of chocs......ahhhhh......although I nearly fell off my perch when he told me, as he's only 10 years old!!!!!!!

Do pop over to The Crafty Pad Challenge blog and play along, and if you joined us last week, you never know, the winner may well be YOU!

Challenges I would like to enter:

Bee Crafty - Hearts

Catch The Bug - A Different Fold

Crafty Calendar #17 - Love

Crazy 4 Challenges C4C74 - Hearts

ECP Challenges #31 - Love

One Stop Craft (wk 118) - Love Is In The Air

Stamp, Scrap & Doodle - Love is in The Air

Card Makin' Mamas #14 - Valentine

Crafty Annes #35 - Love is All Around

Crafty Catz #69 - Love?Valentines

Fairy Knoll - Valentine!

Stampin' For The Weekend #3 - Valentines Day

AiFactory - Happy Valentines Day

C.R.A.F.T. Challenges #89 - Valentines

CCEE Stampers - Dry Embossing

Crafty Purple Frog #8- Valentines Day/Romance

Crafty Sentiments - Valentines/Love

DYSU #6 - Ribbons

GuyLous Inimitability - Hearts

Pixie Dust Studio #61 - Be My Valentine

Rainbow Lady's #139 - It's All About Love

Creative Card Crew - For a Loved One

Paper Pretties - Valentines Day as Inspiration

Penny's Paper Crafty #46 - Hearts A Flutter

Scrapbook Sisters #22 - My Valentine

Stampin' Royalty #58 - Hearts, Hearts & More Hearts!

Tiffany Doodles (TD09) - Valentines

Thanks for looking!

I'm still here!!

Oh it feels like AGES since I last posted......I've been super-busy getting creative, but sadly I can't share anything yet, as they have all been DT creations for the next few weeks.

 I WILL be back tomorrow however, with my card for the new challenge over at The Crafty Pad, so please pop by, and if you entered our 'Love is in The Air' challenge, find out if you are a winner!

Have a great Saturday evening.....hope to see you tomorrow.

Thanks for looking :)

The Wiggles!!!!!

As some of you already know, my youngest son, little Noah, has autism, and we are very lucky to attend an Opportunity Group for pre-school children (and their parents) twice a week. I am honoured to make the children's birthday cards as and when birthdays come around, and tomorrow is Rupert's birthday. Here's the card I have made:

Rupert absolutely LOVES The Wiggles! He was born with a double cleft which after several operations is looking fantastic, and he also wears hearing aids due to partial deafness.

I got the image from the Net, double layered it, made computer generated sentiments, die cut stars, a stars BP and red card to make this card.......his mum said he would be thrilled with a card that has his name on, as 'Rupert' isn't a name you see appearing on many shop-bought cards!!!

Once Noah is at school (from September this year,) I am going to work as a volunteer at the Group......they have helped both Noah and me so much, I want to try and support people going through similar experiences if I can.

Thanks for looking!

Pollycraft Meets Digis With Attitude!

OK, so it's a wet and miserable Monday, but I've got tea bubbling away in the slow cooker, the washing's on and I'm itching to get crafty! My littlies are all at school, littlest one only for a couple of hours, but I figure that's just enough time to get crafty!

So, onto TWO of my fave challenges, Pollycraft Monday Challenge, and DWA! :D

Pollycraft challenge #79 have a sketch this week, AND a theme of LOVE (though it doesn't have to be a Valentines card....phew! I've already made more than I need, seeing as that's just the one card!!) ...and DWA! challenge #16 is a colour challenge...red and white OR pink and white.

I went with pink and white, and  it's a birthday card for my niece. I couldn't resist popping over and buying one of Paula's fab images too, its called Cherry Kisses-flying high and you can buy her HERE.  So, I followed the layout, and used the few pink Promarkers I have to colour her!

The papers are Pink Petticoat little swirls in Bubble Gum. I cut out the image and matted her using my 'labels 8' nesties, and the pink semi-circle on the side, using 'Lacey Circles.' The ribbon actually matches A LOT better than it seems to in the photos (?) was from my stash, the flower and pin are from Wild Orchid Crafts, and the sentiment was computer generated. I added a couple of photo corner die cuts and a couple of gems, inked the edges and voila!

Thanks for Looking!