Sunday 30 November 2014

Flower garden


Rather than doing a Christmas only theme at the moment Passion for ProMarkers are doing Blooming Marvellous.  So I'm going to enter this challenge with a non-Christmas card (shock / horror).  Well I thought I'd have a break from doing all those Christmas cards and do something summery :)

The stamp I've used is Stamping Bella Uptown Girl Pippa Loves to Plant.  I've used red, orange and yellow ProMarkers in various shades so it looks lovely and warm.

Layered papers are from Lili of the Valley/NitWit Simple Joys, Lili of the Valley/Raspberry Road Designs Father Knows Best and flowered paper from Lili of the Valley/NitWit Country Meadow to add to the "blooming" theme.

The extras are some red lace that I think I bought from Lili of the Valley a while ago ( had it so long I can't remember), a sentiment from one of their art pads hight lighted with a red ProMarker and black and red self,adhesive gems.

Hope Pippa brightens your day :)
Andrea x


Fifteen minute Santa


This is another of those Make It Crafty challenges.  This one was to colour an image in under fifteen minutes.  The chose quite a few images to do but was only successful with a handful. I tried a couple of mediums ProMarker and polychromos pencils, both worked pretty well but I think my choice of image size hindered me quite a bit and maybe I should have used digital images and printed the out small.  This particular image is Cheery Santa which I bought in rubber stamp form from Quixotic Paperie.  I've coloured it with ProMarkers. And then cut the image out and mounted him on some black card stock.

It took me ages to decide what I wanted to do with papers and colour which is why I've only just made a card with him. I eventually decided to use red and yellow.  The papers are from Lili of the Valley/Nitwits Simple Joys and 'Twas the Night and Lili of the Valley/Raspberry Road Designs Father Knows Best.  I distressed the papers before adding all the toppings (sounds like CAKE!)

Extras - red ribbon from Lili of the Valley Littles Bags of Ribbon Red/Green Mix, pine cones from The Ribbon Girl, an off white (creamy with brown edges) laser cut tree from Hobby Craft, a silver Present from Marianne Designs, red and gold self adhesive gems.  Giving the card an all over red and yellowish glow (yuk sounds horrible but actually looks quite nice).

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges
Creative Inspirations - Seasons Greetings
Divas by Design - Jingle Bells
Addicted to Stamps - Lots of Layers
Graph It Colouring Crazy - Two Colours
Crafty Catz - Anything Goes

Andrea x

Greetings from the North Pole


I adore the Lili of the Valley penguins they're just so cute.  So, for this card I wanted to make them the main focus and keep it simple and clean.

I decided to colour the image Merry Christmas Penguins in black and white for a change.  My dies weren't quite big enough so I've drawn round the outside edge of one and then sketched an elongated curve to make up the shape, which I then had to hand cut.  The image is edged in black biro and finished off with some glitter to highlight the snow and some red self adhesive gems to the sign.

I've used black, white and red card stock to make up the layers and for the curved die cuts at the top of the card.  The postage stamp at the top right is from the Grunge Christmas Postmarks set.

Final touch some black and some more red self adhesive gems.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges
Lili of the Valley - Christmas
Fab n Funky - Anything with Die Cuts
Fantasy Stampers - Cute Christmas
Winter Wonderland - Dies and Punches
Totally Gorjuss - Christmas Animal

And again Happy Sunday, it's a lovely day here in Yorkshire so we might go for a walk later.
Andrea x



Seeds and greetings


I've been busy this weekend making cards - yay!!  A few of them Christmas ones as I've already sold a few so thought I'd better build up a bit more stock - yes people really do buy Christmas cards in November.  They also seem to have been buying a lot of snowmen cards so this is my first make.

I decided to try my hand at distressing again and this is what I've come up with.

Scalloped card from Hobby Craft
Stamp Seeds and Greetings - coloured with ProMarkers, cut with a die and distressed, glitter added to the snow with a DecoArt Writer
Papers from Lili of the Valley - Frosty Christmas and First Edition Gilded Winter in four layers before mounting the stamped image
Extras - from Hobby Crafty wooden snowflakes,  blue patterned scarf and some blue self adhesive gems.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges
Lili of the Valley - Christmas
Addicted to Stamps - Lots of Layers
I Love ProMarkers - Frosty the Snowman
Fab n Funky - Anything With A Die
Winter Wonderland - Dies and Punches 
Crafty Catz - Anything Goes
Deep Ocean - Shabby Chic

Happy Sunday
Andrea x

Thursday 27 November 2014

Such a cutie...

I think this has got to be my favourite card I've made so far :)  I loved him so much I wasn't sure whether to include him in my Christmas cards for sale at work.  I took him in today and he's gone straight away - Nooooooo......  Ok so I'll have to make another one.


This image Rudolf Reindeer from Make It Crafty was coloured for their 15 minute speed challenge using ProMarkers.  Once I'd entered him into the challenge I decided to finish him off by adding in some shadow to the bottom of the image.

I thought he was such a cute image I decided to do him as a CAS card so the image would be the main focus.

Used for this card
A pre-cut card to thread ribbon through from Hobby Crafty (bought on my sneaky half day holiday yesterday)
Red and black card stock
Some red sparkly ribbon from Lili of the Valley Little Bags of Ribbon - red and green mix
Black and clear self adhesive gems
A sentiment from Hobby Crafty bought last year.

I'm going to enter him into the following challenges
Christmas Cards All Year Round - No Design Paper
Totally Gorjuss - Sparkly/Blingy/Glittery
Papertake Weekly - Take Your Pick
Creative Inspirations - Seasons Greetings
Divas by Design - Jingle Bells

Hope you all love him as much as I do 
Andrea x



Sunday 23 November 2014

A little bit vintage

Occasionally I try my hand at something vintage and hopefully I'm improving, so any feedback is appreciated.

How I've done it......
Firstly I picked a sketch from Lili of the Valley to work with.  I then played around with papers for a bit to see what I thought would go together.  I wanted to do it in brown shades for current challenges and ended up using papers from Pressed in Time and On a High Note.  Once I got the layers on the card I set about distressing the papers.

I stamped the quote from Set 62 - Quotables - Friendship toward the middle top of the top layer.

The flowers, leaves and pearl flourishes are all from Wild Orchid Crafts.  I tried to focus them mainly to the bottom and left of the quote.  The pearlised pin, brass fan and resin bird are all from The Ribbon Girl.   I've also added some self adhesive pearlised gems to the top left and a few brass butterflies to go with the brown patterned butterfly paper. The final touch is some scattered gold glitter on the top half of the card.

I'm going to enter this card into following challenges 
Creative Inspirations - Take Your Pick - Brown and White or Vintage Style
Deep Ocean - Shabby Chic
GraphIt - Monochrome
Totally Gorjuss - Sparkly/Blingy/Glittery
Addicted to Stamps - Lots of Layers

Let me know what you think, any feedback appreciated
Thanks Andrea x


Thanks......


This is also a thanks to all the ladies who have supported me, given me advice and put some lovely comments on my blog :)

I sometimes get asked by the girls at work for thank you cards.  I haven't had any stamps I can produce them with but now I have two.  This is one if them Kraftin Kimmie's Every Day Girls - Angie.  I wanted her to look girly so I've done her in pink ProMarkers.  The image is hand cut and them mounted onto some white card and I've added some shadow with a grey Copic.

I've kept this one every simple and only used one pink paper from Solids - Bonnets and Bowties and some black card stock.

The stamped sentiment is slightly distressed to add a bit more character to the card.

The only other embellishments I've used are some self adhesive pink and black gems.

Thank you ladies
Andrea x

I'm entering this card into the following challenges 
Kraftin Kimmie - Anything Goes
Papertake Weekly - So Girly



Best friend :)

I've a couple to post with my favourite colour - yes you've guessed it PINK :)

Stamping Bella have recently launched some new stamps and I was lucky enough to get my hands on this one by Mo Manning - Valerie with Snowman.  I used two different shades of Pink ProMarkers to colour it and then added I bit of glitter to the snowman and ground to highlight it.

The paper I've used is Solids - Always and Forever and some plain white card stock.  The curves were cut with a Spellbinders die.  The only other embellishments are a sentiment and some pearlised self adhesive gems to keep the card simple and to focus on the image.

Hope you all like her.

I'm entering this card junto the following challenges
Squirrel's World - It's Snow-Vember
Papertake Weekly - So Girly
Crafty Catz - Winter Theme
Winter Wonderland - Lets Get Sentimental
Paradise of Stamps - Winter
Totally Gorjuss - Sparkly/Blingy/Glittery

Andrea x


Saturday 22 November 2014

Kittens in the snow


I saw this stamp on Lili of had Valleys inspiration blog a few weeks ago and bought it with my brother in law and his girlfriend in mind.  They have two cats who are very adventurous and always out hunting.  So this may be the Christmas card for them.

The stamp is Fur Cones and I've used ProMarker to colour the image monochromatic in browns.  I've added some white Americana Writer and Glamour Dust from DecoArt for the snow effects.

The image is mounted on some brown paper from Enchantment before mounting it onto the layers of papers from Solids - Always and Forever, Krafty Christmas and Enchantment.

I bought some embellishments especially for Christmas cards from The Ribbon Girl this week.  Here I've used two different sized pine comes and some rusted bells I bought from them.  The bells are tied with some brown string and attached to a craft card with a hand written sentiment.  Both of these were from Hobby Craft as were the black self adhesive gems.

The brown leaves were part of a set I got from Wild Orchid Crafts a few months ago.

I'm going to enter this card into the following challenges

Creative Card Crew - Stripes
Creative Inspirations - Brown & White or Vintage Style
Crafty Catz - Winter Theme
GraphIt - Monochrome
Wags n Whiskers - Add Some Leaves
Paradise of Stamps - Winter
Fantasy Stampers - Cute Christmas
Lili of the Valley - Merry Christmas

Happy Saturday :)
Andrea x



Thursday 20 November 2014

Pastel penguin

 
 
I love the Christmas penguin stamps from Lili of the Valley.  I've got a load more to colour up yet but just thought I'd share this one.
 
The stamp is Snow Flurries.  I used ProMarkers to colour him in pastel shades for a different coloured Christmas card.  The scalloped die is a Spellbinders one and I've added some glitter to the snowflakes and ground.
 
Papers are from Festive Trimmings and Snow Princess.
 
Additional embellishments are some clear self adhesive gems and a sentiment from Hobby Craft.  The button snowman was bought from the shop opposite Lili of the Valley which does material, wool and sewing accessories.
 
Have a good day all
Andrea x
 
 


Wednesday 19 November 2014

Balancing act

So I've had another day off work - but - have managed to get some crafting done today instead of it all being house stuff.  So, I've kind of gone a bit mad colouring and making cards - yay!

  Inspired by "I Believe In Father Christmas" by Greg Lake/Toyah Wilcox/Elaine Page I decided to make this card using this new stamp from Stampting Bella.  It's nice to be able to add a bit of comedy to a card for a change.

I bought the stamp from Quixoticpaperie (Christine Grove's I Believe in Santa),  Creating a very simple design for this one I stamped the image so there would be plenty of white card.  I've used red, green and yellow ProMarkers to colour it and then mounted it on some black card stock.

I've built the layers by using some red card stock and then cut white card so a red border is showing.  The top shaped red and green cards are cut with a Spellbinders die set I've only just got and thought I'd try out.  The only embellishments used were some red, green and black self adhesive gems.

I'm entering this card into the following challenges
Passion for ProMarkers - Entertain Us
Christmas Cards All Year Round - No Patterned Paper
Stamping Sensations - Christmas

Happy crafting
Andrea x


Monday 17 November 2014

Jolly Santa

I saw this stamp at Quixoticpaperie a while ago and bought it ready for Christmas.  Thing is I had it coloured ages ago and have only just got round to actually putting it onto a card.

The stamp is Make It Crafty's Cheery Santa.  The image is coloured with ProMarkers and cut with a Spellbinders die.

I thought I'd be a bit different and do this one on a shaped card.  It too me absolutely ages to decide what to do with the bloomin thing though.  The shaped card was bought from Lili of the Valley ages ago. You can only get these cards in their shop you can't order them online.  The papers are from Lili of the Valley Simple Joys and Classic Christmas paper pads.  I had to hand cut the red stripped paper as I've not got a die large enough so this was a bit fiddly.  The other paper (black with gold Christmas trees on) was a bit of leftovers from a Hobby Craft pack I bought last year.

Additions - a laser cut Christmas tree decorated with yellow and clear self adhesive gems.  Some red and black pearlised self adhesive gems.  A Be Jolly sentiment.  All of these were from Hobby Craft.  Finally a silver parcel from Marianne Designs which I also bought in Lili of the Valley.

As usual this one was a bit of an experiment - but thankfully came out ok :)

I'm entering this card into
CRAFT - Christmas
Crafty Cats - Christmas is Coming
Ribbon Girl - November Colour Challenge - Red
Crafty Little Fairies - Not a Square
I Love ProMarkers - A Male Christmas Card

Happy crafting all
Andrea x


Sunday 16 November 2014

Red Christmas

This is now my third version of this stamp Emo Emmeline from Make it Crafty.  I've done her in multi-colour (which was a bit overload), blues and purples (which was quite nice) but this is by far my favourite!

I've coloured the image with ProMarkers and have added some biro accents (one in particular you should be able to spot is Emmeline's low lights.  I'm still trying to ween myself off biros after the October Make It Crafty Colour Challenge).  I used an oval Spellbinders die to cut the image out.

Papers used for this one are Lili of the Valley Simple Joys, Heartfelt and Santoros Gorjuss Naturals.

There's a bit of ribbon from Lili of the Valley Little Bag of Ribbons Red and Green Mix.

Final touches to this one are a silver present that I think is from Express Yourself (can't remember exactly I got it last year in Hobby Craft and didn't do anything with it) and a fabric sentiment which is from this years Hobby Craft Christmas selection.

There are a few appropriate challenges for this one
Ribbon Girl - November Colour Challenge - Red
Papertake Weekly - 2 or 4 Legs
Creative Inspirations - Anything Goes
ABC Challenge - X is for Xtra Special
Fantasy Stampers - Red Alert
CRAFT - Christmas
Crafty Cats - Christmas is Coming


Hope you like this version of Emmeline as much as I do
Andrea x


Ho Ho Ho!!

 I wanted to try and make a "proper" guy's Christmas card.  When my hubby saw this card I'd made he thought it was brilliant and said it's just his thing, so I think I might have got it right.  I might have to do some more browsing / buying on a Make It Crafty now to find another one for him for Christmas :) This particular one is Hopter Santa and is kinda Steampunk looking.

The image is coloured with ProMarkers and then cut with a die.  

I didn't want to use too many embellishments on the card with it being for a guy.  I've only used some red self adhesive pearlised gems and some red glitter letters from Hobby Craft to make the Ho Ho Ho up.

Papers used are from Lili of the Valley Snow Princess, Festive Trimmings and Simple Joys.

I'm entering this card into
I Love ProMarkers - A Male Christmas Card
CRAFT - Christmas
Crafty Cats - Christmas is Coming
Without Words - Preparing for Christmas

Hope he's as popular with the folks at work.  I'm taking my cards in soon to sell them :)
Andrea x



Tuesday 11 November 2014

Giant cracker!!


I tried to keep this one clean and simple so the red had an impact.  I've used red card stock and some snowflake embossed card to make this one up.  So no design papers on this one which is so not like me!

The stamp is James - Christmas Cracker.  Coloured with ProMarkers, I used the blending pen to fade out James's fur and the cracker towards the left as though the light is shining on him.

The red ribbon is from Lili of the Valley.  I hand tied a bow then wrapped and tied some red/white twine with a Christmas boot charm from Marianne Designs and attached it to the ribbon.

Final touches to this card (and having to restrain myself from adding loads of embellishments) are some red self adhesive gems and a sentiment from a Hobby Craft.

Had a hectic day so just chillin with a glass of wine while I blog this and unwind :)

Oh yeah and nearly forgot this bit - shows how tired I am, I'm going to enter this into the following challenges

Ribbon Girl - Make a Christmas Card
Crafty Catz - Ribbon and/or lace
Fantasy Stampers - Red Alert
Without Words - Preparing For Christmas
Papertake Weekly - 2 or 4 Legs
Christmas Cards All Year Round - No Patterned Paper

Andrea x


Have an ice Christmas

So this one was a bit of a challenge.  The stamp is Ice Christmas from Lili of the Valley and I've used ProMarkers to colour it.  I wanted to get an effect of ice in water rather than just ice in general so I had to go look up some pictures on the www to get some inspiration.  Then I had to try and do something similar with the ProMarkers which was the challenge.  I've also added a bit of glitter to the  ice to make it sparkle.

The image in mounted on some black card stock and I've added a few stars to the background which are self adhesive gems.

Other papers are from Frosty Christmas and a scrap left over for a Hobby Craft pad I bought about a year ago.

The only other things I've added are some black and blue self adhesive gems, a strip if black card a rock and a sentiment from Hobby Craft.

I'm entering this card into the following challenges
Graph'It Colouring Crazy Challenge - water/ice or blue/purple
Stamping Sensations - Christmas
I Love ProMarkers - Cute Christmas
CRAFT - Winter
Without Words - Preparing for Christmas
Ribbon Girl - Christmas Card

Right onto the next experiment :)
Andrea x


Monday 10 November 2014

Me 'n' my friends

Yay another snowman stamp, I love snowmen :) ok I love lots of things.  Got this stamp (Kraftin Kimmie's Chillin with my Friends) last week.  So excited I went a bit mad and bought all sorts! 

I used ProMarkers to colour the image with a few biro highlights.  There's some Flower Soft to give it a lightly dusted snow look.

I wanted to keep this card clean and simple to make the image stand out so I've only used some green and black card stock, snowflake embossed white 'card and Lili of the Valley Festive Trimmings.

Embellishments are three green wooden snowflakes and a sentiment from Hobby Craft and sone self adhesive black gems.

I'm entering this card into the following challenges
CRAFT - Winter
Squirrels World - It's Snow-Vember
Winter Wonderland - Frosty the Snowman
Creative Romance - Winter Warmers
Kraftin Kimmie - Clean and Simple
Without Words - Preparing for Christmas

Happy Monday, I'm off work tomorrow so it is for me :)
Andrea x


Saturday 8 November 2014

Swimming with friends

As you can see I'm having a bit of a busy week crafting, it's such a trial NOT! :)

This stamp Little Mermaid 1 from Lili of the Valley is very popular with people I work with, every time I make one someone wants it.  I tend to use metal beads which I think helps the popularity as little girls tend to take them off the card after and use them on their jewellery.

There are a couple of challenges going at the moment which insprired me to make another one.

Putting her together
Coloured with ProMarkers in blues and purples, I've used a blending pen to soften the background to make it more "blurry"/faded like looking through water (don't think that worked out too well though) and then cut it with a Spellbinders die
Papers - Lili of the Valley Solids Promises, Lili of the Valley Snow Princess and Our Daily Bread Christian Faith Collection.  The back ground paper from Our Daily Bread was just perfect as it made her look like she's swimming in the sea.  I used the purple to pick out some of the purple in the coloured image.
There's some lilac organza ribbon - Lili of the Valley Littles Bags of Ribbon - Purple. 
Two silver shell, two brass fish and a silver key jewellery beads
The bead spray used to make the ocean plants was from Hobby Craft that I've had for ages.
Clear self adhesive gems
A sentiment from Lili of the Valley Sentiments Art Pad 

Challenges that inspired me to,make this card and to which i's going to enter are
Colouring Crazy Graf'It - Water/Ice Effects or Blue/Purple

This is probably the best version I've done of her so far 
Andrea x



PomPom overload

I've only just got this stamp from QuixoticPaperie this week but I just had to get get coloured!  This fairy just loves Pompom's to keep her warm they're all round the bottom of her dress and on her hat - so I just had to add some trim to compliment.  The stamp if  you don't know her is Kraftim Kimmie's PomPom Fairy.  I had a bit of trouble deciding how exactly to stamp and cut her out but this is what I ended up with.  I used ProMarkers to colour her in subtle pinks and yellows and used lots of stick on snow flakes from Hobby Craft to make the background up.  I also added a bit of glitter to a few sections of her wings by painting glue on before sprinkling glitter.

Probably a bit of an unusual combination for a Christmas card but the papers are Lili of the Valley Country Meadow, Lili of the Valley Solids Always and Forever and First Edition Gilded Winter.

I've used some PomPom trim (can't remember if I got it in Lili of the Valley or from Wild Orchid Crafts - been buying too much recently :)). I did get the pearl trim from Wild Orchid Crafts though.  Final bit of embellishment are some pink self adhesive gems to compliment the pink in her wings.

As with quite a lot of my cards I've not got any sentiments on.  Most of the people who buy from me want a card they can personalise if they want.

Challenges I'm going to enter are
Addicted to Stamps - Princesses or Fairies
Kraftin Kimmie - Anything Goes
I Love ProMarkers - Cute Christmas
CRAFT - Winter
Creative Romance - Winter Warmers

Soon be Christmas :)
Andrea x


Friday 7 November 2014

Mum & dad's anniversary

My mum and dad's anniversary is in the autumn months so I always try and do them a card in autumn colours.

I've had this stamped up for a while but hadn't coloured it as I've been so distracted making Christmas cards. With their anniversary coming up this was a perfect time to do it.  The image is Penny Black - Hedgy Truffles.  The image is coloured with ProMarkers then I've highlighted the spikes with a biro.  It' then cut out using a Spellbinders die.

I've used some plain black and red card stock and one design paper from Lili of the Valley - Country Gent.

Embellishments
There's a double lot of spotted red organza ribbon (Lili of the Valley Little Bags of Ribbon)
Black and red self adhesive gems and leaves in brown and orange.
Red adhesive glitter letters from Hobby Craft.

All coming together to make an autumnal looking card - can't wait to give it to them.

I'm entering this card into
Sparkles Forum - Fall/Autumn Colours
Divas by Design - Bonfire Colours
Paradise of Stamps - Halloween or Autumn

Andrea x


Boyz n their toyz

Most of the guys I know are big kids, hubby included :) they love to play computer games or games on their iPads.  Most of them like gadgets and fiddling with stuff.  This card I'd for all you boys out there.  The stamp I've used is Kraftin Kimmie's Nerds - Robot Boy.  The image is coloured and edged with ProMarkers and cut using a spellbinders die.

Papers are all from Lili of the Valley Father Knows Best.

Additional embellishments
Black pearl self adhesive gems
Tim Holtz Ideology mini gears and adage ticket

I'm going to enter this into the following challenges
Cardz 4 Guys - Toys for the Boys
Kraftin Kimmie - Wonderful Wednesday Anything goes

Have a fun filled weekend
Andrea x




Wednesday 5 November 2014

Bunny in blue

I adore this stamp from Lili of the Valley.  I decided to colour it in blues to have a different coloured Christmas card from traditional colours.  I've added a spotlight effect to accent the candlelight which was done using ProMarkers.

The papers are from Lili of the Valley Frosty Christmas and Winter Wishes.  I picked up the sequin trim from Lili of the Valley when I called in the shop on Saturday.  I'm so lucky living in Leeds near their shop :)

The chipboard lamp post, laser cut tree, golden star, sentiment and pearl self adhesive gems are all from Hobby Craft.  So is the white writer that I made the snow with.  The tiny button snowman is from a shop that's actually opposite Lili of the Valley.

Hope you all like my alternative coloured Christmas card.
Andrea x

I'm going to enter this into
Lili of the Valley - Merry Christmas
Crafty Catz - Anything Goes
Stamping Sensations - Christmas
Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes
I Love ProMarkers - Cute Christmas
Kraftin Kimmie - Anything Goes


Just walking in the snow......

I seem to have been easily distracted lately by Halloween and family bonfire gatherings.  BUT - even so I've still managed to makes some cards :)

For my first round of Christmas card making I used traditional colours.  I'm trying to make a batch of cards in non-traditional colours at the moment for a change.

The image I've used for this one is Winter Walk.  I've used ProMarkers to colour the image, keeping the colours subtle and light and I've added some glitter to highlight the snow.

Papers are all from Lili of the Valley

The sentiment also belongs to Lili of the Valley - Happy Circular Sentiments.

As well as being non-traditional I've picked three lots of embellishments
Pearls (in a string), lace and flowers.  All of these were from Wild Orchid Crafts.

I'm going to enter to card junto the following challenges
Winter Wonderland - Pick n Mix
Crafty Cats - Anything Goes
Stamping Sensations - Simply Christmas
Lili of the Valley - Merry Christmas
Creative Card Crew - Christmas Joy
Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes

Happy Crafting
Andrea x