Busy Guy

Created for my hubby's boss (he's an architect) we debated about man stuff and what to create.  I showed him this image from Stamping Bella called Calvin Loves his Computer.  My hubby said this was his boss down to a t!

So off I went colouring it up using ProMarkers.  I've also used a black polychromos pencil for extra depth in the shading

The design paper is Man Made from First Edition.  I used this one as I found some buildings on one of the papers :D (very appropriate for an architect!)

I've also used some black card stock to create some borders.

Very few embellishments with this, just some black gems and a wood chip birthday sentiment from Scrapiniec coloured with Black ProMarkers

Thanks for taking a look today

Andrea x

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges

Come and Get It - It's in the Male

QKR Stampede - Anything Goes or Birthday Cards

Creative Moments - Anything Goes twist keep it masculine

Inky Chics - Happy Birthday

Moving Along with the Times - For a Man

Crafty Gals Corner - Anything Goes

Brown Sugar - Anything Goes

Crafty Creations - Anything Goes

Scrapping for Fun - Anything Goes

Crafting from the Heart - Anything Goes

WHAT????

I've had this little guy for ages, he's called Nacho and you can find him at Stamping Bella

I added the sentiment just above his head and coloured him using Copics.

He had to go on a CAS card so he was the centre of attention.  The design paper is actually a Christmas one from First Edition.  I've also used some Kraft.  Then a little twine with a bow to finish off the card.

Andrea x

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges

CRAFT - Animals

Brown Sugar - Anything Goes

Crafting from the Heart - Anything Goes

Scrapping4Fun - Quotes / Sentiments

Aud Sentiments - Funny Sentiment

Lil Patch of Crafty Friends - Anything Goes

Crafting with Friends - Anything Goes

Simply Papercraft - Anything Goes

The Crafter's Cafe - Something for a Child

Feeling Blue

When asked to make a leaving card what image do you pick?  I'd be very interested to know as I'm running out of ideas.

I've dug out my old stamp Molly Makes a Detour from Stamping Bella's Uptown Girls collection.  I've had this stamp for ages and have used it quite a few times.  I've coloured the image with ProMarkers and distressed the edges with Tim Holtz antique linen to take away the bright white of the card.  She's then been mounted onto some black card stock to frame her.

Design papers are from Santoro Gorjuss and I've used some more black card stock.  The lacy black to the left of the image has been created using a Spellbinders die. 

As this is a leaving card and its going to be passed round work I've kept the embellishments to a minimum just adding a new job sentiment from a Lili of the Valley art pad and some black self adhesive gems.

Andrea x

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges

Dream Valley - Use the Colour Blue

Creative Moments - Anything Goes

Julie Spiri - Use Something Old

Sweet Stampin - Dies and / or Punches

Lili Patch of Crafty Friends - Anything Goes

613 Avenue Create - Anything Goes

Glitter n Sparkle - Anything Gos

Crafting from the Heart - Anything Goes

Craft Your Passion - Anything Goes

Shabby mono anniversary

It's a while since I used this stamp and instead of using the whole thing I decided to crop it to see what effect it would have.  The stamp if you don't know it is from Stamping Bella - Emily and Ryan Under Umbrella.

I've used proMarkers to colour the image, cut it out with a Spellbinders die, distressed the edges then used two lots of Tim Holtz in distress ink.  The look I wanted was of an old style sepia photo.

The design papers are form Lili of the Valley and First Edition.  All have been distressed before layering up.  The sentiment, from a Lili of the Valley art pad, has also been distressed and I've coloured it with the same ProMarkers as the image.

Final additions, all keeping in with the monochromatic colour scheme are some pearlised self adhesive gems, some tiny wooden hearts, a resin corner, a flower stem charm and a love charm.

Thanks for stopping by and taking a look

Andrea x

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges

Deep Ocean Challenge - Shabby Chic

Polkadoodles - Shabby Chic

Crafts 4 Eternity - Vintage

613 Avenue Create - Love Me do

Ribbon Girl - Any Image Challenge

Crafting from the Heart - Anything Goes

Crafty Boots - Monochrome

Digi Choosday - Monochromatic

Crafty Creations - It takes Two

Crafting for All Seasons - Layer It Up

Summer Garden

Summer - if you can call it that in the UK is filled with a variety of flowers of all colours.  We also tend to be very green here - you can blame the rain.

The colours in this image Pippa Loves to Plant are bright and full of the promise of sunshine which we all crave here.  Having said that when it is hot and sunny we do tend to complain then that's is too hot!

I dug out my old faithful ProMarkers to colour this image - not quite got used to using the new Copics yet :)

These stamped images tend to be fairly large but are pretty goo for the old CAS style of card, where you can make the image the focus.

I've used some yellow design papers from Lili of the Valley, black card stock and self adhesive gems.  Some tiny silver dragonfly beads.  The brightly coloured sentiment is part of a sticker set from Paperchase.

I think we've probably had a bit of four seasons in one day here in Yorkshire.

Andrea x

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges

Crafty Card Makers and More - Warm Summer Colours

Allsorts - Inspired by Summer

Creative Moments - Anything Goes/Summer Sun

Crafting for all Seasons - Bright and Beautiful

I Love ProMarkers - In the Garden

Colouring Crazy Challenge - Inspired by Florals

Art Deco Experiment

So here I go again experimenting.  I coloured this Stamping Bella image Audrey Loves Her Makeup a while ago with ProMarkers and only decided tonight to make her into a card.  I decided to do a modern take on Art Deco to see what I could come up with - and this is the result!

I've used papers from Prima Marketing - Engravers Collection and Almanac Collection.  I cut the papers in an Art Deco style and mounted them onto the card.  I then mounted the image on black card stock and mounted this over the top.

The self adhesive gems are from Docrafts Papermania - Art Deco Roaring Twenties.  I've also used some small black round self adhesive gems from Hobby Craft.

The final touch is a sentiment from a Lili the Valley art pad coloured with red ProMarker.

Ok what to do next.......

Andrea x

 I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges

Fantasy Stampers - Birthday

Sweet Stampin - Girly But NO Pink

Creative Knockouts - Girly Girl

GDT - Paradise of Stamps

When I won the challenge at Paradise of Stamps a few weeks ago the prize was to be Guest Designer for them.  The challenge for my GDT spot was to make a New Year card.  I had to really think about this for a while because the ideas just didn't come to me straight away.  This is where my journey to work becomes beneficial I seem to have a lot of inspiration whilst travelling up and down the motorway - I think it's a boredom releasing mechanism :)

I decided to do a celebration card with fire works.  The image I chose to use is Stamping Bella Victoria and Juliette's Night Out.   They're coloured with ProMarkers then fussy cut to mount onto the card.

As Paradise of Stamps is owned by Laurigami who is French, I wanted to do something appropriate to her blog and found, would you believe the Eiffel Tower on Make It Crafty!  I coloured the parts in between all the frame work in black and added a touch of colour to match the fireworks.  This image is also fussy cut to mount on the card.

Papers I've used a black card stock, and because I didn't want it to be just plain black I've also used some blue and purple papers from Lili of the Valley/NitWits Solids - Promises.

I created the fire works with a combination of purple and blue self adhesive gems and a white gel pen.  I also created a reflection in some water below the Eiffel Tower and some ripples on the water with a white gel pen and pencil to create some interest.

The final touch are some pink number adhesive stickers from Hobby Craft for the 2015.

Happy New Year everyone! Hope this year is a good one for you all :)

Andrea x

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges

Creative Inspirations - Christmas/New Year

Just Inspirational - New Year

Kraftin Kimmie - Wonderful Wednesday Anything Goes

Flower shower

Having a great weekend so far, shopping most of the day Friday, getting my hair done today (the blond strip work out for my hairdresser - see blog pic ;) ) followed by more shopping and blog browsing - sigh.  I actually feel quite relaxed for a change.

Thought it was time for a posting.  My favourite colour as some of you know is pink.  I chose to do Stamping Bella's Paisley Has a Pressie in ProMarkers pinks.  I wanted her to be the main focus of the card along with the flower shower I'd planned, so I've kind of gone for a clean and simple look using just pink and white.  The only design paper I've used for this is pink from Lili of the Valley Solids - Bonnets and Bowties and some plain white card stock.

The flowers were punched out of three different off cuts/leftovers using two different tonic solutions punches.  To create the flower centre's (corolla's I've just Google'd it coz it was bugging me I didn't know what they were called) I've used a mixture of clear, white and pearlised self adhesive gems.  I've also used some pink gems in the image borders.

The sentiment is highlighted with pink ProMarker and is from the General Sentiments art pad.

The final touch to the card is some silver butterfly beads.   

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges

In the Pink - Diecuts and Punches

Graph It Colouring Crazy - Two Colours

A Little Bit Crafty - Anything Goes - Not Christmas

Creative Card Crew - Birthday with a Sentiment

Got something else to post either later tonight (or tomorrow if hubby drags me off the laptop)

Happy crafting

Andrea x

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

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

In the Pink - Keep it Simple and Sweet

Papertake Weekly - So Girly

Crafty Catz - Winter Theme

Winter Wonderland - Lets Get Sentimental

Paradise of Stamps - Winter

Totally Gorjuss - Sparkly/Blingy/Glittery

Andrea x

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

Sparkles - The Big Guy (Santa)

Passion for ProMarkers - Entertain Us

Christmas Cards All Year Round - No Patterned Paper

Stamping Sensations - Christmas

Happy crafting

Andrea x

One for my mum

My mum saw this stamp when I'd done it in pink and asked if I could do one in red for her to give to a friend.  The image is Stamping Bella Uptown Girl Quinn in her Boots. The image is coloured in ProMarkers with a bit of black biro to highlight her hair and some glitter to highlight the snow.

Papers are from Lili of the Valley and NitWit Collections - Simple Joy, Lili of the Valley - Classic Christmas and Crafters Companion - BeBunni Christmas.

There's some lace behind the image from Wild Orchid Crafts.  The sentiment is from Hobby Craft.  I've used three diamanté snowflakes from Creative Expressions (crystal sparklers).  The finishing touch is black self adhesive gems in groups of three at the top right and bottom left of the card.

Hmmm.... Looks like I've been doing a bit of shopping around for this lot.  Going to take her to my mum's at the weekend.

I'm going to enter Quinn into the following challenges

I Love ProMarkers - Three of a Kind

Divas by Design - Anything Goes

Fab n Funky - Christmas

Kraftin Kimmie's - Anything Goes

Passion for ProMarkers - Add Some Sparkle

Happy crafting

Andrea x

Shop till you drop.....

..... Is something my mum and me do regularly.  The current challenge from Fantasy Stampers - 

Here Come the Girls inspired me to make this card.

The image I've used is Stamping Bella Uptown Girls one - Posh Has A Present and is coloured with ProMarkers.

I've used paper from Our Daily Bread - Christian Faith Collection for the backing paper.  The other papers used to complement the image colours are Lili of the Valley & NitWit Collections - Snow Princess and Lili of the Valley & Raspberry Road Designs - Shabby Shack

The finishing embellishments are some purple glitter shoe buttons, some self adhesive gems and a happy birthday sentiment and star from Paperchase.

Happy shopping ladies!

Andrea x

Birthday surprise

I'm slowly collecting Uptown Girl stamps from Stamping Bella.  Paisley has a pressie is one of the ones I bought recently.  I usually go for girlie pinks or purples but decided to experiment and do her in turquoise shades of ProMarkers.

I used papers from Lili of the Valley & NitWit Collections Solids - Snow Princess and Snow Princess for the layered papers.

The sentiment is from Lili of the Valley Art Pad 8 - Sentiments. I hand cut it then used the same turquoise ProMarkers.

After I'd mounted the stamped image onto the card  over the layers I decided where I was putting the embellishments.  Then, I edged the image with white pearl self adhesive gems to create a frame.

I wanted a flower cascade look so started with a large white flower which I bought in Hobby Craft yesterday.  I then used two different shades of turquoise flowers scattered down and across the card.

The final touches were some butterfly beads and a white paper butterfly which I'd bought from Lili of the Valley a while ago.  To this I added some pearl self adhesive gems.  

I'm entering this card into the following challenges

Paradise of Stamps - Girly

Fantasy Stampers - Here Come the Girls

Addicted to Stamps - White and one other colour

Passion for ProMarkers - Make it feminine

Deep Ocean - At least one flower

Andrea x

Quinn in the snow

When First got this stamp from Stamping Bella Uptown Girl Quinn in her Boots I wasn't sure what to do with it.  I decided to give her a soft look in pinks for a start, I used ProMarkers to do this.  It then made me think of a winters day (maybe it's the change in the weather)

I used papers from Lili of the Valley & NitWit Collections Always and Forever and Solids - Always and Forever for the background papers.

The lace is from Wild Orchid Crafts

I've then added some sparkle to the snow using DecoArt Glamour Dust in crystal which I bought in Hobby Craft.  The bling was added by using Creative Expressions Finishing Touches - Crystal Sparklers which I bought in Lili of the Valley a few months ago.

The final touch was some clear self adhesive gems.

I'm entering this card into the following challenges

In the Pink - Sparkle & Bling

Divas by Design - Pretty in Glitter

The Ribbon Girl - Pastel

Crafty Little Fairies - Sparkle & Bling

Happy Friday

Andrea x

Autumn romance

Not sure what it is about this time of year but it seems to bring the romance out in guys.  We know a few people that have announced their engagements recently.  To congratulate one couple I've been asked to do a card.

I've chosen one of Stamping Bella's Uptown Girls stamps - Emily & Ryan Under Umbrella.  Seen as it's autumn I've coloured the image in reds, yellows and browns, apart from Ryan's jeans :)

The backing paper I've used is from Gorjuss Neutrals.

I've edged the card at the left with some vintage lace and added some heart ribbon over the top, both I picked up in Hobby Craft last time I was there.

The trailing flowers and leaves down the right of the image are red and red/yellow roses from Wild Orchid Crafts.

The finishing touch was some red hearts and some self adhesive gems.

Congratulations to all those recently engaged couples!

I'm submitting this card to Passion For ProMarkers challenge - Autumn Colours.

Andrea x

Autumn cocktails

Just got in touch with my friend Diane this week to say lets get a date in the diary for cocktails/food so we'll be doing a bit of this soon :)

The image I used was a Stamping Bella Uptown Girls one - Victoria & Juliette's Night Out

As the current challenge from Fantasy Stampers is Autumn Colours I've used reds and orange Pro-Markers to colour the image

The papers used are from Lili of the Valley & Raspberry Road Designs - Father Knows Best and Santoros Gorjuss Nuetrals.  I've also used some orange card to back the card and image to make it stand out.

The ribbon edging the left side of the card is from Santoro's Gorjuss collections.

I wanted to add some flowers in oranges and reds.  These were from Wild Orchid Crafts, mainly roses.  The gold corner embellishments was also from Wild Orchid Crafts.

I'm also entering this into 

A Creative Romance - Anything Goes

Inky Chicks - Anything Goes

Paradise of Stamps - Anything Goes

Anyone for a drink - I'm celebrating a week off work - yay!

Andrea x

"Elegant" Birthday

Our friend Sara is having a party for her 40th birthday - the theme being Elegant.

I wanted to try and make her a birthday card that would be in keeping with this theme.

The stamp I used was Uptown Girl Audrey Loves Makeup from Stamping Bella.  The image was coloured using Pro-Lite Markers.

Papers are from Docrafts Papermania Capsule Collection - Midnight Blush and Tim Holtz Idea-ology.  I've also used some plain red and black card.

The ribbons are from Lili of the Valley Little Bags of Ribbons - Red and I also some black satin ribbon from Hobby Craft

I made the birthday sentiment from some Hobby Craft Alphabet Stickers and the 40 from some Glitter Alphabet Stickers.  I finished off with some self adhesive gems.

To help me create this card I used sketch 65 from Papertake Weekly.

   

I've entered this card into

Papertake Weeklys Challenge - Sketchie Free For All

Divas By Design Challenge - Happy Birthday

Andrea x

Roni's Leaving Card

So today was Roni's last day at work.

My boss couldn't fine a suitable leaving card - they were all too sloppy, too cheeky or ones she might have taken the wrong way.

So I volunteered to make one.  A huge challenge as we wanted to have a large card for everyone to sign in the company.

I decided to use one of Stamping Bella's Uptown Girls stamps - Victoria and Juliette's night out.  The stamp was coloured using Pro-Lite markers.

Backing paper was an A4 sheet of Pearlised papers.  On top of this I used two sheets from Lili of the Valley & Raspberry Road Designs - Baskets and Bunnies cut at an angle.

Ribbon was from Lili of the Valley's Little Bag of Ribbon - Purple.

For the writing I used black and purple felt adhesive letters I'd picked up from Hobby Craft.

Additional embellishments silver metal corners, some Hobby Craft 3D flower toppers and self adhesive gems.

Overall I was very happy with the way it turned out.

Hope you like it too x