My Favourite 5 from 2010

Debbie over at Scrapjourney is running a favourite Five of 2010 challenge....and offering a candy draw for the participants. Now I thought that for me the challenge would be to find 5 cards to show....I've just not been blogging that long really. What a shock when you start going through them and see how many cards you have....and that there are so many that you love. I was very strict and made myself only put in the five....put I had to sneak in one of my ATC's too lol. 

I do have to admit that I'm finding it harder and harder to part with any cards I make and enter into the challenges.....and shock horror....even those I have made for my darling grandson.!!!!!! I've started putting my challenge cards into a separate box, and hoarding them. I ask you, how can you make a card chock full of love and then want to shut it away in a box instead of sending it.

 I just love the colours of this ATC and it was my first DT project. 

This one for me just epitomises the M.E/CFS. Truely this would be me on a very good day (in my dreams with a body like that lol). I would however be in pink's of any shade lol. 

One for my Grandson of course, he's ill on and off all winter, poor lamb. My daughter kept saying, 'have you sent Jack's card yet'. I'd say 'he seems a lot better now, I think I've left it too late'. Wicked Nana....I did send it eventually lol. 

 This was my first go at combining images on a card. They were fun to paper piece and colour. It was made with my grandson in mind....it's in the box still. 

 I love everything about this card, but especially the house mouses ...you got to love those mouses.

When I made this card, I had a few friends in mind..as my situation means I can rarely see anyone. She was my first go a paper piecing and I had so much fun with it. It seems I don't actually miss anyone quite enough, cus guess where she is. 

You'd think my favourite colour was brown after those wouldn't you....it's not, must have been chocolate cravings lol.  

Hope you enjoyed my pick's. Run right over to Debbie's and play along....actually go there if only to see her stunning cards. 

Easel With the Congratulations

Well I really went for the sparkle with this anniversary card I made for friends. Black glitter card, dufex, holographic card and gems. I have to admit to being rather pleased with how it turned out, pix don't do it justice....you just can't get the sparklie bits to show properly can you. I'm hoping they would have got it today, and even then it's a day late.....drat holiday postal service lol. I suppose I could have made it early and got it to them before the break...but that was never going to happen was it now lol.

My receipe...

All cardstock - Stash 

Mini gems - Craft Creations

Stickers - Craft Creations, Imag-e-nation

Nestie - Label 8

Decoupage image - Dufex

Other embellies - Stash

The Love that Put it Together - All My Own

I'd like to enter this card in the following challenges :-

Anything Challenge ... The Letter C

The Corrosive Card Challenge ... Bling it on

Paper Sundaes ... Cut it out

Bunny Zoe's Crafts ... Sparkle and Shine

Woodware USA Clear Stamps ... Anything Goes

Fresh Brewed Designs ... Celebrate

The Pixie Cottage... Celebration

Simon Say Stamp...Time to Celebrate

Stamp Insanity ... Sparkle

Stamping 'B's Design ... Celebrate

Digi Doodle Shops Best ... Anything goes 

A few scanned pix to make up for the bad photograph....

The 'banners' were made by drawing around a couple the nestie shapes, the tiniest for the ends and a bigger one to get the length. Outlined with sliver stickers and the congrats banner embellished with a couple of teeny tiny flower gems. Dufex decoupage is great to shape, and so easy, you can curve it with your fingers or for greater depth, with the handle of your scissors. You do have to be very careful with it as the etching is easily marked by a finger nail or the scissors. ...worth the care though. If you've never tried dufex, there is some among my candy which you can find here.

 As you can see the base as well as the card front is glitter card.

 Another greeting banner and an embellishment banner too. The ribbon was coloured with a cheap acetate pen, the flower sequin was coloured from underneath so it would keep the shimmery mother of pearl look (I know you can't see that!!) A paper poppy with a flower gem to finish off.

Please feel free to stay around and snag any of my freebies you like before you go. 

You are loved Tiger

If you've seen even 5minutes of Jamie Oliver, you'll understand what I mean there - if not, just don't give it another thought.

 This is for my 'inspired by a song' for Sentimental Sundays. My song is You are Loved by Josh Groben, and you can see him singing it here. It's not about romantic love, it's about lifting someone up when they are battered down. As my photo is not exactly clear, I've put some scanned images below. 

My card stock is two square card blanks glued together and is in a lovely satin finished silver. The white card is some cheap stuff I got over the local bargain shop.   

It's my first time colouring over a completely embossed background, and I so wish now I hadn't covered so much of it up. Hey ho, we live and learn, I'll definitely do this technique again, it was fun and relaxing. I used shimmery chalks to colour it. 

My corners are the inner foil lids to tins of powered stuff. They emboss really well. I drew around a couple of the wobbly square corners to get the shape I wanted and cut out free hand. Did the same for my greeting which I now see I edged round with the wrong colour....what happens when you make two cards at the same time......promise I'll change that before I send it out lol. 

 Image is one of Digi's with attitude, thought it was amusing, and did it as siberian tigers because I just like them. Added a bow, and one of the little blossoms that I've coloured to match my card with Aqua promarker. Theres a tiny flower gem centre.

 Made a little flower bunch with roses, I've edged them with the same promarker and added a few blossoms.

 An inspirational verse inside. Although it looks as if I've left now space to write a greeting, there is in fact lots of room under the front flaps of the card. I drew around a wobbly square again, as I needed it, well, more of a wobbly rectangle. The background is embossed again, a white satin ribbon, and some of the same I used for the bow on front, a bit of blue fancy fibre and then dotted about with some of the same blossoms. 

Finally, my greeting flap. I remade the greeting, decided to emboss it this time, and chalked it too. 

My receipe...

Cardstock -  from stash.

Paper roses - Imag-e-nation

ribbons, fibres and other blossoms - stash

gems - Craft Creations

Colourants - promarkers

Die cutter - Nesties Wobbly Squares

Embossing Folder - Do-crafts, paper play

Shimmer Chalks - Do-crafts

Sentiment - From a song

Verse - The Quote Garden

Image - Digi's With Attitude

I'm missing a couple of challenges, One my colour challenge as I hadn't realised it was Blue, Silver, White....and Holiday lol. The other was for a Criss-Cross card, and I hadn't seen it required a Magnolia image (don't have one boo hoo ). Note to self....read all the writing, not just headlines!!!

Don't forget to take a look at my candy while you are here. 

I'd like to enter in the following challenges :-

The Character Cafe ... Shiny/foil

Craft Your Days Away ... Punches or Die Cuts

Our Creative Corner ... Embossed with colour

Paper Sundaes ... Cut it Out

Sentimental Sundays ... Inspired by a Song

Bunny Zoe's Crafts ... Sparkle and Shine

Passion for ProMarkers ... Anything goes..with ProMarkers.

Stamping With The Dragon ... Make it Sparkle

Allsorts Challenge... Free and easy.. Anything goes

Crafty Emma ... Anything Goes

Aly's Sunday Challenge ... Anything Goes

Tutorial and freebie papers

 Below you will find a printable tutorial to make the kimono's and some of the papers I made and sized ready for you to have a go (A4) . To make a mini version you can simply print them out on smaller size paper, or just cut a smaller piece, making sure to keep the same proportions. Do give them a try, they are a lot of fun, and look great on a card.

This is a gift box I made and decorated with kimono's

The box is only about 1/2" deep. Sorry it's such a bad pic, shouldn't have taken it on a white background. I've decorated it with my own papers and made the mini kimono's from my own papers too. I've kept the embellis  fairly simple. Just a few stickers (coloured with peel off pens), I've used bits of sticker 'waste' to embellish the kimono's.

                                                            

Printable Tutorial

Printable papers

Before you go, don't forget to enter for my make-over blog candy here

Freebie Hearts and Flowers Medallion

Here's another of my medalin's for you. Hand drawn again, so rustic to say the least, but if you like rustic, you're on to a winner eh!! This one takes quite a bit of work, but colouring all those little details is very therapeutic. I've given you the set of six (to print out on A4 card) and also the single image to use as a stand alone digi. 

I'd really appreciate a comment if you take them. Also while you are at it why not enter for my Blog Make-over Candy here. Hope you enjoy them, and I'd be tickled pink if you used one in a card, and would love to see it. 

Usual copywrite rules, please don't pass them off as your own, and I'd appreciate a link back to me if you use them. Please send people to my blog rather than pass on the images to others.  If you're new to my blog please feel free to snag previous freebies, in button bar above. 

Freebie and beautiful people.

Don't we meet the most beautiful people through our shared love of crafting. I met a lovely Canadian lady through a card swap site I'm on. Today when my health and energy levels are the lowest for a couple of years, and therefore my happy meter had sunk too, I received a package from her. After recently learning of my love (OK, obsession) with House Mouse Stamps she bought me a House Mouse Calendar - up shot my happy meter again and nearly burst out the top lol. 

They are beautifully water coloured images, on water colour effect paper, 12 x 8 in and perfectly scrumptious. A few of those babies, maybe more, well maybe all, are destined for frames as soon as their respective months are up.

The icing on the cake.....it was wrapped in Kraft paper.....was my hubby ever surprised to see my excitement over brown wrapping paper lol. I'd wanted to have a go at coloured images on Kraft such as Dorcas does so well, she even has tutorials so check her out. What to buy though, I thought I was looking for a card type of product, which wasn't on any site I'd look at - having seen the paper in the flesh I now know what to go for, and have a bit to practice with lol. 

Here are a couple of sheepies for any who want them. Again, hand drawn so 'primitive', but I think they are cute. I'd love you to leave a comment if you take them. 

Usual copywrite rules, please don't pass them off as your own, and I'd appreciate a link back to me if you use them. Please send people to my blog rather than pass on the images to others.  If you're new to my blog please feel free to snag previous freebies, in labels. Hugs all... 

Baby, It's a Mulit-fold

I have a couple of families to send new baby cards to. This is for a new boy obviously, and I've a new baby girl one to send out too. Sadly being housebound I'm not going to get to see them, but I've seen a photo of Mom and new baby girl. I'm busy crocheting baby cocoons too. 

My card stock is cut 4in by 12in scored and folded at 4in and 8in, and then scored diagonally to create flaps. My cut out images are from a lovely sheet I had from Craft Creations....loads on it to mix and match on a card, and used a fair bit on this one alone. It's my new stash, my old stash is the little blue dummy (soother), so cute, why have I left it hiding away for years eh!!

This was I admit a time consuming card, but I enjoyed every minute, I like more complicated cards. Inside the card, is another card, with space for my personal well wishes etc. There are a lot of pix to show you, bare with me.

My Receipe ..

Card stock & DP's - 12x12 stash

Cut outs - Craft Creations

Satin die cut frames - stash

Ribbons & bows - stash.

Soother (dummy) - stash

Paper lace - ACE catalogue 

A few challenges I'd like to enter :- 
Fairy Fun Fridays ... Use a Star
Catch The Bug Challange Blog ... Anything Goes
One Stitch At A Time ...Old Stash (Soother) New Stash (cut out images)
Gingerloft Challenge ...Bows
The Crafty Pad Challenge ... Anything Goes
Craft Your Passion Challenge...Anything Goes
Creative Card Crew...Anything Goes

A standing view, sorry it's fuzzy. 

Some details 

The inner card, closed.

 and open

 detail on left side

 two views of the flaps up.

I'll post another freebie tomorrow, hope to see you then. 

Freebies. Cutsie Dino Card Template and Digi

As promised here is the template for the Cutsie Dino Card I made, which you can see here. It's just a simple card front with easel type stand. I made myself a few coloured templates while I was at it, for a quick easy kids card and you are welcome to those too. I've also put the Cutsie Dino on it's own so you can use it as a digi.

Bare in mind they are hand drawn and obviously the templates aren't as pristine as if you'd bought them, but I've printed them out myself and they do work. I'd love you to leave a comment if you take them.

Usual copywrite rules, please don't pass them off as your own, and I'd appreciate a link back to me if you use them. Please send people to my blog rather than pass on the images to others.  If your new to my blog please feel free to go to past freebie posts. 

Crafty Fox Cards Blog Candy +++++

Crafty Fox Cards are offering this set of Promarkers as their December Blog Candy. I love my promarkers, still fairly a newbie, but beginning to grow in confidence....wish my promarkers collections was growing as fast lol. I don't have many colours but I'm managing to make them work, I love how you can layer and blend them. My poor blendable pencils, aqua pencils, pastels, and good old crayola crayons have been relegated to the bottom shelf lol. 

For a chance to win click here. You have till the 14th of December to enter.

Now if that wasn't enough Letraset is offering a RAK through Crafty Fox Cards, you have till the 8th December to enter that here

So that's two chances to either add to, or start your Promarker collection, what are you waiting for. 

Spread the Word Prairie Fairy Candy, and Freebie

Prairie Fairy has moved back to blogger and to celebrate is offering this wonderful collection of candy. It all looks delicious, but I want in particular to get my hands on those Tilda images, so cute. Pop here and follow the rules for a chance to win.

Here is another one of my Medalins for you. They are hand drawn again, so not perfectly symmetrical, well just downright not perfect lol.  A single image to use as a digi, and a set of 6 and 8.  You are welcome to have them, and I'd be very happy if you left a comment telling me you've snagged it.  I'd get a kick out of seeing anything you make with them.

Usual copywrite rules, please don't pass them off as your own, and I'd appreciate a link back to me if you use them. Please send people to my blog rather than pass on the images to others. You can find my petals Medallin freebie here.

I'll pop back tomorrow with  the template for my cutsie dino card 

Crocheted toys

Here are some of the crocheted toys I've made, mostly for my grandson Jack. You'll be relieved to know that sometimes he goes home with the toy before I take a pic, so you are spared the full inventory.

I mostly make them up as I go along, I like to have a picture of what I'm supposed to be making. I don't turn patterns, I've tried writing it as I make, but it slows me down, and I like to crochet with my brain in neutral (it's happiest state).

 Jack likes dino's, and aliens, and stuff from the tv progs he watches. He's recently started asking for dino's that I can't even pronounce. I put him off (wicked Nana) by saying, just bring me a picture and I'll make it. He finally said, well can you just make me a Panda.....you don't need a picture for that do you. He had his usual sweet smile but I'm sure there was a trace of sarcasm in his voice lol.

An Alien, he'd like all his toys this size, but his Mom said she'd need another house for them.

dinos from ice age 3

Another alien, falling out of his bed lol.

From ice age 3.

Turtle from Nemo

I'd started this for my daughter, she'd reminded me I never got her the pony she'd wanted as a child lol. I nearly finished and I just didn't like it.....Jack did, so of course.....The bits of loose yarn is where he had a try at sewing.

Some of you may recognise these from Shaun the Sheep. I think this is the mommy.

Shaun and a needle felted Timmy

A few of his toddler toys 

A soap Saver I made for him.

That's all folks, well done if you managed not to fall asleep.