New Home

 

This is a card I made for our daughter to give one of her friends.  Alan has recently become a first time home owner and last night had a house warming for a group of his friends.  This group has managed to keep in touch since leaving school and usually get together when one of them has a birthday.  I believe a good time was had by all especially a tipsy game of Jenga.

I've made several birthday cards for Alan in the past and on one of his last visits he said he'd kept them all.  Since it's some time since I last made one for him this seemed an appropriate time to amend that.  Having made a new home card so recently I used the same layout, which was a sketch from Mojo Monday, but used more masculine colours.  The patterned card is all from Kanban.

It was another chance to use the Sizzix house die I've had stashed away and feel a bit more justified in having bought it now that I've made a couple of cards using it. The tags were also cut using a Sizzix die with a computer generated message added, the buttons were cut using a Quickutz die and the flowers were made using an x-cut small flower punch.  Both the ribbons, certainly celery and chocolate chip, are from Stampin' Up.

Thanks for reading

Liz x

Penny Black Saturday Challenge - Week 163 - Anything Goes

 

This is my entry to the Penny Black Saturday Challenge this week where the challenge is "Anything Goes".  I actually found it difficult to get started without any guidelines.  Mr Mojo has been on holiday too as I've had a virus and haven't had the enthusiasm for anything, not even crafting, but I enjoyed making this card once I got started.  It gave me the chance to play with two new stamps and a  new quickutz die.  I've had my eye on the Hero Arts Large Canvas Stripe background stamp for some time and gave in to temptation this week.  It landed on the doormat today so it needed to be tested.  I can see this one becoming a staple favourite.  I used Stampin' Up Daffodil Delight ink on the background, shading on the main image, adding colour to the tips of the daisies and around the edge of the card.  

The other new stamp is the main image which is a Penny Black one called "kickin'" and was stamped using Memento Tuxedo Black ink and coloured using Promarkers.  I wasn't happy with the shading on the hammock so decided to glitter it instead to hide the flaws.  Not sure if it works but it certainly adds a bit of bling and led me to use glitter card for the fruit segments.  The image was cut out and mounted using circle nestabilities.  The message stamps were from a Fizzy Moon set.

The other new item to try was the Quickutz Citrus Slices die.  This is a double die so that you can create whole or half fruit slices.  The tiny flowers on the card are actually the centre piece for the whole slices.  Another Quickutz die was used for the leaves and daisies were punched from small and medium Woodware punches.  I ran the clear Sakura glitter gelly roll pen around the edges of some of the daisies to give them some sparkle and the daisy centres were made using a ringbinder hole punch.  The rosebuds are one inch circles punched, cut and coiled using a quilling tool.  The rosebud leaves are half inch circles scored in half with a little metallic gold ink sponged on the tips.

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

Paper Creator's Crafts Challenge 4 -All About Flowers

Creative Inspirations Challenge Blog - Challenge 65 - Summertime

Papertake Weekly Challenge - Grow Your Own  (Flowers)

Crafty Us Crazy - Anything goes

Creative Craft Challenges - It's Summertime

Penny Black at Allsorts - Free and Easy 

Die Cut Dreams Challenge 95 - Holiday Fun 

Craft Your Passion Challenges 70 - Your Favourite Season

Crafty Sentiments Designs Challenges Blog - Punches and Dies 

Lollipop Crafts - Challenge 43 -  Monochromatic 

Paperplay Challenges 32 - Create Your Own DP

Everybody Art Challenge 154 - Summer

Thanks for reading

Liz x

Thinking of You

This weekend my husband and I attended the funeral service of his cousin Mary who had lost her battle with cancer.  The last time we had been in Mary's company was just over eighteen months ago when we were all visiting my husband's Mum.  It was a sad occassion as both these ladies knew their health situation was such that they might not see each other again and I know it vexed them both.  Since then we have lost both of them as my mother-in-law passed away last July.  What they both had in common though was a very strong faith.  I don't think I've been at a funeral service where such a fitting tribute was paid to someone and her passing will have left a big hole in the lives of those who were close to her.

The cards in this post were for her two sons.

Thanks for reading

Liz x

Pearl Anniversary Number 3

This is the third pearl anniversary card I've made during this summer.  This one is for a member of a craft group I meet with.  As it was Ruth who first introduced me to the Coppernob Elegant Shoe template it seemed only fitting that I use it to make her a card for this special celebration.  Their anniversary is tomorrow so I hope she and Phil both have a lovely day.

For this set I used ivory textured cardstock along with Kanban rose printed cardstock.  The card I used for the sole of the shoe had a slightly fluffy finish and this made it difficult to stamp and emboss on without extra embossing powder sticking to it and making the embossed message look smudged.  I got around this by taking a silver metallic ink pen and spritzed over the sole so that the embossing and spritzing merged to make a splattered background instead. 

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

Creative Card Crew - Best Foot Forward

Thanks for reading

Liz x

Pansy Card and Box

 

It's that Pansy card again but with a box this time.  This card and box is heading off to Stornoway tomorrow for the Aunt of my friend's husband.  She's a special lady to the family and had a sad start to the year when her husband passed away.  However, there is to be a special party in her honour to celebrate her eightieth birthday and all her family are getting together to celebrate with her from mainland UK, Canada and my friend's husband is arriving back from Khazakhstan today.

The backing papers and embellishments are all from a digital download by Fred She Said and is available in blue and purple or you can buy both in a special deal.  There's also the option to download an uncoloured set.  The pansy flower edging was made using the Pansy Punch Around the Page set of punches by Martha Stewart.  I've made this card several times in both blue and purple and love how they turn out each time.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges
CES Challenges - Challenge 47 - Feeling the Blues
HSI Challenge 9 - Monochromatic/Brads
Papertake Weekly Challenge - Anything Goes 
My Mum's Craft Shop Challenge 17 - Monochromatic 
Paper Creator's Crafts Challenge 4 - Say it with Flowers


Thanks for reading
Liz x

August ATCs - Teddybears

The theme for our group's ATCs this month is teddybears and these are the set I've made to swap.  The images were taken from a CD called Smiley Bears by Betty Davies from Doolicrafts and are available to print in colour, black and white or sepia as I've done.  I kept the sepia tones going by choosing a toning backing card from Kanban, sponging the edges with Stampin' Up chocolate chip ink and then using a PSX paw stamp to create a paw print background.  There is a lovely sentiment stamp in this set of stamps which says "If all else fails hug your Teddy".  This always reminds me of my son as he had a teddy, given to him when he was born, and if ever he was bothered about something he'd go and hug this Ted.   

The embellishments were made using Woodware daisy punches and quickutz dies and were cut from scraps of card in the same colour theme.  The grosgrain ribbon is also in chocolate chip from Stampin' Up.

I'd like to enter these ATCs in the following challenges

Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge - Monochromatic

My Time to Craft Challenge 151 - Espressoley For You
Incy Wincy Designs Challenge 105 - Monochromatic Colours
My Mum's Craft Shop Challenge 17 - Monochromatic

Thanks for reading

Liz x

Penny Black Saturday Challenge Week 162 - Penny Black/Ground

This is my entry to the Penny Black Saturday Challenge this week where we had to use Penny Black stamps to create a background.  The main image is a Penny Black stamp called Cheesecake Wishes and is coloured using Promarkers. To create the background three of the seed fliers from the dandelion clock on this stamp were coloured and stamped using the marina mist Stampin' Up brush marker.  The same marker was used in a spritzer to spray over the stamped seeds.  The colour theme was continued by using marina mist ink, ribbon and card.  The greeting was from the Stampin' Up set Salutations.

The embossed section of the background was made using the Craft Concepts embossing folder Dandelion Whisper with marina mist ink sponged over it to highlight the embossing.  Extra clock heads were embossed and punch out using a one inch circle punch to make the embellishments.  Extra sparkle was added by going over the embossed dandelion clocks with a clear Sakura Glitter gelly roll pen and sequins and beads were added to some of the head centres.

I'd also like to enter this card in these challenges
Penny Black @ Allsorts
Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge - Challenge 145 - Monochromatic
CES Challenges - Challenge 47 - Feeling the Blues 
Papertake Weekly Challenge - Anything Goes 
HSI Challenge 9 - Monochromatic/Brads

Thaks for reading

Liz x