Christmas in July - Sweet Stampin

Good Morning!!  Well what a fabulous opening ceremony to the Olympics!  I was sat glued to the BBC HD channel in my 3D goggles for 3 hours! lol :D  I am not given to shouting about being British (we dont do we?) but I never felt prouder in my life.  My favourite bits were the Industrial Revolution, Suffragettes and the NHS/GOSH segments best!  It was awesome!.

Anyway my card today is for our new challenge over at Sweet Stampin where this week our theme is 'Christmas in July'.  Brilliant, as it gave me a real kick to get started on my xmas cards, and I have such a long way to go.  We are sponsored by the ever-generous Joanna Sheen (for our monthly prize) and Di's DigiDownloads for our weekly winner - 2 great prizes!

Now this is a teeny-weeny card, only  4 x 4 inches and I cant believe that we used to use this size all the time for square cards! lol! :D  The cute image is an old Stampavie stamp I have had for years called 'Kitten' by Gillian Roberts, and the papers are Memory Box.  I used an MS punch, ribbon from Joanna Sheen and a little Jingle Bell from WOC.

I am entering this card in the below competitions:

Crafts & Me - Anything Goes

Simon Says Stamp - Anything Goes

Wild Orchid Crafts - round in circles (the paper has circles, the pompom is a circle and the pearls are :)

Thanks so much for visiting my blog and all the lovely comments, and I hope everyone has a smashing weekend whatever you have planned!

Ooops! - Monochrome at Charisma Cardz

Good Morning :)  Back  again today with my card for this weeks Charisma Cardz Challenge where our theme is 'Monochrome'.  We are sponsored by DigiStamp Boutique and The Stamping Boutique.

Now, this is quite different and rather unfussy for me, but unfortunately it was made with a purpose.  My neighbours 21yr old son fell off the barn roof last weekend, and is rather lucky to still be here :(  It was quite a fall and a long way to drop, so 'Get Well Soon Hamish!' :)

I used a fabulous Meljens Designs image which was perfect for this card and was really quick to colour too!.  I layered black and white bazzil cardstock, used an MS punch, and I think the cracked glass embossing folder is Creative Expressions.  I cut the 'Ooops!' on my Cameo and the spiders web corner is Cheery Lynn.  I think I broke a record with this card too - it took me less than an hour! :D lol.

The weather here yesterday was so gorgeous I took wee Hector (or Hectic as I call him) for his first swim - awww!  He stood on the river bank watching my other two dogs splish-splash around squealing and barking, thought about it for a minute and then just 'went for it'. Thats my boy! ;)  I did forget my camera though (tut!).

Thanks so much for visiting my blog I am slowly catching up with my commenting, and I hope everyone has a smashing day,

Celebration - Cheery Lynn Designs

Good Morning & Happy Wednesday! 

My card for today is for our 'Celebrations' challenge this week over on the Cheery Lynn Designs blog, and the lucky winner will recieve a $20 voucher to spend in the online store - brilliant prize! :)

Now I decided to make a Christmas card for our 'Celebrations' theme this week, without using any obvious christmas dies, papers or embellishments just to see if I could still make it look jolly festive! :) lol.

My card base is 8 1/2 x 5 1/2 inches, as this Penny Black stamp is quite large and I didnt want to squish it up or cramp it and I coloured the image with PM's

I hand-stitched Memory Box papers to taupe coloured bazzil card and tucked the Anastasia border just underneath to the left.  I then layered the Horizon Coved reflection die in contrasting colours and the gorgeous little mini-doily was from the Polynesian Sails die (its a little extra in the middle of the die and so cute! :))  I made the flower in the top right using one of the corners from the Lace Corner Deco D die set and used a pearl brad to hold it together. 

The wintry looking flower in the bottom left was made using 4 layers of a 3 leaf die and stamen from the Build a Flower set also held together with a pearl brad.

All dies used on this card are:

Anastasia Border

Horizon Coved Rectangle Reflection Die

Polynesian Sails Oval

Lace Corner Deco D

Olive Branches

Flourish Leaf Strip

Leaf Stacker

Build a Flower

I really hope you find time to join in our challenge this week, there is still lots of time to enter and I cant wait to see what everyone is celebrating! :)  Dont forget there is always fresh daily inspiration from the rest of the very talented DT over on our Cheery Lynn Designs Inspiration blog too!

I am entering this card in the below competitions:

Papertake Weekly - Make your own - Flower

Stamptacular Sunday - to Die for

2 Sisters Challenge  - Christmas in July

Totally Gorjuss - Leaf it In

Crazy 4 Challenges - Stitching

PaperPlay Challenges - Christmas in July

Willow Sketchie Challenge - Christmas in July

Crimbo Crackers - Animals or penguins

Delightful Challenges - Christmas in July

Lexis Creations - Christmas in July

Paper & Such - Stitching

Thanks so much for visiting my blog today and I hope the sun is smiling on you wherever you are and whatever you are doing! :)

Animal Crackers at Joanna Sheen

Good Morning :)  Hope everyone has some fabby plans for a smashing Sunday!

My card today is for our new challenge over at Joanna Sheen, where this time our theme is 'Animal Crackers'.  I have used a gorgeous image from a really cute set of stamps called 'Little Suzy's Zoo - Singing in the Rain', and the whole sheet of stamps is adorable!   I hope you find time enter, and as always the winner gets a brilliant prize of a £15 voucher to spend in store.

I hand-stitched Fizzy Moon and Prima papers to ivory centura pearl cardstock, and used the same card for cutting the dies.  The border punch is MS, the dies are a mix of Doo Hickey, Spellbinder and Nellie Snellen (button).  The flower is WOC and the gorgeous ivory ribbon is from Joanna Sheen too.

I wish to enter this card in the below competitions:

Divas By Design - Anything Goes
Papertake Weekly - All things girly
The Stampman - Anything Goes in summer colours
Top Tip Tuesday - Its all about circles
Passion For Promarkers - Down on the Farm
Bearly Mine - Girly Birthday
The ABC Challenge - Tea for Two by Two - 2 papers

You will be pleased to hear that a replacement grafix card  fixed my pc woes, so I am now back up and running stable.  I was really struggling on a teeny netbook, so I hope to catch up with everyone soon :)

Thanks for visiting my blog and all the wonderful comments, and have a smashing day!

White on White - Cheery Lynn Designs Challenge

Good morning :)  I hope everyone is having some half-decent weather and a good week so far? :)

Now whenever I stumble upon a WoW card in blogland it always takes my breath away, so I was delighted it was our challenge theme this week over on the Cheery Lynn Designs Challenge blog.  Its a fabulous way to showcase your dies and looks so luxurious even though its quite simple to achieve really effective results.

For my card I started with a 6 x 6 card base and cut the elegant Cathedral Lace Frame and Border Carnivale out of American Crafts cardstock for the background.  I then used the 2nd smallest size Mini Pearl Oval Reflection die for my image backing and embellished the card with small butterflies, Flourish Leaves, layered flowers and pearls.

All dies used on this card are:

Cathedral Lace Frame

Border Carnivale

Mini Pearl Oval Reflections

Small Butterflies

Small Rose

Medium Rose

Large Rose

Flourish Leaves

I hope you find time to join in this week, as always we have a fabby prize of a $20 voucher to spend online in the Cheery Lynn Store and you still have plenty of time to enter.   Dont forget we have daily inspiration from the rest of the very talented DT over on our Cheery Lynn Designs Inspiration blog too!

I am entering this card in the below competitions:

Crafts & Me - Ribbon and a Bow

Just Magnolia - Bingo - Lilac, Flowers, Wings (Butterflies)

Lovely H'anglar & Sweet Magnolia - Anything Goes

Magnolia Stamp Lovers - Tilda only

Totally Papercrafts - Lots of layers

Simon Says Stamp & Show - No Rules

Papertake Weekly - All Things Girly

Bearly Mine Challenges - Girly Birthday

Penny Black & More - Summer Blooms

Divas By Design - Anything Goes

Midweek Magnolias - Elegance

The Paper Shelter - Anything Goes

Fab n Funky - Make your own Flowers

Thanks so much for visiting my blog today and all the lovely comments you take time to leave, it means such a lot!  Have a smashing day!

Sweet Stampin - Colours of your Flag

Well I have had a manic week, its been nuts! lol!  :)

The new puppy is a Time Bandit and my pc is poorly, the netbook has no software on it and my hubbys pc feels all blokey - its 'orrible!

Anyway, my card for today is for our new challenge over at Sweet Stampin where this week our theme is 'Colours of your Nations Flag'.  We are sponsored by Letraset and our monthly sponsor is Joanna Sheen, so brilliant prizes!

I am getting quite used to this Red, White & Blue malarky now, but I found it quite out of my comfort zone to begin with.  I coloured another gorgeous image from Crafts & Me, hand-stitched Prima and K & Co Papers and the punches are Martha Stewart (butterfly and border).  The corners are Cheery Lynn and the single flower is WOC.

I am entering this card in the following competitions:

Crafts & Me - Stitching
Totally Papercrafts - Lots of Layers

Thanks so much for visiting my blog today, I am struggling to get round commenting for the obvious reasons, but every comment is read and really appreciated and I will be visiting back over the next few days :)

Have a smashing weekend!

Cheery Lynn Designs Challenge - Gold &/or Silver

Good morning!  I cant believe its been a week since I last posted a card - I have been so busy with other stuff I have barely had a minute to myself! :)

Anyway, onto todays card which is for our challenge this week over at Cheery Lynn Designs where the theme is Gold &/or Silver.  The winner will receive a $20 voucher to spend online in the store, so well worth playing along if you have time!

Now I dont use silver or gold on my creations very often, purely because it can be a little tricky to photograph, but this weeks challenge really inspired me to create something that looked like the things as a child I would sit and admire in my mums jewellery boxes! :) She loved and collected old victorian style earrings and brooches with pearls, filigree, cameos, bugs and butterflies. If I was very lucky she let me organise the box and then clean them!! lol :D

I used a 6 x 6 inch card base and stamped the main image in gold ink.  I cut the frame from the gorgeous Polynesian Sails die and matted it with black card using the matching Angel Wing, this is rapidly becoming one of my favourite dies as it is so elegant and versatile! 

I then added the Victorian Romance Flourish, Small Exotic Butterfly and assembled the main flower cutting the large and small Sweet Williams in 240gsm gold mirri card.  I added pearls and a pearl brad for a bit of bling, Anna Griffin gold heart charm and the gorgeous pin was again from my blogging buddy Karen :)  The papers are La Blanche and Prima and the ribbon was from some awesome candy I recently won from Catherine (thanks hun!)

All dies used on this card are:

Polynesian Sails Oval

Polynesian Sails Angel Wing

Exotic Butterflies Small

Sweet Williams

Victorian Romance Flourish

I am entering this card in the below competitions:

Deep Ocean Challenge - Sea of Love

Simon Says Stamp & Show - Layers

Creative Card Crew - Swirls & Pearls

Oldie But Goodie - Flowers

PaperPlay Challenges - Happy Birthday

Chocolate, Coffee, Cards - Anything Goes

Thanks so much for visiting my blog today, and dont forget there is always gorgeous daily inspiration from the rest of the Cheery Lynn DT on the Cheery Lynn Designs Inspiration blog :)

Ice Ice Baby - Christmas in July - Cheery Lynn Designs Challenge

Good Morning :)  todays card is for our new challenge over at Cheery Lynn Designs where this week our theme is 'Christmas in July' and as always the winner will receive a fabby $20 voucher to spend  on the Cheery Lynn Website, so well worth joining in!

I wanted to go with something very wintry and frosty for this, as thats half the fun when you make them in the summer! :) lol.

I used a 6 x 6 square card for my base, and hand-stitched  Vintage Lace Bearly Mine papers onto snow-white Crafters Companion pearlescent card. All the die-cuts are in 300gsm pearl card and this heavier card-stock cuts like a dream for even the most delicate and intricate designs. The large snowflake is the gorgeous Italian Flourish Doily die, to which I added glossy accents and crisp ice glitter. The smaller snowflakes are cut using the 4 x 4 Snowflake Plate and this is brilliant - it cuts 20 snowflakes in one pass, all different shapes and sizes and these are excellent for layering on top of each other too.

I coloured this gorgeous 'Winter Fairy Halla' from Mo's DP and matted onto the 2nd smallest size Circle Silver Stacker and the co-ordinating Scalloped Circle Stackers I thought this made a nice change having it smaller and offset and not smack bang in the centre as I really wanted to show off how beautiful the doily looked as a snowflake.

The corner dies are just one from the set of Lace Corner Deco C (with added snowflake on top) and the icy leaves behind the image are the lovely Pine Branches.  The beady spray was from QVC, the Pearl brad is from Joanna Sheen and the gorgeous Pin was made by my blogging buddy Karen :)

All dies used on this project are:

CL103 - Italian Flourish Doily

C146 - Snowflakes

B163 - Lace Corner Deco C

B146 - Pine Branches

Classic Circle Silver Stackers

Scalloped Circle Stackers

Classic Square Silver Stackers

Scalloped Square Stackers

I hope you find time to join in this week, its never to early to make a start on your christmas cards or scrap-book pages. Dont forget there is always fresh daily inspiration over on our Cheery Lynn Designs Inspiration blog too.

I am entering this card in the below competitions:

Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge - Christmas

Creative card Crew - Swirls & pearls

Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes

Dream Valley - Things with Wings

Crafters companion - Ho Ho Ho Christmas

ABC Challenge - S = Surprise - Christmas in July!

Winter Wonderland - Monochromatic

Stampin for the Weekend - Show your Style - I use a LOT of dies!

The Stampman - Bling it On

Chocolate Coffee, Cards - Anything Goes

Totally Papercrafts - Can you Digi It

Crafty Catz - Show Us Your Metal

Bunny Zoe's Crafts - Girls, Girls, Girls

Thanks so much for checking out my blog today, I hope you have a smashing day!