Thursday, February 28, 2013

PTI Hexagons

 I have had this set since Christmas but have not had a chance  to play with it till now. I had two birthdays in February to make cards for so chose to use the set in two different ways.

The first card, I die cut the hexagon base out of a very pretty piece of card stock I had and cut out sections of the hexagon die. I then  filled every second (more or less) shape with a hexagon that was stamped in various colors, using the patterns that come with the set.

I added a couple of strips of Washi tape and used the sentiment stamps that came with the set. 

The second card, I just cut the plain white die cut in half and again, stamped patterns with colored inks onto the hexagons and rearranged them in a pleasing (to me!) fashion. Again I used the sentiments that came with the set. I separated the hexagon base and sentiment with an scored line, which does not show up on the photo.

I was more than pleased with the outcome and thought they were in the CAS fashion that I am attempting to pursue!
So glad you stopped by!

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Bouquet for You

Another gorgeous image to color with my Copic's. I know it is a digi, but was not able to trace the source. It was given to me already printed and ready to color as I don't have it on my computer. Just in case it is queried and people think I have lifted the image from somewhere - it was gifted to me. 

I selected the paper for a change, before I colored the image and went for the peachy look, but brought in contrasts in the bouquet. Again a fussy cut 'out of frame' touch and mounted on toning card. I just added some seam binding I must have colored a while ago and found in my 'bitties' box, together with this butterfly, that matched perfectly.

The sentiment was a digital freebie - a change from my favorite tag....lol!


Another card for the birthday box.....

Good of you to stop by.......

Monday, February 25, 2013

Sweet Tilda with Rose

Tilda with Rose
Magnolia's Tilda images are fantastic to color as there is a lot you can do with the image, but in my opinion, does not always have to reach the 'overloaded' look.

I kept the coloring simple, and die cut it with the Spellbinders Floral Oval die. The paper with roses on was just perfect for this image and because it was busy I did not add any more flowers or ribbon. Perhaps I should have, but I felt Less was More with this card.

I punched out a strip of dark contrasting card with a MS border punch and used my favorite tag with sentiment, which fitted between the borders beautifully. I finished the card off with these lovely metal corners from Paola, the 'Magnolia Queen' in South Africa. 

I hope I get a gold star from her for this effort, although she will ask - '.... where are the flowers, ribbon, bling and Stickles??' It may well lift this card from mediocre to drop dead gorgeous........??

Thanks for the visit!

Saturday, February 23, 2013

A Birthday Posy for you.....

Mo's Bunches
I have really had a ball this last week with my coloring of images. It has been so long since I did this and I so enjoyed it!

After my run on CAS I knew that this image needed more than a lot of 'white space' so I hunted down this very pretty card stock and teamed it up with pink, an all time favorite. As the image was printed onto a small piece of card, there was not too space when I wanted to die cut it.  It was a problem on the side of the bouquet, hence the fussy cutting, which I thought turned out quite nice in the end, although in hindsight, perhaps I should have backed it with white??

I punched a strip of pink with a MS punch and die cut these cute hearts from Memory Box. The sentiment on this tag seems to be appearing on all my cards right now. For some reason, it is just right.

I have entered this lovely card into The Paper Shelter's 100th Challenge

So, into the birthday card box it goes, as there are a lot of March birthdays to take care of!

Thanks for the visit - always nice to have your stop by!

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Flourishes Gerber Daisies


Flourishes Gerber stamp set
 I bought this delightful set of stamps from Flourishes last year. They were constantly out of stock, so it was a long wait, but worth it.

What a delightful set to color. Not for the feint hearted, as there is a lot of shading needed to do it justice, and I could have spent at least another hour tweaking this image. No matter, I am rather chuffed with the outcome.

I used Copic markers and Prisma pencils on this image, although not too much pencil work - that would have increased if I had 'tweaked' it more.

This piece of card was just perfect for the image - not too busy, nor to bland. Just enough interest to add to the simple layout and dominating image.

I will probably enter it into the Timeless Tuesday Challenge on the Flourishes blog. Their theme is 'Red' and I am going to cross my fingers and hope that there is enough of their definition of 'Red' for it to qualify!

Thanks for the visit!



Frantic Stamper Happenings Sunday Sketch

I think you know how much I enjoy dealing with Frantic Stamper and have entered their challenges a few times in the past. I was delighted to see a Sketch posted this last Sunday and that I would be able to use one of the dies I won in their competition last year! I love these Precision Dies and making this card was a lot of fun. 



I don't often do many layers, but it was necessary to accomodate the sketch spec's.
I used a stamp from Crafty Individuals that was very vintage and based my card on that theme. I found this lovely double sided card stock in my 'left overs' pile and loved both sides of it.

The image was stamped using Versamark Sepia onto a cream shimmer card. The base of the card and the Series 1 Triple square was cut out of a soft beige card and I used strips of the patterned card to add a bit of interest to the frame. I also introduced the soft sage green card which picked up the stripes in the printed card, perfectly. For the band accross the middle of the card I went with a lace/trellis die from Marianne  and added a border on the top using a MFT Border Crown die and a strip of lovely vintage Daisy lace. The top left corner looked a little empty so using the same patterned card, I cut this Memory Box flourish and positioned it over the 'empty' corner. Everything was given a good going over with Distress Ink Tea Dye. The sentiment was mounted as a 'tag' and I prettied up the corners with these lovely metal trimmings from my friend Paola. She finds these amazing trimmings and thankfully shares them with me - thank you Paola! Also from Paola, were the 1mm pearls all over the card.

I have also decided to enter this card into the Sugar Creek Hollow Challenge # 49 - Metal Mania. Please follow the link to read up on this challenge - perhaps you would like to enter as well??

I was very pleased how this came together - a great sketch and fun to implement!
Why don't you give it a go??  Here is the link.

Thanks for the visit!

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Bugaboo's Bingo Challenge

I was greatly encouraged by winning the Bubaboo 'Catch the Bug' Challenge last week. To think I did not make the entered cards with the challenge in mind, I'm thrilled!

This week, the challenge is a Bingo challenge - here is the link 


I chose to that the center row, Paper Piecing, Shaped Card and Players Choice.

I chose this awesome Bugaboo image I had bought some time ago and colored it with Copic's.
I have used my Copic's on a few images over the last week and am loving getting back into the groove again!
I die cut the scalloped circle card, that being my Shaped Card and layered a pretty colorful layer on the top of it.
I die cut the image and mounted it on a scalloped bottom layer, but sandwiched ribbon flags onto each side, using my Player's Choice option.
I Paper Pieced the word "Happy" and used those papers as my coloring 'cue' for the image.
I really enjoyed making this card!




Thanks for the visit and I hope you enjoyed my little card!


I Won, I Won....

I won 10 free digi's from Bugaboo's 'Catch the Bug Challenge' for entering their last challenge!
How awesome is that?
Thank you Bugaboo!

Happy Wedding Day Cards

I loved these two cards. Whilst not exactly CAS because of the fussiness of the flowers, I still think they are clean and simple in their own way!



The belly band on the card was embossed using my favorite Swiss Dots folder and edged with a gold pen.

The hearts were cut out using a Joy die set with the gold pen edges as well.  The sentiment was stamped and embossed with gold powder.






I die cut the leaves using a Marianne die - my favorite leaf die at the moment! The flowers were all gifted to me my my dear blog friends, thank you ladies!

Sunday, February 17, 2013

Anniversary - Silver

 I had found these amazing free digi sentiments on my travels and thought they would be perfect on a CAS card.
For this Anniversary card, I used an embossing folder on plain white card and cut and placed this piece on the top two thirds of the card, with a ribbon and a few pearls on the bottom edge of this card.

I placed the sentiment to the right and left the bottom of the card totally clear of all embellishments.



The card on the right was made in exactly the same manner as the one above, but I used ribbon with a silver tread pattern and a silver die cut buckle with the ribbon threaded through it, with the sentiment placed on top of the buckle. 

This sentiment is for a Silver Anniversary.


Friday, February 15, 2013

Golden Wedding Anniversary Cards

I had to make some anniversary cards for the shop and used the opportunity to play with my Memory Box dies. Oh how I love these dies!

I'm definitely leaning towards the CAS card lately and decided to use the cream and gold with a hint of peach color scheme.

I die cut the frame out of gold mirror board, stamped and embossed the sentiment in gold and added a few of these delightful floral dainties, made using the Olba punch set.




 The card on the right is just as simple. 
I used the same gold card and the La Rue heart die and
the same sentiment and method as the card above.
Doesn't the little rose in the center just make the card?

So easy and so elegant, don't you think?



Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Bugaboo Valentine Cards

Bee-Mine
 I found these delightful digi's at Bugaboo and could not resist buying them! I colored them in using my Copic's - gosh it has been a long time since I played with them and it felt good to be using them again!
Some Bunny Loves You



I'm Sweet on You

Owl Always Love You

Ewe be Mine
Are they not so sweet and cute? 
A perfect 'bit of nonsense' for Valentine's Day!

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

You have my heart.....


You will remember my post titled Sweet...Hearts...

Here I have put one of the hearts to good use and absolutely love the CAS look of this card.



I found this fabulous free digi on my blog travels, but did not record the source. I therefore apologize to the creator for not giving you credit. I'd be happy to share the information if someone would pass it onto me.

Short and sweet.....thanks for stopping by!






Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Also on the needles...

I found another interesting pattern on my blog travels and could not wait to get it onto the needles!

This is a circular blanket that only carries 10 stitches on the needles all the times! Once you have done the center, which takes a little concentration, you only deal with 10 stitches, and does it grow! I'm very chuffed with this project and am knitting it up using Kidz double knit yarn. When you knit it in a jumper, you get those lovely fairisle rows, but doing this pattern you get blocks of color and I'm keen to see how it turns out. 

This is not a 'hurry up and finish' project, rather, pick it up as and when it suits you. I can do this whilst watching TV and concentrating on the program, rather than the knitting!
 Fun knitting.....



Sunday, February 3, 2013

Birthday Card for my Brother

My brother is passionate about his Harley, so for the last two birthdays I have make him 'Harley' related cards. I had found a couple of fabulous Harley scrapping sheets and they were the base of both cards. However, I thought I would be pushing my luck giving him another Harley card this year! Amongst lots of other passions, watches are high on the list and I have used the 'time' theme before, so did not want to go there either.

 I found a lovely sheet of scrapping paper with lots on it about 'brother' and I loved what I saw, so bought it, with him in mind.

I decided to go the 'tag' route and cut out the part of the patterned paper that appealed to me and I turned it into a tag. I decided to make a pocket to put the tag in and embossed a sheet with the Cuttle Bug Clockworks folder, die cut some  Tim Holtz Mini Gears and stamped and cut a sentiment, and placed all onto the front of the pocket.

This tag card seems to cover a lot of his interests, not least of all, a private family joke, that when he sees it, will make him smile!

Happy Birthday my darling Brother!

Friday, February 1, 2013

Sweet...hearts.....

Are these cute or what?? 

Teeny, tiny, mini crocheted hearts.



 Just love them.....

Off and on the needles.....

I'm so pleased to report that I have finished my first pair of socks in 2013! I knitted them using  Wendy's Bamboo yarn. It was lovely to knit with and I tried to get the stripes to synchronise between the two socks - When you knit with a variegated wool, you have to observe the formation and work out at what stage in the 'stripes' to start the second sock. 

These are knitted using my favorite method by Cat Bordhi, toe to heel and split to knit up the leg. I have been knitting this basic pattern for a few years now and my socks fit like a glove. No bagging around the ankles, just a nice snug fit. Not the easiest method to learn, but once you've got it, what a pleasure! This pair has a double ribbing from just above the ankle, right up the leg, so that it fits snugly on the leg. It does however, make the sock look a little deformed - take a look.....
With a pair of empty circular needles hanging around, I just had to make a start on another pair of socks and chose this lovely Spanish yarn from my stash - Katia Darling. I am pleased to say they are making good progress as it is so exciting watching how the color's work through the yarn as you knit.
So, watch this space for a photo of the completed socks - these should not take too long as I can't wait to see how they turn out!.
Thanks for the visit.