Allsorts or is it Curly Wurly....Hope 2

Hope is going to be 2 on the 11th June and can I believe it.Anyhow that means its about time I made a start on her Birthday cards, at the moment she loves watching the birds on the bird table while we eat our meals - we have an apple tree just outside our dining room window and always have some visitors.

I have combined this with the Allsorts Challenge
Curly Swirly.....Used Basic Grey Ambrosia papers for lettering and No. 2

and some fab Crate paper glitter card birds etc. from the Lillian collection.

Lots of Doodling added with Sakura pens.

Some eyelets and a piece of lime velvet ribbon to suspend letters.

Polkadoodles Challenge 2

Polka doodle Challenge 2 - for this once I saw the sketch I decided I would like to try a suspended/swinging acetate element for the circle part of the sketch.

Perhaps a wreath of flowers and butterflies....It's not east to show in photo but it is attached to card by small eyelet at top of card so that it sits out from the front of card.

I have used my own doodle - Daisy and paper pieced her using some twelve by twelve papers and Basic Grey Euphoria. Added detail with Sakura pens for her hair and flower centre.Some diecut leather flowers layered with eyelets and added a card element sticker from the Euphoria range.

She does look like she is hiding but when card is upright floral wreath

actually is just below face.......

C.R.A.F.T.Challenge 2 - Moving parts.....Birdhouse

Time for challenge 2 over at C.R.A.F.T. Challenge - moving parts...

My DT card this week is for Heather that was 4 on Tuesday - Happy Birthday Heather.

A bird house with bird that twists round and dangly heart embellishments.

Made with beautiful papers that I have just discovered

by Crate papers - part of the Lillian Collection.

First I designed a basic birdhouse shape, along with some hearts and leaves and transferred them as a cutting file on my Pazzles.

I cut the Birdhouse in card and the Crate papers and paper pieced them adding a little ink.

Added the leaves around front opening of birdhouse, inked and doodled on.

Made up wire droppers with glass heart beads and paper hearts and also Quickcutz bird.

Set eyelets at top of birdhouse and either side of birdhouse roof. Attached bird in Centre of house with wire attached at top by tape and bottom through a hole in base of card.

Tied top of birdhouse with ribbon adding Crate paper Lillian Tag to ribbon.

Added wire droppers to either side of birdhouse roof.

Still folds flat to go in envelope ! x

This is the lovely stamp you could win from Pink Gem Designs

Trimcraft - about me!

The Challenge at the moment over on Trimcraft is a project entitled "about me"!

Amongst my doodles I have Roxanne the girl wearing a rock pool....This comes from my first party with my husband Reuben - I went dressed as a rock pool!

Before children I also had a gift shop called Scoskie which is Scots for starfish.

I love the seaside and am very fortunate to live with my family in a beautiful seaside location - so this card is "about me (please note this is very much the inner me and I bear little resemblance to Roxanne)

Polkadoodles - Highland cow

There is a new challenge in blogland Polkadoodles. They have some very talented artists on the DT - worth having a look. A setch challenge this week and a magnificent prize.

Since I do love a good doodle here is my entry.....
This Highland cow is from a lovely drawing by my sister-in-law Daisy Phillips and I have converted it into a cutting file on my Pazzles. Daisy was part of the family camp out in our back garden this weekend. Scottish weather aside a great time was had by all - but I don't recomend 11 people (8 adults &3 children) with one toilet......
Cow is cut using DCWV photographic straw paper & Basic Grey ambrosia paper. Doodles on top of cow using white and black Sakura.
A4 Kanban Card base - I do like working this big!
Pearlescent reddish brown paper hand cut wavy edge - folded corner secured with eyelet through some grungeboard painted with crackle paint.
Oval matts behind cow Basic Grey Ambrosia and Bazzil embossed swirl papers.
Vertical stripe of swirl grungeboard painted with H2O's.
Horizontal stripe pearlescent green vellum.
Oval cluster using basic grey papers, bazzil embossed paper and grungeboard. Secured layers with eyelets and stuck down with DST.
Flower again made with grungeboard.
Sentiment doodled with Sakura...............

Basic Grey - Doodling - Frog friends!

Basic Grey Challenge blog is having a break to update , so I wanted to make an effort to do a card this week as I love Basic Grey and they do have one fab DT!

Their challenge this week is to include doodling - which I do alot of - I am that person that sits in meetings etc. drawing on the minutes.....

Frog Friends uses all Basic Grey papers (Granola, Urban Prairie, Archaic), also Basic grey Granola chipboard stickers , some inking, lots of doodles with Sakura and a fine tip black staedler pen.....

The frogs were drawn by my very tallented Sister-in-law Daisy Phillips and I converted them to a cutting file on the pazzles - thanks Daisy!

Sorry about the glare it's fab dark green pearlescent card !

George Pig - Finlay 2

A request for a George Pig card. Mostly designd and cut on my Pazzles with a little doodling added.

For anyone who doesn't know George is Peppa Pigs little brother (T.V. cartoon)

and he has a toy dinosaur!

Blog Candy - exlplanation!

I didn't explain my blog candy properly....Madeline and her world is free to anyone who wants her. I am happy for you to use her for your own creations. I will leave her on my blog for anyone who would like to try playing with her for another week. I think you should be able to just print her from saving the image but if not leave me a message and I will e-mail an attachment to you. Have fun Cheers Claire x

Birth and Birthdays.....

It has been a busy few days with card requests! Another friend had a little girl Zara and I simplified my C.R.A.F.T. challenge entry to make a smaller card - using the same diecuts and papers as befor with the addition of a Basic Grey Chipboard butterfly and the lovely Basic Grey

"Adorable" rub on.

More requests for Heathers 4th Birthday - I decided with these to have a play using acetate.
I wanted to use quite large images and wording so had decided to go for a layered effect.
Above using DCWV pocket full of posies and a printed acetate along with my own Madeline image.

This one uses Basic Grey Urban Prairie Basic Grey papers for lettering.
With fab Basic Grey rub on crowns.
Tinkerbell is cut in Bazzil bling and a little sanding of edges and inking, she is attached to the same printed acetate and then I trimmed it to Tinkerbell shape at bottom.

C.R.A.F.T. Challenge - first challenge - something NEW....

My DT entry for the first challenge at C.R.A.F.T. Challenge - very apt - something NEW......

This was great for me as friends of ours Robert and Karen had a baby girl "Megan" last week

and if you look closely - no your eyes are not decieving you she was 12lbs 7ozs - ouch!

This is the first ever "Big" card I have done - so something new for me also - it is A4 and I loved working with all this space. I used an A4 pink card blank with a layer of torn and distressed whitewash paper inked at edges. Leaves, birds and lettering are all cut on Pazzles using Basic Grey Eva and Sugared papers. Birds have rub on details of birth and the large "it's a girl" is also a Basic Grey Rub on. Birds are attached with brads. Little doodling using clear stardust Sakura on leaves.....

So looking forward to visiting all the entries - it's a fantastic prize , so please play along.....

40th Handbag card ...

This is a totally different card shape for me. It just so happened I had noticed Tracy had a tutorial on her blog for a simple handbag card - have a look!

Lo and behold I was asked to do a 40th card with a handbag theme this week. I adapted her pattern to make a 6x 8 card base, I find this a good size for me to work on.

I used a printed hammer cream card with simple brown flowers from a box of assorted A4 card.

A pearlescent dark brown paper for a matt

Basic Grey Sugared papers to cut 40 and Arlene

Leather diecut flowers coloured with H2O's

DCWV Ribbon for handle and tie (attached on inner layer with a brad - threads through eyelet)

Some Basic Grey Sugared cardstock stickers to finnish on outside and inside.

I can see myself doing more of these - perhaps adapting shape a bit more - it was fun.....

Not long to go.......

C.R.A.F.T.Challenge starts Thursday 21st May

and as part of the new design team I am getting very excited!

Spent the last two evenings working on my entry, and I can't wait to see the rest of the Dt and everyone who takes part.

Tracy has secured some fab sponsorsand there is a great prise for week one, so make a date and come and join in the fun on Thursday......

Fab prize is thanks to Just Tracys!
I know I'd be entering for all these goodies......

Thanks so much Dawn!

Thanks so much Dawn for this award - it's much appreciated! I can thoroughly reccommend a visit to Dawns blog Creations by Dawn , she is one creative lady....not sure where she finds enough hours in the day!

6th Birthday cards for twins

Cards for twins Charlotte and Amy - to be the same but a little different was the request and to include a fairy! Meet Star Fairy one of my latest girls.

I used a shimmery pink paper for background, star fairy is paper pieced and then Sakura detail added. 6 cut on Pazzles and sentiment added in Sakura. Basic Grey Chipboard stickers and

rub ons.....

90th Birthday - Gran & Great Gran

A request for a 90th Birthday card for a Gran & Great Gran.

Oh I do so love Basic Grey Papers and the Whitewash Coredinations is becoming another favourite.

Two Scoops goes really well with the leather that I hand coloured using H2O's.

I used a hammered white card blank and inked edges in pink. Pearlescent dark brown paper layer as background. 90 cut in basic grey two scoops and coredinations whitewash, sanded and also inked. Handwritten sentiment using Sakura.

A few two Scoops cardstock stickers were added.

Diecut vines and flowers from the leather. Vines added with eyelets and the rest glued in place. Adding sparkly gems to flower centres.

60th Birthday RNLI

A friend has asked me to make her Dads 60th Birthday card - his only interest is in the RNLI!

It was different to do but I still enjoyed it...

Pearlescent Dark Blue card as base with a layer of DCWV photo real water effect paper inked at edges. 60 and DAD were cat on the Pazzles using coredinations orange gemstone and a blue Basic Grey paper from the Granola range.

Lifeboat is hand drawn and trimmed to fit through centre of 0.

Then I have doodled using Sakura pens to follow the picture through the card a little.Finnished with a handwritten Happy Birthday sentiment - Happy Birthday Zoe's Dad! x

ATCS - Drayton Lady - Daisy sparkle

Some sparkle Daisy's for the June Drayton Lady atc swap on Trimcraft. I love making atc's and am relatively new to it. Have so many card requests at the moment I feel the atcs are suffering. But then I do find that they are something great to do and use up all the wee bits from card projects. I love the principals behind them.......

Heather is 4!

A card for Heather - a wee change from all the boys cards I have been making recently.

White hammer card base with Basic grey pink paper as background, foreground torn coredinations gemstones and whitewash. Scalloped oval cut on pazzles in DCWV paper from a pocket full of posies paper.Swirl effect grungeboard painted with H2O's for flower centres, stems and leaves. Leather die cut hand coloured petals and flowers.

Gorjuss girl paper pieced and Sakura detail.

Basic Grey Rub on Princess.

Chipboard diecut Heather & 4.....lots of inking at edges on everything!

Fraser the Robot - Colour create challenge

The last card for Fraser - well for this year anyway....Also for the Colour Create challenge this week which is blue and green and try to include paper piecing( my absolute favourite at the mo.)

Fraser the Robot is my own doodle digi stamp - he is drawn from a tin toy robot - I love tin toys!

Mostly paper pieced with 4 different papers ( sorry they are older papers think 2 are twelvebytwelve and a photo real water from DCWV but not sure about 4th)

Then I added a little Sakura and wired together Metal letters - a few screw head brads and thats it. I feel he is a friendly robot......

Celebration Blog Candy!

I thought it was apropriate to have a little celebration blog candy for my first DT position! I am thrilled to be part of the DT at the new C.R.A.F.T. Challenge blog which starts with its first challenge on Thursday May 21st!

To celebrate I am offering a little freebie that is "Madeline and her World" all that I ask is:

1/ you add a little picture of the celebration candy and link to my blog

2/ leave me a comment to let me know you have done it, if you want the file sending to you I will need an e-mail address ( its saved as a 300dpi JPEG but I won't say it's spotless - I'm still learning - it is free)

3/ it would be good if you could follow my blog but not part of the blog candy deal.....

4/ it will be available until May 20th

I am more than happy for anyone to use Madeline on their cards for their own use or to sell on handmade items but please give credit to myself for the art work. There are more girls on the horizon....so watch this space.

Lego Indi! Another card for Fraser...

Another card for Fraser - this time a Lego Indiana Jones.... I kept this one quite simple as I liked the effect. A hammered cream card base inked in burnt orange. Some Basic grey brown paper as background with No. 7 cut from a K&Co map style paper (using Pazzles) - this is a layer of 2 no 7's with foam tape. Indiana's whip is sandwiched between and he just then dangles on the card.

Indiana is just a drawn image.

Dip'n'Doodle

This is our most recent Dip'n'Doodle project. We are very lucky to have a fab ceramic painting studio in the Town run by a lovely lady Julie......

My kids put their handprints on this and alternate Monday evenings I pop into Dip'n'Doodle for a bit of me time....I love it. I have spent the last few weeks working on the inbetween bits.....I'll call it our healthy snack jar but a few sweets may stray into it!

Fraser and the Lego Power Miners.....

This week I have a pile of birthday cards to do including 4 for the same boy who will be 7 - he is a big Lego fan! These first two are for his parents and sister to give him. Fraser is a friend of my oldests Jacob who is also a Lego nut......I must admit so am I!

So for his "Birthday Son" card its mostly some drawing and colouring with a bit of die cutting for the letters and torn paper and inking for the background.
For his "Birthday Brother" card its alot of die cutting on the Pazzles using some lovely Basic Grey papers from the cupcake range with some chipboard shapes, stickers and rub ons also from the same range. Some great Bazzil Bling as a backing paper with sanded edges then inked - lettering and big 7 also inked.....
So now another two to do !

I'm Batty about you!

It's my Husband's Birthday on Saturday - 39 years young.... I am using the current challenge at the Basic Grey Challenge Blog to be inspired - Black, Grey + 1 ( one being any other colour!)

I have used turquoise as my extra colour.........

Irredescent black card base with a layer of turquoise coredinations gemstone.

The bat is from my pazzles cut in a grey Basic Grey paper from the Granola range and a turquoise whitewash coredinations. The lettering and leaves are again cut on the Pazzles using Coredination turquoise whitewash and a Granola print Basic Grey paper.

All edges are sanded and inked with turquoise .

The white lettering are rub ons, the turquoise is a whispers pen- handwritten. The bat closes with a fab Basic Grey magnet - they are cool.....

C.R.A.F.T. Challenge Blogspot - Design Team Call

CRAFT Challenge

I am very excited! I have just discovered that I have been given the opportunity to work on the DT for a new Challenge Blog that is assosciated with Trimcraft - Thanks Tracy!

They are still looking for a few others to take part , so if you are interested pop over for a wee look.....Now I am going to make a conserted effort to work out all the clever linky things!

Funky Hand Design Team Call....

I've noticed quite a few mentions of this tonight in blogland, so thought I would go and have a look....sounds really interesting and I am sure it would be alot of fun and a challenge is always good....

Wanted " Funky Design Gang Member"

Funky Hand have asked you to show a couple of your cards you are proud of and link it to their blog to let them have a look.

The more the merrier as it were.....

Anyone out there looking for a new challenge - give it a go!

And thanks for the opportunity Funky Hand!

http://funkyhand.blogspot.com/

Colour Create - Julie is 40!

One of my friends is 40 this month! Julie is a very creative person who run our local ceramic painting studio "Dip'n'Doodle". I have a few cards to do for her Birthday on the 13th. This first one is combining this weeks colour create challenge - cream, red and chocolate!

I have created a new image for this card "Daisy" She is tucked in behind the "0" but her skirt is like the petals of a flower .I have paper pieced Daisy using Basic Grey Wassail papers and added a little Sakura detail.
The 40 and Julie are cut on my pazzles using Coredinations whitewash card and are sanded at edges. I have used a hammer cream card base with well inked edges of dark red and chocolate. Layers of paper are a irredescent chocolate, bassil embossed swirl and some Wassail by Basic Grey. I coloured some leather red to cut the trellis ribbon and wrapped it around 0 securing with brads. Some more die cut flowers added with brads, larger flower at top left is swirl grungeboard painted with cosmic shimmer and edges inked red - then petals added.
Finnished off with a few Basic Grey rub ons.

Thanks Saskia !

Thank you so much for this Gift of Love award Saskia - along with all your encouragement to a novice blogger it is much appreciated. I would highly recommend visiting Saskias blog :

Saskia has a fantastic range of projects and is a Design Team member for the

Crafty Creations Challenge blog ( great challenges - alot of fun!)