Sweet Pea Stamps

I saw this digi image on a card made by our lovely DT co-ordinator, Jane Bradshaw and fell in love with it. It was my great-niece's birthday recently and I knew it would be perfect for her.

A beautiful image by Conie Fong at Sweet Pea Stamps and coloured with Copics and Promarkers. I had to send this by post so kept the flowers to a minimum with a couple from Wild Orchid and a bow from the Sue Wilson range of die cuts. As I can't cut straight even with a guillotine so I've  used the Spellbinders Matting Basics A and their Elegant Labels Four on the white card and the patterned vintage paper. It's been in my stash for ages.

A New OSAAT Challenge

Time for a lovely challenge at One Stitch At A Time. Our theme this week is Anything Goes With Something New (New Home, New Baby, New Die or inks etc)

This is a beautiful silhouette image that you can find in the store here, it's so useful for lots of different scenarios. I've used a new leaf die on my card from Heartfelt Creations purchased from Icon UK  and a new sentiment from Pink Petticoat.  The background came from a pad by Docrafts a few years ago and I've aged it with some distress inks. The flowers have been at the bottom of my stash box for ages.

I would like to enter the following:
Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes
Ike's World - Something Old/ Something New
Crafting From the Heart - Challenge 42
Crafty Cardmakers #130 Something Old/Something New

A Birthday Card for A Friend

I thought I'd try and keep a little resolution going, I promised myself that I would post more of the cards I make in between my DT cards.

I made this for one of my Red Hat chapter friends.

I've used a couple of sheets of the beautiful vintage Ella Blue pad, sadly I can't find it anywhere else.
The die cuts are Spellbinders Labels Forty One Decorative Elements and the flowers are the Heartfelt Creations Arianna Blooms dies and stamps.

The sentiment is from the very generous lady called Paulette of Create with TLC.  I love her sentiments and a few times now she has created a sentiment or word art that is just what I had been looking for. Spooky stuff!

Time for a new Challenge at OSAAT

Well, it's been another brilliant year of being part of the design team for the One Stitch at a Time challenge blog featuring the creators at Stitchy Bear's Digital Outlet.  I admire all of the design team and I'm knocked sideways at what is created, such a multi-talented bunch.

Well, this is the last challenge of 2014 and a cracker it is too! We'd love to see your creations using the theme 'Anything Goes with Stitching', real or faux. Check our blog here to see what my fab teamies have made for this challenge.

For my card I chose Sentimental Susan's gorgeous Paws-atively Adorable sentiments and you can find it here.  This is a card inspired by the picture of Ty, my sis-in-law's beautiful German shepherd who we sadly lost just a few short months ago. Ty was a huge dog but so gentle when he knew you, he lived with us when we were between dogs and I was always greeted with a low head and a huge slurp of his tongue, a very special dog.  Sleep on, lovely boy and see you at Rainbow Bridge with all my other GSDs and dogs.

Hope you have a fabulous Christmas!

I can't believe where the time has gone!!  I've had this awful virus doing the rounds twice now and this last lot spoilt my lovely Christmas dinner as it gave me a toothache that wandered along all of my teeth ARRRGH!  Fed up with 2014, roll on 2015.

I hadn't realised that I hadn't been here for a couple of weeks and completely forgot about posting up my DT cards, especially the Christmas ones so I'll do that first.

I had the great pleasure of using three of the Coosty Creations Seasonal Sentiments that you can find here in the Stitchy Bear Digital Outlet I love using word art on my cards.  As this one was going to be posted I kept the embellishments quiet flat and used a couple of Spellbinders Floral Flourish dies and the Sue Wilson Mosaic Poinsettia.

The second one I love as I was able to use the many layers of the Spellbinders die Radiant Rectangles and the Sue Wilson Poinsettia die.

The third card has all the colours of Christmas and a beautiful sentiment too.

Last but by no means least, my DT card for the OSAAT challenge #226 Anything Goes with a Glitter

using the Spellbinders 5 x 7 detailed Scallops which is a real favourite die of mine.

December is here!

Wow! Where has the time gone this year?  it's December and just over three weeks till Christmas. I spent a lovely day in London at the Foodies Festival in the Old Truman Brewery and then wandered through Old Spitalfields Market. So much food everywhere that looked delicious, a shame I have no sense of smell but I could taste it on the air.

Our challenge this week on the One Stitch at a Time challenge blog is 'Anything Goes with Lace' and what a great prize we have. Its all these gorgeous images in the November 5 pack:-

Here is the perfect set of images for all your Christmas projects including a beautiful sentiment too.
Please find our very few rules for entering our challenge here and also have a look at our Facebook page where there is always a great challenge for using the Stitchy Bear Digital images, just click on the link.

For my card this week I chose Stitchy Bear's image called 'I'm Sorry' and you can find her here. The perfect image for when you need to send someone a hug or just to say sorry. I know I will use this image time and time again.

I've used a piece of Linen Closet paper to the front of my card and cut one panel from the Spellbinders Radiant Rectangles in a toning blue Co'ordinations blue card stock.  After colouring her I cut along her wings back a little and placed the next size die down under her wings so that they were free.  Sadly, with the low light levels we are having at the moment the way she sparkles just doesn't show. Some Venise lace and a few Wild Orchid flowers and pearls to decorate.  The sentiment is self generated and cut with a Spellbinders Tag die that I've had for many years.  The cord on my little tag was given to me by my Red Hat friend Marilyn, the perfect shade of peach.

What a Miserable Day!

Well, down here in the backwaters of Essex it's a miserable day and misty too. I can't see across the river or even see the river from where I'm sitting. The dogs have been for a walk and are muddy and wet and looking for their breakfast.

It's Sunday and time for a really lovely challenge at OSAAT. This week our theme is 'Anything Goes with Giving Thanks'.

As we don't celebrate Thanksgiving here in the UK I thought I would make a Thank You card. A handy one to keep in my card box.

I've used an image from Hope Jacare called Bouquet 1 and you can find it in the Stitchy Bear Digital Outlet here. I love these stamps as they are so nice to colour. I've used a piece of Linen Closet paper as my starting point and coloured the images with Promarkers, the photo had to be brightened in my graphics program as the sun wasn't shining when I took the photo. the images has been mounted a couple of times using the Spellbinders Matting Basics A + B. A little leaf die from Heartfelt Creations finished off the self generated sentiment.

Anything Goes With Distressing at One Stitch At a Time

Its that time of the week when OSAAT sets a new challenge and for the next two weeks our theme is Distressing. so, lets see those project using distressing tools, inks and anything else that will give that distressed look.

Our prize for this challenge is a fab set of 5 digital images that you can see on the challenge blog here and you will find the simple rules we have for our challenges.

For my DT card this week I've used Baby Gangsta James by Reece's Scrap Pieces and you can find him here.

I've coloured him with Promarkers and cut up a couple of pieces of waste card and have distressed all three edges with a little Tim Holtz distressing tool. the background paper has come from my stash from  kit by Papermania, the postage stamp card, I think, has come from Craftwork cards. a Couple of buttons, some twine and loads of distressing ink to finish.

Love Liverpool! And a new challenge at OSAAT

I'm back from a brilliant weekend in Liverpool at our Red Hat convention. About 240 ladies converged on Liverpool to enjoy a break at the Adelphi Hotel, Ok, not the best hotel in Liverpool, it's in need of a refurb but it's glory days can still be seen in the fabulous lounge and ballroom. Food wasn't bad for mass catering but we weren't there for that.

The hotel was the perfect location for a tour on the open top hop on-hop off bus and we had time to tour the dock area and have lunch. As you can guess in our purple and red we were often stopped and asked what it was all about.  We had a tour on the Mersey Ferry but unfortunately it was far to windy to go far and we were all quite pleased to be back on land. We had great entertainment all weekend and it's taken me a couple of days to recover.

                                                 (Me, Kay and Linda in our finery!)

Well, it's time for a new challenge at OSAAT and the theme is 'Anything with Butterflies. We would love to see your creations, a card or altered item or scrap page with pretty butterflies.  Please check out all the rules (and they are very few) over on our OSAAT blog page. there you can see some beautiful inspiration from our DT members.

For my card this week I used Rajrupa by My Heart Pieces and you can find her right here.  Isn't she sweet, I love My Heart Pieces designs, they are a real joy to colour.

My picture is a little dark but you can still see what a lovely image it is. I've used a Spellbinders die called Mystical Embrace that I've been itching to use on a card as the base. Ive added a piece of design paper from my stash behind the image. I've added a few butterflies using a Martha Stewart punch on the edges. The frame is very ornate and I didn't want to put flowers on it as it will be posted to a dear friend. I've coloured the images with Promarkers to match the design paper.

Last of the Bramble Berries and it's OSAAT time again

It looks like we've now picked the last of the bramble berries yesterday when out exercising the dogs. The bushes are getting ready to die back for the winter. They have been spectacular this year with the warm September. I'll make an apple and berry pie today for my husband and a bakewell tart too.

I've got friends coming tomorrow to help to get the door hangings ready for our trip to Liverpool for the Red Hat Society UK convention.  These door hanging announce who is in residence and I'll post some pics when they are finished.  Flowers to make today to add some extra colour.  Can't wait to meet up with old friends.

On the One Stitch At A Time Challenge (OSAAT) blog here it's time for you to show us your creation with the theme 'Anything Goes With the Colour Orange. The fab prize this month is a set of digi images created for the month of October.  How gorgeous are they?

The challenge will run for two weeks so dig out all those lovely shades of orange you're using for the Autumn cards.

For my card this week I'm using an image by Gingerloft called Rustic Bench and you can find it here. What a useful stamp this is as it could be used in so many ways.  Here I've used it as a get well card made with my lovely sis-in-law as she recovers from her major op.

I've made an 8" x 8" card and covered the front with a paper from a First Edition's pad that had the perfect background colours.  I've coloured  the image with Promarkers and mounted it on a die cut from the Spellbinders Grand Decorative Ovals.  The three largest flowers I've made myself from dies from Heartfelt Creations using paper from First Edition and mulberry paper.  The sentiment is self generated.