Fairy Kiki

Good Morning!!

I've another sneak peek at one of the new 'Cuthbert & Kiki' images soon to be released from Pollycraft.

Today it's Kiki's turn....

Isn't she adorable?  This is 'Rose Fairy Kiki', and she is 1 of 6 new Cuthbert & Kiki images soon to be released.

RECIPE

Digi Image - Pollycraft 'Rose Fairy Kiki' (soon to be released as an addition to the Cuthbert & Kiki collection)

Papers - Kanban

Colouring Mediums - Copics, Promarkers & Sakura Stardust Clear

Embellishments - Bow, Pearls and Flowers all from stash

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I'm entering this card into the following challenges....

One Stop Craft - Swirls & Pearls

Rosie D's - Fairytales

Totally Gorjuss - Wings

Paperplay - Up In The Air

Everybody Art - Summer

Oh La La - Use Their Blog Colours

Crafty Cardmakers - Least & Most

(I've used my most favourite colour Lilac and one of my least favourite colours Green)

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Thanks for stopping by!!

Hugs

Joanne xx

Arise Sir Cuthbert

Hello all, hope everyone enjoyed the bank holiday weekend, bit of a mix on the weather front and it's a bit of a washout today, though the weatherman says after today it's meant to start warming up again..yipeee!!  I'm just hoping that Saturday is going to be nice on the day and night, as we are off to a double celebration family party in York, and so we can enjoy a drink we have decided to borrow a tent and camp for the night, so please be nice weather that day!!!

I have a card for you featuring a new Pollycraft image soon to be released........

This is 'Brave Knight Cuthbert' and is one of six new images soon to be released from the Cuthbert & Kiki range.

RECIPE

Digi Image - Pollycraft 'Cuthbert & Kiki - Brave Knight Cuthbert' (soon to be released)

Papers - Kanban

Colouring Mediums - Watercolour Pencils, Copics & Promarkers

Sentiment - Craftwork Cards

Embellishments - Brads and Card Candy from stash

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I used watercolour pencils blended with sansodor on the Cuthbert's body and the copics & promarkers on all other colourings.

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I'm entering this card into the following challenges...

Simon Says - Pink or Blue with Green & Brown

The Crafty Pad - Card For A Male

Dare U 2 Digi-Stamp - One For The Boys

C.R.A.F.T.- Blue & Green

Crafty Catz - The Boyz Are Back

Crafty Creations - Favourite Stamp/Digi (this Cuthbert image is my favourite from the new images)

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Thank you for stopping by and also for everyone's lovely comments wishing me well over the past week they all mean so much to me, thank you!!

Hugs

Joanne xx

Something to brighten a dreary day...

I'm sure the weather man said yesterday that the next few days would remain dry with sunny spells, well it's dar, overcast and RAINING!!!  So if it's like that where you are hopefully my card will brighten your day a little as you could say it's a bit colourful...lol.

There's a fab new challenge blog which I found out about yesterday whilst on a bit of a blog hop, Some Odd Girl Challenge Blog (what a fab title, don't you think?), not only is there a challenge blog but they also design digi-images which you can see and purchase over on the Some Odd Girl Shop, I'll warn you now there are some beauties.  Now for the challenges, you can use any images as well as their own, but they have a fab freebie image called 'Mae's Bouquet' which is an absolute beauty, so I just had to use it.  There first challenge has been running a couple of weeks and ends tomorrow, so only just getting this one in.  Now this is where the colourful bit comes in, their first challenge is...Rainbow!!

Here's my card...

Yep, I was so quick to take a piccy the glue hasn't had time to dry as can be seen on the dew drops, ooopss...lol. 

RECIPE

Digi Image - Some Odd Girl 'Mae's Bouquet' (freebie)

Papers - Rainbow Background and Rainbow Glitter Card both Kanban, Frame DP is K & Co

Colouring Mediums - Copics & Promarkers

Frame - Nellie Snellin (thanks to my SIL for letting me have a play yesterday!!)

Embossing - Swiss Dots done in my bug

Sentiment - Craftwork Cards

Embellishments - Coloured Braid and Dewdrops from stash

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All the challenges this card fits....

Some Odd Girl - Rainbow

Cooking It Up With Katie - Something New, Something Old & Something Sweet

(New - Braid & Glitter Card, Old - Rainbow Paper, Sweet - Image)

My Time To Craft - On The Spot 

(Swiss Dots Embossing, hope that counts!!)

Kaboodle - Digi Girl

Sketch Saturday - Sketch

Simon Says  - A Card for a Child

It's a special challenge this week over on Simon Says where all the DT will be sending their cards to a child through either Post Pals or Make A Child Smile and they are asking all those that enter the challenge to also send their card to a child through one of these or a similar organisation.  Well I think my card will hopefully brighten a childs day, so I will be sending my card on to a child through Post Pals.  Please if you have the time do take a look at these sites, and consider sending a child a little hope and happiness by sending them a card.

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Ooohhh I think it's stopped raining!!  Lets hope it stays that way.

Hugs

Joanne xxx

Critters & Cogs Preview Day 1

Good Morning All

Yay I'm back to doing some crafting which I'm so pleased about as I really didn't want to miss the previews for the exciting new release of Critters & Cogs from Pollycraft.

The whole set will be released on Monday 5th April, but we thought we'd tease you for a few days with some preview days in the run up to the release date.  For the next 4 days Paula and the DT will be previewing 3 images a day and everyday ONE lucky winner could win all 3 imagesthat are previewed on that day.  To check out all 3 images for today and to see all the DT works using the images then you need to space-hop over to Tales from Pollycraft and it's there that you can enter the daily prize draws.

Here is my preview card for you today...

I've managed to get 2 of todays preview images on my card, these two lovely fella's are called Zoom and Monster Party.  The sentiment is part of a clear stamp set also to be released alongside the images on Monday.

RECIPE

Digi Images - Pollycraft 'Critters & Cogs - Zoom & Monster Party' (released 5th April)

Papers - Starry Background - Kanban and Moon -Silver embossed card from stock

Colouring Mediums - Watercolour Pencils & Sansodor

Sentiment - Pollycraft 'Critters & Cogs Clear Semtiment Stamp Set' (released 5th April)

Embellishments - Star Gems from stash

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Please make sure you pop over to Tales from Pollycraft to enter todays prize draw to win all 3 of todays preview images and check out all the awesome makes from the DT, including one from one of our eager new DT members.

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A quick update on my shoulder, recovery seems to be doing well and as you can see it's no longer preventing me from doing some crafting, but I am taking it easy.  I have a good 75% of movement back, but this last bit is probably gonna take the longest to ease, which is the initital injury/strain to the tendons.  I go back to the docotors next week where she will assess how well it's doing and to determine whether I'll be needing some physio to help it along.  So until then I'm keeping up the resting and gentle exercises and throwing in a little crafting too, I class that as gentle exercise too....lol.  Thank you for all your well wishes.

Enjoy your day!!

Hugs

Joanne xxx

Just Christmas & Birthday Cards #29

I broke my new years resolution a little way back now as it has been quite a few weeks since I did a Christmas card, so feeling guilty I've made an Xmas card for the JCBC challenge this week which is a fab sketch by Kristin.

Poinsettia's from Botany Bay, nr. Preston, tartan card and sentiment from Kanban, ribbon from stash and some card candy and a brad. That was simple...lol. Can't guarantee I'll be going back to my one Christmas card a week but I will try to do one more often.

Here's this weeks sketch to follow:

Pollycraft Challenge # 11

There's a great sketch by Lynsey to follow for the latest challenge over on Pollycraft.

I've used the 'Billie Daisy Chain' stamp which I won from Challenge #9, coloured her using copics. I've inked the edges in yellow ink and orange chalk. The papers are all from Kanban. Sentiment is from 'Clare Curd's Signature Range, stamped onto white shimmer card. The flowers are from my crafting stash and added some 'card candy' (kindly given to me by my buddy Emma) to each corner. Finally inked the edges of the base card with yellow. Below is Lynsey's sketch to follow:

The Sugar Bowl Challenge # 5

It's challenge 5 over on The Sugar Bowl and they want to see your 'Christmas' creations. The rules are, you must use at least one 'Sugar Nellie' item on your work. Well I'm happy for anything to help keep me to my one xmas card a week resolution.

Used SN 'Hug in a Mug' and coloured with copics with a little sakura stardust clear waterbrushed on to the white areas and a little sakura gold metallic. Cut image with Fiskars shapecutter and chalked and inked the edges with red and green. I cut eight scalloped ovals in three diffeent sizes with the nesties using red and green glitter card and layed out into a kind of frame for the image to be mounted on. The red background and gold strip across the card are embossed foiled card from Kanban. Added green ribbon with a knot along the gold strip. The circle sentiment is from Fred, She Said, mounted on to a green glitter card scalloped circle, then added a paper poinsettia from stash.

Wasn't expecting any time to craft today as two of the girls have come to visit, but they've all gone to the cinema this afternoon, so while Steve's been flicking between cricket and rugby on the TV, I got on with some cards.

Hope everyone has a lovely weekend xxx

Fabby Day and ABC Challenge ~ C

Firstly had a fabby day today with Emma and Katy, what a laugh we had, and we were women on a mission...lol. We had three stores of The Range to choose from, and we choose Scunthorpe, hoping to get our hands on the Daisy and Dandelion stuff, we choose the wrong one, so consoled ourselves with a coffee and sarnie, before hotfooting up the M180 and A15 to Brigg where the local garden centre sells Docraft stuff, nope still no luck, though we did manage to get the latest Creativity mag with the D&D stickers. Off we zoomed again over the Humber Bridge hitting all the school pick-up traffic to the Hull Range, and hooray mission accomplished. We got our hands on three of the D&D stamp sets, the papers and decoupage weren't yet in and they had already sold out of the Candyfloss & Marshmallow stamps. Feeling a lot happier, we then went for a well deserved coffee and cake, I missed out on the cake as there wasn't much choice left and there's not many cakes I like except chocolate. Katy took some piccies which she has now posted on her blog, you can see them here. Thanks girls for a wonderful day.


Now onto my card I've made this evening using 'Squeak' from the Bubble and Squeak D&D stamp set. It's for an order from my MIL for her neighbours soon to be 2 year old, which fits in perfectly for this weeks challenge over on ABC, C is for Childs Card.

Coloured Squeak with watercolour pencils using a waterbrush, then stamped the balloon, also from the set and coloured with copics and doodled a string between the balloon and Squeak, added a little clear sakura stardust using the waterbrush to the hearts and balloon and black sakura glaze to the nose and outline of eyes.. Chalked the background with brown and pink shimmer chalks and inked the edges in pink. Matted onto beige card from scraps and cut round with decorative scissors. Attached some pink ribbon with a knot across top corner then mounted the whole thing onto pink card from scraps. Paper is from the PM 'Love' papers and again inked the edges with pink. Stamped the sentiment, again included in the set, directly onto the paper with brown stazon. To finish added some die-cut pink sparkly flowers with a pink prima flower and flat heart pearls. The '2' is a die-cut from Kanban.

Hope everyone's had a fab day, thanks for looking.

The Sugar Bowl Challenge #4

The latest challenge over on the Sugar Bowl is 'One'. You can only use one patterned design paper on your project.

I've used SN 'A Good Book' and coloured with watercolour pencils using a waterbrush, I've also used a little pearly doodles on the centres of the flowers and on the heart pendant on her necklace (I've seen this done on some of Poppets cards, and love the effect). Chalked the background with shimmer pink chalk then used a darker pink chalk towards the edges and inked around the edges. The patterned paper I've used is a sheet from the Funky Fairys 'Love Train', which was only available for one day to download. The green background card is from my stash. Added some green lace diagonally on the bottom of card with a sentiment from Kanban attached with green ribbon. I made a kind of lace rosette/bloom with a hair pin and some pearl beads attached. The flowers are prima's with a pearl bead in the centre. Finished with a line of flat pearls in top corner of dp.

I spent a lot of yesterday giving the kitchen a good clean and all was sparkling, then it started snowing again. As I've mentioned before Mollie loves the snow, so as you can imagine, my nice sparkling floor was no more...lol, so looks like the mop and bucket will be staying out a little while longer. Wasn't expecting the snow, the forecast was for rain, we ended up with about 4 inches in the end. Glorious day out there today though, but it must be chilly as the snow isn't thawing very quickly.

Hope everyone's having a lovely day.

ABC Challenge ~ A

This is my first entry for the ABC Challenge, I'd been waiting for the letter A to start and join in from there.

A is for Anniversary.

I cut out the hearts using the Fiskars shapecutter and layered using purple and pearlescent card and patterned paper from Kanban. I made the base card 6 x 6 then layered the hearts on to it, then very carfully cut the base card around the top of the hearts. Added a piece of the patterned paper across the bottom with a peel-off sentiment, mounted onto purple and silver card with a lilac and silver ribbon running through. To finish I've added a silver fabric flower and lilac paper roses and some peel-off clear hearts and silver outline to the hearts. I've been trying to move away from peel-off sentiments but as I am without printer at the moment, I didn't have much choice, but I think the silver is perfect with the lilac.

Just Christmas & Birthday Cards Challenge #17

This week over on JCBC is a gorgeous sketch by Janina. Loved this sketch and is another I'd definately use again.

The stamp is SN 'Snow Loved' coloured with copics and sakura stardust pens, waterbrushed sakura stardust clear on the bodies. Chalked edges in blue and mounted onto lilac mirror card from Kanban. Background paper also from Kanban. Added 3 silver snowflake eyelets to images exposed corners with peel-off sentiment on white card chalked blue and mounted onto the lilac mirror card, across top left corner. Used blue and lilac ribbon with a length of silver elastic with beads and sequins attached, tied together in the middle with a silver ribbon bow, all from my crafting stash. To finish blue and purple sparkling die-cut snowflakes from stash were added to the left hand corners of card.

Hope everyone's having a good day, thankfully hardly any snow here anymore, my snowman is now a heap on the ground..lol. I know there has been a lot of snow again in places, especially in the south-west, so all of you that are affected enjoy it, but please keep safe and warm. xxx

Sketch & Stash Challenge #3 and Marie Curie

I've made some cards today specifically for Marie Curie. One was made following the sketch for challenge 3 over on Sketch & Stash.

Hopefully I've stuck to the sketch ok, as it was for a square card, and as you can see I've done A6, which is the size the cards need to be for Marie Curie, so I hope it's ok. The stamp is one I've had for a couple of years and naughty me never got round to using it until today. The image was coloured with copics and sakura stardust pens for a touch of sparkle, lightly chalked the background in green and inked the edges in deep pink. The oval was cut using nesties in the bug. The pink papers are PM 'Sweet Nothings' which I got yesterday in the Do-Crafts goodies bag, the green paper was from my scraps stash. The pink felt ribbon was also from the Do-Crafts bag, then punched the flowers out of one of the pink papers and chalked the edges in green then added flat pearls to the centres. Sentiment is from Kanban. Below is the sketch to follow:

Emma and myself picked up some Marie Curie bags yesterday from the Range, so today was a good time to get started on them. Here are the other two A6 cards I made (not following the above sketch):

Though it snowed all morning it just left slush on the ground. Luckily Steve set off from Manchester at 10 o'clock this morning, and he said everything kept flowing steadily and the gritters were out in force, especially across the Pennines so with that and with everyone driving sensibly he got home safely just after lunch, thankfully. Thanks to everyone for your messages this morning.

Charisma Cardz Challenge #4

The challenge this week over on Charisma Cardz was set by Vee and it is to use 'Black, white and one other colour of your choice'. I really enjoyed this and my one other colour I chose was 'Pink'.

I've used 'Whisper Fairies - Flower' for the image. She has been coloured using copics and sakura stardust pink and clear, using a waterbrush. This is the first time I've waterbrushed the sakura pens, but I must thank Poppet for her fab tutorial on how she does some of her colouring, and this was one of her techniques. I waterbrushed her wings, legs, the white areas of her skirt, flower and the edge of the image, unfortunately none of the sparkle can be seen in the pic, but I really loved the softness of the sparkle by applying it in this way and will definately be playing with this technique lots more, thanks Pops xx. So not to add another colour I didn't colour her skin and left white with just a touch of pink to her cheeks. Inked the edges in black and used a corner punch to round the corners. The black, white and pink patterned paper is from Kanban and the other paper is from my scraps stash. Added two fabric flowers with large pink gem brads (from the Range) through the centre and waterbrushed a touch of the clear sakura stardust to the black petals. To finish I've added some tiny black gems and flat pearls to three of the corners and then a line along the edge of the paper below the image. I've left it sentiment free, so it can be used for a number of occassions.

Just Christmas & Birthday Cards Challenge #16

This week over on JCBC is a fabulous sketch by Mada, I loved this sketch so much that I did a christmas and birthday card this week.

The image is Bex from Pollycraft Designs, coloured her with copics. Cut her out with Fiskars shapecutter and matted onto lilac card, also cut using shapecutter, and inked edges in purple, added a couple of gems either side of Bex, to try and hide an unwanted smudge. The papers are from Kanban. Added ribbon down the side with some punched flowers in pearlised lilac card and added a little gem to the centre of each flower. The sentiment is a peel-off mounted onto the lilac pearlised card with a flower punched out.

The poinsettia's were cut out from ribbon and layered three times with silicon. Circles were cut again with the fiskers shapecutter. The base card is gold, the tartan background is from Kanban and then used textured green card for the side panel. Added some tartan ribbon down the side with some gold coloured brads. The sentiment is a peel-off (my printer is out of ink) mounted onto the gold and green card. Below is this weeks sketch:

I also found out last night that I was the random winner for last weeks challenge on JCBC, woohoo...it's the first time I've won anything in the blog world, so was really chuffed.

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Now for my ramblings.....

Feeling a bit better again today but had a terrible evening last night, Steve's second youngest, Sarah, had been poorly with this cold/flu last week, but was feeling better so went back to work yesterday, only to come down very poorly again by the end of the day. When we called her, she was talking as if she was very drunk all slurred and a lot of jibberish. We called her sister who lives in Leeds, as she was nearer to Halifax and could get there quicker then us, who rushed over to check she was alright. Thankfully by the time her sister arrived, 1/2 an hour later, she was starting to speak more clearly. Sarah said that when she left work her head felt fuzzy and her legs felt light, she jumped in a taxi home, and in this time she got a terrible headache. She took some painkillers and when we called was when she realised she couldn't speak properly or get the words she wanted to say out. She thinks this lasted for about an hour. Her sister called NHS Direct for some advice, and they didn't seem too worried as it had now passed and was more than likely due to the flu virus still in her system and with returning to work before full recovery, so to just keep an eye on her and if it happened again to call her GP or call an ambulance. We managed to persuade her to come home for a few days so someone was with her, so her sister, Karen, drove her over to us. I can quite honestly say I don't think I've ever seen anyone look so ill and pale. She went straight to bed and slept through the night and this morning she thankfully has a bit more colour to her cheeks. We suggested that maybe she should go see a doctor, but is insistant that she'll be ok, and that she probably just over done things. She is 25 so we can't very well force her, we'll just keep on eye on her, but at least she is home with us and can be looked after.

Sorry for the long post. But one last thing, I would just like to say thank you to everyone who has been wishing me and Steve well over the past few days, what lovely friend's you all are, thank you xxx

One Stop Craft Challenge #12

This week over on One Stop Craft the challenge was set by Eleanor and the theme is 'Craft like an Egyptian or countries in general'.

The image is a decoupage image I had stashed away, the layers are built up using silicon. The background is a Kanban Egyptian postcard sheet. Have inked the showing edges of the base card and lightly sanded then snipped off two of the corners of the card. Added three buttons threaded with frayed string.

Sketch Saturday #34

There' s a lovely sketch to follow this week over on Sketch Saturday.



The stamps are all various accent stamps put together and coloured with a mix of copics and watercolour pencils with the background chalked. The butterfly was stamped then cut out and sits slightly raised using silicon. Used the same patterned paper in the main background and for the scalloped circle (using nesties) that the image is mounted on. Cuttlebugged the green card with the swirls folder and lightly chalked with green. The scalloped purple card was embossed using the Romance keepsake board. All card and paper was from my scraps stash but I believe the patterened paper was from Kanban (doing well with my scraps lately). The panel is a patterned ribbon, from Crafty Ribbons, mounted onto some card then added a gem flower and some gem circles. Did the sentiment disc using nesties and peel-off sentiment. Below is this weeks sketch:

I'm a bit late with a card today but the weather was really lovely today, although chilly, so Steve and I went to the coast with Mollie. We ended up at Hornsea, where Mollie had a fab time on the beach , digging in the sand and running away from the waves...lol. Had a nice coffee and bacon butties sitting outside the seafront cafe. Then we drove a few miles up the the coast to Skirlington where there was a market and it just so happens there were two craft stalls there, well I couldn't just walk on past them, now could I?...lol, picked up a few bargains, best being a couple of cuttlebug die sets which were £10 each but had 50% off so got them for £5 each. So had a really enjoyable day, and feel better for the sea air, certainly blew the cobwebs away. Hope you've all had a lovely weekend.

Just Christmas & Birthday Cards Challenge #14

This weeks challenge over at Just Christmas & Birthday Cards is a sketch by Tanja. Keeping up so far with my one Christmas card a week....




The image is 'Mimi Ice-Skating' from Pink Gem Designs, coloured with copics then added glamour dust to her fur trims, red stickles to the berries on the holly and glittered the edges of image with gold. I used clear sakura stardust on the snow and added a little diamond glaze to each flake. The background is metallic card from Kanban. Gold ribbon from my crafting stash and red printed ribbon is Anita's. The sentiment disc was done using a free embossing template from one of the craft magazines and I've highlighted the writing with a red sakura stardust pen.

Due to the metallic background it was hard to get a good photo and this was about the best of the lot, without too much reflection.

Now I'm sure no one else would do this, but it's not a good idea to get the sneeze's when you have a glitter pot open, there's a strong possibility that your crafting work area and yourself will end up covered in glitter, take it from someone who found this out this evening...lol.

Cards for some fella's

Good Morning Everyone. After a couple of warmer days, it feels and looks like it's back to the chill again this morning, quite a heavy frost and the lake to the back has frozen over again. Luckily I don't need to pop out until lunchtime.

Got on with two cards for males this morning as part of my mother-in-laws birthday card order for the year. These complete January and February as the others were for females, and I've got a good stock going of them.




This is for a Laurel & Hardy fan. The image is a decoupage, I've had this sheet sometime it also has Fred & Ginger and Charlie Chaplin images on it too. Mounted the deco image onto two film reel backing tablets from Kanban, as you can see the image was too big to mount onto one, so offset them. The corners and sentiment are peel-offs.





This one's for a Go-Karting teen. The image is a Dufex decoupage. The background is from Kanban. The orange/rust coloured leather effect card runs down the side with a red, amber and green brad with two other brads inbetween spelling 'GO', inked the edges with blue. The sentiment is a peel-off mounted onto the orange/rust card and inked the edges again.


It's so much easier making male cards when you have something to go on with regards to their likes and hobbies.

Have a good day all, hopefully be back later today with at least one challenge card.

A Spoon Full of Sugar Challenge #34

The challenge this week over on A Spoon Full of Sugar is 'Paper Piecing'. This is my first attempt at paper piecing.




I paper pieced Tilda's dress, boots, wings and the bows in her hair, I hope thats what paper piecing is, and the rest of her is coloured using copics. Cut the ovals with my nesties and the fancy borders were done in my bug with a CB die (can't remember the name of the CB die). The papers are Laura Ashley and the flowers are die-cuts from Kanban. Sentiment is peel-offs coloured green with a peel-off pen.

Sketch Saturday # 33

The fabby sketch this week over at Sketch Saturday is by Jo, I believe.




The stamp is one I've had for some years, and bought it as used, the writing has rubbed off so can't tell you who it's by. Image coloured with Whisper pens. All the papers and tag were freebies from Craft's Beautiful, some time ago, except for the paper the shoe is mounted on which is from Kanban. Sentiment is handwritten then tied some brown funky wool to the tag. The flowers and buttons are from my crafty stash. Below is this weeks sketch: