Clare Curd challenge

Just a quick post tonight with a card a done for the Clare Curd sketch challenge.
I don't have any of Clares signature range so I used Laura Ashley papers and made my own flowers. The brads are from papermania and the flower stamp is Studio G. Not sure about the sentiment. I pretty much followed the sketch except used flowers instead of circles.
Right I'm off to get ready for bed now.
Hugs Lora

Sketch Saturday #40

A very girly pink card today for Sketch Saturday. The whole card is made with the Smirk range from Trimcraft. I told you all I would have to resort to using my Daughter Rhianna's papers lol.


She came in today after being in town with her Dad and caught me using them. She was not a happy girl and told me I better not use any more! Think I better get some more papers for myself !!


I think I went a bit overboard with the pink but my 2 girls like it so I guess it will be good for a little girls birthday.


The only thing I added that wasn't Smirk was the little square pink gems, glitter on the balloons and lollypop on the image (I don't know if you can see it here) and some lace from my stash.


I think these papers are really good for little girls cards. Although I bought them to keep Rhianna out of my stash (quite ironic since it's me taking from her little stash lol) I like quite a few of them and most of them are either glittered or foiled. The little stamps are quite cute too. Rhianna has 5 of them, and the one I used here also belongs to her.


Well thats the card done, now I can tell you about my news.


I went and done some blog hopping today and noticed the winner had been announced over at One Stop Craft Challenge for challenge #17 so had a look and guess what........ I won!! I can't believe it. I made the card yesterday and it only took me about 5 minutes! I can't say I even like the card very much but I entered it anyway. I think I have learned now that even though I don't like something I make, someone else might.
I phoned Barry who was in town with my 2 girls to tell him I had won the challenge and the prize was some oriental stamps then put the phone down and went looking at other blogs, and noticed I had also won some stamped images from Donna's blog candy too!! She only had one candy but decided to pick 3 more people to give some stamped images to, and I was one of them.
How lucky am I? Two prizes in one day and my first blog award yesterday. Things are looking up, maybe I will win the lottery tonight. Ok maybe not since I don't even play it lol.

Thanks for stopping by today. Please leave me a comment to let me kinow you have been, even if it's just to say hello, I love reading them all.

Hugs from a very happy Lora x

One Stop Craft Challenge #17

My 3rd post today!!

I made this card for the one stop craft challenge and forgot to put it on here when I posted my other challenge cards.

The theme this week is oriental

I'm sorry about my scanning skills, they are really rubbish and I always end up with the card being squint. I have to get a new camera.

This is the easiest and quickest card I have ever made. I only took me a few minutes to make. I used a Kanban topper sheet which I got in the surprise box of stuff I bought from Artymiss. I don't normaly use toppers like this or buy any of these sheets but as I already had it, I thought I might as well put it to good use.

Everything is off the same sheet except the paper which is from the Laura Ashley traditional pack. You even get the little paper charms which I just attatched with a piece of wire.

Well thats me for today, you must all be sick of me by now so I'm off to do more crafting :)

Hugs Lora x

Challenge cards

I have made 2 cards today for challenges.



The first one I followed Dawnys fab sketch at Papertake Weekly, and also used animals which is the theme at both Cute Card Thursday challenge #49 and Charisma Cards challenge #8, and I used stripes on my card which I think qualifys me for Ooh -la-la challenge #29.



This is the first time I have ever combined 4 challenges in 1 card but to be honest, I didn't realise i had until after I made it following Dawnys sketch.I coloured in this image which I got from one of the ladies in the Yahoo Just Cards group a while ago with my Marvy markers, and have been waiting for the chance to use it. I think it is really cute.


The stripey paper is k i memories, the flowery paper on top is 7 gypsies and the orange mat that you can just see a tiny bit of is a Fancy Pants paper. I made most of the flowers myself with handmade paper and inked the edges. The rest are from my stash as is the brads and the metal flower.





My second card is for the House Mouse Challenge which is Mothers Day and I used Laura's sketch over at 2 sketches 4 you.

I coloured the image with Marvy markers again, and cut round it because my 5 year old Daughter Rhianna decided she would help me colour it and went over the edges a bit lol.
The papers are a double sided sheet from fancy Pants. I cut the brown/gold stripe down the middle with a pair of deckled edge scissors and punched tiny hearts all the way along (I really need to get some border punches to save me time!).
The crochet ribbon is from John Lewis and the sentiment was done on the computer.
This card is very different to my normal style but I think I quite like it :)


Thanks for stopping by today
Lora x

My first blog award!

I got such a nice surprise this morning. Donna who I met on a Yahoo group has gave me this award.






This is my first blog award and it really made my day.

Now, if I have got this right, I can pass this award on to 5 other people. If Donna had not got one of these I would of passed it on to her. If you have never been to her blog Indiana Inking , you should go check it out, she is very talented.
So the 5 people I am going to give it too are

Rach at papercrafts*byrach I visit her blog every day and just can't get enough of her beautiful creations.

Dawny at Pink Piggy I have been following her blog for a while now. Her cards are gorgeous.

Nikki at Bunny Zoes Another blog I follow religiously. Love her work.

Bev at All the things I love I love everything she makes. She uses the most beautiful flowers on her cards. I really want some of the crochet flowers and also the beautiful spacers she uses. I can dream lol

Meda at Handmade by Meda I met her on a Yahoo group. She is on the DT for the Cuttlebug challenge and makes beautiful cards and invitations with her cuttlebug.
There is so many more people I would of liked to pass this award on to but these 5 people are the blogs I have been following most at the moment.
Thanks again Donna, I really do appreciate you thinking of me :)

Back later with a card.
Hugs Lora

Cuttlebug be inspired card and my disaster!!

I got some time today to do a card for the cuttlebug be inspired challenge #20. This is the first time in a long time that I have made a card that doesn't have an image on it. Feels weird making a card with nothing to colour in.
This weeks challenge was a sketch which I pretty much followed to the letter. I don't like this card very much but I thought I would put it on here anyway as you all know it does go wrong sometimes (ok most of the time for me lol) but it's still fun to make and I want to keep my blog "real".
I think it's the colours that have put me off it because I liked the sketch. I just thought I would do something different and not use the colours I always use.
Anyway backing paper was a free download I have had for ages, the embossed paper on top of that was in a handmade paper pack I bought in the works, I put the yellow/cream paper through my cuttlebug and used some of it to make the leafy bit which was part of the embossing that I just cut out. The just for you stamp is from a See-D's set and I'm not sure about the Birthday Wishes because I got it from a friend.
Flower brad is papermania and the flowers, ribbon and bow with charm are all from my stash.

Now I have to tell you about my disaster that happened this afternoon. My boyfriend thinks I'm off my head because I was really annoyed and upset about this but he just doesn't understand.

I thought I would be good today and clean up all my stash, so I had out all my papers and everything else on the floor putting them in piles to be put away when disaster struck........ Barry (my b/friend) made me a cup of hot chocolate and I didn't notice he had put it on the table next to me, well you can just guess what happened next!! Yup that's right I spilled it all over my designer papers and everything else I had beside me including loads of stamped images friends had gave me! I thought a lot of the stuff underneath would be ok, but nope it went on nearly everything and most of my papers are ruined :(

I did manage to rescue a few pieces and some images but a friend just sent me tons of Magnolia, Whiff of Joy and Sugar Nellie images to name a few and they are all ruined. I am heartbroken lol. Well okay I wouldn't go that far but I was really annoyed and it would just happen to be all the new 12x12 papers I had just bought the other day that were right on top of the pile and got totaly soaked!

I'm sure all you crafters can imagine how I am feeling right now but Barry found it kind of funny that I had to chuck a load of stuff in the bin while I was almost in tears. So guess who's not in my good books?

I can't even buy anymore stash for a good few weeks because the money situation is a bit tight just now. I wish some of my family or friends were crafters because I would just pinch some of their stash. But unfortunately for me none of them are interested in paper or stamps so I might have to resort to stealing my 5 year old Daughters Smirk paper stack I bought her a while ago, and make Smirk cards for a month!

Well off now to feel sorry for myself lol.

Thanks for looking today and sorry for the depressing post!

Hugs Lora

Sketch and Stash Challenge

I didn't have to do the nursery run today because my youngest Daughter had no nursery so I put the other 2 to school and spent the morning and most of the afternoon doing crafts with Chiara. She is only 3 but she knows what she wants and most of the time it is the most expensive things in my stash so she can stick them together all on one piece of card!!


I also got my card done for the Sketch and Stash challenge.
I have been trying to use some of my stamps that I haven't used for a while instead of using the same ones over and over again, so this was the perfect opportunity to dust them off and ink them up.
The challenge this week is to use 2 images and 2 flowers, there is also a sketch and you have to use something new from your stash or something you have had for ages/never used.
I used a flower fairy stamp that I got in a magazine forever ago and had never used it before, and coloured it with copics. On the picture showing you the stamp coloured in, her dress is kind of white with just a hint of colour in some places where you would shade, so I tried to only use a tiny amount of colour on the dresses and blend it in with my blender pen. Don't know if it was very effective but it was fun trying :)
The purple cardstock was put through my cuttlebug and the dp is Kanban vintage floral distress which I bought from my local craft shop last week. The flowers are from my stash and the pearl brads are from papermania which I got in my bargain box that finally came yesterday from Artymiss. Oh and the sentiment is from a See-D's Christmas set.
I hope to get a few more challenge cards done tonight so will post later if I get them finished.
Thanks for looking today and please remember to leave a comment so I don't get lonely :)

Hugs Lora

House Mouse Sketch Challenge card

I have been so busy today because it was my Son's birthday and I haven't had a chance to post my card for the House Mouse Challenge which I finished last night. So I thought I'd better get it on here now before I'm too late!

I can't believe my little boy is 11 already, wow it makes me feel old lol. He had a good day and got loads of money to buy what he wants with so he's a happy boy :)

At least he has money, unlike me who hasn't been able to buy any crafty goodies this week as I gave Liam £100 and bought him some toys for his birthday. I did buy a box of goodies from Arty Miss last week though but they haven't arrived yet :(

I thought they might arrive on Thursday or Friday so I would of had some new stash even though I had no money to go to the craft shop, but no sign of them yet. Maybe tomorrow.....I hope!

Never the mind the smile on his face when he opened his cards and pressies were well worth it :D :D

Right onto the card

I'm not very happy with the colouring on this image. The colour I normaly use for my mice has ran out. I only bought the pen about 2 weeks ago (by the way it's a copic) and although I haven't used it that much, it's dry already! So I had to use a darker brown.

Well you know I coloured with copics. The image is an old House Mouse stamp that I got in my local craft shop for £5. The stripy paper is some of my new paper made by s.e.i that my Daughter Chiara picked for me. She is only 3 but already has great taste lol. I really like this paper but at £1.35 a sheet from my local craft shop, I don't think it will be one I buy a lot of just now. Although it is a 12x12 and is double sided and glittered, so it's not that expensive I suppose.

The brown card is Bazzil basics and I embossed with the cuttlebug swiss dots folder. Buttons, crochet ribbon and charm are all from my stash.

Thanks for looking. Please leave me a comment if you have the time good or bad I don't mind as long as someone speaks to me lol.

Hugs Lora

Friday Sketchers and Birthday card

I made this card for my Son's birthday and followed the sketch over at Friday sketchers.


I an terrible at making male cards but having the sketch made it a lot easier as it was a really easy sketch to work with.


I made a few cards for Liam who will be 11 tomorrow (22nd) from his sisters and this one from me, but I only have time to upload one just now.


Liam is a typical boy who likes nothing except weird stuff lol, so I had no idea what image to use, so I hope he likes it!
He likes dragons but I don't have any dragon stamps so I had to cheat. I found this dragon image on a clip art website (can't remember where now sorry) and just made it a bit smaller then printed and coloured with my copics. The papers were also printed, I'm not sure where I got them as I've had them for ages but they were in a free download from one of the digital scrapbooking sites.
The little stars were punched with a kids punch from Tesco and I just glittered them to match the colours of the paper. The sentiment was from a Dovecraft stamp which has a butterfly on it too but I just inked up the Best Wishes with a marker to leave out the butterfly (don't think he would of appreciated a card with butterflies on it lol).
Right I'm off to bed now as the birthday boy will probably have me up very early so he can get his presents!
Thanks for looking
Hugs Lora

Pocket Card

I made this kind of card a while ago after seeing it in a magazine but had lost all the measurements, (although I could of easily made up my own). While on Splitcoast Stampers I saw it again and used the measurements they gave there.

If you want good directions how to make it you should probably check out Splitcoast because I am rubbish at trying to explain things! It is really easy to make and I'm sure by just looking at my one you could make your own sizes up.

Here's what I used. 4 1/4" x 11" blue cardstock for the base (cardholder)
3 1/4" x 5" white card for insert

1 6x6 piece of patterened pape
butterfly stamp from Dovecraft
funky thread
metal butterfly charm and flowers to embelish
corner rounder punch and decorative border punch


For the base score the 41/4 x 11 card at 51/2" and fold. score again at 1 1/4" and fold over (this will make the flap).


Round all corners then embelish the flap. I punched a border and used some flowers, funky thread and a metal charm.


Use thin double sided tape to stick from under the flap to the bottom of the pocket, then decorate with papers or stamping etc.


Stick down the flap after you have decorated the front of the holder so your paper can go under the flap for a neater finish.




All I done for the insert was use a strip of the same patterned paper, punched the top with the border punch and stamped another butterfly to match the holder, and rounded the corners.

I think this would be nice for invitations as they are so easy to make and can be decorated in so many different ways.

Thanks for taking the time to look today.

Hugs
Lora

One Stop Craft Challenge Card

I came across the one stop craft challenge blog a while ago and have ment to participate a few times but have never had enough time to do it, so I made time today to do their sketch challenge.

I wasn't getting on very well with this sketch but I think it has turned out ok. I'm not used to using so many different patterned papers so this really was a challenge for me. It was also a challenge to cut into some of my 12x12 papers which I have been trying to use more often. I normally look at one and think it would be really nice on my card then change my mind and think I will keep it for just a bit longer and use something else this time because they are so pretty I don't want to use them. I know this sounds really silly because I buy them to use them on my cards but I can't help myself lol, I just like to look at them , then put them away again. I'm sure I'm not the only one who doesn't want to use their prettiest papers though, or am I?

Anyway enough of my blabbering and onto the card.


Right, I used loads of different kinds of papers for this one. The bottom dark and light pink paper is from EK success, the one on top of that is a fancy pants paper that I used on a card a few weeks ago and the layer on top of that is an Anna Griffin paper. The square on the left is some paper I got off ebay (the woman said it was angel hair paper) and I embossed it with a cuttlebug folder. The stripe across the middle is pearlescent pink cardstock. The scalloped edge was done with a ruler I found in a pound shop, 3 for £1!! and is on normal pink card. I stamped the image of Little Miss Muffet a few times with black Stazon and coloured with copics and used a Sukura clear gelly roll pen on the writing and the spiders web (thread bit) to make it sparkle, and decoupaged her to make her skirt look like it was puffed out a bit more. Then layered it onto star holographic paper then pink card. The stars look blue here but they are actually more pink than anything. I finished it off with a few butterflies punched from holographic card and some scraps of paterned paper. The punch is from Anna Griffin.

Wow that was a long explanation. Hope you haven't fell asleep yet!
Oh by the way my other card I was in the middle of making didn't turn into a disaster, I just don't know where I've put it!! I will let you see as soon as I find it.

Thanks for stopping by today. Please feel free to leave a comment because I'm starting to feel like I'm on my own again :(
Happy crafting

Hugs
Lora

Finally back online!!

I am finally back online after days of having no internet or phone!

First my phone line was broken and I had to wait 2 days for someone to come fix it then just when I got back online AOL's server went down and I couldn't get on again for days!!

I have been totaly lost without the internet and my daily fix of blog hopping lol. How sad am I? At least it's gave me time to make some cards though.

I was on Splitcoast stampers earlier and was looking through all the projects and found a cute triangle trifold card and decided to give it a try. It was really easy so I decided to make another one but I wasn't paying attention and scored one of the lines the wrong way. I was going to just throw it in the bin but while I was looking at more of the projects I saw another card that I thought I might be able to turn it into.
I am just in the middle of making it so I will post later to let you know how it turns out, unless it's a total disaster then I probably wont lol.

Anyway heres the triangle trifold card I made.It actually looks bigger than it really is. I can't remember the exact measurements but you can find them all on Splitcoast Stampers. This is the card folded and tied.


For the card base I used lilac pearlescent card stock, Laura Ashley paper from the traditional pack (I know I've used loads of this papers lately). Then I attatched some ribbon from my stash around the card, sticking it at the back and under the layered image. I didn't stick it anywhere else so the card would be able to open properly. (see pic below)


My image is a tiny House Mouse stamp I bought 3 months ago but this is the first time I've used it and is coloured with copics. I stamped it on the same card as I used for the base and layered it onto some purple mirror card. Then added some prima flowers to finish it off.
This is the inside of the card. I have flattened it all out so you can see how the base is made. I think the base is 3 or 4 " x 11".
It is basically just 3 equal squares with the ones on the end scored diagonally.
I used the same House Mouse image inside but this time stamped it into white shimmery textured paper I got off ebay a while back and layered it on the same purple mirror card as before.
I would like to make this card in a bigger size as I never really make small cards like this, but it was a nice change.

Sorry for the long post today but I am loving being able to post on my blog again lol.
Please feel free to leave me a comment and let me know what you think of this card and remember to check back later to see if I made a disaster of the other one!

Hugs
Lora

Spoon full of Sugar challenge

Another challenge card today this time for a spoon full of sugar.


This was another easy card to make but I like the way it turned out.


I liked working with this sketch because it was quite a simple layout but had loads of scope for adding your own personal touches if you wanted to.


I followed the sketch basically as it was except for my image being smaller and adding the little flourish, but I don't think it needs anything else?
The flowery paper is from the Laura Ashley traditional pack and the blue paper is a kind of damask design I got for free off the internet a while ago but I can't remember where from. I printed it onto pearlescent paper to give it a bit of a sheen. I have printed it on plain paper before but I like it best on the pearlescent paper.
The image, sentiment and also the flourish stamps are all from a set I got free in a magazine. How cool is that!
I think the little birdies are sooo cute and they could be used for lots of occasions.
You could leave out the heart for general birthday etc or just use 1 bird for "a little birdie told me" .....etc etc


It is so cold here but at least it hasn't snowed today. There is still plenty snow lying but hopefully it will clear up soon because although the kids love it and it's pretty to look at, I hate it!
Hope it's a bit warmer where you are

hugs
Lora

challenge card

I have made this card for both the mojo monday sketch challenge and also the House Mouse challenge which was to do a valentines theme. I used spray adhesive (I hate that stuff!) because I ran out of double sided tape, and some of the edges are peeling away a little but I will fix it when I get some more tape.



I used another 12x12 double sided paper, this time from Fancy Pants, which was very appropriate for a valentines card as the name of the paper is first date.
The pink side of this paper was quite bare in the middle and had flourishes and stuff in two corners so I used the bottom right of the sheet so you would still be able to see some of the pretty pattern in the corner (I hate covering up pretty patterns lol). The strip in the middle is the other side of the same sheet and I cut a thin strip with my wavy paper cutter to add to the bottom as the sketch showed scalloped edges and around the circle but I dont have anything to do scallops with so thought waves were better than nothing. I then added some ribbon from my stash and layered up 2 prima flowers and fastened on with a brad.
The cream and mint wavy card are linen look card from my stash.
The image is a very old house mouse stamp but I still love it, and the sentiment is a stamp I got free in a magazine.
I stamped the mice onto Pink pearlescent card then coloured them with my copics and finally punched some little pink lips with a punch I got from a friend but had never used up untill now.

I'm always a bit worried about putting cards with the house mouse images on my blog for people to see because I am rubbish at colouring the mice but this one turned out not too bad :)
I will have to keep trying with my copics though because I love these stamps and have just got a couple of new ones.

Thanks for looking and please let me know what you think about any of my cards. I love reading your comments even if they are just telling me what I could improve on.

Hugs
Lora

Papertake weekly challenge card

I made this card today for the papertake weekly challenge. The challenge was to use flowers or hearts or both.
I didn't use any hearts but I did use loads of flowers!


I got this Magnolia image from a friend and I think she is so cute.


I used a ribbed gold/brown cardstock to make my card base, then cut a square of designer paper just a little smaller than the base and stuck it on then a strip of the same paper for down the middle (it's double sided), which I punched at both ends with a border punch.

I coloured my image with copics and mounted her on with dimentionals.

I wanted to use some prima flowers for this card but i didn't have any in the colours I wanted so I cut some flower shapes from a few different colours of card stock, some which were embossed in my cuttlebug and others just textured card I had scraps of, then layered them all up with dimentionals and stuck a pearl gem in the centre.
Oh forgot to say that I inked the edges of the card and dp and also the flowers with brown ink (maybe a bit much ink but never mind, it looks ok) and went round the edges of my image with the copic colours I had used to colour her after I cut it out so the white edges wouldn't show.

This was a easy card to make but I think it is my favourite card I have made so far.

Probably because I love the image and it reminds me of my 4 year old niece Regan who I don't see very often anymore. She just has the same cheeky little face (without the pixie ears of course lol) and the same hair.

I might give this to her for her birthday this year.





Thanks for looking


Hugs


Lora

Another quick card

2nd post today!


This is another card for my Father In Law (well kind of my FIL because I'm not married but you know what I mean)


I made this card with my 3 year old Daughter Chiara, so you will see all the wet glue marks lol, but it i still wet so these should dry clear. I just wanted to show it before I give it to him later today.

This was is a very simple card but it's from the kids to their Papa so I wanted to make it fun and do something that they could help with, although my oldest two deserted me so I ended up making it with just Chiara.

I used silver card as the base and added a piece of black and silver handmade paper, I don't know if you can see for the messy glue but the silver is stitching. Then I stuck a piece of zig zag embossed white card accross the card. I don't know where this came from as it was in a off cut pack I bought off ebay. It is very deeply embossed and the zig zags really stick out. I stamped the frog directly onto my card base and coloured him with Sakura gelly roll pens to make him glittery just for fun and added some glossy accents to his shades.
I had the idea of stamping the frog then placing the letters so it looked like they were coming out of his trumpet, but then my son Liam said why don't you make it a water trumpet since he's a frog, which I thought was a cool idea, so I tried to do both.
I made "bubbles" with some glossy accents then went round them with a black marker when then had dried and finaly added the letters.
The letters were plain chipboard letters from craft essentials and I double embossed them with silver embossing powder (heat it up) then coated them with glossy accents to make them shiney.
I hope you enjoyed this fun card and I really hope the glue dries on time and doesn't leave that awfull mess. (I will just have to modify the card a bit if it does lol)
Thanks for looking

Lora

I got my copics!!

I ordered some copics late Thursday night and I got them yesterday morning, how quick was that?!!

I bought a pack of the ciaos to try them out, before I invested in some of the more expensive sketch markers and I must say I do LOVE them.

I got a great deal on a pack of 20, which has most of the colours I need all in the pack, including a couple of skin tones which I really wanted, and they came in a free copic wallet too, so I'm very happy :)

The wallet holds 24 pens so there is space for 4 more, which means I will just have to buy some more to fill it up lol.

I have been colouring in some images that I was sent from some of the ladies in the just cards group (thanks girls)and I do see a big difference but I still lve my Marvy blender that I got from Andrea, from the same group.

I will be making some cards out of some of the images I have coloured and will post them over the next few days, but my card for today is something very different for me.

It's my FIL's birthday today and I made him this card using a vintage car stamp I have had for forever but have never used it. I think I got it along with some other stuff I bought from ebay.

I never make cards like this and I find it very difficult to do men's cards, so it really was out of my comfort zone. He likes vintage cars so I am hoping he will like this.

I used some handmade paper for the top half and some paper from a vintage pack for the bottom half. I don't know who makes this paper as it was left overs from a papr stack that I have had since I first started cardmaking!

I made a small slit on the card spine to thread my ribbon through, then wrapped it round my card and tied a simple knot. I stamped the image with black stazon onto some paper and layered it up with more papers all from the same vintage stack as before, which I had inked the edges of with Tim Holtz distressing ink (dried marigold) then stuck it all onto my card with dimentionals.

The Happy Birthday sentiment was stamped with embossing ink then embossed with Antique sparkle powder (Heritage Rubber Stamp Co), you can't really see the sentiment very well here but it does show up better in real life.

I haven't got a pic, but I decorated the inside and back with the same papers.

Thanks for looking

Hugs

Lora