Happy Birthday Liam!!! :)

It's my Son Liam's 14th birthday today! Happy Birthday Liam!! :))
I can't believe my baby is 14!! Where did the time go? I feel sooo old!! lol
Of course I made him a card from me and his dad and also one from his little sisters so thought I would post them today.
I'm useless at male cards as it is, but since these were for my son (and he is not very good at lying to me, so I would know if he didn't like them), these were much harder for me to make, so I decided I would keep them really simple and just focus on the images instead of embellishing.

I have no idea who makes any of the papers I used on these 2 cards as they were all from blogging buddies and have no writing on them, but if anyone knows, let me know and I will edit my post.
The image is an old one from Dewdrop Craftz that I got when I was on the dt there but I don't think any of their digis are available now.
I coloured it with Promarkers and used some Antique Linen Distress Ink around the edges of the image and also the papers. Added a piece of raffia and a button which was a cream colour but I coloured it with a Promarker to match the image, and some letter stickers by Websters Pages (Little Storytellers Color Garden).

 A close up of the image. I wasn't sure if Liam would like this image, but thankfully he did. it's not childish and it's not really "grown up" either, so I think it worked well. It's so difficult to get images for teenage boys though! I searched all over the net for images to use on these cards and only really found one (which I used on my other card) and ended up resorting to this old one that I already had.
There must be some good teenage boy images out there, isn't there??

Anyway, my second card I kept really simple and didn't use any embellies at all (except some alpha stickers) which is sooo not like me and I think it looks too plain, but Liam liked it and that's the main thing.

I used a Mo's Digital Pencil image, which I just had to buy because this is just exactly like my son!! I mean he doesn't look like the boy in the image, but he is always playing his xbox 360 and he room is always a mess!! lol he even laughed when he saw this card and said it was just like him.
Again not sure of the papers. I coloured the image with a mix of Promarkers and Copics (I was very lucky and got a few Copics the other day!! I mean not enough to colour a whole image with, just a few, but it was great to use them again, I have missed my Copics so much!! lol).
The stickers are the same Websters Pages from before. I never ever use stickers on my cards, or any of the chipboard alphabets etc but I kinda like these and they are in nice boy colours :)

A close up of the image as usual. The res was done with Copics (I only have 2 reds, so was a bit hard to do any shading) and I also did the hair with Copics ,but everything else is Promarkers.

Ok I'd better get going as I have a birthday boy to see too and I have to go take him shopping, although I have been ill the last couple of days and still don't feel too good, so I really can't be bothered doing anything, but it's his birthday and he wants to go into town so guess I better get moving.

Wags n Whiskers a male birthday

It's time for another Wags N Whiskers challenge and this fortnight the theme is Masculine Birthdays.
I was dreading this challenge for a while because I don't like making male cards, but I got stuck in and made it, and actually the experience wasn't too bad! lol
I actually made this card about 5 weeks ago and forgot I had made it until I looked at the WnW dt group the other day to see what I had to make and saw my card in a folder lol.
I must admit, I'm really not pleased with this card at all and I wish now that I had made another one because it just doesn't do the cute image justice.

Sorry about the rubbish pics, this dreary days and my rubbish photography skills make for very poor pics!!
The image I have used is of course a Wags N Whiskers, and is called Go for Goal, he's such a cutie :)
I coloured him with Promarkers as usual.
The checked paper is from K&Co Hopscotch pad that I have had forever! and I found the football one in a pile that was given to me a while back by one of my blogging buddies, I think it is Forever Friends but I could be wrong. I thought it tied in nicely with the image.
Now I always get stuck when it comes to embellishments for male cards, so I kept it really simple.
I just stamped the sentiment (think it was from a hot off the press stamp set) and then cut the ends to make it into a banner and used some funky staples to attach it to my card, and added some ribbon in the same way.
I won a blog candy a few months back at Brenda's blog (floral fantasies) and in it was an EK Success Fastenater with a pile of staples for it in all different colours and patterens.
This was the first time I have used it, but I think it's great for male cards if you are like me and don't know what to add to them, but there is also loads of girly patterned ones too, so will have to use it a bit more often.
It was a bit of a pain to get the staple thing to go right through my ribbon and the card, but I got there eventually. Think next time I will try it on something not so thick and see how it goes.

 As always, there is a chance to win a WNW rubber stamp and you don't have to use WnW's images for the challenge, but if you do, you will be put into the draw to win a digi stamp too.

 Thanks so much for stopping by

A Little Bit of Love

As promised, I am back with the card I made for By The Cute and Girly challenge, where the theme is "Love Is All Around". As valentines day is now past, most people want want to be making valentines cards and gifts (unless you are super organised and want to be ready for next year! lol), but you can make anything you like, it doesn't have to be a valentines card.
I made my card a few day ago, so I was still in red and pink mode.

I followed the sketch over at Sketch and Stash and used this Pink Cat Studio image which I have had for goodness knows how long. I don't know if I have ever used this image before but I have had it for as long as I can remember, so it was about time I coloured  her up!
As ususal, I coloured with Promarkers.
I only used one sheet of designer paper, it was double sided so I just used both sides, but I got it from a lovely blogging friend and don't know who makes it, but it was perfect for this challenge.
The sentiment is also really old. It's a digital freebie that I got along with a pile of other ones, but I can't remember where from. If anyone knows, please tell me so I can give credit to the designer.
The sketch has a scalloped border underneath the strip, but I don't have any border punches now, so had to make my own (I would of never thought I would miss my border punches so much, but I really miss them and will have to get more soon!).
I just used a Stampin Up scalloped oval punch, cut out a few ovals then cut them all in half and stuck them to the back of my card.

 I hope you will take the time to join in with this months challenge. You can enter with any craft you like and there are some fab prizes to be won!

I won't be around tomorrow as I will have no internet access because there is work being done by the electricity people and we have been told that we will have no electricity for the whole day!
Not really what I need when we have 3 reptiles who need heat, and one of them needs UV light! This also means that I can't feed them until they have been heated up as they can't digest food without heat, so I will have 2 hungry leopard geckos and a baby bearded dragon tomorrow!! :(
Hopefully they get finished quickly and they don't get too cold while the electric is off! I will just have to make sure I have some hot water bottles on standby!!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Digital Tuesday- Use Your Scraps

It's time for another Digital Tuesday Challenge and this week it was my turn to choose the challenge.
Since I lost a lot of my craft stuff a few months back, I have been trying to use up my scraps, so that I can make the papers I have last a bit  longer lol, so I chose "use your scraps" as the challenge this week.
I have loads of scraps off of 12x12 papers and some of them are big enough to cover a whole 6x6 card, but they always get forgotten about, so for this card I had a good rummage about in my scrap box and was surprised at the amount of usable scraps that I actually have! (I know that every little scrap is usable in some way, like using them to punch out shapes etc, but I mean usable as in they are big enough to make card layers with).

Our sponsor this week is Spesch Stamps who very kindly let the design team chose an image each to work with again. I love the weeks that Tracey sponsors because she is always so generous and lets the design team chose an image and her images are fab! :)
This time I chose Lidia and I actually coloured her up twice because I enjoyed colouring her so much:) I have another card almost completed with her, so I will post that one another day, but for now, here's the one I did for Digital Tuesday.

 Sorry about the poor pics, I had to take them last night because my camera needed charged during the day when I was planning on taking pics.
I went for a colour combo that I very rarely use these days, but I do love these colours. I am not sure about the striped paper, but the others are by Papermania. I wasn't sure about the darker one, but I matted the layers with dark purple paper (although it doesn't look purple in this pics!), so I think it works ok.

I coloured the cute image with Promarkers as ususal, used some flowers, lace, ribbon and a little butterfly from my stash and the pretty embroidered leaves are from Little Snippets Etsy Store, but unfortunately Geraldine has decided to stop selling her embroidered embellies :( It is a lot of work for her as they are all done of material which she has to then cut around and she feels it's not worth the effort anymore. It's such a shame because all of her "snippets" are gorgeous and add something special to your cards and other projects and they look even better in real life than they do in the pics. I know if you were to buy some, you would go back for more, because they are so pretty.
The shop is closed just now, but Ger is still planning on selling her crotchet bits and also hat pins and ribbons etc, so there will still be some lovely items there :)
I am just lucky to have been on her design team and still have a little stash of embroidered snippets that I can use up :)

Well that's it from me for today. I will be back tomorrow with my mid month dt post for By The Cute and Girly, where the theme this month is Love Is In The Air. The girls already posted some fab inspiration on  the challenge blog at the start of the month when the challenge began, but we have started doing an extra post in the middle of the month to show you some more projects made by the design team, so you have plenty inspiration.
There is some fab prizes up for grabs and you can enter as many times as you like as long as it is a different kind of item each time, like a card, a scrap layout, an altered item, a tag etc. So lots of chances to win and we have 3 sponsors, so that means 3 fab prizes up for grabs again this month, from Simon Says Stamp, Joanna Sheen and Bugaboo Stamps.
I know that by tomorrow Valentines day will be past, but you don't have to make a Valentines card/gift, it could be a card just to say I love you :) It doesn't need to be valentines day to tell someone you love them, right??
We all love our family, so how about a scrap page of the family? I'm sure you crafty peeps can think of lots more ideas too :)

Thanks for stopping by today and thank you for the lovely comments you have been leaving, I do read them all and it makes me really happy to know that people have taken the time to leave me a comment even when I am being a bad blogger and not doing regular posts:)
Happy Valentines Day!! Hope you all got something lovely and are being spoiled by your other half today :)

A bit of sugar...nellie

Today I decided that I was going to go through my rubber stamps and use some that I haven't used in a long time, mainly because I don't have any new stamps lol, but also because....what's the point in buying stamps if you are only going to use them once or twice?? So I inked up some old Sugar Nellie stamps and made a few cards.

First of all I made one following the sketch at the Sugar Bowl, but I forgot that the extra option was to paper piece, and I really wanted to do the extra option (I don't know why, but even though the challenges say that you don't have to do the extra option, I always have to....I just think if someones took the time to think up the extra challenge, then why not do it :)), so I made a second card and paper pieced the image lol.

I flipped the sketch so that my image would fit better. Used Hot Off The Press papers that I got free with a magazine, and used the same papers to paper piece the image and made the flowers. I coloured the skin and hair of the image with Promarkers and everything else is paper pieced, even the tiny bow on the dolls hair, the dolls shoes,  the little bits of her belt and the pocket and patch on her trousers......think I got a bit carried away!! lol I also used promarkers to darker some bits of the paper piecing.
The flowers were made by cutting out 3 rough circles, scrunching them all up, layering and then I made a rolled flower to go in the middle. Then I took a small piece of wire and twisted it, then to finish, I added a tiny sead bead on the end of the wire.
The butterfly is from Little Snippets Etsy store.

 I am entering the above card into the Sugar Bowl challenge, but thought I would show the first one I made as well.

 I followed the sketch as it is for this one. Used some scraps of paper and some flowers from my stash and a little dragonfly and butterfly from Little Snippets. Unfortunately Geraldine has decided to stop selling the embroidered embellies in her etsy store, but she will still be selling  her crotchet items and some other bits and bobs too.

As usual, I coloured the image with Promarkers.

I have another card to show that I made for Sketch and Stash, but I will show that tomorrow.

Thanks for stopping by

Love Is In The Air

This months challenge theme over at By The Cute and Girly is "Love Is In The Air" and we have some wonderful sponsors as always :) As well as Simon Says Stamp and Joanna Sheen who sponsor us every month, we also have Bugaboo Stamps who very kindly gave the design team an image each to use for the challenge.
I made 2 cards for the first post this month and have made something else for our mid month post which will post on the challenge blog on the 15th, so today I am showing the 2 cards I made.

 First up is the one I made with a Bugaboo image. Sorry about the rubbish pic, for some reason my camera just doesn't like taking pics of anything orange or red and it always goes a bit blurry. It's probably just the photographer, not the camera but blaming my camera instead of me taking the blame sounds good lol.
I used a Valentines Critter and sentiment that comes with this image.
The papers are a bit of a mix and I have no idea who makes them, all I know is the the stripy one is the reverse of the one with the hearts.
I used some flowers from my stash (Prima's and some satin ones), some satin ribbon from Little Snippets and just cut the sentiment into a heart shape, freehand because I don't have a heart die or punch and inked the edges.

And here is my second card that I made for the challenge.

 I used Hanglar images for this one and some DCWV papers. I had already coloured and cut out the little girl, and then decided that I wanted something for her to sit on, so I just cut out the other image and stuck her on top with foam pads instead of masking and stamping like I normally would.
I used a heart doily and got a bit carried away with colouring bits of it! I thought it might look nice if I went around the edges with a Promarker in the same colour as I used for my image, and got a bit carried away and coloured around some other bits too lol.
I used some Prima flowers from my stash (which I forgot I had because I never ever use the small ones), a little rose, some paper flowers (which are layered with Primas on the bottom flower), some gems, a pearl brad and a Tim Holtz adage ticket.

 Unfortunately I didn't have enough Promarkers in this colours to shade properly but I think she doesn't look too bad! Just pretend she is beautifully coloured! lol

Thank for stopping by and I hope you will pop over and check out the challenge blog to see what the other girls have been up to.