Tilda Card

It's been a while since I last made a Tilda card, so I dug out this image that I have had for a while, and not previously used. Please ignore my messy piece of white cardboard, it's what I put over my craft mat when I am colouring in :D
Also please excuse the darkness on the pics, I did have the flash on, but the light was poor this morning.

I would like to enter this card in to the following challenges please:

• A Gem of a Challenge: Sketch
• A Spoonful of Sugar: At least 2 types of textures {Sequins, Ribbon, textured papers}
• Creative Card Crew: April Showers
• Paper Sundaes: Spring Blossoms {Used yellow flowers which are a spring colour}
• The Crazy Challenge: Just add Flowers {My 2nd entry}
• DYSU: Yellow
  
• Crafty Card Makers: Recipe - Use Yellow as your main colour, Add Ribbon, Use faux/real stitching and add Rhinestones/gems. {Yellow is my main colour, blue ribbon added, real sitching used to tie the sequins together and on the slanted dp and faux stitching used on the sentiment dp, flat back self adhesive pearls used as my gems}
  

Altered Note Book

Good evening everyone.

At the moment my PC is broke :( so I have had to use my OH's PC to upload photos etc. It's really annoying not being able to do this on my own PC, but it looks like this might be the only solution until we can get me a new PC. I do have a laptop, but I really don't like working on it!
So until then, this will have to do!

Anyways, I couldn't find my old notebook that I kept details in, on challenges, so I decided to turn a tatty old note book, that I found stuffed away somewhere, in to a brand spanking new 'Challenges' notebook. I know I do have all the challenges listed in my sidebar, but I like to have something by the side of me whist I actually craft.

You will notice that I don't have a watermark on these images, that is because that is stored in PSP on MY computer lol

Note: I really hope entering this notebook in to the listed challenges are okay, but I couldn't find anything in the rules that said it was for cards only. If not, then that is absolutely fine :)

PS. Please ignore the grubby white card on the photos, that is what I use on top of my craft mat when I am colouring in lol

The before picture. Yucky! As always, click on the images to view in full.

Front.

Back.

Inside. Not the most perfect, but it will do! As you can see I removed the old ribbon marker and made a matching spotty one.

And below a few extra photos, juct click on them to enlarge :)

I would like to enter my altered note book in to the following challenges please:

• Magnolia Stamp Lovers: Use Ribbon
• One Stitch at a Time: 3D
  
• Stamptacular: Buttons, Bling & Blooms {4 white buttons, stickles on sheep's hair and tail, and flowers, prima flowers & 1 wild orchid flower}
• Delightful Challenges: Flowers
• Just Magnolia: Anything Goes with Optional use of buttons {4 buttons & magnolia image}
• The Crafty Pad: Flowers
• One Stop Craft: Spots & Dots {spots on the ribbon}
• Craft Your Passion: Anything Goes
• Pollycraft: Use old or neglected stamp or image {I've had this image in my stash for ages and never used it previously!}
• The Crazy Challenge: Just add flowers
• Papertake: Anything Goes with Optional use of something new {my spotty ribbon was brand spanking new}
• Passion for ProMarkers: Yellow and Pink {The sheep is pink with yellow hair, also pink ribbon, prima flower and wild orchid flower. Yellow prima flower also. ProMarkers used, see recipe below for colours.}
• ABC Challenge: R is for Ribbon
• Allsorts: Blooming Blossoms {2 prima flowers and 1 wild orchid flower}
• Craft Your Days Away: Spots and Stripes {spotted ribbon and striped designer paper}
• Stamp, Scrap & Doodle: Glitz {stickles on sheep's hair and tail}
• Crafts and Me: Glitter {stickles on sheep's hair and tail}

Wow, I didn't realise it was eligable for so many! Hopefully is IS eligable anyways, if not I will have to have a re-think!

Recipe:

• One dirty tatty old notebook
• Striped designer paper is Smirk
• Magnolia sheep and trees images
• Prima flowers
• Wild Orchid flower
  
• Pink spotty ribbon
• White florists ribbon
• To Do {or not to do... that is the question}, Do This ---->, This item belongs to:, and Designed by: Stamps from Basic Grey
  
• White buttons
• Stickles
• Flat back self adhesive Pearls
• Calendar tab
• ProMarkers {Cinnamon, Cool Aqua, Mint Green, Grass, Ivory, Rose Pink, Tulip Yellow and Blush}
  
• White card stock
  

Another Tilda Card

Just finished another Tilda card :)

I would like to enter this card in to the following challenges:

• Dutch Dare: Sketch
• The Secret Crafter: Girlie
• Cowgirl Up: Inspiration Picture plus buttons and ribbons {The picture was of a strawberry cheesecake, which reminded me of the pink panel I used alongside some nice lace ribbon}
• Stamptacular: Buttons & Bows {2 white buttons and a nice purple glittery bow}
• Aly's: Dots {Pink panel has dots}
• Crafty Cardmakers: Birthdays
• A Pocket Full of Posies: All that Glitters {The purple bow is totally loaded with embedded glitter! Plus the required flower as per norm.}
• Sweet Stampin: Use Favourite Stamp {So many Magnolia's to choose from! I opted for this lovely Tilda stamp!}
  

Two Cards

I've been a busy bee again.
Two new cards :)

Here is the first one, Tilda, and as you can see, I am really loving my new Nellie Snellen dies :D
Though I really need to see if I can do anything with my camera settings to make the pictures not so blurry.

I would like to enter this card in to the following challenges:

• I Love ProMarkers: Follow the sketch and no more than 3 colours {My three colours were Rose Pink, Cinnamon and Cool Grey 1, and of course I followed the sketch}
• Cupcake Craft Challenges: Distressing {I distressed the edges of the rectangular panel going down the centre}
• Delightful Challenges: Distressing {see above}
• Alota Rubber Stamps: Distressing {see above}
• Alphabet Challenge: Ovals {I used my Oval Nellie Snellen Frame Dies}
• Creative Inspiration: Anything Goes
• Sweet Stampin: Pretty In Pink
  

And finally, an Edwin card, though I am not 100% sure about this one, it feels like something is missing from it?
Ah well, can't get 'em all to be how we wanted them to be I suppose lol

I would like to enter this card in to the following challenges:

• Cards for Men: Go on an Adventure {Edwin has his cases packed and is off on a little adventure!}
• Magnolia Stamp Lovers: Use Edwin
• Craft Your Days Away: Favourites {I used my new favourite Nellie Snellen Frame Die, along with my favourite mulberry paper flowers, and of course Edwin was coloured in using my favourite medium; ProMarkers!}
• The Secret Crafter: It's A Man's World
• Cute Card Thursday - Whateva

Calendars, Stockings and Trees

Well, here are the other items I finished making a few days ago, but I didn't want to post them just incase any of the recipients saw them here first!
All have been sent out now, and most of them got them today, so it should be safe to post them!
As always, click on the images to view in better detail!

I bought the calendar tabs in March or April and since then I was struggling to decide how to use them, at first I thought maybe my son could make Christmas cards with them, then I saw the easel card and the lightbulb went off, perfect for desk calendars!
It wasn't until a few days ago that I saw quite a few other people have made them too!
Great minds think alike huh!

On the left is the first one I made ages ago, it wasn't until I got around to finishing them all off that I added the handmade flower. My son has claimed this one as 'that thing in the middle is cool!'
The middle one, maybe went to my brother and his girlfriend?
The one on the right went to William's teacher.

I think the one on the left went off to the states, and I *think* the middle one went to another Aunt. I know for certain that the one on the right was sent to my Mum.

I think the left one was reserved for my sister-in-law, and i know for certain that the one on the right was sent to my Uncle, and in his words 'they are great!'

Once again I am not 100% sure who got the one on the left, maybe my Aunt.
And the other one is sat on my desk as a spare!

I will post each one individually over the next few days with what goodies I used on each one, otherwise this post would be really huge!

All of the calendars together, laid down flat.
I think the first three on the bottom row are my favourites! But then again, I like the Smirk ones also!

My son was given this at school, to decorate at home. He had a whole week to do it, but we only managed to get it finished on Saturday night.
And here is the end result.....

I'll post the details in later as I have to go and finish off making a very special card right now!

Ooops, almost forgot.....

The tree was put up at the end of November! It is a new tree, (well, we got it in January when the sales were on), as out last tree would have been 12 this year (older than our son!), and was starting to look a bit threadbare. This tree is full of (fake) life and is nice and bushy and has no unsightly gaps between the three sections!
It is not fully decorated yet, but I will post a pic as soon as it is done and there is a little story surrounding the lights!

Catch Up

Time for a bit of a catch up, firstly a card that I just finished making, I did make a matching envelope too but I forgot to take pics before I put it inside the envelope to be posted lol
I used my own sketch for the layout.
The card itself is for my younger brother who has just moved out of home and into his own flat with his girlfriend.

The front, I used all new goodies (see below), on this card.

The inside with one of the new papers I got :)

A side view (before I put the flowers on it, because I only just remembered about them after I took this picture lol
As you can see I printed out the digital stamp 4 times (it has 1 dog and the house, but as it was for a couple I thought it would be a nice touch to add a second dog). I popped up the original dog and the ladybird then I also popped up the second dog along with the sentiment, which I hand-wrote and then I finally popped up the whole image from the card. I also drew a little bow for the second dog
I coloured with Whispers brush markers and chalked the sky and added a little chalk to the grass also, so it blended a little above the 'grass lines' and around the flower heads.

The sketch I made and used for this card.

And finally, some more goodies that arrived in the post a few days ago all from madaboutcards.co.uk
6x6 'Secret Garden' papers by Papermania (£1), 4x Fabric Flowers (40 per pack @ 50p each!), 4x Duo Snag 'Em stamps (50p each!), 3x Sticky Ribbons, 1x Black Ink, x2 ATC Backgrounds, Kimono Decoupage sheet, 2x Double sided tape, 2x Music Embellishments, Miniture Oriental Postcard embellishments

What a bargain too, everything was either 50p or £1 and the sale is still on so get yourself over there!


Card Recipe:

• Card Stock
• 6x6 'Secret Garden' paper pack by Papermania
• 'Welcome to my Home' digital stamp by Elizabeth, available here from Softpencil on Etsy
• Butterflies & Flowers Sticky Ribbon by Papermania from stamps.co.uk
• Fabric Flowers
• 3d Foam Squares
• Whispers Brush Markers
• Faber-Castell Chalks for the sky, grass and her cheeks. Colours used were; 146 (sky blue), 101 (white), 141 (delft blue), 171 (light green), 280 (burnt umber), 188 (sanguine) and 182 (brown ochre)
  
• Double sided tape
• Scoreboard
• Bone folder
  

Thank You Card made by my Son :)

I thought I would share this card that I helped my 10 year old son to make for his Great-Auntie Sandra, to say 'Thank You' for the watch she gave him, which belonged to my Uncle Steve before he died last month.

As always click on the images to enlarge :)

The card along with the matching envelope that I made.

Close up of the card.

A better shot?

And the envelope.


Recipe:

• White card stock
• White paper stock
• 'Girl with Flowers' digital stamp by Elizabeth Pujalka from Softpencil on Etsy
• Papers including the paper to make the envelope from The Big One by Clare Curd available from Stamps.co.uk
• Tags from Papermania's Designer Shapes from madaboutcards.co.uk
• Brown Ribbon from the Papermania Couture Brown Ribbon pack
• Green Ribbon from the 'Naughty but Nice' Smirk Embellishment Tote from madaboutcards.co.uk
• Butterflies from a 'Butterflies and Hearts' pack I picked up from a local craft store
• Standard colouring pencils
• Faber-Castell Chalks for the sky and her cheeks. Colours used were; 152 (middle phthalo blue), 146 (sky blue) and 119 (magenta hell)
• Diamond Stickles from madaboutcards.co.uk from edirectory.co.uk

Also I received my latest bacth of goodies that I ordered a few days ago, which I can't wait to get using :)

A5 Watercolour Pad (from artdiscount.co.uk), Reeves Watercolour Tube Set (Just £4.49 from artdiscount.co.uk) and a Fiskars Paper Crimper from (Amazon.co.uk) which I specifically got for next years birthday cards after seeing this tutorial from splitcoaststampers.com

Altered Notebook

I altered this notebook before I went to Leeds to visit family last week.
It was kind of a rush job, which is why it isn't as pretty as it should be ;)
Anyways, I just kinda made it up as I went along, but I did take photographs along the way so I thought I would share it with you.
As you can see I made it to take notes in about my family tree as I have been researching it for a while now.

I used an A6 £1.49 spiral notebook from Sainsburys.

Flip to the back of the notebook and take the back cover off.

Then go to the front and take the front cover off. (You have to take the back cover off first to be able to get the front off).

Ribbon is optional.

Adhere ribbon to the inside of the front cover. I used double sided tape.

Do the same to the back cover, then hide messy part by adhering white card over the whole covers. I used a regular hole punch to punch out the holes.

Pick out your papers and adhere to the outside covers, you can also adhere to the inside covers too like I did. I used papers from the Laura Ashley Traditional collection designer pack.
Then when you are done with adhering the papers onto your covers, put the front cover on first, swivel the spiral around then put the back cover back on.

Embellish as you wish. I used the scallop border of this Fiskars shape template on another Laura Ashley Traditional sheet of paper.

I then stamped a pattern on to some card stock along with some papershapes from Papermania and wrote 'family tree notes' and inked around the edge of the panel.

As I said, it's not the prettiest of notebooks, but it serves a purpose.


Recipe:

• A6 Spiral Notebook from Sainsburys.co.uk
• Laura Ashley's Traditional papers from ArtyMiss.co.uk
  
• Ribbon from a box of Thornton's chocolates lol
• Floral Foam Stamp from Papermania
• Paper shapes from Papermania
• Whispers ink (Will look up the exact colour later) from madaboutcards.co.uk
  
• Whispers Brush Marker Pens from ArtyMiss.co.uk
  
• White card stock
  
• Double sided tape
• Fiskars Shapes Template from Amazon.co.uk
  

Recipes for Previous Cards

Here are the recipies for the cards I posted on 29th July.
Most links link directly to the product.


Card One (Brother Card):

• Card was a free sample from stamps.co.uk
• Dark blue stock paper
• White card stock
• See D's So Big Alphabet stamps
  
• Rainbow Sparkle Embossing Powder (No longer available from where I got it from)
  
• Self-Adhesive Foam Numbers from stamps.co.uk
• Diamond Stickles from stamps.co.uk
• Small gem embellishments from 5mm Round Coloured Gems pack from madaboutcards.co.uk (Often out of stock, gotta be quick to get these!)
• Anita's Narrow Blue Organza Ribbon from madaboutcards.co.uk
• Papermania Foam Stamps from ???
• 'Hand Stamped by....' stamp from madaboutcards.co.uk pound shop
• Gluegun
  
• Black ink
• Whispers Black pen
• Silver pen
  
• Craft Knife
• Anita's Tacky Glue Glue from madaboutcards.co.uk

Card Two (Balloon):

• White card stock
• Red paper stock
• Balloon Template FREE download from timeforcrafting.co.uk (I scaled it up quite a bit and my son didn't use it as a card shape, instead *he* rounded off the flat edge)
  
• Printable 'Happy Birthday' backing paper from madaboutcards.co.uk
• Self-Adhesive Foam Numbers from stamps.co.uk
• See D's Birthday Words Collection? (It came in a set)
  
• See D's Birthday Collection? (It came in a set)
• Anita's Narrow Blue Organza Ribbon from madaboutcards.co.uk
• Diamond Stickles from stamps.co.uk
• Scrap piece of red ribbon
• Stock silver glitter
  
• Black Ink
• Red Ink
• Whispers brush pens
• Funky Scissors to create the jagged edge effects from madaboutcards.co.uk
• Anita's Tacky Glue Glue from madaboutcards.co.uk

Mini Box Project:

• White card stock
• Black paper stock
• Blue paper stock
  
• Inner backing paper all from a 2x12 Colossal Border Strip pack from madaboutcards.co.uk
• See D's So Big Alphabet stamps
• Powder Blue Sparkle embossing powder
  
• Star Embellishments from a local craft store
• Diamond Stickles from stamps.co.uk
• Photograph printed from PC
• Small gem embellishments from 5mm Round Coloured Gems pack from madaboutcards.co.uk (Often out of stock, gotta be quick to get these!)
• UR 21 Plastic Number Plate embellishment from madaboutcards.co.uk
• Anita's Sticky Ribbon - Check/Tartan from stamps.co.uk
  
• Self-Adhesive WhiteSticker
• Happy Birthday Stamp from a See D's collection
• Red Foam sheet from madaboutcards.co.uk
• Anita's Tacky Glue Glue from madaboutcards.co.uk
• Heatgun
  
• Metal Paperclip
• Blue Ink
• Red Ink
  
• Black Whispers brush pen
• Red Whispers brush pen
• Scoreboard and bamboo folder
• Silver tag (source unknown)
• And a cheque ;)
  

Card Three (Mother's Day):

• Part of a kit that is no longer available. I have the same card available for sale for just £2.90 including P&P (UK only) leave a message if you are interested with your e-mail address.

Card Four: (Get Well Soon):

• Green pre-folded card from local craft store
• Red paper stock
  
• Petals made from various papers from the Creative Tones pack and the 'Love' pack from the Colossal Paper Pack collection from Papermania. The packs my son used from the Creative Tones collection were; 'Amethyst Infusion', 'Antique Cream', and Venetian Skies'
  
• 'Pot' made from a sheet of paper from the Simply Elegant Colossal Paper Pack from Papermania
  
• Impress Machine
• Impress Upper Case Italics die cuts
• Anita's Tacky Glue Glue from madaboutcards.co.uk
• Diamond Stickles from stamps.co.uk

Birthday Goodies

It was my birthday on Monday (27th), so I thought I would share some of the awesome handmade cards I got!

Since I started making my own cards, it seems all of my family have followed suit!
Which is a great thing, not only does it mean that people get great homemade cards, it means that we are saving money and the environment too!

My awesome Uncle has tonnes of crafting stuff though he tends to stick to PC CD Rom programs to make his cards, which is cool too!

As always click the images to view in full size.

The cards my Uncle made from himself and my Aunt. Thank you!! xxx

My Mum also started off card making using PC CD Roms, maybe a year or so after I started making my own. She has since progressed to making her own using various media and quite recently she has purchased some stamps and inks, though I do not think she has used them yet.
She doesn't often buy kits, as it is more cost effective not to, but she saw a set of kits on QVC and thought one of them would be perfect for my birthday!

The middle one is an awesome Elvis card that my Mum made from her and my Step-Dad. I am a total Elvis fan, so I was very pleased to receive this. It is a découpage card :)
The card on the right is from my little brother, which, I believe was his first time at making his own card! Usually my Mum makes his lol (The same brother who features in the post previous to this.)
The card of the left is from one of my other Aunt's. She started making her own cards 2 or 3 years ago!
Thank you to all!! xxx

Close up of Elvis!

I did get mostly money for my birthday, which I don't mind at all!
After using some of it to buy a subscription to genesreunited.co.uk as I have recently picked up my other newish hobby of family research again, I bought some craft goodies, as I hadn't bough any since about March (ain't I good???) and as there was a sale on, it would have been rude not to ;)

I got; The Big One by Clare Curd (200 sheets of awesome papers), Paper Shapes (which I thought would be great for my son also), Couture Ribbons, 4x different Clangers backing papers, 4x different Looney Tunes backing papers, 2x different Scooby Doo backing papers, 2x Sets of Clangers découpage kits (4 in total), Masking Tape, Oriental Spice, Colossal Strips (only bought them as a tester really, to see if it was nice enough to buy a large pack, and for 50p you can't really complain, and yes, they are quite nice really!), 2x Message Tags, 2x Jolly Nation découpage kits (Movie Star Lady and Movie Star Man), 3D Birthday Stickers, Anita's Calendar Tabs for 2010 (which I plan for my son to make into New Year Cards for family - any tipos on how to use them are most welcomed!), Assorted Craft Wire, White and Clear Beads, See-D's Magical Christmas stamps (£1!!!!), See-D's Personal Labels stamps (£1!!!!), Marie Curie Daffodil Stamp (50p COME ON!), and 2x Vintage Bauble Ribbon Stickers (1 blue, 1 red).

My next purchase will be a paper crimper, as I really want to make some of these cool Crimped Envelope Pocket Cards (Tutorial available here) for maybe next years birthday cards!

Also for my birthday I got this tiny but cute plant! After some research I found that there are several different ones to collect and take care of. You only need to water them (by dipping the bottom into a bowl of water for a few minutes), every four weeks or so. Then when it is fully grown (after 4 - 6 months), you can tranfere it into a bigger pot, though I haven't quite figured out how to get it out of the casing yet, though I have plenty of time to find out still! You can read all about Pet Plants here. The one I have is Xing, which means Happiness and is symbolised by the Finger Plant.

And finally, I seriously need to have a sort out with my craft stuff and the boxes I keep them all in! I have a couple of spare boxes to put my goodies in, I just haven't got around to doing it yet lol
I think I will have a sort out in the next week or so after I have made all of September's birthday cards, which I will be starting very soon!