Sarah Kay

I'm still away playing at The Hobby House lol. I have some candy to give away and if I don't get back too late tonight I will post it then, else it will have to be tomorrow.

Here's one of the workshop cards we did, Jill asked me to design a card using this image together with the papers from the Basic Grey Boxer pad to incorporate the sweet little apple charm and Bo Bunny flowers. This is what I came up with.

Recipe:
Stamp: Sarah Kay Time for Apple Pie
Papers: Basic Grey Boxer
Tools: Martha Stewart Zig Zag punch
Embellishments all from The Hobby House - Apple Charm, chain, jump rings, Bo Bunny flower, Basic Grey brads and button

Thanks for looking,

P is for Pearls and Purrfect Annie

I had originally done this card for the Simon Says Stamp challenge which was a brilliant sketch, but forgot to post it on my blog in time doh!! Luckily for me is still qualifies for a challenge what with me an my pearls lol. This weeks ABC challenge is to use pearls on your creation.
 
I've used my old favourites ... yep K&Co and Core-dinations again and thrown in some pearls for good measure. I'm scheduling a few posts for whilst I am away this weekend so will link up to the challenge when I get back on Sunday (if I'm not a stretcher case lol).

Another plain and simple inside.

Recipe:
Stamp: Charmed Delectable Purrfect Annie stamp coloured with H2O's and Distress Inks, Ticketed sentiment stamp
Papers: K&Co Hannah & Core-dinations
Tools: EK Success circle cutter, scalloped scissors, EK Success swirl punch
Embellishments: Pearls, spacer, brads, flowers, ribbon from stash
Thanks for looking,

Just Magnolia week 7 - Animals and insects

Hoo boy - another rush job from me lol. This week the challenge is to feature animals and/or insects on your card. This could be a stamped image, or a die cut, punch out, charm, button - whatever takes your fancy as long as the card has a Magnolia image on and features an animal or insect.

I've had brain freeze this week and couldn't even remember that I actually have a few Magnolia animals and insects so blindly reached for this little cutie. Well she has wings and a stripy top like a bee and I have a butterfly charm on the front and a punch out inside lol.

I grabbed these papers that have been lying on my desk all week (along with the rest of the heap of stuff lying all over the place - I NEED to tidy this craft room up big time!!). A bit of ribbon and a few flowers and job done. I love quick cards lol.

The card was so quick I didn't even finish off the inside - note to self, don't put this one away, it's not finished!!

Recipe:
Stamp: Magnolia Spring kit
Papers: DCWV Nana's Nursery Baby Girl
Tools: Stampin Up corner punch, Stampin Up slit punch (the best thing since sliced bread lol), EK Success Slim scalloped punch
Embellishments: Flowers from stash, Butterfly charm, Swarovski crystals (stuck on butterfly and on corner punch out), spacers, brads

Thanks for looking,

Miss Anya is so hot lol

I can't believe I have had these little beauties nearly 2 weeks and have not had a chance to ink them up till now. Poor babies are so neglected lol.
 
I've followed the sketch on Sketch Saturday, although I've rotated it to fit the image better. I love these MME papers - I wish now I had got 2 pads when they were on offer at Harrogate last year cos a girl's gotta have spares to stroke!! I think the sentiment is so "perfect" for her .
 
Not much going on inside - it's another rushed card, these fingers are steaming with overwork lol.

Recipe:
Stamps: Miss Anya set 2 and Ticketed sentiment stamp
Papers: MME Magnolia
Embellishments: Prima Sprites flowers, Michaels wedding confetti, Doodlebug sugared brads, large and medium spacers

Thanks for looking,

Whiff of Joy blue and brown challenge

Firstly I must apologise for still being MIA, I am almost caught up and hope to get some blog hopping done before I go down to the Hobby House for the weekend's workshops. I'm really nervous now, although Jill has assured me her customers are the best lol.

Anyway, just a quick post with my Whiff of Joy challenge card, this week we have a brown and blue colour combo, another of my favourites. I wanted to use another of the new Whiff of Joy summer kit stamps that are now for sale as individual stamps so went for "russet apples" again lol. I went with a quick and simple layout too (anything for speed this week!!) and once again my K & Co papers came to my rescue.

A simple inside (being very lavish with the papers too!!)

Recipe:
Stamp: Whiff of Joy Willow with strawberry basket
Papers: K & Co
Tools: Nestibilities labels 3, EK Success swirl punch
Embellies: Prima flowers, spacers, brads, charm, pearls

Hope to be able to schedule a few cards between now and the weekend if time allows.

Thanks for looking,

Creative Card Crew GD spot

The lovely Paula asked me a few weeks back if I would be a GD for the Creative Card Crew challenge blog. My answer was a no-brainer - the challenge is pretty flowers. As if I could say no to that (and to Paula mwah xx).  I also want to enter this card in the Charisma Cards challenge – this week it has been set by Sally and the theme is Flowers, Lace and Pearls – another no-brainer then lol.

I chose the pretty Blueberry Hill papers, lots of roses on this paper, and also used the beautiful roses from Wild Orchid Crafts together with some punched flowers. Love the colours on these papers, they are just so pretty and are so perfect for this adorable image from Charmed Delectable stamps. She's called Irresistible Annie and irresistible she sure is!

I carried the sketch through to the inside of the card again (so predictable I know!)
 
Got carried away with the photo’s again!  Thanks for giving me the opportunity to have a GD spot on your challenge Paula.

Recipe:
Stamp: Irresistible Annie by Charmed Delectable Stamps, coloured with distress inks and H2O's
Papers: Papermania Blueberry Hill
Tools: Fiskars Apron Lace punch, Martha Stewart Branch Punch, retro flower punch medium and small, EK Success swirl punch, sewing machine, Nestibilities
Embellishments: Lace from Pops (thanks hun xx), Pearls, Roses, small flat spacers (perfect for the insides of cards as they don't add any bulk to the flower)

Thanks for looking,

Whiff of Joy Summer Stamps - the singles are now available!!

Just a quick post to let you know that all the stamps that are in the fabulous Whiff of Joy / Elisabeth Bell summer stamp kit can now be purchased as single stamps via the Whiff of Joy online store.

Hope to be back later on with a card - have a great bank holiday!

Thanks for looking,

A sprinkling of wishes

Another late post from me today, I am so busy with DT work, a magazine commission and prep for the workshops at The Hobby House next weekend, if I carry on rushing around like this I am going to meet myself coming backwards lol. I took a few hours out to have a bit of fun. I needed a card for a really "girly" girl and when I saw my new Pink Gem DT stamps I knew I had the perfect image. How sweet is this little fairy! Love the Whiff of Joy Fairy sentiments too, a perfect match I think. I managed to avoid the pink and green combo (probably cos I have a pink and green DT theme going on behind the scenes and am all pinked & greened out!!

I've followed the sketch on Stamp Somethings, loved only having to use the one layer of DP, and a great sketch for the larger images. I ran the centre panel through the Cuttlebug for a bit of texture. Lots of glitter on the wings and cloud (although it's not showing up very well in the pic - there's lots of bling going on here lol)

I ran out of the yellow patterned paper and only had a sliver left so went for a plain inside with lots of punching. The sentiment is computer generated.
Recipe:
Stamps: Pink Gem Sprinkles on Cloud, Whiff of Joy Fairy sentiments
Paper: Basic Grey Urban Prairie pad
Tools: Cuttlebug, Swiss Dots folder, medium Retro flower punch, Martha Stewart monarch butterfly punch, Martha Stewart lace doily border punch, nestibilities, Martha Stewart Branch Punch
Embellishments: Flowers and brads from April bloom kit, spacers, Papermania shimmer dots, Glamour Dust


Thanks for looking,

A baby card combo and some candy

I am so late with my post today - it was our Ben's birthday party and guess who got roped in to do all the face painting (and guess who landed up with the most paint on her - yep ME!!!) I think I enjoyed myself more than the kiddies did - grandma was even boogying to High School Musical and the Hokey Kokey lol. I wonder who was the grown up and who was the kid (rolls eyes!!!).

Anyway, on to today's card - I needed a card for a baby girl so had to ink up this little cutie! How fab is that pram - love it!! I have (loosely) used Dawny P's fabulous sketch on Papertake Weekly, and the card also qualifies for (I think) ASOS (celebration) and Secret Crafter new beginnings challenges.

I have used the Martha Stewart Flourish punch again, this time to make a fancy mat. This is one very useful punch to have, especially when your largest nestie is still too small for the image. I marked the rectangle lightly to get the marks even to punch and four punches later - job done. So easy and really effective I think. Apologies for the bad photo’s the card really is white IRL and not the dingy grey that it’s showing on the photo’s.

Recipe:
Stamp: Motivet Doraline and baby carriage coloured with distress inks and H2O's
Papers: Imaginesce
Tools: Martha Stewart Flourish punch, Martha Stewart Simple Scallop border punch, Martha Stewart Branch punch
Embellishments: flowers from Crafty Feeling, ribbon from stash, Large spacers, small spacers , baby carriage charm from Rach xx

Motivet is also offering some DELISH candy - only ALL their 7 new stamps and they are just too cute! My DT package arrived this morning with all the new stamps in and I can't wait to start my Christmas cards lol! Just take a look at these little cuties then click on the picture to hop over to Motivet's blog and enter the draw - you have until 31st May to enter.

 
Thanks for looking,

New releases at Pink Gem Designs

The new June releases are arriving early and have been put on the website now ready for dispatch on Saturday 23rd May. All the new releases are here
and what little cuties they are!! Love the new Fairy Sprinkles ones, the Thoughtful Sprinkles is just so adorable!!

Thanks for looking,

Just Magnolia week 6 - Let's get in shape

Wow, another amazing response from you all this week, thanks so much for your support!!

Our challenge for this week is to make a shaped card, no square cards sadly lol). What a job I had with this card - I'm having a mojoless week this week and really struggled with this one! The paper was on, it came off, new papers chosen, those were cut out and stuck on, off they came, the next lot of papers are chosen, cut out and stuck on and off those came too! This is the 4th attempt and I don;t want to play no more!! This is as good as it gets for this week. Not even the camera would behave itself and I had to resort to using the light box (which I prefer to avoid at all costs) and go with the black background as the blossom shapes just weren't showing up at all. ARGH - this is one for the bin for sure. I'm surprised it didn't collapse when I stood it up with all the rips and tears behind the DP lol.

A very rushed inside, I had planned on stamping the image again for the inside but ran out of time - thank goodness for my trusty MS butterfly punch - thanks Jill xx

Recipe:

Tilda with Lilacs image coloured with Distress Inks and Twinkling H2O's
Papers: Basic Grey Eva
Card template from The Cutting Cafe - our sponsor for this week
Tools: Nestibilities, scalloped scissors, Martha Stewart Monarch butterfly punch , Woodware 6 petal blossom punch and Martha Stewart branch punch
Embellishments: Prima flowers, Cherry blossoms, ribbon from stash

I’ve received some awards this week but have not had a chance to post them or even acknowledge them (sorry xx). I have so much work on at the mo, both DT and at work that blogging has had to take a back seat I’m afraid. I will try and get round to visiting you all by the weekend.

First one is from Sheena, thanks hun xx

Thanks for looking,

Delectable Annie

My card today is a combo (again!!) for Sketch & Stash and ABC challenges. Love the sketch, a nice and simple one to follow, and the challenge on ABC is O for orderly - they want to see the card balanced.

I received my Delectable kit from Charmed Cards and Crafts, oh these little Annies are too adorable for words. I really struggled to decide which one to ink up first, but the stool settled it for me - she had to be sitting down. Isn't the stool just soooo delish! Love those carved chair legs lol. I can see me using this stool a lot, love it – do you believe me yet??!! I went with Basic Grey Wisteria papers, this sketch was ideal for the heavily patterned paper I think.
 
The inside, kept quite plain and simple, the paper is way busy enough lol.

Recipe:
Stamps: Elegant Annie and Stool with flowers both from Charmed Cards & Crafts coloured with distress inks & H2O's, scroll corner stamp from a Studio G set
Papers: Basic Grey Wisteria pad
Tools: EK Success Scallop border punch, Cuttlebug embossing folder, nestibilities, Martha Stewart Branch Punch
Embellishments: Flowers Imaginisce and Prima Got Flowers, Spacers, Brads

Thanks for looking,

Whiff of Joy Challenge - a sketch by Heather

Can you believe it's week 31 already for the Whiff of Joy Challenges, dear me where has the time gone!!! This week we have a fabulous sketch done by Heather, a nice easy one too.

I have used another of the darling images from the summer kit. Each one I use I think is my favourite till I ink up the next one lol. I have been stroking these Nana's Nursery papers for months and months and even broke out in a sweat yesterday when I had to cut into them - what am I like!! I stamped up some of the strawberries from the kit to mix in with the flowers for a change. They are just so sweet ... literally lol and so easy to colour.

I went for a really clean look on the inside - no way was I cutting into another sheet of the strawberry paper - that's strictly for stroking lol. I'm really happy with how the inside turned out, the white really shows off those cute little strawberries perfectly I think.

Recipe:
Stamps: All Whiff of Joy Summer kit (except for the sentiment inside which is from the Swirls and Sentiments set)
Colouring medium:
Distress inks - Tattered Rose, Antique Linen, Fired Brick, Shabby Shutters, Vintage Photo
H2O's - Jasper Red, Fern, Buttercup, Chestnut Brown,
Papers: DCWV Nana's Nursery
Tools: Nestibilities labels 4
Embellishments: Large spacers, medium spacers, brads all from The Hobby House, flowers from Crafty Feeling, ribbon from stash


Thanks for looking,

Simon Says Stamp - Magnolia Blog Candy

Simon Says Stamp has a fabulous blog candy running till 31st May - check it out here.

Would you enter your work in their blog candy contest? All you have to do is copy and paste the http address into the mr linky from your work, enter your name, and leave a comment in the comments section stating which stamp(s) you used in your creation. You will be entered to win $100 shopping spree to Simon Says Stamp from your blog post!! The random drawing will be held May 31! Don't have the stamps yet...?? Just click on one of the links above and you will be taken to our store where you can purchase them! Or CLICK HERE and you will see them all in our Simon Says Stamp store.

YES, THAT IS RIGHT! $100 SHOPPING SPREE TO SIMON SAYS STAMP!

Thanks for looking,

Colour Create & Crafts4Eternity

Found another new challenge blog (I can hear you groaning!!!) Crafts4Eternity, but it has a fab sketch this week that I just had to do. I also had to do the challenge on Colour Create this week chosen by the uber talented Kim - sky blue, tan and ecru - mmm so yummy!

I so wanted to use an image from the new Whiff of Joy summer kit but was a bit stumped with the colours - I see the kit and I see reds, greens - summery colours and def not these beautiful serene colours but I can be a determined little wotsit so persevered. It's so different from what I would normally have done with the image but I do like the softness of the colours, they go so well with sweet Willow's dreamy expression even though apples so aren't tan lol. Just seen the sentiment looks skew whiff, best go and straighten it before I forget.

I used the bowl of apples from the summer kit on the inside of the card - and again we have tan apples (humour me here please lol)

My beloved K&Co papers came to the rescue again - I have an amazing friend, Karen, who always buys me exactly what I want and need and love and this was part of my Xmas pressie from her. There was so many in the pack I can afford to be extravagant with them so I carried the layout through to the inside.

For those of you that missed out on this kit - where were you!!!! Don't despair, the individual stamps will be released later in the month, keep an eye on Katharina's blog for updates.

Recipe:
Stamps: Whiff of Joy Summer Kit (sentiment is also from the kit).
Colouring Medium:
Distress Inks - Tattered Rose (skin), Antique Linen & Faded Jeans (clothes), Vintage Photo (clothes, apples and hair), Shabby Shutters (leaves)
H2O's - Dutch Iris, Buttercup & Indian Copper (clothes & apples), Fern (leaves), Buttercup & Chestnut (hair)
Papers: K & Co
Tools: Nestibilities
Embellishments: Apple Charm, chain, jump rings, Prima Flowers, spacers, brads

Thanks for looking,