CCT 45 - Valentines!

It's been a while since I participated in the Cute Card Thursday Challenge, but I thought I'd give it a go.

This weeks challenge is to make a Valentines card or gift. Well, as you know, I've been in Valentines mode for the last couple of weeks, so this wasn't too difficult for me!

I've used a gorgeous Forever Friends stamps which has been coloured with copics and mounted onto red cs. The base is made up of the same red cs and a white layer which has been partially embossed with the swiss dots embossing folder. I have then added so red satin ribbon and a heart ribbon slider (which I've put on back to front!) and finished off with some red heart gems.

I have to admit to really loving this card. I just wish I hadn't shown it to my DH as I could've then used this as my Valentines card to him! The thing is though he always wants to see what I've been creating!

Thanks for stopping by and any any comments you may leave, they are greatly appreciated.

xx :0)

Two More Awards

I received two more lovely awards from Natalie last week but have only just got round to posting them.

The first one is a Hugs Award and the second is a Kreativ Award.

I would like to pass both of these awards on to Tabby, Michelle, Denise, Jo and Debby

xx :0)

More Valentines Cards

I've definitely been in a Valentine's mode the past few days as, with the exception of Natalie's birthday card, that's all I've been making! I might have to have a change now though as I've virtually used up all my favourite red and pink card!

The first two cards are very similar, just changed the embossing folder and lead colours. The image is another Forever Friends stamp that has been coloured using my copics. They are then mounted onto hearts that have been cut from the heart nestabilities.

The 3rd card is using another of my new Elzybells stamps, again coloured with copics and mounted onto this love red cs (albeit wonky!) The base is the Block Heart embossing folder onto the same red cs, finished with some red organza ribbon on opposite corners. The sentiment is also from Elzybells.

Hope you are enjoying seeing these cards as much as I am making them!

Thanks for stopping by and for any comments you may leave, they are much appreciated.

xx :0)

Happy Birthday Natalie!

It's Natalie's birthday today and I wanted to make her a really nice card to help her celebrate her day.

I know she has it now, so it's safe to post!!

I used one of my lovely Forever Friends stamps which has been coloured using my copics before being mounted on to so yellow cs. For the base, I embossed some white card using the fab Swiss Dots folder and matted this onto the same yellow cs. I added some DB brads and finished off with some yellow organza ribbon and a sentiment from Craftwork Cards.

Thanks for stopping by and any comments you may leave, they are greatly appreciated.
xx :0)

Be My Valentine?

How can anyone resist this cute lil' bear?? I am definitely loving these Elzybells bears, can you tell??

I am really pleased with how this card turned out as it wasn't how I had originally pictured it. I'm not always that good at thinking up layouts and tend to find myself looking at everyone's blogs for some inspiration. Is that cheating?

Anyway, the stamp is Teddy with Heart which has been coloured with copics, cut out and mounted with nestabilities. The layer behind has been embossed with the swiss dots embossing folder. The base is made up of red cs and core'dinations cs and finished off with some pink satin ribbon and papermania gems. The red cs has been decoratively trimmed with my Martha Stewart Lacy Doily punch. The sentiment is also from Elzybells.

After a well documented difficult 12 months, it's really nice to be back making cards and enjoying myself again. I'm starting to feel like my old self.

Hope everyone is having a good evening.

xx :0)

Busy crafting, honest!!

I have been busy since my last post and have made another card but I can't show it just yet as it might spoil the surprise for someone!!

I've been colouring in lots of images and practising with my copics. Thanks to everyone that I have emailed for question on using them properly. I have taken on board all your tips and tricks and think that I'm slowly getting there.

I don't know about you, but I've found that, even though I'll be using the same colours on matching images, the end result can still look different and I think that depends on the amount of pressure that I use when applying colour to the area. On one of my images, it looks like it's lighter in one area for the highlighting and my OH said "That looks really good, how did you do that?" My response was "I haven't a clue, I don't think I put enough colour there as it wasn't intentional!".

I do have another question for you all, but not about copics! This is for all of you who have a cuttlebug! I love my bug and use it loads but there's one thing that, if you'll excuse the pun, "bugs" me!! I was embossing a 13.5cm square piece of card using the fab Swiss Dots folder. The folder isn't big enough to do this all in one go. My question is this, how do you make it look like there hasn't been a break in the embossing? Whenever I have to do this, I always find that either the edge of the folder squashes a row of already embossed dots, or, in trying to avoid that scenario, I don't emboss the second section fully enough. Either way I end up with this small section that just looks wrong!! Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Anyway, I hope to have more cards to show you at the weekend. My best friend, Nikola, is coming round for a craft session, although we always seem to end up doing more talk than craft!!

Hope you're all having a fab evening.

xx :0)

First Card of 2009

You don't hear from me in ages, then get hit by 3 post's in 1 day!

I've been having a play with my new Elzybells stamps this afternoon. They are the most adorable stamps, the quality is superb and very easy to colour.

This card is made using the Teddy Heart Balloon stamp, which has been coloured with Copics (thanks to Steph for the tips on colours) and mounted onto red CS and added to the base using 3d foam pads. For the base, I have mounted some Sweet Nothings (Papermania) DP on red CS and added some satin ribbon around the middle before setting on to a white card blank. The sentiment is also from Elzybells. I finished off by adding some red gem hearts to the ribbon and some silver gemstones to the corner.

Thanks for stopping by!

xx :0)

Two Awards & Elzybells

The lovely Pam over at Handcrafted With Love has given me these two awards! The first one is the One Lovely Blog Award and the second one is The Marie Antoinette - a Real Person, a Real Award. Thank you Pam, they are greatly appreciated.

The hard part is deciding who to pass these on to. I'm meant to choose 7 people. A lot of people I would have chosen have already received this award so I'm going to choose some people who's blogs I have only just recently discovered.

Nikola - Onyx Arts

Steph - It's All About Craft

Paula - Paper Possibilities

Jeanne - Inky Paws

Maria - My Stamping Corner

Angel - Angel's Creative World

Eva - Stamp S'more

With the exception of my dear friend Nikola, the others are all part of the Elzybells Design Team and are all the reason I spent a lot of money on the new valentines releases!

Ok, the last photo shows Christmas stamps but I couldn't resist them after seeing Michelle's amazing cards! Sorry about the poor photo quality.

Right, enough talking, it's time to start crafting!

xx :0)

Yay, new craft room!

Sorry for the brief absence since my last post but I have been preparing for getting my new craft room! Ok, admittedly, it's not a whole room, but it's half of our spare room and I'm really happy! I didn't actually get to decorate it yet as work has been really manic, but it will get seen to once other priorities have been dealt with.

I've taken a few pics to show you. It's not as extravagant as some that I've seen, but it's mine all the same!

I will be adding some shelving above my desk in the near future so I can have some of my many rubber stamps to hand! The majority of them are in the top two drawers of the silver unit although I do have a drawer of unmounted stamps in the blue unit, not to mention my tote bag (not in shot) of my Forever Friends stamps!

I love the desk as it has the 3 shelves underneath where I can keep things close to hand, but not cluttering up my work space. Jon also brought me the Docrafts Creativity lamp for my desk so that I can craft in the evening without getting eye strain.

I now feel that I can get back into crafting again as I have my own little "creation station" and that is all down to my wonderful husband.

I hope everyone is having a great weekend.

xx :0)

My mate Nikola!

I would just like to take a moment to tell you about a very talented friend of mine. Nikola is an amazing artist, but just doesn't realise it! She is currently making cards using her new creations, Fern & Bracken Badger. I think she should try and see if anyone is interested in taking on her designs and turning them into stamps.

Please could you check out her blog, Onyx Arts and let her know what you think as I believe it would do her confidence the world of good.

She is also very into dragon art and is forver doodling new creations when she should be working!

Thanks.

xx :0)

New Elzybells Stamps!

Have you guys seen the new designs being released by Elzybells on Monday?!? They are just sooooo cute!!! I can't believe that I'm actually wishing the weekend away so that I will be able to get my order in on Monday morning!!

If you've not yet seen them, check out the fab sneak peeks that the DT have been working on. You can find them listed on the Elybells blog. They will be showcasing more each day, up to and including Monday's release day.

xx :0)

Blog Candy Alert!

Rach is giving away the most amazing blog candy!! If you've not visited Rach's blog before, she is the most amazing card maker and, in my opinion, the queen of Copics!! You cannot help but be inspired by her cards.

For your chance to win Rach's candy, all you have to do is leave a comment, by 10th Jan 2009 and also leave a link on your own blog.

xx :0)

Happy New Year!

I hope that you all had a fabulous Christmas & New Year! I felt thoroughly spoilt with my pressies especially when my darling husband told me that I had some crafting goodies coming in the New Year (he ordered a little late!).

New Year's Eve was kind of special as we had my mum, dad and sister with us. It wasn't meant to be that way, but their party was cancelled due to lack of numbers, so I asked Jon if they could come round here. I felt it was special that we were all here to say goodbye to 2008 which had been a horrible year for us all and to see in 2009 with all the hopes and dreams that a New Year brings. My dad also made the decision that day to take early retirement so he could stay with my mum and help her continued recovery from her illness.

So, what for 2009? Hopefully card making again! I should have my desk in the spare room in a couple of weeks so I will have my own little creation station, as well as some shelves to display some of my many stamps. I'm also going to try and make at least 1, if not 2 Christmas cards a week so that I will have a decent supply come December. I also intend to practice, practice, practice with my Copics!

Here's to a brilliant 2009!

xx :0)