Birthday Card

Hello fellow bloggers.  I hope you are all ready for the New Year?  It will be a quiet night in our house as we will be trying to calm our beautiful greyhounds down during the fireworks that will inevitably go off at midnight.

My 'boss' over at Crafty Cardmakers has recently celebrated her birthday so I thought I show you my creation for her as she is in one of the same birthday swaps as me over at Craft Telly Forum.  Now I know she received it safely I can finally post it here.

The background image was printed on my computer and I added some sparkly glitter to give it some bling.  The flowers were made by me and the edges pressed into a Versamark pad and embossed with silver powder.  The swirlies were made using my Cuttlebug and the greeting is a peel off (something I use very rarely these days).

This is a close up of the flowers:

I had great fun making it and I'm sure that Lin appreciated it.

All that's left is for me to wish you all a very happy, healthy and prosperous 2012 and I look forward to reading your comments and visiting as many blogs as I can do in the coming year.

Love,

Beth. xxx

Thank You Cards

Hello fellow bloggers!  I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and didn't over-indulge on the food and booze?  I have to say that I really did eat far too much at lunch yesterday and have just eaten a mountain of leftovers so I'm feeling rather stuffed right now!  However, one of my traditional Boxing Day activities is to write my thank you cards.  It's something I've done ever since I was a child and it's stayed with me ever since, although these days I actually make the cards as well, of course.

I don't really like making bulk lots of cards so I try to keep the design as simple as possible and this year's design is shown below:

The cards are made using embossed pearlescent card made with my Cuttlebug which I stuck at the bottom of a DL card.  A strip of ribbon was attached just above this and then a simple embellishment to complete the decoration.  The 'Thank You' is a peel off sticker from Anita's range.

Enjoy the rest of your Christmas festivities and please feel free to leave me a comment.

Love,

Beth. xxx

50th Birthday Card

Hello fellow bloggers.  Just a quick post to show you a card I made for the wife of one of the guys I work with who is celebrating her 50th birthday soon.

Most of the card was created in Publisher and just printed out.  The swirlies are from a Creative Expressions stamp set called Strings of Bling which I stamped onto the card and then glittered.  The flowers are created using a punch and finished with a gemstone in the centre.

I think it is a very pretty card and I'm sure she will like it.

This is probably going to be my last blog post before Christmas so I would like to take this opportunity to wish all my followers and visitors a very merry Christmas and a happy, healthy and prosperous 2012.

Thank you all for your comments and I look forward to more blogging next year.

Love,

Beth. xxx

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge 58 Use It Three Times

This month's challenge at Crafty Cardmakers has been chosen by Tracy and her theme is 'Use it three times'.  Use the same stamp/image three different ways.  It could be the background, main image and a tag for example. Using different colourways is another option, or, even, as some of our DT have done, three different cards or the same image three times on one card.

Sadly this is the last challenge where we will be sponsored by the lovely Joanna Sheen and we would like to thank her for her sterling support of our challenge blog.  Please take advantage of your last chance to win a £10.00 voucher to be spent at Joanna's wonderful online store which is crammed to the gills with gorgeous goodies!  Thanks for everything, Joanna!

Next year we will back with some exciting new Sponsors as well as our regular ones, One Stop Card Crafts and The Stampman.

Anyway, onto my card for this challenge.

This time I chose to make a CAS card using a sweet little digi-stamp from Pink Petticoat which I printed directly onto my card.  I added just a touch of colour with my Promarkers and a pretty border layered up with some copper coloured mirri board and a strip of green velvet ribbon.  Three tiny pearls which I coloured in the same shade of green Promarker complete the ensemble.

For more inspiration, please visit our DT's blogs (links on the right hand side of this page) or the Crafty Cardmakers blog and, whilst you're there, add your entry because, as the saying goes, you've got to be in it to win it!  

Good luck everyone and have fun :-)

Hugs,

Beth. xxx

Kanban Fashionista Stamps

Hello everybody.  I hope you are all well and getting ready for Christmas?  It's a busy old time for all of us and crafting seems to take a back seat, doesn't it?

I have a colleague at work who's birthday is on 2nd January, which is before we have to go back after our Christmas break, so I have to remember to be well prepared so she can have her card before we finish work.  I'm not usually very organized, but this year I have managed to get things sorted well in advance, just for a change!

I created this card using one of Kanban's Fashionista range of stamps.  This particular image is from the 'Vivienne' set.  It is stamped onto Clarity's stamping card and coloured in with Promarkers.  The dress itself has been slightly decoupaged to give some dimension to the card.  I've added some faux stitches around the edge to give it a feel of a dressmaking theme.

This is the dress in closer detail:

I seem to be going through an orange phase at the moment.  I think it looks quite dramatic against the black though and makes a change from red and black.

I hope you all enjoy the rest of your weekend and if you drop by, please leave a comment as they always make me feel good :-)

Love,

Beth. xxx

I have entered this card in the latest challenge at Fashionable Stamping Challenges ~ Challenge #10 ~ Dressmaking/Corsets/Accessories.  I am hoping that it qualifies as I suppose it's not strictly speaking a dressmakers dummy, but perhaps they will think it's close enough?  Let's hope so anyway!

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge 57 Heat Embossing

Our challenge this time at Crafty Cardmakers is hosted by Josephine and she chose Heat Embossing.  You can do anything you want as long as it includes heat embossing.

We are kindly sponsored for this challenge by The Stamp Man (and Lady, of course!) who are offering the winner the wonderful prize below:

Starburst Stains Brush On The Fun - Holiday Wreath

Sadly I'm not eligible to enter, but you can, so why not give it a try?  There's nothing to lose and some delicious goodies to win!

Here is the card I came up with for this challenge:

For my creation I used a wooden stamp that I found whilst rummaging around for something else!  I used Versamark to stamp onto Clarity cardstock and embossed with Cosmic Shimmer Bright Gold embossing powder. I then layered the image onto some plain black cardstock and another layer of gold card I had in my stash.  For the base card I used an A4 sheet of plain black card folded in half.  I then embossed one corner in the same powder using one of my favourite La Blanche foam stamps.  To finish off the card I added a pink satin ribbon tied in a simple bow.

Here is a close up of the embossing:

I really like the finished card and I hope you do too?

One more thing, we are running the DT call again for this challenge.  If you wish to be considered (and I encourage you to try as we have a fabulously friendly DT) please add DT after your name when you enter your submission.

Good luck everyone, and have fun!

Beth. xxx

I have entered this card in the Fashionable Stamping Challenges - #9 - I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas

Playing with my Promarkers

Good morning, bloggers!  I hope you're having a lovely Saturday?  The weather here is grey and damp, so I thought I'd have a play with my Cool Grey Promarkers as I don't use them as often as I should do.

I was inspired to make this image by the lovely Nikky Hall over at Polka Doodles and used her Be Neighbours clear stamps for the image.  I stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black ink.  My colouring is definitely improving and, whilst it's not up to Nikky's amazing standards, I'm very pleased with this.  My only problem now is what to do with it!  I expect I'll eventually make a card from it, but for now I've propped it up on my shelf in the hope that it inspires me to do more and better things using my Promarkers.

I'm off now to have another play.  I hope you all enjoy the rest of the weekend and hope to see you soon.

Hugs,

Beth. xxx

Simply Gorjuss!

Hello everyone.  I hope you are all feeling good and having a great week?

I've got a couple of days off work so thought I'd have a play with some new Gorjuss stamps I bought but never had time to use.  These beauties are truly gorjuss to use!  I'm not someone to whom stamping comes easily.  I seem to spend most of my time throwing images into the bin and getting very frustrated, but these stamped like a dream.  I used Memento Tuxedo Black and stamped onto the lovely Barbara Grey's stamping card.  I then coloured both images with Promarkers and even I was pleased with the result!  Now that's a miracle, especially as they were both first attempts.  Whether it was the stamps, the ink or the card that helped, I've no idea, but I will definitely use this combination again.

Anyway, here are the cards I made.  The first one is called Gorjuss Ruby:

and here is the stamped image in closer detail:

The second image is called Gorjuss Waiting:

and again here is the stamped image in closer detail:

I apologize for the quality of the photos.  I took them in artificial light this evening and they aren't as good as I would have liked them to be.

If you have a moment to spare, please pop over to Crafty Cardmakers.  They have a fun challenge going on right now and you could win a £10 voucher to spend in Joanna Sheen's on-line shop!

Anyway, I hope you like my efforts and that you all have a wonderful weekend!

Thank you for looking.

Beth. xxx

Blog Candy Winners

Thank you to the 8 people who entered my blog candy giveaway!  I can now announce the winners!

Drum roll please ...............................

Entry number 8. Claire wins stamp set number 1

Entry number 1. Lin wins stamp set number 4

Entry number 7. Joanne wins stamp set number 3

Entry number 2. Carole wins stamp set number 5 and last but not least

Entry number 3. Annd wins stamp set number 2

Please email me at the link on the left hand side of my blog with your snail mail addresses and I will get your stamps posted off to you as soon as I can.

Thank you all once again for having a go and I'm sorry that you couldn't all win.

Beth. xxx

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge 55 Colour

The challenge this time is hosted by Vix and it is to make an item (card/tag/altered thingy) using ONLY the colours brown/cream/pink.  You can use other colours for faces but otherwise please only use just brown, cream and pink.

We are sponsored this time by ONE STOP CARD CRAFTS who are offering a £10.00 voucher for their store as a prize.

For this challenge I used a selection of papers and an adorable image from the wonderful Polka Doodles A Double Sprinkle of Kraft CD which I printed out onto the lovely Ultimate Graphic Paper again from Polka Doodles. Before anyone says anything, no, I'm not employed by them, I just love their products! I chose to make an easel card as I adore them. The main image has been decoupaged although you can't see that from this photo.  I have also used a very pale cream coloured cardstock, but for some reason it looks as though it's white.  I guess photography ain't my strong point LOL!

If you want to be in with a chance of winning a fabulous voucher, please pop over to Crafty Cardmakers and show us all what wonderful creations you can come up with!

Good luck to you all and I hope everyone has a fabulous weekend!

Beth. xxx

Halloween Card

As the creepy time of year is almost upon us, and Polka Doodles have a spooky challenge this week, I thought I'd set to and get creating.  Their challenge is to create a card using either all or some of the images below or an element from their fabulous Sundae of Seasons CD.

Here is what I came up with:

The background and all the images were created in my graphics program and printed out onto glossy card.  The wee witch was coloured with Promarkers and cut out then layered onto the card.  I also added a touch of opaque white pen just to highlight some of the elements.

This is a close up of the witch so you can see the detail:

I had real fun creating this card!

Enjoy your weekend, bloggers and thank you for looking.

Beth. xxx

Blog Candy

To celebrate my newly acquired position on the Design Team at Crafty Cardmakers I thought I'd offer some blog candy.  I have 5, yes, 5 brand new and unused stamp sets to give away to 5 lucky winners!  All you have to do to be in with a chance to win is add your name using the linky below, place a post on your blog linking back to this blog candy post and leave me a comment.  To make it fair for everyone please follow the rules.  The blog candy offer opens at midnight on 21st October and closes at midnight on 5th November.  The winners will be drawn at random on 6th November, 2011.  The prize you win will also be chosen at random, so please do not specify which stamp set you want.

So, without further ado, here's what you could win:

Stamp set 1

Stamp set 2

Stamp set 3

Stamp set 4

Stamp set 5

Please also pay a visit to the Crafty Cardmakers blog as they are responsible for me giving away this candy!  You might also like to join in their current challenge.  You never know, you could win something there too :-)

Thank you for joining in and good luck everyone!

Beth. xxx

Birthday Card

I've been off work sick for a few days and suddenly remembered that I need a birthday card for a colleague on Monday.  I was going to use this card for something else, but decided to send it to her instead as I don't have the energy to make another one right now.  She isn't fond of fussy cards, which is just as well, as this one is quite simple and clean looking.

The card is made from papers I bought from Pink Petticoat with a simple greeting printed on my computer which I cut out using some of my nesties.  I then added a pink flower I found in my stash.

Hopefully she will like it.

Thank you for looking.

Beth. xxx

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge 54 Cute with a dark twist

This is my first official post as a member of the Crafty Cardmakers design team, so fingers crossed it goes smoothly!  Our challenge this time is to create something which is cute, with a dark twist.  As it's coming up to Halloween I thought that would be a good way for me to go :-)

I chose to make a large 8" x 8" card.  The main characters are digital stamps from Polka Doodles "Sundae of Seasons" CD which I edited in my graphics program so I could print them out on top of the backing paper which I found as a freebie on the web somewhere.  I coloured the characters with promarkers and added some glitter to the spider's web, cat, sentiment and bat's wings for a little bit of bling.

I encourage you all to pay Crafty Cardmakers a visit and join in the fun.  There is a £10.00 voucher from the lovely Joanna Sheen for the winner!

Good luck everyone and have fun!

Beth. xxx

I have entered this card in the following challenges:

Digital Tuesday Challenge #133 - Happy Halloween

Simon Says - Halloween or Goth

Creative Stamp Friends Challenge #36 - Halloween

The Crazy Challenge #89 - Halloween

Dream Valley Challenges #18 - Halloween

My Lady

Good morning bloggers!  I hope you are all well on this beautifully sunny day?

There are a million things I should be doing right now, but I think I'm coming down with something so the energy levels are shot!  For that reason I thought I would showcase another of my recently done graphite drawings.  I found this particular one very, very difficult to do.  I don't like drawing people much and I find hands extremely hard, but with a lot of perseverance I finally managed to produce a drawing I am proud of.

If any of you artists out there can add any comments, hints & tips or constructive criticism, please feel free to do so.

I hope you all have a great weekend!

Beth. xxx

My first sugarcraft creation!

On Saturday 1st October 2011 I attended my first ever sugarcraft class.  This is something I have wanted to try for ages, but the initial outlay for materials and equipment seemed rather steep for me to just try it out so I thought this would be a good way of seeing if a. I liked it and b. if I could actually do it!

You may recall that this particular Saturday was unseasonably hot.  As a consequence of that the sugar paste was drying out far too quickly which made it very difficult to manipulate successfully.  I felt sorry for our tutor as she was really struggling to get round us all before all our paste was drying.  However, before the day was over I managed to create this:

For a first attempt I am very proud of my Christmas rose and mistletoe.  Unfortunately the holly berries have cracked and keep dropping off!  I really enjoyed making this decoration and would love to have another go when the weather is cooler.

Thank you for looking.

Beth. xxx

Graphite Drawing of a Chaffinch

By way of a diversification from my cardmaking projects I thought I might showcase one or two of my graphite drawings.  I've wanted to be able to draw since I was small, but never really got to grips with it, however I decided to have another try in recent years.  Most of what I draw I copy from images in books or from the internet using techniques I've picked up from books and online.  This particular drawing is one of my favourites as I love chaffinches.  We often have them feeding in our garden and they are such pretty birds.  This particular image I copied from a drawing I found on the web somewhere.

I hope you like my drawing and I will post more of them soon.

Thank you for looking.

Beth. xxx

Exciting News!

I am so excited that I'm fit to bursting point!  I have been lucky enough to be chosen to be a member of the Crafty Cardmakers Design Team.  I am so honoured to be one of the gang and just hope that I can rise up to the challenge.

Thank you to Lin and all of the DT for giving me this chance.  I'm so looking forward to it.

Beth. xxx

Design Team Call at Crafty Cardmakers

There has been so much trauma in my life lately (with a chance that there could be more to come), that I had decided I couldn't possibly put myself forward for the Design Team at Crafty Cardmakers as it wouldn't be fair on either me or them if I suddenly had to drop out.  However, thinking it over, it may just be the distraction that I am looking for, if I am fortunate enough to be chosen.  If I'm not, then I may embark on a new crafty journey. I took a class today on making sugar flowers which I enjoyed enormously, despite the awful heat making all the sugar paste dry out too quickly, and I did manage to produce something which didn't resemble the dog's dinner!

Anyway, back to the DT call.  I don't really have a 'style' of card making (at least I don't think so), but I do enjoy trying new things.  My cards range from the quite elaborate and highly embellished to the very clean and simple look.

The first part of my showcase is a new card I made for a colleague at work whose wife has recently had a baby boy.  The image is a digistamp from Pink Petticoat which I coloured with Promarkers, and the papers and embellishments were from my stash.

My second card has been stamped using a Kanban clear stamp which I watercoloured using pencils mounted onto background paper from my stash and a few simple gems added to the sentiment.  It was actually sent to a friend of mine over at Craft Telly Forum as a birthday swap card.

My next card is one that I am personally very proud of.  I used the delightful Noel stamp from the lovely Barbara Gray's Clarity Stamp range.  The backing paper is from a Polka Doodles CD and the flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts.

The next card is again a digistamp coloured with Promarkers which I made recently for another birthday swap card at Craft Telly Forum.  The colours are quite different from my usual choices and I actually rather like them.

Next I want to show you a card I made totally from a Polka Doodles CD apart from the rose, which I created myself.  I adore making my own flowers and was particularly thrilled with the way this one turned out.

Finally I would like to show you my interpretation of a clean and simple card.  This is a type of card that I do find quite difficult to create.  I think it's instinctive for me to cover every bit of white space over with something (stamping, paper, glitter etc.) but you simply cannot do that and achieve the CAS look.  Anyway, this is another card I made for yet another birthday swap at Craft Telly Forum (we've had a lot of birthdays recently LOL) and I hope it shows how elegant and nice a CAS card can look.

Well, that's me done.  I'd like to thank Lin, at Crafty Cardmakers for the chance to join their Design Team, the other entrants for being brave and showing off their beautiful work and Blogger for behaving itself during this very long post!

Good luck to everyone who has entered.  Each and every one of you deserves to be a member of the Design Team.

Thank you all for looking.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend.

Beth. xxx