Sweet sixteen

Good morning folks

Today is my friend's son's birthday and this is the card I made for him - 

I always find cards for teenage boys so very difficult to do. So I decided to stick to a simple theme without fancy embellishments or die cuts.
I began by making the backing paper. Using a piece of A6 Clarity coated card I randomly stamped and heat embossed (with silver embossing powder) a small Alium stamp (from Clarity Stamps - I thought it looked like a firework). I then dusted off the old brayer and ran it over the card using denim and stonewash Adirondack ink. I inked the edges with a stencil brush and some of the ink left on my Splodge mat and then stamped some more of the Alium again using ink from the Splodge mat. I matted and layered the card onto rainbow mirriboard (from Hunkydory) and blue textured cardstock. I made an A5 card blank using my Ultimate Pro and a piece of white centura pearl and attached the topper to the card.

I then stamped and heated embossed (with silver embossing folder) 16 using Papermania Typography stamps. I cut the numbers out and attached them to the card using foam pads. To finish I added a silver Happy Birthday peeloff.

Thank you for stopping by.

Lesley

Happy 15th Birthday

Hello Happy Monday to you all.

Well we survived the weekend and today is my son's 15th birthday and here is the card I made for him - 

I began by making a card blank using white centura pearl and Go Kreate's XXL square frame frilly #5. I then matted and layered the card base using the same die set and Docraft's Best of British paper pad. I inked around the edge of the paler apper with a midnight Promarker. The image I have used is a Mo Manning digi stamp which I coloured with the following Promarkers - 

• hair - cocoa, walnut and henna
• skin - satin, blush and dusky pink
• trousers - royal blue, indigo blue and midnight
• T-shirt - pastel blue, blue pearl and cornflower
• shoes - ice grey 1 and ice grey 2
• remote control - ice grey 4 and ice grey 5
• snacks - gold, saffron, cinnamon, berry red, crimson, cool grey 1, prussian blue and aubergine
• bracelets - ccol grey 4 and black
• shadow - warm grey 1 and warm grey 3
• sky - powder blue

I cut the image out using the smallest XXL square frame frilly #5 and inked whilst still in the die with tumbled glass distress ink. I then attached the image to the card with foam pads. The sentiment is a silver peeloff which I attached to a Spellbinder's reflective moments die and then added to the card with Pinflair. Using Clarity Stamps' numbers kit I heat embossed with silver embossing powder the number 15 and then cut out with scissors. I attached them to the card with Pinflair.

Happy Birthday Liam.

I would like to enter this card into the following challenge - 
http://craftylittlefairieschallenge.blogspot.co.uk - one for the boys

Thanks for stopping by.

Lesley

Patience

Hello
Happy Sunday. I am scheduling this post as I don't think I'll be fit for anything after the party last night!!

Here is today's card - 

I began by matting and layering a 6 inch card blank with papers from Docraft's Best of British paper pad. I then added a piece of red webbing (from the Ribbon Girl) across the centre of the card. The image is a digi image from Mo Manning called Patience which I coloured with the following Promarkers - 

• skin - satin, blush, dusky pink and dusky rose
• hair - tan, sandstone and caramel
• trousers - powder blue, denim, cornflower, red, poppy and ruby
• top - red, poppy, ruby and indigo
• cat - oatmeal, apricot, spice, burnt orange and terracotta
• bottle - cool grey 1, cool grey 2 and cocktail pink
• shadow - warm grey 1 and warm grey 3
• sky - pastel blue

I cut the image out using the square from Die'sire Elegance stamping frame and inked whilst still in the die with tumbled glass distress ink. I then added some shabby blue frantage (from Stampendous) for a little extre sparkle. I matted the image onto the frame from the Elegance stamping frame set and attached it to the card base. To finish I added 2 Tonic Fanciful flourishes and a Doohickey vintage daisy. I cut several of this die, layered them up and secured with a pearl brad (from the Ribbon Girl).

Many thanks for stopping by.

Lesley

Hearts and flowers

Happy Saturday afternoon everyone.
I am just taking 5 minutes out to post this. My son is having a stayover tonight (no sleeping involved!!) for 6 of his friends to celebrate his 15th birthday on Monday. This is going to be one hell of a night I'm afraid. My husband and I will be retreating into my craftroom for the duration. Wish me luck.

Here is today's card - 

I began by making a shaped card base using a 8 inch card blank and Go Kreate's XXL square frame frilly #2. I then matted and layered the base using the same die set and papers from First Edition's Desert blooms paper pad. I then cut a Die'sire Heart doily from another of the papers and added it to the top carner of the card as shown. The image is Tilda with spring heart which I coloured with the following Spectrum Noirs - 

• skin - FS7, FS8, FS9 and PP4
• hair - GB8, GB9 and GB10
• dress, shoes and bows - PP1, PP2 and PP4
• shadow - BG1 and BG3
• sky - IB1
• heart - paper pieced using a paper from the paper pad

I cut the image out using Spellbinder's heart circle die, inked whilst still in the die with spun sugar distress ink and attached it to the card with foam pads. I cut several Doohickey vintage daises, layered them and secured them with a pearl brad (from the Ribbon Girl). I attached them to the card as shown. To finish I added 2 LaLa Land heart ribbon corners.

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges - 
http://magnoliadownunderchallenges.blogspot.co.uk - #229 hearts and flowers
http://www.allsortschallenge.blogspot.co.uk - week 247 ladies day
http://inthepinkchallenge.blogspot.co.uk - pink plus one - pink and brown

Thank you for stopping by

Lesley

Red Tilda

Hello everyone and a very happy Friday to you all.

The colour challenge at the Ribbon Girl this week is RED and here is my card for the challenge - 

I began by matting and layering a 6 inch card blank with gold centura pearl and black core'dinations. I then ran a piece of red core'dinations through the grand calibur with a floral frenzy Embossalicious embossing folder. I sanded it back to reveal the core and attached it to the card. I then cut a LaLa Land Pagoda and 2 MB Arboscello trees from black core'dinations, rubbed them with enchanted gold gilding wax and then attached to the card as shown. The image is tripping flower Tilda which I coloured with the following Spectrum Noirs - 

• hair - GB4, GB7 and GB8
• skin - FS4, FS5 and FS6
• dress and flowers - CR9, CR11, TN7, DR6 and DR7
• umbrella - CR9, CR11, TN7, EB6 and EB8
• shadow - BG1 and BG3
• sky - IB1

I cut the image out using the rectangle from Die'sire Nouveau stamping frame, inked whilst still in the die with tumbled glass distress ink and then matted the image onto a piece of black core'dinations. I cut the stamping frame from the die set using gold centura pearl and matted the image onto the card using foam pads.

I would like to enter this card into the following challenge - 

http://www.theribbongirlchallengeblog.blogspot.co.uk - red

Thank you for stopping by

Lesley

My favourite crafting item

Hello everyone.

A lovely lady called Brenda is having a blogaversary celebration over on her blog Floral fantasies where you can win some fabulous Spellbinder's dies. Brenda would like to know what is your favourite crafting item. After giving this very careful thought I looked back at previous posts and decided that the item I use most and would is therefore my favourite is Spellbinder's Floral Ovals die set. I love the beautiful cut and shape of all the dies in this set. To showcase the dies I made this card -

I began by cutting a 8 inch card blank with Go Kreate's XXL square frame frilly #5 to create a shaped card blank which I then inked around the outer edge with CR7 Spectrum Noir pen. I then matted and layered the card base with peach core'dinations, a paper from First Edition's New Leaf paper pad and the smaller dies in the die set. I added some lace (from the Ribbon Girl) to the centre. The image is Magnolia's Summer flower Tilda (also a crafting favourite but couldn't pinpoint it to one stamp in particular so it didn't make the cut) which I coloured with the following Spectrum Noirs -

• hair - GB8, GB9 and GB11
• skin - FS1, FS2, FS3 and CR1
• dress and bow - CR1, CR2 and CR7
• flower - CR1, CR2, CR7 and DG2
• shoes and wings - BT2, BT3 and BT4
• shadow - BG1 and BG3
• sky - IB1

I cut the image out using Spellbinder's floral ovals and inked whilst still in the die with tumbled glass distress ink. I then cut a Spellbinder's decorative labels 8 from peach core'dinations and matted the image onto it. I attached it to the card with foam pads. I cut several Spellbinder's Jewel flowers and flourishes from more papers in the New Leaf paper pad and attached them to the card as shown. I also added some dragonflies cut using a Doohickey die. To finished I added some peach pearls to the floral oval, the centre of the flowers and to the dragonflies.

I would like to enter this card into the following challenge -
http://stamping-fantasies.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/5th-blogaversary-celebration.html

Many thanks for stopping by.

Lesley

Teddy Bear blue

Hello everyone

The challenge at CLF this week is Teddies and I am flying by the seat of my pants again to get this posted on time. Well here goes -

I began my making a 6 inch card blank using blue centura pearl and my Ultimate Pro. I cut a piece of paper from LOTV's Petal fresh paper pad to size, added some lace (from the Ribbon Girl) and some ribbon (from my stash) to the centre and attached it to the card base. I then cut 4 LaLa Land heart ribbon corners from blue core'dinations and attached them to the corners of the card base. The image is James - big heart (ST483) from LOTV which I coloured with the following Spectrum Noirs -

• James - BGR1, BGR2 and BGR3
• heart - paper pieced but I coloured the little patch with TB1, TB2 and TB4
• rose - TB1, TB2, TB4 and LG5
• sky - IB1
• shadow - BG1 and BG3

I added some glossy accents to James' nose, cut the image out using a Spellbinder's circle nestie and matted it onto a Die'sire circle doily cut from blue core'dinations. I then attached the topper to the card using foam pads.

I would like to enter this card into the following challenge -

http://craftylittlefairieschallenge.blogspot.co.uk - teddies

Thank you for stopping by.

Lesley



CAS Footballer

Good evening everyone

Here is today's card - 

I began with a 6 inch card blank which I matted with a piece of teal core'dinations. I then created a piece of backing paper using broken china distress ink and Clarity Stamps numbers kit. I then trimmed the paper to size and layered onto the card base. I stamped the image on watercolour card using Docraft's nostalgia past times stamp set. I then used a brush and some water to drag the colour from the stamped line and where shade needed to be darker I used the distress ink to add deeper colour. I cut the image out using a Spellbinder's oval nestie, inked whilst still in the die with broken china distress ink and then matted onto a larger oval cut from teal core'dinations.

To finish I added a silver peeloff sentiment.

I also made this card in another colour - 

This time I used tumbled glass distress ink. These card have been made for my friends twin boys who are 15 next week.

Thank you for stopping by.

Lesley

Celebration

Hello and a Happy Valentines to you all. I hope you have been inundated with gifts and cards and general displays of love and adoration. My hubby has surpassed himself this year and we are heading out to a very posh local restaurant without the children - what a treat! 
Today is also my god-daughter's birthday and here is the card I made for her - 

I began by making the card base using white centura pearl and GoKreate's XXL square frame frilly #5. I matted and layered the base with papers from Docraft's Best of British paper pad and the same die set. I inked the outer edge of the die cuts with a midnight Promarker. The image is a Digi image from Mo Manning  called Celebration and I coloured it with the following Promarkers - 

• skin - satin, blush and dusky pink
• hair - henna
• dress - red, poppy red, berry red, indigo blue, prussian blue and midnight
• knickers - pastel blue and blue pearl
• shoes and socks - berry red, ivory and saffron
• dog - cocoa, walnut, burnt sienna, gold and berry red
• sky - powder blue
• shadow - warm grey 1

I cut the image out using GoKreate's XXL square frame frilly #5 and inked whilst still in the die with tumbled glass distress ink. I inked around the outer edge of the die cut with a midnight Promarker and attached it to the card base with foam pads. The sentiment is from LOTV's happy circular sentiments (set 8) and has been cut out using Die'namics stitched circles die and matted onto a paper from the pad also cut using the stitched circle die. I attached it to the card with Pinflair along with a LaLa Land banner.

Enjoy the rest of your day.

Lesley

Love me tender

Hello

The monthly challenge at LOTV is "Name that tune" so I decided to go for the song "Love me tender" by Elvis and here is my card - 

I began by making a card blank using white centura pearl and Spellbinder's grand decorative circles one, and inked whilst still in the die with spun sugar distress ink. I then matted and layered the card base using papers from LOTV's Perfect pairs paper pad and added some ribbon (from the Ribbon Girl). The image is LOTV's James - big heart and has been coloured with the following Promarkers -

• James - cool grey 1, cool grey 2, cool grey 3 and black (I added some glossy accents to his nose)
• rose - bright green, forest green, antique pink and salmon pink
• shadow - warm grey 1 and warm grey 3
• sky - pastel blue
• heart - I paper pieced the heart with a paper from the pad

I cut the image out using Spellbinder's lacy ovals, inked whilst still in the die antique linen distress ink and then added a little ink to the outer edge of the die cut. Before I attached the image I cut and attached 2 Spellbinder's die d-lites Vines of passion. I then attached the image with foam pads.

To finish I added some flowers from the Ribbon Girl.

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges - 
http://www.ideastoinspire.blogspot.co.uk/p/challenge - name that tune
http://www.theribbongirlchallengeblog.blogspot.co.uk - romantic 
http://inthepinkchallenge.blogspot.co.uk - #37 Valentines - a little pink love

Thank you for stopping by

Lesley

New Arrival

Happy Wednesday to you all. 

Here is today's card -

The Allsorts challenge this week is "colours beginning with B" so I chose to use brown and blue. I matted a 6 inch card blank with a paper from Docraft's New arrivals paper pad and then cut another paper with Die'sire lace border 6. I wrapped some white lace and blue velvet ribbon (from the Ribbon Girl) around the paper and attached it to the card. The image is from Crafter's Companion's Bebunni range and is called New arrival. I coloured the image with the following Spectrum Noirs - 

• bunny - EB1, GB8, GB9 and IB3
• blanket - IB1, IB2, IB3 and blender
• balloons - IB1, IB2, GT1, GT2 and blender
• sky - TB1

I cut the image out and inked around the edge with TB1 spectrum noir pen and attached the image to a Die'sire Nouveau stamping frame which I then attached to the card with Pinflair. 

The sentiments are from the stamp set which I cut out and attached to the card as shown.

I would like to enter this card into the following challenge - 

http://www.allsortschallenge.blogspot.co.uk - week 245 colours beginning with "B"

Thank you for stopping by.

Lesley

Love to James

Good morning

The challenge at Crafty Little Fairies is "Love" so here's my card for the challenge - 

 I began by cutting a 6 inch card blank with Go Kreate's XXL square frame frilly #2, inked around the edge with antique linen distress ink and matted and layered some papers from Docraft's Best of British paper pad cut using the same die set. I attached some white lace (from the Ribbon Girl) across the centre of the card. The image is James - big heart (ST483) (from LOTV) and has been coloured with the following Promarkers - 

• James - henna, walnut, cocoa and black (I added a little glossy accents to his nose)
• heart - red, poppy and berry red (I paper pieced the little patch on the heart)
• rose - ruby, berry red, bright green and forest green
• shadow - warm grey 1 and warm grey 3
• sky - pastel blue

I cut the image out using Spellbinder's floral ovals and inked whilst still in the die with antique linen distress ink. I also added a little ink around the outer edge of the die cut and attached the image to the card base with foam pads.

To finish I added some red heart shaped gems (from my stash).

I would like to enter this card into the following challenge - 

http://craftylittlefairieschallenge.blogspot.co.uk - Love

Thank you for stopping by.

Lesley

Happy Birthday

Hello and good evening to you all

The challenge at I love Promarkers this week is "Birthday" and here is my card for the challenge - 

I started by folding a piece of A4 white centura pearl card in half to make an A5 card and then matted layered as shown using Docraft's The little cake shoppe papers (this is a paper pad I've had for years and I am trying to reduce my stash of papers before I buy any new ones). I inked the edges of each paper with Lime zest promarker before attaching them to the card. The image is from Crafter's Companion's Bebunni range called Peek-a-boo and has been coloured with the following Promarkers - 

• bunny - ice grey 1, ice grey 2, ice grey 3, cocktail pink and salmon pink
• present - pastel blue, blue pearl, cornflower, cocktail pink and salmon pink
• balloon - cocktail pink, salmon pink and blender (for the shading)
• shadow - warm grey 1 and warm grey 3
• sky - lime zest

I cut the image out and matted it onto Spellbinder's 5x7 reflective moments cut from one of the papers from the pad. I attached it to the card base with foam pads. The sentiments are from Bebunni Hip Hip hooray stamp set which I inked around using Lime zest promarker.

To finish I added some red gems from my stash.

I would like to enter this card into the following challenge - 

http://ilovepromarkers.blogspot.co.uk - #205 Birthdays

Thank you for stopping by

Lesley

Garden birds

Good morning

Here is today's card. The photo isn't great I'm afraid. The silver has picked up the blue from the background -

I began by embossing a piece of silver mirriboard with an Embossolicious birdhouse embossing folder and matting it onto a 6 inch card blank. I then cut a piece of green spotty paper from Hunkydory (the paper and topper came from a free kit that came with Cardmaking and Papercraft magazine) to size and cut the edge with Spellbinder's bracket borders 2. I attached a paper ribbon from the kit and attached the paper to the card base. To finish I attached a topper with foam pads.

Thank you for stopping by.

Lesley

More Freebies

Hello

A couple more cards made with the free Hunkydory kit today (free with the current edition of Cardmaking and Parpercraft magazine) -

A gatefold card (outside)

Inside

Thank you for stopping by.

Lesley

Simply Bamboo

Good evening everyone

This month's challenge at Crafter's Companion is "Clean and simple", a difficult one for me as I don't like white spaces but here goes -

I have used "Love from Bamboo" stamp set and coloured this lovely bear with the following Spectrum noirs -

• Bamboo - BG7, BG9, BG10, BG1, BG2 and PP1
• heart - PP1, PP2, BP1, BP5, BP6 and BP7
• shadow - IG1
• sky - IB1

I stamped a sentiment from the stamp set, cut out the square and matted the image onto rainbow mirriboard (from Hunkydory). I embossed a piece of pink core'dinations with a Embossalicious floral frenzy embossing folder and sanded it back to reveal the core. I matted  a 6 inch card blank with the pink card and attached the topper with foam pads.

I would like to enter this card into the following challenge - 
http://www.crafterscompanion.co.uk/blog/ - clean and simple

Thank you for stopping by 

Lesley

Beautiful birds

Good morning folks. Yeah it's Wednesday - hump day as a work colleague of mine used to say. Up hill in the morning then down hill all the way to the weekend.

Here is today's card - 

I began with a piece of silver miriboard which I embossed using an Embossolicious rose embossing folder. I then matted and layered a 6 inch card blank with the mirriboard. I took a piece of pink spotty paper from the free Hunkydory kit (from Cardmaking and Papercraft magazine), trimmed it to the required size and then cut the edge with a Joanna Sheen lace border die. I wrapped a piece of pink ribbon (from my stash) around the paper and attached it to the card blank. I attached the topper (from the free kit) with foam pads to the card front as shown.

Thank you for stopping by.

Lesley

Freeby

Hello folks

Today's cards are a little different for me. This Hunkydory kit came free with the latest edition of Cardmaking and Papercraft and I couldn't resist making a few up - it is such a beautiful kit and amazing quality. I haven't given any instructions today as I simply made up the kit so here are the pictures (they are a bit wonky as I was trying to avoid the glare on the foiling by the flash)

Many thanks for stopping by.



Lesley

Lavender and lace

Hello everyone

Here is today's card - 

I began by folding a piece of A4 white centura pearl in half and cutting with Go Kreate's XXL square frilly frame # 2 to create a shaped card. I then cut a piece of lavender centura pearl with a smaller die from the set and embossed with a M-Bossabilites hearts embossing folder. I added this to the card base and attached some white lace (from the Ribbon Girl) and some ribbon (from my stash). The image I have used is Tilda with spring heart and has been coloured with the following Spectrum Noirs - 

• skin - FS1, FS3, FS4 and CR1
• hair - TN5, TN8 and TN9
• hearts, bows and shoes - LV1, LV2 and BGR2
• dress - EB1, TN1 and BG1
• shadow - IG2
• sky - IB1

I cut the image out using Spellbinder's hearts circle die and inked whilst still in the die with milled lavender distress ink. I then matted the image onto a Spellbinder's Grand decorative circle one cut from  Magnolia cloudy purple hearts paper and attached to the centre of the card with foam pads.

I added a LaLa land hearts banner cut from white centura pearl to the top corner and used the hearts from the waste (!!) to attached to the other corners.
To finish I added some white and lavender flowers from the Ribbon Girl.

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges - 
http://www.theribbongirlchallengeblog.blogspot.co.uk - hearts
http://craftylittlefairieschallenge.blogspot.co.uk - lavender and lace

Thank you for stopping by.

Lesley