Book of Me - Week 4

Morning! This week on the 'Book Of Me' challenge is all about what is inside your handbag! My handbag, or 'The Abyss' as it is frequently known as, is something Mary Poppins would be jealous of! You never know what you might find. When I read the challenge I must admit I did groan a little bit, just for the thought that I might lose an arm if I delve in there, but I was pretty suprised at how little I had in it at the moment. Not quite sure how that happened!? Anyways, here is what you would find inside my bag. Check out this fab challenge and find yourself over at Georginas blog its just too random. Kel x

Scrap whispers - Challenge 26

A new challenge over at Scrap Whispers is to produce a layout in total black and white but with just a pop of colour with ONE item! Sounds easy doesnt it? I had a really hard time with it really. I am so used to using alot of embellies that are colourful, so I dont own lots of black and white things. I dug out a paper pad I've had for an age and used star print as background and used a sheet that has 'Memories' written to make some strips. I used American Crafts rub ons to create the title. Because of the photos I knew i had to fit a giraffe in there, so I stamped an image from 'Mindy's Zoo' by Autumn Leaves on to orangey brown cs and there we have it. It took me 4 hours to produce this simple looking layout but I am really happy with the result! Enjoy your day! Kel x

Basic Grey sketch challenge

Over at the Basic Grey challenge blog there is a great sketch to follow for this weeks challenge. So, if you love all things Basic Grey then check it out. Lets face it, its really hard not to love Basic Grey!! :)

On my take, I used Sugar Nellie 'Daisy' stamp and coloured her with brush pens as watercolours (as usual). I used Offbeat Basic Grey paper, I handstitched around the outer panels of paper. The flowers are from stash and the brads are by doodlebug.

Happy Monday!

Kel x

Challenges galore!

Another busy week for challenges. This weekend I took some time for myself to really get into crafting. So I made lots of cards, did some scrapping, took loads of photos and have started to make a knitted baby cardigan and bootie set for my sister who is due in a couple of months. This first card is for Cute Card Thursday, where the challenge is to "Get Edgy" by distressing, sewing, tearing etc. I had a rummage again through my stamp box and "found" this gardening one. I've had it for years and probably only used it twice before. I think its really sweet and that it went really well with the Basic Grey Offbeat papers. I distressed the edges of the papers by running my craft knife along the edges.

I think this stamp is so sweet that I used it twice! Colour Create's challenge this week is Orange, brown and green with the added option of making a male card. Something I don't normally do much because I find it really hard making cards for men/boys. I stamped this image first, the stamped it again but cut it out to make a mask. I put the mask on top of the stamped image and then stamped the garden with a border stamp from "Smirk" in orange and green, added some orange Basic Grey Ambrosia paper, some ribbon from stash and some letter stickers from DCWV Family stack, and there we are. Its easier when you have some inspiration! :)

Penny Black Saturday challenge is "Anything Goes". So any project as long as at least one penny black item is used. I stuck with a card (although one day I am sure i will make it out of my comfort zone) and made this for a friend of mine who has just got herself a new job! Again I used Basic Grey Offbeat papers, with doodlebug mini rub ons and a scrap of brown scalloped card from papermania. This card actually fell together by accident and when I looked at it after I had put it together I thought the scalloped edges and the stars looked like they signify something new and exciting. Whew! A little deep for a sunday evening, thats just my mind working overtime! LOL.

This is my first time creating for Stamptacular. "Charmed, I'm sure" is the challenge. I have loads of wedding charms from I dont know where and not sure how long I have had them for so how great is the chance to get to use them! The backing paper is actually a wallpaper sample from Homebase. As soon as I saw it I wanted to put it onto a wedding card! The stamp is from FunStamps, the ribbon is from stash. I sewed the bells charm to a pink flower by Laura Ashley and a brown flower from papermania and then twisted a tea rose around the jump ring.

Thanks so much for looking.

Kel x

Papertake weekly

I nearly forgot to add this! Here is a card I made from the sketch over at Papertake Weekly. For this card I used DCWV "All Dressed Up" papers, and Penny Black "Bubbly" stamp. I added the cheers sentiment with Doodlebug Limeade mini rub ons. Thanks for looking, Kel x

Scrap Whispers & Scrap Sketch

This week over at Scrap Whispers the challenge is "Butterflies". Immediately I thought of making a card, which I am really into at the moment, but then my dd sat at the table and told me her favourite joke for the 50th time this week and a lightbulb went off. Her joke is: Why did the man throw butter out of his window? Because he wanted to see butterflies! So it just had to be documented in her scrapbook and was just perfect for the SW challenge! Not a bad joke for a 3 year old. Also to boot, I was introduced to Scrap sketch - a sketch blog, (who are also looking for design team members BTW. Submissions have to be emailed by April 25th) and decided to try out some of the sketches. Here they are: Sketch #25 Sketch #46 and sketch #49. I really enjoyed playing around with these sketches and I am sure I will be back for more. Thanks for looking and a very Happy St. Georges day too you all!! Kel x

A whole lot of stampin' goin' on!

Since I have been blogging I have come across lots of challenge blogs and since I have been away from card making for a while, I am really enjoying getting back into it with the motivation of the sketches and themes from these challenges. And so here we are, another day and another load of cards! :) This weeks challenge for Basic Grey was paper piecing. I'm not very good at paper piecing but I thought I would give it a go. I used paper from the Sultry collection and a little piece of Eva paper for the beak. The bird is made up from a paisley stamp I have. I decoupaged the inner part of the paisley to make the wing and added a brad for an eye.

Have you got your shades ready? This one is a bit bright! This was done based on a sketch from A spoon full of sugar. I have had the Elephant stamp forever and never used it before but I thought it looked great with the pink and orange paper from Dovecraft - wild blossoms, and the turquoise blue, giving it a bit of an asian feel. I distressed the edges of the paper by rubbing the edge of my craft knife against it. I really like this look at the moment. Instead of using flowers I heat embossed a paisley image in gold and cut it out to use it like a fan. I also had a bit of an accident with the swirly stamps at the bottom of the card, I stamped directly onto the card and then heat embossed but the stamps slipped and smudged so it looks a bit blobbish.

We'll keep that a secret though..... Kel x