baby on the way

A long card today - pregnancy congratulation card using Lil Davis chipboard letters, sweet pea from Primsy doodle designs and paper by Sassafrass - I really like the colour combination, I was thinking 70s formica kitchens. I used diamond glaze on the peas and they really look glassy and very dimensional. To go with it, I made 4 sock cupcakes, added a baby vest and packaged them in a cupcake box. Nestabilities circle for the label with red velvet bow.

Moving along with the times challenge

My first time trying this challenge - it was a sketch and theme cute companions not the Jayne Nesterenko ones but your own favourite cute stamps. I had two goes - once following the sketch to the letter and then on the second I rotated it 180 degrees. I also used the same image just coloured it with different colour themes each time. Once with my "natural" colour group - the ones I feel happy with and then again, this time using colours I wouldn't normally use in my colouring. Can you tell which is which???
I'm not telling - see if you can guess.
Need more colouring practise but I am gaining knowledge and it's all about practise, I love to colour, even if it's not great - it's a welcome distraction at the end of a day with 2 demanding toddlers.

bind it all gifts

A couple of makes using my Bind -it-All, I really do not use this gadget enough to do it justice. The calendar uses a digital template and went into sister's birthday parcel and the button book is for a birthday gift. It's kind of shabby looking and inside has card and acetate pockets with the cards of buttons stored inside. There is also a wheel of pearl headed pins in the back and some needles in the front. The inside cover has an old dressmakers pattern printed on it and I've added the recepients name to the page.
I've resolved to try and make more gifts this year - I have 2 boxes full of things I have hoarded for altering, so it's time to start using them.

paperplay and friday sketchers plus Paper Cutz

Wow, this is organised for me - 2 challenges in one card. I look at blogs where girls are entering one card into a dozen various challenges, I just never remember to combine more than one... maybe next week I should try a three challengeli card!
So Paperplay asked for a special Birthday card and I've made a diamante monogram card using the sketch from Friday Sketchers, which I turned around to fit my design.
It's quite dimensional in real life - lots of Spellbinders layers mounted on foam pads and just a tiny bit of stamping under the diamante letter using Tattered Rose distress and I've used more of my delicious pearl brads, I'm down to the last dozen so I'll go into conservation mode with them very soon!
This weeks Paper cutz challenge was to make a card for a teen, so mine is for a young teen - using a Mo Manning digi image. Coloured with Pro markers - do you see the little pink dots on the blanket and in her hair? They were tiny seed pearls that I painstakingly glued on and then - doh! I ran it through the Big Kick to cut the square out and squished them all flat. Oh well better luck next time.

Phindy's place challenge

Love digi images at the minute and I got this one at Phindy's Place on Papercraft Planet. Her challenge was "Love with a humourous sentiment and a cut out" - so here's my effort.
Coloured with promarkers and then I used diamond glaze sprinkled with Glamour dust to highlight the strawberries and then used glue and glamour dust for the filling.
The card is a scalloped nestabilities circle and the sentiment has Prima say it in pearls accents.

Photo Easel Cards

I love easel cards. They have a real wow factor on the mantlepiece and I also love photo cards, so combining the two was a no brainer. One was a comission for a baby card and candle, although I wrapped the candle before I thought of the photo, so you can't really see it. The card uses my star nesties for the first time and they are just fabulous - I love all Spellbinders dies, I haven't dared to look and see what they released at CHA, I still "need" too many of the previous ones to add any more!
The others are for the girls second cousin and also for nana - all quick and simple just patterned paper and a bit of bling.

just in time.... paperplay love notes

for the Paperplay challenge this week - love notes. Yet another Mo image - it's a tribute to my dog, I loved that mutt. I've also tried a new colour combo, I'd never normally think of black, white, red and purple but it's good to try new things.
The bling is a link from a bracelet I picked up in Penneys for 50c, there's about ten on it - so far cheaper than any embellies I could buy.

crafty angels week 21 - what's your colour?

Wow! I had two girls in bed before 8.45pm and then not a peep until 6am when the little pea wanted a bottle and then tilly showed up for a hug around 7.40am. There was one little shout in the night but nothing compared to the five hour tirade that dd kept up the first night of the own bed rule! So I got to play and here's an entry for the Crafty Angels challenge.
The digi image was a freebie from Mo's digital pencil group at PCP - there are other freebies to collect too, there'll be more of my efforts with them soon.
So my fave colour changes all the time but at present dd has an aqua top that really suits her, so that's a fave at the moment.
Image is coloured with promarkers, I've used tiny seed pearls and glamour dust in the sky for extra sparkle. Layered with nestabilities, the paper is 3 bugs, the ticket is Tim's and the flowers I got in a candy and no idea where they are from but they are loverleee.
It's amazing what I can do when I get a couple of hours, to heck with the housework - it's my time!

RESQ31 challenge&raise the bar 5

So here's the brief for RESQ 31 - an inventory check up.
- Go through your stamps....pull out ones that haven't seen ink in a while and give them a try!
- Also, you could try to use up some scraps but even better is using a sheet of patterned paper you have been hoarding for a while! Go ahead and use it already!
Raise the bar wants a stamp you would never part with - and this little Gruffie is so cute and so easy to colour and just so cute, I'd never ever part with him.
So I have hoarded my 3 bugs papers for too long, the stamp hadn't seen ink in 12 months and I was keeping my last packet of pearl swirls purely because it was my last pack and I'm loathe to have none in my stash. They are ZVA creative and similar to the Prima ones but in my opinion even more yummy, they also make the brads, which are a whopping half inch and just gorgeous. Again it was a fear of running out that kept them in my stash boxes instead of on my cards.
The card itself is a bit OTT - combining 2 of my favourite cards - the folded frame and the easel card. Inside the frame I used the Spellbinders Fleur de Lis pendant die (another under used favourite)topped with a Stampabilities "Gruffie" and finished with some embossed paper flowers. The ledge for the easel has the fleur de lis accent stuck on with foam pads and there's lots of pearls everywhere.

New Year - New thinking....

Ok so I know it's almost mid February but it's not that late into the Chinese new Year, so that's the one I'm going with this year. 2009 was up and down, the start of 2010 has been pretty awful - so I'm making this the start of my year....
I have seperated from my partner after over a decade, I just hope we can try and keep things civil for the sake of the girls but it's strange. I feel a bit like a balloon that has been cut from its anchor - I'm bobbing along but I need to get my life in order, try to organise some kind of income, the maintenance wont even cover rent. I do feel positive though and I've been getting early (or least earlier) nights, reading, tidying and generally getting things done. The girls are hard work and I relish bedtime! I am trying to get them to sleep alone, I have spoiled them on that front - it was not uncommon for 5am to come around and I had not been to bed, just gone from one to the other feeding, reading, singing trying to stop them from crying... so now it's a new regime and once they are fed, warm, safe and clean then they need to learn to comfort themselves and sleep through. It means very broken nights at the moment but hopefully things will resolve and it will be a change for the better.
I also lost my dog. I was heart broken - he was my pseudo child for a number of years and then such a good dog to have around the girls, I really miss him; although I have no interest in replacing him for a long time yet.
I've made a few cards over the weekend, not felt like crafting for a while so it was good to get some mojo back!
The baby boy "Julien" card is a digi card - I find them quick and easy when I'm stuck for an idea. I layered the card in Publisher and then printed two copies,one for the base and then one to add some decoupage. Bit of ribbon and bling, then to make the card extra special I made a matching box.
The other card was for my baby sister, who turned 16 this week - where has the last decade gone? It's an easel card but the top layer is a square card which lifts up to reveal a distressed photo of the girls. I've had the scrabble tiles for ages and I've vowed to use them - this is the year of stash liquidation! The rub on is 3 bugs and the paper Sassafrass.