Challenge time!

Good morning blogland,

It's rolled around another week, who would believe it!, to another Tuesday and so here I am with my Design Team post for Passion for Markers blog challenge.

This week we are sponsored by Dr Digi's and our lovely Teamie Marlene has picked the theme of 'Dry Embossing'. As always it's two very simple rules to join in the fun, use your markers and follow the theme.  If you do that you are in the prize draw for a great prize from our sponsor.

This is what I came up with:

Supplies used:

Digital Stamp:

Dr Digi's House of Stamps - Homebrew Herman

coloured with my Copics (what else!)

Rubber stamp:

taylored expressions - Simple Strips: Man, Myth, Legend

Dies:

Creative Expressions - Noble Collection: Double Stitched Squares

My Favorite Things - In & Out Stitched Circle

Embossing folders:
Lisa Horton Crafts - 3D Embossing Folder: Numerical

indentz - A6 Embossing Folder: Ellipse

And that's it folks - a simple, monochromatic, masculine birthday card.  It's the first time I'd used the Lisa Horton embossing folder, must say it gives a very definite impression! I wondered though why call it 3D? Isn't that the same as any embossing folder? Am I missing something very simple here? I'm not surprised if I am, I usually do!!

Right I'm off now, my new home gym is calling and, after around 18months out, I need to answer the call!

See you soon.

Sarah

Everyone's growing up!

Good morning blogland

Well here I am again, this time with a card that I made for TTT to give to one of her 'friend group' - all of whom have been (or will be) turning 15 this year.  It started in March and will stop in August and then the group of 5 girls will be 15! 

It's so strange, not that they get older once a year (who doesn't!) but that I remember most of them from toddling about, to becoming Nursery kids then Primary kids and finally the big leap to Grammar school and now most of them are talking about their GCSE's and then Sixth Form. 

It's just so weird and I get told off that I still talk to them all as if they are still kids not the 'Young Adults' that they are! I reply that they aren't quite there yet and I'm sure I will always talk to them as if they are kids - isn't that what mothers (and the mothers' of friends) do?!

Anyways, enough of my waffling on, here's the card:

Then an alternative shot, as the embossing wasn't playing ball and although it was obvious in real life it wouldn't show in the picture (please excuse fingers!):

Supplies used:

Digital image:

Mo's Digital Pencil - Video Girl

coloured with my Copics

Sentiment:

taylored expression - Simple Strips: Birthday

Dies:

taylored expressions - Simple Strips; well rounded

Whimsy Stamps - zig zag 

un branded die for the stitched rectangles

Anything else?

Cuttlebug - Happy Birthday embossing folder

Papers - BoBunny: Surprise

This particular friends birthday coincided with a school trip for the Upper School to Alton Towers (which if you are not aware is a very large theme park in the UK) and it would appear was thoroughly enjoyable! Even though they had their coach break on them on the way and there was a delay until a replacement came out and they only had two rides because "it was soooo big and the queues were huge"! Oh the joys of youth!

That's me done for now,

See you later,

Signing off,

Sarah

Challenge /s:

Passion for Markers: Week 648 - Bingo board: I took the top row - patterned paper, die-cuts, embossing

Krafty Chicks Challenge: #619 - Week 1 (Stamp Act)

The Paper Shelter: Challenge #519 - Going Digital

Addicted to Stamps and more: Challenge #433 - Birthdays

Kaylee

 Good afternoon blogland,

This is the start of a flurry of posts from me over the next few days - and I'm posting at this time today as it's a busy evening for me.  

TTT's going to be home from school shortly wanting her dinner, then I'm off out jogging, when I get back it's straight into dinner for me and hubby and I, finally, get to sit down around 8ish! Tues and Thurs are jogging nights and busy!!  Rest of the time I'm twiddling my thumbs, no, really am - don't laugh! Well that's what TTT thinks anyway! :-)

I won't waffle on too much as I won't have much to say in other posts.  So, moving swiftly on, here's todays' offering:

Supplies used:

Stamps:

Digital:

Some Odd Girl - Lazy Day Kaylee

coloured with Copics

Rubber:

Taylored Expressions - Simple Strips Background

Dies:

taylored expressions - Simple Strips : Well rounded

Whimsy Stamps - Connected Rectangle

Creative Expressions - Noble Collection : Double Stitched Squares

Anything else?

Un-branded embossing folder

BoBunny - C'est La Vie Collection (patterned paper)

Distress Ink and blending tool

MDF flower.

What I did:

Re-sized and printed the digi stamp, coloured it in with my Copics and fussy cut out.

Die-cut a square of linen card, embossed with the folder and inked it with the Distress Ink. 

Die-cut the rectangle with more of the same linen card.

Attached a piece of patterned paper to the card base, glued the panel to the paper and the rectangle shape to the embossed panel.

Put 3d foam on the image and sentiment, then popped them onto the card. Finally glued on the MDF flower.

et voila, job done!

Still practicing staging my photos and using the light box - a learning curve I can tell you!

Hope all is well in your worlds and be back soon,

Signing off,

Sarah

Challenge / s:

Passion for Markers: Week 625 - embossing

Gem of a Challenge: Challenge 2 - Anything Goes

Addicted to Stamps and more: Challenge #421 - Make your mark

Use Your Stuff - #440 - embossing

Seize the Birthday: #230 - embossing

Going dotty

 Good evening blogland

Looks like I'm doing the evening posting thing again! 

Still just plodding along here, getting on with life and nothing exciting happening so not much waffle to waffle on with.  TTT is steadily working through her exams and says most of them have been 'ok', a couple have been 'quite good' and then we had 'oh, that was easy!'. Arrrrrgh, I see more arguments over revision in our future!

Moving onto crafting - I'm having quite a lot of fun on Instagram looking at how people present their makes.  Everything from lots of props (dies, stamps, flowers, pieces of wood!) to the simplest of no background at all.  Well I've done the no background when I first started making cards, I've been doing the brick looking background and now I'm trying props! It's made more fun with my new light box as I can adjust the colour of the light, from warm to cool, and brightness, Expect to see a range of different items in the pictures as I play around. So far I quite like putting my Copics in, but not sure about other props. Hmmmm!

Here's my card:

Supplies used:

Digital stamp:

Some Odd Girl - Big Pressie Tia

coloured with Copics

Rubber Stamp:

Taylored Exressions - Simple Strips : Birthday

Dies:

Pretty Pink Posh - Scallop Borders 2

Un-branded stitched rectangle

Taylored Expressions - Simple Strips ; Well Rounded

Anything else:

Cuttlebug - Swiss Dots embossing folder

Pink Distress Ink

White gel pen

black card

What I did:

Re-sized and printed off the image on Copic friendly paper, then coloured in with my Copics. I added white dots with the gel pen on her dress and shoes.

I then die-cut the image out with the rectangle and used the border die to trim off one edge of the panel. I also used the rectangle to cut another piece of white card, embossed it and then inked with the Distress Ink.

Glued the embossed panel to the card blank, then added the image panel with 3d foam pads. 

Finally glued the sentiment to the image panel and base with glue and 3d foam pads.

et voila, job done!

You'll have to let me know what you think of my attempts at an 'arty' picture - both this one and all future ones as well.  I'd honestly be interested to know!

See you soon,

Signing off now,

Sarah

Challenge/s:

Passion for Markers: Week 623 - Going Dotty

The Cutie Pie Challenge Blog: Challenge #167 - Simple Starts (CAS)

AAA Birthday: Game #33- Two Favourite Colours (Green and Pink (at the moment anyway!))

Happy Little Stampers: January CAS Challenge

It's very difficult

 typing with closed eyes!

Good morning Blogworld

It's time for a new challenge over at Sweet Stampin' and this time the theme is Christmas in September! So we'd like to see all your Christmas themed makes and remember it doesn't have to be a card but it does need to have some stamping on it somewhere!

Now the meaning of my title - I'm neither a fan of Christmas starting too early in the year or of making Christmas cards.  So this actually was a proper challenge!!  To be totally honest with you, my bloggy friends, this is the first time I've made a Christmas card for 7 years, maybe nearer to 8.

Still it's a good job I'd been thinking about whether to make Christmas cards this year and had treated myself to some new themed stamps - otherwise I'd have been stumped. Or you'd have seen a re-hash of some very old ideas!

Anyways, after that big build up - here's my card for the challenge:

Supplies:

Rubber stamp:

Stamping Bella - Penguins Bearing Gifts (I only used one from the set of three)

coloured with Copics

Dies:

Un-branded alphabet die

Anything else:

E-Bosser embossing folder

Silver Miri card

What I did:

Stamped and coloured in, with Copics, one image from the set of three and then fussy cut him/her? out.

Die-cut letters from silver Mirri card.

Embossed a piece of card slightly smaller than card itself.

Arranged the die-cut letters and coloured stamp to spell 'NOEL' then attached them to the embossed panel with 3d foam.

Mounted the embossed card onto a square of Mirri card, then attached the whole lot to the card blank.

et voila, job done!

Would love you to pop over to Sweet Stampin' and see the much better job my Teamies have done! Then maybe join in with us - we're a friendly lot and would love to see what you can make.

Signing off now,

Sarah

Challenge / s:

Addicted to Stamps and More!: Challenge #414 - Any Occasion

Krafty Chicks Challenge: #578 - All Occasions

Di's Digi Challenge: Favourite Colour Combination (Reds/Blues)

September already!

Good morning Blogworld,

I am amazed how quickly this year is going - September already! TTT's school goes back on Tuesday and the chill is encouraging me to wear an extra layer of clothing! The TV weather presenter tells me, though, that the extra layer of clothing will not be needed next week - so I won't pack away all my summer clothes just yet.

So waffle done, the purpose of this post is - it's challenge time over at Crafty Calendar Challenge. Always with an Anything Goes theme, but with some lovely sponsors and great prizes: 

 

and

The Design Team were very kindly allowed to choose an image from SheepSki Designs - this is my choice and make using that choice:

Supplies used:

Digital Stamp:

SheepSki Design image - Solo

coloured with my Copics

Rubber Stamp and Dies:

Creative Expressions: Bold Words - Celebrate

A matching die and stamp set

Creative Expressions: Sue Wilson - Noble Collection: Double Stitched Squares

Embossing Folder:

Craftwell eBosser: embossing folder which came with the eBosser and has no name that I can see!

How did I make it?

Printed out 'Solo' on Copic friendly paper and coloured her in with my Copics, then die-cut the image out with the Double Stitched Squares die. 

Took a piece of white card, die-cut it with the next size up Double Stitched Squares die and then embossed it with the eBosser folder.

Found a scrap of grey/silver card and die-cut the word 'Celebrate'.

Then glued the word to the image and stamped 'you' towards the end of 'Celebrate'.

Took the stamped image panel and attached it to the embossed panel with 3d foam squares.

Finally I took all those and glued the embossed panel to the card base.

et voila!

Would love to see you over at the Challenge this month - Anything Goes is such a good theme and there are great prizes on offer.  There are also fabulous DT makes from my Teamies - as always!

See you soon,

Signing off,

Sarah

Challenge/s:

Passion for Markers: Week 607 - add a sentiment

Colour Crazy Craft Challenge: Week 35 - Anything Goes

Polkadoodles Craft Challenge: WK 36 - Anything Goes

Krafty Chicks Challenge: #575 Week 1 (Stamp Act)

Watercooler Wednesday: WWC323 - Cathy's Challenge: All Things Feminine

It's gnome time!

 Hello blogworld,

Well, that was a busy Saturday which I obviously can't cope with anymore - as Sunday was an extremely quiet day!

As said TTT was asked to be a local Carnival Princess / Maid of Honour by the incoming Carnival Queen and we had a very busy week in the run up to Saturday, with dress fitting, panic tiara buying, working out how to fit the tiara and rehearsals daytime Sat for the main events Sat evening.  Main events being a crowning, turning on the summer lights and starting off fireworks - phew! Oh, and it was my birthday last week as well, not that I'm telling what I turned, suffice it to say I'm not 21!

But that's not what you came to my blog for, I'm sure. Onto cards, I've struggled this week to carve out time for me - so this very simple card is all I managed.

Card:

I used:

Stamp (rubber):

Stamping Bella - Flowery Gnomes eb800

coloured with Copics

Dies:

My Favorite Things - Die-namics: Inside and Out Stitch Circle

Anything else:

Cuttlebug embossing folder - Thanks

blue chalk (to bring out the embossing - though I'm not sure now it needed it)

You can't see so well in the photo but the embossed panel is stuck flat to the card, while the die-cut panel and fussy cut gnome are popped on with 3d foam.

Just a proud mummy moment - TTT in 2018 (on our cruise around the Med):

To a very grown up 14 year old Carnival Maid of Honour:

So proud of her! But, my goodness, where has time (and my little 'un!) gone!!

Be back soon,

Signing off,

Sarah

Challenge / s:

Passion for Markers: Week 602 - Make it Bloom

Allsorts Challenge Blog: Anything Goes (with option of roses) - well I managed flowers but even with my small knowledge of flowers, I know they ain't roses!

Gem of a Craft Challenge: Challenge 16 - Anything Goes