My lovely followers x

Monday 29 October 2012

More Simple Christmas Cards.....

Hiya everyone, welcome back to my little corner of blogland, for
just a quick post ;-)
Got a couple more Christmas cards to show you tonight..... again, just very clean and simple design.
I bought this set of holly stamps from the internet, but don't know who the maker is, sorry, isn't it a lovely design though??




The card is a 6" x 6"  square, so you can see the holly stamp is quite large.




I used Cosmic Shimmer Pearlescent PVA for the berries.



I'm a bit fed-up with this one, as I've not lined up the top layer properly. I'll rectify it with my steel rule and a sharp blade.





Same stamp, different sentiment, and red 'jewels' for berries.





The holly bush in our garden is a varigated specimen, so I've added yellow Promarker to leaves on my image.   The berries are fantastic at the moment, birds are loving them ;)




The spotty card is from old stash, but I thought it matched the holly stamp perfectly

Hope you've enjoyed looking at tonight offerings, would love it if you could leave a comment. 
Catch you tomorrow,
Barbara
xx
I'm entering these cards into the following challenges :-


Friday 26 October 2012

1 Stamp, 3 Simple Cards...........

Evening everyone, and welcome to my new followers....only 10 to go before reaching 200, whoohoo!
Thanks so much, to all those who pop back on a regular basis to checkout what I've been doing and thanks too for all the amazing comments you leave.....blogging wouldn't be half as much fun without them!

This week I've made 68 'stock' cards,  lots of repetition, but everyone of them different ;)  It's my last big craft fair tomorrow, and I'm taking over 300 cards ;)
The cards I'm showing tonight were made with my favourite stamp of the last 4 years......I bought it off Ebay, along with my trusty old  wooden scoreboard, and together they've been the best craft purchases I've ever made, for a total of less than £5!    A few 'jewels' and a bit of Glamourdust and da-da, done!
I didn't want traditional colours for these cards, as I love the shocking pink and black together on crisp white card......what do you think??








Matrtha Stewart corner chomper


 The sentiments are from a set of magazine freebies ;)







The Glamourdust appears on almost every Christmas card.....it's compulsory! haha








Hope you've enjoyed looking at these very, very simple cards.....although I love getting messy with inks etc, I still revert back to 'Clean and Simple' on a regular basis. 
I'll be back on Sunday, in the meantime, have a great weekend,
Barbara xx

I'm entering these cards into the following challenge :-
 http://hotshotcraft.blogspot.co.uk/
 

Tuesday 23 October 2012

Guest blogger......

Morning everyone, from a very dull, damp Wiltshire -  I'm sure I heard on the radio last week that we were going to have an Indian Summer, this week with temps up to 22 degrees.....well, it's not happening yet, but I live in hope!
Anyway, you might remember me saying a few weeks ago that I won a challenge over at 
http://citycrafter.blogspot.co.uk/ (a USA challenge blog)
The lady who runs the blog, Kirsty, kindly asked if I would be their guest blogger this week. Of course I accepted and my 'prompt' was to take one of my previous cards and revamp/update/change/improve it in some way....I chose a card I'd blogged on Sep. 19th and decided to made it a bit more grungy and 'dark'!

This is what I came up with :)






This was the original card, quite girly and 'pretty'.




Original ribbon and flower detail















I just touched TH black soot  over the roses, to 'un-pretty' them


This is the 'changed' card. Much more black distressing, ribbon and lace, with black 'jewels'....and with a Rock Chic sentiment, it looks a bit more raunchy!









Hope you like what I've done, and if you get the chance, pop over to 
and read my guest spot....pleeeeeeeeeeeeease xx
That's all for now, off to make a few more Christmas cards....catch you all tomorrow,

Saturday 20 October 2012

Pearly snow........

Hello everyone, an early post from me today, as I have a busy morning ahead sorting out my craft room.....AGAIN! I just don't enjoy crafting when it's in such a mess, but unfortunately this seems to be the majority of the time these days.   Then it's crafting to prepare for thr craft fair next week.

I've made lots of individual Christmas cards this week with this cute snowman stamp, (bought secondhand off a facebook group). The edge of the card was covered with Cosmic Shimmer pearlescent glue blobs of various sizes, tricky to do in places, but I like the effect on black card. What do you think??
Might be back later, depends how much I get done.
Have a great Saturday

Wednesday 17 October 2012

And Now For Christmas.........

Hi everyone....well it had to come to Christmas card making, didn't it & time is quickly moving on. 
Although I've made quite a few during the year, it's all systems go this week and next, as I have my last craft fair of the year next Saturday, and I always sell loads ;)
I do like simple cards, like the ones I maade a few days ago, but I've bought so many Christmas stamps & dies this year that I thought they should get a little airing.
So, here are two of the new ones, made with a stamp I bought off Facebook. Sorry, don't know the make, but I thought it was quite a cute image.

   


Spellbinder labels die and Martha Stewart punch.





Crunchy snow.





             I like the little sentiment, 
      Merry Chrismoose




Memory Box dies.



That's all for now, catch you tomorrow,
Barbara x



I'm entering this card into the following challenges

http://abcchristmaschallenge.blogspot.co.uk/
http://justkeeponcreating.blogspot.com.au/

Tuesday 16 October 2012

An Alternative Wedding Card........

Evening all.....another post from me..... 2 days in a row, whoohoo!
 Tonight I want to show you a wedding card I've made for Emma's brother & girlfriend's wedding in a couple of weeks time.   Tom and Laura are both very artistic and I don't think a traditional white card would suit on this occasion.  They love colour, texture and just something 'different' to the norm, as their wedding day will show, no doubt. We aren't going, but I'm so looking forward to seeing all the photos of the day. 
Anyway, here is the card




Guess which colours I chose?
(Haha)






The heart charm is from my jewellery making stash


I've used...... Pan Pastels, Distress Inks, Grunge Dots embossing folder, and a leafy stamp. Spellbinder label die, Marianne heart dies, and Cheery Lynn tiny butterflies. A 'love' charm and loads of Cosmic Shimmer' mica spray.....Oh and some white ribbon, dyed with distress inks






                      What do you think......will they like it??
                                           Do you??


                     Would love you to leave a comment.
                                 Catch you all tomorrow
                                          Barbara xx




I'm entering this card into the following challenges :-

Monday 15 October 2012

New Twinchies.......

Hello friends, (and the odd family person who checks in) hope you're all fit and ready to face another week.
Apart from this morning, when I have dentist AND doc's to visit, I have a full week of nothing but crafting to do...yeah!
 Just wanted to brag a bit though first....Alan and I go into Bath every Sunday to meet up with Nick, Emma, Adam & Sophie, to do a (very popular) pub quiz. Last night there were about 15 teams.......and we won! £66 lovely smackers :)  I've been told I need to revise a bit of Literature this week.....so if I'm missing from here or facebook, you know what I'm doing....NOT! :)
Anyway, onto this fortnight's twinchies but first CONGRATULATIONS to
Sue P
for winning the last challenge.......you can find it in the winners gallery

This fortnight the theme is 'Spooky Stuff', and have to say I do NOT like Spookyness & Halloween, and I DON'T do these types of card......I just can't understand why anyone would want to make or receive a card with skulls/graveyards/ghosts etc on them. (the twinchies could be used as toppers for kids cards though)
That's just me , of course, I like 'nice' things, not ghoulish!
So anyway,  here are my efforts :-






This is a CAT!   (just in case you didn't know)





Imagine all these Bats, with evil eyes,  flying towards you....yuk!


This is my favourite
x
















Got to admit I nicked this idea from somewhere, but I've forgotten where. Hope you realise that the layers are meant to be 'mummy bandages', haha








Well, that's all for now, hope you like my little twinchies. 
We'd love you to join in our challenge at
Show Us Your Twinchies
It's just for fun,  but we give the 'Mother-Of-All-Winners-Badge' for you to proudly display on your blog!! What more could a girl want??
Catch ya later,
Barbara xx

Saturday 13 October 2012

I'm back........

Evening everyone....wow it's good to be back blogging!
 WELL......my first and very best peice of news to share, is that my lovely son Nick, and his amazing wife Emma are expecting their first baby next April......We're so excited for them, and us, as it's our first grandchild, whoohoo! (We've known for weeks, but were sworn to secrecy....believe me, it was hard not to 'spill the beans'! )
Anyway, enough about that for now,  and onto our recent holiday......
....we had a great 2 weeks in Southern Italy, the heat was intense at times, but we survived, haha, and I only gained 3 lbs in weight, which in itself is a bloomin' miracle. Might show you some pics later in the week.....now don't all groan!
Diet started Thursday, so I'll be keeping you up to date with how I get on, in future blogs.
Although we've been home from holiday for a week, I haven't felt like doing much crafting, which is strange because I was really looking forward to getting back into my craft room....however today I got started again and made a batch of very quick Christmas cards.....probably for the neighbours,  but not sure yet.







All the same image, from Inkylicious , one of my 'most-used' stamps this year.





Some I used very chunky white glitter for the snow,.........






......others I used Glamourdust.





I bought this embossing folder off Ebay, but not sure of it's name.





The bottom part is done with a sheet of double-sided adhesive covered with Glamourdust.






Well, that's all for tonight, hope to be back tomorrow, with something a bit more 'arty'  ;)
Barbara 
xx

Wednesday 3 October 2012

And Now For A New Challenge Blog!....

Morning everyone, and welcome to my new followers......hope you've all managed to get a bit of crafting in this week. I'm still on holiday but I'll be home on Saturday, and raring to go!
Not sure if I mentioned before, but I'm really pleased to say I've been invited onto the design team of a brand new challenge blog 
The very first challenge has started today, and the theme is
Anything Goes
So, lots of opportunity to join in with your creations.
The challenge this month has been kindly sponsored by 
&

Here is my DT card....hope you like it.

I really like the colours of this card but they're much brighter 'in the flesh' so to speak ....I started with a square of white card, and coloured with Pan Pastels before stamping with the Little Claire Design owl family stamp.
I ran the card through my Bigshot with a leafy 'mask' and added the branch and leaves for a bit of interest. The topper was mounted onto a black card base.
I tried removing some of the colour on the owls with bleach, but need to keep practicing that technique I think :( 
Anyway, I like the effect so that's all that matters.
Catch you all in a couple of days
I'm entering this card into the 'Anything Goes' challenge at
Totally Gorjuss
xx
Barbara

Monday 1 October 2012

Twinchie Challenge No. 7

Morning again....phew, these 1st. of the month's are always very busy, and today is no exception. This is the 3rd, and last post for today....please don't forget to scroll down and see my other two Design Team cards for 
and

But, before that, checkout our latest challenge at
Show Us Your Twinchies
The theme this fortnight is
Anything Goes!
So, nice and simple....no excuse for not entering.
Sorry I can't congratulate the winner of Challenge No 6, but this is a scheduled post and at the moment I'm lying on a sun-soaked beach in Southern Italy on holiday.....thinking of you all of course...haha x
These are my twinchies for the current challenge...hope you like them.




An easy topper for a New Home card.



Finn ATE the first one of these which I made...this was the second!  Only the charm survived, although he'd chewed the gold embossing powder off :(



Tried a bit of clear embossing with this one, wanted it to look like a tile. I'll use it on a Valentine's card.



This was made by using Cosmic Shimmer, bronze ultra thick embossing powder and giving it about 5 coats.  It just looked like melted chocolate....Mmmmmmmmmm x

Hope you like them and also hope they've given you some inspiration to join our challenge x

Back soon,
Barbara x

The Cupboard Trilogy - Design Card

Morning again, thanks for popping back....don't forget to scroll down to see my Design Team card at 

This card has been made for the new challege at 
Our new challenge there is
Things with Wings

As you all probably know, ( I've mentioned it quite a few times ) 'white on white' is one of my favourite themes, so I really enjoyed making this card....and it was so very simple. 
I'm collecting a nice little pile of butterfly dies....think I have about 20 now! Well, a girl can never have too many, haha.
I do hope you can pop over to The Cupboard Trilogy and join in this months challenge....it's such a lovely theme.
Be back later with my last post of the day.
xx

Cards-Galore October Challenge

Morning everyone, hope you're all well this Monday morning.....
Today I'd like to show you my DT card for the October challenge at

This cute little digi-stamp was provided by
http://meljensdesigns.com/ 
Why don't you pop over and see what they have to offer?









I decoupaged the front acorns and the little hat.




The image was coloured with Promarkers and the leaves were done with Pan Pastels and Distress Inks.

Hope you like it xx
Back later with another DT project.