Celebrate.....

Evening all, hope you're having a good week so far. Well, it's almost the weekend and that can only mean ONE thing.........CHRISTMAS DECCIES! whoohoo. 

We always have a grand 'switching on' ceremony on the 1st December, but this year it might have to be Sunday 2nd, as it's Christmas shopping on Saturday ;)  We all go outside, and stand in the cold or rain, whilst Alan is snug and warm inside, pressing the switch!

Anyway, tonight's card was made a few weeks ago but I forgot about it until last night. The image is a stamp by Penny Black 

What do you think??
(I think the colours are quite insipid, after the recent bright, bold colours I've used)

Catch you all tomorrow.

Oh and don't forget, you still have a few days to enter the challenge at 

Show Us Your Twinchies

You could win the most coveted badge in Blogland, haha

Barbara xx
I'm entering this card into the following challenges :-
http://www.ladyanneschallenges.com/stamp-challenge.html
http://craftsandmechallenges.blogspot.co.uk/
http://creativemomentsbloggersnetwork.blogspot.co.uk/
http://divasbydesignchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/
http://ilovepromarkers.blogspot.co.uk/
http://paperprettiesblog.blogspot.co.uk/
http://simonsaysstampschallenge.blogspot.co.uk/
http://crazy4challenges.blogspot.co.uk/
http://thecraftypad.blogspot.co.uk/
http://creativecardcrew.blogspot.co.uk/ 

Think Pink!

Evening everyone, and welcome to two more followers...I'm hoping I can do enough to keep you popping back.

Hope you've all had as good a day as me!

Alan had a conference this morning in Birmingham, so we travelled up yesterday. I went with him because it's a great chance to meet up with a couple of my lovely 'cyber-friends' who I met on Facebook....we try to see each other as often as possible. Today it was Janet from Watford and Joan from just outside of Brum....We met in a pub, and stayed there FOUR hours, eating, drinking and putting the world to right's....it was fab and wish we could do it more often....we always swap pressies, and today I came home with stamps, an embossing folder, die-cuts off Janet and 2 beautiful pieces of jewellery that Joan had made. The only 'downer' of the whole day was that Joan broke.......a fingernail!!  Hee hee hee xx

However, a bonus was that Birmingham is hosting a huge German Market this week.....and I can vouch for the mulled wine, it was amazing ;)

Anyway, tonight's card was made a few days ago, and I surprised myself by doing a shocking pink background with Dylusions inks, not a colour I use very often.

The sentiment stamp, chicken wire and dandelion are from Inkylicious ...I do like their stamps and have quite a lot now.
I've used my SplodgeAway Mat again on this card....it really does make a difference :-)

What do you think??  It's quite PINK isn't it? haha

Catch you all tomorrow, have a good Sunday,

Barbara xx
I'm entering this card into the following challenges :-
http://thesquirrelandthefox.blogspot.co.uk/
http://www.creativeinspirationspaint.blogspot.co.uk/
http://joannasheenchallenge.blogspot.com.es/
 http://allsortschallenge.blogspot.co.uk/
Ladybug Crafts
One Crazy Stamper
The Artistic Stamper
Visible Image
 http://challenges4everybody.blogspot.co.uk/

Less is definitely more!

Evening all, and a big, warm welcome to my 200th follower....whoohoo, can't quite believe that 200 crafters pop into my blog on a regular basis to see what I'm crafting......I am indeed overwhelmed, so 

THANK YOU x

Just a quick post from me tonight, as I need to meet tomorrows deadline on a challenge that I sometimes enter.

The blog at http://simplylessismoore.blogspot.co.uk/ is asking for 'Hardware' on this weeks challenge, so I thought my lovely little snowflake would fit in well.....The idea of 'Less is More' is to have lots of white showing with minimal embellishments.

 I love making cards with loads of white as the hammerered card really shows up nicely.

So here is my entry

Would love you to leave a comment if you've enjoyed looking

Have a great weekend,

Be back soon,

Barbara xx

I'm also entering this card into the following challenges :)
http://craftycreationschallenges.blogspot.co.uk/
http://shoppingourstash.blogspot.co.uk/
http://tuesdaytaggers.blogspot.co.uk/
http://joyfulstamper.blogspot.co.uk/ 

Flutterbyes....

Evening everyone, and welcome to my new followers....almost at 200, whoohoo!

Tonight's card is an extra one I made for The Cupboard Trilogy challenge in October....I usually make a few DT cards, and let Jane, the owner of the blog, choose which one she likes.....guess this one didn't 'cut the mustard', (although I quite liked it) haha.

Distress Inks and a Sizzix texture plate.

The butterfly stamp is from Inkylicious, the word LOVE from Creative Expressions, and the little butterfly die-cuts are Cheery Lynn

White and gold embossing powder from Cosmic Shimmer.

THREE HOURS LATER, and I've finally managed to upload these pics.....for some reason Google is wanting me to pay for extra photo storage. I've had to delete some pics, so if you call by tomorrow and the blog is empty, you'll know what's happened.

Catch you all soon, thanks for looking

Barbara xx

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

http://www.craftdoormagazine.com/ 

http://papelitosstamps.blogspot.co.uk/

http://hotshotcraft.blogspot.co.uk/

http://artisticinspirationscrafts.blogspot.co.uk/

 http://incywincydesigns.blogspot.co.uk/ 

http://ppp-makeitmonday.blogspot.co.uk/ 

http://paperplaytime.blogspot.co.uk/ 

http://www.withoutwordschallenge.blogspot.co.uk/ 

http://ladyanneschallenges.weebly.com/stamp-challenge.html 

http://creativemomentsbloggersnetwork.blogspot.co.uk/ 

Autumn is still here.....

Afternoon everyone, hope you're having a good Monday.   

I had to pop into college this morning for a couple of hours work, but was soon home and back in my craft room....yeah!

I thought when I made all of those Autumn cards a few weeks ago, that that was it for this year, but I've noticed on a few of the challenge blogs they're still asking for Autumn cards.....so, here we are, but definitely my last.......it's more like Winter here today anyway, and the leaves are long gone from the trees in our village.

Anyway, here is the card....hope you like it.
I treat myself to a SplodgeAway Mat recently, to see what all the fuss is about. It has definitely made a difference to my inking and blending, and made a sometimes tedious job so much easier. Think I'll be using it on most of my cards in future.

I made the backing card with Distress Inks, and Cosmic Shimmer mists then ran it through the Bigshot with a leafy mask. 

The ribbon started out as bright white, which I ink-dyed then stamped on.

The sentiment is from Creative Expresasions, combined with my lovely tree stamp from Inkylicious. (you can see the lovely 'glimmer mist', sparkling on the sentiment)

 I'm entering this card into the following challenges

  Autumn Inspired at
 http://blog.ribboncarousel.com/
http://www.tammyscrapincorner.com/
http://createdwithlovechallenges.blogspot.co.uk/ 

http://citycrafter.blogspot.co.uk/ and

http://www.dccfriendschallenges.net/

Creative Stamp Friends are asking for 'Your Favourite Colour', and of course you know that these Autumn colours are my favourites

http://diekreativenstempelfreunde.blogspot.co.uk/

Gingerloft is asking for a 'Touch of Gold'

 http://www.gingerloftchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/ 

Then, 'Anything Goes' for the following
http://www.craftdoormagazine.com/
http://paperplaytime.blogspot.co.uk/
http://ppp-makeitmonday.blogspot.co.uk/
http://mygraficocrafts.blogspot.co.uk/ 

 http://challenges4everybody.blogspot.co.uk/

http://dreamvalleychallenges.blogspot.co.uk/

http://thesquirrelandthefox.blogspot.co.uk/

http://onestopcraftchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/
http://joyfulstamper.blogspot.co.uk/
and
Hip To Be Square @ Incy Wincy Designs 

Thank you for popping by today, I'd love it if you could leave a comment xx

It's that time again........

Morning everyone and a big warm welcome to my new followers......now only 2 needed to reach that magic number of 200......excited.com!

Today sees the start of our next twinchies challenge and the theme this fortnight is 'USE ONLY TWO COLOURS'.

Firstly though, I'd like to say well done to last fortnight's winner

Julie B

Her winning twinchie can be found Here

My twinchies were rather a hurried affair this time, as we've had Alan's parents here for a week, and they only went home today. So....it was straight into my craft room and voila!  (of course, being a procrastinator, as you all know, it never entered my head to make my twinchies BEFORE they arrived last week!)
Please checkout this fortnight's challenge at
Show Us Your Twinchies 

Background colours made with Dylusions Inks, butterfly from Craft Stamper mag.

This stamp is from Elusive Images. Stamped with Versamark and heat embossed with WOW embossing powder.

These words are little buttons, coloured pink with an inkpad

Thought this was very topical for Remembrance

week. I decoupaged the bottom left poppy.

Thanks for looking, hope you can leave a comment.

Back tomorrow with something new.

Barbara

xx

Quick, quick, quick.......

Just another quick post today, sorry for rushing again, but needs must. Just wanted to show you a couple more clean and simple cards I made for two challenges.

The first one, to enter into the weekly challenge at 

http://panpasteluk.blogspot.co.uk/

I've used a twinchie as the topper, and double-embossed around it.

This card was made for the challenge at
http://simplylessismoore.blogspot.co.uk/



Do you like them??   ....hopefully I'll be back with something completely different tomorrow xx

 I'm also entering these cards into the following challenges :-

http://visibleimage.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/visible-image-challenge-you-to-sparkle.html
 http://littlemissmuffetchallenges.blogspot.co.uk/
http://www.sarahhurleychallenges.blogspot.co.uk/ 

Lili of the Valley Christmas......

Hi everyone, and welcome to my blog. Just a very quick post tonight as we have visitors and I'm busy in the kitchen ;-(

I made this Christmas card a couple of weeks ago using a Lili Of The Valley image, cut with a hexagon Spellbinder die.

It's just a simple layout, as you can see, but hey-ho, sometime you just have to make a few quick cards, so simple is best.

Hope you like it, I'll be back tomorrow with something different.

Enjoy your evening,

Barbara

xx
I'm entering this card into the following challenges :-
http://abcchristmaschallenge.blogspot.co.uk/
http://craftsandmechallenges.blogspot.co.uk/
http://divasbydesignchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/
http://nutcrafters.blogspot.co.uk/
http://tandastamps.blogspot.co.uk/
http://www.southerngirlschallenge.blogspot.co.uk/ 

Clean and Simple.......(but messy)

Evening everyone, and thanks for popping by. A big welcome to my new followers....just need 6 more to reach 200, whoohoo!

Tonight's cards were made along the 'clean and simple' lines, but believe me, it was anything but simple and I did waste a lot of card trying to get the colours perfect. In fact the best colours were on a piece of scrap paper, which typically I can't use anyway, but hey, that's crafting!

I've used a new stamp bought recently from
Inkylicious ,  and I love it already.
The sentiment stamp is by Stampin' Up.

I highlighted the little bird with TH Fired Brick distress ink.  

I do like these colours together, even though they're not my usual faves Sympathy cards are sometimes difficult to find a suitable colour for.

I was pleased with the way the coloured panel turned out, especially with the thin green edging

Hope you like them...

Back tomorrow

Barbara xx


I'm entering these cards into the following challenges:-
http://diekreativenstempelfreunde.blogspot.de/
http://kaboodledoodles.blogspot.co.uk/
http://lovetocreatechallenge.blogspot.co.uk/
http://ppp-makeitmonday.blogspot.co.uk/
http://www.lovesrubberstampschallenges.com/
http://papelitosstamps.blogspot.co.uk/
http://www.craftdoormagazine.com/
http://thecraftypad.blogspot.co.uk/ 

Twinchies 'R' Us.......

Morning everyone,  it's Thursday, and almost the weekend, whoohoo!

This is the last of todays posts, phew....it's always busy on the 1st of the month.

If you haven't already joined us at  

Show Us Your Twinchies

Why not....????

Last challenge's winner was Val....you can find her winning twinchie Here

Well done Val, another fantastic winner's badge for your blog, how lucky are you ??

The theme this fortnight is Hot Colours/Fireworks and here are the twinchies I've made ...

Loads of Cosmic Shimmer, Tim Holtz Distress Stains, Promarkers and Glamourdust

Inks and Glamourdust

Good old Craft Stamper stamp....these stamps were just made for twinchies ;-)   Loads of lilac 'Wow' embossing powder and of course Glamourdust........
This is a Catherine Wheel....BTW haha

Well, that's it for today, hope you like my little peices of 2" x 2" of art....I'd love you to leave a comment

Catch you tomorrow

Barbara xx

I'm entering this into the following challenge

http://sarahhurleychallenges.blogspot.co.uk/ 

Spoooooooooooooooooooooooky!

Morning everyone, welcome back to my blog.

 Just wanted to show you my DT card for  

The Cupboard Trilogy

The theme this month is Halloween/Fall and I chose to use one of my little twinchies to make my card.

Now I've got to admit I DON'T like Halloween and I can't see why anyone would want to make or receive a card with ghouls, skulls, witches etc, so I'm pleased it's over....however I did put MY feelings to one side to make this card. I think it's just a teeny bit more humorous than some.

Please pop over to The Cupboard Trilogy and check out the other creations from the fabulous Design Team, and maybe have an entry in the challenge.

The brick background is an embossing folder from Creative Expressions, think it's the first time I've used it, but I love the effect for a Halloween card.

Please leave a comment and let me know what you think of it,

Barbara 

x

Cards-Galore November Challenge.....

Morning all, on a wet, blustery day.....just right for staying home and crafting, which is just what I'm doing today :-)

The challenge over at Cards-Galore this month is 'Silhouette'......nice and easy, so we do hope you can come and join us.

Here are my Design Team creations, both are Christmas cards, which is great as I'm still behind on my Christmas card making.

    

Pan Pastels and an Inkylicious tree stamp.  The sleigh and reindeer is a die-cut.

This lovely little reindeer is a Stampin'up stamp, with Marianne dies and a Martha Stewart punch for the flowers.

I've also used Glamourdust on the reindeer antlers.

Hope you like it.

Barbara

xx

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 :-

Hotshot Crafts 

http://diekreativenstempelfreunde.blogspot.co.uk/ 

 http://www.craftybloggersnetwork.blogspot.co.uk/

http://fashionistachallenge.blogspot.co.uk/ 

http://ppp-makeitmonday.blogspot.co.uk/ 

http://ooh-la-la-creationschallenges.blogspot.co.uk/ 

http://paperplaytime.blogspot.co.uk/ 

http://paperprettiesblog.blogspot.co.uk/ 

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/
 

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 

http://citycrafter.blogspot.co.uk/ 

and read my guest spot....pleeeeeeeeeeeeease xx

That's all for now, off to make a few more Christmas cards....catch you all tomorrow,

Barbara xx
I'm entering this card into the following challenges
http://hotshotcraft.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/challenge-12-bling-it-on.html?showComment=1350993558021#c3503051303384684978
http://bunnyzoescrafts.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/good-morning-everyone-wow-you-entries.html
http://www.craftybloggersnetwork.blogspot.co.uk/
 http://eurekastamps.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/challenge-11-things-with-wings.html?showComment=1350994457685#c615676078442404839
http://fashionistachallenge.blogspot.co.uk/p/challange-rules.html
http://ppp-makeitmonday.blogspot.co.uk/
http://crazychallenge.blogspot.co.uk/
http://anythingchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/
 http://fussyandfancychallenge.blogspot.co.uk/
http://joyfulstamper.blogspot.co.uk/ 

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

Barbara xx

I'm entering this card into the following challenges:-
http://cceestampers.blogspot.co.uk/
http://fussyandfancychallenge.blogspot.co.uk/
http://joyfulstamper.blogspot.co.uk/
http://totallypapercrafts.blogspot.co.uk/
and
http://cutecardthursday.blogspot.co.uk/ 

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/

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 :-

http://panpasteluk.blogspot.co.uk/
http://www.craftysentiments.blogspot.co.uk/
 http://deepoceanchallengeblog.blogspot.co.uk/
http://sassycherylschallenge.blogspot.co.uk/
http://www.craftdoormagazine.com/
http://toptiptuesday.blogspot.co.uk/
http://useittuesday.blogspot.co.uk/

and last but not least, the Autumn challenge at
http://visibleimage.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/inspired-by-autumn.html