A few more charity cards

I've managed to get a few more charity cards made for the DoCrafts / Cancer Research campaign.  Above is a trio of Forever Friends designs that I've coloured in with Pro Markers.

These are all using the lovely Pollycraft images ....

... and these three lovely ladies are Pollycraft too.

And the last few are a bit of a mish-mash, a selection of my stamps and also a new house die cutter that I've made into a "New Home" card.

Click the picture on the sidebar to go to details of how you can join in with this year's campaign.

Thanks

Amanda

Blossom - the pink panda

Here's what I've been working on this week - which is why the card making has to sometimes be neglected a little.  Her name is Blossom and she is a little 5" tall mohair panda bear, which I am very pleased with.

Sewing the pink eye patches in place was quite a task - but with a little patience I got there in the end!

I said in my last teddy bear post that I am always happy if my bears are able to stand up by themselves, unaided and Blossom didn't disappoint.

This picture shows how she has been named and tagged by me.  On the other side of her tag is my name and I always add the year that I made the bear.  I make my tags from shrink plastic - cut with my Big Shot.

Thanks for visiting!

Amanda

Purple Fairy Sparkles

I never need an excuse to add a bit of sparkle to a card, so when Pollycraft set their latest challenge I could not miss it.  Their challenge this week is "Sparkly Things" - so I found out my glitter card, jewels, crystal glitter and sparkly pens to set about my creation.  The image and sentiment are both by Pollycraft.

This close up picture, although not brilliant, does show up my sparkle quite well.  I found out my Sakura Gelly Roll pens, which I haven't used for ages, to colour most of the image.

I am also entering it into the Sketch and Stash Challenge - using their layout.  The newest part of my stash is the jewels - I found them at a really good price so I bought 7 packs (expect them to be on lots of things from now on as I have so many).  The neglected part of my stash is the Sakura gel pens (which I forgot just how great they are) and the background paper which is by Dovecraft.  It is a pack of fairy-themed papers that I had a couple of years ago and never used until now.

I have just finished my hand sewn panda bear today so will get some pics done in the morning - pop back for a look!

Amanda

Another teddy bear card

I had to go digi stamp shopping yesterday again and made my way to the lovely Digi Stamp boutique.  This cute Coco image was irresistible and became one of my purchases, amongst one or two (or more!) others.

The glittered dotty paper is Nana's nursey from DCWV, as is the plain card.  I don't know why, but I'm really loving pink and orange together at the moment.  I know it's a contrast, but I think they go well together.  The image has been coloured with my pro markers (again).

I am entering this card into the Just Cute Bears Challenge - make a card using their sketch template.

The sentiment has been printed out using my PC.

Thanks for popping bye, come back soon!

Amanda

A sparkly Easter

I've been neglecting my crafting this week because I've been a bit poorly and haven't really wanted to do anything.  It's a sure sign that I'm ill if I don't even want to do crafting.  I'm back to full strength now and keen to crack on with some card making and challenges.  So here's my first card for today - a cute bunny image from Pollycraft - that I am entering into 2 challenges.

Challenge 1: The Creative Cottage Challenge Blog - Sparkle

I have used DCWV glitter card, jewels and glitter to add my sparkle.  However, I am the first to admit that my photography skills need improvement and the photo isn't as sparkly as the card is in real life.

Challenge 2: Allsorts Challenge blog - Spring is in the Air

There's nothing more "Spring" than Easter, bunnies and chocolates - the spring time paper I've used is also by DCWV.

Thanks for visiting,

Amanda

Another teddy bear completed

Here is my newest creation to my little bear hug.  He is an unusually coloured orange guy made from a vintage rayon that I purchased from the USA.  I love sewing the mini bears in vintage rayon because, if you look close you will see that there is virtually no pile to the fabric, and it is always a challenge for me to create a bear from rayon with no visible stitches.  (Sewing with mohair, or similar plush fabrics, always helps to hide the stitches!).

Anyway, his name is Everard - an unusual name I know, but he was named by one of the ladies in the teddy making group that I go to.  If you are as old as me and can remember the Larry Grayson show (UK 1970's) then you will remember Everard.  Enough said!

It's always pleasing when a bear will stand up on his own too ......

...... but he'd much rather have a little bear hug!

Thanks for popping by .... there's a little panda in the sewing bag now!

Visit again soon!!

Amanda

I have Blog Candy !

On the 22nd April 2010 it will be one whole year since I discovered the amazing world of Blogland and set up my own blog.  It took me a while to get going and to work out what was what, but now I am totally hooked and love hopping around all of the fantastic crafty sites and sharing my creations.  I've still got a long way to go to be as good as some of you bloggers, but I'm just enjoying the crafty journey on my way!

To celebrate my one year blogaversary I have got a little bit of candy to give away in shades of my favourite colour purple/lilac as a thank you for all of the lovely comments I have received.  The rules are:

• you don't have to be a follower - but if you do like my work please follow me to keep up to date with my posts  
• post a photo of my blog candy with a link to this blog in your side bar 
• only one entry per person please - you must leave your details with Mr Linky below
• The drawn will close at 12 midday on Thursday 22nd April 2010.  The winner will be drawn at random and announced on this blog shortly afterwards.

This is what is in my first year blog candy:
purple and lilac marabou feathers, pack of embossed DCWV cards and envelopes, buttons, jewels, ribbon, glitter, paper roses, stickers and peel offs, flower sequins.

Floral card for my Aunt

Monday will be my aunt's 70th birthday - so a great chance to make a pretty, feminine card.  I found the image on the net whilst looking for free colouring images and I just fell in love with the design.

I picked the traditional style Anna Griffin paper because the blue trailing flowers mimicked the flowers on the gate post.  I have used one of my four new Martha Stewart paper punches which I was lucky enough to have for Mother's Day last Sunday.  The image is coloured with Pro Markers (again!).

 

I've added a touch of glitter to the flowers and to the little hat ribbon - not sure if my photography skills will show that too well though!

I am entering this card into the Creative Cottage challenge for this week which is FLOWERS.

Thanks for taking the time to visit!

Amanda

Three in one card

With today's card I have managed to satisfy 3 challenges in the one card - I think that is a record for me!

Here are the three challenges that I am entering into:

Just Cute Bears - "All White" the whole card has to be white except for the image which can be coloured

Forever Friends - make a card using the layout example provided

Die Cut Dreams - "Pack a punch" make a card using at least 2 paper punches.

I managed to use 5 punches on the card - these are the ones I used:

The main image has been coloured in with Letraset Pro Markers.  The colour used for the bear itself was Tan, which is fairly close to the original pictures.

Thanks for visiting and come back soon!

Amanda

My newest little bear

I have been neglecting my bear making over the last few weeks, but it is mostly because sewing the really small bears make my hands ache so much.  Rest over, so, this weekend my sewing kit has come out again and here is the latest creation that I have finished.  The pattern was by Sambrook Bears and is a gorgeous easy-to-sew bear.  I can't decide if this is a boy bear or a girl bear, so he/she has been named Jesse, a name suitable for either.

Here's Jesse sitting in the hand that created her!  I have embroidered the nose with DMC cotton perle thread but I wanted a glossy wet look to it, but didn't have any proper bear nose glaze.  It was a bit of an experiment but I raided my craft box and found an ancient bottle of Anita's clear glaze, which worked brilliantly and dried exactly how I wanted it to look. 

Lesson learned ..... always look in your stash to see what you've got before buying anything new.  I sorted my craft cupboard out last week and found that I had 111 ink pads!!!!  I must remember this lessons now - look and check before I buy!!!!!

I hope to be back in a day or two with another bear creation.

Pop back soon!

Amanda

New Home card for New Blog challenge

This New Home card has been made for the New Creative Cottage Challenge blog.  The theme for the challenge is NEW.

Keeping on the "new" theme, I have used my new Cornish Heritage rubber stamp - 26 Mushroom Lane.  I've tried to keep the circle theme going through the card following the top of the mushroom and I just had to use the sweet woodland style paper with the little toadstools and birds on it.

The papers are both from a Stack 6 pad from DCWV and the embossed circle panel has been made using a Cuttlebug embossing folder.  A couple of paper punched flowers and leaves, a few jewels and a bit of faux stitching and the card is finished.

You can just about see on this picture that I stamped the roof twice - I cut it out and decoupaged it with a bit of silicone to give the roof a bit of dimension.

Thanks for popping by to Mushroom Lane!

Amanda

Easel card for Mother's Day

Here's a Mother's Day card that I have made for this Sunday.  I am entering it into 2 challenges:

Just Cute Bears - Make a Mother's Day card

Die Cut Dreams - No flowers allowed

The second challenge - No flowers allowed - was a difficult one for me as I always seem to have a flower or two on my cards.  I've used a heart punch instead to make a leaf shape and added a little gem onto each one.

Here's what I've used:

All card and paper - DCWV

Flourish - Sizzix Bigz

Teddy - wooden die cut

Jewels - Papermania

All other bits from stash

This photo is a bit closer and clearer.  I have gone round the teddy die with a pro marker to give the edges a bit of definition and I've also added a few highlights with white gel pen.

I've had to make sure the word MOM is clear on the design because mine is definitely a mom and not a mum, mam or ma.

Thanks for taking the time to visit!

Amanda

Sketch and Stash card for Mother's Day

I have taken the opportunity this week to make my Mother's Day card whilst completing the Sketch and Stash challenge.  The challenge was to use the layout provided - which I loved and I'm sure that I will be using it again many times!

The newest part of my stash is the gingham and floral paper - it is Nana's nursery by DCWV and the neglected part of my stash is the green background paper with birds on.  It is a Brenda Walton paper by K & Co which has been in my paper drawer for about 5 years.  Can't believe I've never used it before because it is very delicate and pretty.

Here's a closer look at the image - I love this one, bought it recently from Pollycraft.  I printed it out onto ivory card this time as it is less stark than white and it goes well with the rest of the other colours I've used.  Once again, I've used Pro Markers to colour the image, but I've gone for pastel beige for the toadstools rather than the traditional red.

Thanks for popping by and come back to visit soon!

Amanda

A very distressed fairy!

Well the challenge this week at Pollycraft is "Distressed" and I must say that I was more than a bit distressed when making this card.  I was trying to get it to look really old and antique-ish but instead I think it looks like it has been salvaged from a fire!  Anyway, it was fun really and made a change from my usual clean cut lines.

Here's what I've used:

• Fairy image from Pollycraft, coloured lightly with pro markers, covered with a fine crackle glaze and "aged" with ink and spots of pro marker.  The crackle glaze made the image fade and blur a little which I liked the effect of.
• The papers are all from the new Papermania Perissmon range.
• Bit of lace and brads from my stash.

Next time I do vintage I think I'll try and tone it down a bit!

Vintage Bear

Not sure what's happening lately but here is another card that I've made without my usual touch of glitter!

I have made this one for the Just Cute Bears Challenge this week - which is to use a mint and brown colour combination.  I thought that the bear looked like an old well-loved ted so I've gone for the vintage look.  I have used a bit of sand paper to fade the edges of the card a little.  The gingham paper is by My Mind's Eye. 

My top tip - for those of you who want a neater distressed look (and are terriefied at the thought of ripping and tearing!) is to make tiny nicks around the edge of your paper and scrape a sharp craft knife around the edge of the paper - this will give it just a slightly worn look.  I have then lightly edged around it wilth a brown ink pad.

I have finished off with a little bit of lace and some flowers (Sizzlit dies) with a button and some flat-backed pearls.

Hope you've enjoyed looking and pop back soon!