Summer IS on the way!

At the beginning of another Bank Holiday weekend we are, yet again, at the mercy of the British weather and rain is forecast for the next few days.  I mustn't grumble too much because today has been fairly sunny, if not cold and breezy.  Still, without the rain, we wouldn't get the lovely summer flowers.

Today's card has been made for a trio of challenges:

Just Cute bears - I've used their sketch and included the obligatory teddy

Lili of the Valley - Here Comes Summer (with a LOTV rubber stamped image)

The Pixie Cottage - lots of flowers

I've coloured the image with pro markers - using lots of my blending pen to get the effect on teddy.  I've used my nestabilities to cut the sunflower shapes - the semi circles on the Just Cute Bears sketch was just calling to be made into sunflowers!  The paper and card is all by DCWV.

And if you are feeling a bit down because of the British rain, here's a reminder that summer IS on its way.  I took this photo a couple of evening ago after a beautifully warm day.  I love a red spring time sky - this was the view from the front of my house, with the fantastic pinks and purples in the clouds:

Thanks for looking and I'm so glad blogger seem to have changed their photo upload back to the old one.  I obviously wasn't the only person who was unhappy about it (see Distressed Fairy post!).

Amanda

Ronnie Relaxing

I've made today's card with the brilliant Ronnie charity image - available for £1.50 from Pollycraft or direct from Crafty Emma's blog.  It was created in memory of Emma's father and I purchased it to help the good cause and also because I have my very own "Ronnie" who leaves wrappers on the floor and throws his legs all over the sofa arms (much to my disapproval!).  Guess what image will be on his Father's Day card this year?

Anyway, I think Ronnie is fab and I will be entering him into Emma's special Ronnie challenge which closes on 5th May.  Click here to go to the post and please support this cause if you can.

Thanks

Amanda

It was just my card that was distressed

Well, it was just supposed to be my card that was distressed - but after trying to upload my photos for this post to Blogger, it is now me who's distressed.

Why do Blogger have to change things without letting people know? Okay, so once I've worked it out, it is fairly easy but I don't want to waste my time searching help pages and trying to work things out.  I'm still learning my way around my new PC so I could do without this extra hastle.  I am a great believer of "If it ain't broke - Don't fix it!".

Right, I've got my moan out of the way now ..... on to the crafting.

I've made this fairy card for 3 challenges:

The Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge - Distressing
Totally Paper Crafts - Recipe of 4 embelishments (3 flowers + 1 charm), 3 Papers, 2 ribbons, 1 image
One Stitch at a time - Flowers (Thanks Liz for introducing me to this challenge site)

The image is by Pollycraft and is coloured with promarkers.  Last Saturday I went to a class at the Secret Crafter shop which was great.  Fortunately I don't live too far away from there.  The lady who was showing us how to blend/shade with promarkers was very knowledgeable (sorry, I can't remember her name - names have never been one of my strong points!)  I just want to buy more of the pens now - I'll need a considerably bigger box soon!

The prima flowers were bought from the Secret Crafter shop and I really made the card around these flowers because I loved them and wanted to use them.

Oh, and if anyone from Blogger reads this, your new photo uploading is rubbish!

Thanks everyone for reading my grumpy post and I hope you don't have any problems uploading your blog photos.

Amanda

Pollycraft & Promarkers & some awesome candy!

I don't seem to have been doing as much crafting as usual over the last few days.  I think that is is the lure of the sunshine in my garden which has been stopping me.  Its a bit grey outside at the moment so I've just  managed to finish off this card that I started last night. 

I'm going to enter it into two challenges:

Pollycraft - using their sketch

and

Magical Crafts - one for the ladies

This will be the last time that I can enter the Magical Crafts Challenge because as from next week I will be contributing to the challenge blog as one of their design team members, which is very exciting!  It will mean that I get more of a chance to visit your blogs to see what creating you've been up to for the challenges.

The image and sentiment is by Pollycraft and the paper is DCWV.  I've coloured the image with Pro Markers and used a bit of my new card candy as the embelishments.

Also, I need to tell you about one of my blogging buddies - Charity Crafter.  She has some amazing candy on offer:

A current Do Crafts Goody bag!  Wow!

Please do visit her site, she does all of her crafting for charity and if you can support her work in any way, I would urge you to do so.  The work that she does to help others is truly inspirational.

Thanks for visiting!

Amanda

Life began in a garden

Here is my card for today - a garden inspired card.  The main image is a clear stamp by Stamps Away which I've never actually used before even though I've had it for ages.  I am going to enter it into the following challenges:

Passion for Promarkers 48 - In the Garden

The Creative Cottage - Going Green (recycling, see below)

Allsorts challenge - In stitches

Die Cut Dreams - Tear it up

I have used a recycled brown envelope which fits in with the "Going Green" theme and have torn the address off.  The little flower was stamped with VersaMark.  I've made a pocket out of the envelope which I thought would be nice to add a packet of two of seeds, with the gardening card.

I've lined inside the card with a floral paper from DCWV and added faux stitching.

The faux button was made using scraps of the floral liner paper - click here to see the fab tutorial on how to make faux buttons.  There's no glitter/sparkle/bling on this card - which is unusual for me, I'll have to get the glitter ready tomorrow otherwise I'll be having withdrawal symptoms!

The image is coloured with pro markers and I've used flower soft to add texture on the flowers and leaves.  The sentiment is part of a larger rubber stamp.

Lastly, here's the photo that I was having trouble uploading earlier on today:

Thank you Janet for getting in touch so quickly, your blog candy parcel will be posted tomorrow or Saturday, as soon as I can get to the Post Office.

Thanks for looking,

Amanda

My Blog Candy Winner

Thank you to all those of you who took part in my blog candy.  I chose the winner with random.org (min 1 and max 33) but I don't know how to copy the image onto my blog.  I then took a photo of the random.org on my phone, have finally manged to bluetooth it to my laptop and now I can't find the photo on my laptop.  I'm afraid you'll just have to take my word for it - I have still got pic on my phone if I work out how to do it.

So the winner is .......             no. 5 Janet R.

Janet, if you could leave me a comment below this post with your contact details I will get your parcel to you.  (Your comment will not be published automatically and will be deleted once your parcel is on its way to you.)

Thanks again to all who took part,

Amanda

LOTV Fairy

Today's card is going to be entered into the Lili of the Valley challenge #51.  It is one of my older LOTV fairy stamps but I still love it.  This week's theme was to make a card using their sketch.  I've put my image in a rectangle rather than the circle, just about every card I make at the moment has a circular image and I fancied a change.

Trying to stick with my New Year's resolutions (not very well I hasten to add!) I am tring not to buy more stash than I need and to use up my old stuff or give it to charity/make charity cards.  With that in mind, I have cut some flowers out of the backing paper and some matching swirls.  I added cosmic shimmer glitter and jewels to make the flowers more of a focal point around the image.  In any case, I couldn't find any flowers in my stash to match the paper as it is quite a busy design and orange/blue is not a combination I usually go for. 

 Once again, I coloured the image with pro markers - glittered with a clear Sakura glitter gel pen and cosmic shimmer.  The paper and glitter card is DCWV.  I've added a pale blue organza ribbon bow with a little metal heart charm attached (saying "Made with love".  The charm was from a pack found in a £ shop - it came with some little key charms which I am thinking of using with one of my handmade bears. 

I am sorry if there are spelling mistakes, trying to blog on my new netbook and my fingers keep hitting the wrong buttons on the smaller keyboard (very frustrating).  I'll get used to it eventually.

Thanks for popping by,

Amanda

Strawberry picking and some Magical news!

I am really excited - I have been asked to be a DT member for Magical Crafts Fortnightly Challenge blog!  How great is that?  I was really pleased to have been chosen and I am looking forward to making my first challenge creation - and a bit nervous too - I've been looking at the DT blogs, their work is soooo good!  Hope I can meet their standard.  I think that it is only right that I must reward myself with a little crafty shopping spree - even though I could probably open my own shop with the stash I have! 

I look forward to working with all of the lovely ladies in the DT and to visiting your blogs to look at your creations.

Today's card is for the challenge over at Secret Crafter's Saturday Challenge which, this week, is "A Day Out".  As the sun is shining I thought about days out that I enjoyed as a child - and strawberry picking was definitely one of my favourites.  By the end of the day, I had usually eaten as many strawberries as I had in my basket - still, we only had to pay for the ones in the basket, not in my tummy!  I had some sweet DCWV strawberry paper from Nana's nursery stack that I was looking for an excuse to use.  The perfect image was there on Sliekje blog of a little girl happily strawberry picking.  If you haven't visited this blog before you must pay it a visit.  This lady has some lovely digi images which are FREE for personal use, she is so generous.

I've coloured the image with pro markers and gel pens.  The strawberries were already pre-glittered.  The ribbons and heart brad are Papermania and the flower was a magazine freebie.

Now, if you are ready for a little laugh, here is the photo which really was the inspiration for the strawberry picking card.  It is of a certain little lady - aged just 7 months - on her very first strawberry picking day out!  Can't remember that one but there were many more since! 

Check out that antique pram and the frilly knickers!  Stuffing a strawberry in her face again!

Thanks for looking,

Amanda

Oh no, not another teddy card!

Not another teddy card!  Those of you who visit my blog regularly know that I do like my teddy bears - both in my card making and making the actual bears.  I love this new stamp too - it is by Lili of the Valley.  I have embellished the card a bit more than I usually do, I'm a bit of a Plain Jane most of the time but I thought it was time I tried something different.

I have a big box full of paper roses, wires and "bits" from when I did my floristry qualifications.  I used to like using these paper flowers on my floristry craft projects and I thought I ought to make use of them in my card making too.  Some of the cards on your blogs are embellished so beautifully with these paper roses - however, I'm taking it one step at a time, sticking with just 3 at the moment.  I don't want to be too far out of my comfort zone, lol!!!

This card is being entered into 3 challenges:

Just Cute Bears - Flowers

Allsorts - Petals and Pearls

Sketch and Stash - I've used their sketch layout.  My newest item to my stash is the teddy stamp.  The neglected item is the leaf paper punch by Brenda Walton.  It is actually a tulip stamp but I snipped the flower off.  I bought it about 4 years ago but it was still in its packaging until this morning, how terrible!

Almost, forgot, the papers are by My Mind's Eye and the burgundy card is by Paper Mill Shop.  I made the little rose spirals by using the piece of wire that I snipped off the rose.  I wound it around a little wooden cocktail stick and glued it underneath the rose with silicone glue.

Thank you for looking and come back soon,

Amanda

A Simple Man Card

I just want to clarify - it's the card that's simple - not a card meant for a man who is simple!

The image is "Jim with Beer" available from Digi Stamp boutique.  I am entering it into their monthly challenge.  I think this image is great for "Man Cards" because it is un-fussy and easy to colour.  I'm not one for making fussy-fussy cards for men.

I've coloured the image with pro markers to match the colours of the DCWV papers.  I ran the card through my printer to add the sentiment before decorating the card.  The circular stamped "Happy Birthday" is by Stamps Away (I think!).

Thanks for looking,

Amanda

The un-named polar bear

Here's the little teddy I've finished this week.   He is made from a beige mohair fabric - I think that he looks like a very dirty polar bear.  His ears are very small - I normally make my bears with much larger ears - and his nose is quite pointed which gives him the polar bear-ish look.

I'm still toying with different names for him - he's definitely a boy, his face tells me so!

I've thought of Icile (but he's too dirty), Percy polar bear (but isn't that a penguins' name?) and Igloo (strange, I know!) but I'm still undecided.  Any suggestions would be most welcome, I'm having trouble naming this one, I've usually got the name before I finish the bear.

I am going to enter him into the Magical Crafts challenge - Animal antics.  This is a brilliant blog for ANY crafts, not just card making.

Here he is sitting on my work table - actually my dining table.  I am not blessed with the luxury of a room to craft in.  It gives a better perspective of size if you can see him with every day objects.

Thanks for looking and pop back soon,

Amanda

If the shoe fits ....

.... wear it and if it doesn't fit, but is absolutely gorgeous, squeeze that foot in - beauty is pain!  Myself, I am more of a boots girl than a shoe girl, but I do like the odd occasion when I can wear a pair of sparkly girly high heeled strappy sandals.  It is this time of year when my feet venture out of the boots they have been in for the past 6 months and actually see some daylight - and my toe nails have to be painted in the obligatory deep red nail varnish.

I've made this card for two challenges:

Forever Friends - Spring

Die Cuts Dreams - Boots and Shoes

I can't stop using pro markers at the moment - they're still my favourite medium to work with.  The flowers and swirl are a Sizzix die cut and the leaves are hand cut.  The paper and card is DCWV and the sentiment was printed from my PC.

Thanks for looking,

Amanda

Just in case

The card that I made last night really suits today - because it is bright and sunny and really feels like Spring has arrived. 

As the sun was shining and it is quite warm, I have taken my "little one" for a walk to McDonalds this lunchtime.  The deal was he could go only if we walked there and back (so that mum burned off some of the extra calories).  Now, after scoffing his Cadburys Creme Egg McFluffy that he couldn't manage - I'm glad I walked ........ so bad, but yet soooo good!  Back to the crafting ...

I'm going to enter this card into three challenges:

1) Just Cute Bears - Green and Yellow

2) Digi Stamp boutique - card made in April

3) The Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge - How does your garden grow?

The image is Coco by Digi Stamp boutique.  Paper and card all DCWV and I've punched the border with a Martha Stewart punch.  The image is coloured with pro markers.  I found the wooden flowers yesterday, they must have been in my stash for about 10 years - the smaller ones were yellow and pink so to keep with the colour scheme I added a green jewel in the centre and scribbled some gel pen over the pink lines.

The gingham ribbon was in my "Recycle Just in case" box and probably came from off a box of chocolates or similar, I can't remember.  I love to save little bits "Just in case" - other half calls it "hoarding c*^p" but he's not a crafter and just doesn't understand the need to keep things "Just in case".

Thanks for popping by and come back soon,

Amanda

Sketch and Stash Challenge card

I love this girly image - which is my new Whiff of Joy stamp.  I was really pleased with the quality and how it stamped - I shall definitely be buying more of their stamps.  I've made the card for the Sketch and Stash challenge - using their layout.

I've used my favourite pro markers again - with my favourite purple colour theme.

These faux suede flowers are a new addition to my craft stash.  They are by Flower Factory and I really like them.  Actually, I think they're only funky foam, but in soft shaded/muted colours.  Might get my die cutter out and have a go with some of my old funky foam and try to change the colours.

Anyway, for the challenge, as I mentioned, my new stash is my stamp and the flowers - my neglected stash is the glitter paper (also by the Flower Factory).  Its really glittery - don't know why I haven't used it before now.  Probably because I have so much other stuff!!!  The background paper is Papermania and the sentiment was printed on my PC.

Thanks for looking,

Amanda

Pollycraft challenge

Ooops!  I made this card for last week's Pollycraft challenge but haven't got round to uploading it until today.  I've just seen that the challenge is weekly from now and not fortnightly so I think I'm too late for the deadline for the recipe challenge.

Fortunately the new challenge today is "Anything Goes" so I'm in luck and I'll enter it into this week's challenge instead.

Just in case you were wondering - the challenge I'd orgininally made the card for was 4-3-2-1.

4 papers

3 embelishments

2 ribbons

1 image

The image is by Pollycraft and the papers are Papermania.

Thanks for stopping by,

Amanda

Lili of the Valley

This little blue cutie was made with one of my new stamps from Lili of the Valley - I love this image, but I love loads of the LOTV stamps, both old and new.  I am entering it into the LOTV challenge which is to use the colours blue and silver.  It is my first time with a LOTV challenge - I only spotted the site yesterday and it is lovely.

Blue and silver is not a colour combo I'd usually go for, unless it was on a Christmas card, but I am actually quite pleased with the result.  I've added a sprinkling of sparkle with a Sakura gel pen and some glitter with my clear Cosmic shimmer glitter.  The paper and card is by DCWV and the flowers are possibly Papermania.  Image is coloured in with pro markers.

Thanks for looking,

Amanda

Easter Basket

I had almost given up being able to make a card for this weeks Just Cute Bears challenge blog because I didn't have any Easter Teddy stamps and was a bit lost as to what I could make.  However, I have two new teddy stamps (Lili of the Valley) that I was eager to use.  When I came across the Whiff of Joy tutorial to make a lovely (and very easy!) Easter basket my problem was solved!

I've coloured the image with pro markers and added a little touch of glitter to the flowers with my Sakura clear glitter gel pen.

Don't forget to have a look at the WoJ tutorial - this little project is so quick and easy to make - I'm sure you'll love to have a go!

Thanks for popping by,

Amanda

Pretty in Pink

I've just typed the title "Pretty in Pink" and it has got my brain singing the song of the same name from my younger years (by the Psychadelic Furs).  I used to love that song when I was younger - can't get it out of my head now!

Anyway, April is here and spring has sprung (alledgedly) - however, we have seen nothing but rain for the last two days.  I guess that's the April showers then.  I've decided to spruce up my blog with a new fresh Spring type background - hope you like it.

Today's card is made for the Creative Cottage challenge "Pretty Pink".  The pretty image is from Sarah Kay (free colouring page from on line) and I've gone with the pink theme as much as I could.  Here's what else I've used:

Paper - DCWV - Stack 6

Ribbon - Papermania

Card - Paper Mill Shop

Scalloped border - Martha Stewart punch

Flower - magazine free gift

Glittering on image - Sakura clear glitter gel pen

I guess that as it is raining so awfully today that I will not be going anywhere - and pottering around the garden is completely out of the question unless I wear wellies and a huge rain mac!  Well, there's only one thing left to do ...... stay inside and craft, hooray!!!

Thanks for visiting

Amanda