Another Tag Shaped Card.

True to form,here's another card made in the shape of a tag,here's the last one if you missed it. Sorry,this won't be the last but at least this ones a different shape from the last one. I got a little carried away with this one I won't go into too much detail as I'm sure the photos explain most of it but feel free to ask if they don't and I'll get back to you!

A bit of stamping and embossing,something I don't usually do with patterned paper but I so love the effect it's given.

Also got out the cropodile and added some eyelets for a change. A bit of scoring to the star and some silicone glue add dimension,

A little slip with the stamp but it almost looks deliberate.

I'm using this card for the following challenges:-

ECP32,Something for the boys,
Crafty Anns 35,Birthday,

Fabulous Friday ,Use metal,
Fairy Knoll,Use green,
Fussy And Fancy,Embossing,
Just a quick post for me this evening,

Thanks for stopping by,

Julie.x

Garden Of Wishes

Well,it's nearly the weekend,normally I'd be doing a little happy dance but this Friday means I've only two full days left before I have to go back to work :( Oh well,I'd best make the most of the weekend! Now,a very lovely scrapbooking friend gave me a little gift,my first "Lili Of The Valley" stamp, isn't she lovely,the friend and the fairy! The stamp is called "Garden Of Wishes". A brilliant reason to enter this weeks challenge at LOTV,I coloured the beautiful image with Copics,added stickles to her wings and as the challenge is Circles I did"out of the circle" wings using Revolution circles through the Cuttlebug.The background was made by stamping pink dotty circles on to white card and rubbing over it with luster rub ons which add a pearly sheen. I then cut some flowers from the pink DP and added roses to their centres. I thought I'd get clever and punch small circles from the paper,emboss them using Swiss Dots folder and glue them to the back of the focal circle,what a waste of time that was, it looks like I've used a scalloped Nestie, I could have saved myself some time.

I'm using this card for the following challenges:-
LOTV85,Circles,
Fussy And Fancy,Embossing or paper piecing,
Stamp Something,With flowers,
Wags and Whiskers 48,Punches,
Crafts and Me,Spread your wings,
Creative Card Crew,Fantasy.
That's me for this evening,have a lovely weekend,
Thanks for stopping by,
Julie.x

Oh Happy Day!!!

We've had Sunshine!!!! Yippee,I can't believe how much better everything looks when there's a bit of sunshine,even the dust looks better lol! at least, it didn't expect me to stay home to remove it. I had a little plea from my mum wanting a little box to put a jewellery gift into. I haven't made a box for ages,I'd forgotten how much I like making them. This one was a quick and easy one as the plea for a box came at ten and it was needed by lunchtime, I wasn't even showered when she rang so simple was what was needed but mum was pleased with it and it turned out to be a perfect colour to compliment the gift.

I'm going to use it for the following challenge:-
DYSU 8,Anything goes,
Paper Romance 39,Anything goes.

So anyway,the sun shone it's "Mid Term Break" so off we went for a little outing to Rochester. Coffee and cake,a wander through the Museum and a stroll through the High Street,and purely by coincidence(or maybe not) there's a little shop where you can buy "pick N mix"buttons....HEAVEN,I love buttons!!!!,little jars and wide necked vases full of little shiny jewel coloured beauties. I went there a couple of weeks ago,took loads of photos of my treasures when I returned home but somehow managed to clear my camera without uploading them.


Now I know this doesn't look much to some people but I'm sure that some of you are as sad as me :) You get a little bag approximately 3" square and as long as the top of the bag seals,you can fill it with whatever you want from the selection.

Now you couldn't find perfect matches to sew onto a cardigan but they are just perfect for my needs and to my mind they're a bargain at £3.99 a bag.

I didn't pick out so many pink this week as I got lots of those the other week but I did find some sparkly beauties.

I think I might have to get some little glass jars to divide them into colours. I wonder if I could push my luck and display them on a shelf for all to see???? maybe that's a step too far,don't want to push DH too far lol! You might be wondering how many buttons were in today's treasure bag,95!!! Bargain! The shop is called "Hometown" if you happen to be passing that way.

Thanks for stopping by,

Julie.x

p.s.,Please call by again,I'm not mad,honest!

Southern Girls' Challenge 13

Hi I'm back again,two DT card posts in one day and this one is for Southern Girls where the challenge is "Brads,Gems or Dew Drops" I decided to make another card for a boy seeing as I've still another four male cards needed over the next couple of weeks. I had another play with the Cricut to cut all of the elements for my card and I used a couple of Cuttlebug Embossing folders. I think I may have gone a little OTT with the distressing but it kind of suits a fifteen year old boy I think. I just added a splash of red as I felt that all the black,white and silver needed a bit of a boost. Following the challenge requirements I added a few silver star brads and some tiny Black brads which may be a little harder to spot. There's excellent sponsors as always for the challenge,the international sponsor is Wild Orchid Crafts and the Australia and New Zealand sponsor is Artfull Crafts.

I'm using this card for the following challenges:-
Anything Goes,Distressing,
Creative Craft Challenge,Cards for teens,
Two Sisters 27,Embossing,
Creative Inspirations 53,Distressing,
ECP32,For boys,
Fantabulous Cricut,Challenge Me Monday43,Emboss,
So Why not search out those brads,gems or dew drops and join us in the challenge,there's also a DT call on at the moment if you're interested.
Thanks for stopping by,
Julie.x
Please scroll down for my earlier post.

Scrapbook Sisters Challenge 24

Nice to see you today,you're just in time to see my DT card for this week's card challenge at Scrapbook Sisters. This week's theme is Lace and Pearls. I've used one of the New Release Digi stamps by Gayle Bond and this one is called "All Dressed Up"

I used lace to make a simple flower finishing it off with a button.

Apart from the self adhesive pearls that I used for my flower centres I used liquid pearls on the girls necklace and bracelet.

I almost wish I'd got a big sister to give this card too as I'm sure I'd have tried on all of her clothes,I have two big brothers,I'm waiting for the image of a little girl dressed in a hand me down Parka and jeans,fishing with her daddy, lol! I was that girl!

Why not enter this week's challenge at Scrapbooksisters,

Thanks for stopping by,

Julie.x

Cricut Creation

Hi,I've been playing with the Cricut again,after having fun making the tag card the other evening, I thought I'd make another. I've lots of male birthdays over the next few weeks so I'm warning you now, you'll be seeing at least a couple more. They are just soooooo very easy to make and great for using up remnants. I used Plantins Schoolbook Cartridge.

I've even given you a peek at the inside this time as I realised on the last post that I hadn't shared a side view.

So this time I'm sharing two views to make up for it. There's several layers involved so I got through loads of pop dots.

Once again I used up some of the rope from the new airer plus some other small pieces of ribbon. I also did some paper piercing,Haven't done this in ages but I think it adds to the look I was after. Lots of distressed edges again done with a dark brown chalk eye. I couldn't resist a close up of the button threaded with a little of the divided rope.
The card is a perfect fit for a C6 envelope.

I'm using this card for the following challenges:-

A Spoon Full Of Sugar 140,Birthday wishes,
CCC,Cards for teens,

Timeless Tuesday 106,Birthday,

PTT4 Anything goes,

Scrap Creations 22,Birthday,

Tuesday Throwdown 37,Pop it up,

Craft Your Passion 46,Male card,
Karens Doodles 51,Masculine,
Simon Says Stamp,Use some stripes,
Woodware USA 15,Shaped card *,

Paper Sundaes 57,Masculine colours.

Thanks for stopping by,

Julie.x

Flutter By

Happy Monday everyone! It's half term break here where I live so a week off work has to be good :)
I've had this card in mind since I chose the lovely Meljen Designs Fancy Butterfly as part of my winner choice of Digis.(Does that make sense?)

I just loved playing around with the image to achieve the background paper,I just added a touch of colour with the Copics,layering up with a selection of papers from a Dovecraft 6x6 paperpack.

I decoupaged the butterfly for the focal image and added stickles to the edges of the wings.

The black rose was made using off cuts from when I had an evening dress shortened,this is so easy to do,I've fancied giving it a try ever since a fellow Southern Girls DT member Patricia made one in the "Use heat" Challenge a few weeks back,there's a link to a tutorial on her blog.

I added a few gems and pearls to the front of the card and on the inside I added a layered panel of the printed image so that the bottom printed image shows through the top layer like a water mark,I hope you can get the idea of what I mean from the photo.

I'm using this card for the following challenges:-

KB Cute Monday 4,Glitter,

StampsRus 15,For the girls,

Guylous 1,Anything goes,

TTT,Show us what you got,
Crafts And Me,Spread your wings,

Four Crafty Chicks 25,Butterfly,

DDCC100 Glitter and bling,

Allsorts 91,Inspired by nature,

Wee Memories 44,Oh my crafts (My inspiration was simply the Meljen image)

Delicious Doodles 13,Glitz, Shimmer,Bling,

Pollycraft 81,Diamonds and pearls.

Now I made this card this morning,I particularly wanted to enter this week's challenge over at Meljens,I love to be able to use the challenge blogs images whenever I can. I took photo's of the card,wrote it and popped in the post for a birthday on Wednesday,then this evening when I wrote my post and started to link to the challenge blogs I realised that although the card was for a birthday I'd omitted to put a greeting on the card and that was the challenge stipulation. AAAAghhhhh!!!!!!! don't you just hate it when that happens!!!! Oh well,I suppose I could always make another card for next weeks challenge,I've still two more new images to christen.

Thanks for stopping by,

Julie.x

Give Me Your Answer Do.

Yes I'm back with a new song on my mind today,see if you can guess what it is lol!
Another of Gayles lovlies,and this one is called "Sweet Daisy" If you check out the rest of the DT cards here,you'll see that she actually does have a printed mouth, I was given her to play with but given a version without a mouth.You can see my other card using Joleen from the new range of little girl digis.

I'm using this card for the following challenges:-
Mami Doodles 20,Flowers,
ResQchallenge 71,Things that make you happy,(Flowers do it for me:)
Simply Create 37,Bright,
Stampin With The Dragon,Birthdays,
Wags and Whiskers 48,Punches,
Sassy Studio 60,Punches,
Creative Cottage 33,Fabulous florals,
Forgotten Scraps3,Florals.
Thanks for stopping by,
Julie.x
p.s. if you still haven't guessed what my song for today is,it's that old time favourite,"Daisy,Daisy"

Introducing Joleen

Good afternoon,I find myself humming Dolly Parton whilst I'm trying to write this post so please forgive me if I make no sense. Actually,I never make much sense so what's new :)
Thought I'd introduce you to Joleen, one of the latest digi releases by Gayle Bond,available exclusively at Scrapbook Sisters. It looks like I've given her a bit of a tan here,must try harder at getting good skin tones with the old Copics, anyway,Gayle has just released three new images,check out the cards that the rest of the design team have been making with them here.

I'm using this card for the following challenges:-
Totally Papercrafts 54,Do it with digis,
C4C75,Use Dies,
Card Makin Mamas 15,Birthday,
Fairy Knoll 38,Birthday,
Digi Doodlees 47,Anything goes.
Thanks for stopping by,you've made my day,
Julie.x

When Is A Tag Not A Tag?

When it's a card!

Nice to see you this evening,I've been playing and boy have I had some fun. I only tend to get my Cricut out on a Friday, it's my day off and as the weekend is nearly upon us it means a more laid back evening, so I've taken over the dining room,spread out my stash and got creating.

I'm more than a little happy with the result,I've been wondering what to do for my BIL's card for weeks then suddenly a spark of inspiration after visiting the lovely Linda,my blogging buddy who has a bit of a thing for tags. I cut the tags and the stars and scallops using Plantin's School Book Cartridge.The DP is Prima Marketing Cavalier Collection"Riviera"

I was desperate for some string,somewhere in one of my drawers is a length of rope from when I shortened the new overhead airer where I have put it I have no idea,I'm sure DH won't notice that I've removed a little more :)This was just perfect as it divides into strings

I hand cut and stamped some bunting ,adding some fake stitches and went mad distressing all of the edges. The scalloped edge was double cut to layer up after I'd run the cream through the cuttlebug using my Swiss Dots embossing folder. I then just added a selection of ribbons and rope and gathered them with a big button. Boy does this card make me happy.

I'm using this card for the following challenges:-
Card Makin Mamas 15,Happy Birthday,

Crafty Catz 70.One for the boys,

Prairie Fairy 46,In the fine print,

Phindy's Place 43,Monochrome,

Tellens Place,Birthdays,

Pixie Dust 62,Don't be square,

TTT,Show us what you got,

FabNFunky 60,Make your own,

Stampavie 129,Monochrome,

Challenge Up Your Life 37,Monochrome.

Thanks for stopping by,

Julie.x

Paris

Nice to see you this evening. I've been working on some cards that I can't share till after tomorrow so instead of a card I thought I'd show you another layout. I can't remember who the papers are by but somehow it seemed just perfect to use a minimalist approach for this layout. I just did some major distressing using various ink pads.

Not a favourite thing for me to do but I cut out the tiny flowers which I placed under my photo and cut out the scalloped strip from the DP.
I made this layout whilst attending one of my fortnightly Scrapbooking classes at Scrapbook Sisters though this one was freestyle.

I'm going to use this for the following challenges:-
C.R.A.F.T.90 , Not a card,

PCJ4,Anything goes(The challenge is sponsored by Sarah Paris,apt as my photo was taken in Paris I thought!

A Spoon Full Of Sugar 139,Anything but a card.

A big thank you and hello to the new followers that I've gained over the last couple of weeks,I'll call by your blogs very soon and leave you some love.

Thanks for stopping by,

Julie.x

Scrapbook Sisters Card Challenge 23

Happy Wednesday! A nice change for me today as this weeks Challenge at Scrapbook Sisters is Baby Baby, I haven't needed a baby card for a while so thought I'd keep to a simple design to add to my card box. I used a stamp from my stash, some pink gingham paper and 3 buttons. Simple but effective,I like it.....

Hope you join us for this week's challenge,don't forget to see what the rest of the design team have come up with.
Thanks for stopping by,
Julie.x

Butterfly Daydreams.

Nice to see you again this evening. Just a quick post sharing a card I made using one of the stamps I received as blog candy from the lovely Brenda a couple of weeks ago. Brenda has some amazing blog candy this month too,check out my side bar for a link to it. Do go and call by and leave Brenda some love, she is unable to craft at the moment due to illnes, she makes some amazing cards and is Queen of the Speedball!

I also recieved amongst my goodies some lustre rub ons,I'd never used these before but they've given a lovely pearly sheen to the paper pieced butterfly and flowers.

I decorated the inside of the card to match the front.

I'm using this card for the following challenges:-

Allsorts 90,It's all about the sentiment,

Our Creative Corner,Cut it out.

Thanks for stopping by,

Julie.x

Just Around The Corner.

It's nice to see you today,I don't know about you but I am so looking forward to spring,it can't be far away surely,the days are growing longer so that's got to be a good sign. This is another card using Nitwits Spring Whimsy A4 Topper sheet,I'm enjoying playing with these pretty images and a word of warning,I'm also a little addicted to this pink gingham paper,I've still a couple of cards to share with you this week using it,I've got to get it out of my system so bare with me!

I decided to cut an aperture into my card and then frame it using my nestability scalloped circle with the middle cut out from it.

I love the die cut "fake" button,looks very realistic,I just added a little stickles to the centres of the flowers.

I'm using this card for the following challenges:-

Bunny Zoe's 9,Spring flowers,

Mami Doodles 20,Flowers.

Thanks for stopping by,

Julie.x

Now For Something Different.

I thought I'd share a layout from my recent Scrapbooking class at Scrapbook Sisters, inspired by Karen and Julie and their stunning layouts, this is what I came up with.
I was going to share a photo of my lovely pick n mix buttons that I bought on Friday,however,I cleared my memory card this morning forgetting that I hadn't uploaded the photos! Oh well,I'll just have to go back next week and treat myself to some more :)
Hope you've had a good day,Thanks for stopping by,
Julie.x

Nitwit!

This is the first of the cards I've made using another of the Nitwits Topper sheets, I stamped a background of hearts using a pale pink chalk eye.

I used a simple layout,but sometimes that's just all you need. I used good old Martha Stewart to punch my border,keeping the tiny punched daisies and gluing them back onto the border at a different angle and adding a spot of stickles,I gives a nice look as the flowers have to take on dimension.I also punched a circle from the gingham,shaped it and used a thick glue dot to stick it over the centre of my button.

I'm using this card for the following challenges:-

2 Sisters 26, Hearts,

CES23,Cute and cuddly,
C4C74,Hearts,

ECP31,Love,

SS&D,Love is in the air,

Frosted Designs,Use the word Love,

Fairy Knoll,Hearts,

Fun With Shapes And More,Hearts,

Rainbow Ladys 139,It's all about love.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend, thanks for stopping by,

Julie.x

Fancy A Refill?

We get through lots of notepads where I work,so I thought I'd have a go at making a fancy cover for one to give to my friend for her birthday using the same papers as I used for her Birthday card. I've covered lots of pads in the past but as the pad would be used up in a short time,I thought I'd have a go at making a cover that could be refilled,if you get what I mean.

So I measured up the original front cover but only up to the spiral and then cut some thick card one eighth of an inch wider, then using a scalloped nestability die I removed a small segment from the top middle section,This is the inside of the cover. I then cut another front in green bazil and punched a hole at each top corner to thread ribbon through. At this point I wish that I'd thought to add some eyelets but I didn't think about this until I'd already put the front together.

Once the front was decorated I threaded some ribbon across the front passing the ends through and leaving them long enough to thread through the spiral and tie with a bow. To assemble the cover I used some strong narrow double sided tape close to the edge of the three sides leaving the scalloped cut edge open. I trimmed the original cover down slightly by about 1 cm on each of the three edges then slid it into the new cover. The ribbon was then passed through the spiral and pulled out to the front near the middle passing it over the middle wire and tying it with a bow.

I'm using this for the following challenges:-

Simon Says,Anything but a card,

Craft Your Passion 44,Anything goes,

Kaboodles Doodles 53,Use ribbon,

KBCute Monday Challenge 2,Inspired by a book,(Well it was a note book that started this)

Thanks for stopping by,

Julie.x

Southern Girls Challenge 12

It's a colour challenge this time with the Southern Girls "Blue and Chocolate". One of this challenge sponsors is a favourite of mine,"Meljen" so how could I resist using one of her lovely images,Kitty Cat Love. The other sponsors are Scrapbox and Joanna Sheen,how great is that.

I'm using this card for the following challenges:-

Spoonful Of Sugar 138,See some love,

Scrap Creations,Animal antics

Bunny Zoes 8,Love is in the air,

Stamp With Fun 97,Love,

Crafty Hos 2/6, Love,

Crafty Pad107,Love,

Creative Cowgirls 6,Love is in the air,

I Did It Creations 41,Love.

Hope you join in with the challenge,please scroll down for my earlier post today,

Thanks for stopping by,

Julie.x

My Valentine

It's week 22 at Scrapbook Sisters and it's time to make cards for "My Valentine" well not mine,that would be strange but you get what I mean.
A real simple card from me this week,I got myself in a bit of a panic when I realised I'd forgotten to make my DT card. What a result though,I still had several images left on the Nitwits topper sheet,(you can check out the other cards made from the sheet on my last 2 posts.) Honestly at only £1.66 a sheet,there's loads of creative possibilities,I mean,I've made 3 cards already and there's still more images to play with,they are fab for a quick card when you've no time to colour.

The flourishes are a revolution die,cut on the Cuttlebug and the sentiment is computer generated.

Hope you join in with the challenge this week,

Thanks for stopping by,

Julie.x
p.s For some reason I'm having troubles linking to theToppers,I'll go back to it and add them later J.x

Hanging Around Ewe

I've tried again to get some clear photos of this cheeky little card I made using the "Nitwit Toppers" I thought it would be a fun idea to have the little lamb swinging like he's hopping around in the meadow. It looks really cute in real life but I just couldn't quite capture it on camera. I made a little scalloped Nestie card but then cut another scalloped circle of the same size which I scored to make almost an easel in reverse card. Before gluing the back circle,I ran the scalloped card through the Cuttlebug again,placing a smaller die over the front panel of the card making an aperture. I then taped some invisible thread to the reverse of the lamb and taped it in place centrally swinging from the top of the aperture before gluing on the scored back panel.
I hope that you can see what I mean as I've taken loads of photos so that you can get the gist of it. I cut some other circles adding a pretty pearly paper on which to write

I finished the bottom edge with a fake button from the same topper sheet and a bow,this also acts as a stop for the easel.

I added ribbon and buttons to the centres of the flowers,

and other images and wording from the sheet.

I'm using this card for the following challenges:-
Craft Your Passion 44,Anything goes,

CSCB51,Critters,

Catch The Bug,Anything goes,

Crafty Cardmakers 39,Hearts,

Meljens44,Fun folds,

Thanks for stopping by,

Julie.x