Christmas Butterfly

Hiya all! I'm back again but, before I post my next make, I would like to express my heartfelt sympathy for the innocent children and adults who tragically lost their lives in Connecticut.  Sending love and prayers also to the poor little ones who witnessed the awful event and for the loved ones left behind to pick up the shattered pieces from this heartbreaking tragedy! May they all find the strength to get through this truly sad and difficult time......

This evening I am, once again, showcasing the darling 'Butterfly Baby' from Saturated Canary - only this time, she's all ready for Christmas!  A friend of mine asked for this little cutie to be popped onto a card for her little Granddaughter's 1st Christmas and here she is .....

I coloured this little sweetheart with a mixture of  Copics and SN's and matted her onto a concertina layer, which was made from papers out of my stash.

The purple backing paper is from the Xmas Bella pack from Wild Rose Studio and the blue is from a Nitwit collection, which came free with one of my magazine subscriptions. 

I die-cut and glittered some Marianne Design snowflakes then added my little floral arrangement on top.  The purple rose and blue rose buds are from Wild Orchid Crafts and the smaller cream roses are from The Hobby House.  The stamens are from Live and Love Crafts - as is the gorgeous cheesecloth matted behind the papers. The pretty sparkly butterfly was from my stash. 

I do love how you can make one image look so different by using colour changes and themes - I certainly think this little cutie will be definitely be used many more times (I'll be careful not to keep showing them though as I don't want you all to get bored ... hee hee! )

Well, I'm off now to finish off another little Christmas card - who knows how long it'll take but hopefully it'll be ready in time for this Christmas ........

I would like to enter this card into the following:

Charisma Cardz - Christmas Makes
Unique Crafters Challenge - Christmas Challenge and Free Image
Wild Orchid Crafts Challenge - Christmas Friendship

Thanks for popping by and big hugs to all,

xx

Festive Floppy

Hi all, hope you are all well and ready for your Christmas festivities! I am still not organised ..... but am getting there ........ slowly!!  I cannot believe how quickly it comes around - especially once you hit a certain age ;) but I so love how excited the little ones get.  My little boy has been counting the sleeps since mid November hee hee! Bless him ........ only 10 more sleeps to go!

On to my card and today I'm presenting the gorgeous and very cute Floppy from MiC.  He has been coloured up for a couple of weeks now and been sat patiently waiting for me to pop him onto a card!  Finally, here he is ........

I have coloured Floppy and his gifts with SN's - with the odd PM and Copic thrown in for good measure, printed a free snowflake (which I personally think looks more like a star ha ha) and added glitter here, there and almost everywhere ;) 

The turquoise backing paper is from a REALLY old Dovecraft paper pad, which I bought many moons ago and never did anything with! It's possibly even extinct now!! I also used the gorgeous Maja Design Papers from LLC.  My little sentiment is from Pink Gem Designs and the little snowflakes are from my extremely miniscule punch, which I also bought many moons ago ;)

I'd like to enter Floppy into the following:

Unique Crafters Challenge - Christmas Challenge and Free Image
Charisma Cardz - Christmas Makes

Hope you like my little creation today (I'm hoping my little Grandson does too ..... seeing as it's for him)! Thanks so much for popping by, big hugs,
xx

Butterfly Baby

Happy December ladies ...... I can't believe how quickly this year has flown by! Christmas'll be on us before we know it and, I don't know about you all, but I am NOWHERE near ready!  I always kinda leave it 'til the last minute to be truthful but, thankfully, up to press, I've always managed to get everything done on time ..... so far :) Really need to get my act together and quick!!

On to my card and, today, I am showcasing the gorgeous, most beautiful Butterfly Baby from Saturated Canary - a commissioned card for one of my lovely work colleagues, who chose this sweet baby to take centre stage on her card for her little Granddaughter .....

I embossed some pearl white card with my More Dots embossing folder, added jute from Live and Love Crafts and ribbon from my stash.  Butterfly baby was primarily coloured with Spectrum Noirs and then popped onto a doily.  I made the concertina base for the topper out of papers from my stash and a Martha Stewart punch. 

I punched the smaller butterflies from the same papers, then die cut the gorgeous Marianne Design butterfly from cream cardstock.  The corner die is the Madera Corner from Memory Box.  I finished the card off with liquid pearls and, yep, you guessed it, the all important flittering of glitter ......

..... and here's a little side view.

Anyhow, I really must fly as got lots to be getting on with ..... thanks so much to you all who pop by!

Big hugs,

xx

Shy Fairy

Good evening lovelies! Yay!! My FIRST Christmas card this year - and it's for my gorgeous little Granddaughter, Lola Blu :)

I couldn't wait to get home from work tonight to show you my latest make which features the beautiful, most adorable little 'Shy Fairy' which is a brand new digi by the very fabulous Redonkadoodles.  I have merged her with 'Gift Way' digi stamp from the just as fabulous Make it Crafty to create a little Christmas scene.  I asked permission from both designers prior to merging and I would like to say a big THANK YOU to both Sheryl and Zoe for allowing me to do so :)  Of course, Shy Fairy can be used for various occasions - I just fell in love with her and immediately thought of our little Lola for Christmas!  

 I used promarkers, copics and spectrum noirs to colour up little fairy and spectrum noirs for the posts.  I glittered fairy's gorgeous wings - sparkle is a must when using this image! Actually, any excuse for me - I would add it everywhere! ;) 

I also added sparkle to her dress ..... well, as I said, any excuse ......

The snowflakes are Marianne Design Dies, which I rather foolishly decided to add Snow-Tex to - oh my life .... how long did it take me?? Have you seen how intricate those little snowflakes are?? Of course, I had to finish once I started so, as you can imagine, it took a while! Quite pleased I did it afterwards though as I think it looks quite effective :) 

In fact, I think I got a little carried away with the snow ..... the Nellie Snellen Christmas tree got it; the posts got it; even the floor around the presents got it - there was quite clearly a blizzard going on in the making of this card!!! 

I added some gorgeous flowers from WOC and added a few scattered stamens around them and a little sentiment from Pink Gem Designs, which I printed in my chosen colour to match. 

The blue papers are Xmas Bella from Wild Rose Studio and the beige snowflake paper is It's Christmas Time by Maja Design.  I paper pieced the parcels .... just because I LOVE paper piecing :)  I added gorgeous jute, ribbon from my stash and a few flat backed pearls coloured up with my SN's!

The Maja Design papers, jute and snow-tex all came from my new found favourite online store at Live and Love Crafts.

Well, I hope you like my little Christmas card - one down .................. handfuls to go!!! Best get a move on otherwise it'll be summer before I know it ...

I would like to enter my card into the following:

Creative Card Crew - Challenge 24 - Anything Goes

Live and Love Crafts - Christmas Challenge No. 5

Thanks so much for popping by today and your comments mean so much,

Big hugs,



xx

Birthday Princess

Hiya everyone! Hope you are all keeping nice 'n' cosy and dry!  What awful, dire weather we're having -rain, rain and more rain!! Oh well, just another excuse to stay indoors and craft :) 

It's just a quick post from me today as I really need to start making Christmas cards .... no time like the present I guess!

Tomorrow is my youngest daughter's 24th birthday and bless her heart, I asked her what she'd like for her birthday and her reply was "Just to come over to yours Mum for a yummy lamb roast"!  Awww! I know that, apparently, no-one can cook like your own Mum but I was secretly chuffed that, after all these years, she actually still CHOOSES to taste my home cooking!!! ;) 

Well, onto my card .... I have made this cute little number for her little bro to give to her.  This little beauty is called Princess Rose Red from Saturated Canary.  How adorable is she?

I coloured Rose Red up using a mixture of Copics, Promarkers and Spectrum Noirs.  I thought I'd give green a go this time.  I usually stay away from green - who knows why, as I have no reason for this - and I think it turned out not too bad :)

I treated myself yesterday and bought a distressing tool (as I've been using my scissors up to press and have scars on my fingers to show for it) and now I want to distress everything!! It's so much fun and a lot less pain....

I bought the gorgeous jute, metal corner embellishment and the gorgeous stamens from Live and Love Crafts and wow, what an amazing little treasure trove it is there!   I coloured up some white ribbon with my Ivory promarker and added a large pearl brad on the bow.  The purple carnations and leaves are from WOC and the roses from The Hobby House. 

Okay, I apologise .... this post wasn't as quick as I expected it to be .... but I did try to keep it short and sweet :)

I would like to enter into the following challenges:

Creative Card Crew - Challenge 24 - Anything Goes
Cute Card Thursday - Challenge 244 - Girls Only
Saturated Canary - Challenge 31 - Lou's Sketch
Unique Crafters Challenge - November Challenge - Sugar and Spice

Thanks so much for popping by and big hugs to you all,

xxx

Steampunk Annabelle

Hiya everyone! Well, I am so seriously slacking with my blogging ....... I have been so inundated at work with catch up after my hols (it makes you wonder why you go on holiday as you REALLY need one once you're back)!! LOL! Feeling a bit under the weather too - in fact, it feels like my very own throat is going to strangle me at any minute!!  Oh the joys of this oh so cold time of year matched with VAT quarters and month end!! Yuk!

Anyhows, enough of my woes and moaning and on to a happier note .... it has taken me days to complete this card as I wasn't quite sure what I was going to do with it but, at last, here is the beautiful Annabelle from MIC looking all kind of vintage/steampunky, made for my youngest daughter's 24th birthday this coming Sunday.  Not sure if I've got the right feel to the theme but I did have fun trying :)

I coloured up Annabelle using a mixture of Spectrum Noirs and Copics and, boy, did I have fun doing those pleats ..... I coloured her dress quite brightly so that she'd hopefully POP from the background and, plus, how gorgeous is teal?

I used some fantastic downloadable Vintage Papers and Vintage Tags from Etsy, which I distressed with my scissors, and added some Tim Holtz die cut gears.  The metal gears, clock hands and vintage stamps were all from Crafts-Too.  I then finished off with some large pearl brads and small pearl adhesive gems (coloured up).  NO glitter was added whilst making this project!! Gasp!! Shock!!

Well, I hope you like my recent make and I really hope my daughter does too :)

Thanks for popping by and all comments are, of course, so very welcome! 

Big hugs

xx

Sweet 16

Hiya all!  Well, I think my crafty mojo has finally revitalised herself ...... about time too!! She was obviously quite at ease with her bikini and shades on even though I was desperately prodding her to get motivated again ;) 

Today I thought I'd share another fabulous design by Redonkadoodles called 'Goth Birthday'.... and here she is .......

I thought I'd colour her up in my favourite colours and wanted to make a statement with her beautiful hair! Initially I was going to just colour black with a touch of colour but then thought I'd reverse it and add colour with a touch of black instead!  I would have loved to have had my hair like this when I was younger ..... would never have been brave enough though hehe! 

I used Spectrum Noirs for her hair and clothing plus accessories and I used Promarkers for her boots.  I know Goths don't necessarily 'do' sparkle but I couldn't help myself and HAD to add a bit of glitter to her headband and cushion :) 

For the background papers I printed each separate mat from my various Pink Petticoat downloads.  I die-cut the 'Sweet' sentiment, added glitter (of course) and some little liquid pearls around it. 

I didn't want to make the card too flouncy this time by adding ribbon and bows etc but I do hope I've done this fabulous image some justice ...... although, I think she could quite easily make a card look fab just as she is naturally in black and white!!

Spectrum Noirs - Teal colouring:   BT3, BT4, BT5
Spectrum Noirs - Purple colouring:   PL2, PL4, LV1, LV2
Promarkers - Boots:   Black, Cool Greys 5, 4 and 1

Thank you so much for popping by today and I'd love to hear what you think of my colourful Goth :) 

Big hugs to you all and Happy Crafting!! 
xxx

Pretty in Pink

Hiya ladies! I hope you are all keeping well and still happily crafting!  I'm back from my amazing holiday in the very beautiful, unspoilt island of Boa Vista, Cape Verde.  Feeling so relaxed I'm almost horizontal - albeit a tad chilly ..... what a shock to return to England with its very nippy low temps! Just trying to get into the swing of things again - number crunching at work all day Weds & Thurs was a shocker too ha ha!

As I'm still kind of in holiday mode (my little crafty mojo is not yet fully awake) I thought I'd blog one of my cards I made back in the summer when I first started using my promarkers.  The colouring is not fab on this one but I always think it's a good thing to look back on things to see how far you've progressed - hopefully I've come on a bit since June but there's always room for improvement!

Here is the gorgeous Whispy from Saturated Canary all Pretty in Pink ......

The backing papers are from the Papermania Capsule Collection from Docrafts. I stitched the edges of each mat and added onto the card at various angles to give the card an interesting layout!  I coloured and glittered the beautiful Whispy and adhered her at yet another angle.  I punched the little butterflies and added glitter and gems to pretty them up even more.  The gorgeous doily is from WOC.  The sentiment and age were printed from my PC - took a while to get the right colour pink hee hee! but I got there in the end. 

All in all I think butterflies, glitter, gems and fairies make an all round girly girl card - not forgetting the pink :)

I would like to enter this little creation into the following:

                                             Unique Crafters Challenge - Sugar and Spice

I shall be having a little hop around within the next couple of days to have a peek at everyone's lovely creations since I've been away - thank you so much for stopping by my little space today.

Big hugs,

Autumnal Elizabeth-J

Brrrrr! How cold is it getting now? The cold and I really don't get on ....... at all!! Whilst everyone around me seem to be warm and comfortable in T-shirts and maybe one other layer, I have to wear about a million layers to just about start thawing out!

Over the last couple of days I've been very drawn towards colouring up cards in more Autumnal colours using rich browns, rusts and creams (maybe I'm trying to warm myself up that way) hehehe!  Anyway, I made this little card using the delightful Elizabeth-J digi stamp from Make It Crafty.

How very beautiful is she? She was an absolute dream (and challenge) to colour up!  I literally only used a handful of different tones of brown to colour her hair and dress with a little touch of ivory and vanilla for her bodice and stockings.  I had great fun attempting the folds in her dress - I think a little more practise is needed there but I'm fairly pleased with my first attempt at it :)

The backing papers are from Paper Cellar and are called Victorian Classic.  I coloured up the doily and inked the edges to make it blend in with the rest of the colour scheme, then added a few little gems for a bit of glamour!  I coloured my tulle a rusty colour to make a bow which would blend in (it was originally white and too stark).  The lace and ribbon are from my stash and the gorgeous flowers are from The Hobby House - I coloured up the smallest flowers as they, too, were originally white :)  In fact, I also coloured up the little heart at the top left of the card - jeez! my markers must have felt well loved during this little creation hehe! 

Well, off I pop to finish colouring up my other little sepia make - let's just hope my pens have enough ink left in them!!!

Thanks so much for popping by today and taking a peek!
Big hugs,
xx

Sisterly Love

Hi ladies, today I thought I would share a card I have made from my little boy (who is 6 years old) to give to his sister (who is 26 years old today).  I cannot believe I had my gorgeous girl 26 whole years ago ..... how quickly time flies!! I am as proud of her today as I was the day she was born and she has blossomed into the most beautiful, caring and most loyal woman you could ever wish to meet and, boy oh boy, her little brother absolutely means the world to her! No sibling rivalry here at all ...... I guess that may have something to do with the 20 year age gap hehe ;)

When I saw this image from Redonkadoodles I knew it would make the perfect card from a little bro to his big sis!  The image is called 'Mother and Son' but, of course, can be used in a variety of ways and I chose this one :D

I have coloured their hair in Copics - I so need to get me some more colours in these fab pens!!... and the remainder I coloured in my trusty Promarkers.  The beautiful papers I got from Lili of the Valley and they are called 'Promises'.  They are so beautiful that I just HAD to add them to the forefront via paper piecing as well as in the background! The flourishes were cut from my Spellbinders flourishes set and the beautiful flowers, yet again, are from WOC.  I added a variation of ribbon behind the image and popped a tulle bow at the side to add more texture.

I made up a little sentiment from my PC, added some flat backed gems and, voila!!! All done and ready to give .... well, after little one finished writing his own birthday message inside it (which usually also involves a couple of hand-drawn love hearts, flowers and a mountain of kisses) hehehe! :)

Big hugs to all,
xxx

Tiddly Eeeeeeeeks!!

Hi lovely peeps! I cannot believe it's been almost a week since I last blogged - Oopsie! This week has literally flown by - not sure where it went but it certainly isn't here now but hey, the weekend is upon us ..... yay!!! Oh, I do love the weekends! No work! No school! Just FAMILY free-time to spend how we wish :)

During this last whirlwind of a week I did manage to make up a card!  My FIRST EVER HALLOWEEN card!  That's a bit scary in itself!  Here's the little spookster in her full glory :)

This little beauty is called Sugar Angel and is one of a fantastic array of digital stamps over at Tiddly Inks.  I coloured her up with my old faithful promarkers in very daring purple and orange and added a green misty background for effect!  The spider web design was a fab freebie download from Crafticious - also kindly included in the freebie offers are skulls, bones and spooky eyes! 

Because this is obviously a Halloween card, I didn't want to make it too pretty (although I do think Sugar Angel is a little doll) but I actually physically couldn't help myself from adding a bit of glitter and bling :)  I think her beautiful glitter bat wings finish her off perfectly and the googly little spider above her I coloured from a normal colouring page and cut him out (tricky isn't the word!!! - have you seen how skinny his little legs are???), then added a little bit of 3D glaze to make him pop out a bit! 

The spooky tree is a silhouette sticker from Katy Sue designs. The little goofy bat was from a colouring page - cutting him out wasn't half as tricky as Mr Spider up there! Hehe!  The googly eye on my sentiment was one of the freebies from Crafticious - I made the sentiment up just to add a little humour to this otherwise terrifying, spookily freaky card!  Well, ok, I don't think it's terrifying at all but I do hope I've managed to convey my little spell:  A little bit of spooky, a handful of cuteness, a dash of glamour, finished with a little touch of humour :)

The challenges I would like to enter this card into are:

Tiddly Inks Challenge#95 - Fall

Simon Says - Glimmer and Sparkle

Unique Crafters Challenge - October Challenge

Creative Card Crew - Challenge #20 Purple

Pause Dream Enjoy Challenges - Ch# 40: Purple & Orange

Bearly-Mine Challenges - Challenge #55 Halloween

Thanks so much to all of you who pop by my blog and take a peek :) Have a fab rest of the day! Big hugs,

Birthday Seduction

Hey all, hope you've all had a fab Saturday so far!  I'm back with my 2nd male card of the weekend ...... phew! I clearly want to make life difficult for myself this weekend :) The other half better flipping like it after all my hard work, blood, sweat & tears! Well ..... little bit of a fib there ..... there was no blood!!

For my Fiance's birthday card this year I chose the adorable 'Seduction Suzie' digi stamp from Redonkadoodles. When I saw this gorgeous girly I just knew I had to have her!  I think Mike'll appreciate her too - seeing as she looks so much like me :o)  (okay, in my dreams ....and probably his too) ha, ha, ha!  Anyhow, I usually do the fishing ones, or football, or fishing and yet more fishing cards for Mike but, for this year, I thought he could do with a change ;) ..... I'm kind like that!! And it has absolutely nothing at all to do with the fact that I soooooo wanted to make up a card with this image! Nope! Not at all ......

and here she is ......

I coloured her hair and skin with my usual promarkers, and, for a change, I paper pieced her dress, shoes, hair bows and pressie bow! I haven't used this technique in a fair while now - not really sure why I haven't as I just LOVE cutting out and sticking :) The gorgeous papers are called 'Man About Town' and, yep, you guessed, it ..... I got them from my local craft shop!  They are made by a company called Wild Rose Studio. 

I had a weeny accident whilst doing up this card and spilt glitter on the pressie and her little hair accessories .... Oopsie!!! Silly me!!! ...... ;o)

I had so much fun making this card and enjoyed every minute! Have now got my beady eye on another Redonkulous Design ...... watch this space!!

Anyway, ladies, I'm off now to chill and watch a bit of X Factor! Don't usually get much time in front of the box so I'm gonna treat myself tonight!  Enjoy the rest of your day whatever you are up to and big thanks for popping by today!

Hugs,

Little Monster!

Hey there lovely ladies! Sorry I haven't been on here sooner .......... proper slacking this week!! Not sure if it's the rivers of rain we've been having or being overloaded at work but my crafty side has certainly taken a back seat and tiredness won!! :( Today, though, I woke with a crafty boiiiiiing in my step and here's my little make ........

It's a little different than my usual makes, however, I needed to create a birthday card from my little boy, George, for his Daddy and what better image than this little cutie from Meljen's Designs called 'Fuzzer the Monster'.   George is the image of his Daddy (apart from George has hair! Hee, hee!), so I copied 'Daddy Fuzzer' and reduced in size to make 'Georgie Fuzzer' :) 

To be totally honest, I try and stay away from male cards as much as I possibly can as I find them so tricky and staying clear of flowers, lace and glitter is trickier still!!!  Also, as much as I love real furry friends, I do shy away from colouring them as they never seem to be very furry looking once I've done my bit .........  So, all in all, this was a bit whole lot of a challenge for me but I think Daddy will like it all the same :)

The papers I have used are by Dovecraft called Masculine (very apt) and I've had them years!! I do find them ideal for male cards though so I'm so glad I kept hold of them :)  I have coloured the fur on Fuzzer with Copics this time - I only have a limited number of them at the moment and am just getting the feel of them, but I think they may well be on my Christmas list this year! Ssssshhhhh ....... I couldn't help myself and had to add a bit of glitter to the eyes!  Ah well, I think Daddy's pretty used to finding glitter here, there and everywhere at home so a little bit on his card's not gonna hurt is it!!!

I typed up and printed the greeting from my PC and added a little Brilliance Pearlescent Beige ink around the edges.  I dotted some card candy around and added a brad from the same Dovecraft range as the papers.  Daddy will be SUPER pleased that NO flowers were added :)

Anyhow, I've waffled on long enough and need to get my thinking cap on for my next card ...... this time for Daddy from Mummy! Oh dear ........

Wishing you all a fab weekend!  Thanks for popping by today ...... Happy Crafting :)

Big hugs