More Cupcake

Can you tell I'm on a diet? I'm getting my fix of sweet things by making cupcake cards!!
This is just a really simple birthday card, made using the fabulous stamp from serendipity. Don't forget there are lots of serendipity stamps to win at the gingersnap challenges this month, as Serendipity are kindly sponsoring the challenges

cupcake calendar

The theme at Gingersnap creations this week is numbers. For my Design Team piece I immediately knew I wanted to make an Easel Card Calendar. I know it might seem a little late for calendars now, but I actually made this for a gift for the host of the new year's eve party I attended.

The stamps are by Serendipity, who are sponsoring the challenges at Gingersnap this month. I love this cupcake stamp. I just know I will use it loads! The papers are by k&co

sunday postcard art : time

The theme at sunday postcard art is "time" the perfect opportunity to use the new Ink and the dog clock stamps from Paperartsy (I absolutely love that cog stamp- which is also available as a mini). The paper is also paperartsy, from the rum and raisin pack (yes I know they are supposed to be for christmas, but there are plenty of scrummy papers in the pack which are suitable for non christmas too.)

The clock is painted with a layer of rock candy distress paint, which I ran over with blue ink once it had crackled, The edge of the paper is coloured with black soot distress ink. I have finished the piece with some ribbon and a gem.

4x4 friday a boy and a bird

If, like me, you are thinking "hang on didn't 4x4 friday stop ages ago?": you are right. This is a new 4x4 friday challenge and it looks really good. This week the challenge is a boy and a bird. it's strange but I actually have very few boy images.
strange why? 1) because I have thousands of stamps, so by the law of averages, quite a few of them should be boy stamps.
2) I have 2 sons so you'd think I'd collect boy stamps.

Anyway, this boy was taken from a much larger "family values" stamp from the artistic stamper. I have also used some Stitchels stamps and a word stamp all from the artistic stamper.

serendipity tag

I have made this for another collaborative challenge on our forum, this time we are making a collection of tags. This month I have to make one for Karin, with the theme "sea or nature" I really wanted to use these serendipity stamps again, so I made this tag. I hope that she likes it.

Forever Friends Quick and Simple

Tomorrow the new challenge at the forever friends challenge blog is to show us how you use you forever friends images when you need to make a card quickly.

You can't get much simpler than this card. I have just stamped the image straight onto the card and then coloured with pencils. I used derwent colour soft pencils (without blending solution). I used the following colours (the grey being for the shadow)

Karin's tiles....finally

These are the last of the 2"x2" tiles for the collaborative challenge. This time they are for Karin.
All stamps are by The artistic stamper, I have used a flower, a quote and a speckled background.

I am entering this for Gingersnap's embossing challenge, as I have used blue embossing powder for the speckle.

theme thursday: hearts

The theme at theme thursday is hearts, so I decided to use stamps from The Artistic Stamper to create a heart background and heart hanging feature on this card using mabel lucie atwell stamps.

This second card is also made using stamps from The Artistic Stamper. This one was for Carol's birthday.

basket weave crochet neckwarmer

I decided to have a play around with some crochet to see if I could rustle up a quick neckwarmer design and this is what I came up with. I do plan to write this pattern up.

You can find the pattern here at favecrafts (or reproduced below). note, the instructions are for american stitches, but you can easily convert them using this chart

Materials:

• Approx 100g DK yarn
• 3.5 mm crochet hook
• 3 buttons

Approx gauge 11 stitches and 6 rows to 2”
Stitches need (US stitches)
Chain (ch), single crochet (sc), double crochet (dc), front post double crochet (FPDC), back post double crochet (BPDC)

Stitch explanations
FPDC : yarn over hook, insert hook behind stitch below : go from the front of the work, behind the stitch and back out to the front of the work so you are crocheting around the post of the stitch. Yarn over, pull through, finish as a normal double crochet
BPDC: similar to FPDC but go from the back of the work around the front of the stitch.

Pattern
Chain 30
DC in 4th chain from hook (counts as a dc) dc in next 27 ch. (28 stitches)
ROW 1: Ch2 (counts as a stitch) FPDC round 2nd 3rd and 4th stitches * BPDC next 4 stitch, FPDC next 4 stitch. Repeat from * to end
ROW 2 Ch2 (counts as a stitch) BPDC round 2nd 3rd and 4th stitches * FPDC next 4 stitch, BPDC next 4 stitch. Repeat from * to end
Repeat row 1

Repeat the sequence
ROW 1
ROW 2
ROW 1
20 times.
Then repeat row 1
Next row : buttonhole row a: ch 2 BPDC x3 (FPDCx4, BPDCx4) twice. FPDCx1 ch2 fPDCx1 BPDCx4
Next row: button hole row b : ch2 FPDCx3 BPDCx1 sc into chain space x2,BPDCx1 (FPDCx4, BPDCx4) twice

Repeat rows 1, 2, 1
Repeat row 1, buttonhole row a, buttonhole row b

Repeat rows 1, 2, 1
Repeat row 1, buttonhole row a, buttonhole row b.

Repeat rows 1, 2, 1

Fasten off, sew in ends and attach buttons along cast on edge to fasten as shown.

so cold we are turning inuit!

We have had so much snow over the last few weeks that we have decided to put it to good use and build an igloo. We had so much fun doing this as a family.
I have also managed a little bit of crafting I have made this ATC/card for Wednesday Stamper's "when I grow up" theme using an image from the stampsmith

it's time.......

the theme at gingersnap creations that is.



I chose a dandelion "clock" from serendipity stamps, along with this lovely dreamy quote and the fabulous circle quote for the background. I have done the background using a versamark resist technique (resist being the technique focus at gingersnap this month) roughly brayered with whispers inks

forever friends challenge

This week the challenge at forever friends is
" a cheerful/happy card, but with a twist! It must have 2 layers (which can include the base of the card), a ribbon and something that sparkles"
I made this lttle card with 2 layers of k&co paper, a small bow on the flower stems and stickles on the flowers.
I have coloured the bear with pencil crayons

back to blogging!!

Gosh it seems an age since I last blogged. I have been creating, but all for upcoming challenges, so I can't show any of that yet.

This is just a really simple tag shaped notecard, made with stamps from Serendipity Stamps who are the sponsors at Gingersnap Creations this month. The DT were all offered some stamps to play with, and I just fell in love with this dandelion clock stamp. I just know I shall be using it all of the time. The quote is from the same set, and I love that too.

I hope that the new year is going well for you all so far, and continues on to be the best year ever

Saucy "Christmas Stockings" Card

I wanted to make my husband a cheeky christmas card, so I used this nude wearing stockings from the artistic stamper. The background and gem are also from The Artistic Stamper.

I finished the image off with some white flower soft around her feet and the top of her stockings.
I also used a strip of velvet ribbon, for a lovely tactile element.

last minute knitting

The 24 hour scarf!
I bought this yarn quite a while a go for 99pence a ball from Poundstretcher. I should have known better. It really is the most revolting yarn to knit with. However, I don't like waste, and I know the colours will suit my friend, so I decided to persevere. I used massive 10mm needles so it would knit up quick, and 24 hours later a reasonable scarf appeared.

But look how much of the yarn is left!! and I have a whole other ball. it will stay around to haunt me for ages will this yarn!!

special present wrapping : on the cheap!

It's so easy to make presents look special without costing the earth. I found these lovely velvet poinsettias in a cheap shop, about 5 to a stem, plus two sets of berries, that look equally good, for £1. I then just used coordinating cheap wrapping paper, and gold raffia (which I also found in a cheap shop 49p for 25 metres)
I'm thrilled with how they look under my tree, just a shame I have to give them out to other people!!

GC35 colour challenge: purple gold and green

This week the challenge at gingersnap is Purple, gold abd green. As this month is being sponsored by Hearts in Touch I decided to use one of their stamps for my DT piece.

I felt that this tree image worked well with the colour scheme, and to achieve the colour effect I inked the stamp with whispers brush markers, using to shades of purple for the background, to try and achieve a wintery sky colour. The baubles are done with gold liquid pearls. I love this olour scheme and glad I tried it out for a christmas card.

Quick PaperArtsy christmas card

I made eight of these for my book group, note that the fairy's dress is made from book pages.
All of the stamps are by PaperArtsy

Bunny Nuggets!!

How much does my youngest son love these?
(it's a rhetorical question really, but the answer is "a lot")
I got the pattern from here from a link given to me by her.
The only change I made to the pattern was instead of making pom-poms for the tails (I don't like pom-poms) I made knitted balls (I'll add a picture of the tails later)
to make knitted balls,

cast on 10 stitches (or whatever size you want), knit until square, cast off.

sew a circle of running stitch around the square, gather, stuffing the corners inside, and sew the hole closed (there is no need to add further stuffing unless you want to.)

Wednesday stamper : santa claus

I can't believe it's taken me so long to get round to making a wednesday stamper this week, after all it's the easiest theme!
I have made this to go on my secret santa gift at work. I'm pretty sure I'm safe, I don't think anyone at work reads my blog.
The stamp is by Hearts in Touch, who are also sponsoring this month's challenges at Gingersnap Creations this month.

in fact to be in with a chance of winning not just this stamp, but the whole plate you can take part in the gingersnap blog hop