Martial Arts for Little People

Hi, I'm just using the extra hour in bed to catch up on my blog...like I said I have been crafting even if it doesn't look like it here!

So my nephew was just 7 and this is the card I made him.  Apologies for the blue tinge on the seven...the glossy accents wasn't quite dry when I took the picture.  The weather during the week has been so dull that it has been quite difficult to get photographs done and I literally had to put this in the envelope as soon as the glossy accents were dry.

The stamp is a lili of the valley stamp.  I asked them to do a little karate kid a while ago and sure enough the next release of boy stamps included this little chap.  I think that he is one of my favourite boy stamps that they do.  He was stamped in black soot distress ink and coloured with copics.  I've had the backing papers for some time now so can't remember who's they are, but I suspect they are papermania.  I distressed the edges with Pumice stone distress ink and in ink splat stamp from Paperartsy.  I find this stamp so useful that it is permanently on my desk.

To add to the oriental feel I added an Asian coin.  This is made from air dry clay.  I have a great Asian coin mold which works well with the clay or UTEE.  I like using the clay because you can paint it really well.  I painted it with black acrylic paint and then using a finger rubbed some treasure gold over the top before buffing it with a cloth.   For a little extra interest I tied a piece of paper twine around the centre of the coin before attaching it to the card.

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:
"Clearly Inspired - Ribbon or twine"
"Crafty Catz - Male card with a number"
"Poodles Parlour - Anything goes"
"Addicted to Stamps - Make your Mark"
"Paper Pretties - Masculine"
"Stamp n doodle - ribbon/twine"
"Tanda Stamps - all things manly"
"Anything goes challenge - home made embellishment"
"Craft-room challenge - Oriental", I know you don't do cute Zoe, but this was the closest I was going to get to the theme this week.

Easel with a Twist

Just thought I would share this card with you as it fits several challenges atm. The card is for hubby's aunt. It's her birthday on Monday, but I think I am safe to show it as she doesn't know about my blog!


Basically this is perfect for her as she is an excellent cook and makes all the special birthday cakes and wedding cakes for the family. The stamps are from Lili of the Valley (except for Dune Dots which is exclusive to the Treasury in Kidderminster). Colouring has been done using Copic Markers and distress inks. The jam jar, umbrella and jam have been coated in Glossy accents and some glitter has been applied on the icing sugar. The flowers were made using Tim Holtz tattered florals die and the leaves were made using a Spellbinders foliage die.

This fits with 6 challenges as follows:

"Delicious Doodles - Hairy Legs"

"Glitter Fairies - Easel Card"

"4 Crafty Chicks - Birthday"

"Some Odd Girl - Show us your easels"

"Stampavie and More - Easel cards"

"Lili of the Valley - Anything but a Christmas card"

Two's Company

Hi there I just thought I would share this anniversary card with you. I made it for my mum and dad's 50th Wedding anniversary hence the golden, champagne colours. The image was stamped in black soot distress ink and coloured with copics. The flowers and leaves are Tim Holtz dies and the lacy borders were punched with a Martha Stewart punch.

I'm entering this into the following challenges:

"Cupcake Crafts - Two's Company"

"Penny Black - all creatures great and small"

"Stamptacular Sunday - Punch it"

"Lili of the Valley - Creature Comforts"

"Cuddly Buddly - feature two little characters"

Oh a little tip...you know one of those well I tried it and it failed...you see the numerals...well they were cut using Tim Holtz Vintage Market....I then coloured them with gold Krylon pen....then coated with glossy accents...guess what they turned green...great if you want a verdigis effect but I wanted gold...so the numerals you see here were coloured using gold eco green pure gold acrylic paint...Glossy accents don't turn this green!

Aqua, white and glitter

The next challenge over on "the Lili of the Valley challenge site" is aqua, white and glitter. The glitter is not obvious on my card but it is on the stole...promise!

A Sketch

I haven't done a Lili of the Valley Challenge for a while so I thought I should make an effort this week. This week's challenge is a "Sketch". For my card I used Copic markers, Tim Holtz dies, Brusho inks, embossing folder, Martha Steward punches glossy accents and accent beads.

The flowers, handmade paper and the seam binding were all dyed using Brusho ink.

The sentiment was mounted in a die cut taken from a fruit juice carton that was coloured with alcohol inks and triple embossed.

Helloooooo

Ooops! haven't posted here for ages! Sorry,I just had to prioritise the Tanda Blog when time was short.

Quick update so far...Em has had to postpone her op date...she wants to be able to swim on holiday, but apparently if she cancels the date she was given, government rules say she has to go back to the gp...to be referred back to Dudley hospital to get another date....how ridiculous is that! She isn't an urgent case so the op date had been already deferred since the original consultation...no fault of Ems that the dates now fall in the time when all families with kids are looking at going on holiday and postponement takes it outside what is permissible?!

Dad is getting weaker by the day, and mum hasn't been well too...so they are struggling... apparently the hospital cannot get the right size needles for biopsy dad needs..this has been going on since the beginning of Jan....where are the government guidelines on this?!

Creative Expressions are looking for new design team members...so I thought I might just have the weekend to prepare for this...then...DH has a serious nose bleed....we ended up in A&E on Friday night!!!!...Not a good time to hit A&E!...DH had to stay the night as they couldn't stem the flow...I got to bed at 2am...and obviously didn't sleep..then back up to hospital in the morning. Had to leave him there as I'd promised to do my bit for the village gala painting faces...DD2 rowing Sunday morning...loads of washing to do....where did the weekend go? Now can I get something made to fit their challenge and get it posted by 5pm?....maybe/maybe not


Today I made a card for one of our nephews and thought I would share it...just had to play around with Tim Holtz dies and fruit juice cartons! thanks to Meikoningin for the juice carton tip....for some reason I don't seem to be able to paste her link here...but if you go to the tanda steampunk teaser challenge you will find her in the comments. Her work is fab so you really should visit!

I decided to enhance the metal effect by triple embossing my juice carton embelishments, this added to the thickness, helping to enhance the effect.

LOTV Happy Birthday Challenge

this This week's challenge over at Lili of the Valley" is to make a birthday card. I have just made this card for a certain little niece who's birthday is today. I just hope it didn't get squished in the post! I used the fairies on tiptoe stamp coloured with copic markers, a touch of glossy accents on the flowers and wand and a little clear star sakura pen on the wings and skirt. I've used my dotty stamp again to help with the distressed edges. The butterfly was from the Artylicious CD Rom Butterfly Bliss, and having coloured my fairy, I realised that I didn't have any lilac background papers in the house! Luckily the trees on the Artyicious Essence of Nature CD Rom have worked. The flowers were made using handmade paper from Ikea (Every time I go there now I am looking out this paper as it makes fabulous flowers, but they seem to have stopped doing it!) The flowers are cut using Tim Holtz dies, scrunched up, distressed with DI and then a little shimmer added with pearlised medium. The dies are new, they are from Spellbinders and I got them from the Treasury in Kidderminster this week. They are so pretty I couldn't wait to use them. They have so many gorgeous dies out at the moment it is really hard to choose...I ended up getting two dies and then going back the next day for some more.

Peach and Green with LOTV

This week's challenge over on "Lili of the Valley" is Peach and Green. Possibly an unusual and difficult colour combination, but luckily it fit the papers that I was playing with when I was trying to replicate the flowers that Patty showed me, that ultimately led me on to the floaty skirt..see previous post... My card is for my next door neighbour and good friend....she's the blond, I'm the brunette. It's her birthday today and this is her card. Coloured with Copics, and distress inks. Edges of flower and leaves distressed with chalk inks. Dies are spellbinders and Tim Holtz. Punch is Stampin' up. Lili of the valley stamps of course! apart from my dotty one that is..and lots of distress inks and glossy accents .

Mother's Day

Morning, I hope all you mothers in the UK had a great day yesterday! I know I had a lazy day...tea and breakfast in bed, a big bouquet of flowers and treated to dinner in the evening. I was going to do a bit of gardening but we had a massive hail storm complete with thunder and lightning in the afternoon that put paid to that! Maybe gardening gets done today if things brighten up a bit.

Well being the day after I can share the card I sent to my mum, this also happens to fit in with the Challenge on "Really Reasonable Ribbon Challenge Blogspot" The Challenge was to use ribbon together with punches or dies.

For my card I have used ribbon, Martha Stewart punchs, Stampin' up punches, a Spellbinders die and Tim Holtz tattered florals die. The main stamp is a Leanne Ellis stamp coloured with copic markers and distress inks. The sentiments are LOTV and a custom stamp from Tanda. The Dotty stamp is my stamp available from the Treasury.

Punch it with Lili of the Valley!

The challenge for the last week over on the Lili of the Valley Thursday challenge blog has been Punch It!

I just made this card with a new Martha Stewart round the corner punch...I really wanted to get the flowery one, but decided that, practically speaking, the leafy one would be more universal in that it would be OK for guy cards as well as girly cards.


The tab was also a punch, namely Stampin up, apart from this dies were Tim Holtz and Spellbinders nesties. Colouring was with Copic markers and distress inks and stamps were Lili of the Valley and my dotty stamp. Papers were from the Treasury.

Circles

This weeks challenge over on the Lili of the Valley Challenge blog is circles. This stamp is supposed to be a baby boy stamp, but I think it's great for very little people too! So this card is for my little nephew, Josh.

I've had the papers for ages...can't remember who they are by. The image was coloured using copic markers.

Tanda Teaser and Fave Colours

Sorry I've been a bit tied up hence the lack of blog postings...so I'm sorry if this is going to be a bit of a long post...but please read on.


Firstly a bit of info on the current Tanda Teaser.....this is a sample card that I have made for the Treasury in Kidderminster. I used distress inks (Shabby Shutters and Peeled Paint) to sponge the backgrounds using a Tim Holtz compass mask. The boot prints were stamped in Frayed Burlap, the crackle in Pumice Stone. The boot prints were given a wet look by using glossy accents. The compass was stamped in archival ink and then coated with glossy accents. The map was printed out from the computer, folded and stuck under the compass. Raffia was tied around the card to finish it off.
















The next challenge card to show today is for the "LOTV Thursday challenge". This week it is favourite colours. The card I'm entering for this is one I've just made for my Mum.


Blues and Greens usually make up my fav colours, but I was really happy with the blues and cream/browns on this card. The stamp of course is LOTV Love Grows. Mum and dad are both keen gardeners and their birthdays are days apart so I actually made his and her's cards using this stamp in different colour ways. Dad's card is a bit more masculine of course.


The flowers on mum's card were made using Tim Holtz's tattered floral die, the tab was an SU punch, the papers were from the V&A inspired collection, the border punch was of course Martha Stewart and the colouring was done using copic markers.

Party Challenge on the Polka Doodles blog

I just found the Polka Doodles blog and challenge site. Having glimpsed a bit of the Polka Doodles show on Create and Craft the other day I thought the stamps looked interesting. I had to go out so decided to record the show on sky plus and thought that I would watch it while I did the ironing today......unfortunately it only recorded the 7 mins that I had seen as it seems to have decided to cancel itself the moment I walked out of the room...I'm just hoping that the show gets repeated as the colouring technique looked really interesting.

Anyway...I saw that this weeks challenge is Party Time! As it looks like you can use any stamps I thought I would join in....can see me having to get some Polka Doodles stamps sometime though! My card uses the LOTV It's my party stamp...so I hope this counts! The papers are from Papermania and the flowers are made from Tim Holts Tattered Floral die. The image is coloured with copic markers and distress inks.

Thanks for looking!

Manic few days crafting...loads of mess...a few cards made!

I had a long chat the other night with Zoe....trying to decide whether to colour or not to colour... I decided to colour in the end and I can report that I am very happy with the result...cannot share atm though as it will be a Tanda Teaser card in about a month's time...the card itself is winging it's way to Canada as we speak..well I hope it is! So watch this space!

So I've spent the last few days making cards trying to give myself a little buffer. Jan/Feb is totally manic for birthdays. DH has been away but quite horrified by the state of the kitchen counter and the dining room table on his return...have spent most of today just putting everything away...clearing the decks ready for a mammoth crafting session while he is away next week!!! So far I've covered all the birthdays in Jan...just need to knuckle down and sort Feb's birthdays out!


So what am I going to share now.....Firstly "Lot's to do challenge blog" has set a brayering challenge this week.

Hilda is a friend of Zoe's and Zoe is a friend of mine so I just thought it might be nice to support Hilda in her last Lots to do Challenge and wish her luck in the future! For this card I have used a LOTV stamp...it's more pretty than cute. The brayering was done onto an embossing folder as per "Angelnorth's instructions".....Hope this counts!

Secondly, I'm joining in with the "LOTV wings challenge" ...I've been having a good play with the Tim Holtz tattered floral dies...totally love them... and you will see that I will be using them regularly!...just need to go back to Ikea for more hand made paper!! This card is an emergency card...hence no sentiment....it's on stand by for one of my girls coming home saying I need a card for my friend tomorrow!...you know the problem! LOL!!!


Bye for now
Sue
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Bad, Bad Blogger!

Over a month since my last blog posting, I haven't even posted the Tanda Teaser on this blog from last week! (It is over on the "Tanda" Blog though if you want to join in). Just don't know where the time went over Christmas. Well I do, my Dad spent Christmas in Hospital, we thought he was going to die on two occasions, so much of Christmas was spent running backwards and forwards between Epsom and Worcester. I have some amazing photos of the M25 in blizzard conditions and drivers playing snowball on the slip road of the M3 because they got stuck on the slope. A truly memorable journey and one I don't want to repeat in a hurry (40 miles in 5 1/2 hours and ended up where I started)!

Dad is now home. Everything the hospital tried to bust his clots made him bleed out from an ulcer that has been caused by a tumor the size of a golf ball. The tumor is a new complication and inoperable so we are waiting for the biopsy result and the resulting case conference to find out what if any chemo drugs might work. In the meantime, mum is doing her best to feed him up. He got very weak in hospital not helped by the fact that they were unable to cope with his food allergies. We are just hoping that we hear something soon, and that it's good news for a change!



Oops got a bit off track there....was supposed to be posting my entry into the latest "LOTV challenge" ....only a few hours to go. I spotted the challenge, a sketch, last night and thought I would have a go...cannot believe that I was in the top 3 the last time I entered...fingers crossed they like this one too.....



I used Lazy Afternoon, stamped in Distress ink and then coloured with Copics. I split the stamped image between two layers of my card to fit the sketch. As the little man was reading the paper before dozing off I used a section of yesterday's front page as my horizontal band...(this is a print of a scan as the real thing will yellow with age). All the circles were cut out using nesties. the background paper is from the Hampstead collection by Papermania.

hope to post a few more things over the next few days....make up for lost time!

Happy New Year everyone!

Sue

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A Few of My Favourite Things

I just found a Challenge site for Lili of the Valley fans! And this week's challenge is a Few of My Favourite Things.....LOTV stamps are certainly amongst my favourite stamps at the moment and having just stocked up at the NEC I had to join in with this challenge.


My stamped image was stamped in distress ink and then coloured using copic markers. My favourite things in this are, of course, the stamps, the copic markers, ribbon, Glossy accents, distress inks, SU punches and Martha Stewart punches.

F is for Foliage!

This week's challenge over on the alphabet challenge is F is for Foliage. I made this card using Bloom & Grow papers from My Mind's Eye. The stamp is from Lili of the Valley, stamped in distress ink, coloured with copics and then distressed around the edges with distress inks. I used glossy accents on the roses and apple to give a bit of dimension.

The larger flowers were made by punching out 2 large flowers, 2 medium flowers and one small flower (2 medium and 1 small for the smaller flowers). I snipped into each flower to form the petals and then I used an embossing tool to curl the petals. The flowers were then stuck together and a dab of glossy accents was used to form the flower centres with gold accent beads.


Now for the important bit, the foliage....My foliage was die cut from one of the designer papers in the pack. I've been putting glossy accents onto small parts of my stamped images for a while now and I really like the enamelled look that it gives so it was just an extension of this idea to cover the leaves in glossy accents. I'm really pleased with how this looks, note to self...need to get some more glossy accents!

Sporty card and NEC stash

You can tell I'm a bit behind...it's Friday a whole week after my day out to the NEC and I'm only just posting a piccy of my stash!

Well here it is finally....mainly Lavinia stamps, Paperartsy stamps and Lili of the Valley stamps. The Lavinia calendar full of inspirational pictures was free cos I spent some money there! I've been wishing and wishing that I had the Tim Holtz tattered floral dies, but unfortunately no one had any in stock...so I've put some on back order. My Wizard will not take these big dies so I just had to buy the Big Shot..not pictured....it's sitting under the hall table atm...still trying to think of somewhere to store it...you might just notice that I also got some other dies so that I can try out my big shot in the meantime...I've wanted those flourishes since they first came out! I also splashed out on a starter kit for making lampwork beads...fingers are seriously itching on this front!


Now for the Tanda Teaser...this fortnight sees a sporty theme so my card is a little guy playing football...the main image is a Lili of the Valley stamp, but the footy boots and the star player stamps are from Tanda. As usual the image was coloured using Copic markers, and distressing was done using distress inks.

So why am I so far behind? I've been doing a favour for my friend Patty who runs The Treasury in Kidderminster..she was feeling a bit low last week so I offered to make some sample cards for her...I dropped them into the shop yesterday and she put them up next to the stamps I used. The samples have gone down really well and the stamps and backing papers are selling really well....Patty was really happy today! I've got some more sample cards to make for her now! I'll post one of the sample cards here tomorrow..it fits in with the alphabet challenge which is good timing!

Catch you tomorrow!
Sue
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Pandora's Box

"Tuesday Taggers" theme this week is Pandora's box.....how lucky for me was that seeing as I just made a pressie for one of my good friends and boxed it! I didn't photograph the pressie in the box..just the pressies and the boxes separately, so I hope that's OK.
The necklace, bracelet and ear-rings were made using sterling silver beads and freshwater pearls. Anyone who reads my blog and Zoe especially will recognise the card used for the box....this corrugated card is absolutely fabulous for boxes...unfortunately I think that my local card shop cannot get any more. They have a fabulous deal on end of line...10p per A4 sheet, but once it's gone it's gone!


Nancy looked absolutely fabulous at her party, at least 10 years younger than her real age! The words on the tags on her card were "Forty? Be forever young!" Very apt! It was a great party, her father in law sang for us all (he made the final 36 in the very first X factor and that was after he had throat cancer...What an inspirational guy!) His Tom Jones impersonation was brilliant! Then Nancy's eldest son, Dillan, played with his band, and they were great too. Her younger son had us all wowed with his break dancing...I think Sarah is regretting not going now! We tried to get Emma up to sing with Dillan too, but she chickened out! Nancy and I are hoping that Em and Dillan might perform together at the Mars Bar in Worcester in the near future....nerves and homework permitting!
Sue
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