Muse

Just a quick card (is there one of those I wonder ??) for Muse this week.

Our Michele has made an  card that was inspired by a song and she is even including a prize for the person who can guess it!

 My card was inspired by Michele's fun card and a song. I saw the heart from her card and the song that popped into my head was the Heartbeat song by Kelly Clarkson.I hand drew the EKG line and popped up the hearts ,and added the sentiment from CB robots...did I say how much I loved these ???

:)

Before I go I would just like to say a huge thank you to all that took part in my first ever DT spot over at Muse,I was so nervous but I should have known what a wonderful bunch you are and those lovely comments just blew me away! 

Thanks for taking the to look 

xxx

Muse 149

Don't you just love those gorgeous cheery spring like flowers and colours on Tracey's Muse card this week?? It brightened up my Monday no end I can tell you !

So I made a quick card to play along using Clearly Besotted flowers and sentiment.Wish we got papertrey stamps etc over here, those flowers would have been snapped up I can tell you...just  LOVE them!

I was of course inspired by the colours and layout.The twine well that was a save as is the sentiment I had finished picked it up to photograph it and yup I put  splodges of ink so the sentiment and twine hide them nicely ... I always seem to be doing saves lately!

:)

Thanks for looking 

xxx

Naughty or Nice

 Not sure if my card will fit the challenge over at The Naughty or Nice challenge (a new one to me,found it while  commenting here ) but hey ho I'm sure they will let me know! and  loving their kooky  takes on their challenge blog after all who doesn't want to be naughty sometimes hee he 

Think mine would fit the nice category more as its for my hubby .. one day while getting my  pulse taken in hospital not long after we were married  I  saw him coming in the door and the doctor said she wondered why my pulse had sped up ,he of course has never let me forget this  ...for over 28 years !!! 

:)

Thanks for taking the time to look

xxx

Welcome back Muse!

Wishing you all a happy and healthy 2016!

Hope you all have got over the excesses of the festive season, I know that I'm dreading putting on my work trousers tomorrow! :)

I can't tell you how excited and delighted  I am to be part of the Muse team  !!!!!  and now that our favourite challenge is back I feel like I am meeting up with old friends again :)

....and isn't Michele's card a corker,love the puny sentiment , and the colours. Those were the  two mains things that led me to my card  and I  also kind of follow Michele's layout .As for the patterned paper (you know by know how much I struggle with that!) I replaced by embossed hearts  -please note  Michele I said embossed  ;) and finally my image and sentiments are from Clearly Besotted.

Thanks for taking the time to look! 

xxx  

Muse 140

Ardyth is this week's Muse and when I saw her fun panda card I knew what I wanted to use but it didn't come easy I must admit and I ended up having penguins skating in all different directions all over my desk !But finally it came together .
I wanted it to look like the penguins were skating but one fell over onto his bottom and his hat was tossed in the air...did it work??? mmmm :)
The penguins and sentiment is from Mama Elephant and boy was that hat fiddly to cut .I loved how Ardyth has inked her bottom  panel to ground her panda's ,I used chalks I find these sooo much easier to use than inks for this kind of job !

I took my inspiration from :-
The movement and layout of Ardyth's pandas
The black and white focal images
The balloon in the air
Inked bottom panel
Sentiment under the images

I would also like to enter it over at the Playground  as the panel and that blooming hats are all snippets!

Many thanks for coming over and taking a look!
Eliz Stewart love your cute and playful dogs!
xxx

Muse 138

I have been trying to get my card finished all week for the challenge over at Muse.

Sometimes you see a card and you think wow love that ! Anitas  Muse card this week was one of those but couldn't think how to do one that wasn't a straight case !

So decided to go with the dotty background and you will note Michele that I have used dotty DP ( well DP in my case really  stands for a digi paper pink petticoats to be precise!)- found it when I was looking for that flowery one.Backed it in black and cut out a circle to mimic Anitas layout. Then took the colours of her flowers and finally added a sentiment with roughly the same meaning ..don't seem to have an amazing one.

Sorry about the photograph thought the layout  looked better as a landscape card but I haven't yet worked out how to get a good photograph of that yet,will try again tomorrow ...but you get the idea I hope!

Thanks for taking the time to look

xxx

Muse 134

The Muse card this week is by the talented Anita.

When I saw Anita's soft and delicate card I just loved it,who wouldn't simply beautiful, but not so simple for me I'm afraid found this a real challenge! I have spent all week trying different ideas until finally I came up with this,not sure if I like it and so was in two minds whether to post it .

Problem is I think its missing more of Anita's elements than there is on it !!!

But I did take inspiration from -

The colours pink,blue and green.I used chalks to get the softness and originally heat embossed the sentiment but it took the colours of the chalks and just looked grubby.So just stamped with the versamark instead.Liked that better and loved the look when I rubbed some directly onto the paper (that's the splatter look btw) and manage to fix it there with hair spray :)

Central panel (eh the black is still sitting in my desk,sorry Anita had a senior moment)

White circles -well that's my sequins! :)

Thanks for taking the time to look

xxx

Time Out

While browsing the current challenges I found that the Time Out challenge this week is to CASe Tracey's soft and delicate looking card .

Well today I was just in the mood for some colouring in ,I find it very soothing after a busy day at work.

My inspiration came from Tracey's ;-

  vellum ,
white embossing
colours ( I used 3 similar colours ),

image, centre stage 

  sentiment black and under image

 I stamped my favourite image for colouring in from Clearly Besotted heat embossed it in white and using distress inks and a blender pen coloured on top of the vellum.To add my own twist I took another favourite of mine a popped up panel and before I put it all together,  stamped the sentiment... squint! so yes the sentiment is a save,but I do like this sentiment feel it can do all sorts of occasions birthdays sympathy ,get well ...well you get the idea:)
 Thanks for taking the time to look
xxx

Muse133

When I first saw Michele's stunning card over at Muse I was gobsmacked !...How did she manage to make a card  look soooo elegant while using my nemsis DP???

  Now I;m definitely NOT a DP kinda person unless it's along the lines of stripes, dots etc any other pattern and it's heaved off quicker than it went on .!!That being the case you can imagine how much flowery DP I have lying around ...thats right.. none :( So first tried making my own,total disaster and then used my SU rollers still not right

Then I remembered that I had bought digi papers from Pink Petticoat when I first started making cards and thats how I came to find this one .....never in a million years would I have tried putting this DP on a card!!!! BUT......

I LOVE IT

( it looks way better in RL ,for a start it doesn't look like there is a wavy line down the side, or is this just my computer ??hubby changed the moniter to a bigger one and I  don't like it seems to distort everything)

and  where I got my inspiration from  Michele's card is the

Flowery DP - I added bisque liquid pearls to the centre of my flowers

 Butterfly

Vellum

Heat embossing

Sentiment

And a huge thank you to Michele who made me try something new and I liked it :)... and have you noticed no rectangle panel in the middle !
Think I might just pop this over to Darnells NBUS challenge too!

Thank you so much for taking the time to look

xxx

Muse

Tracey' stunning CAS card over at Muse this week is sooo gorgeous that I just had to give it a go right away .Alas no palm trees, but I was inspired by her colours orange,yellow,green and brown , layout and flowers .I love colouring this sunflower by Clearly Besotted and my favourite technique is to use ink pads and blender pens on it.I used SU lucky limeade and memento bamboo for the leaves and spiced marmalade and mustard seed distress inks for the flower head and for the centre of the flower head I used a SU brown marker and did tiny dots all over so hopefully it wouldn't be too flat looking.

I fussy cut it out and  popped it up on a panel as Tracey has done but my panel is slightly larger:)

I stamped a sentiment from Avery Elle in the matching orange ink on a banner (also like Tracey's card,just reversed the colours!) and finally added  a few small perfect pearls.

P.s nearly forgot will be ading this to Pixie Crafty snippets Challenge too as if I am fussy cutting anything out I tend to squeeze the image on to whatever scraps of card that are lying  about!

Thanks for taking the time to look

xxx 

Muse 123

Muse 123

One of my favourite challenges is back after a wee short break so just had to play along today and

Ok I know that when you first look at my card you'll wonder where my inspiration came from...apart from the cherries that is... of Joan's stunningly simple but oh ever so gorgeous card !

This was one that evolved as I went along so the cherries drew me straight away  love the sentiment of this SU stamp, SO true!!

I stamped two and cut out the bowl to pop up like Joan's cherries,used stitched rectangle instead of scallops and then matched some  DP to the colour of my bowl ,chose spotty to mimic the spots on the envelope.

Not convinced ???...to be honest neither am I just feel it lacks something ,and no not just some glue on the corners!But I should also have been packing not faffing about with this but you know how it is ladies ,cards win every time :)

On the wee small hours of Sunday morning we will be heading off on our Baltic cruise...if I manage to get to grips with etickets,packing and not running around like a headless chicken that is!

We have got out of the habit of holidays abroad as we have been tending to have holidays close by as the boys have needed us to do things for them over the last few years ,so I will admit to feeling quite daunted but I'm sure it will all work out....how hard could it be????

(and Susan if you are reading this I hope you had a brilliant time in Australia!)

See you all in ten days!

&

Thanks for taking the time to look

xxx

CAS(E) this sketch

I can't believe it but this is my 3rd post this weekend ,there is just too many good challenges out there just have to take part!:)

When I saw CAS(E) the sketch this week I just had to give it a go too ..and of course it had my favourite rectangle in the middle !:)

I know it doesn't look like it but first I stamp the image UNDER the rectangle,then I stamped it on TOP of the rectangle and placed the rectangle so that the flowers fitted each other.Before finally adding another one that I had coloured,using a blender pen and ink, and fussy cut out before popping it on top at an angle so I was left with 3 flowers like in the sketch instead of 4.

To finish I added liquid pearls to the stamen - I originally coloured them yellow but they looked a bit  flat and the white of the pearls has picked up the yellow so they are more gold now!I also used the faintest of pinks to colour the edge of the flowers and also the edge of the rectangle...it is slightly more noticeable in RL! 

.

The sentiment is from an old SU set called Just believe (I cut off the 's' of the friends,because I never used it)

Thank you for taking the time to look

The Challenge#35

Whenever I saw the inspirational photo over at The Challenge,I just had to take part once again! 

To mimic the yellow round flowers in the jar, I cut two circle masks and  through the first I used mustard seed DI and then used white through the smaller circle on top .Hard to see in the photograph ,much easier to see in RL ...am I right that this is called the bokeh technique ????

Then added the strip of paper pierced vellum (going mad with paper piercing just now!) - which I stamped -badly :) I might add with a clearly besotted sentiment.Then popped on the Clearly besotted flower image ( I am sooo in love with this set !!) which I had coloured using SU lucky limeade ink and a blender pen. To finish I added some bisque liquid pearls to the center of the flowers.

Thank you so much for taking the time to look!

xxx

The Challenge#34

I was reading one of the design team for the Muse Challenge, Michele - I card everyone blog - when I came across a new challenge for me there .its called The Challenge and thought I would give it a go love the colours and they just cried out to be turned into a flower I thought.

I love the gerbera from SU and thought that I would try a spot of watercolouring (another first for me not really good at these kind of techniques!)But challenges are meant to challenge are they not??
 So stamped the image first in hero art orange ombre inks in the darker end of the spectrum and then used mustard seed distress ink for the yellow centre.Used a marker pen for the stalk and leaves,mmm think I should have left them there but no had to try watercolouring them too... looked ok until they dried! :) aw well you live and learn( also don't glue them on before the are properly dry hee he) and just in case the orange was too subtle to be seen stamped the sentiment in Su pumpkin pie and heat embossed it with clear powder on vellum
.Popped up the flower on a stitched rectangle then popped that up on dimensionals too and that was it a very simple card ..just like me!

Thanks for taking the time to look!! 

xxx

  

Muse

Whenever I saw Vicki's card over at the Muse challenge 

 fell in love with the vibrant colours and the pop of black,to me it just made the most perfect male card!

But oh what a challenge it has been!I don't know about you but when I see an inspiration photo I break it down to what pops out at me and this case it was the black across the centre, the colours and finally the triangles.But here's the rub didn't have anything with triangles !.... you have no idea Vicki how many cards ended up in the recycling bin.:-)

Then saw that Clearly Besotted were having a new release and whenever I saw the My hero stamp and die set I had to have them ( our family is soooo male heavy!).They came today along with my Lawn Fawn stitched rectangle dies ...thanks Tara ,and today at work the children were playing with shapes making a square from two triangles and that's where the idea for my triangles came from ...you can find inspiration from anywhere ;)
.Card stock is SU lucky limeade and pumpkin pie, and yellow is from my stash.

Thanks for taking the time to look!!

xxx

Butterflies

I was loving having the time to take part in a few challenges a week in the Easter holidays,but back at work and this week I have only managed one so far this week and its Friday!!

Whenever I saw Marions beautiful card over at the Muse challenge fell in love with the clean and fresh colours and the simplicity of it.

So as you can see I pretty much CASed Marions card with a little bit of  my own twist! :-). I have always meant to buy a butterfly die but it appears I never did (more for the wish list) ,but I did have this punch by SU so  stamped a few hero arts butterflies and then punched them out,adhered the bigger one to negative space in the turquoise card, I then added some perfect pearls to the butterflies.the sentiment is an old SU one,but loved how the writing  looked. 

I'm now off to sit in the back garden as it is so warm - like a summers day here in Scotland!

(long may it last)

Hope you all have a great weekend and thanks for taking the time to look!!

Muse #113

When I was making this card for this weeks Muse challenge, I really thought it resembled Michele's beautiful card above.

 I had the colour blue (okay it looks more a turquoise in the photo!) I had a panel of blue behind the top image.The image is flowers in a row and I even stamped them twice as had Michele .Put my sentiment in the right hand corner ...I even had the (hand drawn) black line under the flowers!Then I went to post it and ..it looked nothing like Michele's :)

Just goes to show that everyone can take the same idea and run with it completely differently!

I have been card making for nearly four years and ok we should really discount the first year because I spent it just getting the basics together (and wasted a lot of money on buying things that didn't work for me) but since then I have spent time building up my stash ...but guess what for this challenge I didn't have a stamp that I could use apart from one that I got as a freebie in a craft magazine years ago! ..but actually it stamps pretty good and the sentiment I bought in that first year and it too has spent time languishing in a drawer.So thanks Michele for inspiring me to go on the hunt and on the way found some little gems!

Thanks to everyone who takes the time to look,and especially the ones who leave a comment ...they make my day.

xxx 

  

The Muse challenge this week  is inspired by this dramatic and bold card by Kristie Goulet!  

 I have been inspired by the circles , trees and birds within her card.Originally I tried using distress inks and I confess sometimes distress inks work with me and sometimes they don''t ...this time they didn't!!

So decided to go for a more muted look using chalks and a paintbrush (and hairspray to stick the chalks to the paper) In RL as usual it is a bit darker !

I then drew round the inside of a circle die with a sharpie pen (don't look too close :) )cut out that with the same circle and stuck them to the card.

And finally my sentiment is from SU.

Off to work shortly but thanks for taking the time to look!

xxx

Poppies

Hi hope you have had a great weekend I did!..went to see the Body Guard at the theatre on Friday night with a friend and I was dancing in/out of my seat!Good job everyone else was too :)

But it seems to have kicked off my mojo as I  made a few cards over the weekend ...think it might have been all  that glitz!

Though my card is kinda of restrained in the glitz department the red and black of the stars finale number had me making this card and thought it would fit in over at the Time Out challenge as the theme there is a CAS card with an optional twist of black and white and one other colour.

I simply cut out along  rectangle and covered it with DP and added the Memory Box poppy die cut stamped the SU sentiment on a scrap of cardstock and then added the sequin  to finish.

 Thanks for taking the time to look 

xxx 

Muse

Hi everyone, hope you are all having a good weekend

It is Mother;s Day here in the UK and hope all the mum's out there are being well and truly pampered!

Boy did I struggle with this weeks Muse challenge!When I first saw Michele's card I thought wow beautiful.....then the reality hit sometimes the most beautiful and simple are not as simple as they look!! :-)

 First I had just scraps of black cardstock left and no yellow and except this one sheet which in RL life is a more goldy yellow and I am really not good with DP,so there was umpteen goes of making different toppers , hair pulling and grinding of teeth,but was determined to take part in the challenge,(the Muse challenge has gripped me from when I first came across it I think its the great inspiration and  the voting by others to decide the winners )...until finally I had a lightbulb moment at half six this morning, thats when I decided to use this bargain bin flower stamp.I then reversed Micheles idea by colouring the spaces with a yellow promarker to make the image pop out a bit (wanted it to look hopefully a bit like DP paper).Then mounted it on black cardstock and  added the SU sentiment. Finally a complete card!!!!!!

Thanks for taking the time to look

xxx