Little Sweet Pea..

Morning all, what a grim day here in Berkshire, the light is so bad!

I have a card to share for a few challenges today, I was inspired by the Papertrey Ink Make it Monday Challenge, for some Background Building. I happen to have two little stamps sets on loan from a very lovely friend, so I pulled them out last night and had a tinker.

Neither of these sets are, on the surface, suitable for Background Building, but after many tries on scrap paper, I finally came up with something I was reasonably happy with!



The set I have used is Baby Button Bits, a lovely set perfect for those sweet Newborn cards.

I have used the pea-pod and flying bee image from this set, together with the circle stamp to create this baby themed background.


I also used two sentiments from the set - Little Sweet Pea, and As Sweet As Can Be and stamped them alternately.

I then cut and edged with a Martha Stewart border punch, and layered onto some pretty gingham paper from Nana's Nursery, also edged with the border punch.




Then layered this onto some green bazzill embossed with a woodgrain folder, and mounted onto a large scalloped edge card base from stash.

Finally added some twine bows, some twine strips to the left edge, and some Candi Dots from Craftwork Cards.

I am entering this into the following challenges:

Papertrey Ink Make it Monday - Background Building

Stamptacular Sunday - Borders and Frames

Charisma Cardz - Cutsey

CES Challenge - New Beginnings


Supplies Used:

Stamps: Baby Button Bits - Papertrey Ink

Inks: Memento Pear Tart and Cantaloupe; Versamagic Key Lime and Sage; Brilliance Sunflower Yellow; Distress Ink Dried Marigold

Paper: Card base from stash; green Bazzill; Gingham card - Nana's Nursery DCWV

Other: Candi Dots - Craftwork Cards; Green and Yellow Twine - The Ribbon Reel
Woodgrain Embossing Folder - Craft Concepts; Martha Stewart Double Scallop punch.

Thanks for stopping by,

Pauline

Less is More..And a Big Happy Dance!!

Morning all, I am currently doing a big ole Happy Dance, as one of my cards has been featured on the beautiful Melissa Frances Blog!! To say I'm over the moon is a slight understatement!! You can see the post HERE, I still can't believe it lol!!

Anyway, on with today's business!

I have a couple of cards to share for this week's Less is More Challenge. This week, Chrissie and Mandi would like us to use stars on our creations.

I had a look through my stamp catalogue, and although I do have a couple of starry stamps, nothing really inspired me.

So I turned to my much neglected Spellbinder Star Dies. I was going to do something completely different with these dies, but, whilst rummaging about in my card box, I came across my stack of Core'dinations Rainbow coloured papers. This stack came in a huge variety of bright colours, in 6x6 format, so perfect for throwing through the Cuttlebug!

As I was seeing a rainbow, I thought I would make a Rainbow Star!



Lovely layers..and a sentiment from Waltzingmouse Stamps Say it Loud set, that says "Thanks, you're a star"



I added some glamour dust to the star tips, and it's everywhere! The card base is black card from Papermania, from their Christmas stack of papers from last year - it has a linen effect on the card, and has a great texture.



The sentiment is stamped in Papermania Seafoam Embossing Powder. Due to the nature of the card, the embossing powder got stuck in the little grooves, so I spent about half an hour, 3 pieces of cardstock and a fine tip paintbrush to finally get the clean effect I wanted.


So onto my next card.

As I was playing about with the rainbow cardstock, I cut some star frames for a lighter look, and thought it looked great against the white petal point card base from Craftwork Cards.

I love how these star frames, layered together remind me of the little kaleidoscopes I used to have as a child.



And a simple sentiment from WMS Sewing Box Hugs, in Versamagic Amethyst.

I love the rainbow colours together, and these are two much needed Thankyou cards for my stash - there's always someone to thank in my life!

I am entering my first card into

Less is More

Charisma Cardz

I am entering my second card into a couple of challenges as well as the Less is More Challenge:

Stamptacular Sunday - Frames and Borders - My card has used star frames, and a petal point border.

Charisma Cardz - Anything Goes!

Totally Gorjuss - I Remember - Kaleidoscopes!

Thanks for stopping by,

Pauline

Home Sweet Home...

Home sweet Home after a lovely weekend away in The New Forest visiting family and enjoying a bit of down time.

After taking the children to see the new Jonny English film this afternoon, I cracked on with a card made for a few challenges, using the colours from this week's new Play Date Cafe Challenge. It made my morning when I checked the new challenge today and found my entry was picked as an honourable mention :-) and this week's new colours are one of my favourite combinations yet - Kraft/Taupe, Cadet Blue and, er, Flesh! Well, I am guessing that flesh colour is subjective - for me it's a hyacinth blue colour with a hint of lobster, if I get what is euphemistically called a 'suntan'. But I digress...

Here are the inspiration pics for the colour story and sketch:


The Play Date Cafe:



Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge:And here's my take:



I have been itching to ink up the little cottage from one of Claire's newer sets, A Cottage Home, and I finally got round to it today, which I coloured with Staedtler Soft Colour Pencils. I don't have any New Home cards in my stash, so this set is perfect!



Then using some kraft card, stamped some swirls from Waltzingmouse Stamps Flourishes - Scallops and Dots set and embossed with Papermania Seafoam White embossing Powder.


Then stitched around the edge with brown thread.

The sentiment is also from A Cottage Home, and has been cut with Spellbinders Shapeabilities Ribbon Tag Trio, and mounted onto the kraft card using ribbon from stash.



Finally I added some Glamour Dust to the gables and the little flourish Accents on the sentiment, and some pearls, a couple coloured with a Coral Promarker - for the 'Flesh' colour!

I was hoping that the Seafoam embossing powder would work for the 'Flesh' colour, cut it came out a bit paler than I anticipated.

I am also entering this into the following challenges:

The Play Date Cafe

Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge

Less is More - Polka Dots

CES Challenge - New Beginnings

Supplies Used:

Stamps: A Cottage Home; Flourishes Scallops & Dots - Waltzingmouse Stamps.

Paper: Neenah White Cardstock - Crafter's Companion; Kraft Card Base - Papermania.

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Summer Sky, Rich Cocoa; Colourbox Sky Blue; Versamagic Dewdrop Malted Mauve.

Spellbinders: Nestabilities Classic Squares Small; Shapeabilities Ribbon Tags Trio 2

Other: Ribbon from stash; Pearls Kaiser; Seafoam Embossing Powder - Papermania; Glamour Dust; Promarker in Coral; Brown Thread; Sewing Machine; Steadtler Soft Colour Pencils.

Thanks for stopping by,

Pauline

Special Card...

.... for a special person in our family. My husband's grandmother is going to be 89 soon, so I have brought her card and presents with us this weekend, as we will not be able to be with her on her special day.

I have used the inspiration colours from this week's Play Date Cafe, and the sketch from Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge.

For my purposes, I have flipped the sketch.

I have used an image from Hero Arts, a beautiful bloom that I have stamped in Tuxedo Black, and coloured with Promarkers and my lovely Staedtler Soft Colour Pencils. I think I love them more than my Promarkers! And, they can be used to great effect in conjunction with Promarkers too.

I have used a kraft card base and panel, and distressed the edges with Old Olive Distress Ink, then added a strip of patterned paper from Wild Rose Studios and stitched to the panel.

Then cut a kraft disc using my Nestabilities, distressed the edge with Old Olive and Frayed Burlap, and attached the flower with a couple of stamped and coloured leaves.

The sentiment is from Waltzingmouse Stamps Say it Loud set, stamped in Walnut Stain.

And I was going to leave it at that, as I am trying to flex this CAS muscle that is a bit flabby and weak - but, surprisingly, my husband said " What are you putting in the top left corner, it looks a bit bare?"!! Huh?!

Ok, I took his advice, and popped some green twill and tied a little bow in green twine, and it works! And as I was footering about, I thought I'd add some green dew drop gems for good measure!

I'm really hoping this measures up for a Clean and Simple design, as I was trying to keep it clean for CAS-ual Fridays, which this week would like to see added colour to your image. Well, there's certainly added colour to this - it may be a single flower, but I can't tell you the hours I spent colouring this in! And then when I realised the pencils worked on top of the Promarkers, well, there was another hour gone!

I am entering this into the following challenges:

Crafty Catz Weekly Challenge - Birthday

The Pretty Little Ribbon Shop - Anything Goes

Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge

The Play Date Cafe

CAS-ual Fridays - Add Colour

Supplies Used:

Stamps: Say it Loud - Waltzingmouse Stamps; Blossom Art - Hero Arts; Layered Flowers - Hero Arts.

Inks: Old Olive, Walnut Stain, Frayed Burlap Distress Inks; Memento Tuxedo Black;

Paper: Kraft Card - Woodware; Neenah Solar White - Crafter's Companion; Milton Papers - Wild Rose Studio

Other: Olive Twill - The Ribbon Reel; Olive Button Twine - The Ribbon Reel; Brown Thread, Sewing Machine; Green Dewdrops - Kars; Spellbinders Nestabilities S4-116 Circles Small.

Promarkers: Amethyst, Aubergine, Lavender, Lilac, Plum, Orchid, Lemon, Gold, Mustard, Sunflower, Cinnamon, Cocoa, Raw Sienna, Umber, Leaf Green, Holly, Lime Green, Marsh Green.

Thanks for stopping by,

Pauline

Less is More, WMSC 70, PDCC # 104, Top Tip Tuesday

Hi all, it's the weekend, and that means new challenges from some of my favourite places to play!

Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge have a fab new sketch designed by the wonderful Kelly Schirmer, and Less is more would like to see a CAS design with Polka Dots. I've also been mulling over this week's Play Date Cafe challenge - the colours are wonderful, and I've prepped a couple of things, but I haven't inspired myself lol! So, I put my earlier preparations aside (to be used at a later date!) and started afresh.

Here's the inspiration:

The Play Date Cafe:




Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge:


And here's my take:





I've used a petal point card base by Craftwork cards, and stamped the flowers from Waltzingmouse Stamps Sewing Box Hugs onto 3 different coloured polka dot patterned papers from Craft Creations.




I then cut them out in a variety of sizes, distressed the edges with Frayed Burlap Distress Ink, and layered them up alternating the colours.




The sentiment is from the same stamp set, stamped in Versamagic Purple Hydrangea.

Finally added some green gems along the card edge petal points and the flower centres.

I do struggle with CAS, I think my natural inclination is to throw everything at a card lol! It took a lot of restraint to NOT add any more bling, ribbons, stitching, glitter or flowers to this, but my husband likes it! He doesn't like my 'fussy' cards as he calls them!

I am entering this into the following challenges:

Less is More - Polka Dots

Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge

The Play Date Cafe

Top Tip Tuesday - Layers


I'm really happy with this card, it has re-started my mojo which has been sadly lacking this past week!

We are off to my in-laws in the New Forest this weekend until Wednesday, so I may have to take some crafty stuff with me! Or, I may be able to wangle a little trip to Emerald Crafts in Lyndhurst, it's one of my favourite crafty shops to visit!

Have a great weekend and thanks for stopping by,

Pauline

WMSC 69

Hi lovely peeps, a really short post from me today, I'm just getting this in under the wire for this week's Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge, which ends today!

So, here's the sketch:




And here's my take:




I've made an easel card, and stamped my own background paper using Waltzingmouse Stamps Text-it in Frayed Burlap ink. I then stamped some snowflakes from Season's of Love in Antique Linen over the Text, then stamped some scrolls on my cut to size panels, using the scroll image from Season's of Love in Brilliance Pearlescent Poppy ink. Lots of distressing using Antique Linen, Frayed Burlap, Old Paper and Walnut Stain Distress Inks.



I then stitched around the panels in brown thread before mounting onto some red patterned paper from Basic Grey.

The poinsettia was made using a die from Marianne Creatables.


I then made a tree using the border stamp from WMS Very Vintage Christmas in Old Olive and Frayed Burlap Distress ink, stitched and distressed as the panels. The chiffon ribbon is from Marks & Spencer's Christmas range of wrappings, and I added a little gold Sparklet from Kaiser - it's so pretty and twinkly!



The sentiment is from Very Vintage Christmas and embossed with gold embossing powder, then cut using Spellbinders Fancy labels, the just cut the edges off, and added some red gems.

That's all from me today, my mojo has gone awol!

Thanks for stopping by,

Pauline

The Ribbon Reel Challenge # 13

* For my WMS Blog Waltz entry please scroll down.*


Morning all, today brings us another fresh challenge from The Ribbon Reel, and this week we have a beautiful inspiration picture set by Clare Buswell.



A gorgeous picture, I love the poppies here and the fresh colours.



For our challenge this week, I made a card, and started with a white linen card base, distressed with Frayed Burlap and Walnut Stain. I really wanted a kraft base, but I ran out of my kraft card a week ago, and was finding it tricky to get some more! I have put in an order with a well known online U.K. store, but they're out of stock! Grrr!

Thankfully, my local craft shop, Flutterby Crafts came to my rescue this weekend - they have got some new stock in so I bought a whole pack!

But I digress..

So, a sponged kraft base, on top of which I layered some Core'dinations card in a teal colour.


Then I cut some Cosmo Cricket paper in co-ordinating colours, sponged with Distress ink, and layered some scalloped borders and some lace threaded with seam binding on top.


Topped off the corner with a little seam binding bow and peachy rose with some stickles added for some glimmer.


The label is from Papertrey Ink - Button Boutique, stamped in Frayed Burlap Distress ink, and topped with some buttons from stash threaded with some lemon yellow and orange baker's twine from The Ribbon Reel.



Finally added some gems from stash, and mounted the label onto some newsprint patterned paper from My Mind's Eye.

Do stop by my fellow teamies for some wonderful inspiration,

• Keilly Mulvihill - Keilly's Little Blog
• Debbie Marcinkiewicz - Simple Treasures
• Clare Buswell - Clare's Creation
• Pauline Pollington - Craft Obsession - That's me!
  
• Zuzana Obert - Jelly Welly
• Fran Westmoreland - Purple Peanut's Crafty Blog

Supplies Used:

Stamps: Button Boutique - Papertrey Ink

Ink: Frayed Burlap, Walnut Stain, Antique Linen Distress Inks.

Paper: Core'dinations in teal and dark peach; Cosmo Cricket - Salt Air;
Lost and Found Sunshine No 2 - My Mind's Eye

Ribbons: Peach Seam Binding, Bay Leaf Seam Binding, 25mm Apricot Tea Rose, Lemon Yellow Baker's Twine, orange Baker's Twine - The Ribbon Reel

Other: Stickles; Buttons; Gems from stash.


Thanks for stopping by,

Pauline