More is more...

This card came about from one of my failed printing attempts for my last post. Annoyingly my printer was only printing part of the image on some of the cards.  On this one it printed the whole rose image but no sentiment.

Preview

My 'rescue' job was very simple...I've added a Craftwork Cards sentiment circle which I've coloured and glittered on the edge, and a length of chiffon ribbon.  The image is coloured with chalks as in my last post, and the scallops on the card blank also picked up with chalks.

I've got something in mind for another half-printed card in the next day or two - watch this space!

Less is more week 6

Just a quickie today as I'm in full crafting mode and don't want to waste any precious time!

This is my entry for this week's Less Is More challenge - a one layer card, off the edge.

I've used a digital stamp from Digistamp Boutique. Have had my eye on these and this was the perfect excuse to buy them.  My printer has been a little temperamental though so there were quite a few false starts with the printing directly to card base technique.

I've coloured the image with chalks, and couldn't resist picking up the edges of the scalloped card blank with the pink chalk too, sorry Chrissie and Mandi!  I also added a little touch of crystal Stickles to the centres of the roses.

not just for Christmas....

I'm kind of doing this backside first - showing the non-xmas cards made with papers from this digikit from Sweet Shoppe Designs before the actual xmas cards I've made, but I have my reasons...

As you might have guessed I've made this one for my sister's birthday which is on Friday.  It's a bit of a sore point that I often get her cards to her late, one year she rang me on the morning of her birthday (a Sunday) and had a 30 minute rant about not getting her cards in time.  Soooooo, this year I'm determined to be prepared and will despatch this card today!

Its such a miserable and dull day (weatherwise) today that I don't think I'd get any decent photos of my cards today so popped this one into the scanner.  Unfortunately the xmas cards I made with the same kit have a bit of dimension to them so aren't quite so scanner friendly.

I've used a fabulous new image, Lulabelle Shopping, from Digistamp Boutique for my card as I thought her dress was ideal for a bit of digital paper-piecing to perfectly coordinate with the backing papers. I really do love Zoe Pearn's paper designs and have a few of her digikits now but did hesitate about buying this one as I don't do a lot of xmas cards but I've managed to use 5 different papers in this card.

Lulabelle's hair and skin are of course coloured with Promarkers.

I'm entering this card into the September monthly challenge over at Digistamp Boutique, the Charisma Cardz challenge, Anything Goes,  and the Allsorts challenge, Plain and Simple.

Exploding box

This is a commission from my ex-boss (not to be confused with X-Box!) - the one I made the retirement card for. It's for her grandson who's about 7 months old now.

Lots and lots of matting and layering, with the design made up as I went along! I only had 2 sheets of that particular gingham card in my stash and it matched my aqua cardstock and ribbon perfectly so it was a while before I committed to where I was sticking anything.

The little image is from Digistamp Boutique - Simpy Baby Collection, so simple but so cute, and the wording panels all done on the PC.

And this is it opened - I made a mini-box inside too which was intended for her to hide her gift of money inside, but I think may be too small?

I'm considering making a matching card with pocket to tuck inside the lid of the larger box - watch this space!

Edited to add - I went with the matching card idea, with a little pocket on the inside to tuck a cheque into, using some of my leftovers from the box.

And I'm pleased to report the customer loved it!

I'm entering this into the Digistamp Boutique Monthly Challenge for September.

Heaven, I'm in Heaven...

Crafty heaven of course! Bank holidays are definitely bad for my bank balance, lol!  No pics just yet (I've just got home and the light is really poor) but this (extended) weekend I have bought

• 8 x 8 card blanks
• Forever Friends wall decor sets for a bargain £1.99 each - they're a perfect fit for an 8x8 card!
• 2 wonderful DCWV 12x12 cardstock stacks for just £7.99 each
• a Martha Stewart scoreboard
• some self-adhesive wallpaper border stickers (6 sheets in a pack) with diggers and cars etc for only 69p per pack
• a couple of 8 x 8 baby-themed scrapbook kits (10 sheets of paper, stickers and chipboard frames etc) for only 99p each
• oh yes, and a laptop!
• and quite a few other things as well - my friend did ask if I have any room left in my home ;-)

In my defence (as if it were needed between crafters!) I did spend a lot of time at the weekend making some cards for my office to sell at a charity fun day this coming weekend.  I'll hopefully get to take some pics tomorrow before handing them over....

Edited to add - here are the pics of some of the cards, images are Digistamp Boutique (I played around with a couple of them to create the image I wanted for my Fathers Day cards), papers are Zoe Pearn and Nitwit and some of the images are coloured with Promarkers...

and finally...those wallpaper stickers from The Range - once they're snipped up they'll have cost less than 4p per image!

I'm a bad, bad, blogger.....

I can't believe it's now 2 whole months since my 1st post, where did all the time go?

I'm sure no-one will be surprised to hear I've been too busy crafting to actually blog about it and, looking around the room right now, its in exactly the same state as on 1st January - I'm such an untidy crafter...this is my living-room floor right now...

And my friends and family wonder why I don't encourage unexpected visits! You can see the occasional patch of bare carpet which I use as 'stepping stones' to get from one end to the other - one of these days I'll do myself a serious injury, but what a way to go!

And I'd told myself I wasn't going to craft today, except for one 'must-do' project (that I haven't done...) but I really couldn't resist the new Spring Coco and Friends digi-stamps which I spotted on the Digistamp Boutique blog. They were only released today but I had to have them.

And this is what I've managed to create so far...

image is Coco Easter Stroll from Digistamp Boutique

coloured with Promarkers

scalloped frames from a Nellie's multiframe die

(the frame around the image was pieced together to get a larger frame)

patterned paper is from Imaginisce All Occasion Build-a-Card Pad

flowers cut with a sizzix die

image is Spring Coco from Digistamp Boutique

coloured with Promarkers

Prima flower, smaller flower and paper ribbon coloured with Promarker

backing paper from Forever Friends Hugs & Cuddles paper pack

And a quick close-up of 1 of the coloured images - the first time I've used my Promarkers in such a sketchy, watercolour type way...

...loving this effect!

Well, time to go to work now, the clearing up will have to wait until I get home...