Nephews birthday

All I seem to be doing these days is making boy/men cards so watch out for them over the next few days.This one is for my nephew Andrew and he just loves tractors so I knew instantly which stamp I was going to use. Hamish was one of my very first Sugar Nellie stamps and I still love him.And here is the wee man himself

I will be entering this card over at truly scrumptious
papers-K&Co
sentiment-CC
image- Hamish fixing tractor by Sugar Nellie
stamp tiles- RAK
flowers- American Crafts
buttons-stash
candy- blog hop win
thread- rafia lace unthreaded
colouring- promarkers
cardstock-The papermill

Thankyou for taking time out from your busy lives, please leave a comment so I can come and visit you.

hugs Clare x

Two pees in a pod!!

I have made this card for Jack who will be 3 next Tuesday, the same day as Arran. His mum and I meet while we were having our wee boys in hospital and have stayed in touch ever since.

Here's a wee picture of my card which I am afraid is monster boy again but Jack loves dinosaurs so it seemed appropriate. Might have overdone the flowers for a wee boys card but Arran said it was lovely...never mind eh!!



image-monster boy by squiggle stamps
papers- K&Co again!!!hope your not getting bored of them
sketch-Sunday Sketch and Stamp
embellishments-punched flowers from DP papers- lesson learned keep the smallest of scraps,
card candy,gems,ribbon,sizzix dies for tag and squiggles.
sentiment-handwritten
medium-promarkers(arctic blue,powder blue,soft green and almond.

hope you are all having a great week so far

happy crafting!!

hugs Clare

Emily 4th Birthday

*** woo hoo I won over at A Spoonfull of Sugar***



Hello my lovelies, how has everyone's week been? I can't believe it's been a week since my last post. I did have a couple of free crafting nights but they were a total disaster. All I did was colour images, bin them, choose papers put them back, you get the picture. I eventually came down stairs to the horror of hubby and thought I would do a bit of housework. Hubby new something must be up so told me to sit down, watch tv and made me a cuppa. And that was exactly what I did!!

Really I should be making 3 boy birthday cards but I just wasn't in the mood and nothing came to mind. Instead I decided to make a birthday card for whoever came to mind while browsing through my images.

This Pollycraft (Mary Lou "hello sunshine") image reminded me of a little girl called Emily who comes to my toddler group. Her birthday isn't until July so I'll just have to keep it safe til then.Emily has red hair which I soon realised I had never done before. My images normally have brown hair, don't do blonde not sure why? Maybe something to think about next time!! The sketch shows circles but I have used swirls as they reminded me of her hair. To my amazement I found the perfect papers in my over flowing stash box. New year resolution use stash papers more!!

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The Challenges

Simon Says Stamp- Punch it
Sketch Saturday-Sketch
A Spoon Full of Sugar-Layers
Creative Card Crew-Punch it

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image- Pollycraft (thanks Deb's)
sentiment-CC
gems-PM value
punched-flowers,hearts & circles
die cut- sizzix swirls
papers-stash
medium- promarkers (denim blue,powder blue,Amber,Honeycomb,pea green,tan and grey green)

Distressing

For those of you that know me very well you would agree I am not the distressing type. I am a perfectionist everthing must me neat and tidy, clean cut, new and in the correct place. So when a few of my fav blogs had the theme of distressing this week I knew I was way out of my depth. But a challenge wouldn't be challenge if it was easy, so I took the bull by the horns so to speak and decided to face this challenge head on.

The problem was where do I start? I have seen many cards using distressing tools and products. I have certainly heard of the famous Tim Holtz but none of these things are in my home. Well the answer came when one of my cats (Sophie) decided to sleep in a cardboard box (full of D.I.Y)which wasn't that secure and so she fell in giving a load meow!!Off I went to save the cat and low and behold what did I find......sandpaper!!

Well I must confess I found sanding my gorgeous K&Co papers rather distressing excuse the pun! Who in their right mind would do such a thing, it just seemed so wrong but I carried on until I got the desired effect. I was going to say correct but I will leave that for the pros to decide and then I thought about saying happy.However that would be wrong too as I wasn't sure If I was happy destroying my gorgeous papers.

My idea of happiness is colouring my Sugar Nellie stamps using my new promarkers so that was exactly what I did next.

After having a wee play around with my new sizzix dies and some peewee glitter, I finally put together all the elements of my card and this is what the end result was.



Andrew aka hubby said my card wasn't distressed enough and made a few changes.Made us both laugh!!



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Below are the challenges I am entering

simon says stamp-distressing/DT call
sugarbowl challenge-fab sketch
sophisticat Challenge-doth the north wind blow

recipe

tools-sizzix dies (flowers and vines),bigshot,sandpaper,promarkers(dusky rose,khaki,almond)
stamp-Windswept(Sugar Nellie) & CC sentiments
papers-K&Co and The Papermill

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Do I like it??Answer=Unsure. I will certainly give distreesing another go. So feel free to leave any hints or tips in the comments section.

hugs Clare x

P.s Shhh don't tell hubby about sandpaper!!

Last but not least

This card was actually made Sunday night and only just realising I hadn't posted it. I had so much fun making this one ,my head was clear and I was totally relaxed enjoying playing with stamps I had forgotten or didn't know what to do with. I would really recommend a good rummage through your stamps it's amazing how you forget what you have.

Again I have used my new Penpal stamp from sugar nellie. Like I said the other day I coloured a few while I had a spare hour. I should've used the sugar bowl sketch but when I saw this one from Sketch saturday I couldn't resist it. The card is for my sister in laws birthday at the end of the month, super organised for me. Wish I could say the same for all the thankyou cards I need to make.

papers-K&Co Amy Butler
stamp-Sugar Nellie Penpal
sentiment and envelope stamp-CC
embellishments-stash
tools-big shot,nesties and Friskers template

Another card with several challenges

crazy 4 challenges-birthday(c4c19)
the pink elephant-birthday
the craft garden-new
sketch saturday-fab sketch

Well folks thats all for tonight but will be back soon with another baby card but this time it's a girl.

Take care Clare x

Messy Rabbit

One of my commission cards was to make a new baby boy card and I knew exactly which stamp I was going to use. Not the normal humming and hawing, no straight to my Joanna Sheen messy rabbit. This image stamps great every time and it is so easy to colour and the results I think are fab. I must admit I really like this card and fingers crossed I manage to create more like it. I spent ages looking for a sketch and finally decided on the one over at MAWTT. Their theme this week was love so I won't be entering but the sketch was perfect. I also used some inspiration that I picked up while blog hopping so a massive thankyou to them.



papers-K&Co Hopscotch boy
stamp/sentiment-Joanna Sheen messy rabbit
buttons-MME
ribbon-stash
flowers/hearts-punched
raffia lace-Papercellar
cardcandy- blog hop win!!

Would you believe another card entering several challenges, getting the hang of this now.

MAWTT-Sketch
ABC-L for Layers
Craftwork Cards-C is for Card candy

I would just like to add I am now a card candy addict!!

Bye for now
hugs Clare x

Monster Boy

Before I start rambling on about my card I just wanted to say a huge thank you to all my lovely followers and those who have left a wee comment.Group hug now!!!!lol.You truly lift my spirits when all is not well in 'the broons hoose' as my friend Dawn would say!!

Anyway I have been a busy wee bee of late hopping about mad on blogland picking up loads of inspiration and actually taking note rather than relying on memory. Which seems to fail me these days on a regular basis, way too much going on upstairs lol.Also I had been asked to make 3 commission cards so I thought this would be the ideal opportunity be a little more creative than usual. Please leave me a comment as I would love to know what you think and please be honest it's the only way I will learn.

This card came about after seeing Angela's card with this image. He is just so cute and having two wee boys myself I know he will be used many times. Please pop over to squiggle stamps you won't be disappointed, they even put in the sentiment which was a nice surprise.I would like to share with you the day I received my stamp.Normally whenever I receive any mail Arran shouts mummy Pat been aka post man pat or he will pull them out of letter box and put on kitchen table.Not today, while I was putting lewis to sleep upstairs Arran decides to open my mail (not the bill ones but my stamp parcel). He then shouts upstairs mummy look what you've got??A dinosaur stamp. Well to say I was shocked is an understatement but I was also saddened as I was so looking forward to opening my new stamp. Very childish I know but I have heard there is a child in all of us.

papers-K&Co Hopscotch
stamp-Monster boy by Squiggle stamps
ribbon,beads,gems-stash
flowers-punched
tools-nesties and friskars template
colouring-promarkers

I managed to enter this card into a few challenges this week which couldn't have been done without the help from Mandy's blog. Please pop over her cards are amazing.

challenges
Truly Scrumptious- Sketch
Fussy and Fancy- New

Sketch Saturday Week No84

I think I may have found another favourite Sugar Nellie stamp, so watch out you will be seeing a lot more of this stamp in the next few weeks. Nothing to do with the fact I spent an hour colouring a few of them hee hee.She is so easy to colour nothing too complicated but will need to learn how to use promarkers just been playing so far. I also have a new addiction, the beautiful K&Co designer papers recently purchased from Hobbycraft, me thinks my PM papers will be gathering dust in the not too distant future.

I did enjoy making this card but still feeling like my mojo is buried in the snow. Let's hope the snow doesn't last too long lol.
Here's my wee card



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Papers-K&Co Sparkly sweet
Stamp- Penpal Sugar Nellie
Flowers- punched and embossed swiss dots
Colouring medium- Promarkers
Ribbon-Stash
Cardstock-The Papermill
Button-MME
Sketch- Sketch Saturday

Thanks for popping by and visit again soon

hugs Clare x

New year resolution combine card with several challenges, help would be welcomed.

Sketch and Stash Challenge 26

Don't you just love it when a card just comes together easily, well so do I but not this one. I am even struggling to write this post, heads all over the place, having a wonderful yet nightmare of a week, want to explain the nigtmare but can't, wishing I could fast forward into next week when I know/hoping all will be back to norm. But hey can tell you the wonderful bits, hubby booked holiday for newyear, going to be an auntie again. Just found out today all is going to be ok with baby had us worried for a few weeks there, been perfect mum and wife made home cooked meals everyday, house in order and kids generally being good. I wonder how long it will last, I'll tell you not long lol.

I think I have ranted long enough so without further ado here's my card.





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papers,ribbon and button-MME( stash)
image-Planting with love (new sugar nellie)
flowers/star-punched
sentiment-CC
colouring-Promarkers
sketch- Sketch and stash
ribbon-stash
cardstock-The Papermill

Thanks for hoping over to my wee blog.Leave a comment so I can come and visit you.

hugs Clare x