New Lily of the Valley Image



After a nightmare with my PC (it blue screeened and them dunped my Norton Antivirus when it was fixing itself!), I am back with a challenge card, using one of the lovely new Lily of the Valley Images.

I decided to use up that last bit of lemon and lime paper from one of my previous cards, and today I'm back to my trusty promarkers.

I have followed the sketch in the latest Papertake challenge http://papertakeweekly.blogspot.com/ and I am also entering it for the Southern Girls challenge which is Childhood Memories. You can find this challenge at http://southerngirlschallenge.blogspot.com/2011/06/bring-out-your-inner-child.html.

Whilst I am glad to be back on line, I am still sulking as the Internet Explorer 9 that I loaded up the other day is now gone, and I really liked it! I'' afraid to load it up again though in case that's what mucked up my computer. Oh well, best to stick with what you know I suppose!

Fingers crossed for some hassle free blogging next time!

Sharon x

Winter Wonderland Challenge

I came across this challenge blog a couple of weeks ago and thought it was a great way to start buliding up the Christmas cards, and avoid going in to Christmas overload, around about November.

So the challenge this week was a theme of Pink.

So here is my entry for the challenge. It gave me the opportunity to pull out my old DCWV 6x6 pad which I really love, and also a couple of Magnolia stamps that I picked up at the NEC a couple of years ago.

To create this image, I stamped the little girl, masked her, and then stamped the bench for her to sit on. This time round I have avoided alcohol (of the pen variety!) and coloured her in with my Whispers watercolour pens, and I am quite pleased with the effect.

I'm also entering this card for two other challenges:

• Pear Tree Designs - Stamp Something http://peartreedesigns.blogspot.com/
• My Mum's Craft Shop - Something Old Something New (the old is the stamps and papers, and the new is my Whispers Pens.)
  
  

Well there we have it - still in June - one Christmas card down........one hundred more to go!

Ho! Ho! Ho!

Sharon x

Challenge Number 2......

Here's my second challenge card of the day. It took a while to make but I am quite pleased with the result!

I have useda gorgeous Eliza digital image from Cuddly Buddly, and I have coloured her with pro markers and decoupaged here up with three layers.

I was following a sketch fro this challenge, but unfortunately I didn't have room for the sentiment in it's proper place under the image, as the image itself is quite big (note to self to load up Serif Scrapbooker so I can size my digi images better!) So - with a little bit of artisitc licence, I stamped the sentiment just to the side of Eliza's feet which I think looks quite nice!!

I have done my usual promarker edging and the lovely papers are some freebies that I found in a magazine that was just about to head for the recycle bag!

Finally, I have forced myself to use some of my Wild Orchid flowers as embellishments........and I do mean forced, as I bought the darn things but can't bear to part with them so I rarely use them on my cards (a common affliction for crafters I beleive!)

So - I'm going to enter this card in to two challenges:

• Pink Gem Sketch Challenge
• Allsorts - Lemon and Lime.

Thanks asalways for looking.

Sharon x

A challenging day.....

Today I have two cards to laod up for challenges and here is the first one.

I came across a site called 'Less is More' where the themes are exactly what is says on the tin. This week it's a sketch, so I pulled out some of my old Denami flower stamps and matching papers to make the card below.

I'm not sure that this is one of my best cards but I will definitiely go back to that sketch again so that I can make use of some of my cute little tiny stamps.

Back in a minute with another card.

Sharon x

Pink and Brown......

.....not a colour combination that would immediately come to mind for me, but I have to say that, once I tried it, I really loved it!

So here's my little offering as the DT sample for the new Little Claire's challenge which is, you guessed it - Pink and Brown.

For my sample, I have used a Little Claire's Digi Stamp this time - I think this bird table is so cute. I have coloured with Pro Markers as usual and used my nesties for the matting. The lovely papers are from my Polka Doodles Sundae of Seasons CD. As Nicky Hall would say - there are some lovely 'ditsy' papers in there!

Anyway I hope you like the card and thanks for looking. Don't forget to pop on over to the Little Claire's website to see the other lovley DT cards.

I'm off now to enjoy the last little bit of sun for the day - you never know - we may not see any more for a while!

Sharon x



The last of the Father's Day cards

Well here it is - the last of the Father's Day cards: and with Father's day and all the men's birthdays out of the way, I think I can safely see that this is the last male orientated card that you will be seeing on my blog for some time!

This is another lovely image from Digistamp Boutique coupled up with that paper from the NitWits Just Hatched set once again. I don't know if you can tell from the picture, but the image is decoupaged to give a little 'lift'. Other than that, this card is very basic, with no fancy frills as they say.

Well I'm off now to look at some other lovely blogs. There are loads of challenges that I want to enter this week - wonder if I will be able to find the time make the cards without resorting to another midnight crafting session?!

Sharon x

I managed to do that challenge card!

Well it took me till midnight last night (by the time I had finished all my womanly duties!), but, by hook or by crook I was determined to get this challenge card done and entered in to a few challenges.

This card followa the theme of 'Here comes the Summer' and I have followed the sketch from the Sketch and Stash Challenge.

Stash wise I have got out one of my original SWALK stamps and used the papers from the SWALK CD number 1.

I have thrown in a bit of distress ink for good measure and the lovely sentiment comes from a very useful set that my sister gave me for my birthday last year. It's the Personal Impressions Everyday Words Happy Birthday clear stamp set which has a whole bunch of greetings which cover much more than just birthdays.

So today I'm entering this card in to 3 challenges:

• Sketch and Stash


• Papertake - Here Comes Summer


• Crafters Companion - Here Comes Summer

Thanks for looking

Sharon x

Pastel Flowers

Thought I would go back to something a little more girly today and I have decided to go the whole hog with flowers and soft pastel colours.

This is another example using the lovely vase of flowers stam from Little Claire's which I showcased a couple of weeks ago. This time I have paired it with papers printed from my Wild Rose Studios Spring CD. And how cute are those tiny little buttons in the corner? For some reason they look like little sweeties to me and I have to resist the urge to try and eat them (wierd I know!)

Anyway, because those papers are so lovely, I thought I would enter this card in to the Stamp Something challenge this week, which is 'pretty papers'.

I really want to enter a couple of other challenges this week so I'm going to do my best to stay awake tonight and get creative, instead of collapsing in front of the telly. Trouble is, I'm 600 pages through a 900 page book which I started reading on holiday and I'm getting hooked back in to it again. Last night I was reading it till past midnight.......if only I could read and craft at the same time!!(maybe I'm not such a multi tasker as I thought!)

Thanks for looking and hope you will visit me again soon.

Sharon x

Do Golfers Always Look This Happy?

Do Golfers always look this happy? If you were to ask my parents this question they would certainly say 'no'!

They both love to play golf, and do so on a regular basis but are the first to admit, that as well as being enjoying, it can also be hideously frustrating when things aren't going how they should be.

Having said that, Golf is definitely my Dad's 'thing' and hence the theme of this Father's Day card for him.

Equally important is that the lovely blue sky is also fictitious in my Dad's golfing world as he has spent a good amount of time golfing in the rain this year!

The image from this card came from good old Digi Stamp Boutique and I printed and coloured it twice so I could decoupage it up (not sure if you can tell from this picture).

It's all coloured with Pro Markers of course and the cloudy backing paper is from my NitWits Just Hatched set.

Thanks for looking. One more 'manly' card to go, and then it's back to the girly stuff for me!

Sharon x

Day of the Dads...

How could us Mother's / Daughters forget that today is of course Father's Day.

There are three Fathers in my life - Hubby, Dad and Father in Law so the last few weeks have been employed in trying to think what to get them and of course, making suitable cards to fit each of their interests.

We have done the rounds today and now everything is delivered so I finally have time to sit and do a quick post, to show one of my 'manly' cards.

This one was for my husband, who is interested in all things Alien, so this is a tongue in cheek homage to that. Digi Stamps to the rescue in this case as that's where I have sourced the UFO and also the standing Aliens, who actually happen to be from the Little Monsters set. Of course, being digi, I could resize the Space Ship so I had a big one for the front of the card and a smaller one for the inside.

I have to say that, by the time I finished this card, I was pretty high on vapours, from the alcohol pens and also the spray and sparkle that I sprayed liberally on to the backing paper and card!

Now that I can reveal this card, without fear of spoiling the surprise, I am going to enter it in to a couple of challenges:

Papertake - Lads and Dads

Southern Girls - Anything Goes.

Get ready for a few more manly cards coming soon before I revert back to my usual girly cuteness!

Thanks for looking.

Sharon x

An English Country Garden

It's been such a lovely day today, weather wise....... just like an English summer is supposed to be. Too bad that I spent most of it cooped up in work... but at least I have managed to enjoy a bit of the evening sunshine, which is always a bonus.

So on that note, I thought I would post a summery sort if card, created using the newly released Little Claire's wheelbarrow stamp. Now I know that there are a few different wheelbarrow stamps around but this is a really nice one, and just the right size to make a lovely centre piece on a 6 x 6 card.

The lovely 'rosy' paper came from a free pad that came with a craft magazine a few months ago. It's a bit on the traditional side, compared to what I would normally go for, but I felt that they went perfectly with the cottage type flowers in the wheel barrow.

Well that's me done for today. It's starting to cloud over outside now so I'm going to enjoy the last of the warmth - after all it could be pouring tomorrow!!!

Sharon x

A Gem of a Challenge

Things have been soooo busy at work these last few weeks that I've hardly had time to do any crafting, let alone enter any challenges!

So, I thought I would fix that this weekend, and enter the Pink Gem challenge which is about flowers or charms. So here's my card which is kind of 'flowery' althought it doesn't have any of those lovely fabric flowers that were on the gorgeous samples on the challenge. I don't have any charms at the momoent so I used artistic licence and used some pearl beading instead - I hope it still qualifies! I'm also entering this one for the LOTV challenge, which is 'Anything Goes'. It's the first time I've entered their challenge and not used a LOTV stamp - hope they will forgive me!!

On another note - Today hubby is in Wales doing a 100 mile cycle ride up hill and down dale. It's not the distance I'm worried about - he does more miles on his bike every year than I do in my car! - but have you seen the weather out there??? One hundred miles in the pouring rain........doesn't sound like much fun to me!!

Anyway - while the cat's away as they say.....this is my chance to get on with making his Father's Day card, for which I'm going to be using some of the fabulous Digi Stamp Boutique Aliens and Monsters. Guess I'd better get off the web and start printing and colouring, pronto!!

Sharon x

Comment - tastic!!

Whahoo! - I am able to comment again!! I was over at my SIL's yesterday and she let me in on a little secret to get my comments back. Apparently, when you log in on google, you need to un-tick the box that says 'stay signed in'. After that you should you get your ability to comment back. I tried it today, and it worked, so thanks Sue for restoring my sanity.

Anyway, whilst I'm here I thought I had better post a card.

Here's another example from the Little Claire's June set. As luck would have it I had some papers that matched the Gerbera perfectly so it was a case of picking the papers that I wanted from the pack and colouring the Gerbera to match. These papers are from the Milton Range at Wid Rose studios and they have a lovely range of greens, oranges and browns in the pack which makes a lovely change for me.

Well I am off now as I should really do some house work now (oh joy!!) - so much for Sunday being the day of rest..........not if you're a full time working mum! If I don't get some ironing done today we will be going to school / work in our birthday suits!! Better get on then........

Sharon xx

A lightbulb moment

To anyone who is interested, I have found a way to kind of get round the comments issue.

On my own blog I went to settings and comments and and then scrolled down to the bit where you can decide who is allowed to comment on your blog. If you allow anyone to comment this will add an anonymous and name / url options to the select area of your comments page.

I think that, as a commenter you will be able to select one of these choices and make a comment.

I need to find another blog who has these options to try it out and see if it works, but if someone would like to try and comment on my blog and let me know if it works I would be most grateful!

Thanks

Sharon x

No comment!!!!!!

I never released how much I like commenting on blogs until I found I couldn't do it any more!! I don't know about all of you out there but I am finding it all very frustrating. Some blogs I can comment on but in most cases I can't, and the follower box on people's blogs seems to be deactivated too so I can't follow anyone new.

I keep checking the blog update each day, hoping for a little light at the end of the tunnel but to no avail. I know it's only a little thing in the big scheme of things but it is really starting to bug me now as I am feeling quite cut off from the blogosphere!

Anyway - on to happier things.......

Here's a card that I made using the Little Claire's June club stamps.

For the background I used the small flower in the kit and randomly stamped it around the edge of the base card with distress ink.

For the main flower I stamped it twice on to coordinating papers and cut them out. For the upper layer I chopped some of the petals off so that you can see some of the petals from the bottom layer, to give that 3d effect. The stamens were made with Stickles Pearl paint.

After that, a little bit of matting a layering and voila!!

Much as I love colouring, it made a nice change not to do any for a change, and, as you know, I do love cutting out flowers!!!

Thanks for looking, and, if you are one of the lucky few that are still able to comment, I would love to hear from you!

Sharon x