Anyone for tea?

Hi All,

Hope this evening finds you all well and hope that not too many of you have been affected by the appalling weather conditions in the states.  We holidayed in New York in the summer and it's awful to see the devastation that's been caused there.

I've just a quickie card for you tonight, when I saw this week's cue card over at CASology, I was initially struck dumb. Honestly, you ladies certainly know how to get our brain cells working.





Anyhows, I had a quick flash of inspiration and here's my card ...

Teacup stamp was a freebie with Craft Stamper mag, stamped onto DP paper. Embossed 'tablecloth' is Stampin Up Holiday Frame EF.  Sentiment is computer generated.

Thanks for popping in, I'm gasping for a cuppa myself, so see you all soon.

Take care

Suze xx

Winter Wonderland

Hi lovely bloggers, 

I'm here today with the next Crafty Cardmakers Challenge (#78)  - which is "A Shaped Card featuring a Reindeer or two". (No squares or rectangles please).

This challenge is being hosted by Tracey.

Our sponsors are The Stamp Man who are kindly donating a £10 voucher, and 


Di's Digi Downloads who are also kindly donating a £10 voucher.








I've had another go at using my Silhouette machine and here's the result ...

I cut the sentiment card base with my Silhouette machine but you could just as easily print out the word and then handcut it.

I inked with Stormy Sky DI then overstamped with a Hero Arts snowflake stamp.  Postal mark is also Hero Arts, inked with SU Real Red.  I stamped the Tim Holtz trees onto some DP with Versafine Olympia Green and clear embossed. The reindeer is a Tim Holtz die, cut from DP. I then finished off with some sparkly red twine.

Thanks for popping in to visit today, hope to see you all over at Crafty Cardmakers.

Suze xx

Calendar Catch Up

Hi All,

Here I am playing catch up with The Craft Barn Calendar Challenge ...


Week 3 - White, Yellow & Green

All stamps are PaperArtsy, stamped in Versamark and clear embossed, then inked over with Squeezed Lemonade, Crushed Olive, Bundled Sage and Evergreen Bough DI's.

Week 4 - Doodles

For this one I drew an outline using a diecut heart - then just doodled inside.  I added some colour with Promarkers.

I'm also entering this one into the current Addicted to Stamps and More challenge which is to use markers.

Now all I have to do is Week 5 which was posted this morning - ever felt like a dog chasing it's tail!

Thanks for popping in, 

Suze xx

Felt Fungi

Hi All,

I haven't been doing much crafting of late - I think my mojo has already gone into hibernation for the winter!  However, despite it snowing here last night, it was a lovely sunny morning when I woke and I felt more in the mood for spending some time in my little crafty room.

I've been pondering over the CASology challenge this week - the cue card being "WILD". It's really had me stumped but for some reason 'wild mushrooms' popped into my head today, and as I had already dug out my felt stash earlier in the week - with the intention of making some felt christmas decorations - I've made a little felt mushroom.



I free hand cut everything so it was very quick to put together.  The sentiment is by Woodware.  I think the felt looks good against a Kraft card background, so I'm also entering this into the CAS-ual Fridays challenge which is to use Kraft.

Thanks for popping in, enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Suze xx

Autumn Quilt

Hi everyone,

Each October our schools have a two week holiday - this break is know locally as "the tattie holidays", traditionally this time off school was for the children to help with the harvesting of potatoes, now of course it's all done by machinery but the kids still get their "tattie holidays".  

They've been off a week already and we are all totally in 'holiday mode' (never in a million years would my two get out of bed at 6 o'clock to go and pick tatties!) and living with two teenagers has also turned me into a lazy, lethargic lump - my get up and go has got up and went.  I'm doing some school fairs in the run up to Christmas and I had full intention of using these two weeks to get cracking on my stock - but I can't be bothered!!

I have however finished my charity strip quilt, made up of 21 two and a half inch strips.  The back of the quilt is one whole piece and it was put together using the 'quilt as you go' method.

showing the back

Have to say I'm quite pleased with it ('cause I'm not a quilter!) and as I've used autumnal colours I'm making this a second submission for the Anything But a Card Challenge.



Thanks for coming to visit, see you all soon.

Suze xx

Poppy Heart

Hi Bloggers,

I was in a local craft shop the other day (The Papeterie), I just wanted to get some coloured card, but I saw this lovely Poppy Heart stamp by Indigo Blue.  Inspired by Sharon from Crafty Cardmakers fabulous Remembrance Day card, I just had to have it.

Showing the dimension

Indigo Blu Poppy Heart stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black, then coloured with Promarkers (Poppy, Berry Red, Red, Holly, Lush Green & Sky Blue). I added a touch of sparkle to the poppy centres with Sakura Black Sparkle pen.  Popped up onto Stampin Up Real Red card (hope this qualifies as 'dimension'). The label dies are also Stampin Up. The card base is 6x6".

I'd like to enter into three challenges:

Cas-ual Fridays CFC 74 - Put your {Heart} into it
Let's Create & Craft #56 - Dimension
I Love Promarkers #139 - Anything Goes 


I'm going to send this card to a friend I haven't seen in ages. We met whilst I was researching my family tree, she is a volunteer at the local Family History Society and has a passion for WWI. To date I think she has collated the details of around 11,000 casualties from the North East of Scotland.  I'm sure she'll appreciate it, just as I appreciate all of you popping in to spend a few moments with me.

Thanks again, take care

Suze xx

The nights are fair drawing in ...

Hi Bloggers,

Well, we are now mid October and as we say in my little part of the world - "The nights are fair drawing in".  It is now dark before 7pm and when the clocks change at the end of the month, the nights are going to be longer than the days.  Roll on the spring, is all I can say!

With this thought in mind, I've created a fun little hanging for two challenges ...

Anything But a Card - Challenge 4 - Fall or Halloween or Fall Colours
Fashionable Stamping Challenges - Challenge 32 - Shades of Autumn/Fall

The background is made with distress inks. Autumn leaf and owl stamps are Stampin Up, I used alphabet peg stamps for the sentiment, all inked in Verafine Vintage Sepia. Tim Holtz diecut leaves, and some sparkly autumn ribbon to finish.

Thanks for coming to visit. Time for lunch now but first I need to get my teenage son out of his bed!!

See you soon.

Suze xx

Diwali for Crafty Cardmakers

Hi All,

I'm here today with a little something for this fortnight's Crafty Cardmakers Challenge.

Our hostess this time is  Josephine and she's chosen the theme "Autumn or Autumn Festivals - NOT Halloween.

Josephine says 'There are always so many Hallowe'en challenges around! So instead of creating a Hallowe'en card I would like to see something that depicts the Season of Autumn, or maybe Harvest Festival, Guy Fawkes, Diwali or some other festival that happens in the Autumn. If your theme is a lesser-known festival, please tell us about it in your post! But remember, this is not a Hallowe'en challenge!'

We are sponsored by Milk n' Coffee Digital Stamps,

            

When my children were younger, we lived for 2 years in Kuala Lumpur. The children went to an International school where all cultures were celebrated, so I've chosen to make a little Diwali/Deepavali hanging.

I used some Marks & Spencer's Indian food packaging for the base, a large dangly earring (bought specifically for crafting, not for wearing!) and a colouring page I found on the internet.


Image is coloured with Promarkers, the gold miri card is punched with an EK Success punch, the sentiment is Sizzix 'Cute as a Button' die and all the little gold sparkly bits are waste from the punch.

The finished hanging ...

and here's a photo of my two little angels in 2004, dressed up to celebrate Deepavali. (My daughter is now 13 and is going to freak when she sees this!)

Thanks for taking the time to drop in, please pop on over to Crafty Cardmakers if you fancy joining in - but remember - no halloween!.

TTFN

Suze xx

All Things Bright and Beautiful

Evening bloggers,

Hope you're all wearing your shades, cause this week's calendar challenge over at The Craft Barn is to use "Bright Colours".  

My first idea was to do some colourful summer flowers, but I felt they weren't really bright enough, so I cut the card down and turned it into a twinchie for the Show us your Twinchies Challenge, which this time is "Anything Goes".

Stamps are Kaisercraft, stamped in various Brilliance inks.

Back to my calendar, I don't use bright colours much but for my second attempt, I decided just to "go for it" and I've used one of my new stamps - a quirky house by Suzi Blu ....

Image stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black and coloured with Promarkers.  I also coloured some card to make a 'landscape' which I embossed with a sunburst EF.  I then punched out some little flowers.

Okay that's me for tonight, latest update on my crumpled car is that it'll be in the garage for at least two weeks and also my strip quilt has been sewn, I've just to put the binding on. 

Thanks for dropping in, see you soon

Take care

Suze xx

Trying to stay calm

Good morning bloggers,

Well I hope it's a good one for all of you - for me it's a stressed one.

I was out yesterday doing some crafty shopping with my mother.  We had just left one shop and were on our way to another, when CCCCRRRUNCH .... a big white van crumpled my backside .....(well, not me personally, but you know what I mean)

Thankfully, no-one was hurt and the insurance company are sorting it all out - but not a good day!!

So today I have to stay at home and wait for the garage and car hire company to call me, so I thought I'd make a start on a 'strip' quilt for my sewing group.  We're doing them for charity, they'll be donated to care homes so it will help keep some old biddy's lap nice and cosy ....

Well, better go and thread up the old machine, thanks for popping in and listening to my troubles.

Wishing you all a lovely day.

Suze xx

A Panda

Good evening bloggers,

I'm supposed to be ironing (I've even got it switched on) but just wanted to take a couple of minutes to post this.

I've just made a quickie card for 2 challenges ...






CASology and            Retro Sketches

Back in August we had a family trip to Edinburgh Zoo to see the Pandas, so I've used this as my inspiration - well that and the fact this is the only zoo animal stamp I have!

Stamps are Inkadinkado Asian Influences and Asian Characters. Bamboo is stamped in Memento Bamboo Leaves and Panda & Sentiment are black embossed.  Coloured some linen thread with a Promarker and matted onto red card.

Okay dokes, thanks for popping in, see you all later.

Suze xx

Spring?

Yes folks, it may be autumn for a lot of us but for our friends down under, it's springtime.

Using the theme of spring, I've made a calendar page with 3 challenges in mind ...

Addicted to Stamps and More - Spring
Anything but a Card - Shiny, Sparkly, Blingy
Craft Barn Calendar Challenge - Vellum

Springtime is when our birdy friends are singing their hearts out and building nests, so I've used a lovely Stampendous stamp - gold embossed, then inked over with bright blue and green.

showing the shine!

The leaves and large yellow flowers are punched from vellum which I'd coloured using Promarkers. The smaller flowers are punched from card inked with DIs.

I then mounted the image onto a piece of torn vellum and added some bling.

Thanks for popping in by today, hoping your are enjoying the season wherever you are.

Suze xx

Indian Summer

Hi Bloggers,

Okay, where did September go, how can it be the first of October already!

Anyways, it's time for a new challenge over at Crafty Cardmakers and this fortnight our hostess is Mynette and she has chosen the theme "Indian Summer".


Mynnette would like to see a created scene using any nature themed stamps you have, digis welcome. Examples of nature themed stamps are leaves, grasses, wildflowers, etc. Anything nature and autumn! Plus use only oranges, yellows, and reds for colors (black/brown and white/cream are allowed as well). Perhaps a sentiment of gratitude or autumn would also be appropriate!

Our sponsor is Di's Digi Downloads



I  have made a card using a variation of the "triple layer stamping" technique.

I assembled the three layers of card then stamped the PaperArtsy flowerhead in Versamark and clear embossed. I then inked with Wild Honey, Spiced Marmalade, Barn Door and Fired Brick Distress Inks. I then matted onto black cardstock.  The border punch is EK Success. It was still looking a bit plain so rather than add a sentiment I added the strip of ribbon.

Thanks for joining me again today, hope to see you over at Crafty Cardmakers.

Suze xx