Well I am two weeks later with this one than normal as I was playing nurse to my very pregnant daughter who only has two weeks until she gives birth as her back went into spasm and she was in a lot of pain. She needed help with my Grandson and a bit of TLC so another DT member and good friend offered to swap dates with me to help me out so that I didn't have to rush to get one made for the begining of the month,thank you Kym.
This week we have had some workmen in to errect our new summer house and landscape the area around it,so inbetween keeping them filled up with coffee's and feeding them toasted sandwiches and burgers I have been busy with my latest DT card for http://gruffiesandguests.blogspot.co.uk/, This months challenge is anything goes with the option of Fall. I as always really enjoyed making this one. I love the colours of Autumn,it's my favourite season so it was easy to get inspired.

I started this one by choosing a image from the Gruffies and Happy hoppers cd,I just love the bear with the pumpkin on his head lol. The backing paper was from the cd to so that saved a lot of time searching through hundreds of 12x12 papers to find the right one. As always I love to bring this wonderful artwork from Ellen alive by decoupaging it up to look 3D although the photo never does it justice.If you could see it in the flesh,it really looks like he is wearing the pumpkin and the other has his hands inside the pumpkin. I then chose a copper miricard for behind the backing paper and the image to make it pop more. Then with this lovely Tonic punch,butterflies I think it's called, I punched along the bottom of the backing paper and stuck it to the miricard. I had these lovely reeds in my stash from years ago and thought they suited the colours of the season so thought I would make use of them. Then I found this beautiful orange ribbon among my ribbon collecting obsession boxes and doubled it up and tied it to give a fuller double bow and placed a beautiful button with a sparkly in the center on the center of the bow. I then threaded some peach and brown beads onto these lovely stick pins and stuck them into the back of the bow so as to hide the sharp ends and attached it to the card. I found this other image of a house mouse all dressed up for Halloween but can't remember where I got him,sorry. I decoupaged him to and thought it would look sweet if I placed him at the bottom,looking up at the bears. I am very pleased with the finished card and hope it has inspired you to have a go and come over and enter the challenge at http://gruffiesandguests.blogspot.co.uk/ where our sponsors for this month are Bearly mine and are giving the lucky winner a £10 voucher  http://bmd-creations.blogspot.co.uk/ So what have you got to lose,even if you are not lucky enough to win you will have a great card to give someone special a real treat. Happy crafting everyone :)

Good morning everyone,it's a bit murky out there today but then that's just a good reason to stay in and craft. I am a bit late with this card as I know I promised the second of my two cards the day after the 1st one but then I remembered it was time for my DT card for Gruffies and Guests so I had to get busy with that,the upside is you get two cards today
Anyway this was the second card I made and this was for a 11 year old girl so I made it a bit more grown up with a fun element to it. As soon as I saw this image I fell in love with it,but then I fall in love with all the house mouse images lol.
I started by choosing the backing paper to match the colours of the candles and embossed it with my crafters companion 8x8 embosalicous knit one pearl one folder to give it texture and rounded off the corners to match the shape of the card. Then although a photo never shows it,I set about decoupaging the image up. I also cut the cake out and glittered it up so it had a sparkle,something else that doesn't show up well in a photo. Then I layered the image up onto some pink card and placed it at a angle on the card. Then I tied this beautiful pink satin ribbon around the spine of the card and just tied it in a knot instead of a bow and added a coordinating button with a sparkly center. I can't remember where I got the die cut happy birthday from,I found it amongst my die cuts and just inked around the edges in pink so it wasn't a stark white and added them to the card. The lady who asked me to make it was very pleased with it and I hope you like it to.

Angie's card designs: Hello my friends and how are you all today? I hope...

Angie's card designs: Hello my friends and how are you all today? I hope...: Hello my friends and how are you all today? I hope you have been getting lots of crafting done. I haven't done much lately,things just k...

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Hello my friends and how are you all today? I hope you have been getting lots of crafting done. I haven't done much lately,things just keep happening to stop me. My daughter is only 3 weeks from giving birth to my 2nd grandchild and has been suffering badly with spasms in her back. I know how painful that is as I have had it happen in the past. She ended up going to A&E but there is little they can do for her as anything they could give her could harm the baby. So I have been doing my best to help out with taking some of the work load off her by spending time with my grandson,it's a real chore,NOT. I do hope it gets better soon though as we don't know how she will cope with labour if it goes into spasm when she gives birth.
Anyway I did manage to get a couple of cards done,and of course they are my favourite house mouse. A friend wanted two cards for their granddaughters who will be 7 and 11 soon. I 1st did this one for the 7 year old and had lots of fun doing it,as usual. I started by cutting out the lolipop and covering it in versamark embossing ink and using clear embossing powder to make it look shinny like a sweet. Then I found this lovely colour gradient paper I had forgotten I had and embossed it with a A4 embosibilities folder,small dots. Then I chose a pink miricard for the layering and placed it under the backing paper and the image. Then I cut and layered up the image and glued it on so it could be drying while I did the rest. I then set about drawing and cutting the triangles for the bunting out of a striped background paper that was also on the triple cd and punched holes in each of the top corners so I could thread bakers twine through them and string them together. Then I couloured some peel off letters and stuck them on and threaded the twine through. Then I wondered how I could make some sweets to put at the bottom and tried wrapping buttons with wrapping paper but it was too thick so I went and found some quality street chocolates that weren't being eaten and pinched the wrappers off of them,so I had the wrappers but what was I going to use for the sweets hmmmmm, then the light in my head came on and I thought,I have a tin of glass pebbles that I never use from my glass painting days. I found some the right size and wrapped them in the sweet wrappers and they looked just right. I then assembled the card and as a last little touch I curled some ribbon to look like streamers and added them to. I hope you like the finished card.
I have to go to my daughters again today so I will post the 2nd card tomorrow as I am short of time. Take care and happy crafting everyone

Good morning my friends,I hope you have all had a good August although it has not been as warm and sunny as you would expect for this time of year. I have been kept very busy this month with two sets of visitors staying with us and my Husband having another mini stroke which was very worrying. He is on the mend now but still taking it easy which means I am busier than usual.
It has been a struggle to do much crafting but I hate to let people down so I have made this card for my latest design team card for http://creativecraftcottage.blogspot.co.nz/

This months challenge is to follow this colour scheme

or use this sketch

I chose to go with the sketch and a couple of the colours.  This months sponsor is http://www.kingcrafts.co.nz/ who is offering a prize of a card kit. So why not pop over and enter for you're chance to win

Happy crafting :) 

Hello again everyone,me again!!!!
Well it is late due to my being ill but here is my design team card for http://gruffiesandguests.blogspot.co.uk/ It is my favourite time of the month,I will never tire of creating cards from these little critters. This month I have used a image from the Gruffies and Happy Hoppers cd . The challenge this month is anything goes/boys so I chose this image of this cute bear riding his motor bike.
I have done it in 3D decoupage as I like to bring these images alive and can't resist decoupaging them,the metal on the bike I cut out and then inked with silver ink to make them look more metalic. I used this backing paper because I thought it gave an American feel and to add a bit of sparkle I used a quickie glue pen around the edges of some of the stars and added blue glitter.
I hope you like it and I hope we will see you over at Gruffies and Guests to enter the challenge. Our sponsor this month is http://petallu.tictail.com/ who has donated a £10 lucky dip prize of a some of her flowers. Happy crafting everyone,take care

Good afternoon everyone,I hope you have all been enjoying the glorious weather we have been having the last few weeks.
I am sorry it has been a few weeks since I have blogged,but I have been unwell (again) with a nasty cold. I never normally get colds and I have no idea where I caught it but it has knocked me for six. I suffer from a lot of health problems,one of which being M.E/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and it means my body cannot fight something like this well. I am not the sort of person that gives up when I am ill (if I were,nothing would ever get done) but this went down on my chest and made me feel awful. Anyway,I am just starting to get back on my feet at last and felt up to doing some card making,JUST!
This is a design team card that is a little late as it was due on the 1st of the month for the http://creativecraftcottage.blogspot.co.nz/  The challenge this month is colour/sketch/digi

     

my card is just a simple one this time as I am still just getting back on my feet but I hope you like it. I have used this stamp before and I cannot remember where I bought it as it was quite a few years ago now,but I do love it. I hope you will feel inspired to pop over and enter the challenge

Happy crafting everyone xx

Hello my friends,I hope you are all having a good day. The weather is not exactly playing summer today but hey it is a good excuse to craft,every cloud has a silver lining I say.
My friend asked me if I could make a card for her to give to a friend who had just given birth to twin girls. So I turned to the images that inspire me most and anyone who knows my cards you will know that is House Mouse.
I found this image on the triple cd and although it originally had the babies with one blue and one pink bib, I took it into my serrif craft artist program and changed the colour of the blue bib to pink and I was ready to go.

I always set about doing the 3D decoupage 1st so that it can be drying while I decide what I want to do with the rest of the card. Obviously the colour choice for this card was pink,I am not generally one of those women who likes pink much but the subject matter called for it. I wanted to use this new embossing folder from Crafts Too (Fancy Lattice) so I embossed a pink piece of card ( 7 3/4 x 7 3/4 in) then I used cosmic shimmer liquid pearls and placed one at every spot between the lattice shapes and left to dry. Then I cut a piece of crafters companion centura pearl card (8 x8 in) to fit the card and applied it with double sided tape which I always prefer to use as I find it never comes unstuck.
Then I wanted to cut a frame to lay on top of the embossed topping to frame the image. I used a spellbinders Timeless rectangle die,I embossed it only from the crafters companion centura pearl card and cut it out around the outside edge and in the centre, then cut another from the die using a pink backing paper and layed it over the top of the 1st so that the embossed one showed through. Once everything was dry I put it all together and added the bow which I made from cream satin ribbon to match the centura pearl card and made a triple bow from some bakers twine and cut the loops to create a fringed effect,stuck it to the bow and added a cream button and layered it with a pink button. Then I decided to add two congratulations as it was for twins and cut the twins on my brother scan and cut. I have since added a gem above the I as it was looking like it spelt Tuuns lol. 
I hope you like the finished card and hope you all have a good week,I have a pile of ironing with my name on it so I know I will be having fun,not!!!! 
Happy crafting everyone :)

Hello,me again,I don't know it's like buses,nothing comes for a while then two come along lol.
Well it's that time again,my favourite time of the month,yes it's Gruffies,happy hoppers and  house mouse time and anyone who knows me will know they are the love of my life. I just know I will never tire of making cards with them. It doesn't matter if I have lost my mojo or not,I can always come up with idea's for cards using these little critters.

This months challenge over at http://gruffiesandguests.blogspot.co.uk/ is Anything goes/ summer.Our sponsor this month is http://www.scribbleandscrap.co.uk/ who are giving a £15 voucher to the winner.
 I just couldn't resist this little fella from the house mouse triple cd,he is just so cute.

I wanted to use the colour of sunshine on this one as it was a summer theme  but I also wanted the image to stand out so I wanted to keep the colours simple. I decided I wanted a white background but wanted to add texture by embossing it with a embosalicous folder I added to my collection this month I think it is called knit one pearl one. I must say it is my new favourite as it gives a lovely texture and it is non fussy. The die I used for the large flowery shape doily behind the mouse was the creative expressions Italian collection Tuscany die set. I cut out three of them and trimed off the smaller edges to just leave what were the corners of the die,then layered them up so they resembled a sun shape,but you could also say it looks flower like. I inked the edges with orange ink just to give a subtle edge to separate it from the white of the background. I cut another of the Tuscany dies from a orange.yellow card and this time used the center die also so that it would cut out the centre and then cut the edges off to leave just a circular frame to lay over the top to frame the image. I then decoupaged the image up and added it into the frame and then added a sentiment cut from The happy birthday that came with the new Tonic topper die set and added my signature bow, (you know how I like a bow on my cards) and of course the buttons to finish off the center knot. I hope you like the finished card,I know I do. Most of the time I take so long to make a card that I have been looking at it for so long I am not always sure if I like a finished card until I get some feedback about it but I am in love with this one. Every now and then I do make one that I fall in love with. 

We would love to see you over at at Gruffies and guests entering this months challenge,now that we have the option of anything goes or the theme it leaves it wide open for you to create whatever your creativity wants to as long as it is a Gruffies,happy hoppers or house mouse image of course. If you have never worked with these images you don't know what you are missing,it is without doubt the best cd on the market in my opinion and you can get it from Joanna sheens site http://www.joannasheen.com/craft-supplies/joanna-sheen-cdroms-project-books/the-housemouse-triple-cd-collection/

Thank you for popping by and have a good time crafting away,take care xx

Challenges entered.

Crafting Musketeers - Summer

House Mouse & friends - Anything Goes

Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes

Crafty Ribbons - Anything Goes with Ribbon

Hello everyone,I am sorry it has been a while between posts but I have been busy catching up on things that don't get done while I am having a bad spell with my M.E. Things build up and then I am playing catch up until it hits me bad again and then it all starts again,but it is what it is and I refuse to let it get me down.
Anyway my card today is for the DT for http://creativecraftcottage.blogspot.co.nz/ again,this months theme is colour/flora


I didn't have all the colours in the pallet so I went with the pink and blue. I used my new Tonic topper dies to cut out the pink frame and used one of the topper die cuts that came with the dies,I used a Tonic heart behind it and cut some swirls from the same pink card from the Tonic swirl dies. I cut some flower shapes out with my Brother scan and cut machine and inked the edges in blue and curled the petals and layered them up to get this carnation looking flower which I placed in the center of my bow. I used a nice striped pink background sheet and embossed it with the Sue wilson embossing folder,sorry can't remember what it is called. I don't often do cards with no image on but wanted to give it a try. Pinks are not really a colour I like much so I can't decide if I like it or not,I hope you do or if like me you are not a pink person that it will inspire you to at least have a go at a card with just a sentiment. Hope you all have a good day,take care and happy crafting