Papertake Weekly Challenge

This week's challenge theme is "Elegant Embossing".

I have gone for a minimalist theme with just a few colours and simple matting.

The embossing folder is Provocraft's Allegro and I have matted it onto black cardstock. The image is Penny Black's Ode to Joy, which I have watercoloured and matted onto black cardstock. I added chrome brads to the corner. The black glitter paper is from DCVW's Glitter matt Stack. I added that for a bit of glitz and sparkle.


Hopefully the result is a stylish, simple card.

Tilda & Co challenge card

The Tilda and Co challenge this week is:




For this week's challenge it's a bit of a double up, I Would like to see you use Eyelets if possible ( if you do not own them, then you can leave that part out or use brads)Along with anything Natural, Could be fibres, Leaves, Straw, Twigs, Papers etc as long as it is Natural with Eyelets ( if you have them )

I don't own eyelets (yet) so I have used brads for that part of the challenge.

I have used mid brown mulberry paper which I have torn to fit on the card. Tilda is watercoloured, and I chose complementary colours for her top and hair.

The matting and layering papers are all from Papermania's earth tones pack. I added a cream and a green skeleton leaf to add to the natural theme. Four mid brown brads (papermania) are used to fix Tilda to the papers.
The faux stitching is done using a brown marker - its not the best I can do but I've lost my paper piercing tool so I had to do it with a needle - more realistic I suppose!!
I have modified the sketch from this week's My Paperworld Challenge for the layout.


I am pleased with the overall effect, although there is one error due to a sneaky sneeze.

My Paperworld challenge

I love this sketch. I have had a couple of tries at it.

This is my favourite. I love this Tilda, and have resisted the temptation to add plasters to her knees!! (yes I have done a few with plasters and she does look cute!)

I have matted her onto orange and cerise cardstock and then onto DCVW's Pocketful of Posies. The flowers are diecuts in cersie and yellow.

Cerise (in fact any shade of pink) and orange are not colours I tend to go for.

I love this card - really bold and colourful.

This is my first go at the challenge and colourwise more within my comfort zone!!!

The stamp is a Penny Black from their transparents range. The paper is a mix of the English Co and Papermania, and the die cut flowers are homemade.

Its a more subtle card, but I do like the result.

What do you think?

Ode to Joy!

My mum loves this stamp so much, she has asked me to make 16 postcards for the children she works with (she plays the piano for them). I have finally finished them this morning - however there are only 14 as my beautiful younger monster "helped" me by scribbling all over 2 of them!! So back to the stamping for me later.

But here are four of them.

The stamp is Penny Black's Ode to Joy and I have watercoloured it, mounted on black card and then hammered white card cut to postcard size.
Some have been mounted straight, others at an angle - I couldn't decide which I liked best.

I hope the children like them

Cute Card Thursday

For Cute Card Thursday this week the theme is Girls Just Wanna Have Fun. Having had a browse through the design team's inspirational cards, and deciding to go well out of my comfort zone and into pink (practise will make perfect, or at least make me like working with pink more!) I came up with this one as my entry:

I decided not to go for Tilda as that might not be so original. So I have used two Penny Black stamps, Pink Toes (the cat) and Ecarte, Splits, Pirouette (the Hedgie). I only used 1 element of the latter stamp as all three wouldn't fit!

I have used Papermania's Pastel papers (dots and stars) and their retro floral papers. The cat and hedie are mounted onto pastel pink card, and then matted onto the other elements.

I embossed the dot paper using Provocraft's Allegro embossing folder (it doesn't show up very well in the picture).

Having like the effect of the decoupaged Tilda I decided to have a go at decoupaging the dress and tutu of the cat .

The ribbon is from a pack of cards! (recycling is good), and the sticky ribbon that hides the paper joins is a Papermania one.

Eveything is mounted onto a pastel pink card.

What do you think?

I've been busy - again!

Hubby is away and the children went to bed on time so I have crafted. I have made a scrap page of the children cleaning the car - Beth's first time doing this, and done a card for a friend and her family who are emigrating to Australia next week.



This is the card I have made Chris, Carl and Sally. I have used this Magnolia stamp - Tilda standing as I think she looks quite sad, and I have matted her onto orange and blue cardstock that co-ordinates with the colours in the backing paper which is DCVW's Glitter Mat Stack. The map of Australia is googled and I have put a small band of the Glitter Mat Stack across the bottom of the card, as if it were ribbon. I have made the caption my self on the computer and matted it on the same cardstock as Tilda. I mounted it all onto a pastel blue card.

I am really pleased with the effect - I do love these backing papers!











Sorry - I couldn't get a better photo than this (I scan my cards in). This is the scrap page of my gorgeous monsters cleaning the car. They did a good job of, but still managed to get their sleeves and trousers wet.

I hope I have captured both the fun they had and the seriousness with which they initially took cleaning Mummy's car!

The paper is somebodies (I've had it ages!) and the photos are mounted onto Papermania's cardstock and silver paper. I cut the water droplets out of the silver paper. The sticky ribbon is Anitas.
I keep thinking I ought to get more designy with my scrap pages, but I do like the photos to be the centre not the embellishments.

What do you think?

Decoupaged Tilda

I made this last week and since I am in a blogging mood tonight I decided to share it with you.

I don't normally do decoupage - not my thing (I'm left handed and its too fiddly!!) - but I have had a go at decoupaging Tilda. I layered everything but her wings and flower in the second layer, and only her head and wellies in the third layer.

I used a real mismash of papers and ribbons in this to create the effect.

It is really pink and girly - not something I often do, but I have a friend in mind for this so it suits her down to the ground.

Overall I am pleased with the effect - I might have a go at decoupaging others now.

My Paperworld Sketch 8

I made these cards yesterday and have decided to post them and have a go at this challenge.

This is the card I am using for the challenge - yet another Tilda. I made the Penny Black Pink Toes orginally for it, but felt this one worked better.

I have used a Tilda stamp and matted her onto pink and cerise cardstock. The backing papers are from Papermania's Retro Floral set (I adore these papers) and I have used layered die-cut flowers.

The colour scheme is a bit loud for me but I really like the result.

This was originally going to be my challenge card - It is Penny Black's Pink Toes matted onto Papermania's Retro Floral papers and I used 3 dark yellow die cut flowers.

When I stepped back from it I thought I could do better - it didn't quite have the impact.

This was the 1st card I made using the sketch - the strippy background paper came from Tescos!!

It is a Penny Black stamp - I do love that little mouse! - and I have matted it onto dark blue and mid blue cardstock. The middle background is purple cardstock and the die cut flowers came from Lakeland.

I really like this sketch - I found it easy to make cards that look stylish and that can be as fussy or not as you want. For me this was easier than the Papertake Challenge.

What do you think??

Papertake Weekly Challenge

I have been looking at the sketches for a while, but have never been brave enough to post one so today I thought I would have a go. The 1st card I made is at the bottom of this post and the one for the challenge is the 1st one - if you see what I mean!!


This is my challenge card:

I have used Tilda (ther's a surprise!!) and matted her onto lilac cardstock. I put tiny Papermania lilac flower gems in each corner. I used Papermania papers for the backing paper and the lilac and a complementing purple for the layered rectangles.


The sentiment is a Fun stamp and the ribbons are sticky ones.



This is the best of the layouts and the one I am happiest with - I do need to practise this sketch more - but I do like the visual effect.

I had a go using a Penny Black stamp (The three Meows) and a colour scheme I rarely use - red and orange.

The backing paper is from Papermania's earth tones set and the rest is cardstock in orange and red.

I have used orange/yellow ric rac ribbon and a red sticky ribbon.

The sentiment is a Penny Black one.

I am quite pleased with the colour scheme but think I need to practise the layout a bit more - it doesn't quite work.



This was my 1st attempt - I didn't measure my card carefully so I have a gap between the ribbons and the rectangles. I like the colour effect and the stamp - smudged the bottom though!
I added the dragonfly gems as it looked a bite bare - still not doing much for me!!

Let me know what you think!

More Tildas!!

I decided having looked at so many blogs to have a go at being more creative with my papers and mixing patterned papers together, rather than just using one, and plain cardstock.

So this was the result - I have used 3 types of papers from Papermania's Retro pack . I matted Tilda onto a piece of orange before mounting onto the floral brown paper.

Having seen a few people using large flowers I have had a go at using these. They came scrapbooking pack, and I have added pearlised flowers as centres. I also added a lime ribbon, which I am not sure about now I've put it on!!

What do you think?

Tilda and Co Challenge - Girly but Blue

Ok this is more in my comfort zone - not too girly and not too pink!!


I see Tilda as being very much like my girls - tomboys at heart ...so ... here is my challenge card.



I have coloured Tilda in mid blue and given her lilac touches (the wellies, flowers and lace). She is matted onto blue cardstock to contrast with the backing paper which is Papermania. I have mounted everything onto a pearlised blue card and added an organza blue ribbon. The simple die cut flowers have clears gems in the centre.

This is very much an image of my older daughter - trying to be cute but loving the wellies too much!!

Tilda in Pink

Before I made my Tilda and Co Challenge card I decided to have a go at making a pink Tilda card. I am not a pink person and so pink does not often feature as a main theme of my cards.
So i have had a go at making this card in lots of shades of pink.
The backing paper is Papermania and the cardstock is also Papermania.
The ribbon is a freebie form a card making magazine. The flowers are die cut and have very small pink papermania gems in the middle.

I love this Tilda - but I am definitely going to explore different colour combos - not too pink next time!!

Cute Card Thursday card

Here's my card for this week's challenge.

This week we had to do a card for a man/boy - ahhhhh! I have so little in my stash that is suitable for masculine cards. So I have used a Penny Black stamp and tried to make that cute little mouse masculine. He reminds me of my hubby after he's hit the girls' chocolate!!

I have matted it onto blue and green cardstock to match the choc box and then run a sheet of Papermania's cool tones through my cuttlebug in the Happy Birthday embossing folder. I have added some gold swirls and a birthday fun (which I don't like now I have done it!)

Hope you like it.

More cards from a busy afternoon

The girls went to stay at my Mum's for a few days yesterday so I spent a couple of hours crafting in peace. These are a couple of my labours of love. I have cheated a little and used Penny Black stickeroos - I would love to be able to have all the stamps but can't afford to get all the ones I love so I have got some stickeroos to try out. I like them for quick makes as you don't have to wait for the stamp to dry!



For this card I have used a Penny Black stickeroo and I have mounted it onto pale blue and orange cardstock to match the blue and orange in the backing paper which is DCVW's Pocketful of Posies. I also used my Cuttlebug to emboss some white card and added a panel of this. The flower and bow just finish it of.

This is another Penny Black stickeroo that I have again matted onto to cardstock that matches and complements the gorgeous backing paper (again a Pocketful of Posies). I embossed some white card and added a panel to the top and bottom. The sticky ribbon hides the join between the papers. The greeting is a gold peel off I found.

Hope you like my efforts - comments are welcome.