Eskimo AJ

Dinky Dots have been offering a free download of AJ, and as I like freebie and have been resisting Lulu and AJ for ages I thought I would have a go.
This is what I have come up with so far.

Having experimented with red, brown and green coats I finally decided to give him a blue coat. I have coloured him in Aqua Promarkers and glitter glued his fur trim and the ice (Ellie helped with this bit so it has taken 2 days for the glue to dry, in fact the ice is quite textured and deep due to the amount of glue she put on!LOL) I have matted him onto silver cardstock and the new Dovecraft Christmas papers. I embossed the background using the Cuttlebug Snowflakes folder, and added some small blue gems to some of the snowflakes. The ribbons are from my stash. As I was playing I also got out my Big Bite and set some eyelets.

I have persuaded Beth that it doesn't need a fish, she was quite adamant to start with and went to rummage through her foam shapes!!

Nessy is celebrating her birthday with some fab candy. For a chance to win pop over and take a look, and have a look at her wonderful creations.

Dutch Dare Challenge

This is the first time I have done a Dutch Dare challenge, but it is a sketch, and I love sketches.
This is my interpretation of the sketch.

I love this little Rachelle Anne Millar mouse hugging her teddy. I coloured the image using aqua Promarkers and matted it onto Papermania's Retro Floral papers. I added some faux stitching, braid and a flower brad from my stash.

A couple of anniversary cards

A I have couple of sets of friends who are celebrating their wedding/partnership anniversaries in the next couple of weeks so I thought I would have a go at making them cards. I'm not really one for making love based cards, as hubby would be the first to moan/complain!!!

Gisela sent me some lovely House Mouse images and I have finally been brave enough to put one of them on my blog!! I love these two little mice, hopefully they love each other!!
I have used K and Co papers, a prima flower, and wire, ribbon and a red gem heart from my stash.
The flowers are buttercups according to Gremlin number 1 so they are yellow - she was quite adamant about this!






I used this gorgeous Rachel Anne Miller stamp and my Swiss Dots embossing folder to make this card. I have used bits and pieces of cardstock so have no idea what it is/was!

Knowing the individuals as I do i have kept them quite simple and unfussy. One of them in particular does not like the 'frilly bits' I put on cards - hmmmph!

Well I like them!!

Drumming dog

I have made this card for one of the children I mind - he is mad on drumming and has asked me to make him a card to give to his parents as a begging letter for drumming lessons - I don't mind as long as the drum kit doesn't live here!!!

I have used a PB image from the 12 Days of Christmas set, and matted it onto orange cardstock and papers from DCWV glitter stack. The background has been embossed with the Allegro Cuttlebug folder. For a change I have used a A6 card.
I have kept it simple and as it is bright and bold it fulfils this week's My Time to Craft challenge and the Cute Card Thursday challenge, which is to use cats or dogs.

ABC challenge - H is for ...

Holidays!!

This week's ABC challenge is all about holidays - it can be Christmas, Easter (start early LOL!!), summer holiday, any holiday you want. There is also a new sponsor this we so we have an offer a download from Kaboodle Doodles. Andrea has some fab stuff so pop over and eye up what you might like to win!

I love the idea of paddling around in rock pools on warm sunny days and getting nipped by crabs! Sadly we haven't had the summer for that, but I decided to reminisce on days gone by, when we had summers! I love this Sugar Nellie of Hanish and Maggie exploring. I watercoloured the image and matted it onto carstock and K and Co Hopscotch papers. I added some braid, wire (getting the hang now Becky, until the Gremlins 'tweak' it LOL!) and these accents from Papercellar.

Hubby reckons I should have coloured Hamish's legs blue! Hmmm!!

Here's hoping it is less wet tomorrow.

Autumn's coming

Autumn seems to be well on its way. The conkers are beginning to fall from our tree and the leaves are beginning to flower.
The theme for the Papertake Weekly Challenge this week is autumn, and this card fits the bill. I have chosen to go for the muted browns and greens of autumn with the flushes of pink from the sedum that is just flowering in our garden. I love these K and Co papers and think they refelct aspects of early autumn really well. I have added ribbon, lace, wire and prima flowers to add a bit of texture.
I have followed this week's Spoonfull of Sugar sketch (slightly out of proportion, due to the size of the image!). I love this Sugar Nellie, Reflective, and as she is obvoiusly pondering what to do with the apples she has collected, it is a very autumnal image too!
I have coloured her using my aqua Pro-markers and a waterbrush.
Off to feed the Gremlins before going out on a course about Early Years Education - lovely!!

Whiff of Joy

I have finally got round to putting my Whiff of Joy creations on my blog. I love Melinda reading her book, and thought she would work really well with my Sugar Nellie Penpal image.
I have made this card for a very creative friend who loves to read and write letters, poems, short stories, shopping lists!!
I have watercoloured the images and then used a selection of papers from my scraps tray and some ric-rac.

I confess I didn't ink up Melinda's wings for this one!

For this one I had a play with my new Pro markers, and really like the results.

I have used Making Memories papers and added ric rac, lace and wire. The image is rasied up using foam pads. I used the basic elements from one of katharina's sketches. I was going to use flowers for the circle element, but I haven't got any flowers that work with these papers - they look too fussy.

I love this image, a really good image for a boy, and Ellie has lots of boy friends at pre-school.
I love these K and Co Hopscotch papers and think they work really well for boys cards.








I used my Pro markers to colour Oakley and followed one of Katharina's sketches. The papers are English Company I think and I think looking at it now, I am going to add some brads and a peel of just to lift it a bit.

I have never been a big fan of felt pens (something to do with being a teacher I think and kids never colouring well with them. Oh and all the marks on the table that I had to clean so the caretaker wouldn't grumble!!), but I am loving my Pro markers. I just need to practise using them to blend, what a chore, colouring images in!LOL
Off to take Ellie to pre-school and brave the rain. Its a yuck day again here. Hope its better where you are.

In Recovery!!

Beth is finally coming back down to earth after her birthday, although we still have the Tumble tots and Mums and Tots celebrations to go!!
I don't seem to be getting much time to craft at the mo, as we get back into the routine of Ellie going to Preschool. I know that statement seems daft, having just uploaded 4 cards, but I have started them as the challenge comes up and not quite got round to finishing them until this morning.
This is a card I started making on Tuesday for a friend of Ellie's at preschool - I love this Giddy Up Sugar Nellie and it works really well with the Making Memories papers.


Now I have finished all the cards I have started I am going to ink up my New Whiff of Joys and hopefully get time to play with them today!
Oh and I must print of my Dinky Dots free download as well so I can have a play with that!


I also apologise for my link not working on some of the challenge - not sure why - sorry folks.

Friday Sketcher

This is the card I have made for this week's Friday Sketcher. I have used Penny Black's Dream a Dream image Make a Wish sentiment and matted them onto Making Memories papers. The backing papers are from Paper Cellar, the flowers by Prima and the gems and ribbons are from my stash.

I apologise about the lack of straightness of the photo - I am having a non straight day today!!!

Pretty in Pink

This week's Cute Card Thursday Challenge is

Pretty in Pink.

I have used elements of a recent Friday Sketcher on this card, as I love the effect of the wrap over ribbons at the top. I have watercoloured My Sweet Lili and used my nestibilites to create a frame. The papers are by making memories and the lace and ribbon from my stash.

The Best Friends sentiment is from a K and Co paper.