Craft Stamper Octopode House Stamp

Copper Castle

The free stamp with March edition of Craft Stamper Magazine has really sparked me off. The castle stamp by Octopode Factory is something I would have never dreamt of buying - but I have really enjoyed coming up with these little ATC's!


I stamped out the roof to make the string of bunting on the Royal Celebrations card which used some scraps from my Portobello Road paper stack with the little Crown stamped in Faded Jeans distress ink

Royal Celebrations

Finally I layered several castles with different coloured turrets to make the rabbit warren ATC on another scrap of lilac paper.

Just like a Rabbit warren

Imagination is the highest kite....

I was lucky enough to win a fab stamp that reads


Imagination is the Highest Kite that one can fly - Lauren Bacall


So of course, I just had to make some ATC's with it. I've teamed it up with kites cut from the 'Lets Fly Away' paper stack that was free from Quick Cards Magazine.

My first attempt at an apron card!

I shamelessly copied this card from this months Papercraft Inspirations Magazine - even down to the Kaisercraft Nan's Favourites papers!
 In fact, I have had this pad of papers for ages and not really used them, so I dusted them down and put this card together -  which would be ideal for anyone who loves cooking. 

Neglected Stamps

We've all got a few of those, haven't we! You know, the stamps we fell in love with, just had to have but then only used a couple of times before another set of yummy stamps came along.




Anyway, I dug out these lovely Inkadinkado bird stamps and decided to give them another go, so here are 2 fairly simple cards using Brilliance Cosmic Copper ink, which gives them a lovely sheen!

Another eBay Bargain!

I picked up 4 sheets of Kanban Jungle Buddies toppers for only 99p from eBay this week. 

I thought they would be useful of older childrens cards  (7-12 years olds). I struggle with ideas for them as they don't want really want babiesh cute cards, do they!

  

Such a bargain from eBay!

I was lucky enough to win a HUGE pile of cardstock off eBay at a bargain price - over 3 kilos of A4 card in a huge variety of colours, much of them pearlised for only £3.20! 


There must be hundreds of sheets in the pile and as they live in Ipswich too, I drove straight round to pick them up and save on the postage. I also treated myself to Cardmaking & Papercraft magazine today 'cos of the free Margaret Sherry images.


I have had a lovely evening colouring them in and making these cards!

Sorry - yet more Portobello Road Cards !!

I'm afraid I'm still churning out more cards using the fab Papermania Portobello Rd range of papers and stamps, I can't stop playing with them!

For this one I have added a Craftwork cards Union Jack sentiment. I've also had another go with the camper van from the matching urban stamps to make a flower power card!

Never Waste a Scrap!

Papercrafters can never waste scraps, can we? I bet most of us have a tray or box full of odd scraps of paper that just might come in useful one day! I made this card and cut out a frame for the cute Lili of the Valley image  of a girl trying on her hat, from grape coloured card

The Nellie Snellen die left such a pretty shape on the left over card that I just had to use that to as a border, so whipped up this Thank You card to use it up, it was also a chance to use the new freebie stamp from Cardmaking Magazine!

Some More of those Fab Portobello Cards

I couldn't resist making some more cards with that funky Papermania Portobello Road papers and matching urban stamps - so here they are!

I also thought I would try out the VW Camper Van stamp in a different 'groovy'  green and yellow colour scheme. 

Just loving the new Portobello Road range!

As soon as I saw the new Portobello Road range by Papermania I knew I just had to have them so used the last of my Christmas money on them!

I  just love the retro Great British  feel to them and the versatility of the stamps. I just had to get them inked up and experiment making a couple of cards!

I thought these would make great cards for those 'difficult' to cater for men in the family - you know, the ones who don't like football, flash sports cars or pints of beer. They might even do for teenagers off to study or work in London for the first time!

I'm entering this into the Bling it On - New Beginnings challenge

Fab 'n' Funky - Something new Challenge

Zingy Little Claire Cat Birthday Card

This is one of my favourite stamps but I haven't used it for a long time! 

I decided to use a lime green and teal colour scheme to go with the backing paper which has been kicking around in my stash for ages. The stamp was stamped onto the back of an old recycled Christmas card and coloured with promarkers. 

I added the bow and cut out a little birdie from an unused scrap of the paper as embellishments.

My new years resolution is to enter more challenges so I'm entering this into 

Make it Monday

Cards more Men - recycling

Crafty Boots - Celebration

New Year - New Babies

Feeling in an optimistic frame of mind for 2012 and so I have made some New Baby cards for any that might come along in the next few months. They were both made with the Craftwork Card Colour Me Ovals and some of their candi brads 

I'm going to build up my spare cards box because you never know when you might need some and I've been caught out on the hop a couple of times in 2011...

Cards for the Kids

Sorting through my stash I came across a set of papers and chipboards from the Party Animal Range from Kaisercraft. 

They are so bright and zingy that I just felt I had to make some more cards with then. 

I don't have any spare birthday cards suitable for young children, so put some together for the younger members of the family. I can just add the appropriate number for their age.

Are you playing with your crafty Christmas presents...

Because I have been! I couldn't resist it any longer, I had to get out my stash which had ALL been tidied away for Christmas, and now it is spread all over the lounge table again!

I wanted to use my new Papermania Urban bird stamps because of their lovely vintage, distressed look with my new Brilliance Copper ink

Back to the ATC's

Now that my Christmas Stash is packed away, I'm going back to making some ATC's and with these two, I've used some of the great free stamps with this month Simply Homemade Magazine in a collage. 

I'm hoping to join in a lot more ATC swaps this year as often the challenges are challenging - forcing me to try different techniques, themes or styles that are a bit out of my comfort zone!

Very Last Christmas Card??

I have written out and posted all my cards and still have a few left over - so why did I decide to make this card this morning??

Well,  you can blame the latest challenge at Inspirational Card Sketches. 

Lottery Scratch card Holders

We are having a big family get together at my house of Boxing Day - expecting 17, so it will be a houseful!

As a small Christmas Tree present, all the adults are getting a lottery scratch card, so I spent a fun evening making little envelope holders to put them in.

I set myself the task of trying to use up some of the scraps of Christmas papers accumulated over the years, but really they didn't make much of a dent in the pile!

Deco Lady Christmas Cards

The end is in sight, Christmas is only 2 weeks away, so why am I still making cards? Those for all my family and friends have been written and posted, plus I have a few spares just in case, but I still can't stop making cards!

Perhaps it is because I still have so many lovely papers and stamps left??

These beautiful ladies are from the Debbi Moore Magazine with just a sprinkling of extra glitter and silver ribbon added!

An early Christmas present

I treated my self to an early Christmas present - the Marianne Creatables lamp post die that I have been lusting over since I saw it advertised in a magazine over a month ago.

Despite heavy hints, it looked like no-one was going to buy it for me, so I ordered it myself!

As it arrived today and I'm off on strike, I could not resist trying it out straight away and this is my first attempt with a glittery rudolph!


I'm entering this into Mariannes 'It's Christmas' Challenge

Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer

I love this cute reindeer from Lili of the Valley - this evening I went with the family down to Stowmarket to watch the Christmas lights switch on. They had 2 real live Reindeer there as well as Santa, a snow machine and loads of live music. Fabulous!!!

More Polar Bears!

Following on from my last post with those little felt polar bears, I checked my stash and found these cute polar bear stamps. The cub is from Dimension Fourth and the oval free from a magazine. Plus I unearthed a sweet polar bear topper from Lili of the Valley.

I don't know about you, but I tend to go in phases of colours, layouts and themes when making cards - feeling icy, blue and bears at the moment!

Little Felt Polar Bears

I bought these cute little felt polar bears in a sale in January, I wish I could remember where from and I wish I had bought more of them!

A Cute Little Christmas

These cute little characters are from Craftwork Cards, and as a change from the traditional colour schemes, I've made these with purples and golds because I got this beautiful gold & purple ribbon which I was desperate to use!

21st cards for Twins!

I was commissioned to make 21st birthday cards for a pair of twin girls, the only guidance I had was for BIG cards - one for the girly twin, the other who is more of a tomboy but loves to party!

So these are A4 sized using Papermania birthday papers and their 2 and 1 stamps and I added their names cut by my Cuttlebug and made them similar but different. My friend likes them - hope the twins do too!

Yummy Christmas Ribbon

I treated myself to some scrumptious Christmas ribbon from Halfpenny Home today and couldn't wait to to use it on a card!

I've teamed it up with a snowman from Craftwork cards and freebie papers from Quick Cards Magazine