Three Little Dots ...

I've just realised that so many of my hand made cards have something in common - 3 little dots as embellishments! Usually mine are made from liquid pearls or card candi and I try to use co-ordinating colours.

They seem to finish off a card and stop areas from looking a bit plain. Often I have them in opposite corners to counter balance each other

Can anyone explain why 3 look better than 2 or 4 dots? 

Does anyone else have a' trademark' that appears on most of their cards?

Sew Lovely Cards

I have a big pile of Sew Lovely Papers left over from the Docrafts goodie bag from several months ago - I keep looking at them and putting them away! 

Well, this morning I finally got around to using some of them in these cards. They are teamed up with Craftwork Cards die cut mannequins

and free charms for Cardmaking & Papercraft magazine.

The Car Boot sale I was going to do on Saturday got rained off, so I had to console myself with a visit to The Range, where I tried not to spend too much. The boxes of stuff are sitting in the conservatory and I hope the weather next Saturday will be better!!

Not My Usual Style!

This card is not  the sort I would usually make, but the stamps came free with issue 17 of Creative Stamping Magazine - the set is called the Rose Garden

I enjoyed colouring the topiary trees and its quite a simple card .

I'm off to do a car boot sale tomorrow (weather permitting) and have sorted out some stamps and embossing folders that I'm unlikely to use again. If I sell them then I can justify buying some more craft stuff, can't I!!!

Wedding Bells are Ringing.....

......at least in my head whilst I was making these Wedding Cards! 

I've been asked to make a selection by the shop where I sell some of my cards, so dug out some stamps and suitable embellishments from my stash and had a play.

Using More Freebies!

I subscribe to 3 magazines - Craft Stamper, Cardmaking & Papercraft and Quick Cards Made Easy, plus I often buy one or two more each month depending upon the free gift. 

This means I get lots of ideas and inspiration, a range of different freebies

plus I try to enter lots of the competitions and giveaways too!

This embossing folder and stamp from Cardmaking & Papercraft had been sitting on my desk for a while, so I thought it was about time to try it out. It worked well with  the bright green core'dinations cardstock that was a freebie too from a magazine several months ago!

Bird Cage Embossing

A couple of similar but slightly different cards using the new birdcage and swirl embossing folder that came free with Mays issue of Quick Cards Made Easy Magazine - which lived up to its name, because these cards were very quick and easy to make!

I've got a family 'get together' tomorrow but nothing in the diary for Bank Holiday Monday, so planning for a bit of a crafting session that day - hope you all can get a bit of crafting too this weekend!    Dawn

Pollyanna Pickering

I love the new Pollyanna Pickering card making kits that I found in The Range and thought they would make great cards for the men in my life! They come with loads of toppers, sentiments and backing papers. As they are reduced - I treated myself to the Tiger, Dormouse, Fox and Otter kits!

These are the first few cards of many I hope!

Cheeky Monkey!

A couple of cards for young boys - I know several  who can be cheeky monkeys at times!

A Parliament of Owl Cards!

Not sure why, but I've just realised that I have been making several owl themed cards recently! 



Why not hop over to the Creative Friday Link party and see what others have been up to?

A space of my own.....

As my son has now moved out to be with his girlfriend, we now have a spare bedroom which I have rapidly converted into a craft room! 

It is lovely to have a space of my own - but moving all my papers, embellishments, ribbons, inks, stamps, die cuts, scissors and card blanks in made me realize how much stash I have for this hobby that was supposed to help me save money! I know it looks a bit messy but it is great to have everything to hand.

I have had to invest in a new desk lamp but it is wonderful to be able to keep all my bits and pieces out and not tidy them away after a crafting session. Hopefully it will spur on my creativity so I can make even more cards and atc's!

Something for the boys!

Birthday cards made with the Kanban T Shirt Toppers and some button embellishments - for those 'difficult' teenagers and young men in the family!

Mix and Match ....

Still trying to make a dent in my ever growing pile of stash! 

 I made these 3 cards using a variety of old papers, stamps, ribbon, embellishments and sentiments - none of which are from the same sets. I've used the black card mats to try and tie them all together

Embossed grass ...

These 3 embossing boards were free with Simply Cards & Papercraft Magazine and I couldn't wait to use them !

I loved the idea of a black cat stalking through the long grasses, so teamed the embossing background with a Poppy Stamps die cut cat and black spotty Craftwork Cards sentiment to make this simple card.

Simply Cards Magazine ....

Was chuffed to see one of my cards featured in this months Simply Cards & Papercraft Magazine when it popped through the door this morning - it's the black T-shirt card. 

The Kanban T shirt toppers have been great to make up birthday cards for the teenagers and men who don't want to have cars or sports on their cards

!

It Pays to Plan Ahead!

I knew that I would be out of action craftwise for 10 days whilst we had the lounge decorated - what I didn't realize is that they would uncover several problems when they started that would lead to lots more building work, including a new floor and skirting boards - most of our furniture has had to go into storage!

Here we are over 3 weeks later and they still have not got round to painting the walls yet. Luckily I has made my Mothers birthday card in advance, unluckily I hadn't made a Mothers Day card for her. Being optimistic, I hope that everything will return from storage before then!!

The Girl With Hearts in Her Hair!

I love this stamp which was from the Spring Fling set free with Creative Stamping mag last year. I've stamped it in Grey ink with has a bit of a shimmer to it, then added turquoise smooch highlights. She is layered on a turquoise and lime butterfly freebie paper and then one from the Sew Lovely range by Docrafts.

I've now got the decorators in and have had to pack away all my papercraft stuff for the next 10 days - not looking forward to going cold turkey from crafting for that long!

Sew Lovely Birthday Cards

I treated myself to the latest Docrafts goodie bag with the 'Sew Lovely' range of papers and embellishments and teamed them up with the Tim Holtz mannequin die for these cards.

 

I was chuffed to be recently approached by a complete stranger who somehow had found one of the birthday cards I had  posted on this blog a while ago, and wanted to commission a similar one for this nephew!

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Men's Cheese & Wine Cards

After the last few girly cards, I thought it was about time that I produced some men's cards -  so have made a few featuring cheese and wine.

 You may spot a couple of butterflies have sneaked in as a hangover from my previous post!

Butterflies Galore!

I had a bit of a manic card making session - you know the sort where you just can't stop and just have to keep going until you get it out of your system ! 

Looking back on them, there is a bit of a butterfly theme going on, although I used a range of different papers and embellishments including Hunkydory, Madame Payraud and  Craftwork Cards. 

Why do cats sit in the awkward places?

This is one of my cats Moxxi - who insisted on squeezing on the smallest place on my dining table right in the middle of a crafting session!

Quirky New Home Cards

Whilst searching the bottom of my stash pile, I came across these house ovals by Craftwork Cards - goodness knows how old they are, but they still look fresh to me!

I teamed them with some scraps of paper and coloured them with Promarkers to match - now all I need  are some friends or relatives to move house so I can give them away

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