Spotty stripy Christmas

Daring Cardmakers want to see Christmas cards with spots and stripes. Here is my entry.

Patterned paper: Dovecraft, ribbon Doodlebug, image Alpha Stamps, ephemera The Fruit Pixie.

The first Christmas card this year

I'm a bit behind this year. Usually I have a few Christmas cards in the bank by now. I was prompted to make my first one by Daring Cardmakers. Latest challenge is linked to World Cardmaking Day and Papercraft Inspirations' Christmas blog party.

Here is my entry. Snowman stamp from Trimcraft, glittery paper by Dovecraft and fluffy snowflakes by Craft Planet. Snowman coloured with Copics.

Gingersnap Creations: Fairies

I haven't posted for over two months and appear to have lost my mojo! I bought vast amounts of stash ready to scrap my recent wedding but still haven't got round to it. In the meantime, here's my entry for Fairies at Gingersnap Creations.

Fairy stamp and brad: Dovecraft. Fairy ticket stamp: Craft Stamper. Background made using alcohol inks.

Alcohol inks

The Lots to Do challenge theme is Alcohol Inks. Here is my fairy card:

Fairies

I set the challenge at Daring Cardmakers this week and it's Fairies. I made two cards.
Both use the "Fairyland" stamp which was free in Craft Stamper. For the green card I created a background in alcohol inks. Fairy stamp and brad by Dovecraft. Balloon brads by Colorbok.


The pink card has a background wash of Twinkling H2Os and the fairy is decoupaged. I added some dried flowers to her bouquet and some glitter glue to her dress.

Giving Thanks

Daring Cardmakers first challenge of 09 is to create a thank you card. A great idea, as I'm all for proper cards and letters of thanks rather than the emails and texts that you get now, if you're lucky.

My card uses some of the new supplies I got for Christmas: fairy stamp by Dovecraft (embossed on acetate) and Nature Table stamp by Elusive Images. I painted the mushrooms with Twinkling H2Os, added some varnish to highlight the red one, and then added some paper and epoxy flowers for texture. The cloud is painted with dimensional paint. Fancy Frills by Doodlebug.

It's A Wrap - and No Patterned Paper

Cards wrapped in acetate, vellum or anything for that matter are the intriguing latest challenge set by Daring Cardmakers.

I made my first Christmas card of the year (gulp) with an acetate wrap of stamped and punched snowflakes. The paper underneath is by Dovecraft and the Seasons Greetings stamp is by Hero Arts: I used clear UTEE to give it some texture.

Meanwhile Arty Girlz latest challenge is to crate a card with no patterned paper. I created the background with alcohol inks and gold stamping.

Black and white and Baby

Caardvarks has a challenge to create black and white cards with one additional colour. I decided to use lime green. The b&w papers are by Doodlebug; I cut out some scalloped shapes using a new punch from Stampin' Up. I added some lime ribbon and brads (Dovecraft) and an epoxy greeting (Making Memories). I painted an oval Stampbord tile with black acrylic paint and stamped onto it using lime green ink and a stamp by Crafty Individuals.

Viva Las Vegas!

A great weekend with lots of scrapping and card making.
First, a recap on my visit to Las Vegas this week. Arrived last Saturday around 2pm. Checked in at the Venetian, amazed at the sheer size and scale of the place, and immediately got a cab to Majestic Memories, a scrapbooking store. I spent a happy hour wandering round and selecting papers and embellishments, although I was disappointed not to get a couple of things on my list (Cuttlebug to name but one). The store had a LOT of Jolee's type stickers for every possible scrapbooking theme, which is not really my thing. There were plenty of papers from many of the manufacturers, and most of the Love, Elsie range.

I bought some papers, cardstock, a large punch, some Autumn Leaves transparent borders, various chipboard alphabets, some fab EK Success chipboard glitter shapes, a Stickles in magenta and the latest issue of Creating Keepsakes.

Back at the hotel, and attending our sales & marketing conference, I had no other time for shopping as we started at 7am and went through to 8.30pm, although I was desperate to try to get to a Barnes & Noble to buy Somerset Memories. Thwarted in that ambition, sadly.

I did get out on Sunday morning for an hour to take some pictures. Las Vegas really has to be seen to be believed. It's surreal, particularly at night, when the place exudes neon glamour. In the layout there's a picture of the Venetian, St Mark's Square (which looks amazingly like the real thing, although it's all indoors, including the sky and the Grand Canal!) and Caesar's Palace. I bought the Las Vegas lettering from a US online store a while ago. The frame is by Bam Pop. Paper by Doodlebug.

The other layout, Here Come the Girls, records a fun party a couple of weeks ago. CK said that grey is the new black, so, fair enough I thought, and used grey cardstock plus K&Co paper and chipboard swirl and giant brads from Dovecraft. The letters are the indispensable Heidi rub-on by Making Memories.

Story of my life latest

Here are two more layouts from the story of my life. Five down, about 50 to go! As a recap, I'm using all the pictures in B&W and using different colour themes for different stages of my life. Well, that was the theory - I was supposed to use blue for my childhood years - but as you'll see, somehow yellow crept in!

The picture top left was the result of a session in Plymouth with photographer Gerald Prior. It took a long time because my younger brother was such a livewire. We practically had to hold him down in the end. I still remember that dress! I must have been about seven or eight years old. Supplies: paper - unknown. Red ribbon, jewel brads by Dovecraft. Green sparkly letters K&Co.

The picture top right is my official school photo when I was about six years old I reckon. The tragic headline "Can I help you sonny?" was actually said when I was a bit older and we'd gone to a restaurant for lunch (extremely unusual). The waitress asked me what I wanted, sonny. Well, I did have very short hair: I had had it longish but it used to tangle and my dad Stamps was the only one with any patience to brush it gently. So I used to get a razor cut at My Lady Hair Fashions, Colebrook, where my snipper was called (by me) Valerie the Penguin. Well after the disgrace of being mistaken for a boy, I promptly grew it long again.

Supplies: patterned paper and flower, DCWV: envelope (containing lock of my hair from when I was about 12!), K&Co. Journalling note: 7Gypsies. Chipboard letters: K&Co.