Bee Happy!

A quick share today - hope you are enjoying the holiday season.  I am staying away from my PC and all things wi-fi and having lots of fun family time.

I used a digital image from this "Fun in the Sun" Digital kit by Holly Brooke Jones and coloured it with copics.  Added chunky white glitter from Martha Stewart to glossy accents to create a glitter and shine to the wings.  Used some nesties and some bright colours and a wonderful fimo button by Jane Beljo - available
here. The sentiment I created on my PC and typed under the bee before printing.

Entering this into Inky Impressions Challenge - animals 
The Character Cafe - Sparkle, sparkle, sparkle

Take care, stay warm and safe.  Thanks so much for stopping by.  Deirdre

Mami Doodles Challenge - "Cherish your online friends"

I was the lucky recipient of this beautiful card this morning.  Isn't it gorgeous.  It was made by the wonderful Kate - check out her blog here and she is the Guest Designer over on Mami Doodles for December. 

Here is what I sent to Jackie - have thoroughly enjoyed being her "teamie" on Mami Doodles.  She is truly inspirational.  The current challenge on Mami Doodles is "Cherish your online friends".

 I used the newly released FREEBIE image called Mr Fishy by Elisa - LOVE it!  I flipped it horizontally and placed one image under the other, printed and added a layer of glossy accents.  Then poured the glitter on top, when it was dry I put another layer of glossy accents on top - Lucy Abrams has a wonderful tutorial on this technique right here - called "Adding Shine with Glitter".

Thanks for stopping by.  Deirdre

Wishing you and yours.....

Hello to all my blogland buddies!

A very quick post to say due to time constraints/holidays etc I probably won't be around much until the New Year.  I hope to pop by and visit your blogs before Christmas, but in case I don't manage it I would like to take this opportunity to wish you and yours a very Happy and Joyful Festive Season.

I have had so much fun during 2010 and am very much looking forward to 2011.  Thank you all for making it fun.

Thanks for stopping by.  Deirdre

Mami Doodles - freebie digi set and celebrating it's first Birthday

Wendy digitally coloured this wonderful digi set of bees by Elisa on Mami Doodles - aren't they just adorable?  Elisa/Wendy/Mami Doodles is giving them away as a freebie digi set - pre coloured!  Pop over to Mami Doodles for full details - they are available here.

Elisa / Mami Doodles is celebrating it's first birthday this week so there may be more surprises in store.. wink, wink!!

I would like to thank Elisa for having me on her Design Team since March 2010 - I have enjoyed being part of a wonderful team showcasing Elisa's wonderful images - be sure to pop over to get the cuties above.  I'll miss you all teamies!

A little row of snowmen!

Found this wonderful snowman digital image as a freebie on Torico's Digital Gallery.  I just thought he was super cute.  I printed him and his friends! onto kraft cardstock, coloured him with copics, added diamond stickles and added a sentiment sticker from SRM Stickers.  

Thanks for peeking, hope you are having a great week.

Holiday Card - using non traditional purple!

I have been a member of the Tiffany Doodles Design Team for the past 6/7 months and had a great time.  I finished my DT stint this month.  Thank you Tiffany for letting me showcase your wonderful digis and I wish you and your wonderful DT all the very best for the future.

I knew when I saw this wonderful star tree by Tiffany over on Tiffany Doodles that I had to do something funky with it.... so I decided on non traditional colours teamed with an SRM sentiment Sticker.

Used Basic Grey Jovial range as the base on top of kraft, printed the star tree on kraft and punched a large circle for behind the tree.  Had these wonderful purple gems in my stash.  Distressed with my blending tool and tea dye ink.

Moxie Fab World have some fab challenges at the moment and I am entering this into the Glitter is Glam Challenge.

Thanks so much for peeking, Deirdre

30th Birthday Card

I have made 16 personalised 30th Birthday Cards this year for my SIL and all her friends.  I got very specific requests too..... hair colour, what the particular 30 year old loved.... shoes, handbags, glitter, sports etc... you get the picture?

Supplies: O&A Happy Day - The Greeting Farm, washi tape from TGF,

pp Cosmo Cricket - DeLovely Range, glitter thickers by American Crafts, copics,

SRM Stickers - make a wish, gold stickles and glossy accents.

This is the final one....... I had a lot of fun creating these and didn't share them as I didn't want to spoil the surprise for the recipients... but since it's the last one I decided to do a quick share.

Hope you have a wonderful weekend and stay warm! Thanks so much for stopping by.  Deirdre

Mami Doodles - new releases and Challenge "Anything Goes"

Elisa has released some amazing new images on Mami Doodles in the last little while - be sure to check them out here.

I made this very simple, quick, easy one layer card - you could add a sentiment but I prefer to add it to the inside and let the amazing image - "The Storyteller" do the talking.  A touch of stickles and glossy accents and it is just perfect for mass producing to send to friends and family this holiday season. 

Thanks for stopping by - remember the challenge on Mami Doodles is "Anything Goes".  We would love for you to play along.

Paperplay - Create a gift tag for the holidays!

Woohoo... it's Thursday so it's challenge time on Paperplay.  The challenge this week is set by "moi" and it is to create a Holiday/Christmas/Gift Tag for the Holiday Season.

I was inspired by this wonderful creation by Belinda Chang Langner.  I just ADORED what Belinda created so I used the idea and dies and set to work.  Belinda stuffed hers as a gift card holder/ornament but I just wanted mine to be a straight tag with no openings.

So, I used my Spellbinders Vintage Ornament dies to cut the cerise pink felt and then stamped the Waltzing mouse Vintage ornament stamp on some pink cardstock and used clear embossing powder.  Then I cut around the stamped/embossed image and placed it on top of the felt.  I very carefully stitched it through the cardstock and felt to create two layers/some texture. I then added a sentiment again from Waltzing mouse and two cerise mini bells I picked up on Saturday by Paperchase.  Added sheer ribbon and hey presto ... cute bright pink cheery tag!

Hope you get a chance to play along this week.  Full details are on the Paperplay blog here.

Entering these into
- Simon Says Stamp Challenge - Christmas but no red or green! (think these qualify!!)
- Papertake Weekly Challenge - red or green must not be seen!
- Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge - Christmas
- Dutch Dare Card Challenges -  Christmas themed tag, card or ornament.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you are staying warm where ever you are. 

Hi... I'm Oak Elffrost!

Just sharing a card I sent to a friend who wasn't feeling great back in April 2010.   A plan was hatched late last year and the amazing Deborah organised for us all to send cards/encouragement notes to a wonderful lady who needed some smiles/hugs at that time.  We all got our slots and reminders of when we needed to mail our cards/messages and it worked a treat and today in the season of Secret Santa - there is a big reveal.  Check it out here.

I coloured the Pure Innocence digital stamp with colouring pencils, added a few tiny gems to the flower centres and little epoxy hearts in three different colours by Heidi Grace.  I also broke open my new Papertrey Ink stamps to stamp the sentiment.

I didn't realise until I had mailed the card that the photo seems to be a bit wonky!! so sorry about that... but you get the idea!.  

Thanks for peeking.

Tiffany Doodles - TD07

 Can you believe that it is Tiffany Doodles Challenge Number 7?  Where did the time go?  This is my last challenge as part of the TD Design Team - I really enjoyed working with Tiffany and the amazing group of gals on the DT.  

This month's challenge theme which runs until the 31st December is CHRISTMAS.  Again, amazing digis up as prizes and a few new DT members strutting their stuff.  Check out all their wonderful creations here.

I am partial to a sprig or two of holly!!! LOL!!

Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope you have a wonderful day.

Hero Arts Giving Thanks & Colour Challenge

Supplies:  Hero Arts Seasons Greetings Collage Digital kit (printed just the 

holly image from the collage) Black cardstock, Papermania red textured 

cardstock, Fiskars Upper Crest Border punch, kraft knife, Jillibean Soup k

raft card blank, diamond stickles, copics and glossy accents.

Another entry for this month's challenge over on Hero Arts.  I also incorporated the featured technique - adding shine.  I added shine by using stickles and glossy accents on the digital stamped holly from the Season's Greetings Collage digital stamp.  I just printed the holly part of the collage (I also flipped the image to have a different orientation - don't you just love digis!)  This kit is only 99 cent.... check it out here.

Thanks for peeking, stay warm! Minus 6 here again today (21.2 in farenheit speak!)

Seasonal Thanks!

 Supplies:  HA Digital stamp- Season's Greetings Collage - available here, 

HA Sentiment CL129, Jillibean Soup kraft card blank, Bristol Board white paper, copics, 

black cardstock and adhesive.

Hero Arts December Challenge is now underway - full details are here.  This month's theme is Giving Thanks a Colour Challenge. 

I won this fabulous digital kit last week - "Season's Greetings Collage" (thanks Hero Arts) and used it to create my card.  I opened the digital stamp and isolated the holly part and printed it out, cropped and coloured with copics.  On other cards I have added glossy accents to the red berries, but I didn't to this card as I needed to use it right away!.

Also entering it into the Wee Memories Challenge this week - "Holiday Song Inspiration" - my inspiration was the song - "Deck The Halls".  Now I bet you won't be able to stop humming it to yourself!

Hope you get a chance to play along with these wonderful challenges. Thanks for peeking.  Stay warm!.

Christmas Hugs and Wishes

Don't you just love when your papers and collections/ranges from other companies all co-ordinate?  Love when that happens - especially around this time of the year when it is like a card factory in my craft space!

I used PTI - Holiday Vintage Prints "try me" paper cubes which I machine stitched to some textured cardstock by Papermania and added the chipboard bauble from the Basic Grey - Jovial range and a pre printed die cut sentiment from last year's stash.

Quick and Easy!  Don't you love that? 

This morning started out cold!!! It was minus 5 degrees when I got into the car to bring the boys to school... that is very cold considering we are so near the coast!.  Just hovering around the freezing all day.   Hope you are warm and safe where-ever you are.

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Paperplay - Monochromatic

Wanted to post the card I made for the 90 min scramble over on the Hero Arts FLICKR group on the 30 November hosted by Judy.  These are so much fun and it was the first time I managed to play along.  The Challenge for this "scramble" was a one layer card.

Got very inky and the time goes VERY fast but lots of fun.  There is a timetable for the scrambles right here.

I used the inking technique demonstrated by Jennifer McGuire in her holiday thinking inking class - block background (week two, project one) using distress inks (I used milled lavender) and memento london fog (grey) for the sentiment and snowflakes.  The snowflakes were from the Hero Arts Tree-mendous Poly Clear set CL465 and the sentiment from CL343 Holiday Sayings. 

This card is from a box of 50 white card blanks by Royal Langnickel (slight watercolour texture to the paper) - purchased in Cork Art Supplies/Cardz n Scrapz.

Still doing the happy dance that I won a fab Digital kit from Hero Arts for this scramble.  Off to play with it now.... thank you Tami, Judy and Hero Arts.

Now, not my week on Paperplay - but it is Thursday so that means a new challenge.  This week's challenge is Monochrome and is set by Vera.  We would love for your to play along and have two new wonderful DT members strutting their stuff today.  Feel free to check out all the DT creations here.

Thanks so much for stopping by.  Stay warm!.

November CCC

Supplies:  Fluffy Digi by Tales from Pollycraft, Washi tape from

The Greeting Farm, Sentiment - SRM Sticker, copics, pop dots and kraft card blank.

I went with the colour combo and theme - "Friendship" this month for November's Card Chain Challenge.  I got to sent this card to Sheila one of the wonderfully talented ladies in the HA Flickr Group.

I received this wonderful card from Anette - isn't it a stunner?  Another amazing member of the HA Flickr Group.

Check out her amazing creations here in FLICKR. 

Deborah normally does her big reveal on the 1st of the month of all the CCC cards - but all is quiet at the moment on her blog ... but just in case check it out here in case it posts later today.

Stay warm!!! and thanks so much for stopping by.

Pollycraft Monday Challenge - "Chipboard"

Supplies:  Cuthbert and Kiki - Kiki Bloom Digi image by Pollycraft Designs, 

Chipboard leaves coloured with copics, Papermania textured cardstock, 

Spellbinders Bloom die, SRM Sticker, copics, glossy accents and machine stitching.

Can you believe that it's my last week as Guest Designer with the Pollycraft Monday Challenge crew.  Paula - you are so amazingly talented - I loved playing with your wonderful digital creations - thank you for having me.  I had a BLAST!.

This week the challenge is "chipboard".  When I initially saw this theme I was wondering if I would produce anything!!  however, I dived into my stash and pulled out a packed of naked chipboard shapes by Papermania and got to work.

The card above features chipboard leaves which I coloured with a copic and then adhered with glossy accents.

Supplies:  Critters and Cogs - Lovebot digi image - Pollycraft, 

Papermania chipboard frame, clear stamp sentiment - Pollycraft, 

Staz on black, black sharpie, Papermania textured cardstock, docrafts kraft card blank, 

Spellbinders Labels 14, copics, glossy accents, red stickles and machine stitching.

My second card is using a chipboard frame which I coloured with black staz on and then ran a black sharpie around the edges to get rid of any white showing through.  The sentiment is by Pollycraft and is available in a clear stamp set here and the digi image is from the "Critters and Cogs" range - she is called lovebot!.  Don't you just adore her?

I coloured her with copics, added glossy accents to her pink nuts! and layered a second heart balloon with stickles on top for added dimension.

Thanks so much for peeking and I really hope you get a chance to play along this week.  Full details of the challenge are here.

Merry & Bright - digital freebies

Made this card with a wonderful freebie digital image by Wendy - available here.  Just love the row of light bulbs - coloured them with copics (refrained from using glossy accents - which is unusual for me!!) LOL!.

I then added the sentiment to the inside matching the font on the front - AmerType Medium BT.

Edited to add - Annika asked some questions in her comment about how I created this card.  I set up an A6 template in Word (very easy) get the measurements of the card blank from the packet! and create a "Custom" page setup.  Then I change the layout to horizontal (rather than portrait), then go to "insert picture" - "from file" - open the image and plonk it into the Word document and then move it around until you are happy.  Do a test print, do any adjustments (this is what my screen looked like when I was adding the inside text).

Then hit print!  I then coloured directly onto the card - quick and easy!  Hope this answers some of the questions you might have.  Lucy Abrams does a great tutorial here if you want to check it out.

Just a fun, quick and easy card.  Hope you get a chance to pop over to Wendy's blog and leave her some love!.  Tell her I sent you!  Have a great day.

Paperplay - Stars!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone celebrating and "giving thanks today".  A big "hello" and "miss you" to all our friends in Chicago.

This week's challenge on Paperplay is set by moi!.  The theme is "Stars" - we want to see stars on your project/cards.  So it doesn't have to be a holiday card but has to have stars on it somewhere!!.

I used the wonderful Seasons of Love star stamp by Waltzingmouse stamps which are nestie friendly - don't you just love that?  Despite that fact I actually cut this one by hand and used red scraps off my table to create this card.  I ran the kraft card blank through my sewing machine without any thread in it to get the delicate holes around the edge.

Thanks so much for peeking and I hope you get a chance to play along with Paperplay this week.  This week we are very kindly sponsored by Phindy's Place.  Full challenge details are available here.

Pollycraft Monday Challenge - BLUE!

Can you believe this is my third (Paula just corrected me! opps! it's my Fourth) week as Guest Designer with Pollycraft Monday Challenge?  Where does the time go?  This week's challenge is Blue!. 

Supplies:  Critters and Cogs Digi image (star) from Pollycraft Designs, 

Sentiment - SRM Sticker, Ribbon by Pebbles, Buttons by PTI, PP Smirk for 

men collection, Spellbinders pinking circle dies, diamond stickles, 

glossy accents, copics and machine stitching.

Another fun challenge this week - when Paula told me the challenge was BLUE - I knew I would have to use Fluffy or Star on a card.  The above is what I came up with - used a white SRM Sticker (gotta love them!), I gave his eyes a touch of glossy accents and the star a blob of stickles.

Did you see the wonderful freebie - Maurice Christmas Socks! available here from Paula this week?  So fun.  Check out the wonderful Design Team creations too - right here.

Hope you all have a wonderful week and thanks so much for stopping by.

Tiffany Doodles Giveaway Alert and Design Team Call

Tiffany Doodles is having a Giveaway - winners will be picked Wednesday 24th November.  Check out full deets here.  Tiffany is also looking for Design Team members - a few days left to still apply - deets here.

Sorry if I am not around blogland this weekend.  My shoulder/neck is acting up! (it does it periodically!)... woke with lots of pain in it on Thursday morning and things not improving.  I have a heat pack on it as I type,. so I won't stay long.

Hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Mini Card Challenge - CREATE blog

Supplies:  SRM Sticker, Papermania textured cardstock (red), 

Bazzill dotted swiss cardstock, white gel pen, black pen and adhesive!.

I like to try and play along with different challenges and when I saw CREATE blog had a "mini card" challenge I knew I had to play along.  Believe it or not this card only measures 3x3 inches.  Used stickers by SRM - you gotta love that they are now doing them in different colours.  Love the white sentiment against the coloured cardstock.

I added some doodle lines - drawn by hand intentionally, so that if they wobble it's okay! LOL!!! as opposed to using a ruler and not getting it straight!

Edited to add... I got featured - woohoo!  To check out the wonderful mini creations just click here.

Thanks for peeking.  Hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Did you see this? .... Jenny's candy

Jenny is celebrating 700 followers and is giving away the candy above..... wow... be sure to check it out here.

Quick, hurry.... run... don't walk!!!

Paperplay - Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Supplies:  Cosmo Cricket - Jolly by Golly pp, docrafts kraft card blank,

created sentiment in photoshop, ribbon from Cardz n Scrapz, snowflake template 

by Holly Brooke Jones, MS snow glitter, PTI die, Fiskars Crest border punch. 

This week's Challenge on Paperplay is set by Heather and it is "Let it Snow, Let it snow, Let it Snow!".  While it's not my week to make a card - I had snowflakes in my mind all week and made this!.

I used a snowflake template from Holly Brooke Jones's blog to cut out the paper flake (she created a wonderful garland with felt snowflakes - check it out here) and then I added LOTS of Martha Stewart snow glitter on top.  I created the sentiment in Photoshop - a mixture of rough typewriter and Flemish Script font.

Hope you get a chance to play along.  Thanks so much for stopping by.

Pollycraft - "A glittery Christmas"

This week's Challenge on Pollycraft Monday Challenge is set by Joanne.  She wants you to create a card using the theme "A glittery christmas". After I took the shot above I decided to colour Marley's sweater and cut the ribbon a little..... so here's the finished card.

Supplies:  Pollycraft digital image - Marley's bauble,  Cosmo Cricket pp - 
Jolly by Golly Range 6x6, Papermania aqua coloured cardstock, 
Spellbinders star dies, tesco ribbon, Joy sentiment by SRM Stickers,

machine stitching, copics, pop dots and Diamond Stickles.

I adore this little guy - Marley's bauble.  I coloured the bauble on his tail with red copic and added glossy accents.  I then coloured him and his hat with copics and added lots of Diamond Stickles to his hat.  I cut sections of him out with a craft knife and then slotted the spellbinders largest star over him and ran it through my Big Shot.  I added a layer of stickles to the edge of the aqua star I handcut - I reckon this is "glittery!".  I also love the "Joy" Sticker by SRM Stickers - such a HUGE fan of SRM.

Entering this into Wee Memories Challenge this week - which is "Dust off that Patterned Paper!".   The pp I used is from last year's Cosmo Cricket range - Jolly by Golly.

Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope you get a chance to play along this week.  Full details are here.

Hope you have a wonderful week.

Thanks - playing with textures!

Supplies: Spellbinders Labels One, PTI Vintage Labels, PTI Dark Chocolate ink and 

cardstock, PTI Flower dies, SRM Sentiment sticker, machine stitching, 

pp from stash - used during TGF Royal Battle!, ribbon from stash and pop dots.

I made this card to send to a dear friend and am now "revealing it" as I know she has received it!.  I had fun making this and you can see the inside peeking out (I decorated the inside also - inspired by the recent Caardvarks challenge of "decorate inside and out").

I also had fun with textures - cork and felt.  Hope you all have a wonderful weekend and thanks so much for stopping by.

Mami Doodles - Challenge 14 and new releases

Supplies: Digi by Mami Doodles, Kraft A6 card blank by Docrafts, 

Hero Arts sentiment and snowflake, Stickles - Diamond, copics, adhesive, 

Papermania white ink, Memento Black Tuxedo Ink, felt, glue dots and 

Spellbinders star dies.

Elisa over on Mami Doodles just released this cutie yesterday..... isn't he just adorable?  Check this and other newly released digis out here. 

I turned him into a card that could be for a Winter Birthday or Holiday Card for a little boy... I have my Godson in mind! so I coloured him all up... and added the Hero Arts sentiment.

Mami Doodles new challenge is to add something "Fuzzy" to your project.... soft flowers, felt, flocking.... use your imagination.

Here's what I came up with.....

Supplies:  Digi - Mami Doodles Mr Mouse's Christmas,  docrafts Kraft A6 card blank, 

Diamond Stickles, Red Stickles, red felt, Spellbinders heart dies, Xcut S Corner Punch, 

Sentiment from Tales from Pollycraft, white gel pen, copics, glue dots and glossy accents.

I am having a kraft overload at the moment!!!  Made this card with Mami Doodles November Promotional item.  You make any purchase and you will get this set free.  How cool is that?

Be sure to check out what the rest of the DT created here.  Hope you get a chance to play along with this fun challenge.  Happy creating.  Thanks so much for stopping by.

Paperplay - Ribbon, Lace and lots of flowers

Supplies:  PTI sentiment, pp Cosmo Cricket DeLovely range, lace from Cardz n Scrapz, 

Ribbon by Smirk, flowers by Prima, Martha Stewart border punch, 

docrafts kraft A6 card blank, glue dots and adhesive

Welcome to another week of Paperplay Challenges.  This week's challenge is set by DT Member Alicia and she wants us all to use "Ribbon, lace and lots of flowers" on our project/card.

This week we are again very kindly sponsored by Simon Says Stamp.  Full challenge deets are here.

Hope you get a chance to play along.  I did a very girly pink card (not really my usual style!) - hope you like it, thanks for stopping by.

I {heart} Kraft

When I saw this amazing card by Kelly Rasmussen here, I knew I had to use some felt and get creating.  I dug out a bag of felt I had purchased before I left the U.S. and here is what I came up with.

Supplies: Kaisercraft script stamp, Bazzill dotted swiss cardstock, 

Spellbinders star and heart dies, Dark Chocolate cardstock from PTI, 

machine stitching, docrafts A6 kraft card blank and Basic Gray buttons.

and then I was on a roll!!! and loved what Jennifer McGuire created here, so I made this

Supplies:  docrafts A6 kraft card blanks, Hero Arts digital kit - Winged friends 

and Flutterbies, page from english/french dictionary, sentiment by 

Papertrey Ink, Tea Dye distress ink and Tim Holtz Ink blending tool.

You would never guess that I think these ladies are just ultra talented and create amazing things!.  I was so thrilled recently when my LSS - Cardz 'n Scrapz got bulk packs (different sizes) of wonderful kraft in stock - if you live in Ireland and up to now couldn't get kraft.... check it out here.

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you have a wonderful Tuesday.