Happy 40!

Sharing a card I made recently for a 40th.  Trying to work my way through my Studio Calico Card Kits - mixing them all around - don't think many items from the same kit!  The fun bright coloured doily and patterned paper was from the Penny Arcade Kit.  The white ribbon was from a kit I can't find the name of! and I just love using dymo embossed tape for the sentiment.

Thanks for peeking.

Deirdre

Tis the season!

 Supplies:  Mod Tree Die - Simon Says Stamp, Pink cardstock -

 Penny Black, pp - My Minds Eye, enamel dots - MME, dymo 

embossing tape and machine stitching.

I know I should be sharing a spooky card today! Oh Well!!! Here's what I have!

I made this using non traditional colours but love the hot pink and aqua together.  I used woodgrain effect patterned paper for the tree although it is so thin it is difficult to see the pattern in the photo!.

Thanks for peeking.

Shoot for the Stars!

Supplies:  pp - Dear Lizzy for American Crafts (SC), 

red cardstock - Canson, black versafine ink, white stars -  

Blue Note Card Kit (SC), sentiment stamp - SSS, 6x6 card 

blank, clear acetate and machine stitching.

As you know I love shaker cards and made this quick one without the fuss of hiding the "mechanism" of the shaker by using machine stitching to sandwich tiny enamel stars between a layer of acetate and patterned paper (Studio Calico - Marks & Co Card Kit).  

Thanks for peeking. 

Enjoy the Ride!

Supplies: PP - Cosmo Cricket - will have to check the range???, chipboard by SMIRK, 
sentiment - PTI, machine stitching,  Docrafts kraft card blank,
Paperchase black ribbon and tuxedo black ink.

I am always inspired by Lucy Abrams.  I love how she seems to create cards effortlessly!.   I tried so hard to stitch as straight as Lucy does on this one!!! I failed I fear! - be sure to go over and check out her amazing creations on her blog here.

Hope you all have a great weekend.  Thanks for stopping by and taking a peek.  Would love for you to leave me a little comment to let me know you stopped by!  Thanks so much.

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.

Anniversary Card & Tuesday Trigger

Today is our Wedding Anniversary.  My DH and I are married 12 years - where does the time go?  The above shot of the "lippy" is from O Magazine and is the Tuesday Trigger this week over on Moxie Fab World.  Here is my card inspired by the photo.

I made this card using the wonderful Digital Kit by Jen Martakis called "Watercolours".  I added some machine stitching, glossy accents and a computer generated sentiment - flemish script font.  The glossy hearts are meant to represent the shine from the lipsticks!.

Today is also the day that Hero Arts starts hosting their Virtual Cardmaking party (10-12 Sept) as Operation Write Home celebrates it's Birthday. 

Be sure to check out the details here. Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope you have a wonderful day and great weekend.

Paperplay - "in stitches"

Supplies:  Stitchy Bear Digi Stamp - Dino, Cosmo Cricket pp -DeLovely range, 

Copics, gem,  DL Card blank and faux stitching with pens.

This week's Paperplay challenge is set by the wonderfully talented Heather and it is to add stitching to your card/project.  It can be hand, machine, faux or stamped stitching!.

We are again very kindly sponsored this week by Stitchy Bear Stamps.  I used this wonderful digital image called Dino available here.

I added faux stitching in black and pink on my card as my sewing machine has been going a little nuts and eating the paper!  I added a wonderful free Wordart sentiment from Create with TLC.

Thanks for peeking and I hope you get a chance to play along this week.  Thanks so much for stopping by.  Cheers,   Deirdre

Pocket Birthday Card

Quick card share today as I have to get my DS's ready to go back to school tomorrow!.

I love the idea of making a card to hold the gift... in this case some dosh!  Used some Basic Grey paper and stamped the PTI sentiment in Dark Chocolate.  Machine stitched around the edges and added a "topper" to the pocket.  Then punched some orange stars for a pop of colour.

Thanks for peeking.  Hope you have a terrific day.

Birthdays are the best!

Another card made with the wonderful digital kit by Jen Martakis called Watercolours.  This time I changed out the thread on the sewing machine to match the aqua in the flowers and the cardstock.  Sentiment is from Papertrey Ink and the gems are by Hero Arts.  Used the large X-cut corner punch on the sentiment tab.

Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope you have a wonderful day.  Raining here this morning... let's hope it stops soon!

Happy Tuesday

An incredibly quick and easy card to share today.  Made this using pp from a 6x6 mini deck of Earth Love from Cosmo Cricket.  Added machine stitching around the edge and then adhered to the white card blank.  Sentiment from Papertrey Ink and the chipboard is from the Ready-Steady-Chip set by Cosmo Cricket to match the paper range.

It was a three day weekend here in Ireland so today is really a Monday !!! you know, housework and laundry after the weekend!!  Better go do some work, thanks so much for stopping by.

We are through!!! Roll on Week Three

Great news... we are through... yipee..... we have made it through to Week Three of the Royal Battle over on The Greeting Farm.  This week the challenge is to make a Scrapbook Page (either 8x8 or 12x12).    There are now 25 teams battling it out.  Woot woot to the Dream Team - Kathy & Fika and little ol' me!.  Fika created a stunning card for last week's challenge - way to go Fika.  If you haven't seen it - click here.

Now... onto a card.  I made this card using the Hero Arts Large Cupcake Cling stamp.  Stamped it on white cardstock and cut out with a slight border.  Then stamped on brown cardstock and cut out without any border.  Printed off the Friends Definition stamp that is a digital freebie here and stamped the cupcake again over the printout.  Coloured with copics and stickles.  Printed the heart image on red cardstock and created a pull out message.  Instructions on how to do this are available on this Hero Arts video by Shari Carroll right here.    Stamped a cupcake image on red cardstock with versamark and used clear embossing powder.  Added machine stitching around the edge (the sewing machine does not like stitching through the embossed surface!).  Forgot to take a photo with the sentiment tag pulled "out"!...oopps!

Thanks for peeking.  Hope you have a great Wednesday.

Just Because! Card

This was the card I made as my DT card for Paperplay Challenges last Thursday - but decided to redo and make cards using Hero Arts products since it was a challenge they ran last year called "mail it" which inspired me to set my first challenge - "Just Because".  If you don't know about it - check out the details here.  You can still enter - closing date is Wednesday 10th March at 9.00pm GMT. 

This card is using K&Co pp, Bazzill dotted swiss, machine stitching, sentiment from Papermania, brown cardstock cut in my Big Shot with my large scalloped circles.  Buttons from Papermania and puffy vintage flower - inspired by Dawn McVey (tutorial video here).

Thanks so much for peeking and hope you have a great week.

Hero Arts Flickr Group reaches 30,000 uploads!

Hero Arts announced on Friday that the FLICKR Group had nearly reached 30,000 uploads since March 2008.  So to celebrate nearly reaching the 30,000 project milestone they decided to have a giveaway - those people at Hero Arts are just AMAZING.

Here is my entry for the chance to win!. 

I used a digital image from Hero Arts called Poetic Petals.  I left it uncoloured and added a digital image from the Hero Arts Winged Friends digital kit which I coloured with a copic ciao.  I cut brown cardstock for my base, embossed red cardstock with a Cuttlebug Embossing Folder - stylized flowers.  I then added ribbon and machine stitched around the edges including over the ribbon.  Used Quickutz circles and Spellbinders Scalloped Circles Large for the matting and layering.

I used glossy accents on the "winged friend's" body and used Jennifer McGuire's technique of putting some thread into the glossy accents for the antenna.

I hope you will visit the Hero Arts Flickr Group - it is chock full of inspiration and an amazing group of friends.  Thanks so much for stopping by - hope you have a wonderful week.

Paperplay Challenge - "For a Mother"

This week's challenge over on Paperplay is "For a Mother" - make a card, gift, layout or any other creation you are giving to a Mother this year - it can be your own Mother, aunt, Grandma, sister or daughter.  The challenge is sponsored by DT Member Mandy and here are the goodies up as this week's prize.  Papermania goodness - embellishment and paper pack from their Capsule Collection.

Mother's Day is celebrated during the month March in the UK and Ireland and this year it is the 14th March.  In the USA it is in May (so I try to swing Mother's Day twice!!). 

Made this card using stickers and am entering it into this month's Caardvarks Challenge - create a "new" card and use stickers.  This month's challenge is sponsored by SRM Stickers over on Caardvarks.... really wish I had some of them to use... they are stunning.  Check out their blog here.  Thankfully they now have a super online store...woohoo!!!!

Supplies: American Crafts Thickers (felt), Butterfly clear stickers from Dunnes Stores, acetate,

DCWV textured card blank, Martha Stewart border punch, machine stitching,

Textured cardstock by Papermania and Papermania pearls.

Thanks so much for stopping by.  Happy Thursday!

Encouragement Card! and Vanessa's Blog Candy

Supplies: Cuttlebug Embossing Folder dots large, pp by We R Memory Keepers - Hepburn range,

kraft cardstock, image from StretchnBubbles, Copics and machine stitching.

Just had to share this card with you.  It is the freebie image from Stretch n Bubbles this week.  Another amazing image by Alison Spelman.  I just laughed out loud when I saw it.  I plan on using it as a Congratulations Card but it could also double up as an Encouragement Card.

If you sign up as a follower to her blog Alison will give away 3 digital images when the followers list reaches 300 and 4 images when it hits 400 and so on..... go check it out here.

Vanessa is having a giveaway - as she reached 30,000 hits... Amazing right!  So she has some beautiful candy on offer - go check it out here

Have a great weekend and thanks so much for stopping by.

Lucy's Challenge #4 - glitter

My HA Flickr friend Lucy is holding a challenge at the moment and it involves "glitter".  So I made a card, using her method for stitching, (see video here) her style of card and design.  Just wanted to practice! so entering it into her challenge.

Supplies Hero Arts Anytime Messages CL129, Hero Arts Digital kits Winged Friends and Flutterbies,

MME Wild asparagus 6x6 cardstock, Kraft cardstock, machine stitching, copics, pop dots and stickles.

I made a batch of these butterflies and winged friends a little while ago and added Ranger Industry Stickles for the glittery goodness. 

I also used the tip that Kathy Racoosin gave in her blog on the 3 November last year (Tuesday Tipster) which was to run a black marker down the edge of the cut image to get rid of the white.  It really does work a treat (see top photo) and I do it on all the cut out digital images that I use.. Thanks Kathy!.

Lucy - thanks for the amazing daily inspiration.  Thanks everyone for stopping by.  Hope you all have a great week.