Birdbrain in the Spotlight.

My card for today uses the sketch from this weeks I {heart} sketches challenge for From The Heart Stamps...

Join in the challenge, and everyone who plays will receive a $1 discount code for the store, and if you are the challenge winner, you will receive a $5 discount code to the store! :)
Remember though, you must use an image by From The Heart Stamps to be eligible, and please include a pic of the sketch in your blog post too.

This weeks sketch is perfect for CAS cards, so I decided to go with that, but I also wanted to incorporate the twist, which is to use the Spotlight Technique.

My image today is Birdbrain Conversation Hearts.
I printed the image twice, then cut a slice off one so that it just had the candy hearts, then coloured that piece with grey promarkers for shading only.
The other piece I coloured with brighter colours then cut it out and backed this onto black cardstock so that it had a very slight border around this spotlight piece.
The red cardstock was embossed using a 'candy hearts' folder by Sizzix.

I'd like to enter this card at:
Sweet Stampin - emboss it
Crafting From The Heart - anything goes
Creative Inspirations - something sweet

Thank you for stopping by today.
You can find more inspiration, and enter the latest I {heart} sketches challenge by clicking HERE.
You can find our current Stamp Of The Month challenge and details of how you can join this progressive challenge HERE.
Please join us on Facebook and “Like” our page to read about the latest FTH news.
We'd also love it if you'd join our Facebook Group too, this group makes it easier for you to share pics of your FTH makes, we'd love to see them!

Two Anniversaries

I was asked to make 2 anniversary cards this week, one for a silver 25th, the other for a 48th.

This card uses the largest heart die from Marianne's scalloped heart set, one cut with silver mirror card, the other from paper (backed with card first, for strength) from a Melissa Frances collection called Classic Elegance.
The backing paper, and paper used for the flowers and strip across the card are both from a combo paper pack by Webster's Pages.

I used dies from Die-namics 'By The Number' and from Clearly Besotted Stamps, and my eyelet border punch by Stampin Up.

I'd like to enter this card at:
QKR Stampede - use a die cut
Use Your Stuff - anything goes
Papertake Weekly - to die for
That Craft Place - Blue

This next card used an oval frame by Spellbinders, Decorative Elements 'Elegant Ovals'.
I used papers 'Mr & Mrs' (Raspberry Road Designs) by Lili of the Valley.

Happy Anniversary is a stamp from All Night Media,
Mum & Dad is by Clearly Besotted Stamps (You & I).
Again, I added numbers by Die-namics, which still have wet wink of stella in the photo!, and punched flowers and pearls to decorate.

I'd like to enter this card at:
Crafty Catz - flowers
ABC challenge - P for pretty in pink

A Golden day...

Today is my parents' golden wedding anniversary :)
50 years married, and they haven't gotten fed up of each other yet! haha!!

I made a cake for them, Date & Walnut, their fave...

They aren't big fondant fans, so I only covered the top, choosing to wrap the sides with white card and gold organza to pretty it up a little.

And here's the card that I made...

I've used dies from Spellbinders Nestabilities Decorative Elements 'Elegant Ovals', '50'  and '&' were cut using dies from Die-namics By The Number & By The Letter sets, and 'mum' and 'dad' were both cut using word dies by Clearly Besotted Stamps.
The patterned paper is from My Mind's Eye, Stella & Rose, Hattie pad, and the flowers are all from The Ribbon Girl.

I'd like to enter this card at:
Sister Act  - Anything goes
Crafts Galore - Anything goes

Our Anniversary

Today is my 14th wedding anniversary. I actually met my husband on this day, 19 years ago.
He's my everything. Happy Anniversary Dave xx

I've used Cabaret from Kenny K because Dave saw it some time ago, and said that he liked it as it reminded him of me.
Now, let me just say straight away, that in reality I look NOTHING like this image. I don't own any black peep-toe boots ;)
But, my hair is a similar style, so i'm guessing that's what he meant, otherwise he seriously needs to go to Specsavers, lol.
Anyway, I have had this image for a while now, and I haven't used it until now (my bad).
I've coloured Cabaret with promarkers, then fussy-cut her out.
I've placed the image over top of a die cut heart (Heart of Hearts die by Impression Obsession)
Either side, i've used the Staggered Heart Border die by Die-namics.
The paper is from My Mind's Eye, Stella & Rose, Mabel paper pad.
The sentiment is from 'For Everyone' stamp set by Clearly besotted Stamps, and 'Husband' has been cut using my By the Letters Die-namics dies.
I've added a bit of bling with some flat-backed crystals to finish.

I'm entering this card at:
KennyK's Krafty Krew - anything goes (twist: orange & black)
The Ribbon Girl - glitz & dazzle (do the crystals count?)
Paper Makeup Stamps - anything goes
Crafty Little Fairies - Only one DP
Cute Card Thursday - spots & dots

Thanks for looking :)

A person to annoy

It's my parent's wedding anniversary today, they've been married 49 years!
Here's our card to them...

I've used an image from Bugaboo; Stella Love - Person to Annoy.
It's a great image, although if I had to have one criticism, I do wish that I could find images where the elderly gentleman has hair, not everyone over 60 is bald. My Dad looks great for 71 and still has his own hair...his teeth however, are a different matter! ha!!
The sentiment is from Bugaboo too, but is with a different image that can be found HERE
My papers are by Basic Grey; Life of the Party (wood effect) and Prima; Forever Young (patterned).
Now I'm not too keen on the layout for this card if i'm honest, it looked soooo much better in my head. But once it's stuck down, it's done.

I'd like to enter this card at:
Digi Galore - Anything goes

Cute Chicklets

I bought myself the Cute Chicklet Love Collection from Digistamp Boutique last month. So today, I thought it's about time I coloured one of the images in, and with my parents anniversary coming up next month, I decided on this adorable image...

Lovely isn't it? and a dream to colour too.
After colouring and distressing the edges, I played about with different layout ideas, moving papers around etc. Then I thought it would be nice to make an easel card, which I haven't done for a while.

I've used a few dies and punches on this card, Marianne's scalloped heart set, Marianne's stencil leaves, Lea'bilities ornate frame, 2 different sized heart punches, and SU's eyelet border punch.
The papers used are from MME's life of the party pad (stripes) and First Editions Nordic Christmas (hearts).
The sentiment is by All Night Media.
As you can see, I embossed the large dusky pink heart with a paisley folder, and added a bit of bling with some pale blue crystal gems.

I'm entering this card at:
DigiStamp Boutique - February challenge
Crafting By Designs - Anything for love
Creative Inspirations - Love
Cute Card Thursday - Clever Cutting.
Crafty Catz - Love is in the air
Papertake Weekly - With a heart
Passion for Promarkers - have a heart

I haven't decided yet whether to put 'Mom & Dad' or 'Nan & Grandad' on the bottom of the base beneath the greeting, that will depend on which card my son wants to give them after i've made the other card.

EDIT 18/02 :  woohoooo!

Annoying Husband.

Now did you read that as your husband is annoying, or that you annoy him?
Most wives would say the former, all husbands the latter lol.

I've made this card for my hubby for our wedding anniversary in October.

I bought the image from Bugaboo, which came with a sentiment, but not THIS sentiment, this sentiment actually came with this image. I wanted to buy both images anyway, but for me, the sentiments work better the other way around as I plan to use the stella and gus image for my parents anniversary card next year.
The papers are by Stampin Up, it's their 'Not Quite Navy' dsp from a patterns paper pack I bought years ago. My SU stash dates back to when the four colour groups were soft subtles, earth elements, rich regals and bold brights. Not Quite Navy was in earth elements and has probably been retired quite a while now.
I punched out some small hearts using the same cardstock for a faux embossed look.
'husband' has been cut using my dienamics 'by the letter' dies.

I'd like to enter this card at:
Inky Impressions - masculine
Paper Crafting Journey - anything goes
Kaboodle Doodles - a song or a quote


number 3 on its way...

love birds...

...That's the name of this digi stamp from Wee Stamps, and isn't it a cutie?
It was a freebie which was given via facebook, I can't find it on the website, but it's still on their facebook page  if you're interested.

I coloured the image with promarkers. The 'anniversary' sentiment banner isn't part of the image, that was part of a clear stamp set which came free with a craft magazine.
The patterned papers were also free, and are called 'Western Romance & All About Me'.

I'd like to enter this card at:
Paper Makeup Stamps - Anything goes / use a digi
Penny's Paper Crafty - Anything goes
Crafting By Designs - Anything goes
The Paper Shelter - Celebrations
Allsorts - Things with wings
C.R.A.F.T challenge - Recipe: 1 circle, 2 squares, 1 sentiment, use ribbon.


Thanks for looking xx

For Mom & Dad's special day

March 20th will be my parents 48th wedding anniversary.
I hope they like this card i've made for Jake to give to them...

Last week I was very fortunate to have won a prize over at Charisma Cardz *YAY!!* I got to choose 3 images from Crafty Sentiments Designs, and this is one of them, it's called Poppy and Henry, and I love it, it's so adorable and perfect for any card that is for a couple. Thank you again Charisma girls and of course thank you to Crafty Sentiments too :)

Again, I used my trusty promarkers, Poppy using tan, cinnamon and umber, her dress using denim blue, cornflower blue and pastel beige. And Henry using caramel, burnt sienna and umber.
I used this weeks fab sketch at Sketch Saturday *waves to the Saturday Girls*
I layered up my papers, which are all by SU (bella bleu collection).
Th kraft border piece was punched using another SU product,the eyelet border punch.
I added a bit of shine by using gold mirror card for the punched hearts and also for matting and layering.
The Sentiment is handwritten.

I'd like to enter this card at:
Charisma Cardz - Punch it! 
Sketch Saturday - sketch #242 
Crafting By Designs - use alcohol markers
Card Crafters Circle - layers
I {heart} Promarkers - layer it up 
Pennys Paper Crafty - teddy bears

For Nan & Grandad

Saturday morning means a new sketch challenge over at Sketch Saturday :)

This week we're sponsored by our good friends;

Simon Says Stamp!

and if you are our lucky winner this week, you could enjoy a whopping $25 shopping spree at their fabby online store. But you've got to be in it to win it! ;)

Here's my card for this week, another anniversary card for my parents...

I used Kraft cardstock as my base card and for punching/matting.
The beautiful papers are by My Minds Eye
(Stella Rose - Gertie)
The image is from Mo's Digital Pencil, it's called Tom and Tilly, and has been coloured with promarkers,
I bought this image a couple of months ago with the intention of using it for my parents card.
The greeting is computer generated, and I finished off the card with some punched flowers, marianne swirls & leaves, and some flat-back crystals.

I'm entering this card into the following challenges:

Kaboodle Doodles - Spring/Flowers
Craft Your Passion - Anything Goes
Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes
ABC challenge - K for Kraft
Card Crafter's Circle - orange & green

Allsorts - say it with flowers

Thank you so much for stopping by, please join in our challenge, and take a look at the cards made by Cor* and the The Saturdays while you're over there :)

Have a great weekend! xx

For Mom & Dad

It will be my parents' 47th wedding anniversary on the 20th March.
This is the card I have made for them...

Look familiar? I made this card for a lad at work recently, and was so pleased with the end result that I decided to make a similar card for my own parents.

crafty stash used:
Kraft, & white cardstock, gold shimmer vellum
oval Coluzzle cutting template
Kanban Male Backgrounds cd (spotty papers)
Marianne leaves and swirls diecuts in gold mirri card
Woodware 'ash' punched leaves in kraft and sponged with certainly celery SU ink
Selection of daisy punches, white mulberry roses and flat-back crystals.
Computer generated sentiment and handcut heart embellie.

I'm entering this card into the following challenges:

Stamptacular - TEXT me
The Pink Elephant - Layers (at least 3)
Kaboodle Doodles - Spring/Flowers
Craft Your Passion - Anything Goes
Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes
ABC challenge - K for Kraft
CES challenges - Flower frenzy!
Bunny Zoe's challenge - Celebrations

Thanks for looking xx

Perfect Love

I was asked to make an anniversary card for a lad at work to give to his parents...

"Love isn't about being perfect,
It's about being perfect for each other"

I printed out the spotty paper ('pattern dots' paper design in brown from Kanban Male Backgrounds CD) and added it to a piece of kraft cardstock.
I cut a frame then decided where I wanted it to be on the card front, then cut away the middle, leaving an aperture surrounded by the frame. I wrapped and tied some cream ribbon, then added foam pads to the back.
Then printed the phrase out onto another piece of paper, the same pattern dots paper but in cream, and attached it to the front of my white card base, positioning it so that it would show through once the aperture piece was in place on top of it. I then stuck down the kraft/brown spotty piece.
I punched some leaves out, then used a mix of paper flowers, crystal gems, and a metal heart duo embellishment to finish.

I'm entering this card into the following challenges:

Cute Card Thursday - Flower Power!
Charisma Cardz - Happy Anniversary
Card Crafter's Circle - To DIE for (my punched leaves)
Bunny Zoe's Challenge - Celebrations
CES - Spots & Dots
Secret Crafter challenge - Bingo (gems, flowers, leaves)
Allsorts - Anything Goes
Sentimental Sundays - Let's get sentimental
Crafty Calendar - Love & Marriage

Final DT card of 2011

Well, this is it, my final post of 2011, this year has flown by so quickly don't you think?
This is my final Sketch Saturday DT card of 2011, we're sponsored by...

who have another wonderful prize for our challenge winner,

Will the lucky winner be you?

Here's my card...

My daughter asked me to make an anniversary card for her to give to her boyfriend, ahhhh young love :)

Of course I immediately thought of using this stamp from SU's "summer by the sea" stamp set. Stamped with memento and coloured with promarkers.
Emma told me which colours to use.
The sky was sponged with SU bashful blue ink.
The papers are by My Mind's Eye. The spotty is from the "complete boy" paper pad. The other 2 sheets are from the "Stella Rose - Hattie" paper pad.
The grey piece has a scrap piece of grosgrain ribbon glued across it.
The sentiment is computer generated.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges...

Passion for Promarkers - celebrations
I Love Promarkers - anything goes
Simon Says Stamp Challenges - anything goes
MMCS challenges - anything goes
Charisma Cardz - anything goes
Secret Crafter - anything goes


So that's it from me for 2011, i'll be back next year ;)
HAPPY NEW YEAR to you all, I hope 2012 is a brilliant year for you.
Thank you for visiting.
Love, Jo xx

For a pearl anniversary

I was also commissioned to make a card for a 30th wedding anniversary, using this image...

It's called 'wine and cheese' and is by Inkadinkado.

I've coloured it with promarkers but added a bit of extra depth here and there with some pencils too.

The papers are by Stampin Up (Bella Bleu) I used another paper from the same collection to punch out the flowers using my boho blossoms punch, a nellie snellen stamen punch and a woodware leaf punch. Of course I had to add flat backed pearls to the centre of the flowers didn't I? They add a lovely shimmer too.

The sentiment and '30' were both printed off the pc, but I have gone over the text with a clear glitter gel pen to add a bit of sparkle.

The centre border strip was made using a x-cut punch.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:

Allsorts - 5 flowers

Polka Doodles - handmade flowers

Thanks for looking xx

Bunnies, bubbles... & bribery!

Mornin! :)
We kick start the weekend with another Sketch Saturday challenge! :)
and this week we are sponsored by

and you could have £10 to spend in their fab store if you're our lucky winner this week :)

Here's my card...

This will be my anniversary card to my hubby, so I will probably add the word 'husband' to it before he receives it, no rush though, it's not until next month.
I have used this totally adorable LOTV stamp called 'Bubble Bath'
Coloured as per usual with promarkers, I have ordered myself 10 new colours this week, and i'm hoping that mr postman will bring them today :)
I maybe should have used grey tones for this card, because apparently, our wedding anniversary this year is Steel (11 years)
Never mind, I went with kraft instead.... as ya do ;)

The sentiment and row of hearts were both from the 'let's celebrate' fizzy moon stamp set, this is new, I hadn't opened it until making this card. I was going to use the cute image from the set too, but when I saw the bunnies in their bubble bath I knew I wanted to use it for this card.

The paper is by Stampin Up ('Bella Bleu' DSP)
The border across the middle is a thick vellum that I found in my stash, it looks green in the photo, but it is actually an off-white colour which shimmers pale pink, but somehow my camera thinks it's green *tuts*
Actually I think my camera is packing up. I'm having difficulty getting it to link to my pc, it's taking several attempts and a lot of luck to get it to work. It is very old though.
Do you think hubby will treat me to a shiny new one?
bribery!..... yes!.... i'll buy 2 bottles of bubbly, one the (nice) smelly kind, the other the *hic* kind, what you reckon eh?

here's a close up of the image layered a little...

can you see the PALE PINK vellum on the left? ;)

Please stop by The Saturdays, they have made more beautiful creations to inspire you :)

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:

Cute Card Thursday - anything goes

Colour Create - pink, brown, cream, white

Totally Gorjuss - nothing square

Thanks for stopping by, have a great weekend xx

For Mom & Dad

My parents celebrate their 46th wedding anniversary tomorrow (20th March)

This is the card that I have made them (although there are now added flowers to the blue panel too, but took this pic beforehand)

The image and papers are from Stampin Up, the image is from their summer by the sea stamp set and the papers are called Bella Bleu.

I coloured the image with ProMarkers, the text is handwritten.
The pretty heart border strip was made using a fiskars punch.

This card is my DT card for Sketch Saturday too, this week we are being sponsored by the lovely Nikki and Bunny Zoe's Crafts.

For this weekend you can get a massive 25% off ALL High Hopes, C.C. Designs and The Greeting Farm Stamps! what a great offer eh?... go grab a bargain!

Here's a pic of the card, in daylight, with the flowers.
The flowers were punched using my SU boho blossoms punch (the largest flower) and my nellie snellen stamen punch, securing with a brad in the centre of each. I used a woodware punch for the leaves.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:

Wild Orchid - to use die cuts or punches
Papertake Weekly - Trio Tastic (3 flowers)
Charisma Cardz - die cuts (does punching count too?)


Please go visit my SS sisters to see their fantastic cards this week
Have a great weekend xx

Anniversary card

This is the card I gave to my husband for our wedding anniversary on Thursday.
We married 7th October 2000, 5 years to the day that we met in 1995 :)

I have used this weeks sketch for Sketch Saturday, making a tall card instead of a square one.
The image of 2 love birds was from a freebie stamp set I had with a craft mag.
I stamped and coloured it twice to 'pop' the birds out a little.
As you can tell, I wrote the sentiments by hand.
The checked paper is by SU (bashful blue)
I made the other patterned paper myself (text design) back in Feb 2008.
The problem now being... I made them on an old computer that has since crashed, and at a lower resolution too, so when I found them on a back up disc, and tried to print them out they are coming out much smaller than originally designed because I now use a higher res for designing.. This means that you can fit 4 on one A4 sheet instead of just the one.

UPDATE: They can be found HERE if you're interested.

I also made the personalised patterned paper for this card, it's hard to see, but it has my parents wedding date included in the design.
Anyway, hubby loved the card, he's a great supporter of my cardmaking (thankfully!)
Please stop by Sketch Saturday to see the sketch and the awesome creations made by the talented design team and our GD for this month, Kathy.

And why not have a go at the sketch yourself?
You could be this weeks winner of a $25 shopping spree courtesy of  Simon Says Stamp! :)

Thanks for stopping by, have a fab weekend xx

Sketch Saturday #64

Hiya! it's Saturday, so must be time for a new challenge!
This weeks sketch is sponsored by Bunny Zoe's Crafts, and you could win £15 worth of goodies of your own choice from the store! fantastic prize eh?!

Here is my card...

I love this image, it's from the 'Summer by the Sea' stamp set by Stampin Up, I've coloured it in with SU inks.
I have also used SU card stock (more mustard) and the patterned paper is also SU (so saffron)
the flowers were punched using the same DSP but instead of the floral design side, I used the polka dots side.
The leaves are Martha Stewart 'branch' punch outs which I bought off a well known auction site.
The plain brown paper, raffia and small pearls at the centre of the flowers are just from my scraps box
The sentiments - the one next to the image itself is from the same stamp set and says
"Joy is not in things, it is in us"
the 'with love' sentiment is from a different SU stamp set called 'Yummy'

I'm really happy with how this card turned out, hope you like it too.
Please go take a look at my fellow Design Team members cards and of course our Guest Designer Mina, by visiting their blogs, their work is so inspiring :)

Thanks for stopping by, enjoy your weekend. xx

my latest cards...

The card above is for my parents wedding anniversary in March.
My friend Karen put a link to a site that generates great background designs using different fonts, colours and images, it is called typoGenerator if you would like to try it for yourself. Now, as much as I enjoyed playing about with this program I just had to have a go myself on PSP (paintshop pro), I used lots of layers and came up with this background paper. I love it and it looks so fab that I'm going to make my own backing papers wherever possible now! I hand cut the large hearts and used a punch for the tiny ones, finished with a hand written greeting.
I just found a fab site and this weeks Papertake Weekly Challenge is 'hearts desire' so this will be my entry also.


Well I loved that colour scheme so much that I had to make another card! This is for a friends birthday - not gonna say who cos I don't want to spoil the surprise ;)
I used punched flowers to decorate, used the magnolia gift with flower stamp, then decided I wanted another gift but didn't have a stamp that I could use so I drew the rectangular gift by hand using the magnolia one as inspiration. I think it turned out quite well actually, pity I can't say the same for the wonky photo!...



The following card is for the new arrival in our family, yes I know I made a baby boy card lol, but that was because my hubby's niece said she was having a boy!
Baby (girl) Taylor was born 29.01.08
I have used one of the bunny stamps from Bootiful Stampz these stamps are so versatile!