.........rain, rain and more rain

OK who stole Summer.......all it has done this week is rain or attempt to rain or look like its going to rain......Mother Nature its JULY......humph...I hate stinky weather

I think I am feeling it as we are back from Madeira two weeks and I miss the sunshine...

I have two cards to share with you today, I made 1 complete yesterday and finished off the other one today but as I was busy as a bee yesterday I wasn't able to photograph them until today.

This first card is for this weeks sketch over on CPS ,if you haven't checked CPS out before or this week have a wonder over there as there are some fantastic examples on show. I got these stamps quite recently and I have only had a little play with them so I dragged them out and had some fun. Although my card is completely different I did gain my colouring inspiration from this card by Itsapassion over on Splitcoastampers.

..................................................................................................................
Recipe
Stamps:-Penny Black - Fresh New Day, Stampendous - Posie Greetings
Paper:- Making Memories - Emery
Glitter Glue
Brilliance Graphite Black
Pental Pens - White, Red and Black
Copics
CPS Sketch


My second card is using a sketch from 2 Sketches 4 You, again if you have not checked them out then I would highly recommend it! It started out as quite a muted card but when I was putting it all together earlier I felt it was crying out for bling... I am have gone OTT

..............................................................................................................

Recipe:-
Stamps- HOTP
Paper - Earth Tones - HOTP
Ink - Brilliance Mediterranean Blue
Blooms - Prima
Bling gems - Papermania
Sketch - 2 Sketches 4 You

True Friends are hard to find

You know sometimes you are lucky to have 1 good friend, you know the one that you can say things too, and they don't judge you, they laugh with you, cry with you, and most importantly just be with you when you need it most....I am lucky I have more then 1 such friend, and a group of us girls (OK women but are girls really!) spend far to much time chatting and laughing but we also on occasion send each other cards....it started out once a month but over time we realised that sometimes someone can do it every month and other times life just gets in the way....and that's OK.......cause we are friends.

.......................................................................................................

Recipe

Stamp - Stampabilities Know to much

Ink - Brilliance Graphite Black

Colours - Copics

Signo pens in black and white

Kanban cardstock in white,black and orange

Ribbon- unknown

Upbeat, positive and ready for life....

It's is so easy when it's dark, cold, dreary and depressing outside to bring that into your home and take on the mood of the weather....well today I decided that no matter what the weather was doing outside I was going to try an remain upbeat! So yes I have the obligatory piece of black clothing on but I have got a shocking pink top on to go with it!!!

The card I am sharing with you today is based on the current sketch challenge over on Splitcoastampers, it is a nice clean look, which is what I am tending to prefer at the moment. And like a good lil' girl I used some of my extensive range of papers that I have been stroking for years, and a stamp that I haven't used yet! I have also been looking at the current challenge over on Daring Card Makers, its called Most Distressing, I am pushing my luck by saying my paper is distressed...OK I admit I didn't distress it but it is very distressed looking!

The image was stamped with Graphite Black Brilliance ink and left to dry while I measured, cut and placed the patterned Paper Elements - Sweet Peppermint cardstock onto my white A5 card. I coloured the Geisha using my Copics and Prismacolor Metallic Gold pen, outlined her with cool grey, and then lightly brushed over the whole image and then focused on the edges with Pearl Ex Powder Pigment in Blue Russet. To help incorporated the gold that I had used on the Geisha into the whole card I placed gold dots using my Prismacolor Pen around the outside of the main mat area.

What do you think?


.....................................................................................................................
Recipe -
Stamp - Dimension Fourth
Paper - Paper Elements - Sweet Peppermint, standard white cardstock
Ink - Graphite Black Brilliance
Accessories - Copics, Prismacolor Maker, SCS sketch

Did you know that today is Workers Memorial Day - international day of remembrance and action for workers killed, disabled, injured or made unwell by their work.

Solo Colour - DCM Strictly Monochrome Challange

I choose the colour Blue, I could of done any but I saw my Prima Got Flowers Duex in blue and I got inspired!

I used a pale blue square card, mounted some vibrant blue glitter card onto which I placed a heavily embossed picture frame in pale blue from Craftwork Cards, I then filled the aperture with flowers from Prima Got Flowers Duex in blue and added blue glitter to each of the centres of the flowers.

I found this challenge quite hard as it was tempting to add bits - but they weren't blue!

The challenge can be found at http://www.daringcardmakers.blogspot.com/

Inspire Everyone Around You Sketchthiscard #6

This layout for the card was inspired by the Sketchthiscard blog that you can find at http://janellerichmond.typepad.com/sketchthiscards/

I used a plain white square card as the base of my card. The paper both the plain and the stripey, the oblong flowery card and the sentiment all come from Deja Views - Fresh print Swatchbook in Cranberry, the only thing that I have added is the bloom which is a Bazzill bloom that I have cut in half.

I know its a very simple card but I like it! and I believe that these colours work great for male or female.

Smile - CPS#7

Challenge No7 from http://cardpositioningsystems.blogspot.com/ provided the base for my card making today, I am obviously in a Spring Mood based on the colours and theme I chose!



I used DCWV paper and cardstock from the Teen selection, I added some pink fibre to the spine, across the front in a diagonal pattern and up to the top right hand corner of the card, I then added some Prima flowers from the new Sprite Dotty Collection, which I embellished with some small 'glass' flowers in corresponding colours. Finally I added 'Smile' which is on vellum and is also from the DCWV Teen Selection, which I attached using flower eyelets.

All About Eyes

The Wednesday Stamper (http://wednesdaystamper.wordpress.com/) challenge this week is called All about the Eyes. I have to admit at first I really struggled to even think of any of my current stash of stamps having anything appropriate - I really wanted the eyes to be stamped.....then I remembered my cats eyes! I got this unmounted stamp from http://www.tandastamps.com/ but had not used it yet....so I started to play!

Africa's Eyes

This was the simplest to do and probably now the most ornate! I simply stamped the image using Stazon in Saddle Brown on Orange Card. I found an African Tile image in Corel Draw printed it out and then using BeesKnees font I printed out Africa's Eyes, I mounted the stamped image on 3 d foam and placed it in the middle of the African Tile, I then added the Africa's Eye lettering, this was then mounted on Gold Mirri Card and then Orange Card.



Eyes and Prints

This looks so evil to me - and I don't think I like it but I thought I would keep in anyway! The image was stamped using Versamark, embossed using Detailed White by Stampendous and then had metallic rubons in copper buffed onto it, the image was then mounted onto some orange card that had been covered in Versamagic Sahara Sand ink, and laid on top of a black square card that had pawprints by All Night Media stamped in VersaMagic Sahara Sand.




Eyes Bright

I stamped the image onto black card and used stampendous clear embossing powder. Once the embossed image had cooled down I used metallic rubon - in Deep Gold, Copper, and Gold to highlight the image. When I was happy and finished buffing, I stamped a African savannah image onto a white card using the Judi kins African Safari Cube and Versamagic in Sahara Sand, added some fibres from from the Scarlets Letter collection by BasicGrey.




Look into my Eyes

I used Versamark clear ink, and then embossed with Detailed Black by Stampendous, because the image was so breathtaking I didn't want to take away from it so I simply mounted it onto a white square card and added 3 black brads and some black fibre from the Scarlets Letter collection by BasicGrey.

The Sky is the Limit

I used 3 different coloured chalk inks which I applied to the card using a chalk tool with a circular tip, then I put on several gold peeloffs of aeroplanes the main one having been coloured in with pencils, and I just finshed it off by adding the 'The sky is the limit' rub on in the bottom right hand corner - quick simple and I think effect male card.

Amelia P - You were a little Princess

This is a very simple card but it hopefully cheered a little girl up - this is a pink rub on (Princess) with Got Flowers dotted around it, with glitter glue centres, and pink heart crystals dotted around the card as well.

Amelia unfortunately died not long after recieving this card she only just turned four in January, she died of Neuroblastoma (cancer). If you have a few spare cards (and I know we all do) can have a look at this site http://www.postpals.co.uk/ these are all children that are suffering major illnesses at the moment and could do with cheering up a little bit.

Wildlife - CbC template 21 challange

This card was made using a template from http://www.craftsbycarolyn.co.uk/ which is a great forum that sets different challanges for its members. I used Rouge de Garance papers in the 'fleur de chine' range, one paper as cut to the size of the square card and then a different paper from the same range was ripped and placed on top. I used brads in a green pale yellow and black to frame the Wildlife sticker which is from the DCWV 'Sayings' sticker stack - A Guy Thing.