House Mouse and Friends Monday Challenge

Eek!

It's that time again for another challenge over at the House Mouse and Friends Monday challenge blog.  The challenge this time has been set by Lori which is:-

Sugar and spice and all things nice

We want to see all your cards that relate to the above sentiment - How you interpret it is entirely up to you!  

I have used a wood backed stampabilities Happy Hopper stamp which is soooo cute and is actually the first Happy Hopper I've ever done!  I coloured her in with my new spring edition promarker "march hare" which I think looks ok!  

The papers are from a new Docrafts Boofle 12x12 pack of papers which I had leftover from a recent magazine piece.  The circle sentiment is one of my under-used LOTV ones.  

 

The white backing card is from a fab new DCWV 12x12 stack of silky smooth cardstock in neutrals which is so lush to use.  It is a great thickness to give great backing but it's not so thick that it'll ruin your Martha Stewart punches which is great! 

We have several fab sponsors for this challenge and some great prizes up for grabs!!!

A $25 gift card from House Mouse Designs

$10 embellishment package from Pizzazz Aplenty

A free class of your choice from My creative classroom

It is quite a basic card which I make no apologies for as sometimes they are the nicest and most effective especially when you have such a cute image!

I have recently been sent some new goodies from Joanna Sheen for my next batch of samples for Create and Craft TV so I'll be starting those in the next few days.  I've been trying to sort though my craft room as it's still in a bit of a state!  Sometimes I just have no idea where to start and it's sooo dull.  I have quite a few exciting things in the pipeline but I can't share them with you just yet! ;))

We look forward to see you take part!

Thanks for looking!!!

Sarah Lawrence heart stamp card

Hiya everyone,

Please don't go - you have come to the right place! Lol

I know this card is a complete change from my usual thing but I have been wanting to try something a bit different for a while.  This card features the heart shaped stamp designed by Sarah Lawrence  that was a freebie on the February issue of Craft Stamper magazine.  The craft cupboard (a crafty facebook group) is running a valentine competition to make a creation using this stamp.  It is being judged by Katy Fox who is the editor for the Craft Stamper magazine so I thought I'd give it a whirl.

I obviously had the stamp to use as a starting point but I also decided I wanted to use the "3 little words" sentiment and the rest I kind of threw together.  I was initially toying with the idea of putting a clockwork key on to the heart but went with the wings instead.  The wings were an image I found on google that I just printed onto white card and cut out.  I went over them with my ivory and grey promarker to tone down the whiteness.  I also used brushed corduroy distress ink on everything apart from the ripped edge as I wanted to keep that as it was.

The heart stamp has been stamped onto a small offcut of some gorgeous paper from DCWV love and wedding paperstack.  I have had it years and it's one of my favourite ever paperstacks although I've got barely any of it left now! :(

The font I have used here is 1942 which is a great antique typewriter style which I love.  It is available as a freebie from here.

I'd appreciate any comments or feedback on this as it's completely out of my comfort zone - I did enjoy making it though!

Thanks for looking!

Paula. x

4th card from Cardmaking and Papercraft Magazine - Designer Challenge

Hiya everyone,

This is the 4th card from my first ever piece for Cardmaking and Papercraft magazine.

(To get more info on what the challenge was please see the original posts below)

Here I used a square of  the blue embossed whale paper diectly onto the card blank.  Onto this I attched a smaller square of the other blue paper at a jaunty angle.  I printed a star is born onto white card and I used a star template to get the sentiment as central as possible.  I then cut a square frame from plain blue card and attached the star and frame to the card with foam pads.
I used lots of 5mm adhesive clear gems to the outer edge of the star and added 2 of the star felt embellishments I was sent to the corners.  To finish, I added 2 diamantes to the other corners.

Again, quite a simple card but quite striking.  I used the sentiment "a star is born" as it worked with the embellishments and baby theme.

If you missed the other 3 cards you can view them below:-

Card 1

Card 2

Card 3

Thanks for looking!

Paula. x

3rd Card from Cardmaking and Papercraft magazine

Hiya everyone,

This is the 3rd of the 5 baby cards I made for the Designer Challenge as my first piece for Cardmaking and Papercraft magazine.   Just to recap I was sent 4 sheets of 12x12 paper (3 were double sided), small pack of paper flowers and a pack of felt embellishments).  I had to make 5 baby cards all using different style and techniques only using minimal extra stuff.  No stamped images etc were allowed.

I decided with this one to use the cute as a button sentiment as the main focal point for the card.  The font used is clear typewriter which is a freebie download here.  I use this a lot as it's quite child like and fun.  In-keeping with the button theme I cut small squares of the remaining pink and brown papers and inked the edges with one of my TH distress inks (could have been brushed corduroy but I can't remember).  Using my pokey tool and black gel pen I did some faux stitching   before attaching them to a square of light brown card.

I then mounted a small square of the birdie paper onto more light brown card and added my sentiment.  I wrapped a small piece of pink ribbon and pink lace around the bottom oth this panel before attching to the centre of my card with foam pads.  I made a faux button with the use of my circle dies using the plainer pink papers offcuts as I didn't have a real button big enough for the look I wanted to achieve.  I attached this to the bottom right corner.

In the paper flowers pack I was sent there was only blue, white and brown flowers so I coloured a white flower in with my promarkers as I wanted a contrast to the smaller brown one.  I used a small pink button as the flower centre.  The top right corner looked a little empty so I added a single piece of card candi which finished it off nicely.

If you have missed the other 2 cards I have already posted you can find them below:-

Card 1

Card 2

It can be so easy to rely on pretty stamp to make a card that it's easy to forget a nice card can be made with very little if you really think about it!

Thanks for looking!

Paula. x

2nd Card from Cardmaking and Papercraft magazine

Hiya everyone,

This is another of the 5 baby cards that I made as part of a designer challenge project for Cardmaking and Papercraft magazine.    I was sent 4 sheets of 12x12 paper (3 were double sided), a pack of paper flowers and some felt embellishments.  The idea was to make 5 completely different cards using different styles/techniques but only using very minimal extras.  This means no stamped images and only basic card, ribbon and gems etc.  This was my very first piece for them after winning Cardmaker of the Year 2010 so I was quite nervous in case they thought they'd made a horrible mistake in picking me!  As it happens, I still do stuff for them now so I must be doing something right!

I don't know where the idea came from for the dungarees really.  I think as the whale paper was embossed and the other blue paper was quite plain it seemed to stand out to me.  I cheated a little and used my circle and scalloped circle nestie and a small star punch but only really added a couple of blue buttons.  I used my pokey tool and my white gel pen for faux stitching and cut out a single whale off the embossed paper to resemble a applique motif.  I also added a small folded piece of ribbon to represent a tag.

I think this makes a relatively quick and easy baby card and was quite pleased with it after I finished it.  It could also easily be made in pink!

Making a card without an stamped or digi image as a focal point is more difficult than it looks - especially when you have to make 5 different ones!  I do love a challenge and try and think of something a little bit different when I get a new piece.

In case you missed the 1st baby card - it is here.

Thanks for looking!

Paula. x

House Mouse and Friends Monday Challenge

Hiya everyone,

It's monday again and time for another challenge over at the House Mouse and Friends Monday Challenge.  For any of you new to this, it's a bi-weekly challenge starting every other monday using only House Mouse, Happy Hopper and Gruffies images.

The theme this time set by DT member Heather is:-

Make wishes come true

If you are not new to my blog you will know that the little mouses are very much a passion of mine so I was very excited to be taken on as a new permanent DT member after my guest slots.

My card has been made using First Edition Dreamcatcher papers which are all gorgeous lilacs and purples which I had left over from a recent magazine piece.  The image is a Joanna Sheen Autumn collection one called flying.  I stamped out the mouse and butterfly and masked it off so I had just the mouse on it's own as a focal point so I could pop the butterfly off the main image if that makes sense.  

I coloured the image in with my promarkers and I layered up both the mouse and the butterfly.  I also added lots of glamourdust to the butterfly for extra sparkle.  I joined the two with just a little black thread from my sewing box (slight exaggeration of the name as I don't do sewing! Lol)  I have never tried this before but I just thought  it would make a change.  It was a bit fiddly and I did at one point think "is this really worth it?" - but I was quite pleased with the way it turned out in the end!

I have also used my MS butterfly border punch and added a few purple gems.  I didn't want to clutter it up to much as it would distract the eye from the rest of the card so I didn't add too much extra stuff.  The sentiment I printed on the computer and cut it out in a pennant shape for a change! 

I hope you like it!  If you have any House Mouse stamps or decoupage then maybe you could enter the challenge yourself!  I hope to see your entries!

I will enter this into a few challenges:-

Alphabetchallenge – Animal antics

CharismaCardz – Things with wings

Movingalong with the times – Cute critters

Papertake weekly – Anything goes

  
I normally don't get chance to enter any challenges but I thought I would try and find a few as Tayla went to bed a bit earlier than normal!

Thanks for looking!

Cardmaking and Papercraft Magazine - Designer Challenge

Hiya everyone,

I thought I'd share with you one of the cards I made for my very first commssion piece for Cardmaking and Papercraft Magazine.  I couldn't pop it on my blog for 6 months due to copyright but it was about 12 months ago so I'm quite safe now!

It was for a designer challenge section and I had to create 5 different baby cards all using different techniques etc.  I was sent a few sheets of Pebbles Inc papers, paper flowers and a pack of embellishments   I couldn't use any stamped images etc and had to keep other extra items to a minimum.   I only used basic card, a bit of brown ribbon, brown fibres and some pink pearls as extras on this card.

I made a little bird shape that mimicked the shape of the little birdie on the backing papers.  This along with the sentiment made an ideal focal point.  The sentiment I did on the computer and is an old typewriter type font which was a freebie but I have stripped my computer since then and can't remember which one it was - I really liked it as it was just a little distressed but not too much!

I will share the other 4 cards with you over the next week or so.

Thanks for looking!

Paula. x

New La Pashe Decoupage sheets

Hiya everyone,

I just thought I'd share my La Pashe samples with you that I made a few weeks ago as they are now on sale.
There are 2 different sets and these cards I made are from the sentimental collection. 

Although they are decoupage there aren't loads of things to cut out so they  are ideal if you don't like too much cutting out. 

You can either buy them singly direct from La Pashe for 39p per sheet (which includes 2 images per sheet) or you can buy the full set of 10 from Joanna Sheen for £3.99.

Thanks for looking!

Paula. x

Joanna Sheen Daisy and Friends sample

Hiya Everyone,

Thought I'd post another one of the samples I made for the launch of the new Daisy and friends CD (£9.99 from JoannaSheen).  In case you missed my previous post this is a papercrafting CD rom full of coloured and non coloured digi images, papers and other papercrafting items such as matching inserts/notecards/envelopes etc.

This image I printed onto my elegance satin card in black and white so I could colour it myself with my promarkers.  The soft red gingham papers are also off the CD with just the addition of my doo hickey swirl, a few flowers and some white crochet lace.  The sentiment ticket was a freebie from Miss cutie pie inspiration blog which you can grab for yourself here.  She has some lovely freebies on her blog so have a good looky while you're there!

I'm really excited as I've just ordered myself a set of the new limited edition spring promarkers from Joanna Sheen so I'm hoping they arrive tomorrow!  I also ordered an extra set which I'll be giving away next month as my March blog candy so watch this space!!!

Tayla my little girl has got her 12 month jabs tomorrow - she's 14 months old now so she's late getting them done but I never received an automatic appointment and I had to keep ringing the health visitor to find out what was going on.  In the end I just booked her in myself!  I'm hoping she won't be too bad!

There's still time to enter the House Mouse and Friends Monday Challenge which had a Love theme using more than one heart and the blog hop where there are loads of prizes up for grabs.  To qualify for a prize you must enter the challenge and comment on all the DT blogs.

Thanks for looking!

Paula. x

Joanna Sheen Daisy and Friends CD

Hiya everyone,

I have a Joanna Sheen sample that I made for the launch of the new Daisy and Friends CD rom last week.  It is a fab CD full of digi images both pre-coloured and black and white for you to colour yourself.  It also has some fab papers on it too!  It's such great value for £9.99 and is avaiable here with free P+P at Joanna Sheen.

Apologies again for the naff piccies but I'm still using my mums old camera till I buy a new one after mine died.  The image I printed onto elegance satin cardstock so I could colour it in with my promarkers.  I added a little sakura clear glaze pen over the strawberries in the basket which made them "pop".  The red gingham papers are off the CD rom and the large heart doilies I bought from poundland.  These were really good value but are only good on 8x8 cards due to their size.  The sentiment I did on the computer - I think the font is "Clear typewriter" which is a freebie download
here.   I added a few wooden ladybirds as I thought they'd make a change from flowers.

Thanks for looking!

Paula. x

WNOYWW - What's not on your workdesk wednesday!

Hiya everyone,

I have just been having a giggle on facebook with some crafty friends about the state of my craftroom as I said it would be easier for me to post What's NOT on my workdesk wednesday rather than the What's on your workdesk wednesday. 

Anyhoo, after everybody saying that their crafty areas were a mess too, I said I thought mine would win as it's a right old state at the moment.  The piccie above is actually from a few weeks ago and although I have tided up since it does look pretty much the same.  I always think that I'll tidy it when I finish my samples but then I receive more stuff for more samples and then I never end up tidying it.  Usually, when I lose my bigshot under all the piles of stuff I know it's time to get a black bag from the kitchen and have a clear out.  I do try and tidy up as I go along, and I do try to throw my DST backings in the bin next to me but after about half an hour everything ends up on the floor!

At lot of people ask me how I manage to fit in all that I do.  It seems that it's because I am very messy and don't have a tidy craft space!  It's definately a work in progress! Lol

Thanks for looking!!!

Paula. x

February candy

Hiya everyone,

This months candy is this gorgeous Martha Stewart "bunnies in the grass" border punch.  This I bought especially to give away as lush candy for you all.  It will be perfect for all your easter and springy cards that will be coming up!

As usual, to be with a chance of winning you must become a follower of my blog, pop a piccie of my candy on your sidebar and add your name to my Mr Linky below!

My candy is open to anywhere in the world so pop your name down!!!!

Thanks for looking!!!

Paula. x

January Blog Candy winner!

Hiya Everyone,

Just a quick post to announce the winner of my fab DCWV candy.  The lucky lady who has won these 2 fab paperstacks using random.org is

Claire

who I'm kinda horrified to see has the same blog background as me!!! Aghhh - I thought I was the only one!!!  Lol  I'll have to keep my eyes open for another one now!!!

Well done Claire!!! If you send me an e-mail to cheeky_monkey_24@hotmail.com with your details, I'll get your prize out to you!  

Be sure to check back and join my february candy when I post it shortly!

Thanks for looking!!!

Paula. x

Joanna Sheen "Love is in the air" Challenge

Hiya everyone,

Well, I've had a fabulous year so far - 2 new DT positions (one of which is still a secret!), my hubby got a new job (after being made redundant in November) and I was asked by the lovely people at DCWV (yes, really!) if I would review some of their products if they sent me some stuff to try.  I have loads of their products anyway so it took me all of a nanosecond to say yes!

Apologies for the naff piccies but my camera died and I am still using my mums old one till I decide what to buy!

I'm still pinching myself as a lot has happened to me and my family in the last few weeks and (so far,) all for the better.

Anyhoo, I have today my February challenge card at the Joanna Sheen Challenge blog.  The theme this month is

"Love is in the air"

Cheesy as hell, but who cares? Lol  You can enter as many times as you like, with any image as long as it fits the theme.  Each month there is a randomly picked £30 Joanna Sheen gift voucher up for grabs as well as a DT picked top 3 and a coveted guest designer spot.  I hope to see you all take part!

The image I have used here is a gorgeous JS House Mouse image called "chocolate heart" which you can find here.  I have coloured the image with my promarkers and added a little glossy accents to the noses.  The papers are from DCWV and are from 2 different paperstacks.  One is a smooth coated cardstock in brights and the other is a glitter cardstock also in brights.  My inspiration for the card was the purple quality street so I was drawn to these lovely cadbury purple colours that I mixed with chocolate brown.  The paperstacks were both 6.5x4.5 which isn't my favourite size as it does limit the size of cards I can make as I obviously can't make a 6x6 square card without cutting them up if that makes sense.  For this reason I decided to have 3 thin strips of purple card, 2 smooth and 1 glittered.  The quality of these papers is amazing - I almost used an embossing folder on the smooth cardstock but decided against it so that there was a bigger difference between the glittered and the smooth cardstock.    

For the scalloped edge I used my new scalloped edgabilities that I bought a while ago but have been too busy to try.  It worked really well.  I am really fed up that most of my pretty Martha Stewart punches won't cut through different types of cardstock - especially as they're not cheap! Grrrr!

The sentiment I did on the computer  and made into a small tag.  the font is "clear typewriter" which is one of my favourites and is a free download available here.  The ribbons and pearls are from my crafty stash and the chocolate charm is from a lot I got ages ago on ebay.

I will enter this into the passion for promarkers challenge - New beginnings (new love)

Thanks for looking!!!

Paula. x