Mavis wearing holly.........

Good morning, hope you're having a good one. I have another Christmas card for you today.......do you think you might be sick of them by December?

At home the other night, I had the urge to colour, like.....right.....now, so I grabbed the first rubber stamp (yes...rubber!) I could lay my hands on and coloured away. This doesn't happen very often with all the digi's around - my stamps only get dusted off occasionally. Anyhow, the stamp in question happened to be one of my old faves from Stamping Bella......Mavis wearing holly..........


I think Mavis is one of the sweetest looking puddy cats around.

She's coloured with Copic's and has a touch of glitter on there, as well as a little Sakura Glaze pen on the holly berries.


Papers are from the Authentique 6"x6" Christmas pad, with a little inking, pearls and a holly sticker from Martha Stewart. Trim has been reached for many times from my stash. The sentiment is another $1.50 stamp from Michael's.



I thought as I'd dusted off one of my Stamping Bella stamps, I should make the effort and enter this weeks Bellarific Friday - something else I haven't done for quite some time, so the card layout is based on this weeks sketch challenge.

Enjoy the rest of your day.....I may see you again Friday if I'm behaving myself!

Ttfn
Jayne.x.
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Challenges entered:
Clear It Out Challenge Blog - Trims
Frosted Designs - Fancy Trim
KB Cute Monday - #31 Anything Goes
Whoopsi Daisy Challenge - Free and Easy
Stamping Bella Bellarific Friday - Sketch

First of many?

So another absent blogging week, mainly due to the fact that our household is fighting the incredibly annoying, and terribly persistent cold bug. We have an extremely efficient 'tag team' within the family, to ensure there's a continuous stream of coughing fits during the PM hours! Anyhow, I finally managed to scrape together at least one card this week, just in time for this weeks Bellarific Friday over at the Stamping Bella blog.

The challenge this week was a sketch............

.............so I thought I'd take the opportunity and make a Christmas card, especially as I haven't started making any yet (cue the blog post title!). Also, it gave me the opportunity to ink up my new 'Mavis wearing Holly' stamp I bought a few weeks ago. So here she is, the super festive, super sparkly...........Mavis...........

I took a few shots of this card, cause I'm not sure if you can tell that I cut the front in half diagonally. Here's the inside view..............

..............and of course there is lots of sparkly glitter, glossy accents and glaze pen going on, so here's a close up of that...........

The DP's on here, are from the Imaginisce 'Cottage Christmas' line, together with red cardstock from Martha Stewart. Mavis is coloured of course, with my Prisma pencils.....no Copics on here as there is no 'skin' present! There's also ultra fine glitter on her dress, glossy accents on the sprigs of holly and a touch of glaze pen on her nose. A new 'Eyelet Circle' Nestie works a treat in the center there (love it!), and some red ribbon and an abundance of faux stitching, finishes the job.

She will of course be entering some other challenges, but my throat now requires some TLC.........i.e. a cup of coffee, so I'll be back later with some hopefuls.

Hope you have a 'cough, sniff, croak, sneeze' free week!

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So here are the challenges Mavis will be joining:

Sweet Stampin Challenge Blog - #48 Ribbon

Gingerloft Challenge - #4 Winter

Pear Tree Designs - #22 Free For All

Meljens Designs Challenges and Inspiration - #30 Anything Goes

Delightful Challenges - It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Southern Girls Challenge - #4 Glitter

Totally Gorjuss - #53 Sparkle

Have a great weekend...........see ya Sunday for a new OSAAT challenge.

My little cherry blossom.........

OK, so when you scroll down to view my card today, for the 'green fingered' amongst us..........I know......... I'm pretty sure the flowers are not actually cherry blossoms! The blog post title is staying 'as is' though, mainly because I couldn't think of anything else that was suitably oriental and sweet! Shall I get on with it?

It was Bellarific Friday yesterday (I'm only one day late!), over at the Stamping Bella blog, and the theme this week was to dust off, and show some love to those 'Ketto' stamps. This gave me the perfect opportunity to go part with some $$$$ and buy a new one. Now Ketto's always trigger an Oriental theme in my brain, and the stamp I've used here - Ginger Ketto was no exception. So here she is...........Miss Ginger Ketto...........

I like this card and I think I've finally figured out, that whenever I pair a colour with black..........it's instant satisfaction!
So, of course she is coloured with Prisma's and a little Copic marker on her face. You probably can't tell from the photograph, but there is a little glitter on her dress, and I used a clear Sakura Glaze pen to highlight her eyelashes, and the little black dots around her head. I sponged around the image with a Cat's Eye Chalk Ink and used my lurvly new lacy square Nestie again (still love it!). There is some white handmade paper under there to create a little texture, and I took the plunge and parted with another of my very favourite Prima felt flower stems.........I only have one left from my pack of 3, which lucky project gets graced with it's presence? I will digress here and show you the first card, using contestant #1 from my Prima flower stem pack..........my Mom's Birthday card, back in the summertime (prior to my launch into blogging).............

...........the outside.......... .............and inside.............

Another Oriental card but this time using a Mo Manning image.

Anyhoooooo..........back to my original conversation. I added a couple of Prima flowers on there with a little bling, some white coloured 'hemp' and those very cute heart shaped stick pins. DP is from a 'freebie' pack (included with a magazine) from Kate Knight.

This little lady will be heading into the following challenges:

Paper Cutz Challenge - #63 Anything Goes

Gingerloft Challenge - #3 All that glitters or blings

The ABC Challenge - F is for Flowers

The Sisterhood of Crafters - All things known as bling

My Partner In Crafting Crime - #13 Shine on you crazy diamond

Craftalicious Challenges - #10 Anything Goes

Our Creative Corner - Use at least 3 embellishments

Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge - #105 Oriental

Totally Gorjuss - #52 Pink

See you tomorrow with a new OSAAT challenge.

Happiness is...........

Oooh, have I been a bad blogger this week? Yes, absolutely, but that's not to say I haven't been crafting away.....I've actually been pretty productive, but just didn't get the time to actually post something! Anyhow, thought I'd better make at least a quick effort today, followed by another tomorrow, and most definitely on Sunday for my OSAAT DT creation.
On with today, it is of course Bellarific Friday over on the Stamping Bella blog, which means efforts have to be made by myself in honour of one of my fave stamp stores (the actual rubber, touchy, feely, squishy in your hand kind of stamp that is!). So this weeks theme is 'Fall', not necessarily a Fall stamp, but definitely the colours associated with. Here's my attempt using 'Savvy Shoppabella'..................

Now, whilst I was making this card, I didn't feel too happy with it........don't know why, but now that it's finished, I'm fairly pleased, just not 100%. Maybe it's the fact that I finally used the last of my very 'purdy shiny ribbon' (sniff)......aahhhh, she served me well!(lol).

I coloured of course with my Prisma pencils and a touch of Copics for skin, used my new 'lacy square' Nestie (love it!), a Fiskars border punch, a chipboard leaf (covered with cardstock and inked) and DP's are from the Apple Cider line from Imaginisce. I finished with a little faux stitching.

Bella will be shopping her way into the following challenges:

Sentimental Sundays - #23 Autumn or Fall

Stamptacular Sunday Challenge - #79 Layer it on (at least 5 layers)

Kaboodle Doodles Challenge Blog - #41 Celebrate the colours of Fall

Cute Card Thursday - #133 Make your own(embellishments)

Charisma Cardz Challenges - #40 Autumn

Crafty Sentiments Designs Challenge Blog - #38 Autumn or Fall colours

Stampin For The Weekend - Challenge 48 Autumn Inspiration

Craftalicious Challenges - #9 Autumn/Harvest Festival

Have a great weekend.

You are fabulous, darling!

Oh, do I love today's card? I'm not sure why exactly. Maybe it's because I've been itching to ink up the new stamp I bought with my winnings, from Stamping Bella. Or, that I've been waiting for an image to shout 'aqua' so that I can sharpen those two shades of said colour, that have been sitting, ignored, for weeks! I think the main reason is that I am just pleased as punch with how it turned out. Here she is, from the collection of Lulu stamps.......Ida......

Now, you can't really tell from the photo, but this fine lady has just the right amount of glitter to make her sparkle. Here's a closer look........

Don't you just love those glasses......Dame Edna Everidge.....remember her/him (whatever!)? Anyhow, I thought I'd hunt down a sketch challenge, so the layout for this card is based on a sketch by Ger over at Sunday Sketch and Stamp, for challenge #37. She will of course, also be making an appearance on Bellarific Friday for this weeks 'stitching' challenge (faux or the real thing!). I'll let you into a little secret.....I had every intention of doing my bestest, proper sewing on this card, but got so carried away with the excitement of creating.......I stuck it all together and forgot! It wasn't until I was uploading the photo to my PC, that I realised what the challenge actually was. Hence.......out came my fine line brown marker and ruler......'faux' stitching it is!

Ida was coloured with the usual Prisma pencils and Copics for skin. I did colour over her hair with a black marker, to ensure it was evenly inked. I also glittered parts of her parasol, dress and flowers with superfine glitter.

She will also be sashaying her way, cause I can't imagine her doing anything else, into the following challenges:

The Pink Elephant - challenge #84 the colour aqua, DP and embellishments of your choice

Sweet Stampin Challenge Blog - #44 Stitching

The Crafty Calendar Challenge - #12 Blue and flowers

Little Red Wagon - #47 Glitter

Creative Inspirations - challenge #79 Use 2 or more stamped images

Thanks for stopping by.

Au naturale?

OK, I know my French is despicable, so I apologize for the title........no idea if it's spelt remotely as it should be! So why attempt it, I hear you ask.........well, there is a reason as to why this phrase was running through my muddled brain, whilst I was creating this card. I'm hoping all will become clear when you see............miss Ivy Ketto! Here she is..........

It's Bellarific Friday today over at Bloggabella, which means I finally got to ink up one of my new stamps I won recently, from Stamping Bella. The challenge this week was a sketch by the lovely Lindabella (great!), and I knew that once I'd stamped this little lady, I wanted her and the card to be very......organic. So, out came the browns, greens, yellows.....Prisma's of course, and you know the drill - a touch of Copics for skin. The DP's are from Basic Grey's Origins line (perfect!), together with some Kraft paper. I also used some flowers I've had forevah, which have, I think a rafia type of stuff on there, and a wooden beaded flower I stuck on top of an inked die cut. I used natural hemp instead of ribbon and the sentiment came as a 'no brainer' so this turned into a 'Congrat's' type of card.

I was also inspired by another perfect little challenge over at The Shabby Tea Room - challenge #27 calls for Fresh Living and has a photo of 'greenery' for inspiration.

Ivy will also be entered into the following:

Lexi's Creations - #22 Flower Power
Totally Gorjuss - #47 Flowers

Don't forget tomorrow is 'Sneak Peak' day over at OSAAT challenge blog so drop in for your chance to win some goodies.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend.

My 'girl' lollipop........

........'you make my heart go giddy up'..........anyone singing along yet?

Well, my DD, my youngest, my 'baby' is starting Kindergarten (sniff!), so things are going to be a little different in our house. Oh, what shall I do with this extra time? My hubby is probably hoping I will clean (LOL), but let's not be too drastic here! I read a quote once, which I have kind of adopted as my own, "Housework is not harmful to your health...........but why take the risk?" Personally, aside from the emotional tug of missing my little shadow, I am secretly looking forward to.........oh, I don't know...........using the bathroom without an audience whilst having to uphold my end of the conversation!

Anyhow, shall I get to the point here......please do! I made a card, of course, to wish her a very happy, mega exciting first day. Here she is..........Ella Lollipop...........

Gotta love da Lollipop's, created of course by the talented Lori Boyd (I may have mentioned that before!). You can find a fair few of the Lollipop's in rubbah over at Stamping Bella, which leads me nicely into my next topic...........challenges.

For Bellarific Friday this week over at Bloggabella, the theme is 'back to school'..........worked out nicely! I'll also be entering this into the following:

Creative Card Crew - Back to school

The Pink Elephant - #83 Back to school

Meljens Designs - #24 Back 2 school

Do ya see a trend here?

Now for the 'deets'. I coloured with my Prisma's and Gamsol, DP's are from Martha Stewart, the notepaper, which I attacked with an EK Success punch, is from Jenni Bowlin and the school bus is a We R Memory Keepers stamp (from their awesome 'Show and Tell' line). The chipboard letters, which I covered with DP, are from my stash and I hand drew the smoke shaped sentiment.

I think we've covered everything..........except, I forgot to mention the other day, the blog candy that is up for grabs until 4th October, over on the OSAAT challenge blog. If you click on the sweet, chocolaty link in my sidebar at the right, you'll find all the details.

Big hugs, and plenty of Kleenex go out to all the Mommies (and Daddies), waving off their kidlets this week.!

The cat's out of the bag..........

.........literally! I've been a little busy the last couple of days, working on a card for my new DT duties, so I can't show you that yet.....you'll have to wait til Sunday for the new challenge at OSAAT. However, I did manage to get a little something finished in plenty of time for Bellarific Friday, over at Stamping Bella. The theme this week was to include any of our 4 legged (or otherwise!) friends. Hence the title of this post........here is one uncooperative cat.......

I dug into my craft paper and did a little paper piecing on the paper bag, therefore I'll also be entering this into the challenge over at the Simon Says Stamp challenge blog, which is of course.......paper piecing.

The last challenge this will be heading into is #127 over at Cute Card Thursday - Dieing for a punch! No dies, punches, die cutting/embossing machines allowed, which means........NO NESTIES!! Aaaaaargh! My card was feeling a little naked I have to say, but, I guess it's good to 'detox' occasionally! Oh, before anyone asks.....no I did not use a corner rounding punch.......just good old fashioned scissors...... (or scrapbooking 90's style, if you prefer!).

I coloured what little there was with Prisma's and Gamsol and DP's are from Basic Grey Max and Whiskers line......what else?

'Bee' Happy........

..........well, I did 'chill' for a day.....til I remembered it was Bellarific Friday over at the Stamping Bella blog, and I hadn't 'created' anything. So, after a few rants yesterday to try and get the kiddie winks to clear away the endless supply of clutter, and give me 5 minutes peace (never gonna happen!), I finally came up with something............

This is Lizzie, another of Lori Boyd's cute little 'Lollipop's' which you can find over at Stamping Bella. The challenge this week was a sketch...... gotta love em! Takes the guess work out of layouts which means I get more time to play. I've also decided I do love black matting....black and red, black and yellow......who cares, it just looks so sharp.

I coloured with Prisma's/Gamsol with a touch of Copic's for skin, and used some great DP's from October Afternoon. This was the first time I tried to cut with a 'Nestie' and have part of the image protruding from the edge. I just about succeeded, but maybe next time I'll try with something a little more substantial, instead of two antennae!

Anyhow, that's it for now. I'll leave you with the words from the song that has been running through my head since I started colouring this card......

'Don't worry.......Be Happy'

...........I promise you'll be humming it for the rest of the day!

Bling it on...........

Red, white and black..........I love this combination of colours on a card, so when I saw the Bellarific Friday challenge this week, to add 'bling' to your project, I knew instantly that this is what I'd use. Introducing 'Billboardabella'.............


I love this stamp (which you can find over at Stamping Bella obviously) as it comes with 6 different sentiments and is therefore pretty versatile.

I coloured with Prisma pencils and Gamsol, sponged 'chalk ink' around the image as per usual, and added red ultra fine glitter to the heart and billboard, which I'd stamped separately, then 'popped' from the card - those ancient decoupage scissors are coming in pretty handy! The red DP is from Martha Stewart and the 'newsprint' DP, which is one of my favouritest papers evah (!!!!!), is from 7 gypsies. The added extra bling comes via the rhinestones and beaded flower, from my stash, and a little 'faux' stitching rounds it off.

Yep........I'm lovin' it!

Somebunny loves you........

I tried my hand at something new this week.....paper piecing......ever tried it? I have done various things on cards which I guess would qualify, but I've never actually stamped an image and paper pieced together. Not anymore! The challenge at Stamping Bella's Bloggabella this week was paper piecing (I wonder how many times I can say that phrase within a post before it gets annoying!). So, I set to work with scissors and craft knife in hand and came up with this.....


This is Presley, one of Lori Boyd's Lollipop images and she really is a sweetie. I used two DP's for the bodice and skirt of the dress and I have to say, I'm lovin' the look it creates. The technique is definitely a little "fiddly" on something this tiny, but once I'd ditched my craft knife for a pair of teeny tiny decoupage scissors (I've had stashed away for the past fifteen years) things got easier. I love how she turned out, so me thinks I will be trying this again sometime soon.

I coloured mainly with Copic markers and just a tiny bit of Prisma pencils. I also added a touch of glitter to her dress, and two spots of Liquid Pearls for the buttons. The DP's are Kioshi from Basic Grey together with BoBunny's Double Dot cardstock.

I think this is my latest favourite card........for now!

Summertime..........

The challenge over at Stamping Bella this week was a sketch....wooooo hoooooo........that makes it easier on my brain. I decided to use one of the Turtle Tots. Aint she sweet...makes me want to run out for ice-cream.

I coloured her up using Prisma pencils and used leftover scraps of PP from the We R Memory Keepers 72 and Sunny line.......love that range of papers. That together with some fake paper pierced stitching, a couple of 'Nesties', a brad and some epoxy letters I've had in my stash forever......we're done.