Gift bag with a pocket

The August challenge at Get Funky is POCKETS. Well I've been thinking about this for weeks as I did want to enter but couldn't decide how to incorporate a pocket on a card that didn't look like I'd copied one of the DT's cards. Then yesterday I remembered seeing a gift bag on Di's blog 'On The Cards' and a link to a tutorial on Split Coast Stampers for a Box in a Bag so I checked it out and decided that I would make a gift bag for my entry (bag - pocket - same thing isn't it). I used the idea of starting with a shallow box, which then has the bag sides attached, but used my own measurements so that I could make the sides from a strip cut from a sheet of A4 paper. The base of my bag is 1 1/2" x 4" and measures just under 3 1/2" high (excluding the handles). I really enjoyed making this lovely little bag but then began to doubt whether it would qualify as a pocket, so to make doubly sure I added a pocket to the front. I was on a roll then so a strap came next then 'hammered metal' reinforcements created by embossing silver mirri card with a cuttlebug folder, then faux stitching on the pocket. When using this gift bag a small gift tag could be slipped into the pocket - think I'll be making some more of these in different colour combinations.

DP - Funky Hand 'Dreams come True'
Darkness Lifts collection
printed on 160g paper
(different design printed on inside)

Silver Mirri card - from stash
embossed with Cuttlebug 'Mesh' folder

Thanks for looking, please leave a comment so that I know you visited.

Hugs,
Lynn x

Penny Black Saturday Challenge

This card was made for the Penny Black Saturday Challenge ... Week 115, which had a sketch to follow. I've stuck quite close to the sketch, which was a problem as I don't have any oval dies, but I got my 'thinking cap' on ond found a way around the problem. I drew a double oval in 'Paint', printed it onto card then cut it out by hand ... I 'm quite pleased with the result. The image is from a sheet of Stickeroos that I've had for ages (Young Things #10-193) I bought a few sheets before I had any Penny Black stamps but this is the first time I've actually used one. The backing paper was received with some Blog Candy so I don't know the manufacturer, ribbon and buttons from my craft box and Prima flowers which were white but have been coloured with ProMarkers then finished with punched flowers and gems.

Thanks for looking.

Hugs,
Lynn x

Winter Greetings

The theme of the week 65 challenge at Passion for ProMarkers is 'Winter blue' so I decided to make this card with just the winter greetings and not specifically as a Christmas card. Now the new challenge starts tomorrow (or should I say today) at 9 am so I am very late posting this but it's been a busy week and then tonight when I tried to get this card finished I had problems with my snowflakes ... or should that be ice crystals. The Cuttlebug die and matching embossing folder were bought before christmas last year and didn't get used much ... now I remember why. Everytime I attempted to cut the shape, parts of it didn't cut through completely, with an extra layer of card it was better but still not cut through properly in the middle. Much wasted card later I gave up and finished a few of them with my scissors (if I wanted to cut snowflakes by hand I wouldn't have bought the die) but after using the embossing folder they looked fine and didn't look like they had been cut by hand. Next problem was the spray adhesive I used to hold the glitter ... not holding would be more accurate as it seems to be falling off, but by this time I had had enough so they will have to do for now, I may take them off and re-do them tomorrow. The stamp was borrowed from a friend and as it's unmounted I don't know who the maker is. The papers were designed by Martine McKnight and are part of a kit that is free to download but I'll have to add the link later.

Card is smooth white base 6" square

Stamp - Unknown make
coloured with ProMarkers
Blush, Pastel Pink, Berry Red, Grass,
Pastel Blue, Cornflower & China Blue

DP - 'Winter Wonderland' by Martne McKnight

Die/Embossing folder - Cuttlebug 'Ice Crystal'

Sentiment stamps - Stampendous from 'Snowy Short Stacks'

Icicle Sticker - Starform

Thanks for looking.

Hugs,
Lynn x

Birthay card for my son

Todays card was made for my son for his 15th birthday. He plays cricket at our local club, and his team have been very successful this year, so the card from his dad and me had to have a cricket theme. This set of stamps was bought with him in mind but I'm sure it will get used for others too as there is also a footballer and various sentiments.
I'm entering it into this weeks challenge at Cards for Men which is Challenge no 17 - Decoupage. It's A5 size and though not very clear on the photos, several of the elements were stamped twice and attached with Pinflair Glue Gel to add dimension - cap, shirt, gloves, bat, pads and shoes, in addition to the pads in the bottom corner and several of the balls. I don't think Alex realises that there are actually 15 cricket balls on this card - one for every year - I did this rather than spoil the layout by adding a number 15. The club colours are red and black so I was made up when I managed to find this paper - I think it looks quite crickety (is that a real word).

Stamp - It's a Man's World by Clare Curd
from 'For the Love of Sport' set
coloured with ProMarkers
Striped DP - Kirsty Wiseman
Sentiments - Papermania Peel Offs

Thanks for looking,

Hugs,
Lynn x

50th Birthday Card in Red

Not a challenge card this time. A colleague asked me to make a 50th birthday card for her friend Jan, who loves the colour red and lives on a farm. Well after a bit of puzzling (quite a lot really) over various animal stamps, I couldn't find one that I was happy with so I abandoned that idea and returned to this layout that I have used before. I went with the red idea and used DP's from Pink Petticoat but looking at it now I think I may have gone overboard with the colour. I'm not entirely happy with the striped paper either ... would have prefered thinner stripes ... but this was the only one I could find. The rubber stamp is by Dimension Fourth and shows a mouse in a champagne glass ... they probably have got mice on the farm though I doubt they give them champagne to drink. The card is A5 size and finished with a length of red ribbon, wine bottle charm and a few clear gems.

Items Used

Stamp - Dimension Fourth
coloured with ProMarkers
Papers - Pink Petticoat
Ribbon - Ribbon Oasis
Silver card/Charm - from stash
Gems - Anitas
Fiskars Threading Water punch
Nestabilities
Number Dies - Hippy Chick

Thanks for looking.

Hugs,
Lynn x

FEELING FRUITY

The Penny Black Saturday Challenge ... Week 114 - is FEELING FRUITY

After a look through my PB stamps the only one I could find with fruit was 'Chicky Night' as one of the chicks has a cherry in her drink (a very small cherry). But not wanting to push my luck with this very tiny link to fruit, I put my thinking cap on ... could I use a fruitless image with fruit added from somewhere else ... maybe a hedgie or mouse could be made to carry a piece of fruit, or sit on a piece of fruit, or even appear out of a piece of fruit .... MAYBE NOT.
So I had to turn to my Christmas stamps and use one of the images from my 12 Days Of Christmas Transparent set. One of the DT has used this but I tried to make my card completely different so it wouldn't look like I was copying.
Unusually for me it is A6 size, I don't often make cards this small, but it's going into my 'not for special people' christmas card box ... I think I'll make a batch of these using all the other images in the set. It may not be clear from the photo but the fold is at the top, Pink Petticoat papers, sentiment printed on the pc and three extra pears for added interest.

Image - PB '12 Days of Christmas'
stamped with Versafine
coloured with Promarkers
cut with Nestabilities

Red & white card - my stash

Digital papers - Pink Petticoat

I'm off to link up now, thanks for looking,

Hugs,
Lynn x

Guys and Dolls

This card is being entered into challenge # 3 on The Stamp Man Challenge Blog which is Easel Cards - Anything Goes, and challenge # 32 at Charisma Cardz Challenges which is also Easel Cards.

I was asked to make a 'Good Luck' card for an 18 year old girl who is appearing in an amateur production of Guys and Dolls, which is a musical presented by the Palace Theatre Manchester Stage Experience. Her mum asked me to make the card but said that it shouldn't have 'Good Luck' on it as that would be bad luck, instead it should have 'Break a Leg' because that is considered to be good luck ... ???

After a search on the internet ... there are loads of images relating to different productions in different theatres in different countries over many years ... I came up with this design. The story is about gambling, hence the dice and cards, and set in New York so the gold dots represent the windows in the skyscrapers.
The base card is made from A4 black cardstock, folded to A5 size then trimmed slightly to 20cm wide and the front panel is 20cm square. The images of 'card hands' were downloaded from the internet but everything else was drawn and cut by hand. The most time consuming bit was sticking all the 'lights' on, which took ages as they were so small and kept trying to escape.

Front View

Side View

Close Up

Supplies Used
Black,White,Red,Yellow,Gold card - from stash
Gold dots - J.J.D. Cards
Circular punches
Sentiment - computer generated

Thanks for looking, thanks for any comments left and happy crafting.

Lynn x

Christening Cards

Two cards to share that I made a couple of weeks ago. I was asked to make them by a friend, for two seperate Christenings that they were invited to. Although they were for regular Church goers she didn't want them to look overly religeous so I used images from Pink Petticoat but added a jewelled cross. The images were coloured with Promarkers with the frills, bows and wheels layered on top for extra dimension. Although it's not quite clear from the pictures, the mirror card is actually silver. The names and sentiments were printed on the PC and the white ribbon was found in my ribbon box.





My friend was very happy with the finished cards and it seems that the families that they were for, were really happy to receive personalised cards (the inserts included Christening dates in addition to appropriate verses. It's nice when your efforts are appreciated - isn't it?

Thanks for looking.

Lynn x

Card for two challenges

This card was made with the Penny Black Saturday Challenge in mind but whilst doing a spot of blog hopping I came across Penny's Paper-Crafty Challenge Blog and as #35 is Anything Goes I've decided to enter it for that too.

Penny Black Saturday Challenge Week 112 - is a recipe

READY STEADY COOK

and the ingredients are

1 Circle....2 Papers and 3 Flowers

Penny's Paper-Crafty Challenge Blog - # 35 ANYTHING GOES

Image - Penny Black
coloured with Promarkers + chalks
Papers - MME 'Bloom & Grow'
Ribbon & Brads - Papermania
Flowers - Prima

The base was made from smooth white 300g cardstock and is 15cm square. I began by choosing the image then printing off two matching papers in a green & pink colour scheme. However after colouring the plantpots in terracotta, apricot and pumpkin I decided that they didn't look right with the pink so began a search for something else. Much later ... more papers out and more printed off ... I decided to use these as the colours looked better and I had flowers and ribbon to match. I'm quite pleased with the finished card and now I'm going to see what I can do with the off-cuts ... other than adding them to the ever growing pile.
Thanks for looking and please leave me a message so that I know you dropped by.

Hugs,
Lynn x