Agapanthus

It's been a while since I just made a card, not for a DT project or a specific person in mind, but the other day I had time so I did!

Think I'm inspired by all the lovely images in the new Ooh La La CD - The Paula Oakley Collection.  There are so many gorgeous images on that CD, and I never realised they were all hand painted by Paula.  Well I never really stoped to think about it actually, but when you do, you realise just how lovely they are!

So starting at the beginning of the CD, with the very first image, I chose Agapanthus - a gorgeous purple flower which was great fun to layer up in decoupage.

Backing papers were also off the CD - and look - an insert too - all printed to match the papers used and you guessed it, off the CD!

The card was then finished with lace and pearls and will be entering the following challenges;

CD Sunday - Purple Crazy
Fantastic Tuesday - Pearls
Creative Moments - Anything Goes
Wonderful Wednesdays - Anything Goes
Everybody Art Challenge - Pearls (320)
Card Mania - Flowers
Woopsie Daisy - Flowers
The Corrosive Challenges - Floral Frenzy

Orders for this CD can be placed on the Ooh La La website here.

Words To Inspire

Happy New Year everyone, wishing you all good health and happiness in 2015.

and to start the New Year, I have a bit of news for you...

I've been so excited to tell you this but I had to stay quiet about it till today, but now I can let the cat out of the bag (so to speak) and tell you all that I've now joined the Ooh La La Design Team!

Anne asked me at the end of last year, and because I so enjoyed working as a guest for them last Summer, I said yes!  Thank you so much ladies - it's a real pleasure to join you.

To open with the new challenge as been set by Wynn as

Words To Inspire

So I grabbed my "Say It With Words"  CD and out popped this card!

The image is called Be Strong, and the papers used are off the CD too.  Now I know I've said this before, but I can't stress enough, use good quality paper in your printer when running off DP's - normal printer stuff is so much inferior - well the stuff we have is!

Challenges;
Crafty Catz - Anything Goes
Polkadoodle - Tic Tac Toe - Sentiment/Image/DieCut
Crafters Cafe - New - New DT & New CD image & papers
Wordart Wednesday - Anything Goes

So that's my take on things.  You have 2 weeks to join us and if you need further inspiration, check out the main Ooh La La blog where the rest of the DT have made some real beauties and you can also read details of the prize up for grabs.  Jx

Say It With Words

Do You Want To Build A Snowman?

I watched Frozen last weekend with my nieces, and we had a good giggle at the various funny bits.  Still to watch Brave with them, so that's lined up hopefully for the next sleep over.

So obviously my title came from Frozen, and my card from Ooh La La - Say It With Words.

Everything apart from the ribbon came from the CD.

Sorry I'm not round much just now, Dec is a busy month with work and I also have an exam in a couple of weeks time. Jx

Challenges;
Glitter n Sparkle - Add Some Snow
Ooh La La - Christmas
My Time To Craft - Snowmen
Crafty Catz - Anything Goes

Winter's Coming

Dare to be different?

Well Judith certainly was when she picked the theme for the latest challenge over at Moving Along With The Times, she's gone with...

Winter is coming 

or

Any Game of Thrones themed card!

Now as I've never watched Game of Thrones, I really couldn't go down that route, but I can do winter and for us that usually means a great big dollop of snow!

So for today's card I've gone back to Ooh La La and a Winter image I won last month.  I've kept my card simple and just glittered up the centre oval, nothing too technical here, but I am pleased with the end result so think a few more of these will be made this year.

The above pic gives you a better idea of the colours, but the image is kinda lost under the glitter and flash. Below is a pic with the flash off - a bit dark but you can see the lovely image better!

The card is finished with bakers twine and more of those gorgeous LOTV tags that Debs introduced me too!

Challenges;
Crafty Bloggers Network - Christmas
Crafty Cardmakers - Die cutting or punching - die cut oval
Allsorts - Christmas
Little Claires - Christmas
Party Time Tues - Anything Goes
The Stamping Chef - Anything Goes
Crafting For All seasons - Tags - do little ones count?
Fab n Funky - Christmas
Paper Shelter Challenge - Christmas

Tidy Up Time!

Now this is clever - I'm having a tidy - but I'm tidying my craft room.  In particular my desk.  So what better way to tidy up the pre-coloured images than to stick them on a card!  How clever am I???

So I've had this image layered up for weeks now & the co-ordinating paper printed, all that was needed was a bit of taping & sticking and then...Ta-Da...

My card!

All the bits except the ribbon and the LOTV tags are off the Ooh La La CD - Say It With Words.  Slowly but surely I'm working my way through this disc and already I can see it was an excellent buy!  Will have to do some of the Christmas ones soon too.

Challenges;
Ooh La La - Inspired by Nature
Creative Card Crew - Bows
Fan-tastic Tues - Anything goes with flowers
Party Time Tues - Anything Goes
Crafty Ribbons - Tags & ribbons

Right, back to the HW and the rest of the house, lol!

"P" for...

For those of you who have visited my blog earlier today, looking for my MAWTT card apologies! Let's start a fresh with the post as it should have gone out in an ideal world!

Today Moving Along With The Times celebrates it's 5th Birthday, so as well as having a challenge we are also having a blog hop with loads of great prizes up for grabs.

Firstly our challenge theme;

Birthdays Buttons & Bows

And if you make us a card you could win a fabulous prize from one of our great sponsors who are listed on the main blog.  The DT have also tried to use sponsor items where possible, so I am show casing the fabulous Ooh La La Creations and files from their new "Say it With Words" CD.

My card is made using items from the Time Spent With Cats folder - which I just love!

Ribbon, buttons pearls & punches are from my my cluttered desk!

Now for those of you following the blog hop as well, you'll know by now you are collecting letters - my letter is

 P for Promarkers

so can you guess my prize?

Yup its a fantastic set of the new limited edition Summer Pens - 12 Promarkers + Blender.

Now you should have come here from Wendy and after me head over to Debs , if you get lost along the way, head back to our main MAWTT page.  There you'll also find all the rules and what to do with the blog hop word/phrase you have made.

Finally, for those here earlier - the shower room is now done - and looking rather nifty too! Jx

Challenges;
Delightful Challenges - Seize the daisies - Yellow/white/flowers
Southern Girls - Punches & Die Cuts - Punched border, die cut banner
Little Red Wagon - Animal - cats
Simon Says Stamp - Anything Goes
Fantastic Tuesday - Anything Goes
Party Time Tuesday - Anything Goes
Bunny Zoe's Crafts - Layers
Cutie Pies - Cute & Girls

Let Them Eat Cake

Morning everyone and welcome to a new challenge over at Ooh La La Creations Blog Today the challenge theme is

Let Them Eat Cake

and I was given super files from the CD Everyday Occasions - "Have Your Cake"  to play with.  Now after much pondering, I decided to go with this mousey image and decoupage again.  And having tried both silicon glue and 1mm pads on previous cards and I decided I liked the thin pads best. 

I didn't use any design papers this time around - I preferred the white background to show off the  image, and I finished the card off with a retro border and a big die cut flower.  The sentiment comprises of two LOTV tags.

So, above you can see the whole card, and below, a shot of all my lovely decoupaged layers, which after a bit of jigging lined up quite nicely!

Challenges:
A Girl Who Crafts - Anything Goes
The Stamping Boutique - Card for a Child
4 Krafty Girlz - Anything Goes
Papercrafting Journey - Anything Goes
Diva's By Design - 3 or more layers

Also, I'd just like to say a huge thank you to Anne and the rest of the DT for allowing me to guest design with them.  Anyone who follows my blog will know I'm a stamper through & through, But I have to admit, I've loved the change from stamping whilst I've worked with the decoupage images sent to me... so much so, I've ordered the new CD called "Say It With Words" - available here.

And finally - The Aberdeen Race For Life
My race was yesterday, and hopefully by today, Colin will have managed to stick on some photo's to this post.  In total, I managed to raise a fantastic £150 with all the help I got from my fabulous sponsors - huge thank you to everyone who supported me.  My just giving link is still top right on my blog, if you want to read all my great comments - loved them all too and they really spurred me on. Jx

Male/Father's Day

Today I am delighted to announce that I am Guest Designer for Oh La La Creations for the month of June and that today see's the start of a new challenge.  (Thank you so much Anne for asking me onto the team, I'm loving working with your files.)

The theme is

Male/Father's Day

So I think we'll see loads of entries this time around.

For my card, I used files from two different CD collections by OLL.

My first card is made from items off the Boys To Men CD - available here.  The sentiment was computer generated and a few extra die cuts were added.  The image is a gorgeous harbour scene which I love.  The layers on this one were diamond cut and stuck together with tape.  Papers were also from the CD.

Next I worked with the Shaun Jenkins Collection - Garden Shelf and a lovely bright bird box image.  Again decoupaged but this time in rectangles and set up on foam pads.

I made both cards just to play around with the decoupage technique then didn't know which one to use, so I've included both!

Now if like me, you've never crafted from a CD before please give it a try.  Before I started on my cards, I asked around and googled things, and if you're interested, see the post below for tips on working from a CD.

Finally for anyone interested, the super new OLL "Say It With Words" CD launches today on Create & Craft at 3pm.  Think I'll be watching that one and perhaps some of you may wish to tune in too? Jx

Challenges;
Sentimental Sunday - 210 - Anything Goes & Include a sentiment
That Crafty Place - Men
Crafty Bugs - Something for the boys
Crafting at The Weekend - Anything Goes
Digi Galore - Nautical or Blue - first card, harbour/nautical, Second Blue.
City Crafters Challenge - Nautical - Harbour Scene
Creative Card Crew - Nautical - Harbour
Papertake - Anything Goes
Hobby Cutz - 51 - Fathers Day/Masculine

Decoupage Tips

Now I am by no means an expert on working from a CD or doing decoupage, so before making my GD card for Ooh La La, I asked around a bit and looked things up.

Here are just a few of the things I found useful;

When printing images from a CD don't use too thick or absorbant a card to make cutting out easier and to save on ink.

Once your images are printed, cut then out with big scissors trying to cut whole sides in one cut (- you get a straighter edge when not doing lots of  little clips.)

When cutting out layers make sure non of the white surrounding card is visible on the cut image as it spoils the end image on the card.

Layers can be stuck together with a silicone glue or pads. I used Docrafts Stick- It glue and 1mm foam pads
- if you use deeper pads your card ends up very fat - I learned that!

Finally, you don't have to use all the layers printed if you don't want - again cards can end up too fat or too busy!

That's all I can think of  for now, but feel free to add more tips as comments and I'll add them to my post.

Jx

Wellington Bear

What a gorgeous day today is - Merlot Mogs woke me just after 6am, and I got up to brilliant sunshine, hope it lasts the day and I get out in the garden t tidy up.

So, what does one do at 6am when the rest of the house is sleeping - including said cat that just woke you? Make a card obviously, so that's what I did!

It's been ages since I did any decoupage, so I gave that a try again when I uncovered old Docrafts Wellington Bear sheets.

Papers are also by Docrafts. The punched border is by Martha Stewart and the card finished with candi and a die cut bow.

Challenges;

Ooh La La - Bears

Sketch Saturday - Sketch 311

Craftitude - Pop it Up - Add dimension

Delightful Challenges - It's a guy thing

The Paper Shelter - Manly

Con-GRAD-ulations

Here is a card I made for a friends son who has just graduated and is now a doctor - the third generation doctor in the same family - well done Cameron!

This card was made to my husband's specifications, he found the image then left the rest up to me.  The image was then printed multiple times and the various collars and tie layered up to add dimension.  the stethoscope was then given the glossy accents treatment and a real button added.  The rest of the card is plain so as not to distract from the image.

Challenges;
Crafting For All Seasons - One for the boys
Hobbycutz - Male
Joanna Sheen - Male
Pan Pastels - Male
Brown Sugar - Graduation - He graduated in MBChB
Make It Monday - Anything Goes

21st Jun
This card was a winner at Brown Sugar Challenge and the prize - 5 digi images from Eureka Stamps, thanks.

Transport

It's a busy week for me this week, I'm hosting the challenges at both of the DT's I'm on - what are the chances of that happening?  It's a bit like waiting for a bus, none coming then two at the same time!  This must have been running through my mind as I picked the theme for the new challenge at An Oldie But A Goodie as,

Transport

Now if you follow my blog, you will know that decoupage is flavour of the month with me, so this card was made using a DoCrafts Wellington kit.  As always with this challenge, you must use an item older than 6 months on your project.  In my case it's the dotty Forever Friends paper called The Good Life.  I've had it since last year.

Anyway, that was my take on the challenge, now it's over to you, but first you should check out the lovely cards made by the rest of the DT on the main blog. and check  out the prize this time around.

Challenges;
Happy Campers - Add dimension
Cutie Pie Challenge - Favourite Film - Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Lexi's Creations - Punches/ Dies - Die-Namics Retro Squares Die
The Shabby Tearoom -TSTR 160 - Beautiful Blues
There She Goes - TSG201 -Masculine

Party Frock

Another decoupage card here - told you I was on a roll.  This one is off a Papermania Docrafts sheet by Lucy Cromwell.

Papers this time from my MME pad called Everyday Flair. Sentiment PB and the die cut by Memory Box - Catalina Wreath.

Challenges;
613 Avenue Create - Anything Goes
Pile It On - Dots
Sweet Stampin - Lots of layers (The sentiment is hand stamped)
CAS-ual Friday - No stamps
Paper Pretties - Glitter - On the dress Jx

Wellington

Following on from yesterday's post, decoupage is the flavour of the month at the moment!  Here is another card I made using decoupage, but this time it was a bought sheet.

Very enjoyable to do, and it was a good starting point for the technique to use a bought sheet ahead of decoupaging a stamped image and choosing which bits to raise myself.

Challenges;
Sketch n Stash - The new is all the decoupage bits - all bought in the last month & the old is the button - bought from Elzybells just before they closed!
Happy Campers - Add dimension
Teddy Time - Have a teddy

Decoupage

Funny how I love paper-piecing and do that quite regularly, but I hardly ever do decoupage, however

Decoupage

is this weeks challenge over at MAWTT set by Kim & I have to say I'm really pleased she set it cause I've had so much fun with this technique the last few weeks!

This is the first time I've really played around with this technique since I was shown in at a class a few years ago.  Ok, so I've raised sections of images before, but not triple layered different elements of the same image to create depth, so this was a relatively new technique to me.

To start off with I had to buy the silicon glue - just bought the cheaper Do-Craft Stick-It variety, which worked well for me other than the fact I could have been doing with a narrower tip to the tube for thinner parts on the image.  (I'd be interested to hear what you guys use and what the difference is in the glue if you go for the more expensive Pinflair kind.)

So, my card... PB image, Nitwit papers by LOTV and colouring by Promarker.

The challenge this week at MAWTT is sponsored by Sir Stampalot who are offering the winner this lovely creative kit shown below, (They also have a sale on at the moment!)

So check out what the rest of the DT did here, then join us in this fantastic challenge.

Challenges;

PB@Allsorts - One For The Boys

Stamping Sensations - The Great Outdoors
Sketch n Stash - Sketch 109 - This poor stamp has been sadly neglected for over a year, shamefully I've had it that long and this is only it's first use!
Creative Card Crew - Masculine
I Love Promarkers - Anything Goes
Addicted To Stamps - Make Your Mark - I used Promarkers
Crafty Ribbons - Challenge 41 - One for the boys