Docrafts Diabolical Digi Challenge

I am so behind after a surprise visit from my sister that I should have posted three hours ago! Why is it when you decide to be good and do what you have to when you have decided you will, something steps in and it all goes to pot? It's just one of those things!

Being the new host of the Digi Challenge over on Docrafts, I decided on making a sketch and choosing a fairy theme for those interested to follow.

This is the sketch which I managed to mock up on the Paint accessory on my computer - it took me flipping ages to get anywhere near right and then trying to upload it was hard too since I had saved it as a word doc and had to convert it back to a jpeg file in order to upload it. Why do I do these things? I got the sketch from Simply Cards and Papercraft mag.

I also got the idea of the newspaper punching from the same mag and the photo does not do it justice. It really looks lacey. I used my Martha Stewart punch to cut the frill but it had a meltdown - for some reason it hates paper. I stuck some newspaper onto card to punch out the ribbon piece and it worked perfectly again!

The  fairy digi stamp is a freebie by Sharon Bennett. The sentiment is a digi from Lynne Salmon. Colour by Promarker.  Green swirly double sided backing paper and ribbon from Caroles Crafts and card candy was a gift from my crafting pal Bernadette.

The lovely thing about yesterday, in addition to my lunch with Mum, was a great big parcel of goodies from Bernadette. She is so very generous and shares loads with me - we both look for bargains and bogoffs so that we can share!

The horrid thing was going to see our prospective new car - Mr H and I noticed some discrepencies with the actual car and the description we had been given of it. We are going back tomorrow to speak to Kevan, who was off yesterday but has been dealing with us, but Mr H is not a happy bunny!

I need to do some crafting but doubt I will get much of a chance so cheerio for now,

Another Docrafts\ Clares Challenge!

At last Mr H has upgraded our broadband and wireless connection so that we won't keep crashing when the signal is weak. It was quickly installed and then, after the bloke had gone , Mr H found that there was a fault and that we could not access the internet! It's fixed now but Mr H says his brain is fried after dealing with the call centre for hours.

This is my entry for Clares Sketch Challenge [8 Feb] on the Docrafts site.

I used the Country Companions Clearstamp set again but decided on pink roses rather than red as this is for a birthday and not a valentine. The Happy Birthday sentiment stamp was from Tesco for £2 and I also managed to snag the last two Anitas Gem Wheels (3mm) for £1.50 each. I paid £3.50 for one from my local supplier before Christmas so these were a bargain. I will keep one but send one to a friend. I only went in to buy a toaster but my eyes glomed onto the craft section as I passed by, lol. I digress, surprise; the paper is from the Dovecrafts Wedding pad and I punched the pink square from cardstock with my MS round the page punch. I used my MS lace doily punch to punch the paper strip from a left-over piece of floral paper. I made the corner fastener myself just to add interest. I'm a lousy snapper; you can see the definition between the layers I.R.L.

From Saturday I am hosting the Digi Challenge on Docrafts and I have thought out a design brief so I am going to get cracking with my own card. Cheerio for now,

Totally Tilda Easter Egg Special Challenge

First let me tell you that my lovely mum enjoyed her special day yesterday and they made such a fuss of her at Fir Tree, even putting a birthday candle in her hotpot crust! She was tickled pink!

She's mugging for the camera here and she sat directly in front of the woodstove's chimney!

I was taken by surprise by the early call from the Totally Tilda Easter Egg Special Challenge but this is my entry and I have managed to include a sentiment by the talented Lynne Salmon. A link to Lynne's site is in my sidebar.

Tilda is colored with Promarkers and matted onto a flower embossed card which you cannot make out very well on this pic. I tried to distress the ribbon so it would crinkle more - I can do it to my own clothes no bother - but didn't get the effect I was aiming for, so will have to keep practising. The top sentiment is Lynne's and the bottom one is mine because the brief was the inclusion of an egg. Obviously mine had hatched, lol, and Tilda is carrying the results, so I had to add more.

Off to get a passport for New York, cheerio for now,

Slider Cards

Birdie Slider card, closed.



Birdie Slider Card, open




Hedgie Slider card, closed




Hedgie Slider, open



Just a couple of shares today as I was trying out a new technique, slider cards, which I followed from a video on Docrafts, < click to be taken to the vid. My love of anything new, to me at least, is well documented, so I had to have a go.  I get a bit daft with new folds etc and these are so effectively surprising, I made two just using bits and bobs to decorate. To be truthful, the first try was so-so (the sliding mechanism) which prompted me to try a second time. For the Birdie slider I used a set of Kars Clear Stamps to decorate and with the Hedgie slider, I used the Country Companions Clear Stamp set I won in a challenge. Coloured up with Promarkers!

It's my ma's 79th birthday today and we are going out, even Mr H, to celebrate, so will have to start now getting the slap on, if I am to look gorgeous, in time for lunch. Cheerio for now,

Kimono card, copied From Kevin (A 'Sun' Headline if ever I saw one!)

Good morning from a very gusty Merseyside. The sun is shining tho' and all looks well for a bit of shopping later on........

I have a card to share which I made for no other reason than I saw an example on Kevin's blog, click here to travel to McCrafty's blog and look at his gatefold card with insert. I have called mine a Kimono card because I covered it in paper from Dovecrafts Oriental range and used the coordinating stamps. When closed the card screamed 'kimono' and so I just had to give it a ribbon 'obi' with a beautiful coral headed pin from the Ribbon Girl. Of course the Obi would be at the back of a Kimono but I have allowed myself some poetic license.

I wish I could organise layouts on this blog but I am at the mercy of my appalling lack of comprehension regarding technology. Rubbish in, rubbish out - I know it's my fault but the harder I try, the worse it gets. The stamped images were coloured up with watercolour pencils & pens & some other markers but I feel the results are not as satisfactory as I wanted. I just feel that I rely on my Promarkers and should really try to extend my skills with other colouring mediums. I fancy trying distress inks but it may be costly and I'll have to save up.

Sorry for the abrupt departure yesterday but Morag's internet went down so she rushed here to use our wireless connection with her laptop as she has a heavy working week this week and wanted to get her cyber business sorted as she may not get the chance till next week. Our wireless connection splits the signal between users and sometimes the signal strength is weak with just me & Mr H using it and we lose connection so I shut down so that she could get onto the net and get finished before shooting off  to Mums for lunch and then to work!

Why I felt I had to explain, you can lay at the door of  'Miss Manners'! Cheerio for now,

Docrafts Challenges.

Spent yesterday afternoon stamping and masking with post-its and getting generally filthy but as I said to Bernadette, it's a good excuse for being mucky. I am generally a clumsy type; body trying to catch up with brain, brain full of cunning plans - you get the picture. I am always dishevelled but stamping makes me grubby but legitimately so. I also found that standing up to stamp gives a much better result - my back doesn't like standing still so I was up and down like a yo-yo and now my knees are pointing out just how much they don't like that sort of treatment!

I haven't made anything yet from the panels I stamped so will share two cards I made earlier for challenges on Docrafts.

This is an idea for Clares Inspiration Challenge. She asked us to take inspiration from a photograph of a station with its ironwork etc. I was in two minds about entering but when I saw this set of Kars Clearstamps in Crafts 4 U 2 Do, an idea came to me. When I was small my Mum used to take us regularly to Dunfermline to visit my Auntie Margaret. We used to go either from Waverley Station or the Haymarket. What struck me was that there were birds high up under the iron rafters and glass roofs. Birds, indoors it seemed to me, in a giant cage.

I used the stamps to heat emboss the bird and birdhouse in black and white on the opposite colour of card. I made a card blank from black card and then randomly stamped the caged bird in black ink over a slghtly smaller square of white card stock. The greeting was handmade with a black ribbon cut from the inside of one of my jumpers. (the two bits that hold the garment onto a hanger more securely) I added some decoration to the inside 'cos you can't write succesfully on black card.

This is for the Digi Challenge on Docrafts using an image and sentiment from Making Our Mark. We had a limited amount of items we could use and this is my effort!

My sister has arrived and wants to use the Internet so I will say cheerio for now,