The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers Challenge #100 - N is for Naughty Christmas!

The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers are celebrating something of a milestone (Challenge #100!)  with another fun challenge!

I spotted Naughty Santa on this post from my fellow Troublemaker, Margo. I knew it was just the image I wanted for my N is for Naughty card! Santa is a clip art image, which I coloured with pencil crayons to make the colours a little more vibrant. I created the sentiment on my PC and I have to say the font looks just perfect with that image.

My Sistahs have created some brilliant cards for this challenge (we're such a naughty bunch!) so why not drop by and share a cheeky giggle with Edna and the gang!

Naughty or Nice Challenge #46 - Reminder

I just can't resist a good chuckle over Danielle's naughty kitty, which definitely has all four feet firmly planted in 'Camp Naughty'. I seriously think she should make a stamp outta this image!

My card is definitely in 'Camp Nice' for this challenge, although I have been a little bit naughty in that I've CASEd my SoSS teamie Jane's gorgeous card.

I know, lovely isn't it! How lucky (for me) that we both have the same Tim Holtz embossing folder. I added a circular MFT die-cut to make the focal point of my card and spanned the width of the card with leftover DP, rather than a stylish banner.
This design would also work well as a birthday card as those lovely people at MFT have also designed a 'Happy birthday' die-cut in the same style.

I enjoyed making this card so much that I tried it in a different colour palette.

I quite like this version, but I think the traditional colors give my first card a bit more ooomph!

The Troublemakers have whipped-up some fabulous mid-month inspiration, so why not head over and take a look? There are some beautiful cards to enjoy in the linky gallery, and we'd love you to join our final challenge of the year.

Gangnam Style!

The school at which I work is still closed due to the weather, so I'm forced to stay in the warm and make Christmas cards! Such a hard life!

Having said that, this is a card which has hopefully reached it's intended recipient by now; weather permitting that is!

I spotted this fabulous Katzelkraft stamp on their website a few weeks ago and knew it was a 'must-have'. I kept everything pretty simple and used some pretty leftover pieces of DP to frame the image.

I'm delighted to be playing along with my Creative with Stamps buddies again as their current challenge is Reindeer!

Happy crafting everyone!

2017 Winter Coffee Lover's Blog Hop!

I'm soooooooooo on a roll with my Christmas cards this year!
Not sure how, but I'm managing to squeeze in extra crafting time just lately and I'm loving it. Yesterday, I made a few more Christmas cards, including this one for the current Coffee Lovers Blog Hop.

Regular visitors won't be surprised that my card is a comic offering. I adore this little kitty from MFT and he's my 'go to' stamp for naughty, sweet goings on. The 'froth' is some ancient liquid applique which has gone too yellowy for snow,  but is perfect as the top off the coffee!

Once again, Amy Tsuruta, Chaitali Narla and the Coffee Loving Crew have a dazzling array of sponsors and prizes on offer, and the inspiration is flowing nearly as freely as the celebrated drink itself! It's already Day #3 of the hop, so I'm heading over to enjoy all the cards in the linky gallery and to join in the fun!

The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers Challenge # - V is for Vegan

It's all about animals over at The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers as we post our penultimate challenge of 2017. I love that Edna is being photo-bombed by a cute bovine buddy!

For my offering I couldn't resist breaking out another Katzelkraft cat. I think this one is so funny as it glares from behind a curtain.

As always, you'll love the snarky, funny cards created by my sistahs, so why not hurry on over and take a look...

Less is More - Red and Green

Hi there, card friends!

I don't often get the opportunity to play along at Less is More, so was delighted to squeeze in some card making time this morning to create this little CAS kitty card for their latest challenge!

I found the words on Pinterest, and used one of my all time favourite cat images from MFT. The little hat comes from the head of one of the MFT Bitty Bears.

I simply can't believe that the LIM Crew are now on Challenge #357! Brilliant work ladies, your challenges are always such fun and so inspirational!


Have a happy day!

November 2017 Card Chain Challenge Reveal

Welcome to my final CCC Reveal post for 2017. 

Here's the card I sent to Janet in Mauritius (how I wish I could have stowed away in the envelope and gone to get some sun!)

As always we had a gorgeous colour palette, which I matched using Distress Inks.

 We also had a sketch. I drew inspiration from the sketch in that I used circles on my card.

The themes were Blessings/Deer/Friendship and the products Papertrey Ink and Watercolours.

I may have been channeling J.K.Rowling and the whole Harry Potter 'Petronus' vibe when I created this card. To me, stags and deer are magical and dream-like, so what better symbol could I pick for following one's dreams? Sadly, I just couldn't get the glorious pinks and yellows to photograph properly. Perhaps the card will look brighter, and the colours truer, in the Mauritius sunshine!

I received this beauty from Robyn in Australia. Isn't it a great take on the sketch and the colour themes?

We're having our Christmas break at CCC as we don't exchange cards during December. However, you can sign-up for our January 2108 challenge by heading here and you can see the whole reveal by heading here.

Naughty or Nice Challenge #46 - Season's Greetings!

Over at Naughty or Nice we've reached our final challenge of 2017, and what a fabulous, festive challenge it is! After seeing Danielle's hilarious graphic it was very, very tempting to change the theme to 'Cat's butts', but we stuck with our original idea and went with Holiday cards with greetings or sentiments. Perhaps we'll do cat butts some other time...

Once again, we're delighted to be sponsored by Bugaboo Digital Stamps, who are offering prizes for our naughtiest and nicest entries.

My card features JJ Christmas Cheer Digital Stamp from Bugaboo. I really love the JJ images and couldn't resist adding a personalised sentiment for my bestie, who is pictured below with glass in hand! 

Please come and play along with us, we'd love you to!

The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers Challenge #98 - I is for Industrial.

Bless her, our Edna certainly has a great taste in hats!
Yes, Edna has gone all Steampunk this week as we do I is for Industrial over at The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers!!

To be honest I've never really tried the Steampunk look for a card before, but I'm loving the Gothic/Industrial vibe and finally used one of my all time favourite stamps: Sweet Pea Talsa.

I stenciled with Distress Inks to create the background and then added plenty of script in black Versafine ink. I masked Talsa and stenciled around her. The background panel needed something more, so I embossed with a quilting folder to give subtle texture. I added the sentiment and the butterflies and then threw on a few cogs for luck!

I had such a blast making this card! Come see what my sistahs produced - they rocked this challenge big time, and our Queen (The very talented Corrie) created something rather wonderful which you won't want to miss!

25 Days of Tags... Again!

I'm loving Tracey's 25 Days of Christmas Tags, and will be sorry when this fun 'challenge' is over. I can't believe we've reached Day 17 already. You'll see some truly beautiful DT creations and the 300+ entries in the linky gallery.

The little bear with the Santa hat said he was lonely, so I made him some friends!

I just love these MFT Bitty Bears and they are just the perfect size for tags.

Catcha laters, card friends!

Naughty or Nice Challenge #45 - Reminder

We're still Walking in a Winter Wonderland over at Naughty and Nice and would love you to come and join us! There's plenty of mid-month fun to inspire you.

My card features a cute llama from Neat and Tangled - sweet isn't he! I'm so glad there are so many llama images available as they are rather cute to look at.

Please drop by and see what The Troublemakers have whipped-up for this fun challenge and to see our Reminder creations too!

25 Days of Christmas Tags

Lindsey, my double-mint teamie at Naughty or Nice and The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers, is creating up a storm as one of the DT girls over at Tracey McNeely's blog. I'm sure everyone in blogland is aware of Tracey's 25 Days of Christmas Tags and I simply couldn't resist playing along.

I was inspired by Lindsey's very cute bear tag, which she made for Day 11.

My MFT bitty polar bear hasn't got any presents, but he does have a Santa hat, gingham ribbon and some embossing powder snow!

I've never really made that many tags, but having made this one I'm starting to feel as if the whole process could become ever so slightly addictive!

Happy crafting everyone!

It's a two-card kinda day!

After a very busy week at work I decided today would be a PJs, sweatshirt and big socks day, to be spent drinking tea and making cards!

And here's one of the cards made today! I've had this idea floating around in my head for a while since making these cards for the C is for Chipboard Challenge at SoSS.

The current challenge at Seize the Birthday has Circles as it's topping of choice and Simon Says Wednesday Challenge is Simon Says Snow White! Throw in a little glitter from the challenge over at CAS Mix Up and I had all the ingredients I needed for my card!

IRL, this card is gorgeous and glittery, but once again the British weather isn't offering glorious sunshine so I hope you can at least get the gist between these two pictures of how nice it really looks.

The chipboard moustache is from my stash (the 'my choice' element for CAS Mix Up) and the sentiment is from Paper Smooches - Incognito. The stenciled circles were created with Versamark and embossing powder: easy and effective.

It was such fun to play along with these challenges. I'm going to grab yet another cuppa, take a look at the other entries and enjoy continue to enjoy my lazy day!

The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers Challenge #97 - R is for Remember

I can't believe that it's been two whole weeks since our last challenge over at The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers. So, Edna has tied a bow on her finger to help her to remember something. If you are anything like me you'll probably notice the bow a while later and not recall why you did this... And then you won't be able to remember where you put the scissors to cut it off. 

November is a month for Remembrance as it is the time when we recall the sacrifice made by all those who lost their lives in the two World Wars. This month the Sistahs are looking for cards on the theme of R is for Remembrance. Your card can be snarky, or not. 

My card features a stamp from a company I wasn't familiar with until I strayed across their site a while ago. Aall and Create have some great, funky stamps and I loved this image of the women swinging from the balloon. I swapped the balloon for a larger one from another set and paired it with a Katzelkraft sentiment for a little gentle snark.

I made this card with my friend's daughter in mind. She's a crazy girl and she might just get into a sticky situation such as this. She's a complete fruit loop and I love her to bits.

We very much hope you'll play along with The Sisterhood for this challenge.

Card Chain Challenge Reveal - October 2017

Hi there, I hope that this week is being kind and gentle with you!

It's Card Chain Challenge Reveal time again, and I'm delighted to be here with what may well be my 52nd 'Reveal' post! This must be my 'most-participated-in' challenge ever.

For our colours Deborah gave us:

She also spoiled us with a super sketch:

The themes were Autumn, Cats and Friendship and our product options comprised of WPlus 9 and Macrame. No guessing which of these I picked for my card!

I sent my card winging it's way to LaVon in Illinois.

I had so much fun stamping the cats and then fussy cutting additional heads and paws so they could hold the sentiment banner.
I was delighted to receive this stunning card from the lovely Greta in Oregon.  The colours in this card just compliment one-another perfectly.

The November sign-up remains open until Monday, 6th November, so why not make this the month YOU play along and become a link in our chain of friendship!

Naughty or Nice Challenge #45 - Walking in a Winter Wonderland

We're Walking in a Winter Wonderland for Challenge #45 over at Naughty or Nice this month!
The gang are asking to see Winter Scenes for November. We don't mind whether your scene is a Winter's Day around the fire or a cold, snowy walk through crisp, bright snow: the choice is yours!

I broke out some sweet POD stamps (unused for way too long!) to create my scene, plus a Hero Arts favourite for the trees.

This card required three separate layers of masking, but other than that was very easy to make. I added some sweet little gems to the tiny tree to look like baubles. Sadly, the colours haven't photographed very clearly and are much more vivid IRL.

Stroll on over to join The Troublemakers by clicking here for this fun challenge.

Cat Lovers Hop 2017!

I'm too late to link-up for this fab, fun hop, but I thought I'd share my tag anyway!

I'm loving Janis's cat themed hop and am ooooing and arrrring at all the gorgeous cat images and creativity on show.

This stamp is so cute! It's from Viva Las Vegas Stamps (they have some fabulous, feline themed stamps available over there!). I smooshed with Distress Oxides and then literally watched ink/paint dry as it was really interesting to see all the colours mingling and changing. I stamped the image on the coloured tag and then stamped again on plain paper and fussy cut.

Turns out it's National Cat Day... So I'll finish with a couple of cute kitty photographs by way of celebration!

"Leave me in peace, hooomin, I'm having some quality time with my blankie!"

My niece and her new kitten, Simba. Not sure who is the cutest!

Have a happy day!