Miss Anya Birthday Card

Hiya! It's all systems go here - all my stuff has arrived for the 47 cards I need to make so I ought to get cracking. Just had time to get this one done before it all got here. And I thought I'd better make it a good one as this is for the lovely lady who's ordered the other 47!

I love this image - Miss Anya Dressy - she's gorgeous! I coloured her using my promarkers (how did I ever survive without them?) and I used a sketch from Paperplay Challenges that also requires me to use new stash (yummy purple glitter and the gorgeous purple flower I won from Debs). My Xcut shape-cutter wouldn't cut exactly the right size circles so I went back to school and used a good old compass and scissors!

The background paper is a digi download from Docrafts from aaaages ago (Cupcake Craft Challenges - Let's Get Digital) and then a strip of Henbury Lane. For the yellow flowers I've layered up three shades of yellow flowers onto one stalk and scrunched them up a bit. The sentiment is a clear stamp from Clare Curd's range.

This also fits the challenges at Meljen's (Happy Birthday) and Crafty Cardmakers spotlight challenge (Glitter and Sparkle).

Hope you like it! If you don't hear from me for a while, it'll be because I'm buried under a mountain of tags and organza ribbon :-)

Love 'n' hugs,

Mel xx

Twinkle, twinkle...

Just a quick post today - gotta go and make my Mom's birthday cake :-)...

I got this lovely image in a RAK from my pal, Clare, (thankyou!) and coloured her with my promarkers. The papers are papermania capsule collection, I punched and scrunched the flowers and then added a charm and button brads from my recent candy win from Debs (thankyou!).

I'm entering it into 4 challenges:

Totally Gorjuss: Star

Pollycraft Monday Challenge: Recipe (3 papers, 2 buttons, 1 charm)

Crafty Cardmakers: Video inspiration (Lady Gaga "Bad Romance")

Sarah Hurley: Monochrome

I'll be back again soon cos I've got loads to make - especially since I've just secured an order for 47 (yes, 47!) thankyou cards - phew!

Love 'n' hugs,

Mel xx

Too much pink???

Can you have too much pink??? This is for my lovely Mom for her birthday this weekend. I saw the little gift bag template here and thought it was sooo cute - quite a bit smaller than I thought though, but just big enough for her pressie :-) My pal Clare sent me these fab images which were just perfect for a matching card and gift bag. Thanks, Clare! I've coloured her with my promarkers and used papers from Henbury Lane (again!). The "With Love" sentiment is a Daisy and Dandelion stamp and the "Mum" is one of the Papermania Relations stamps. The gorgeous flowers came from a candy I won recently from Debs - thankyou! They're beautiful! Everything else is from my stash.

Just two challenges this time:

Paperplay challenges: Pink to make the boys wink ;)

Sarah Hurley: Anything but a card

Got to get a move on... I've got loads of birthday RAKs coming up aswell as birthdays for a pal of mine and several of George's friends! Aaaarghhh! I'm seriously running out of time. When do the kids go back to school again???? :-)

Love 'n' hugs,

Mel xx

A little award....

I've been a very lucky girl as I've been given this lovely award by Melly and Jenny! I'm sooo proud - thankyou sooo much! I'm grinning like a cheshire cat :-)

The rules of this award are:

1. Thank the person who gave it to you.


2. Put the award on your blog.


3. List three things about yourself.


4. Post a picture you love.


5. Tag 5 other people for the award.

Well here goes...

Thanking... check! Award on blog... check! Three things about myself... hmmm...

1. I used to be a science teacher.


2. I hate saying that I USED to be a Science teacher cos a very big part of me STILL wants to be a Science teacher!


3. I gave up being a Science teacher to be a full-time mom and part-time crafter and I'll never regret the decision :-)

Post a picture I love... Well, it has to be the photo I took of a sunflower that I grew with lots of help from my middle son, George, last year. I think it's fab cos I just got the bee flying into shot. Of course it won't appear here - it'll be at the top with the award piccie because I can never control where the pictures go on my blog! (If anyone has any advice on that topic, please feel free to share!)

Tag 5 other people for the award - well, it got it twice so I'm choosing 10 people! :-) Here goes:

1. Clare
2. Debs
3. Melly
4. Jenny
5. Emma
6. Liz
7. Mandy
8. Lisa
9. Amanda
10. Sarpreet

All of you are fabulous people who have given me so much inspiration and encouragement since I came to blogland. Thankyou all sooo much!

Love 'n' hugs,

Mel xx

My first Tilda card!

Well here she is! I've been wanting to do a Tilda card for aaages! I got this image in a RAK and I think she's beautiful! I coloured her with my promarkers and the papers are Henbury Lane. I really wanted to try out a few new additions to my stash on this card - my white gel pen (with varying degrees of success) and some glitter dust I got (best seen on the close-up). I think I still need to play with them a bit more to get the best out of them so I expect you'll be seeing them on my next few cards too! I followed a sketch from Sketch and Stash and a recipe from Cupcake Craft Challenges (2 papers, 2 ribbons and 2 flowers). It also fits challenges at Totally Tilda (Stitching), The Crafty Pad (Glitz and Glitter), Pollycraft Monday Challenge (In stitches), The ABC challenge (B is for Blue) and Moving Along With The Times (Glitter).

Hope you like it!

Love 'n' hugs,

Mel xx

Exploding box card

Grrrr! After trying for half an hour to get these pictures in the right order and lined up, I've decided to settle for the fact that they're on here at all! :-)

This is my first ever exploding box and I'm soooo chuffed with it! I followed a tutorial on You tube by Crafty Alice: www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbCr4hsgPe8 It's taken me daaaays to make but I've loved it :-)

The lid of the large box has Henbury Lane butterflies on it and then around the outside are some flowers I got for my birthday, a tag that I've made with a list of wishes on it that I have for the special couple, some heart die-cuts I've had for ages and a little wedding topper I picked up at a car boot sale! The papers are all from the Dovecraft Wedding collection. The inside has a freebie image of Cuthbert and Kiki's Wedding from Pollycraft that I've coloured with promarkers and some computer generated sentiments cut with my nesties. The brads are from the Papermania capsule collection and the gems and flowers are from my stash.

The mini box has ribbon and flowers from my stash around the outside, while the inside has a bunch of mini flowers I got for my birthday (I usually end up chopping the stalks off!), a freebie butterfly from a magazine (I forget which one!) a heart shaped brad with a ribbon threaded through it and a flower I made using small scallops cut with my nesties and secured with a brad. All the card is core'dinations. I'm going to fill the mini box with confetti when I give it.

Phew! I think that's everything! Are you still with me??? :-)

I'm entering it into three challenges:

Sir Stampalot: Bring on the Bling

Sarah Hurley: Animals

Crafty Catz: Animals

Hope you like it (and I haven't bored you too much!)

Love 'n' hugs,

Mel xx

It is Summer - honest!

We'll it's warm enough but I still can't see the sun shining! To make me feel a little more summery, I made this card for my pal, Janet, over at the RAK club. The image is Flo - a freebie digi from Pollycraft, and I coloured her with my promarkers. Isn't she gorgeous???

The papers are a mix from Pink Parfait (Forever Friends) and Henbury Lane. The ribbon is from my stash and the flowers are from ebay (they come with stalks on them but I always seem to cut them off!) I've followed a recipe from Creative inspirations: 5 flowers, 3 papers, 1 ribbon and I've also entered it into the ABC challenge: A is for August.

I'm also in the middle of another project that I'm slowly completing, bit by bit... I can't wait till it's finished and I can show you all. I hope it's worth all the effort.

Anyway, I'd better be off. I'm taking the two littl'uns to an activity afternoon at the library :-)

Love 'n' hugs,

Mel xx

Love birds...

Hiya,

Just a quick post today.... I've recently become a fan of Meljen's Designs and particularly this image. This is a freebie called Love Strung Birds. It's perfect for this card because it's for the anniversary of my friends' civil partnership and isn't the usual male + female image. I'm entering it into two challenges:

Meljen's Designs - Clean and Simple

Sarah Hurley Challenges - Romance

Hope you like it!

Love 'n' hugs,

Mel xx

Something a bit different...

Hiya! Sorry I've been a bit quiet for a while but I've been on my hols :-) But I'm back now and I've been spending a silly amount of time crafting since I got back... Partly cos I've missed it while I've been away, and partly because of this little box! I started it a good while ago but it's taken me aaaaages! I've spent HOURS on it since I got back. Covered the whole thing, inside and out (lid too!) and then cutting and fixing those little letters so they fitted just perfectly... Anyway, I'm really pleased with the outcome. I wanted to make something a bit special for my pal who's getting married this week and I thought this would be lovely for her to keep little wedding memories in.

It is a bare basics box covered in Dovecraft wedding papers. I've used my scalloped circle nesties and the Bang! Zoom! sizzlets to cut out the letters. The ribbons, gems and flowers are from my stash.

I'm entering it into the following challenges:

Creative Inspirations Challenge - Anything goes

Pollycraft Monday Challenge - Love and Marriage

Sarah Hurley Challenges - Anything goes

Sir Stampalot Challenge - Bring on the Bling

The Crafty Pad - Ribbons and Flowers

Hope you like it!

Love 'n' hugs,

Mel xx