Polka dots and circles

This card is for my goooorgeous nephew, Jack, who is 9 on Monday. This image just sums him up really :-)

When I saw that the challenge on Sarah Hurley's blog was polka dots and circles, I thought that this sketch from Lili of the valley was perfect. The image is also lili of the valley and I've coloured him with my promarkers. The papers are Rich Green from Papermania that I've had for years. I'm not sure where I got the tag from... I cut the letters and number using the Bang! Zoom! alphabet from Sizzix. The buttons are from my stash.

This is also my second entry into A Spoonful of Sugar's "Anything goes" challenge.

Gotta go... off on the school run! Have a fab day!

Love 'n' hugs,

Mel xx

Shaker card

Hiya! Hope everyone's having a lovely day :-) Finally managed to get some long overdue crafting time so I had a go at a shaker card. Never done one before and I have to say, I'm quite pleased with the outcome! I coloured this Forever Friends cutie with my promarkers and followed a sketch at their challenge site here. My Nan gave me the cute little star confetti from a christmas craft pack she bought last year. The paper is from the Cupcakes pad by Crafts House. I chose it cos it's lovely and colourful and looked a little like the confetti in my shaker. I tied a couple of knots in matching ribbon to replace to flowers in the sketch and attached a Forever Friends greeting.

I'm also entering this into the Pollycraft Monday Challenge (Cute and Cuddly) and the challenge at A Spoon Full of Sugar (Anything goes).

Enjoy your day!

Love 'n' hugs,

Mel xx

Birthday dinosaur

Just a quick post today... These children all seem to have their birthdays at the same time! This is for George's new school pal, Cole. I love this image - he's called Dudley and he was a freebie digi from Pollycraft. He's so easy to colour - love him! I've coloured him with my promarkers and used papers from the Forever Friends Party Time pad. The sentiment is one of Clare Curd's clear stamps and then I've just finished it off with ribbon and brads from my stash. This is going to be my second entry into The Creative Cottage challenge - birthday boy. Easy peasy!

Love 'n' hugs,

Mel xx

Autumn is here!

It is! Leaves are falling off the trees and making a mess of my garden. Already been conker collecting and came back with a huge bag that I'll put out for the squirrels to eat. Charlie loves to watch them in the garden :-) It put me in the mood for a nice Autumnal card. This is for Paul's Dad cos it's his birthday next week.

It's a Penny black image - love those little faces! I've coloured it with my promarkers and used papermania inspirations papers and a foam swirl stamp - not overly sure if I like it though.... What do you think? I added a bit of gold ribbon and glitter glue for a little bit of sparkle. And then there's the "Dad" embellishment I got from Debs - thankyou! I followed a sketch from Cupcake Craft Challenges but it's supposed to be a circle in the middle - hope this is ok...?

It fits challenges from A Spoon Full of Sugar (Fall into Autumn colours), Pollycraft Monday Challenge (Autumn colours) and The Creative Cottage (Birthday boy).

Have a fab day!

Love 'n' hugs,

Mel xx

Six years together....

Hiya... Back again! Just wanted to show you the card I've made for my other (better) half, Paul, as we've been together for six years this Wednesday! We're even going out for the evening!!! How long has it been since we last did that???

The image is a Forever Friends one I was sent in a RAK (coloured with promarkers) and I've used papermania capsule collection papers. I used a piece of scalloped cardstock and then various bits of ribbon and gems from my stash. The black ribbon is actually spotty on the other side but I preferred the plain side for this card. The sentiment is a Daisy and Dandelion clear stamp.

No challenges this time... It's just cos I love him (awwww!)

Love 'n' hugs,

Mel xx

Christmas wishes

First of all, can I just get a little something out of my system???

I HATE ERROR 503!!!

Sorry about that. I do feel a little better now. I'm having such difficulty getting round to comment on everyone's blogs because of this naughty little error. I dread to think how much time I've spent on my PC!

Anyway, the point of this post is to show you this card I made yesterday. I used one of my Daisy and Dandelion stamps from last year and followed the sketch from Friday Sketchers. I've used papers from A Winter's Tale (also Daisy and Dandelion) and paper pieced him. I've coloured the rest of him with my promarkers added glitter to the fur on his coat (hope you can see in piccie 2). The sentiment is from Daisy and Dandelion, the holly is from A Silent Night petal pouch and I've added glitter glue berries and sparkle. The ribbon is frommy stash.

I'm entering into the following challenges:

Friday Sketchers: Fab sketch

Crafty Catz: Paper piecing

Sarah Hurley: Snowflakes

Back later with another post....

Love 'n' hugs,

Mel xx

Daisy and Dandelion Pyramage

A quick post for a quick card... These birthdays are coming thick and fast at the mo so with time being of the essence, clean and simple is the only way to go! This pyramage is sooo easy to put together. A few sticky pads, one eye closed, the other squinting, tongue sticking out... Done! The sentiment is also Daisy and Dandelion. The papers are Forever Friends Pink Parfait and the ribbons and gems are from my stash. A little faux stitching and hey presto!

I'm entering it into 2 challenges:

Sarah Hurley - Something 3D

Crafty Cardmakers - Clean and Simple (2nd entry)

Back again soon...

Love 'n' hugs,

Mel xx

I'm sooo excited!

My new Lili of the Valley stamps arrived yesterday! This little guy is sooo cute - how could I possibly resist??? Now I've always been of the opinion that christmas cards should be red and green but recently I've seen all you talented ladies out there making some gorgeous creations in pastels. So I thought I'd have a go...

I've coloured him with my promarkers and used paper from Dovecraft's Winter wonderland. The sentiment is a Daisy and Dandelion clear stamp (these are fab - I'll never need any new christmas sentiments again!). I've added a bit of glitter to his hat and the snowflakes (hope you can see it in piccie 2) and the ribbon is from my stash.

I'm entering it into the following challenges:

Pollycraft Monday Challenge - Christmas with no red or green

Crafty Cardmakers - Clean and Simple

A Spoon Full of Sugar - Animal Crackers

Charisma Cardz - Try something new

Love 'n' hugs,

Mel xx

Pile on the flowers...

Just a quick post this morning... An easel card this time - haven't done one for a while. I'm entering it into the Whoopsie Daisy challenge: Pile on the Flowers and The Crafty Pad challenge: Lemon, Lime and Mango.

The image is from Tiddly Inks and is coloured with my promarkers. The papers are from Daisy and Dandelion Picnic Patch and Doodlebug. I've punched the flowers using a daisy and plum flower punch from Woodware. I've gone a bit brad-mad I'm afraid and I'm not altogether sure I like it... What do you think?

Love 'n' hugs,

Mel xx

What's that coming over the hill?

Is it a monster??? No, not really! (Had you going though, I bet!) This card is for George's other friend, Liam, who also turns 5 this weekend.

This is probably my all time favourite stamp cos it's the one that brought me to blogland (long story...) It's Monster Boy from Squiggle stamps and he's sooo cute! I've coloured him with my promarkers and used the Forever Friends Party Time papers. The buttons are from my stash.

It fits 4 challenges:

Meljen's Designs - Stripes

Charisma Cardz - Inspired by a song (The Automatic - Monster)

Squiggle Stamps - Anything goes

Crafty Catz - Recipe (3 embellishments, 2 papers, 1 image)

Happy birthday, Liam!

Love 'n' hugs,

Mel xx

Happy birthday, Harry!

Harry is my little George's bestest friend and he turns 5 this weekend. When I saw this image I'd been sent (LOTV - milk and biscuits) I just knew it was the perfect image for Harry's card. This reminds me so much of the pair of them, I coloured it to look just like them :-) It wasn't intentional but it turned out quite autumnal... The papers are Daisy and Dandelion Picnic Patch, the ribbon came off a bunch of flowers I was sent when I left teaching and I won the charm from Debs.

I used the sketch from Sketch and Stash (new stash - charm) and I'm also entering it into the following challenges:

Pollycraft Monday Challenge - Add a little nature

The ABC Challenge - C is for charms

Meljen's Designs - Stripes

George has another friend turning 5 this weekend too - eek! Better get back in that craft room!

Love 'n' hugs,

Mel xx

Thankyou x47

Phew! Done it! 14 hours altogether... 45 thankyou cards with the same layout in 4 different colours and then 2 slightly more special ones to thank their parents.

Most of the paper strips are Henbury Lane but the green ones are Pink Parfait. Got a fab price on the organza ribbon on ebay and also bought the Sizzix Tag die on there aswell. The "With Thanks" sentiment is stamped from Clare Curd's range but for the name and date stamp I actually got a rubber stamp made at Rubber Stamps Direct - it was remarkabley well-priced and VERY speedy delivery. Definitely saved me a lot of time printing out on the computer. The gems are from the Henbury Lane range too. On the parents' cards I've used the PC to print out "Mum & Dad" (after downloading the same font as was used on the rubber stamp!) and then embossed some card for the background using the Papermania Victorian Fleur embossing folder and then inking it to highlight the pattern.

Posted them off today so let's hope they go down well... I have to tell you, I will NOT be rounding any corners on my cards for a good long while!

See you soon!

Love 'n' hugs,

Mel xx