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

Sarah Hurley's New Challenge Blog

Just a quick post cos I really wanted to tell you all about Sarah Hurley's new challenge blog which launches this weekend... There's a blog hop on Saturday and Sunday goodies to be won and then challenges every Thursday. The first challenge started today (to use the colours steel grey, petrol blue and olive green) and runs until midnight Sunday 1st August. Can't wait to have a go... :-)

Love 'n' hugs,
Mel xx

Happy birthday, Chloe!

Another 1st birthday card :-) This is for my friend's daughter, Chloe, who turns 1 tomorrow. I've tried several of these shaped cards before but this is the only one that's been worthy of a post! Finally it worked :-)

I've used a Greeting Farm image (Ruby) that I got in a RAK - love it! I'm going to have to get some of these stamps! I've coloured her with my promarkers and trimmed round the edge with some pleated ribbon - it took me forever but I think the effect is worth it. The papers are Pink Parfait (Forever Friends) except the green lettering which is limeade filagree from Doodlebug, cut with the Bang! Zoom! alphabet set using my Bigshot. The various flowers, gems and ribbons come from my stash.

The challenges I'm entering this into are:

Charisma Cardz Challenges - Anything but square

Craftalicious Challenges - Birthday

The Crafty Pad - photo inspiration

Pollycraft Monday Challenge - Happy Birthday

The ABC Challenge - Z is for zig zag card

The Creative Cottage Challenge - Touchy feely

And while I'm on the subject of challenges.... I recently won a challenge over at Passion for Promarkers and have been lucky enough to receive three Sugar Nellie images - yeah!!! Keep your eyes peeled cos they'll be on here soon :-)

Love 'n' hugs,

Mel xx

Time to move on...

These cards are for the lovely ladies at the nursery where my son, George, goes. It's his last day on Thursday as he'll be moving on to primary school. It's going to be quite sad because none of his friends will be going to the same primary school. And it's sad for me too - I've made loads of friends and really enjoyed helping out with fund-raising and the odd science lesson here and there. Anyway, time to move on...

The image is Cupcake from Squiggle stamps by Linda Allan, coloured with promarkers with just a little bit of sparkly :-). The loveheart stamp comes from the Papermania Scrumptious set while the sentiment is from Clare Curd's Signature Range. The papers are Papermania Henbury Lane and the other various gems and brads are from my stash.

The inspiration for the colours and loveheart comes from the photo inspiration challenge at Crafty Cardmakers and I have followed the sketch from Sketch Saturday.

Got to go... Tired girl...

Love 'n' hugs,

Mel xx