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

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