Urban Prairie (again!)

Can you see the theme yet?! Yep it's good old (new) BasicGrey Urban Prairie again!

Materials:
5 1/4" square white card.
Papers: BasicGrey - Urban Prairie.
Swirl: Tim Holtz Grungeboard.
Punches: Make Me!
White pen: Zig.
Rubber stamp: Debbi Moore.
Ribbon: Stash.

Daring Cardmakers - All Things Circular

This week, the title says it all - I want to see lots of circles, you can decide how you use them, whether it be the shape of your card or how you display circular elements within the design and thats it, nice and simple (I hope :-)).


As I'm obviously in BasicGrey Urban Prairie mode at the mo, I've punched 2 different circles out, creased and distressed them then shaped them gently to produce a flower for the centre of my card, secured together with a circular brad! - 4 circles in all.


Materials:
5 1/4" white square card.
Papers: BasicGrey - Urban Prairie.
Rub Ons: BasicGrey - Sultry.
Punches: Make Me!
Brad: Stash.
Hessian: Stash.

Another BasicGrey card

Another card from my FANTASTIC new 6x6" BasicGrey papers.

Materials
6"x4" white card base.
Paper: BasicGrey - Urban Prairie.
Hessian: Stash.
Circle Punches: Make Me!
Rub Ons: BasiGrey Boxer.
Brad: Stash.
Fineline pen: Stash.

Oh blimey!

That last card was my 500th post!!!!!! I must sort out some blog candy to offer up in celebration and thanks to all who visit and read my waffle! ;-)

I'll be back!

I've been making cards again...

A card for a friend of a friend who's going through a really rough time at the mo!


Materials:
White, 5 1/4" square card.
Papers: BasicGrey Urban Prairie (new pack of these and I'm loving them!)
Pen: Sakura

I was asked....

I was asked recently what I do with all the cards that I make. Do I sell them? Do I run my cardmaking as a hobby or as a business? Do I give them away?

Well, to answer that question...

I make most of my cards for me because I enjoy making them. I make them for friends who ask me to make special cards for special people. I have sold a couple in the last couple of weeks but mainly I make them and give them as favours to people who do something nice for me or my family.

Recently I gave a box of over 100 cards to my local Junior School for them to sell and make some money for school funds.

I've had such good feedback recently on my cards from so many people that I've decided to set up a little business to try and sell them locally with maybe a couple of cards selling online too. So my business is born. Freycob cards is officially born and legal with el Tax Manio! They will be available for sale very soon; the website is almost ready and just needs to be populated. I was going to sell them via the little Paypal widget that was on my blog recently, but I don't like that the picture quality is pants and you can't zoom in.

Watch this space...

I'll also put up for sale some of the stash that I no longer use or bought on impulse over the past few years there too.

Di Hickman - February Card Sketch #3

Di gave us a sketch this week that I initially found very difficult to do, so I flipped it 90 degrees to the left and found a sketch that I could work with.

This card will be for Freya for Easter this year. Now to make a boy's Easter card will be somewhat more difficult me thinks!



Materials:
Papers: BasicGrey, Cupcake.
Easter stamps: Papermania.
Ribbon: Stash.
Inkpad: Stazon.
Flower: Dunelm.
Button: Stash.

Rosie-Dee's Challenge - Week 23

Whazzis all about den? You'll have to pop over to the Rosie-Dee's Challenge blog to see for yourself!

BasicGrey Challenge 23 - Colour Combo

Well its time for another challenge and this time its a colour combo, we would like you to pick one of the following colour combos for your creations (Skin and white card colours are allowed too),

Pink and Green
Pink and Brown
Blue and Brown

So what are you waiting for, pick your favorite combo and get crafting :), but of course not to forget to use at least one item from BasicGrey on your creation.

I chose to use the Pink and Green combo for a card for mum. She must be feeling a bit stressed and worried since dad had his fall, so along with my Daring Card Makers Challenge card that I made for dad, I chose to use the BasicGrey challenge to make a card for mum. Just because I love them both!


Materials:
White 5 1/4" square card.
Papers: BasicGrey Sugared collection.
Rub-ons: BasicGrey Sugared.
Ribbon: Stash.
Inkpad: Pretty Colour.
Distressing: Nail file.

Daring Carmakers - Fish and/or Frog

It's Rein here this week with a new dare:

I want to see a fish or a frog on your cards.

Apart from that, it's all up to you what you make!

As dad's really feeling a bit blue because of his fall and the fact that he can't drive until his MRI Scan results come through, and as he's a keen fisherman when they're away in their caravan, I thought I'd make him a card 'just because I love him'. It fitted in perfectly with this week's DCM dare too.


Materials:
White 5 1/4" square cardstock.
Off cut of suede trimming.
Rub-ons from Royal & Langnickel and BasicGrey.
Twine from stash.

A Couple of Cards

Using some scraps (as I've been doing lots of recently), I've come up with these two girlie cards...


Materials:
Base cards: White A5, white 5"x7".
Spotty papers: BasicGrey & Papermania.
Embellishments: BasicGrey (stickers), Maya Road (heart).
Pins: Stash (Ebay).
Flower: Prima.
Button: Stash.
Hessian: Stash.
Twine: Stash.
Inkpad: Pretty Colour.
Rubber stamp: BasicGrey.
Embossing folder: Cuttlebug.

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You can even label the IP address to see how many times people return. A bit like 'Big Brother' I suppose HAHA!!

Baby Cards

Looks like I'm enjoying the baby cards at the mo, doesn't it? I seem to have made a few recently. There'll be no more babies being brought home to this house (until grandchildren that is, and as Jacob is only 13, it'll be a VERY LONG way off I hope!!).


Oh, and Janice... the pins are back! HAHAHAHA!!!!

Materials:
White 5"x7" cards.
Embossing dies: Cuttlebug.
Papers: DCWV / Making Memories / Papermania.
Ribbons: Stash
Pins: Stash
Stamps: BasicGrey
Inkpads: Pretty Colur

Thinking of you...

This is the second year that I've been given the privilege to make this card. It's for a colleague of Will's who's husband lost a baby at 4 1/2 months of age. It is again my pleasure to make this for you, Jim.


Being a mother myself, it's such a difficult card to make. I've been asked to make a few cards to be placed on graves in cemetaries, so I make them on double sided card only. When they're placed in the cellophane they can be seen both sides then.

Materials:
Paper: October Afternoon.
Embellishments: Amy Butler for K&Company.
Brads: Stash.
Stamp: Say it With Stamps & BasicGrey.
Inkpad.

Kathy's Waffle Sketch File #4

Kathy has created a sketch that I followed (pretty much!) to make this card here...


Materials:
5 1/4" square white card blank.
Ribbon: wrapped around a birthday pressie that came from Boots (waste not, want not!)
Papers: Papermania, Scrapbook Magazine, 'MUM' paper from a paper swap.
Candy dots: Pebbles Inc.
Ink pad: Colourbox.
Rub ons: My Mind's Eye.
Pens: Sakura & Wilkinsons.

Inspirational Card Sketches #4

My interpretation of this week's sketch over on Inspirational Card Sketches looks like this....


Looks like I'm well ahead on my Mother's Day card this year now!

Materials:
White 5 1/4" square card base.
Printed paper received from a paper swap eons ago.
Chipboard hearts: Maya Road.
Acrylic paints: Au natural.
Shimmer (on chipboard): Perfect Pearls by Ranger.
Ribbon: stash.
Greeting: Dymo.
Inkpad: Colourbox.
Doodling pens: Stabilo.

BasicGrey Challenge 22 - Hearts

This week's BasicGrey Challenge reads like this...
As today is a very special day, we would like you to get all loved up in your creations and show us some hearts, it can be any size and any quantity of hearts you wish, and also not forgetting to use at least one item from BasicGrey somewhere on your creation.

I've not been scrapping much but seem to have concentrated on my cards recently so I decided that this challenge was one that needed to scrap the two gorgeous photos that Kirsty Wiseman took of my beautiful daughter.


Materials:
Brown cardstock from stash.
Paper: BasicGrey, Sugared.
Embellishments: BasicGrey, Sugared.
Text: BasicGrey, Sultry & Sugared.
Glossy Accents by Ranger.
Heart brads from stash.
White pen: Sakura

Di Hickman - Cardsketch February #2

Di's come up with a lovely card sketch this week.

Here's my take on it...


Materials:
5 1/4" square white card blank.
Brown ric-rac cardstock: Bazzill Just the Edge.
Embellishments: BasicGrey.
Pink ric-rac: stash.
Rub on 'X': Doodlebug.
Corrugated cardboard: stash.

I won, I won, I won!!!!

I won the RAK over on Inspirational Card Sketches!!

Have you seen how many Primas there are on that RAK? I can't wait until they arrive to start playing with them!

Thanks to Random Generator for picking me and also to the designers for such a fab site!

xx

Daring Cardmakers

This week's Daring Cardmakers goes like this...

The dare is feeling green. I want to see lots of green on your cards in any shade you like. You could even do a double dare and make a green themed get well card.


Materials:
White 5"x7" card base
Green spotty paper by Creative Imaginations
Green felt ric-rac
Embellishments - Amy Butler by K&Company
Sage green inkpad
Staples
Happy Birthday stamp by Penny Black
'MUM' stickers by Making Memories

Scrap pack cards... Red

More cards...? Just how many scraps to I have?! And they're by no means depleted yet! ;-)


This card is a stamped image that I received in a swap quite a while back that I watercoloured, applied Glossy Accents to and then put away for another day. It's now been used.

Inspirational Card Sketches #3

ICS have a lovely sketch this week and a RAK to go with it, so don't forget to give it a go, will you?

Here's my card...


Materials:
5 1/4" white square card blank.
Green spotty paper: Creative Imaginations.
Sentiment: Amy Butler by K&Company.
Flowers & hearts: punched from offcusts from my scraps pack.
Embossed flower: Cuttlebug die.
Rub on: American Crafts

Rosie-Dee's Challenge

We have some Blog Candy/RAK on offer this week!!! - Even more of an incentive to take part in our challenges!

It's Dee's turn to set the challenge over on Rosie-Dee's this week. And she's been very creative with some beer mats I have to say.

I chose to turn a square and a circular beer mat into a fridge magnet for my BIL. The photo was taken on their wedding day in 2007. I can't get over just how proud Steve's dad looks to be standing beside his son.



This'll be winging it's way in the post to Steve next week.

Materials:
Circular coaster
Square Coaster
Black ink pad
BasicGrey Precision File Set
Magnetic paper
American Crafts lettering

Scrap pack cards... Green

And from my green scrap pack come these...


Now this pretty little lady here has just made her public debut. Her name is Tokyo Kyoto and she was created by Kirsty Wiseman. She'll be visiting a craft store near you soon.... keep 'em peeled for her!

Scrap pack cards... Yellows & Blues

From my yellow and blue scrap packs come these...

Scrap pack cards... Oranges & browns

I told you I was using up scraps, didn't I? From the browns/oranges pack.

Pocket notes

It's really simple to create a pocket on the front of a card. These are made using some brown parcel wrapping paper. It came in a roll for about a pound I think from Wilkinsons. They were shown to me by the lovely Kirsty Wiseman when she visited us last month. So versatile you can stick a tag inside with hidden journalling or just a little love note or sentiment to the card's recipient.


o

Let's get together...

I received a lovely parcel of goodies from Elaine for my birthday (thanks chick!) Inside were 4 sets of little Studio G stamps. This one I like (as you can tell) as I've made a few simple cards with it.








All papers are from my scrap packs. The sentiment is printed onto ATC cards as I no longer do them and have loads sitting around. The red ribbon is many years old and came from the cutting of a ribbon ceremony for a company I worked for. The beads are from last years' Christmas crackers!

Coaster cards

I bought some blank beer mats/coasters recently and have really enjoyed creating with them. They're so simple to work with, all I've done here is swipe an inkpad around the edge before embellishing and sticking them to the card base.




All of the papers are from my scrap packs.