Butterfly Flourish

This week over at Less is Moore, the ladies have given us a fabulous sketch to work with.
 
 This year, apart from trying not to buy any new stash I have decided to try and get to grips with inking.  I have always found this difficult.  So, I sat down this morning with a pile of  inkpads and a new pack of Cut-n-Dry foam.  Nearly three hours later and lots of bits of card in the bin, I gave up on the Cut-n-Dry and got out my trusty Judikins Ink Dusters, the inking doesn't seem as smooth with these and I will keep trying with the foam.  I used Spiced Marmalade and Worn Lipstick Distress Inks and the stamp is from a Chocolate Baroque unmounted plate - Butterfly Flourish Swirls, the sentiment is from an acrylic set by Hobby Art. 

Thank you so much for taking the time to visit today.
Beryl x

Frosty the Snowman

Good Morning, my card today is for this week's Bah Humbug Challenge - Snowmen.  The image is from Judikins and I just love it, coloured with Promarkers and a little bit of sparkle.  I have no idea what the backing paper is, I found it in my Christmas scrap box, the image was stamped onto scrap white card and the snowflakes and stars were cut with a Cuttlebug die using the waste from the base card.  The sentiment is computer generated.

I am also entering my card into Jules Crafty Snippets

Thank you for visiting
Beryl x

Less is More No.2

Good Evening, I am posting a second card tonight for the Less is More Challenge - Anything Goes and the ladies are hoping to get 1000 posts.  I probably won't manage another as I am off on my hols on Wednesday for a couple of weeks.  The image is Chocolate Baroque (Elusive Images) stamped with Versamark and embossed with Judikins Gold Twinkle embossing powder.  The sentiment is Clarity embosed with the same ep. The gold beads are from my stash

Thanks for visiting today and I hope you like my card.
Beryl x

Another one for the box.

Good Afternnon, my card today is for Sweet Sketch Wednesday No109 and I am still trying to make Christmas Cards for challenges.  The image is a Judikins stamp, the bp is CuddlyBuddly, the contrast strip of card is Papermania Shimmer embossed with a dotty folder, the flower is Fred She Said, the ribbon was white from my stash and coloured with a Promarker, the sentiment was comupter generated. Oops, I've just realised that my trees are squint.

Thanks for stopping by today
Beryl x

It's that time again!

Good Afternoon, well it's Less is More day again and this week Chrissie and Mandi have given us a sketch to follow. As I am so up to date with personal cards and ordered ones I decided to make a Christmas Card. My images are Judikins Praying Angel and Peeking Angel, coloured lightly with Copics, the matting is Papermania's new textured cs and the sentiment was printed directly onto the card, the font is Dolphin Extended.

I have decided that I have developed some physic skills this week.  On Thursday I made a Christmas Card with a penquin on it for a challenge and then yesterday the ladies at Bah Humbug requested  penquins for their challenge.  Then this morning I went to check out the LIM challenge and found the sketch and realised that one of my early cards for LIM was the same as the sketch.

In fact just last week I made up another couple like this in different colours for my box!

Thank you for stopping by today and for the lovely comments you leave, it gives me such a buzz when I log in and find that I have a bunch of comments waiting to be read.
Beryl x

A second post

Back again.  I don't usually post twice in one day, but I had a bit of a play just now and had a go at a tag for Dragon's Dream TIO which this week is Let's Face It.  I used a Craft Stamper freebe stamp with an archival black inkpad and  masked it, then over stamped with a script stamp - think it's an Aspects of Design one.  Before removing the mask I used one of my Judikins colour dusters and Brushed Corduroy DI to colour the tag, then a couple of Promarkers to colour the face and what looks like a hair band.  I rooted around in my ribbon bag to find something to match the hairband and found these three bits of red fibre to finish off my creation.   Hope you like it cos this really isn't my comfort zone, usually everything I try like this ends up a complete mess.  Must admit though, that I think this went quite well.
Beryl x

Out of Africa

Good Afternoon, my card to share today is for the challenge at My Time to Craft - Wild Life Reserve and is for my BIL's 70th birthday later this month.  The image is made up from Judikins Postage Stamp and Judikins African Cube.  I coloured the image with Colour Box Chalk Inks, using direct to paper technique, this was quite easy and the inks pads are years old and almost dried up.  The textured cs came from my stash, the bp is Sunny Christmas from Stitchy Bear, the numbers are from a Cuttlebug Alphabet, the sentiment is computer generated and I finished off with some Card Candy

Thank you so much for visiting and for the lovely comments you leave
Beryl x

Sweet Sketch Wednesday

Good Evening, I am not happy with my card today, it appears to be a bit insipid.  I went around it the wrong way and coloured the image first and then had real probs trying to get the backing papers to co-ordinate properly, and I think I should have used much bolder colours. I am not a natural when it comes to art, and I struggle with picking colours for these fantasy type images.  I followed Sketch102 over at Sweet Sketch Wednesday, but, I don't think I have nailed it properly.   Onto the details:  the image is a Sweet Pea stamp by Ching-Chou Kuik and I have coloured with Promarkers and Copics, I masked the image and created  the background with distress inks and Judikins colour dusters, the backing papers are from CuddlyBuddly and everything else comes from my stash. 

As the colours are quite pale I think I can enter into this week's Papertake Weekly challenge which is Pale, Pretty Pastels.

Many thanks for visiting today
Beryl x

Less is More

Good Evening, I didn't think I was going to make it with my Less is More card today.  I had one idea first thing this morning  and then, after checking my card pics, changed my mind.  I spent the entire day trying to make the card and got through at least 20 pieces of card.  Luckily I wasn't using my best pearlised cardstock.  I was trying to make the card I have finished up with, but apart from messing up the stamping I just couldn't get the colouring right.  I was trying to brayer the background with one of my Kaliedacolor inkpads which I have used before with this image, of course before it was always on glossy card because I made it as a topper and the effect was really quite vibrant. The brayering just wasn't working on matt card, I even tried spraying the image with Spray and Shine, but that didn't work either.  I finally gave up, and decided I was working in a complete muddle  so did a complete tidy up, which took a lot longer than I expected.  After having something to eat I decided to have another go and I everything worked the way I wanted it to, but instead of brayering I tapped the ink pad onto my craft mat and put a colour wash onto the image instead. I am still not completely happy with the result, think I should have used a different inkpad.  I made the whole thing in just under half an hour.  Should have given up earlier and saved some cardstock lol

Anyhoo, the stamps used were the Judikins postage stamp and the India cube, stamped with Versacolour black and embossed with clear embossing powder.  The sentiment is from Joanna Sheen's new Wordy Stamps, think it's No.4, stamped and embossed the same as the main image.

Thank you so much for visiting.

Bah Humbug!

Good Afternoon from a gloriously sunny Shetland, it was raining this morning, but now there isn't a cloud in the sky. Hopefully, I am going to sit outside with my book for an hour after I have finished this post.  The ladies of Humbug Hall have asked us all to Go Green this week - Recycling or Shades of Green.  I have managed a bit of both a fair bit of green and the buttons are recycled from my good neighbour's fabulous button box.  She has been recycling buttons since well before recycling was even though of.  The ribbon is also recycled, sorry the buttons don't show up very well in the pic.  I have also followed this week's sketch at Sweet Sketch Wednesday

The image is a Judikins stamp, the bp is from an old Papermania Christmas pad, the coloured cs is from my scraps box, the flower is a Marianne Creatable Poinsettia and the sentiment is computer generated.

Thanks for your visit and the lovely comments you have been leaving me.
Beryl x

A card for Daddy

Good Evening, my card to share today is one for the CD Sunday Challenge - Transport. It is for two of my grandchildren to give to their Daddy.  The image is from the Card Toonz CD. I printed thhe image onto 160gsm card and decoupaged it, then I sprayed it with Crafters Companion Spray and Shine. The backing paper is Funky Fairys, the cs is Coredinations, the crossed checkered flags is a stamp by Judikins, the sentiment is computer generated and I finished off with some white card candy coloured with a black marker pen. 

Many thanks for stoping by.

Beryl x

Metal for Christmas

Good Evening, back for a second post.  This card is for the Bah Humbug Challenge which this week is Metallic.  The image is Judikins coloured with Promarkers and Copics.  The metallic bit of my design is a piece of matt silver card embossed with a snowflake embossing folder, the border was punched with Martha Stewart's embossed snowflake border punch, ribbon from my stash and the sentiment computer generated.

My card also fits the bill at CHNC - Silver and Sketch147 at Sketch Saturday.

Thanks for stopping by
Beryl x

Less is More

Good Morning, this is my entry into this weeks Less is More Challenge, -  a Masculine card.  The base card is  cream Stardream, the images are from a Judikings cube stamp of sea shells, stamped with Memories Dye inkpad in brown and then matted onto a piece of brown textured card.  The sentiment is from a My Sentiments Exactly text set and I have just realised that I haven't stamped it straight, will try and have another go at this later on.

CD Sunday

Good Morning Fellow Bloggers.  My card today is for The CD Sunday Challenge, which this week is Days Gone By.  I have made an easel card using an image and matching papers from Joanna Sheen's Victorian Companion CD.  I have matted everything onto some burgandy cardstock, which I found in one of my stash boxes.  I have managed, for the very first time, to use Aged Mahogany Distress Ink around the edges of the paper.  I usually make an awful mess of this technique, so I am quite pleased with myself.  I have a real problem with cut and dry foam, so I tried Judikins Colour Dusters and they worked.  The lace and pearls are from Wild Orchids Crafts and the rose spray is from Joanna Sheen.  The card is for my neighbour's birthday and I still have to personalise it, this will be on the empty side of the base.

I hope you like my card and many thanks for visiting.  Beryl x

Better late than never

Here we go again - by the skin of my teeth.  This is my card for the Bah Humbug Challenge asking for Tags or Labels.  I'm not very good with tags and  most of my previous efforts ended up in the bin, that was until I decided to just use the label for the sentiment.  The image is  Judikins - A Partrige in a Pear Tree, I have used variegated metal leafing flakes, it appears that I missed the odd grain of stamp n bond powder before heating it as there are some dots of the leafing that I can't get off.  The paper is from a Papermania pad I bought for last Christmas and never used.  The flower is from my stash as are the brads, ribbon and matting cardstock.  I'm not sure where the sentiment stamp came from, probably Elusive Images because I have a few of  Glenda's Christmas Plates.  The tag was cut from a Spellbinder nestie tag set. 

Sorry it's not a very good picture, but as it's 10.45 pm  this is the best I could get.  Thank you for visiting and for any comments you may wish to make, I appreciate every single one.  Beryl x

Nearly out of time

This is my first card since my weekend away and I have only just managed to sneak it in to Rainbow Lady's challenge which finishes tonight.  The challenge was to make a fan this week.  The image is one of the very first stamps that I bought when I started cardmaking.  I think it's from Creative Expressions, but as I have taken it off the wooden block and put it onto Eazi Mount, I can't be completely sure.  I stamped with Versamark and embossed with Judikins Twinkling Violet ep onto Cuddly Buddly Patchwork Papers.  All of the bp is Cuddly Buddly mounted onto silver mirror card from my stash.  I mounted the fan onto a large nestie label.  I used my new Martha Stewart punch which I bought at the SECC and finished off with some gems from my stash.

I hope you like my card and thank you so much for dropping by and for your wonderful comments.

Beryl x

Frosty the Snowman

Todays card is for the challenge over at The Pink Elephant, this week it's a brilliant sketch. The image is 'Frosty' from Judikins and coloured with Copics, the bp is from last years DCWV Glitter Stack and the blue card is Cordinations. The snow flakes were cut with a Cuttlebug Die out of some old glitter paper that I had in my craft box. I'm afraid you will have to bear with me over the quality of the pic, as I said OH has our camera. I did try to scan this to see if I could get a clearer image, but the blues didn't look co-ordinated on the scan so I went back to faffing around with my camera phone.

Thank you for visiting my blog and if you would like to, please leave me a comment. They really make my day. Beryl x

Just in time

Hi, I have just managed to scrape into Rainbow Lady's Challenge this week which is to use acetate on our projects. I have stamped the butterfly onto acetate and glittered its wings, I have then added flat backed black pearls for the body. I am combining this challenge with Sketch66 for Sketch Saturday. The image is Judikins, bp is Artylicious and everything else is from my craft box. I'm sorry the pic isn'tr very clear, not sure what happened. Thank you so much for visiting my blog and for any comments you may wish to make. I appreciate every single one. Beryl x

Sketch Saturday

Today's card is for Sketch Saturday No.43. I have used Papermania cs in brown and beige and the paper is from a pad I have had for ages and I cannot remember whether it is DCWV or Dovecraft. The image is made up of two elements the Judikins Postage Stamp and the Judikins Serengeti Cube. The central image has been stamped onto glossy card which I have brayered with Kaleidacolor Bouquet. For the life of me I can't come up with something to put onto the small squares, wouldn't be a problem if it was a lady's card can't really put gems or flowers on a card for a man lol. I was going to put on a peel off border but haven't got any plain ones left and the corners from my Cuttlebug are too big. Hopefully I will come up with something before the card is needed. Thank you for visiting my blog to day, and if you would like to leave a comment please do. I appreciate every single one of them - good or bad. Beryl x

Second Post For Today

I'm catching up with the challenges at last and here are another two that I have done today. The first one is for the new Sketch and Stash Challenge. For this card I have used some gorgeous blue silk mirri card from Joanna Sheen, some paper from my stash box which I think is Papermania and the image is from Joanna Sheen's Victorian Companion CD which is one that I keep coming back to time and time again. The embellishments are from my stash again, I think the flower was a cover gift from a craft mag ages ago.



My second card is for this week's Friday Sketchers. I needed a card for a man and once again I went back to Joanna Sheen's Victorian Companion CD for the image and the co-ordinating backing paper. I used Judikins sports ball cube from Stamp Addicts and used cricket balls instead of flowers, the backing card came from my off-cuts box and I have no idea where it came from, but it has the most gorgeous golden sheen I think it might be one of the newer stardream colours. Unfortunately I've haven't got any more of it. Thank you so much for visiting my blog and for the fantastic comments that you have been leaving. They inspire me to try different techniques, and to persevere when I get 'one of those days'. Thanks again, Beryl x
PS I have only just noticed the shine on the photo of this card really sorry about that, the text reads 'owat!!' Beryl x