Project 122: Felt bird thank you set

This year I have a lot to be thankful for already. I have a great family, great friends and a great passion for crafting - let's see in 2014 in style!

Above is a little set of cards that I made to enter the Moving Along With the Times challenge of thank you this week. Claire had given me these little felt birds and owls at Thanksgiving and I bought a set of My Mind's Eye Denim Shop card blanks with her which I thought would be a great back drop for the cards.

I used a bit of tartan paper from a Reflections collection pack and then a thank you stamp from Fiskars that I have not used before (also from Claire - feeling the suck-up-ness of this post yet?). I like the way it sort of sneaks into the background there. Finally some candies to top them off and we're rolling.

Simple and easy for my multiple thank you cards required from the holidays!

Project 121: Holiday banner thank you card

I know - you wait ages for a post and then I do two almost immediately back to back. I've got the bug at the moment, what can I say?

I liked the challenge over at Freshly Made Sketches and thought it would be great to make some holiday-themed thank you cards to thank all of my friends and family for their generosity this Christmas:

Loves Rubberstamps Challenge Blog were having a Anything Goes Holiday Blitz challenge so I thought this would be great. The sentiment stamp is from a Fiskars thank you set and the present is from Studio G - I think they work great together to make it more holiday themed.

The papers are predominatnly from a Raspberry Road Designs pack with a bit of a Reflections from Michaels thrown in as well. The faded houndstooth is from My Mind's Eye Denim Shop - it's so gorgeous I'm going to be using that again.

I topped it with some glitter glue and a candy - it's a bit busy but I really think it's festive and holidays are OTT any way - at least in my family they are!

Project 120: Little starburst birdie thank you

It's been ages since:
a) I wrote a challenge post
b) saw Claire
c) made a card that was inspired by both.

So it's time to rectify that!

Claire posted this beautiful card inspired by Retro Sketches' challenge this week (I've used the generous extension for the deadline - thank you!) and I wanted to do something to enter that challenge as well as it's a fab sketch.

Moving along with the times had a color-themed challenge this week and I had some gorgeous papers in the mini craft kit I brought with me (I'm traveling at the moment) that worked with the theme. They aren't probably what I would have used to match this theme if I were back home but I got them as close as I could!

Finally over at Sweet Stampin' they had a challenge to include some stamped birds so I thought the bird stamps I have from Little Claire would work well here. The greeting is from a Fiskars thank you set and I thought the little dots looked cute with the fanned papers. The pink isn't as antique as I thought it would be - but again, it's limited supplies at the moment. The birds are topped with glitter glue to add a bit of pizazz and the at least I had a good champagne colored pearl to coordinate back with the theme. I added some beige striped candies to balance it off and all in all I'm a happy crafter!

Project 119: Onesie baby card

I know it's been almost a month since I last posted - I've had 4 international trips in a very short period of time (some work, some play!) so apologies for the lack of posting.

I wanted to get at least a few posts in before the end of the year and today I had a great little project.

A childhood friend is having a baby girl in February and her shower is next week. I wanted to make a simple little card with the limited craft kit that I have unpacked with me (unpacking from the move has been a challenge given the aforementioned international travel). I remembered this post from Claire and wanted to do a smaller version of it, with a few little tweaks based on what I had available.

I used four different pink and yellow papers for the onesie and just made a template myself. I had plain grosgrain ribbon so that's what I used for the line. Then I glittered some of the features of the papers (yes, Claire, I'm all about that now, *rolls eyes*) and finally added just a spot of bling and some candies.

I left it greeting free as I don't have any baby stamps to hand (I have LOADS but they were not in the box I unpacked) so I think it's ok to leave them off.

Hoping to post again before Christmas- we'll see!

Project 118: No pink shower challenge card

Quick post from the states today! I am back for my friend Jules's shower and wanted to make her a classy card to reflect her style. As I was travelling I had to make do with a limited craft kit. Available I had my embossing and die cutting machine, papers and digi stamps as well as glitter glue and a small amount of peel offs.

Moving along with the times had a girly but no pink challenge and so I chose a lilac and silver and white scheme.

I used the petal die cuts to get a layer to frame my featured digi stamp. I embossed the back of the card and added the peel off for the greeting. Those frames are hard to use but it worked I thought here! Finally a few accents in glitter glue and it is done. Not too bad I think!

Project 117: Some coworker KennyK birthdays

The headline photo is for my friend Jo, using Fashionista by Kenny K. This stamp is just so her - it looks like her and when I saw the color inspiration at Color Throwdown it was perfect for her as she's definitely a natural/neutral kind of lady. She also regularly commissions Kenny K cards from me so I wanted to make sure she had something that was bespoke for her.

 The KennyK blog challenge was doing a Pearls and Pumps challenge and I thought I would combine it with a Moving along with the times challenge of Pearls and Swirls.

I embossed the natural brown card with a swirly bird pattern and colored Fashionista to match the color throwdown challenge. I am almost certain she has this outfit. I looked back at Claire's blog and saw that she had used a similar color scheme for Fashionista a few weeks ago. Great minds...!

I added some green-ish glitter glue to the swirls of the embossed card to make it pop out, added the pearls to match the challenges and then added a little knot to the striped ribbon. I love that ribbon and was "saving it for best" which is crazy. Gotta use stuff like that!

Finally Loves Rubber Stamping challenge was having an anything goes challenge so I had to enter it there as well! Overall, I'm very pleased!

Quick note:  I'm moving very soon so I expect fewer posts for the next few weeks!

Project 116: Little love card x4 challenges

Today was a crazy day - stuck at home working while transport around London FAILED. One little gust of wind and it's all come to chaos. I'm being horrible, of course, it's far more than a gust of wind. It's a named storm that has caused major damage across Southern England. And it's afforded me the chance to do some crafting so who's complaining?!

I wanted to make a card for my husband as this week we're both travelling around for business meetings and I like to leave a little surprise for him to discover in his bags.

I saw this challenge over at Sweet Stamping to use a leaf or wood motif, and I have a great Little Claire heart-filled tree stamp that is perfect for the occassion. I combined this with a challenge at the Color Throwdown as I thought they were a great combo.

But why stop there? I needed a layout, so I looked to the good people of Retro Sketches and thought bingo.

And then, because it's not enough, I have been wanting to enter Designed To Color's challenge of "tie it up" for a while now and just haven't had the time to enter!

So this is the mad combination of all 4 things. I used some beautiful coral-peach paper I got in a pack from Claire. I added the woodgrain brown paper to enforce the wood theme and bring out the brown a bitmore. I added the ribbon and button to go with the challenge and thought it added a cutesy country feel.

I dotted the border with some drawn-on-stitching and hand wrote the greeting to be personal. Finally some melon-colored candies to match the backing paper and we're done!

Phew. 4 challenges may be a bit much. Might stick to the normal 1 or 2 next time there's a storm-day!