Happy New Years.. Eve. :)

Hello everyone. My official last post for 2011. Wow. Where has the year gone?! I can't believe it. Have you achieved anything? Did you accomplish any goals you set last year? No? Me neither. You never do.. really. Do ya? LOL!! It's just another day. :) Never the less I'd like to wish you and your family all the happiness and health for the new year. Let's start out on a good foot shall we. :)

So to see the new year out.. I don't have a new years card.. because.. I haven't made one this year. Is that weird?! I don't really know many people who exchange cards around this time, althought I've seen some gorgeous ones around blogland! Especially using Magnolia images - which I avoid like the plague *runs and hides*. 

HAPPY NEW YEAR to my blogging friends on the other side of the world. As it happens I'm sitting with my boyfriend typing this up whilst he watches Sky Sports - we haven't 100% decided what we're doing tonight. Ha! Typical.

So.. here is the gorgeous Snuggle Tiny Tia from Some Odd Girl - she is very popular!! :) This is a request from a girl I went to school with. It was her daughters 3rd birthday on the 30th and I've coloured the image to be just like her. 

I have made a card similar to this earlier in the year for a lovely irish girl, but because all of my cards are OOAK I have made this one a little different. I used the same papers and colour scheme, but I added some different embellishments and flipped the layout. :) Do you find yourself taking inspiration from previous pieces?

You know what I really love about that photograph?! How the WOC moonstone brads look like they're glowing! I've never been able to photograph them like that before, maybe it's because of the colour of them. 

Here is a close up of the image. I've coloured her using the usual Copics and ProMarkers and fussy cut her out. I then adhered her to the card using dimensionals. I tried to add a little more depth to her black hair, but it just kept blending back out.. huh?! I don't know.. any tips?!

Here is a close up of the WOC goodness. I've found a new use for my dried up Chalk Ink pads.. adding some colour to my white WOC roses. Yum. I've added some Razzleberry to the 15mm white rose. 

I have pieced the sentiment together using alpha stickers, stamps, die cuts and punches. Looks pretty cute, huh?! Gonna practice this technique some more - I love the eclectic look of it.

Here is a shot of the inside. I have stamped a LOTV sentiment with Melon Mambo ink from SU! I then die cut another ticket from Whimsy and some punched flowers with a SU! punch.

Yet again I'm having trouble finding challenges which fit my card. I can't wait until this season is over so challenges can get back to normal! LOL.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE. xo

Flower Power over at LLLC

Morning everyone. Go easy on me over at LLLC Blog - it's my first turn hosting the Friday Inspiration post, so if anything is missing or it's all messed up.. I apologise. Blogger has been playing up and it's got me really annoyed! Hopefully it will let me type this post up without any holds.

This week the DT have really rocked my socks with their

*FLOWER POWER!*

creations. Wanna see what I've got for ya?!

I've used the adorable Sugar n' Spice Marci. I actually love this little girl. This was a birthday card I made for my boyfriends mam. She's always whipping up delicious sweet treats, so I thought she'd be perfect!!

I can hear your.. RED AND GREEN, LOU?! Yip, it's imprinted onto my brain me thinks.. HA! I've used some delicious papers from My Minds Eye Rosy collection, and that's the main colour theme.. so it was only right I coloured the image to match.

Copics and ProMarkers Skin - YR000, YR00, E11, E01, R30, R20
Hair - E50, E51, E53
Reds - Ruby, Red, Berry Red, Ice Grey 1
Greens - Meadow Green, Apple, Leaf Green
Whites - 0, E40, E41
Shoes - Ice Grey 4, 5, Black
Spoon and Cupcake case - E33, E35

As for the aspect of 'FLOWER' the whole show has been scattered with Wild Orchid Craft goodness. A cherry blossom and some 10mm and 15mm roses in red and cream. Yum. :) I think I might get me a hot glue gun soon, as I get myself in a terrible mess adhereing these beauties to the card using Glossy Accents. My fingers were in a total state.

I punched two little jewellery tags using and SU! punch and stamped a '4 you' sentiment on both using Close to Cocoa ink - that side just looked a little bare once the card was finished. I used a Circle Postmark sentiment from Whimsy Stamps also stamped in Close to Cocoa, and die cut it using a nestie. I added some liquid pearls to every other scallop as well as to other places on the card.

Here is a close up of more liquid pearl goodness, as well as a moonstone brad from WOC and a snowflake style spacer. The stamped flower is from an SU! set, I have fussy cut it out and curled the petals only slightly. I made another brown one and a red one and added those to the card. Can't have too many flowers on a FLOWER POWER card, right?

Last but not least here is a shot of the inside of the card. I used up a few scraps of paper and stamped a sentiment from LOTV in Real Red ink onto the kraft cardstock. I then took the same flower stamped I used on the front and stamped some randomly in Close to Cocoa ink to tie in with the front.

I'd like to enter this card into these challenges:

 × Art Impressions - #45 Die cuts or Punches

 × Aud Sentiments - Anything Goes

 × Just For Fun - Anything Goes

× Samuel Taylors Crafts - Anything Goes

× I Love ProMarkers - Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by today.

Top 10 {CRAFTY} Creations for 2011

Have you guys seen Kellies Post HERE.. about her Top 10 crafty projects of 2011? If not you wanna go check it out and join in. It's seriously inspiring!

Here is my take. I thought about just picking my favourites willy nilly, but instead I've decided upon picking a fave for each month.. more or less. Obviously missing out two here or there. You guys can all count, right? Heehee. I've went with that because if I do it any other way I'll just pick 10 projects from the past few months, as since I've been looking around my blog at earlier posts I feel like I've come on leaps and bounds technique and style wise.

#1 MARVIN

So.. first up I have something from February 2011.. using gorgeous Marvin from The Stamping Bazaar. This was one of the first times, if not thee first time I had attempted black and white colouring. I even took a photo of Marvin before I fussy cut him out incase I destroyed him! LOL.

#2 HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT

I just HAD to include my first ever Simply Sassy, didn't I?! :) Not a massive fan on the layout of the card, or the massive mix of colours.. but I love this little lady. To this day she still remains one of my firm faves. I particularly like how I've coloured her hair.. oh how I wish I wrote down combos in those days. All of my earlier images were coloured solely with ProMarkers.

#3 JUST A NOTE

Here is a little creation from April. A smidge of distressing, a touch of embossing and a drop of pearly goodness. Of course it's white, brown and blue with some KRAFT thrown in - so it had to make it into the top 10, right? Makes a change from having an image centre of attention too.

#4 CLAY CREATIONS

Here lies my first attempt at some clay doodads. Limited designs and colours, but I love(d) them. I had a total infatuation with them. I sold the rest off at a craft fayre I went to. Think I gotta get my ass into gear and create some more, in different colours.. obviously.

#5 THE TURNING POINT

You're probably wondering, why the title?! Well, I'll tell ya why.. because I think this card represented a turning point in my style of card making. A style I'm now really happy with, and a one that I think represents me and what I wanna show. The different stitching style.. the flowers.. the stamps and digis combined.. I mean hell.. the colouring ain't THAT bad, all be it her hair's a little.. well.. yellow. I actually love this card. Is that big headed?

#6 A CELEBRATION

To this day this card remains one of my fave ever Pollycraft projects. It's really girly, which used to be something I found hard to do, and it's quite.. hmm.. dimensional? :) It helps that there is a little kitty involved and that sentiment is just the best!!

#7 SCIENCE ROCKS

How about something from August? My birthday month. :/ I think it's gonna have to be another Pollycraft creation.. Luna!! Love those huge glasses she's sporting and the little pen and pocketwatch she has adorning her are just proof Paula has amazing eye for detail.

#8 HOME GROWN

Shes's TOO cute to miss out. Plus I had to have a Some Odd Girl creation in there somewhere!! Look at the big brown eyes - shes adorable. Bright, fun, spring colours in the depth of Autumn.

 

#9 EMBELLISHMENT CEN-TE-RAWL

The most embellishments you ever did see on one of my cards? I went a little crazy, huh? Blaaady laaaav it though! I totally didn't wanna give it away, but the girl I gave it to as a birthday card will treasure it. I hope. Think I might print a photo of this out and use it as inspiration when my mojo has a wander!

#10 CHRISTMAS FAERIE

Last but not least.. will we end with a Christmas card? I was over the moon when I found out I could stop on a LLLC. This is one of my fave cards I've made with these guys so far. Again, a fave combo of mine. Are you seeing a theme here?! LOL!! Perhaps next year I need to force myself to stray from the path a little more..

So there ya have it!! Get your top 10 lined up and linked over at Kellie's blog so we can all oogle over each others creations from the past year.

I think I'ma take it upon myself to add a little something extra.. like some

CRAFTY NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS

1. Step away from the beaten track.

Create something I don't usually every once in a while. Use a different combo, something I am not initially drawn to.

2. Challenge myself.

Sorta relates to the the first, but go out of my way to do so. I wanna develop my colouring skills even more, hopefully as much as I have done in the past year. Perhaps try some new colouring mediums, like the Prismas I own that I shy away from

3. Leave more love.

I follow so many inspiring people, and I'm always stalking their blogs.. without leaving as much love as I should. I'm bad, I know. But I ain't the only one.. am I?!

Take it easy and enjoy the rest of you.. what day is it?! THURSDAY!

Okay, One MORE!!

Okay, okay. I said the LAST Christmas card might be the last one from me this year.. but just lemme squeeze this last one in before I forget! :) One more last minute card order from a gorgeous Irish lady. She really appreciates my work and that means a LOT to me, plus she LOVES Some Odd Girl just as much as me.. maybe even more!

So here is a card, requested by her.. to actually be given to her by her boyfriend. Hilarious! :) She wanted me to use Mistletoe Kaylee, so here she is, coloured just like the recepient. She wanted vintage, but different. So distressing counts as vintage, right? No traditional Christmas colours either. Makes the card stand out more, right?

I have created the sentiment in Word and printed it out in a pink tone to match the papers. I die cut the sentiment using a curved rectangles nestie and distressed and doodled the edges. I stamped the ickle stamp from the new Lovey Tobie stamp set in Frayed Burlap DI, and Real Red and Pretty in Pink SU! ink. Yum.

Here is the sneak I posted over on my FB page. :) Love her bright blue eyes. Too cute. Hope I wrote that combo down somewhere! LOL!! Next year I really wanna work on my SOG noses, try and get the shading along the darkest side of the nose and in the eye socket right. I need some tips from Kristy and Melissa!

Here is a shot of the inside of the card, stamped and distressed to match the outside. :) Simples.

Okay, so maybe that is all from me for this year. For real this time. :) Hope I haven't bored you too much.

Purple and Cream Combo

Festive Frolics OVER Folks!! How did the big day go for ya? Oh, and the wind down day eating the scraps yesterday? Good I hope. Was Santa good to all of you and yours? :) Today I have something totally none Christmas-y to show ya, because that's all over - at least for now. Hahaha! I do have something up my sleeve. ;)

Very popular combo in my card orders these days.. especially for Wedding/ Anniversary stuff - cream and purple. Not that I mind, it makes a change from the brown, cream and blue.. right? Only thing is.. I only own purple cardstock and flowers.. oh and ink.. but not patterned papers. A hole in my stash which I coulda lived without noticing!! NO MORE STASH TIL FEB '11.

So today I've got a purple and cream wedding/ retirement card to show ya, as requested by my lovely sister. Who is also my biggest fan right now. :) She really spurs me on to make my stuff better and more original, because she appreciates it more than anyone else I know.

I've used a stamp set from Waltzingmouse - Cameo Creations. I've had this set for AGES but only just broken it out. I honestly don't know why it took me so long.. it's bloody amazing. It works so well with the oval nestibilities and makes.. makes.. like this really easy.

I have used a slice of paper from MME Madison Avenue (I think) for the damask design for the background layer. I'm in love with that pack right now. It's gonna get hammered over Valentine's me thinks. I'm on a bit of a pink and brown kick for that holiday. Anywho.. two of the smaller ovals from the set have been stamped in Rich Razzleberry ink from SU! and cut using the third? smallest nestie from the LG Ovals. I then stamped the male and female cameos in Perfect Plum ink. I have distressed the edges using Frayed Burlap ink to finish it off.

Some WOC deliciousnes in the form of some flowers and pearl brads. I've created some multiple looped bows using ivory button twine to place under the pearl flowers for some added interest.

I have created a double bow using some gorgeous taffeta ribbon from none other than The Ribbon Girl. I added a pearl either side too, as it looked a little.. poop with out them. I'll be honest. :)

 

Here is another close up of the smaller purple rose, as well as my sentiment which I embossed in white. It looks a little wonky, because my stamp is wonky - don't know how, because that was the first time I used it. Weird. 

So there ya have it folks, another commission which went down really well on my FB page, and even got me a couple extra orders - which can never be a bad thing, right? :)

Supplies:
Cardstock: SU! - Naturals Ivory
Patterned Paper: MME - Madison Avenue, Rosy
Stamps: Waltzingmouse - Cameo Creations; Hero Arts

Ink: DI - Frayed Burlap; Versamark; SU! Rich Razzleberry, Perfect Plum
Embellishments: The Ribbon Girl - 16mm Fuschia Pink taffeta ribbon, ivory button twine; WOC - pearl brads, 15mm purple and cream rose, 10mm cream rose, 10mm purple rose; snowflake style spacer; cream button; cream pearls
Tools: Nesties - LG Ovals; PTI - Fillable Frames #1
Misc: brown fineliner

Could that be it for 2011?!

The last Christmas card I post on my blog I mean. Don't have a fit - I'm not leaving for good! HAHA. Although some of you may be pleased to be without my waffle clogging your news feed! ;)

So here it is.. it's only James Bear from LOTV. I bought this guy last year and he's only ever seen ink once before. Shame on me, he's gorgeous!! This order was for a Christmas/ Birthday card. Fancy being born on Christmas day?! Don't know whether that'd be all it seems to be honest. Anywho, I thought James Bear - Deck the Halls would be perfect, with the mixture of Christmas decorations and a pressie! :)

I've used some papers from Crate Paper - Snow Day for the main background piece and the snowflakes. :) I've distressed and doodled the edges and wrapped a slice of red sheer ribbon around the lot. 

Here's a close up of the moonstone brads from WOC, lovely much!! Gotta get me some bigger ones of those. After Feb.. of course. *rolls eyes* LOL!!

 

Naturally I've got this cutie coloured up using Copics and ProMarkers. I kinda love his light fluffy look. :)

 

Finally, here is the inside of the card. I typed the sentiment on my computer and printed it off. Clean and simple. :) I added a punched label and another snowflake to the inside. Then doodled around the edges.

:) Enjoy Boxing Day guys!!

I'd like to enter this card into these challenges:

× 2 Sisters - Snowflakes

× Simply Stampin' Christmas

 × Card Crafters Guide - Christmas

Top 5 Christmas Cards

MERRY CHRISTMAS!! 

Just taking a little Time Out while I'm waiting for my dinner. My mam and her boyfriend are around the pub. Exciting. Not. So I won't be getting fed until about four o'clock. I'll be like half of my former self by that time. *yawn* so I'm braving the Boxing Day sales.. that start early.. online!! Yippeee. Gonna treat myself to some new threads.

Anywho, over at Debby's Blog - A Scrapjourney, she is holding her yearly Favourite Five Christmas Cards. I joined in with this last year and last night I was looking through my blog and I thought "wow - I really have come a LONG way" - not to blow my own trumpet, but I sure hope my designs are a little better now than they were a year ago!! See my Top Five for 2010 HERE.

 

So here are my faves from this year..

#1 Bright Lights

First up is this Some Odd Girl creation - naturally. :) I've used Bright Lights Kaylee. I loveee this image, makes me think of decorating the tree and the whole run up and excitement of Christmas. Plus her little outfit is CUTE! :) A relatively plain card in terms of embellishments for me, but I used two very busy papers from Basic Grey Eskimo Kisses collection - another of my Christmas faves.

#2 Christmas Cookies

You can see the details for this card HERE. I chose this one because I just love this boys HAT!! Seriously. I need me one like this for next year! HA! This image is Perfect Christmas from Pollycraft. Love the bright papers I've used from Basic Grey Jovial collection and my embossed sentiment - from Some Odd Girl. :)

#3 On the Way

I had to choose a card with a LOTV image seeing as I've used them so much this Christmas! :) This was the first LOTV image I coloured this Christmas, and I was so happy with the results compared to last year. I think my colouring has improved a LOT - although it still has a long way to go. Always learning, right? :)

What else? Hmmm.. it's getting tough.

#4 Yuletide Faerie

I was sooo happy to be asked back to LLLC after being a guest. Here is a card I made using a none - Christmas image - Faerie Marci, alongside some none traditonal Christmas colours which I'm a real sucker for, blue and brown. I loved the little fan embellishment I created, as if you can remember, last Christmas I was on a little rosette flower kick after buying my hougie board! LOL!!

Last but certainly not least..

#5 Christmas Shopping

Here is a money wallet I created for TPS challenge inspiration, not too long ago. This is Tickled Winter - Lil Lolita Shopping Ivy. Doesn't she look so festive? I thought she'd be perfect to adorn a money wallet, full of monies to spend in the sales! :)

Which is what I'm about to carry on with, right now! :)

Enjoy the day with you and yours. Stuff your faces full of deliciousness.

Even if my cards haven't improved, the way I photograph them sure has! :)