Ali's card making blog

Here is a card I have made for my Gran (in law - I was allowed to adopt her as my granny as had mine still been alive they would both be 110!!) She will be 80 on 15th September. I've also made one for my other Gran in law who shares the same Birthday, how spooky is that! (She is a bit older than 80, about 84 or 5 I think now). Hubby's Birthday is the 16th and then our wedding anniversary is the 18th so I've been a bit busy with the cards, lol! This one is made with one of my floral stamps, stamped with purple ink and then embossed with clear embossing powder. The dragonfly stamp is a Penny Black one. Cuttlebug embossing going on in the background and the paper buttons were a freebie with a magazine. I'm entering this card into the following challenges (shame there wasn't one for embossing a lot lol!): Craftalicious - purple and green Pollycraft-add a little nature Craft your days away - wings (the dragonfly) I was going to enter it for a sketch challenge too but...

I've had a very busy weekend crafting and another day to go today, woo hoo! No work till tomorrow :-) We are off for a walk in the beautiful countryside of North Yorkshire this morning (better wrap up warm, it's freezing!) and then it will be time for more card making this afternoon, might even do some Christmas cards! So what have I been busy making? You might have spotted this new stamp on my desk last week if you are a follower of the WOYWW posts. It is one of the new ones from S.W.A.L.K and I thought it would be perfect for hubby for our 11th wedding anniversary in a couple of weeks time. I've been having a good play with the CD rom that I got with the stamps too, I love the papers and the verses (as I am rubbish at writing my own!) I'm entering the card into the following challenges: Just inspirational - Sketch and C.R.A.F.T - Anything goes (the celebration being the anniversary) Better go and dust off my trusty trainers ready for the walk, more cards later!

Here is the card I have made for hubby's birthday in a few weeks time (shhh...) I have used a digi stamp (can't recall where from sorry!, coloured with promarkers and backed with paper of my Funky Hand Dreams Come True CD. Finished off with a few gems and a sentiment. Hubby really is a beer monster in real life so hopefully he will like it ;-) I am entering this card into the following challenges: August digi day at Stamp Something Challenge 8 at Just Inspirational (going to the pub being the hobby/activity/entertainment) and Cupcake's blue and green challenge

Will have to be a short post today as it has taken the grand total of 20 minutes to actually manage to get on the internet, grrr! I have exactly 5 minutes left now before I have to get ready to go to work :-( So what's going on today? (Well, last night, the photos were taken about 7pm and how flipping dark and dreary was it outside?!) New stamps from S.W.A.L.K, that's what! The only thing is they are larger than I thought they were going to be and I only have one acrylic block currently (yes people, just one!) which unfortunately was too small. Therefore, I've improvised a bit and used an old CD box (Depeche Mode, showing my age!) The result wasn't too bad, but I think I will have to go and get a bigger block at the weekend, more shopping, hurrah! If you are wondering what WOYWW is all about, check out Julia's blog at the Stamping Ground for all the info - just click on the badge on my side bar. Have a great week and enjoy the crafting opportunities over the B...

I've made this card for yet another person leaving from where I work! Seems there won't be many of us left if this carries on ;-0 I've used my buttefly stamp as the main element of the card and had another go at paper piecing. I'm very pleased with the result. The butterfly paper is from a book of papers I got from the 'book man' at work. There are some quite unusual papers in it, so watch this space for more cards made from it. The scalloped circles at the back of the card were done using my nesties dies. I'm entering this card into the following challenges: Charisma - die cuts Sweet Something - sketch Have a good rest of Sunday!

Here is another card I made for a male relative - well it was made for the male relative but from hubby's gran rather than from us, I'm not quite old enough to have a grandson myself lol! The card is as simple design and is made from some glitzy peel offs I had in my stash. I am going to enter this into the Ellephantastic Challenge 8: Male Project . Off up to Durham now for a night out with my bestest friend, hopefully won't be too hungover tomorrow, lol!

Here is a cute little card I have made for my friend to give to her mum who has recently been promoted to being a senior usher (not sure if that is the correct term!) at Durham Cathedral. The card is made with a Lily of the Valley printed image, funky hand papers which I got free with a magazine, two different ribbons and two flowers which I got in the pile of stash from the car boot sale the other week! I'm going to enter this card into the Cupcake Craft Challenge - two papers, two ribbons and two flowers.

Wednesday again! If you don't know what WOYWW is all about by now then check out Julia's blog at the Stamping Ground - click on the WOYWW badge on the sidebar of my blog. Well, Dad loved the mini book I'm glad to say. We had a lovely day over in the Lakes with my Mum and Dad and some old friends who came along for the party. Here is a picture of my Dad with his cake (not made by me I'm sorry to say). He enjoys cycling, hence the cyclist coming down the hill on the cake! So, what's going on with my desk this week? These photos were actually taken last night. I was making a card for a friend and then when I finished that I was having a bit of an experiment with my Promarkers having looked up some of the tutorials kindly recommended to me by fellow WOYWWers. My first attempt at skin colouring makes her look like she has had an accident with fake tan! So I gave up with that one and started a second with lighter colours. I'm rather pleased with the result. ...

Cards for men are always so difficult aren't they? I've made a few lately so thought I would share my ideas. This was one that I made for hubby's uncle's birthday. He is a bit of a wine buff so I used this wine bucket decoupage which I have had in my stash for some time. The stringy ribbon stuff was off a parcel my mum gave me! I'm getting very good at recycling such things now. I am going to enter this into the Cards for Men challenge 17 . I'll post a few more later

Wednesday again, how quickly it comes round! This week I have been mainly colouring as I have been stocking up on Promarkers. (Cowling and Wilcox are selling the packs of 5 half price till 22nd August, I've just ordered another 3 packs on top of the 2 they have already sent me!) I really need to have a lesson on using them though as I was never an artist and am tending to just colour in more or less solid blocks, so could do with a lesson on light and shading! Yes, that is also a Christmas card you can see on my desk! There were so many very organised bloggers I had seen that I was shamed into making a start! There were quite a few Christmassy bits in the haul of stash I got from the car boot sale the other week, so I emptied them all out and had a play. I'll show you the snowman card again when it is finished! The only slight problem is I can't find where I have hidden all my Christmas stamps from last year, any ideas?! There was a Professor of Findology on BBC bre...

I can't believe my Dad will be 70 on Saturday! Doesn't seem five minutes since his 60th (or his 50th come to that!) My parents live over in Kendal in the Lakes and we are zooming over there on Saturday morning (complete with cake) for a bit of a party with some friends my Mum has invited who I haven't seen for a long time, so really looking forward to it. So here is the long awaited birthday minibook for my Dad. It's my first attempt at a project like this so I'm not sure how good it is really but hopefully he will like it! I had really wanted to do a kind of 'This is your life' but my Mum has most of the photos over in Kendal and I wasn't organised enough to get her to send me some! So I've used what I had available. I'm pretty pleased with the results, especially the page with the pictures of me on as well! Sorry the pictures are a little bit blurry, I'm rushing a bit this morning (and I'm a bit blurry myself too)!

Wednedsday again and I haven't posted since last Wednesday, oh dear I'm slipping! Despite having two days off work Monday and Tuesday I still don't seem to have done all that much crafting. I have been concentrating mainly though on a mini book for my Dad for his 70th and have completed six pages of that so I suppose that counts as at least six cards! It's not quite finished yet but I promise to share it when it is. It's the first scrapbook type thing that I've ever made, so not as professional looking as some I have seen, but hopefully he will like it. My craft space is getting messier by the day, it really needs a tidy up I think! I've taken a picture of the conservatory from the outside as a few people last week weren't familiar with the English love of these constructions! Ours is not a posh UPVC one though which the majoirity are, it is basically a wooden shack with windows, ha ha! For those of you who were concerned about me overheating last ...