Ali's card making blog

It's been a while! Have very busy with the house renovations as mentioned in my last post some time ago! Will take some photos this weekend now it actually has some furniture in it. It's not quite finished yet, still got living room floor to sand and varnish, curtains to alter and skirting boards to finish painting (boy am I sick of the smell of gloss!) but it's getting there! On to the desk, I've finally managed to get a bit of time to do a few cards. There is also a new addition to the room as the infamous sofa is now in the York house temporarily until new sofas arrive (then it is going to sofa heaven, sniff :-( So I've invested in a new table/desk thing from Ikea. It's great having my Cuttlebug in the same room as everything else instead of having to head off to the dining room constantly! The card I'm making is for a friend's Birthday. My mojo seems to have disappeared a bit, mainly because I can't find anything not having crafted for a w...

Yes, I got busy during my week off last week and made a few more C word cards! I've still only done about a third of what I need to do though and really need to get cracking and do some more. I was rather pleased with these as they were simple to make and I think look rather effective. (I make cards for a colleague at work from time to time who likes these simple type cards, she is very easy to make for lol!) They are made using some snowflake stickers from The Range and some die cut squares using the freebie die that came with my Cuttlebug. The sentiment is from a freebie sheet I got with a magazine. I am going to enter the card into the following challenges: Sarah Hurley - Anything but red and green Top tip Tuesday 'Anything Goes' challenge Crafty Cardmakers - use a freebie I made a second, similar card with some more of the stickers, here are the pair together.

Have been busy with the Christmas cards, done about 10 now and as I need to do in the region of 30-35 then I think I am on track! Hubby very kindly brought me a present of several rubber stamps from the car boot sale the other weekend. This is one of them, he chose rather well didn't he?! The background is my first attempt with Cosmic Shimmer, am rather pleased with the result. I stamped the image and embossed with black embossing powder. The purple panel is embossed with a Cuttlebug folder and the wire has been in my stash for yonks and haven't really used it very much! The gold stars were made with some gold leaf I got recently, am having fun playing with it. I am going to enter this card into the following challenges: The Corrosive Challenge blog - clean up the dust (on account of the wire) and The Crafty Pad - embossing Off to Barcelona tomorrow till Tuesday, yippee :-)

This is a great idea over at the Cowgirls Sunday Stamp'en challenge blog this week. Basically you make a Christmas card for a soldier to send to a loved one (no glitter as could cause safety problems - felt a bit weird making a Chrimbo card with no glitter, but I am pleased with the result!) So here is my card for the challenge which I am going to send off to the soldiers. It seems to be (I think) a US address to send it to so will check the postage at the post office (well, will get hubby to when he is sending off parcels from his ebay empire!) The card was made with a cute Penny Black stamp (coloured with promarkers) which I got as part of a set with a magazine subscription recently and some cuttlebug embossed paper. I am also going to enter the card into the following challenges: Totally Gorjuss - Wild thing (the hedgehog) Cupcake sketch challenge 2 Sisters - Christmas (also collecting cards for the soldiers, contains full explanation of the no glitter rule also!) Sarah Hu...

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...

And here is another card which I made today which I am going to enter into the following challenges: Quirky Crafts summer challenge Charisma cards 'All about bling' A spoonfull of sugar - enjoying the sunshine Lothian Crafts Summer's coming challenge I made the card using my new Penny Black Stamp which I got on the internet for £1 (bargain), some left over paper from my Funky Hand Dreams Come True CD and I used my Cuttlebug to do the frame. I also used my pro markers to colour the image (half price in Hobbycraft at the moment, yet another bargain!) The shelves were a bit bare when I went yesterday mind you, but I finally managed to get a red one (to do the ladybird with), they seem to be a bit rare?! Have a good rest of Sunday, I'm off to bed now x

I'm getting into this challenge thing now, especially as I now (as of yesterday afternoon) have my craft area set up in the conservatory! No more tidying everything away, hurrah!! So, I came across the Allsorts Challenge Blog and decided to enter their challenge this week, which is 'black, white and one other'. You can visit their blog and this week's challenge here My card used a gold decoupage flower I have had for a while and have been waiting for some inspiration to use. The white backgound is embossed and cut using my favourite new(ish) toy, the Cuttlebug. The black and white background is from my funky hand CD, I love all the different patterns and colours you can print out from that range. Topped off with a bow and a simple greeting. More about my craft room later :-)

Well after all the comments about my very tidy workspace last time I thought I would take a picture of it in full crafting flow this time! Still looks a bit tidy though! Basically I have to share my craft space with the dining room table so have to clear everything away whenever we want to eat which is a bit of a pain! Items you can see on the table therefore include vinegar bottle, brown sauce and salt and pepper, lol! So, one of my favourite items is on my table this week, my Sakura glaze pens, I love them they are so shiny and versatile. I've used them here on acetate with some glittery outline stickers which I had in my stash. Then I've cut them out and layered them up - here is the finished result. The card also incorporates the use of my Cuttlebug which you can see near the tv. Still a new item for me and I am loving it! I've just got some new nestabilities (labels) delivered and I was going to take a photo of them too but unfortunately I had a bit of a disaster with ...

I do really need to stop buying so much stash! Buying card making related items has replaced my previous passion for buying lots of clothes that I never wear, now I just buy craft stuff that I don't have time to use ;-) New items this week included some rectangular nestabilities and some scalloped circle nestabilities for my (new earlier in month!) Cuttlebug! I didn't pay full price though, they are soooo expensive aren't they?! Got them on ebay for around £14 a set, bargain! I've also got a stamp on order and a butterfly embossing folder. I also got a set of stamps last weekend at a craft shop I discovered in Whitby. 3 of them are Smirk Stamps so I'm enjoying playing with those! Anyhow, I was supposed to be going to a card making class yesterday to get some inspiration for what to do with all my new stuff. However, I was streaming with cold so thought I wouldn't go and infect everyone but would stay in and use the internet for inspiration instead. It wa...