A blog challenge - after all this time!

This year has been a bit of a dead loss as far as me entering blog challenges is concerned. I can't remember the last time I entered one! I see them, think "I'll do that one" and before I know it the time has gone and it is too late!

So, when I saw this one, which is Cupcake Craft Challenges, Non-traditional Christmas card, I decided to enter one of the Christmas cards that I am (still!) in the process of making. I have done all my posty ones and posted them, the ones I am still doing are for hand delivery. For once I haven't used my beloved ProMarkers, I have fallen in love with the new Joanna Sheen Enchanted Dreams CD, and a couple of the images lend themselves to Christmas. This is one of them. It doesn't show very well, but I have added gold and clear glitter to make it sparkle.

About time I posted again!!

I have been really lax lately blogwise! I haven't done any challenges (never seem to get organised before the deadlines!), and haven't even posted up my swap group pictures! I will try and do that in the week.

However, I just had to come on and post a picture of my great-niece, who I met for the first time today. She lives in Zurich (with her Mum and Dad!), and they came home for the weekend. They decided that the best way for her to meet everyone was to have a "Meet the Baby" party in Altrincham. It was a lovely day, if a little noisy (got a sore throat from talking over the noise!), and she is gorgeous.

This is a picture of her with her great-grandmother (my Mum) - both ends of the generation scale! It isn't the best picture I have ever taken photo-wise, but can't fault the subject matter!

July ATC swaps from my swap group.

I have just realised that I have been a bit lax in recent months, and haven't posted any pictures from my ATC swap girls since March!

Well, I have just done the July Swap where the theme was Animal World - anything animal! Here are the results, which, once again, are brill!!

I am officially a Great Aunt..........

although I maintain I have always been great!! My nephew and his wife had a little girl last week, Eveline May, and I have made this card to welcome her to the family (and the world).

Not one to waste an opportunity, I am entering it into a couple of challenges.

Papertake Weekly Challenge - Cutie Patootie

One Stitch at a Time - Use a Digi

I think it is definitely cute, and it is a digi stamp called Cuddle Cloud Baby from Meljen Designs, and you can get it here. I did one in blue for my friend who had a little boy (Jacob), but that went before I could get a picture.

I used the letters from "It's in the Words" CD, and I have coloured the main image with ProMarkers (of course). I added some glitter on parts of the image and around the name. Trouble is, now I don't want to send it - can't bear to part with it!! I will send it though, because she is worth it!! Don't you think she is gorgeous??

I've got Inky Fingers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Vix (Vixykins) will be proud of me, I have got my fingers inky, or at least I did yesterday. The challenge over at Crafty Cardmakers has been (for the last fortnight) "Inky Fingers", and I have been itching to get this one done. However, as usual, life got in the way and I was down to doing it yesterday in the shop. I decided to just get the e-mails (and Facebook) out of the way before I started, and I was just finishing doing this when my son walked into the shop. So, instead of making my card, I spent a lovely day talking to him and my husband! When he left, I had roughly 1 hour in which to do my card, and all the other things I needed to do.

I decided to just make a selection of inky backgrounds and bring them home with me to make the card here. I bought (a couple of weeks ago) some Starburst Stains, which I haven't tried yet (for this Vix would NOT be proud of me!), and would have like to have used them on this card. But I didn't think I had time to add the water and let them do what they had to do, so instead I used some Cosmic Shimmer Mists that I had received on Thursday (they come ready mixed). I also used some Inky Dinks which I got at Port Sunlight, and again, hadn't used. I made 4 different pieces of card, all very different.

The image is a Sweet Pea stamp, which has been stamped, scanned and enlarged, coloured with ProMarkers (of course), with a few accents with Sakura pens. I have used two different inky backgrounds, although you can't see much of one, just a bit peeping out from behind the image. I secured the image to the mat using something new (to me), a Crafler (a craft stapler), and some gorgeous butterfly staples. I got these in the shop on Thursday and couldn't wait to try them out!

As well as Crafty Cardmakers, I am entering this into - Flutter By Wednesday - Anything Goes

I've been playing again........

This time with my new "toy" Serif Digital Scrapbook Artist 2.

This is my Mum when she was 17 and when she was 82.

Not bad for a first attempt!

Do you like Whiff of Joy Stamps? (I do)

Then head over to Katharina's blog, as she is giving away a stamp a day!!

March of the Giants!

It was the Midsummer Watch Festival in Chester this weekend, and we went today (OH went yesterday as well). It was a beautiful day, lovely and sunny, which doesn't always make for the best photographs (at least not with me taking them!), but here are a selection of the 186 that I took
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A dreaded Man's Card!!!!!

Every now and then we are forced into making cards for men!! Now, I know my husband is not, strictly speaking, my father, but I usually make him a Father's Day card, just in case our children forget. This is it for this year.

I have used my (at the moment) favourite technique on Photoshop, which is layering and blending different pictures and textures. This one has a canvas base layer, then a picture which I took of the boating lake at West Kirby a few weeks ago, then a gradient layer, then a picture that I took of the Tall Ships leaving Liverpool in 2008, topped off with a layer of a "nautical" pattern.

I have made the easel from one of the A5 landscape card blanks I have in the shop at the moment, which I have inked with a mixture of Sea Breeze and Oasis Green Versamagic. The buttons I have had for years, and am now just finding a use for them (the lighthouse is a button too).

This is the picture, but when I printed it onto linen textured card, it toned down the colour.

I am entering this card into -

Crafty Cardmakers - Card for Men

Cupcake Crafts - One for the Boys

More Photoshop

Here is another Photoshop creation from the same tutorial.

The pansy was taken in Chester Park last year.

Playing in Photoshop!

I bought a book/magazine called Beginner's Photoshop for 50p in the "chucky outies" at W. H. Smith's last week, so I thought I would have a go at some of the tutorials.

So far I have been so taken with one of them I haven't got any further. Here is a picture I made by combining some of my own photographs with some graphics from My Craft Studio.

Gorgeous, or what??
Just done another one so I thought I would add it to this post

Entry number two...................

Here is my second entry for Passion for ProMarkers. I just got the Hunky Dory Kinetic card blanks in my shop, so thought it would be good to try one out.
The theme of "Anything Goes" put me in mind of the song "In olden days a glimpse of stocking was looked on as something shocking, now heaven knows, anything goes", so that was my inspiration for this card. The backing paper was Monochromatic, but I coloured all the white flowers in with Rose Pink ProMarker to match her clothes.
These cards are a little difficult to photograph, my my husband has done his best!

I think I am going to be a bit greedy...................

Passion for ProMarkers is having a birthday this week, and have mega prizes up for grabs in the challenge, which is "Anything Goes". The first prize is a complete (yes, complete) set of ProMarkers, and I really shouldn't expect to win that, as I won it last time, but the other prizes are just as brilliant!
This is my first entry - I think I am doing two - and she is just Gorjuss!! The background paper is from My Craft Studio Walk in Wonderland, which I printed twice, once with and once without Gorjuss, and cut out the bubble with her on to decoupage. I put two strips of narrow DST following the lines on the paper, then sprinkled Glamour Dust over it. She, of course, is coloured with ProMarkers, as is the gold brad in the middle of the flower.

I've been bullied!!!!!!

I have had a set of Moon Shadow Inks for about 3 years and never used them, and just recently Vix (Vixykins), and Jill (The Stampman) have been nagging me to get them out and USE them!! So I did and this is one of the cards I made.

I made the background using cream card and Violaceous Violet Moon Shadow Ink. Then I printed the gorgeous Butterfly Swirl digi stamp onto the card with my laser printer, and foiled it using toner foil and my laminator.
Next I coloured parts of the image with my beloved ProMarkers, which I also used to colour my clear jewels. Added the flowers, and here she is!!
I have just decided (with the help of Vix) that she would qualify for the Passion for ProMarkers challenge this week, which is Fantasy/Mythology, and I also think she may be OK for Papertake Weekly challenge, which is Say it with Flowers.

I don't like strawberries, but.......................

I couldn't resist joining in the challenge on Passion for ProMarkers this week, which is Strawberries and Cream.
The image is a Strawberry Shortcake colouring page, and I have layered her on a cream mat, then a pink one, and then the background paper. Now, I know that those aren't strawberries, but roses, but the colours went so well, and I couldn't find any paper with strawberries on. I tried my Martha Stewart "Punch around the Page" punches for the first time on the background, and in the corners of the card. The card itself is actually a pale cream, although it is hard to tell from the scan. I must remember not to put lumpy things on cards that need to be scanned - can't get a good scan.
All in all though, I think she is quite cute!!

Another Day Out

Went over to Liverpool today, and went for a wander down to Albert Dock. It was quite cold and blowy, but the sun was shining and it was quite pleasant.

Went round the Dock, then onto the river side (was going to take a picture of Billy Fury's statue - love him - but he was festooned with dying flowers which had been laid on him for his 70th birthday a few weeks ago, so I will do it next time maybe), and round to the Echo Arena. They have moved the giant wheel there from the park where it was before.

Didn't expect to get a go on it (husband doesn't like to pay for things he thinks are a rip off), but it was only £5 each for pensioners (sadly the girl on the ticket booth didn't argue, just believed we were old!), so we went on it. All I can say is "WOW", fabulous, and £10 well spent. Took some pictures, although they are not as good as they could be as they are obviously taken through glass, but not bad just the same.