A.W.O.L. for a few days

I'm afraid I won't be about much in the next few days. We have visitors arriving tomorrow till the middle of next week. I apologise in advance for not doing the rounds, but if I do get some sneaky time to myself I will try to do a bit of catching up.
See you soon.
Beryl xx

Magnolia Challenge #10

This week the challenge on Just Magnolia is 'Summer'. Tilda has been coloured with water colours - another pale image but she's stamped with Stazon so I didn't want to risk smudging it using Pro Markers. When I've used up all my Stazon stamped images I'll be using Memento exclusively from now on for this sort of image. The bp is a Papermania pad and I couldn't resist adding some punched stems for a couple of the flowers. I got my new punch from the Do Crafts sale this morning and have used it already for the flower. It punches out in a circle but I trimmed the point of the petals to use when layering up this flower.Thank you for visiting.
Beryl xx

Cupcake challenge and a half.

You wouldn't believe just how long this card took me to make - and it's only 5" by 5". It's just not my sort of thing and I kept laying pieces of paper here there and everywhere, completely ruined one lot so switched to another colour, but here it is. I didn't want to miss out on Rainbow Lady's challenge to make something with cupcakes on it - especially as she'd given us a fortnight to do it. The challenge on the Cute Daisy May blog this week is to include circles in your creation so I'm going to enter this card in that too. The papers are a download from Crafter's Companion and the stamp a freebie from Craft Stamper (which I thought I'd never use). The circles were cut using my Nestabilities and the blue ribbon and mirror card are from my stash. I have no trouble at all eating cupcakes I might add.
Thanks very much for visiting.
Beryl xx

Clear Stamps in Black

On the Rainbow Friends forum wer'e got a bit of a challenge going on at the moment to make a card using clear stamps with the topic of foliage. The stamps I've used for this one are from a set of leaf stamps by Clear Choice. I've used the fern leaves in the main image and another at the sides - I don't know what that's supposed to be. I then sponged the background with some Adirondack inks and added a tiny dragonfly - also a Clear Choice stamp. I have to confess that the branches at the top are Stampscape and the greeting is from the Stampman. When the image was dry I sprayed it with Crafters Companion silver glitter spray but it never seems to show up on the photos.It gives quite a nice effect IRL though. As it's a man type card I'm entering it in the Tanda Teaser which this week is to make a Father's day card or a card for a man.

Thanks very much for visiting.

Beryl xx

Blue Christmas

Another card which is having to do for two challenges - I only I could knock them out faster they wouldn't have to, but this is my second card today. Can't you tell I'm on my own with no-one else to cater for. The backing paper is Funky Fairies and their theme this week is Christmas. I've used the sketch from the Sketch and Stash challenge and the new element is the swirly tree stamp by Elusive images. I didn't manage to get this set until after last Christmas so thought I'd better start using it ready for this coming Christmas.
Thanks for visiting.
Beryl xx

I've just replaced the image of this card with one I took today. The light was going last night and the photo was a lot darker than the card itself. (Thurs. pm.)

Truly Scrumptious Challenge # 9

I've followed the sketch for the Truly Scrumptious current challenge

- well, more or less. When I was attaching the cross band and Glimmer misted piece behind the image I had the card upside down. Whoops!The backing paper is from the Walk in Wonderland CD and the centre band is pearlised paper run through the Cuttlebug. There's also the requirement to have an altered flower on the card. the two middle layers were gray and the back layer a sort of bright magenta so I sprayed them with Glimmer mist to (hopefully) make them tie in with the rest of the card. Now to the image - it's one a quite a few images very kindly sent to me by Lyn,Blackdragon's Crafts. Her work is beautiful and I when commenting on one of her creations I mentioned that I love the Fairy Poppet stamps but didn't think I could do them justice - so hadn't bought any. She promptly sent me an envelope full of images to practise on before committing myself to a purchase and also included a lovely card with a beautifully painted image as a guide. My effort is nowhere near as good as Lyn's but with practise I hope to improve. I used Inktense pencils to colour it. Well, that was a saga. Good job it's a big card.

Thanks very much for visiting.

Beryl xx

Just Magnolia #9

I know this little Tilda is a bit pale looking - not used to that since using Pro Markers but she was stamped with Stazon so I used pencils and just couldn't get her skin tone right - and I've just noticed as she sits on the desk she's got a dirty face now. Me and my messy fingers. Still, the paper pieced clothing is a bit pale too so she might have looked a tad odd if she had too strong a tan. So - the challenge at Just Magnolia is paper piecing this week. I'd never have tried it otherwise. What a fiddle.Her sleeves, socks and bow are one offcut and her dress another. Good job I didn't bin them. The bench is a Magnolia stamp and the background is from the Greetings Card Factory. The big flower is one of Jak's and has a computer generated greeting stuck in the middle.
Thanks very much for visiting.
Beryl xx

Dewdrop Craftz Challenge - Bookmark

This is the first time I've joined in this challenge over at Dewdrop Craftz.
It's also the first time I've made a bookmark - I usually use offcuts of messed up card. The main stamp is a Clarity stamp but I think it's a bit fine for embossing really. Still it gives a grotty effect which I was aiming for. (That's my story and I'm sticking to it. The circles stamps are from a clear set I got from Crafting Direct. The image was coloured with H2O's and the background with China Blue Distress Ink. It's sprayed with Crafters Companion Silver Glitter spray and backed onto a piece of navy card. The border is even but looks wonky in the shot. I wonder how long it will last. Probably ages - I don't get to read books a lot these days. I wonder why.
Thanks for visiting.
Beryl xx

Tanda Teaser 102

This week the Tanda Teaser is called Beautiful Butterflies. This butterfly was given to me by Janette - a fellow member on the Rainbow Friends forum. It was beautfifully embossed so I coloured it with a mixture of H2O's and Cosmic Shimmer watercolours. The Cuttlebugged piece behind is part of some blog candy from Anne - another Rainbow Friend - that I've had for some time now. I sprayed it with several colours of Glimmer Mists in the hope it would match the butterfly. The flower is from my stash and has been sprayed with Crafter's Companion Silver Glitter spray and the backing paper is from a CD called Flights of Fantasy and is printed onto Conquerer paper. This paper has a lovely sheen and in real life it really shows up on the card.

Thanks very much for visiting.

Beryl xx

One card - two digi challenges

Over on the Rainbow forum Ann has set us a challenge using one of her lovely digi stamps (which can be found Here) and a couple of her backing papers. I'm posting it on here because a.) I'm having trouble posting it on the forum and b.) it fits in with the challenge on Stampin for the Weekend which is to use a digi stamp. I took the liberty of tiling Ann's apple border onto her backing papers in MCS and lightly coloured the apples with pencils. The apple bowl was also coloured with pencils and then the apples glazed with glossy accents. The paper lace was from my stash and the sentiment from Serendipity stamps - a quote by Charles Dickens.

Thanks very much for visiting.

Beryl xx

A Thank You Card

Still trying to catch up with my challenges so I'm posting this one for Cute Daisy May, where the challenge is to use pink and green and Funky Fairies where the challenge is to make a Thank you card or gifts. The backing paper is Funky Fairies and CDM has been coloured with Inktense pencils. The mats were cut using Wizard label dies and the text computer generated. Not a lot else to say about this card except that you wouldn't believe how long I fiddled about trying to come up with some sort of idea for this card. It's doesn't look how I imagined it in my head and I think it needs something else. Any ideas?

Thanks for visiting.

Beryl xx

Pro Markers meet Just Magnolia

I hope I'm in time for the Passion for Pro Markers challenge this week which was to use the colours Apple and Pastel Pink. I've also used Blush to colour Tilda's skin. The papers are a mixture of Funky Fairies and a magazine cd and the flowers are from my stash. I've used the sketch from the Just Magnolia challenge this week so I'm using this card for that as well.
Thanks very much for visiting.
Beryl xx

Stampin for the Weekend's First Challenge

This week sees the launch of a new challenge - Stampin for the Weekend. It's a colour challenge to start with - purple and yellow. I love this combination. I have used a mixture of Funky Fairies' and Crafters Companion's papers so I'm entering it in the Funky Fairies challenge this week also. This week it's a recipe, 1 x ribbon, 2 x flowers, 3 x buttons and 4 x papers. The ribbon and buttons are from my stash and the flowers a mixture of punched paper and Prima flowers. Tilda has been coloured with Pro Markers and sits in a Nestability oval.
Thanks very much for visiting.
Beryl xx

One Card - Three Challenges

Time has been short this week as the garden has been calling and could no longer be ignored. To cap it all, Mr Blogger has been on a go slow this end and yesterday wouldn't load any pages at all for me so I couldn't visit anyone. I hope to have more luck today.
So, I'm hoping I can get away with three challenges using this card. The first is Cute Daisy May, the challenge being to use embossing - the second is the Tanda Teaser - who wanted us to use the resist technique and the third is Rainbow Lady's challenge - 5 a day - to have five items of fruit or veg on our creations and the number 5. (I really don't think this card would suit a five year old so I hope she doesn't mind if I skip that bit.)

The main image is an Elusive Images stamp, embossed with detail white and then sponged over with distress inks. I then sprayed it with Crafters Companion's silver glitter spray. The background paper is from Joanna Sheen's Victorian Animals and Nature CD, there a five clumps of peaches and whitecurrants up the border, and the text tag was made using my Nestabilities. The paper lace across the bottom was coloured with Stazon Timber Brown.

Thanks very much for visiting.

Beryl xx

Tilda plus Ladybirds

I've followed the layout for the Sketch and Stash challenge to make this card which will also fit the Just Magnolia challenge. The new/unused elements on the card are some gems (in the centre of the flowers - new from the NEC) and the paper from a Crafter's Companion cd, revisited and unused before. The Just Magnolia challenge was to include animal or insect somewhere on the card. Now I've found it I love this ladybird paper so I'm sure I'll be using it again. Tilda has been coloured with my Copics. (Also new!)
Thanks very much for visiting.
Beryl xx