Birthday Annie

Gawd, you know when you sit there and faff and faff, then faff a little more but nothing you do makes you happy? This card was like that. I wanted to chuck it in the bin and start again several times but that image took me a long time to create and colour in so I persevered. So this was a real time consumer but you would never think so by looking at it,;I just hope the recipient appreciates it LOL

I modified Purrfect Annie and Kitty by removing the kitten and replacing with balloons, cakes and a present. I posted a masking technique on the Delectable blog the other day showing how to combine several images if you are unsure how to do this. Tried to do the hair differently this time but it ended up looking rather grey - a little old lady she looks here LOL

Quite a copious use of glitter on there but as it's for a 40th I thought I would give it a little sparkle. I used Basic Grey papers, Rub-ons and elements, All My Memories rub-ons, K&CO Que Sera SEra Gold pearls, K&Co Wild Raspberry Floral Accent. Annie was coloured in with Copics.

Thanks for visiting. Have a lovely day ♥

Bright bright bright!

I'm sure by now you have realised that I prefer muted earthy colour, but today I have gone bright and cheerful, and I must admit that when I make a bright card I really do enjoy working with those colours. I'll have to do more.

I am doing this both for the Charmed Delectable blog, to showcase our Charmed Delectable Irresistible Annie stamp, and also for the Copic Colour Challenge. The colours they want you to use this week are these:

...and I used them to colour my little Annie in with:



Products used for this card:
Stamp: Charmed Delectable Irresistible Annie
Papers: Basic Grey Lime Rickey; plain textured cardstock
Embellishments: Basic Grey Lime Rickey Element stickers; K&Co Wild Raspberry Floral Accents; sentiment is a Rub-on.
Tools: Martha Stewart Edge Punch; Nestabilities
Misc: Distress Inks, Copic Markers
Everything except the Copics is available in the Charmed shop.

I have stepped down from the Copic Challenge Blog Design Team so this will be my last for them.
TFL ♥

Foxy Tip

Well here's a tip that I just have to pass on, apologise to those of you with a weak disposition as you may find it a little *cough* unsavoury. If this applies to you then don't read on, stop right here and check out some of my cards instead :-)

We have been plagued by foxes in the garden this year. We have had them before tunneling in the most bizarre places but this takes the biscuit! Now the thing about foxes is that they are not particular where they do their business; they poop anywhere they damn well feel like it! You have to be constantly on your guard, and watch where you tread and where you put your hands. You could find a large mound of stinking mess clinging to a clump of grass (and if it get stuck in the lawnmower then prepare to wear a gas mask for a while - I speak from experience!!) or there could be horrible surprise waiting in your BBQ (yes really). They mark *their* territory (well it's not their damn territory, it's MINE!) and will pee and poo all around the garden and on the perimeters.

They have ruined our lawn also which has several large dead areas where they have peed and it looks like they have chased a cat up our patio parasol where the cover has been ripped to smithereens! A year or two ago one moved into one of our sheds and I didn't realise for ages. We boarded it up and the little bugger ripped the wood open and went back inside!! It did quite a lot of damage to the patio furniture and other things that were in there - I never knew there was so much foam in a sun lounger - perhaps it's the same one now coming back for revenge, and this time it brought the family!!!

Can you tell I'm not a fan? I don't care too much about their high-pitch screeching in the night or their rummaging through rubbish, just as long as I don't get their toilet stuff in my garden! They are not nice woodland creatures, these are urban don't give a damn foxes that wander streets looking mangy and bedraggled and will stare you defiantly in the eye rather than run away.

So what does one do to stop these animals from fouling everywhere? Aha, i have the answer. I was considering going to Chessington Zoo and purchasing some Tiger's doo dahs, I was getting that desperate, when I read about someone who had used human pee. It had to be male as the pheromones would warn the foxes off - apparently. OK, worth a try I thought, so out went one male under the cover of darkness and marked his territory. It rained the following day so out he went again to reestablish his marks.

That was over a week ago and so far so good. No more evidence of foxes in the garden and usually there was stuff on an almost daily basis. I can't say I am too keen on going out there myself at the moment but after the next rainfall I'm sure I'll be fine. The idea of everything bathed in human pee is not fantastic but I will take that over mountains of poo any day.

So there you go, don't say I never give you any tips or techniques :-) Just don't let your man go out in your garden marking his perimeters before the big guy upstairs has turned out the lights!

Charmed Digi Challenge

Well it's not really Dottie's World anymore, it is shared by the many other characters that makes up the Charmed digi stamps :-) My turn to set the challenge today and this is it:

The challenge is simply "Coffee and Cream with spots or stripes" - and a Charmed download of course.

I have lots of spots and stripes on my card and the colours are of course coffee & cream. The digi-stamp used here is Puddle Love from the Dottie & George Love & Marriage collection. I think this is such a special image, just delightful; I absolutely love it and never tire of using it.

A liberal use of Glossy Accents on the puddle and umbrella provided a nice "wet look" just perfect for this image.

This is roughly what I used to make this card:

• Digi Stamp: Puddle LOve from the Dottie & George Love & Marriage collection
• Papers: Brown textured cardstock. Pixie Press paper (leftover from our sale)
• Embellishments: K&Co Ancestry rhinestones. Petaloo Flowers and flower centre. K&Co buttons and lettering (Life's Journey). Cream cotton lace
  
• Tools & Misc: Nestabilities, McGill Pine Punch, Glossy Accents, Distress Inks
  

I coloured the image using Copic markers.

Lots of inspiration on Dottie's World today as we have no less than FOUR new design team members starting. Please pop over and take a look.

TFL ♥

Copic Colour Challenge

Tis Wednesday and time for another Copic Colour Challenge. I almost didn't make it as the realisation that it was due today didn't hit me until about 11pm last night; when I was thinking about going to bed! That's the Bank Holiday for you, puts everything one day in front, and as you get older that easily confuses. If you look closely you may spot evidence of my late effort, so try not to look too closely please LOL

The colours this week are very Victorian; they are perhaps a little austere, but I love them together:

I thought them perfect for Annie sitting oh so pretty on her stool.

I decided to make this card for a dear friend who lost her husband this week two years ago. It is perfect as a remembrance card I think.

Here is my little card recipe:

• Stamps: Delectable Annie Sitting Pretty and Stool, coloured in with Copics.
• Papers: K&Co Que Sera Sera. I coloured in the bottom strip with Cardinal red Copics.
• Embellishments: K&Co various: "Thinking of you" is Que Sera Sera. Flowers, Chipboard and Pearls are Ancestry. Butterfly Rub-on is AB Lotus.
• Tools: Nestabilities and Martha Stewart Edge Punch

Update 29 May: Just added the stitching I didn't have time for. I didn't have an appropriate colour thread so used a yellow one and coloured it with a Copic marker. Result is colours exactly to match the background.

I hope you will join us in the challenge this week on the Copic blog. Pop over and see what lovely projects the design team members have created to inspire you.

TFL ♥

Buttons!

I hope you are all enjoying your Bank Holiday weekend. Weathermen in their infinite wisdom promised blazing hot sunshine today here in London, but it is a rather grey and murky day. Not that I am complaining, can't say I enjoy the heat all that much; and if it's a hot summer you will no doubt hear me complain quite a lot about that!! Clearly we all feel the heat differently, what one enjoys and can't get enough of, another (me) finds stifling and oppressive.

Anyway, enough weather talk. Let me move onto the Dottie's World challenge. This week the lovely Adele set the challenge and she wanted to see some buttons or beads. I used "Holly in the Garden" from the original Holly & Madison digi-stamp bundle, it's my favourite image from that bundle.



The papers, borders, "Love" and bee are from Basic Grey's Wisteria range.
"A weed...." is K&Co Cut & Paste.
Leafy branches with gems are K&Co AB Lotus.
Buttons are Basic Grey and the purple metallic brads are Dovecraft
I drew some extra flowers on the card, including a little bunch in Holly's hand.

The image was fairly loosely cut around and I coloured in the background with a colour as closely resembling the background as possible.


Pop over to Dottie's World and see what marvelous creations the other DT members have come up with.

TFL and enjoy your day ♥

Copic Colour Challenge

Time for another challenge on the Copic Challenge Blog. I chose the colours this time, nice bright and summery to go with the fine weather we are having at the moment:

The red and yellow together creates perfect apples, don't you think?

I used two of the new stamps from the WOJ summer collection. I stamped the boy then realised he was a seated figure (doh!!), I therefore just drew a little wooden one-seater bench behind him.


Didn't have the light when I took these pictures and as I made it for someone I didn't have it in my possession for long. Here are the products I used:
Stamps: Whiff of Joy
Papers: K&Co and Basic Grey
Various Rub-ons for edges and sentiment
Flowers are K&Co Wild Raspberry, Sun is K&CO Sea Glass chipboard.
Shapes cut with Nestabilities dies
"With Love" and wooden bench done by hand

Pop over to the Copic challenge blog and see what the talented ladies on the team have come up with.

Don't forget the celebrations on Dottie's World. Today it's a treasure hunt!! Lots and lots of gorgeous stash to be won so don't miss out!

TFL ♥

Confirmation Card

In Denmark where I am from virtually everyone are confirmed around the age of 13. It's a day of great importance and we all remember our day, I remember mine as though it was yesterday! Recently it was the turn of my newhew Sylvester and thankfully Whiff of Joy had just the stamp for the job.

Stamp: Whiff of Joy
Papers: Basic Grey
Nestabilites dies and Martha Stewart edge punch
K&Co Metal corners and HOTP Gold Cross Brads
Image coloured in with Copic markers.

TFL ♥

Birthday Angel and New Candy!

I hope you have all had a lovely weekend. Did you watch Eurovision last night? It's been a load of tosh for years, right? Yet yesterday I have to admit that I actually enjoyed watching it!! I had it on whilst making a few cards but I frequently stopped to look at the screen. My favourites were Estonia and Iceland, but I also liked the UK entry and others such as Malta. Norway's entry was not my cup of tea and I am surprised that it won. Well done UK for getting to a very respectable number 5. Missed Terry's banter though, not the same without him, Terry Wogan IS Eurovision and Eurovision = Terry Wogan.

Anyway, back to crafting. It's my little angels birthday next week and what a perfect stamp I had to use, our very own Delectable Angel Annie, couldn't wish for a more apt image. I went all out on this one, and filled it with sparkly and glittery elements. It's a big card at A5.

Here are some close-ups:
























































Stamp: Charmed Delectable Angel Annie
Papers: K&Co Wild Raspberry. Basic Grey Porcelain. Plain textured cardstock
Punches and Dies used: Nestabilities Scalloped Circle. Martha Stewart Edge Punch.
Embellishments: K&Co Cut Paste. K&Co Lotus Tea Rose. Basic Grey and Maya Road Rub-Ons. Prima Swirl. Creative Imaginations Epoxy Heart.

Oh btw, have you seen what's going on over on Dottie's World? To celebrate our first birthday we are giving away a huge amount of stash, this much in fact:

I shall tell you exactly what is in that little pile:
K&Co 8.5" x 8.5" Danny O Scrapbook Album To Go
K&Co 6" x 6" Red Tulip Scrapbook Album
Spellbinders Nestabilities (5 dies)
Martha Stewart Edge Punch - Embossed Diamond
Four Wood mounted rubber stamps: Row of Daisies - Daisy Blue - Two Roses - Red Gerber
Hot of The Press 8" x 8" Paper Pizazz RETRO
Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen 8" x 8" Paper Pack
K&Co Tag Magnet Kit
Maya Road Blossom I Chipboard in a Tin
American Crafts Ribbon Celebration Set (six reels)
Imaginisce Ribbon & Blooms
Imaginisce Love Crystals
Imaginisce Butterfly Blooms
Imaginisce Little Kisses Blooms
Life's Journey Clearly Yours Words
K&Co Rub-On Magic
K&Co Adhesive Chipboard Rock Star
Basic Grey Pocket & Tags
Basic Grey Glazed Brads
Charmed Delectable stamp of your choice
Charmed Digi Stamp of your choice

...and I might even add a few more things for luck! Pop over to Dottie's World and see what you have to do to get your mitts on this pile of sweet sweet candy.

TFL and bye for now
Karen ♥

Sunday Challenge - Charms

Juliet set the challenge today on Dottie's World and she wanted to see something dangly on the cards (snigger), such as a charm, as well as a Charmed download.

I used Madison on the Beach, from Holly & Madison's World Tour, as well as Mikey from the new collection (download button in side bar).

My dangly charm is a Marion & Me "Beach Babe" charm, which I hung from a Tim Holtz Swivel Clasp.


The sentiment is a mixture of stickers and rub-ons:

Some of the other products used:
Basic Grey Porcelain Paper
K&Co Que Sera Sera Note card
Nestabilities die
Martha Stewart Zig Zag punch
Prima flower dotted to make it look like drops of water
Marion & Me Metal heart corner
Tim Holtz ink
Various pearls, crystals and brads
The images were coloured in with Copic markers

Pop over to Dottie's World and join the challenge :-)

TFL and have a great Sunday ♥