Time for Frazzled Parents Everywhere to breathe out

 How many parents out there are ready for your offspring to go back to school?  Why not send them off with a 'back to school' card or project.  I've chosen this as a new topic for the Make My Monday challenge.  My darling little one is now in his twenties and starts a new job tomorrow.  Good luck Patrick.

I've had this stamp of ages (Tiddlyinks) and I've only ever used it once.  I think it's so cute and it's nice to be able to get some use out of him.  He's such fun to colour.

OK, now you've got them packed up ready for school you'll have plenty of time to join in the fun.

Thanks for reading.

Love Dawn x

Krafty

 Morning all.  We are up to 'K for Kraft' over at The Alphabet Challenge today.  This one came quite easily for me.  I was already halfway through colouring my image (a digital stamp from Twinkle Lane Designs) when I checked my list of upcoming challenge themes.  I thought it would look stunning against a Kraft background.

I wanted to keep it simple as I love this stamp. However, for added interest I used an embossing folder to bring a little interest to my panel. I stamped the sentiment and cut around it before adding it in two halves.

Let's see your Kraft projects please.  We'd love for you to join in the fun.

Thanks for reading.

Love Dawn x

Take 3

 Morning all.  Over at Cardz4galz today we want you to use '3 of something' on your projects please.  I'm not sure how I came to this card as it certainly wasn't what I had thought of first...or second...or third.  I'd got flowers, die cuts, embellishments and all manner of stuff scattered around my desk but I wasn't feeling any of it.  Sometimes I think I have too much stuff.  There is so much potential that I can't just see the wood for the trees, or the card for the craft stash.  I ended up at my printer staring at my wood mounted stamps on the shelves above.  They rarely see ink as I use so many digital stamps.  In fact I'm not sure that the one I chose has ever seen ink.  It just sits there looking pretty.

The stamp has 5 of these pretty flowers in a row but I chose to use three and fussy cut them out. The backing paper was just hanging about on my desk.  I didn't even need to cut it.  It was a perfect size.

I just added the sentiment and a couple of gems.  I'm really pleased with it.  I now need to put all those flowers, die cuts and embellishments away before they get lost.  

Please pop over and join in the fun.

Thanks for reading.

Love Dawn x 

Bamboo for you

 Over at Cardz4guyz today we are looking for 'stencilling' on your projects please.  I love the stencils from Funky Fossil and was so happy to be able to use one on my card for this challenge.  I stencilled a whole field of Bamboo for this one but, in the end, die cut a piece and paired it with some oriental script paper.

I printed out and cut the topper (available from Crafts u Print) absolutely ages ago. It's been sitting in a box waiting for inspiration.

I'm sure you've all got tonnes of stencils that need an airing.  Please  pop over and join in the fun.

Thanks for reading.

Love Dawn x

Not ready to give up summer just yet.

 So, in case my earlier Christmas post depressed you a bit, here's a little bit of summer for this month's Sparkles Challenge.  Our theme this month is 'on the beach'  I couldn't get seashells out of my mind for this one and did have a go at stamping some.  They turned out ok but I couldn't get them to look right on a card.  I found an old Hunkydory card kit with some seashell paper and ended up using one of the toppers and a sentiment as well.  I did find an old shell bead to add in amongst my bits and bobs.

My lady is definitely a beach babe with all that seaweed in her hair. It's funny how I don't look quite that glamourous on the beach.

Please pop over and join in the fun.

Thanks for reading.

Love Dawn x

Christmas in ... August?

 Just so you are well ahead with the Christmas cards you started last month we have 'Christmas in August' for you at Make My Monday.  I still can't get in the mood for seasonal cards.  If it wasn't for these sorts of blog challenges I'd be still making cards on Christmas Eve - and it wouldn't be the first time that had happened.  I kept this simple and used an image I'd coloured and not used (image from Bugaboo and no longer available I'm afraid)

So there he sits, waiting for Santa.  He's got a couple of months yet.  

Ok, over to you.

Thanks for reading.

Love Dawn x

Juvenile antics

 Morning all.  Over at The Alphabet Challenge we are up to 'J for Juvenile'.  We would like to see something made for the youngsters.  Kid's cards are probably the ones I make least often.  Apart from my great nieces all our kids are grown up.  So, did I make something for a great niece? Of course not.  I went with a boys theme.

You could argue that girls like dinosaurs too and there is a coral colour in the leafy background.  Anyway, I had a rawsome time colouring them in.  I found the set over on Etsy by a new, to me, artist.  The shop is called Jo Kavanagh Designs. She's got some really sweet images if you are looking for something for the juvenile in your life.

Please pop over and join in the fun.

Thanks for reading.

Love Dawn x

Check this out!

 Morning all.  Over at Cardz4galz today we are looking for 'checks or plaid ' on your card.  I'm not a huge fan of checks but I did sort through my vast array of papers and had a surprisingly large selection.  I chose pink as I needed a special card for one of the girls in the office who is moving on to another department.  It seems that, for special occasions, this is my new go to fun fold card.

I love how it folds down to an ordinary envelope but it looks so spectacular when it's displayed.  The butterfly is Memory Box stamp that I got free in a recent magazine.

I do hope that you will be inspired and come over to join in our challenge.  

Thanks for reading.

Love Dawn x

Let's get down and dirty!

 Morning all.  Time for a new theme over at Cardz4guyz.  We want you to 'get dirty'.  Time to go a little grungy.  What could be more perfect for a guy card.  Now most of you know that I can't stand to get my hands dirty.  This is not my thing at all.  Saying that, I quite enjoyed this one.

I smeared some distress oxide ink onto a grey backing paper and then used my glue eraser tool to rough up some of the patches.  I screwed it up and distressed the edges before layering it onto my card blank.  I stamped the centre panel - do you know how hard it is not to stamp a perfect image when you want something to look messy - and adhered it to the front of my card. I had some little word panels that I couldn't resist adding and then dotted my die cut tools around the front.  I'm really pleased with the result.

Ok, time for you to get your hands dirty.

Thanks for reading.

Love Dawn x

The first Noel...

 Two posts in one day.  How luck are you?  Or not, as the case may be!

As it's the first of the month we have a new theme for you over at Sparkles Christmas Challenge.  We would like to see 'your sentiment as a focal point' please. My card may be the First Noel but it wasn't my first idea. I originally wanted to use a square die with lots of Christmas bunting across it.  I was trying to layer the snowflake bunting with a metallic card but it was so fiddly I left it and started again.  I used a layout I found on Pinterest and it worked out pretty well, in my opinion.

I can't remember where I got the die from.  I think it may have been one of those cheap ones from the Range. I used washi tape in the background and a few gemstones.

Please pop over and check out the challenge.  You get a month for this one.

Thanks for reading.

Love Dawn x

In the Spotlight

 Morning all.  Over at Make My Monday we have the 'spotlight technique' as our new theme.  I chose a slightly different way to do this by creating my card with a stencil.

I love the stencils over at Funky Fossil but I've always struggled a bit with this one.  My other half bought it for me and I think it's so pretty.  I've no idea why it defeats me so often. For my idea this time it was perfect.  I used grey distress ink for the most part and the red colour for my spotlight.  I'm so pleased with how it turned out.

Please pop over and join in the fun.

Thanks for reading.

Love Dawn x