Clever Sausage

 Morning all.  Over at Make My Monday today we have the fun them of 'Dogs or Puppies'.  This is always a popular subject and, as we now have a dog ourselves, I can understand why.  For my husband's birthday I made a card using a cricut image of a staffy that looks just like Ava.  Unfortunately, I didn't take a picture of it.  

Oh well, over to plan B.  As it is exam season I decided to use a very old digital stamp (Digistamp Boutique are no longer trading, unfortunately).

I used a pre-printed card base that I've had for decades and typed my own sentiment.

Please pop over and join in the fun.

Love Dawn x 

Run, Run - as fast as you can...

 Morning all.  Over at Sparkles Christmas Challenge I have chosen the theme of 'Christmas Food'.  There are lots of things you could chose - turkey, Brussel sprouts, Christmas pud etc.  I've gone for a couple of cute Gingerbread figures for my festive favourite.  Of course, in our house gingerbread goes at any time of the year.  There is a local bakery in Ilkeston, where I grew up, where my dad would buy gingerbread for us all.  From kids to great grandkids.  Usually, in latter years, in the shape of a duck.  Dad's no longer with us but, even at the age of 25, I still by my son gingerbread for a treat and he still loves it.

My digital stamp is an oldy from Digistamp Boutique - I really miss that shop for cute images.  I've printed several of these cuties as they are a favourite of mine for sweet Christmas cards.

Please pop over so I can see your Christmas food creations.

Thanks for reading.

Love Dawn x

Spring again - for mum this time

 Well, if I struggled to make a spring card for a man, today's Cardz4galz Challenge should be a doddle.  We are looking for Spring Flowers for Mum.  Sunday being mother's day in the UK. Spring flowers remind me of my Gran.  Her birthday was the first day of spring and she always had some hyachinths.  I planted them some in my garden when she passed away and, sure enough, they popped into flower this week.

No hyachinths on my card but I did chose some lovely fresh colours.  The stamp is an old one from Digistamp Boutique (no longer available). I just coloured it to match my papers and added some bling.  It's on it's way to Salisbury to Will's mum at as I write.  Just got mum's to do now.

Please pop over and join the fun.

Thanks for reading.

Love Dawn x

When the Red Red Robin...

 Morning all.  It doesn't seem like five minutes since my last post, lol.  At least this one should go out at the right time.  We are up to 'R for Red' at this week's Alphabet Challenge.  Perfect for Christmas cards, right?

I had a root through my printed digi stamps and found this lovely one by Digistamp Boutique (sadly, no longer available).  I paired him with some paper from my scrap box and I'm chuffed to bits with the result. 

Please pop over and join in the fun.

Thanks for reading.

Love Dawn x

Oriental Express

 Over at Cardz4galz this week it's my choice of theme.  I had chosen a different subject originally but it wasn't popular with the DT and I like to give them something they can enjoy so I had to come up with something else pretty quick.  In the end I chose 'Oriental' for my theme.  Firstly, because I love the oriental style and, secondly, my Mother-in-law's birthday was coming up and, as she used to live in Japan, it's a go to theme for me.

I'd recently bought a deep blue and gold coloured oriental paper pad from The Works and, at the same time, I'd seen a pretty girly set too.  I lasted two whole days before I went back for it.  I have absolutely no will power.  I teamed up my cherry blossom paper with some teal card and used a very only digistamp from The Digistamp Boutique (now closed and much missed by me).  I absolutely love it.  In fact I made a spare.  Sometimes I have to make a spare if I really love a card, just so I can still see it once I've used one.  It's a bit like keeping the pretty papers so you can just look at them.

Please join in my challenge - or I won't have anything to comment on.

Thanks for reading.

Love Dawn x

Mellow Yellow

 Morning!  We are up to Y for today's Alphabet Challenge and I have chosen 'Y for Yellow'.  Now this is a challenge for me as Yellow is probably my least favourite colour.  I get that it's bright and cheerful but if I wear it near my face I look washed out and ill.  As this is the case I've left my card very simple with just a little yellow detail.

I'm stash busting again with my image.  It's one I've had printed for ages and is no longer available as Digistamp Boutique is now closed.

I cut a frame in a square and then cut another frame from my yellow paper and mounted the image behind both.  There's a bit of shimmer to the flower centres but, other than that, I thought I would let the image do the work.

Please pop over and join in the fun otherwise I won't have anything to judge.  Go on, convince me that yellow is a colour to use more often.

Thanks for reading.

Love Dawn x

From the Farmyard

 Wow, two posts in one day.  It's all or nothing here at the moment.  Today, over at Sparkles Monthly Challenge we would like to see your 'farmyard' creations please. Anything 'on the farm' goes.  This meant that I could raid my stash again and use up some images I've had in the basket forever.  Unfortunately, as Digistamp Boutique no longer exists, these images are not available any more.  It's such a pity as they are so cute.

I'm not sure what happened to my cow as I coloured him in the same combo as my sheep but he came out really grey looking, so I bunged him at the back of my group. I used a piece of 6 x 6 paper in blue with a colourful pattern on it and chose the yellow in the pattern for my main focus.  I picked a piece of origami paper from a pad I'd got and gathered my farmyard animals in the middle.  

I did make a further card background with the scraps I'd got left in the yellow so I'm still on track with my resolution.  

Please pop over and have a look at the DT inspiration for this one.  We'd love you to join in.

Thanks for reading.

Love Dawn x

It's simply for the guyz

 Morning all.  Well, this feels odd after two months off but I did promise I would be back this week. Today, over at Cardz4guyz we are looking for your 'Clean and Simple' designs.  We want to see lots of 'white' space and very little in the way of embellishments.

I always find these kind of cards are an ideal way to use up a few scraps. I've recently donated all my offcuts to a local group but I did find a few strips of paper lurking in a basket.  I'm on a mission to de-stash and have cleared out quite a bit of stuff.  I'll probably have as many scraps by next month as I had before.  I teamed my scraps with an image - sadly no longer available - from Digistamp Boutique.

Perfect for a Guy, don't you think.  I made two just to use up the scraps I had. I think I need to make a resolution to use up full sheets and not keep scraps.  Yes, I can hear you laughing from here.

 Please pop over and join in the fun.  I would love to see what you have created.

Thanks for reading. 

Love Dawn x

 

 

Birthday Girl

Morning all.  As it's Thursday we are ready for a new challenge at Cardz4galz.  Sue has chosen the easy peasy theme of Birthdays.  Now who doesn't need more birthday cards in their box.  I always do.  I have tonnes of 'generic' cards that would do but sometimes you need one to say 'happy birthday'.  As it happens I was in need of a specific birthday card as one of the ladies in the office downstairs had her 40th coming up. Yes, we are still working but we have only two in the office at one time so we can practice social distancing.  Now this lady is so easy to make for as she loves her little westie dog.  As long as I had a westie on it I knew it would be a hit.  So here it is.

Once I'd chosen my pretty papers  and coloured my image - it's an old one from digistamp boutique who are no longer trading - I just needed to stick it together.  I cut the 40 with my cricut.  The floral paper is inlayed into the green frame which is hard to see on the photo. It looked a bit plain so I added some little butterflies. They are layered in the green with some scraps of vellum and I added the usual bling.   I finished it off with the happy birthday die and it was done.

Now it's your turn.  I'm always in need of inspiration for birthday cards so let's see what you've got.

Thanks for reading.

Love Dawn x

You Gnome it's nearly Christmas, right!

Morning all.  Time for an easy challenge over at Make My Monday.  Meg has given us 'Anything Christmas Goes'.  Time to get your last minute cards done and entered.  Well, what are you waiting for?  Oh, yes, my card!

I really love all the cute little Christmas Gnomes that are around at the moment.  I bought a whole set from the Digistamp Boutique before it closed.  I've popped one of them on a snowy background and added extra snowflakes.  I wish you could see the sparkle a bit better.  I used my spectrum noir sparkle pen on his beard.  Well, it is Christmas.  

OK, you've seen my effort.  Pop over and have a look at the DT inspiration.  They are stunning and very varied.  Then it's your turn.

Thanks for reading.

Love Dawn x

A Colourful Monday Challenge

Happy Monday morning everyone.  Are you all ready for a new challenge at Make My Monday.  We have a colour challenge this time.  Red, Yellow and Green.  My first instinct was Christmas but I couldn't decide where to go with it.  After that I had traffic lights in my head.  Yes, I know it's amber and not yellow but I had and orangy/yellow card to use so that's what I did.

The stamp is an old one from Digistamp Boutique (unfortunately, no longer open).  It's the first time I've used the stamp.  It originally had balloons on the back but I didn't want it to look like a wedding car.

It was a great card for using scraps of colour on and I've had those brads for donkey's years too.  Please pop over and see the very varied cards from the DT.  I'd love to see what you come up with for these colours.

Thanks for reading.

Love Dawn x