Don't you dare mention my age!

Well, I have to admit I've had lots of fun with this sketch this week.  I bought a couple of new digis at From the heart Stamps this week as I am loving their sketch challenge.  I wasn't even bothered that it was another 'off centre' design.  I just wanted to colour my new favourite stamp and enter it.  So here is the sketch

And here is what I've done with it

Yes, I know, I fussy cut the image again but I'm really happy with how this looks (believe me, that doesn't happen often).  I did originally use numbered backing paper to try and fit in with the twist but it didn't look anywhere near as good as the oriental writing.  I particularly like the sentiment as I'm having a rather big birthday myself this year and I could do with my own ninja to keep a lid on it.

Thanks for reading.

Love Dawn x

Valentine for my Valentine

Well, I'm still grinning from having my lighthouse card picked as a Top 3 Pick at From the Heart Stamps. I'm so chuffed I've been telling anyone who'll listen.  However, it does kind of pile on the pressure to come up with something for this week's sketch.

He is this week's sketch and I have to admit to being a bit daunted.  I'm very much a symmetrical kind of card maker and the fact that the blue bit was bigger than the striped bit was sending me a bit OCD.  I kept looking at it and thinking it's really not my week but, hay ho, I did need to send a valentine to my husband and the love of my life (just one card, they are the same person!) So here's what I came up with.

I promise that there are two black panels and they are embossed with different folders but you can't really see 'cause I covered the edge with red and black hearts - mainly so I couldn't really dwell on the top panel being smaller than the bottom one.  I suppose, technically, I should have left the cute little mouse as a square panel but I am just one of life's fussy cutters so I cut him out and covered the balloon part with more hearts.  Now all I have to do is hope the hubby doesn't read my blog until after I've given him my card.  I hope I haven't deviated too far from the sketch.  All the elements are there, they are just covered up with glittery hearts.

Thanks for reading.

Love Dawn x

New Look and a New Sketch

Well, as I seem to be blogging a little more often these days I decided yesterday to revamp the old look.  It's fairly easy to do as I used a new background from 'the cutest blog on the block'.  I hope you like it.  I do.

I also managed, with a little spare time I didn't expect to have (long story but my colleague had been making me tea with skimmed milk instead of soya and a really grotty stomach ensued) I managed to do a card for this week's sketch challenge at From the Heart blog.  I will admit to bottling out of the twist as what I had in mind didn't fit that bill.  I was also in two minds as to whether to enter or not as my card looked different in my mind than it turned out in real life.

When I saw the sketch I had an instant plan for the lighthouse stamp I bought last week (you can find it here).  My plan was to create the diagonal element of the sketch with string and tie a nautical knot to compliment the lighthouse theme.  Unfortunately, the string was too thin for what I had in mine and para cord was too thick.  That only really left me with ribbon to go with.  You should be able to see the two layers of ribbon within the knot but it sort of got lost and left me with a different looking knot.  Although I'm happy with how it sits, it's different to my original plan.  Anyway, this is what I'm left with

and this was the original sketch

Oh rats!  I've just realised I could have put my sentiment in a heart shape.  Well, it's too late now.  I hope you like it.  Thanks for reading.

Love Dawn x

Anniversary Heart

Wow, check me out!  Two blog posts and two competition entries in two days!

I mentioned yesterday that I'd had some birthday money from my Grandma and I'd been on a bit of a digistamp shopping spree.  Well, it does seem the all my digi shopping tends to start with the Digistamp Boutique these days.  I'm a bit of a sucker for there designs and I couldn't resist this new one when I saw Lorraine Bailey's design team card.  I loved that fact that it would work so well as a clean and simple card cause it does all the wow factor for you.  Here is my card

I just added a bit of bling and coloured the border with the same colour as I'd used on the flowers.  I have to say I'm really pleased with it. Plus, if I'm quick, I can enter it into their January Challenge.

Thanks for reading

Love Dawn x

What a plonker!

I am the world's worst ProCraftinator. I will freely admit that I spend more time on Pinterest and Bloglovin looking for inspiration than I do crafting.  I hadn't realised that, in doing so, I had also been missing out.

Pinterest is probably my biggest problem, with almost 2900 pins as I type.  One of my boards is for card sketches for when I can't figure out what layout to use on a card.  There are numerous sketch challenges on the Internet and I frequently pin layouts marked 'I {heart} sketches', but that's as far as I ever went.  I just pinned the sketch for future reference.  Imagine my surprise when I found a Bloglovin post (don't ask me who's - although I will be eternally grateful to them - I follow so many) which took me to From the Heart Stamps, the creator of the sketch challenge blog that I so often pinned.  Best of all, they do digis.  Yeah!  I can't believe that I've been missing out for all this time 'cause I didn't click on the pin, Doh!

Needless to say I've been shopping this week (thanks Mamma B for the birthday money) and I can now enter the challenges as well as pin them.  Here's this week's challenge

and here is my interpretation.

I used one of the stamps I bought, Birdbrain wine, although for this card I only used part of the stamp.

I hope you like it.

Thanks for reading.

Love Dawn 

Things with wings

As this is my first post of the new year I should mention that I am useless at New Years Resolutions.  As this is the case I won't be making any this year.  If I was going to make any though it would be to enter more challenges.  I follow loads of challenges on Bloglovin and it's a great way to get inspiration.  However, my efforts at card making (well, taking photos and uploading really) are often too late to enter the end result.  Not so this week.  Yeah, I got one done in time.

This weeks theme at Sweet Stampin Challenge is 'Things with Wings' and, handily enough, I had a digital stamp already printed and ready to colour. I bought Party Time Pixies a while ago and it's been sat in my folder ready to colour ever since.  So, here is the finished card

I had great plans for using various papers on this card but, in the end, it looked better kept very simple.  I hope you like my efforts and, you never know, this may be the first of many challenge cards this year!

Thanks for reading

Love Dawn x

Lots of layers

Get me!  Blogging twice in two days!

To be honest, I wasn't expecting to have time to do much more this week but my other half's surgery was put off by a day so I've had to have an extra day off to hubby sit.  He's fine, but I wasn't supposed to leave him for 24 hours after his operation.  Well, my craft room is in the same house!  I don't really think he needed me to actually hold his hand or anything.

So, what to do with an unexpected day off.  Maybe I should join another challenge.  It's a bit of a luxury as I don't always get time.  I follow lots of challenges on Bloglovin. It's an easy way to see lots of inspiration. Anyway, this morning had a challenge from Passion for Promarkers and this week it's being sponsored by one of my favourite digistamp shops.  I couldn't resist.  I am a huge fan of the Digistamp Boutique and I happened to have some of their stamps printed out ready to go.  The challenge doesn't need you to use one of their stamps but it just seemed a good excuse so I used one from the Cute Robin Chicklets Set.  I used a mixture of Tria Markers and Promarkers and used non traditional Christmas colours.  The challenge was to use lots of layers and here is what I came up with.

I layered two co-ordinating papers (sorry, I never remember where my papers come from) and stuck another panel from the same set where I wanted to put my robin.  I added some hand stitching and layered two lots of ribbon before sticking it to my card blank.  I finished it off by layering gemstones onto snowflakes.  I hope you like it.

Thanks for reading.

Love Dawn x