Sketch Saturday #320

It's Saturday and time for another great sketch at

Sketch Saturday

and we are delighted to be sponsored by
Sir Stampalot

I almost didn't make it again this week.   I am having problem after problem with my equipment.   My pooter can't read my SD card when it's in the camera connected to the computer by the camera cable or when it's in the computer directly. My pooter can't read my SD card from my card reader or from the hubster's card reader when it's connected to my computer but the hubster can read the card from his computer.  Sadly, he has a Mac and I can't just eject him from his seat, I need him to work the computer for me too.    A hellish combination of overheating (I mean me - not the computer - it's been extraordinarily hot here in Surrey for the last week) and hormones are making it impossible for me to deal rationally with my technical problems without ranting, jumping up and down and ending in a puddle of tears on the floor! And to top it all off I keep loosing my internet connection! But I got there in the end with this cute Baking Bea (Teddy Bea 063) image from Teddy Bo and co which you can find here.

I coloured my image in a combination of Promarkers and Copics and used these lovely Theresa Collins papers.  Clever cutting of the horizontal panel means that 8 and August feature prominently and this just happens to be the date of the recipient's birthday.  I hope she doesn't look at my blog!  I also just realised that my main DP should have been smaller and the border bigger.  Sorry Vannessa!

Share some love with my fellow Saturdays.  Scooch some space on your craft table and come and play along with Vannessa's fun sketch this week.

I am entering my card into the following challenges:

The Ribbon Girl who want to see turquoise/aqua

A Creative Romance - Lets do Lunch

Deep Ocean - Lots of Layers

Hanna and Friends - We Celebrate

Sketch Saturday #319

It's Saturday and time for another great sketch at

Sketch Saturday

and we are delighted to be sponsored by
A Day for Daisies

Who supplied this divine image called Talking With the Moon which you can find here.  My papers are Fancy Pants Park Bench.

Share some love with my fellow Saturdays.  Scooch some space on your craft table and come and play along with Cathy's lovely sketch.

Sketch Saturday #318 12th July

It's Saturday and time for another great sketch at

Sketch Saturday

and we are delighted to be sponsored by
our very good friends at
Simon Says Stamp

I made my card for this week's challenge back in the first week of April.  It was a sympathy card made with Prima Almanac papers and a Stampin Up sentiment.  I know this because I started to write this post at the same time I made the card. Since making it, however, I broke my camera (my trolly was squooshed in the closing doors of an elevator at Gatwick airport on 8 April causing my hand luggage to fall to the floor and my camera was in the hand baggage at the time and the lens broke). I was using my SD card in the hubster's camera until 20 April when it ran out of space. I have just spent the last 3 hours trying to find the SD card and just when I had given up and written an apology here - I had a brain wave and found it.  

 And here is Debra's fabulous sketch.

It would be great if you would all come and play along with us!

Sketch Saturday #317

It's Saturday and time for another great sketch at

Sketch Saturday

and we are delighted to be sponsored by
Lady Bug Crafts

I needed a card for a very special little boy and I opted to use this little sailor guy from Mo Manning's fabulous Digital Pencil.  You can find him with some friends here.  My papers are Fair Skies by Farmhouse 

It would be lovely if you would share some love with my fellow Saturdays. They have provided some wonderful inspiration for you. Then scooch some space on your craft table and come and play along with Niki's great sketch.

I am entering my card into the following challenges:
Anything goes at
Papertake Weekly, Loves Rubber Stamps, Creative Inspirations and Aud Sentiments
and Reach for the Stars at Cute Card Thursday
and at the request of Aunty Sue...
Crafty Catz who want stars or stripes or both

Sketch Saturday #316 with All Dressed Up

It's Saturday and time for another great sketch at

Sketch Saturday

We are delighted to have a new sponsor ...
All Dressed Up,

a fabulous sketch from Cathy

and, perhaps, a glimpse of my own returning mojo.

I actually coloured an image this week.  I struggled a bit but I had to bite the bullet.  It seems like a long time since I did any colouring and we had some lovely images from All Dressed Up to play with.  This one is part of "Love to Shop" which you can find here and it's a fabulous bargain because this image has three ladies and a sentiment (which I didn't use on this occasion). I've just used one of the pretty girls and coloured her with Copics. 

The horizontal banner is word processed and mounted on a wooden flag and the vertical banner is a Stampin Up stamp and flag punch.  I'm very proud of my handbag which I designed and made myself using a small portion of two nesting dies for the handle and two different sized Go Kreate tag dies for the body of the purse. I also made the little circular embellishment on the left which covers up a smudge of pink ink which somehow appeared on my gold panel!  Now if only I could sew, I would be tempted to make myself an outfit just like this.  I really like these colours!

My teamies have all made super pretty cards so please drop by and share some love with them.  Then scooch some space on your craft table and come and play along with us.   I'm entering my card into the following challenges:

Anything Goes at Simon Says Stamp

Fave Colour combo at Deep Ocean (love the black, gold and turquoise)

Bunny Zoe's - Layers; and 

All Dressed Up

Christmas at Sweet Stampin' Mid-Month Inspiration

It's time for the mid-month post at
Christmas at Sweet Stampin'

where our challenge is
Christmas Fairies
and we are lucky enough to be sponsored by the lovely
Funky Kits

I don't know why but I suddenly seem to have an aversion to colouring.  I think it's just that I haven't done it for a while - none of my recent makes have been coloured by me although I have added a little extra colour to some of them, including this one who started out with a grey top and a much paler skirt. I have added some "fluff" to her scarf and some sparkle to her wings although you can't see it in the photo.   She is one of last year's LOTV pre-coloured Christmas images and I think she is perfect for our Christmas Fairies challenge this week.  A mix of DPs, a fancy corner punch, some pretty ribbon and the addition of a Cheery Lynn holly flourish made this a quick and easy make.

We would love for you to come and play along with the CASSettes and make a start on your festive cards. With the longest day behind us now the nights will be drawing in and Christmas will be here sooner than you think!

Whoops! ... Sketch Saturday #315

Every day since we got back from our recent trip, the Hubster has said to me "is it Saturday today?"  Well, everyday except yesterday which WAS Saturday and time for another great sketch at

Sketch Saturday

and we are delighted to be sponsored by
Whimsy & Stars Studios

I actually thought yesterday was Friday!  And we've just got back from seeing The Eagles at the O2 stadium in London (they were BRILLIANT!) so now it's actually Sunday and I'm sorry I'm sooooo late!    

I have so many stamps and so many digis and yet here I am cheating again with a pre-coloured LOTV image but I have been away from my Craft Space for well over 3 weeks and I feel the need to get back to crafting gently.   This is one of LOTV's magical fairies from their art pads and she was just right for a quick make for my Great Niece who just turned 2.

My DP is Prima Meadow Lark and I used a Go Kreate die for the card shape and a nestie for the image frame.  Debra has given us a fabulous easy peasy sketch so scooch some space on your craft table and come and play along with us this week.

I am entering my card into the challenges at Creative Card Crew for Fairy Day;
 and A Creative Romance for Girly :

Sketch Saturday #314

It's Saturday and time for another great sketch at

Sketch Saturday

and we are delighted to be sponsored by
our very good friends at
Simon Says Stamp

I needed a couple of thank you cards and Vannessa's wonderful sketch this week made my work easy using some DCWV burlap, some Prima Madeline papers and some Recollections embellishments.    I also used a PTI chevron die and a Memory Box "Thank you" for both makes. 

And I made a pink one too although now that I have mailed the cards, I see that my photos are rubbish!

I am entering my card into the Anything Goes challenge at Stamping for the Weekend

and I hope YOU will play along with our challenge this week.

Make My Papertake Cute Card Aud Sentiment Weekly

I missed my Sketch Saturday card last week because I was away but I couldn't wait any longer without being creative.

My cousin's husband - Mr Smith - happens to like the occasional Seagram's VO - a Canadian Whisky.  This card is for his 65th birthday.

I thought I would send him a bottle card given that I couldn't send him the actual beverage in the post from England to his home in Bay Harbor, Michigan.   My card was cut with my Cricut by merging a giant tag with a rectangle with a rounded end and I used a bit of ink and white pencil for highlight and shading.  My favourite bit, aside from the text (which was Word processed) is the lid.  I embossed the inner edge of the top of the lid with part of a circle Nestie and ran the side of the lid through a crimper. In real life a VO bottle looks like the one shown above and I mimicked the text with my own which was more suited to the recipient, using his date of birth, age and locality.

I was very pleased with the way it turned out and I hope he will forgive my play on what VO stands for and will like it too.

I am entering my card into the following challenges:

Make My Monday - Male Themed

Papertake Weekly - For the Boys

Aud Sentiments - Any Sentiment for a Guy

Totally Gorjuss - Embossing (the lid); and 

Cute Card Thursday - so Macho

I'll be back on Saturday with my usual Sketch Saturday creation.  See you then...

Sketch Saturday #313 and my candy winner from last week's Anniversary Blog Hop

It's Saturday and time for another great sketch at

Sketch Saturday

and we are delighted to be sponsored by
the lovely Cheryl of
Sassy Cheryl

But before getting to that, I would like to thank everyone who played along with us last week and who joined in our fabulous 6th Anniversary Blog Hop with the Little Miss Muffet Team and Jo Edwards - the founder of Sketch Saturday.  I had surprise candy on my blog and Random Number Generator chose this winner:

That's YOU - Sandy from Adventures of a Stamping Writer

Please contact me WITHIN 14 DAYS at the e-mail on my side bar and include details of your mailing address and I will send you this Memory Box die:

I have just enjoyed a week spent in the Mediterranean on the Island of Crete.  I had a great time but sadly I failed to make a card for this week's challenge before I left for the trip. (If it's not one thing it's your mother!) Don't let that stop you from scooching some space on your craft table and joining in with my fellow Saturdays.

Alex has come up with a great sketch and there is lots of lovely inspiration at Sketch Saturday. 

Sketch Saturday #312 Pick-A-Sketch Happy Anniversary Blog Hop

It's our 6th Anniversary today at 

Sketch Saturday

We are celebrating with a Blog Hop with Jo Edwards who posted our very first sketch challenge back on May 31, 2008.

We are absolutely delighted to be sponsored by
Little Miss Muffet

who are offering one randomly chosen prize winner
a $25.00 gift certificate 

to the Little Miss Muffet shop!
AND
also joining us in our Hop are the Little Miss Muffet Design Team.
Yippee!

As May is one of those months with five Saturdays in it - this week you can Pick-A-Sketch from any of Sketch Saturday's previous sketches between #215 and #311.  You can find our past sketches here.  You just need to let us know which one you used by including a copy of the sketch in your post.

I used #224 with this lovely Little Miss Muffet digi called Rosalie which you can find here.  I have a gift voucher for the recipient of my card which is long and thin and so I decided to make my card long and thin too.  My papers are My Minds Eye Collectable "Remarkable".  Rosalie has been coloured in Copics and Promarkers, the flower is Prima and the brad is from my stash.  The sentiment is by PTI.   I also made a little tag to go on the gift card holder using Stampin Up stash. I lurve my SU stash and I just don't play with it enough!

And here is the sketch I used for my card but remember you can use any Sketch Saturday Sketch from our archive.

There are prizes hidden along the Blog Hop

so scooch some space on your craft table, grab your stash and play along and leave a comment at each stop on the hop to maximize your chances of winning!   I am so struggling to include my Blog Hop list so if it is not here or if it is here twice I apologise.    You have until Friday evening to enter the challenge and the hop and winners and blog hop prizes will announced Saturday, June 7th at 7:30 am UK.

I have even more reason to celebrate this week because my Mum has now left the hospital and is back at home.   Thank you again to everyone who wished her well!

Edited to add:

Thanks to everyone who joined in our Blog Hop.  Feel free to continue to comment but the selection of hop prizes is now closed.

I am entering my card into the following challenges
Anything Goes with Little Miss Muffet and Simon Says; and
I'm entering my tag in Creative Inspirations

An InLinkz Link-up

Christmas at Sweet Stampin' May mid-month inspiration

It's time for the mid-month post at
Christmas at Sweet Stampin'

where our challenge is
HERE COMES SANTA
and we are lucky enough to be sponsored by the lovely
Iva Nova Chest

I used this fun chap by Sassy Cheryl which I think must be an oldie.  He is called Jumping Jack Santa and if he appears on Cheryl's site in the near future I will post a link here to the image in her shop.

With the recent sunshine we have been having I forgot that the ground should be snowy and coloured grass instead. I have subsequently added a light dusting of snow.  Santa's beard has been Fun Flocked in a very oxymoron kind of way as the flocking is pants and it wasn't fun at all.  I think I may have to dispense with my Flock- this is the second time I have tried to use it on a card and I don't like the effect at all.   I used a liquid applique on the tufty bits on Santa's clothes and this looks only slightly better than the flock!   I enjoyed colouring Santa with my Promarkers (for a change).  I think I have deeper reds in Promarkers than in Copics. My papers are from MME's Lost & Found Christmas and the banners were cut with a Stampin Up Punch.  I haven't decided on a sentiment yet.

My fellow CASSettes have lots of inspiration for you so do check them out and share some love.  We are already five months into the year and Christmas is fast approaching so come and play along with us why don't you.

Oops I nearly forgot Sketch Saturday #311

It's Saturday and time for another great sketch at

Sketch Saturday

and we are delighted to be sponsored by
Bugaboo

Firstly I would like to thank everyone who sent best wishes for my Mum.  She is still in hospital but she is doing very much better and is no longer on the acute medical ward.  With all of the to-ing and fro-ing to the hospital this week I nearly forgot all about my card which is kind of ironic given the image I used.

This is Silhouette - elephant paisley

He comes in black but I colourized him indigo and used his paisley "hide" to make the fishtail banner too.

The DP is Papermania and I used a paisley embossing folder too.   One of the very first embellishments I purchased years and years ago was a set of paisley chipboard pieces.  Those chipboard pieces have always sat on top of some storage drawers in one of my cupboards.  Every time I have reorganised my craft room I've had to move the paisley pieces before sorting out the drawers and every time I put them back on top of the set of drawers.  Well - nearly every time.  Now that I actually wanted to use one of the darn things - the whole pile of them have disappeared.  I must have moved them out of the way 10 times in the last 5 years and put them back only 9!   Typical!   So I've gone with flowers instead.

Do pop over to my fellow Saturdays' blogs and share some love and then come and play along with Cathy's fabulous sketch.

Sketch Saturday #310

It's Saturday and time for another great sketch at

Sketch Saturday

and we are delighted to be sponsored by
the oh so lovely
Bunny Zoe's Crafts

I made this week's card for my Mum who was rushed into hospital by ambulance on Monday with Pneumonia and cardiac complications.   My Mum always suffers with her chest if she gets a cold but she didn't have one and in fact, aside from feeling a little more tired than usual, she had no symptoms at all until she woke up on Monday morning struggling to breathe with a heart rate in the high 140s!    If you are of the praying persuasion - a prayer for my Mum's full and speedy recovery would be very much appreciated.

I used this lovely Lavinia stamp.  It came free with a papercrafting magazine which best matey, Julie, bought  for me when she came to play last weekend.   My papers are Basic Grey, the fun sentiment is Stampin Up (and it made my Mum laugh which was the intention) and the toadstools are Cottage Cutz I think and I've just realised that I mounted them incorrectly.  I should have put the base over the top and not the other way around.

Here is Alex's lovely sketch which I appear to have followed very much more closely than I usually do!

Do visit my fellow Saturdays' blogs and leave them some love then scooch some space on your craft table and come and play along.

I am entering my card into the following challenges:
L is for Lots of Layers at ABC and My Mum's Craft Shop also want Lots of Layers;
Whimsy want to see 2 or more dies and Simon Says be die crazy;
Cute Card Thursday want to see hand made embellishments; and
Anything Goes at Stamping Sensations.

Sketch Saturday #309 Memory Box meets Digi Doodle OR "It started with a window box and grew from there!"

It's Saturday and time for another great sketch at

Sketch Saturday

and we are delighted to be sponsored by
our very good friends at
Simon Says Stamp

I've been away on holiday to Florida and crafting was put on the back burner in favour of doing some serious sunbathing.  I hope, therefore, that my teamies will forgive me for playing EVEN MORE FAST AND LOOSE THAN USUAL with Deb's great sketch which I used more as inspiration than as an actual design layout. 

See what I mean...

My cousin; the recipient of my card is fabulous at interior design and her homes always look like something you would see in a magazine so I decided to use not only my Memory Box Window Box but also the Grand Madison Window and Shutters for her card and created an entire window scene - inside and out.

I made some sidings from plain card and had lots of fun with various punches and dies to fill the Window Box with flowers.  The lime green heart shaped leaves are Marianne Dies. The feathery fronds are a Martha Stewart punch and the flower stems and overhanging tree branches are by Memory Box.
I coloured a pretty little dresser I bought ages ago from the Digi Doodle Shop with Copics and it is visible through the acetate covered window although the acetate does not lend itself to photography and has turned my wood orange!   My cousin wouldn't have a teddy but I thought she would like the rest of the ornaments and I inserted a teeny tiny photograph of her late mother (my auntie) in the photo frame on the dresser.

Then I got even more carried away and made a base for an easel card.  I used a little more of my dresser for the base image and then magnified the image of my aunt in the photo frame.  The sentiment is PTI.

And here is the whole easel card opened up.  

I would like to enter my card into the following challenges:

Anything Goes at:

Papertake Weekly, Loves Rubber Stamps and Stamping Sensations; 

 Spring Flowers at Simon Says Stamp; and 

Flowers at The Ribbon Girl