May Pole

Good morning - it is Monday again and the sun is finally shining again just for a short while!  This week's challenge over at FOSTV is to make a May themed card.  May blossom, May flowers, May Day but no I took the hard route and did May Pole!

I am sure you can all make an easier job of this challenge than I did so please play along and show us what you can do we would love to see you!  The prize this week is the set Pucker Up.

You will find the challenge over at Speedy TV
The page displaying this weeks challenge is this one - Challenge 18

I have used the small blossom from this set on my card.

Mad Week - mad card

It is my sister's Birthday today and this is the mad card I made her.  The High Hopes challenge is Purple Madness and WT372 theme is monochromatic so this was born.  No I have never seen a purple duck but I have never seen a duck doing cart wheels or handstands either.  Angela did gymnastics when she was younger and loves purple!  The image is from High Hopes - it was layered onto a brayered background and cut out with a Spellbinders die and lace was applied round the edges.  The sentiment was computer generated.

If you are in the UK stay dry and warm during this foul weather and everyone have a great weekend.

FOSTV Challenge - Flowers

Well it is Monday again and this week the challenge over at Friends of Speedy TV (Challenge 17) is to make a card with the theme flowers.

You don't have to use Marks Finest Papers stamps but we would love it if you do and if you don't have any here is your chance to win some!!!  I believe the stamp set on offer this week is the one I have used on this card - Dogwood Blossoms.

I have used CC371 as my colours and TLC373 technique on my background before running it through with an embossing folder.  The sentiment is from the just launched Daffodil Greetings set.  Copics were used to colour and dies were used for the corner and sentiment.

OK so now it is your turn dig out your flowers stamps and show us what you can do!

Thanks for looking and leaving a sweet comment.

Sending Hugs for Daisy

As I mentioned in yesterday's post our neighbour had her dog Daisy put to sleep in the week due to a tumour.  Daisy along with her other old dog Dolly was a rescue dog and both have been hugged, walked and truly loved over the short time they have been with her and her family..  This card using the OCC butterfly challenge is for them all.  Butterflies are a poignant symbol when someone dies - some people believe it is a sign of the spirit living on.

The stamps are from Stampin Up and Innovative stamp creations.  All the butterflies have been stamped again and mounted with silicone glue.

Thank you for looking.

Sad Week

The Card

It has been a very busy week at work and with the Mark's Finest Papers Blog Hop and it was great to see how everyone used the new sets. 
It has also been a sad week as our neighbour had to have her old dog Daisy put to sleep because of a tumour and a friend at work had one of his "boys" - a ginger tom called Fingle put to sleep yesterday because of a brain tumour.  He had 2 ginger toms brothers called Fingle and Milo and both were taken ill just before Easter - he and his partner have been feeding them 3 hourly with feeding tubes for the last couple of weeks - Milo is doing OK but not out of the woods yet but poor Fingle was then found to have a tumour right behind his eyes and was confused and not at all well.  It is so sad to say goodbye to a pet so I am sending this card to let Nick and Iain know we are thinking of them. 

The card is being entered for 2 challenges - Sentimental Sundays - using a frame and Stampin Sisters in Christ to use something transparent - there is film on my window.  The images used on the view are from Hobby Art and Stampscapes and the cat is from Lavinia Stamps.

The view!

Thank you for looking

April Blog Hop - Train Talk

Welcome to Mark's Finest Papers a Heinrich Company's  April Blog Hop!

This month's New Stamp Set Releases are

Fabulous Dogs Featured April 17

Daffodil Greetings Featured April 18  

Hey, Cowboy! Featured April 19

Train Talk Featured April 20

Please hop along with us! You have a chance to win one of the above stamp sets! Just comment on the following blogs (don't forget this one), each day for more chances to win! (You do NOT have to comment on all the blogs each day! The names are drawn randomly!) All four winners will be announced on April 21, 2012 on the Mark's Finest Papers blog. You can go back and comment if you missed a day. (HINT: The more you comment, the more chances you have to win and comments on the MFP blog count twice!) The deadline for commenting is 11PM EST on Friday April 20, 2012.

 

Lois

Vicky 

Anne 

Pat G.

Karen H.

Patty P. 

Mary

Marilynn 

Pam 

Debbie 

Nancy

Bonnie 

Kathy

Brenda

Toni

Tangii

Anna S

Sue

Kelli

Janine (that's me)

Mark's Finest Papers

A quick card today - one for when you are late in sending it out - I am sure I will need this soon!

 Thank you for dropping by.

April Blog Hop - Hey Cowboy!

Welcome to Mark's Finest Papers a Heinrich Company's  April Blog Hop!

This month's New Stamp Set Releases are

Fabulous Dogs Featured April 17

Daffodil Greetings Featured April 18  

Hey, Cowboy! Featured April 19

Train Talk Featured April 20

Please hop along with us! You have a chance to win one of the above stamp sets! Just comment on the following blogs (don't forget this one), each day for more chances to win! (You do NOT have to comment on all the blogs each day! The names are drawn randomly!) All four winners will be announced on April 21, 2012 on the Mark's Finest Papers blog. You can go back and comment if you missed a day. (HINT: The more you comment, the more chances you have to win and comments on the MFP blog count twice!) The deadline for commenting is 11PM EST on Friday April 20, 2012.

 

Lois

Vicky 

Anne 

Pat G.

Karen H.

Patty P. 

Mary

Marilynn 

Pam 

Debbie 

Nancy

Bonnie 

Kathy

Brenda

Toni

Tangii

Anna S

Sue

Kelli

Janine (that's me)

Mark's Finest Papers

 My first card for today is a feminine one made with what is quite a masculine set.  My niece and her Mum both ride so one of them will probably get this card.
 

My second card uses the cowboy silhouette with some sponging.  We don't actually have many cowboys in the UK and actually it is used as a derogatory expression for rogue traders who don't do a good job so I will have to be careful who I send this one too!

Please become a follower of my blog before you hop along to Mark's Finest Papers

Thank you

Janine

April Blog Hop - Daffodil Greetings

Welcome to Mark's Finest Papers a Heinrich Company's  April Blog Hop!

This month's New Stamp Set Releases are

Fabulous Dogs Featured April 17

Daffodil Greetings Featured April 18  

Hey, Cowboy! Featured April 19

Train Talk Featured April 20

Please hop along with us! You have a chance to win one of the above stamp sets! Just comment on the following blogs (don't forget this one), each day for more chances to win! (You do NOT have to comment on all the blogs each day! The names are drawn randomly!) All four winners will be announced on April 21, 2012 on the Mark's Finest Papers blog. You can go back and comment if you missed a day. (HINT: The more you comment, the more chances you have to win and comments on the MFP blog count twice!) The deadline for commenting is 11PM EST on Friday April 20, 2012.

 

Lois

Vicky 

Anne 

Pat G.

Karen H.

Patty P. 

Mary

Marilynn 

Pam 

Debbie 

Nancy

Bonnie 

Kathy

Brenda

Toni

Tangii

Anna S

Sue

Kelli

Janine (that's me)

Mark's Finest Papers

I have two cards to share with you today.   This is a very pretty set for Spring and will be great to pull out again next Easter or for Mothering Sunday which is in March.  

This card uses the main daffodil image with some of the recent Spellbinders dies and the colours roughly from CC370.

This one uses the Butterfly with Birthday greeting and the colours from the CC369. It was coloured with Copics and so were the gems.

April Blog Hop - Fabulous Dogs

 Welcome to Mark's Finest Papers a Heinrich Company's  April Blog Hop!

This month's New Stamp Set Releases are

Fabulous Dogs Featured April 17
Daffodil Greetings Featured April 18  
Hey, Cowboy! Featured April 19
Train Talk Featured April 20

Please hop along with us! You have a chance to win one of the above stamp sets! Just comment on the following blogs (don't forget this one), each day for more chances to win! (You do NOT have to comment on all the blogs each day! The names are drawn randomly!) All four winners will be announced on April 21, 2012 on the Mark's Finest Papers blog. You can go back and comment if you missed a day. (HINT: The more you comment, the more chances you have to win and comments on the MFP blog count twice!) The deadline for commenting is 11PM EST on Friday April 20, 2012.
 

Lois
Vicky 
Anne 
Pat G.
Karen H.
Patty P.
Mary
Marilynn 
Pam 
Debbie 
Nancy
Bonnie 
Kathy
Brenda
Toni
Tangii
Anna S
Sue
Kelli
Janine (that's me)
Mark's Finest Papers

My first project for today is a simple card using an little poodle image and sentiment from this new set









My second project is a frame for my Mum and shows pictures of her dog Tess who we have been dog-sitting since October.  Mum misses her to bits but cannot get out with her as she is still recovering from surgery.  I have used 2 of the fun sentiments from the set with these pictures.

The detailed view shows the sentiments more clearly.

Thanks for looking and please become a follower of my blog before hopping on to Mark's Finest Papers

Monday again - Get creating

It is Monday again and time to get creating.  This week's FOSTV challenge is 'Anything Goes' or 'Free for all' - you can enter more than one card / project if you like using any stamps but if you use Marks Finest Papers stamps you get two entries in the draw for each card.  The stamp set that one lucky person could win is called Cowgirls rule - I just love the boots in this set!


My card for this week is very simple and uses Speedy Fox from the set What a Fox Stamp set.
 
The fox is coloured with Copics.

Don't forget to play along with this week's challenge - we would love to see your creations.

IC331 - Poppies

This was one of the first sets I owned from MFP and one I still love to colour even though it has been discontinued.  When I saw the IC331 inspiration with the poppy skirt I just had to get the set out and play!  The card is going to a friend who is going through a rough patch and I hope the bright colours will cheer her days.  It was stamped with Memento black ink and coloured with Copic markers.

Well that is your lot for this weekend.
Have a great week.

Inchie and a Quarter Dogs - SFF040612

This card is made with the Sketch Frenzy Friday sketch from April 6th and uses a dog from a stamp set being released this week by MFP.  The dog bone are from my stash and have been added as another fun element like the drunken writing you get from celebrating too hard!

 The dog heads were stamped in Memento black and coloured with Copics.  They were cut out with a Spellbinders die.
The edge of the dark red cardstockwas punched with a EK Success border punch.  The striped paper is from Papermania.

Please come back later this week and see all the new stamps.

Joyful and Celebratory

This card is for a Baptism next month - 2 youngsters - children of some good friends are going forward for Believers Baptism.  This card is simple but is a celebration of great love and it will hopefully be a joyous occasion for all concerned.

I stamped the sentiment - John 3:16 (Verve stamps) onto some shimmery  embossed paper before mounting it and the vellum onto the card base.  The red hearts are brads and the cross is cut with a Verve die.

The background paper has not photographed well so this is far prettier in real life.

7 More Christmas Cards

Last Sundays Sentimental Sundays challenge was a sentiment and a silhouette. I couple that with the first VLV challenge sketch for April and made some more Christmas cards - 6 using the sketch and another odd one not featured.

Because the cards are quite small (4" square) I had a challenge finding a central design that would work as well as I wanted - I tried a couple of punches and you can see two designs here.

The deer stamp is from Stampin Up and the paper from Making Memories.

Thank you for looking

Penny Black & CC370

The Penny Black challenge for Easter Saturday was a case-it challenge and I have combined it with the colours from CC370 to make this card.  I have kept the layout and distressing but changed the flower stamp and the colours.  I used damp water colour paper to stamp on to give a more painted effect and rubbed distress ink round all the layers and the card base.  The olive green layer looks very dark in this photo.

Ruby Wedding - Love Remains

My ruby wedding anniversary card uses the Marks Finest Papers set called Love Remains. 

The card is for my Sister in Law and Brother in Law who will be celebrating in early June.  I didn't want to leave such an important card to the last minute.  I saw the Jugs sketch and thought it would work with this rose bud.  I coloured it with Copics so I am entering it for Jugs 131 and WT369 which is all about colouring.  I love to colour but am still learning and some days it turns out OK and others it doesn't.

I used the new Spellbinders border dies (Edgeabilities) to create the vertical piece and added pearls to the space in the pattern repeat.  Thanks for looking

A little bit of Spring

Well we did have Spring in the UK and even a big hint of Summer but it has now gone back to grey, damp and pretty chilly!  Hopefully my Spring card will brighten your day and inspire you to enter this week's challenge over at FOSTV.  The challenge this week is Spring Fling and the set you could win is called Buffalo Spring.

My card uses the Dogwood set and for my Spring Fling I am having a tea party.  I used the recently launched Spellbinders dies along with the Dogwood Blossoms set coloured with Copics.

Thank you for looking and good luck in the challenge.

Sketch Frenzy Friday Easter Card

This card was made using the Sketch Frenzy Friday sketch of just over 2 weeks ago - the link is to their blog as you may want to participate in current challenges..  I couldn't upload it and post it before as I didn't want hubby to see it as it was his Easter card.  The image is a digital one from Bugaboo stamps (Daughter Skye's pencil drawings) and is a lovely rabbit in my opinion.
 
Hope you are having a lovely Easter Sunday - God bless.

Spring Bonnet in Paris

This week's OCC challenge is to make a card using elements you would find on an Easter Bonnet - flowers, pearl, ribbon and lace all feature on this card which focuses around a Patisserie in Paris - what a great place to show off your latest style!  It is going to France but as a belated card for a friend who now lives there - she worked at the same place as me and helped me when I first started computing 26 years ago.

Thank you for looking and Happy Easter

Square for Karen

One of our team members was taken ill last Friday and is intensive care.  I have made this card and I sent it out to her yesterday.  It is a simple card with the only fancy bit the punched border on all 4 sides.

The card uses the Marks Finest Papers stamp set called Love Remains - it was coloured with Prismacolor pencils and the image was gently sponged while in the die.  I have added some skeleton leaves and a small bit of sticky flower ribbon.

Get well soon Karen

Goodbye and Good Luck Mac

 A friend and colleague who has taken redundancy leaves tomorrow.  He has worked with my husband for many years and I have known him many years too as lots of socialising happened in the good old days.  I have made this rather simplistic card for him for a bit of fun.  

I am entering the card in 2 challenges
* Penny Black - music or song connection - 2 were going round my head - "Ticket to Ride" as this is the old style London bus where you had conductors and good old fashioned paper tickets and also the kiddies song "Wheels on the Bus"
* Stampin Sisters in Christ - things that move - as you can see this has a pull out that moves the bus across the card and displays the message!

Not the best constructed card but it my first go at this type so you live and learn!  Thanks for looking.

FOSTV Challenge 14 for 2012

Happy Monday everyone.
This week's challenge over at Speedy TV is to make a Get Well Card.  My card uses three challenges from SCS as well

• CC368 Colour challenge (Eggplant, Grape and Melon) but without the stripes 
• WT368 focus on the sentiment
• F4A110 - Caught a bug - not sure a butterfly really counts as a bug but it is a get well card.

The Mark's Finest Papers stamp I have used are the butterfly from Birthday Mini (and at least one other set) and the Get Well Soon sentiment from the Greetings and Salutations set.




Hop over to Speedy TV and check out today's challenge (number 14) to see which set you could win.
Edited to add - stamp set you can win this week is called You Light Up Your Life
  Good luck