Happy Birthday, Ardyth!!...

Surpriiiiise!!

Today is the fabulous Ardyth Percy-Robb's birthday and the equally fabulous Darnell is throwing a blog birthday party!  I was so honoured to be invited along!  If you would like to join in the fun, just pop over to Darnell's blog and link your birthday wishes up to inlinkz - the more the merrier!!  :)

I can't imagine there is anyone in blogland who doesn't know who Ardyth is?!  She is such an inspiration and her mojo never seems to wane.  She comes up with the most incredible ideas and has a fantastic knack of interpreting challenges in her own unique way - which is always sensational :)

So, then it came to making a card.  What could I possibly make that would do justice and be a fitting tribute to such a wonderful designer...?  Well, I really had only one option...rainbow!!  A woman after my own heart, Ardyth loves a rainbow card...I do hope you like this one Ardyth, it's especially for you!

Ta da!  Happy Birthday, Ardyth!!

Here's a close up...the black background is SPARKLY!  The sentiment is also glittery, although as I am no David Bailey and have only one light source, it's really difficult to see the sparkle in the embossing powder...but I promise you it's there!!

The background paper is actually wallpaper and it has the most apt name for this occasion - it's called Disco Black Glitter!!  What's a birthday party without a disco?!!!  :)  You may be seeing more of this paper...it's too cool  :)

Anyway, Ardyth, I hope you have a wonderful day and enjoy your virtual birthday celebrations as well as your 'real life' ones ;)  I also hope you get spoiled rotten by your nearest and dearest and cherish every moment of YOUR day!

I am entering this card into the Addicted To CAS challenge - the code word being 'Birthday'.  Also it would seem I missed out on their previous challenge which was 'Rainbow' - erm, well, this card kinda makes up for that!  ;)

Thank you for stopping by everyone, as always, I really appreciate it ;)  I know I've been MIA recently, internet issues still plague me and time has become somewhat elusive of late...I will endeavour to make more time however as I am starting to get withdrawal!!  :)  See y'all soon!

Supplies
Card:      Paper Mill Direct - White, Black, Bright Red, Citrus Orange, Daffodil, Spring Green, Ocean Blue,
              Grape, Lilac; Wallpaper - Disco Black Glitter by Graham & Brown
Stamps: Stamping All Day - Art Deco Birthday
Ink:        VersaColor - White
Other:    WOW! - White Twinkle e/p; sequins

Guest Designer anyone...?!

Hello there!

It's been a while hasn't it!!?  My absence has been due to technical internet issues I'm afraid - I don't know how I've coped without it for so long?!!  Two weeks is way too long!  Also, during this time my iPhone decided the best thing to do would be to delete ALL of my contacts!  I was horrified!  Luckily I managed to retrieve them - phew!  I have now realised that I should back my phone up a little more often - apparently it hadn't been done since November 2011 when I got the phone - whoops!  I am a little concerned about how much my life depends on all this technology and how lost I am without it!  

Anyway, enough of all that!  Thank you, thank you, thank you to all of you who still stopped by my little blog and left so much love and encouragement during my absence - I did manage to receive a few emails intermittently throughout my internet-less time so that was lovely :)  I am planning on visiting you all very soon!

Another wonderful thing that has happened (possibly given away by the title of this post!) is that I have the opportunity to be a Guest Designer over at Catered Crop this week!  Woohoo!  I was one of the three winners of the Make An Impression Recipe Swap :)  My first ever GD spot and I'm so excited!!  Another great big thank you to Lyndal for introducing me to this challenge ;)  

Some shameless boasting there, sorry!  I'm just too excited!  The Recipe Swap this time round is 'Fabric of Friendship'  - how fab is that?!  I have a bag full of fabric remnants from my brother and a friend of my sister who is a seamstress so this was the perfect opportunity to use some unfairly neglected fabric!

Here is my contribution to the challenge;

I have to say, I was part way through this card when I thought 'wouldn't it be lovely to have a sewing machine!'  My fingers were somewhat sore after this!  (I had done some sewing for another three cards previous to this one and my paper piercer makes the holes slightly too large so I have to use my needle - after 100 holes or so it really starts piercing through your finger with the eye end! Ouch!)  

I had an image of how I wanted this card to look in my mind, as we all do.  When I was part way through, I really didn't think it was going in the right direction, however I persevered and it actually ended up just how I wanted it!!  Phew!  I like that the fabric and the stitching looks a little messy (for me anyway!) that was the soft touch I was going for :)  If my brother doesn't see it on here first, I think this may end up as a birthday card for him!!  

I can't wait to see what the other GD's and the DT come up with, not to mention all the participants too - the last challenge was jam packed full of beauties!

Thanks again to Linda for this opportunity - you've made this girls week!  :)

Thanks for stopping by everyone, I'm hoping to be back a little providing that the internet behaves!  Ciao for now ;)

Supplies
Card:      Paper Mill Direct - White, Sky Blue
Stamps: Stamping All Day - Art Deco Birthday
Ink:        VersaColor - Silver
Other:     Fabric remnants; thread, WOW! - Silver Super Fine e/p; sore fingers!!!

10/10 for effort...

Hey peeps!

How's it going?  I hope you all have glorious weather where you are like we do today!  Gonna get myself out in the garden - whoop whoop!

As expected, Mother rejected the previous card I made for her friend who is moving house...I knew it would happen.  She tried to be diplomatic about it however when I emailed the picture over to her... 

"Ooooh thats lovely, but can you add a "New house" or "Good luck in you new home" type message-think that would be more appropriate.
 
Thats one for the collection tho'
 
Love you more xoxoxox xoxoxox xoxoxox "

...so there you have it - verbatim.  Back to the drawing board I went.  Then I saw the sketch for this week over at CAS(E) This Sketch and I knew exactly what I was going to do!  Don't you just love it when that happens?!!

I am loving this sketch - the possibilities are endless...wouldn't you agree?  For my card, I stuck with the red, black and white colour scheme of before as I have it on good authority that these will go down well with the recipient (and Mother)... 

I think it's safe to say that this is very obviously a 'New Home' card and I cannot foresee any 'suggestions' this time!  ;)  Unfortunately, I don't have ANY stamps whatsoever relating to 'new home' or 'moving house' or even 'good luck' as it goes, so the trusty nibs and ink came out.  They do get a bit neglected now that I have more sentiment stamps now actually, which is sad.  I should make more of an effort to actually write things myself!  The only draw back is that I love to emboss my sentiments...so unless I can find some liquid embossing writing ink then that's not going to happen...I see a hole in the market here!  

Lacking in embossing writing ink, I embossed the chevrons instead!!  Another present from the fabulous Chupa in her blog candy giveaway ;)  This card actually started life as a rectangular one, but he just didn't look right so I chopped him down and he looks much better square!  The house and sentiment are popped up on foam tape so it's a little more interesting. 

A big thank you to Lyndal for pointing out that there is a challenge over at Catered Crop - Make An Impression and that my previous moving card and now this one would qualify!  Thanks girl!  So, I'm entering both cards into that one too :)

Right...I'm off to enjoy the sunshine now...knowing our weather today will qualify as our whole summer and I'd hate to miss it!!  Have a wonderful weekend my lovelies, especially those of us with a bank holiday coming this Monday :)  We're going to a bike rally with our Harley friend and it's gonna be good!

Thanks for stopping by ;)

Supplies

Card:      Paper Mill Direct - White, Black, Bright Red

Stamps: Gel-a-Tins - Chevron-tastic

Ink:        Ranger - Perfect Medium; Windsor & Newton - Scarlet

Other:    WOW! - Apple red and Ebony e/p; rhinestones

Fusion felicitations...

Hey peeps!

I am popping in with a little card for the Fusion challenge today...talk about last minute hey?!!  That's just how I roll ;)

Once again, I decided to go with just the sketch.  Don't get me wrong, the colours and the flowers from the inspiration image were wonderful, but there was no way I was going to be able to make them look anything other than an experiment in achieving the ugliest recycling paper!  I am aware of my limitations and sometimes it does just as well to stick within them as it to push them :)

Here is the fab Fusion sketch and image for this/last week...

...and here is my card...

This card is another one that is destined for my Mother's address.  Her friend is moving at the end of the month and she asked if I could make a card for her.  Now, I am aware that there is no mention of 'new home' or even an image of a house anywhere on this card, but I think it is a cause for felicitations.  Her friend has been trying to sell her house for over a year and it has finally happened!  Too tenuous?  I don't know - I'll send it to Mother and see what she says...I still have plenty of time to make another one when she says that this one won't do!  ;)

I had a bit of fun with this card...you see those outer rings?  They have been heat embossed with glow in the dark embossing powder!  Te he!  The inner circles have been embossed with clear gloss embossing powder.  I thought they looked like little planets and that it might be fun if a card on someone's mantel piece was to glow in the evening!  (I think this cold has gone to my head a little more than I first thought!)  I did try to take a photograph of it 'glowing' to no avail...I was not impressed.  Danielle Daws made this card and she seemed to be able to capture the 'glowing'...my photo's just came out black :(  I'd love to blame the camera, but only a bad craftsman blames his tools.  You can see in Danielle's photo what it look like in the dark though :)


ETA:  Lyndal kindly pointed out that this card would also qualify for the challenge currently on over at Catered Crop so I'm popping it in there as well!  Thanks girl!  :)

Thanks, as always, for stopping by...your time and comments mean a lot to me ;)

Supplies
Card:      Paper Mill Direct - White, Black, Bright Red
Stamps: Waltzingmouse - Big Day Additions 
Ink:        Ranger - Perfect Medium
Other:    WOW! - Glow-In-The-Dark, Clear, Metalline Red e/p; Spellbinder - Large and Small Circle Dies;
             Cuttlebug - Swiss Dots e/f; Tonic - duo corner punch