Another trio of cards today - TOMORROW is the big day!

I had a few hours to myself this morning so I made some more cards ....... just for a change lol! No reason in particular, just to add to the basket that I have available in the staff room at school but it's nice to just have a chill out colouring in session. I think my favourite colouring was the Magnolia Edwin but my favourite card of the three is the wizard on where I used some of my Cuttlebug embossing folders to add details to the design.





Don't forget to come back tomorrow for details of my cunning plan!

Some more Foxcraft Designs

I've made two cards today, one for the same little boy who was getting the basketball card



This uses one of my Paddy characters ..... he's not available YET but he will be available soon so if you want to pre-order him please let me know. This is Footballer Paddy and for this card he's dressed up for a Liverpool fan. I followed this week's sketch over on Creative Inspirations using the brightest coloured cardstock I could lay my hands to!

My second card of the day was ordered at nursery at lunch time so I'm quite pleased that I managed to get it done today at all!



The star of this card is Baby Pipkin who is available from me at Foxcraft Cards and I've embellished it with a bit of paper weaving and some iridescent brads. I know I'm biased but I think Pipkin is SUCH a little cutie, I could use this stamp day in day out and not get tired of colouring it in. Hope you like it and thanks for looking.

A Splash of Colour

Personally I associate the colours Orange, Green and Brown with autumn so it was quite odd making a card using this colour combination for this week's challenge on Colour Create Challenges - made doubly difficult by adding the "card for a man" element ...... why are men soooooo difficult to craft for?

Anyway, I decided to go for lots of straight lines, no flounces or flourishes (well apart from my hand drawn ones just visible on the brown cardstock - which was initially cream til I started with my promarkers!) and none of my usual embellishments to make it a more masculine design. I coloured the image using my new found confidence with blending promarker colours and I have to admit I'm pretty pleased with the way it has turned out .....

Happy Birthday Nan!

My Nan is 21 again today so I'm sending her virtual birthday hugs and cakes across the internet. Unfortunately she was taken into hospital last week and is still there now but hopefully she will like the cards and school photo of the kids that I sent her once she gets home (shouldn't be toooo much longer, they're apparently just waiting on social services now as she needs some help at home as she continues to recover....)

I made her card earlier in the month at craft club in Egloskerry (thanks for the invite Peter, I'll be back!)



I used paper that came free with a magazine, a couple of Magnolia Tilda images, some robo-cutting and some cuttlebug embossing. I hope she likes it.

P.S. Get Well Soon Nan!

Another sneaky peek - T-3 days

Are you tempted yet?

Smiley Riley should hopefully be jumping through hoops

I had to collect a laptop for hubby this morning for a job on his side of the business and while I was there I was asked if I could make a birthday card for a basketball mad little boy who will be 4 on Friday. I decided to have a play with my robo to make the card look like a basketball, what do you think?



I delivered it within 3 hours of being asked for it and Riley's mum, Liz, was really pleased with it. Now I just need to come up with another idea for his card from us ...... hmmmmmmmmmmm!

What do you think of my facelift?

You don't need to be particularly sharp eyed to notice that I've given my blog a bit of a paintjob! The design is courtesy of the lovely designers over on The Cutest Blog On The Block

I'm much happier with the slightly more crafty, scrapaholic type style than the blocky design I had before so I hope that you like it too.

Now I'm off for a glass or two of vino plonko since the kids are in bed, tea is in the oven and I'm in the mood for chillin'

A little bit of a tease .........

I have a little something up my sleeve for the end of the week which hopefully you will all like.

But at the moment it's a secret and I'm keeping my lips buttoned about it. The only problem with that is ................ I'm TERRIBLE at keeping secrets *BLUSH*

Soooooooo ....... here's a little sneak peek to hopefully tempt you to come back on FRIDAY to see the whole picture so to speak ;o)

This card is child's play .......

The theme for this week's challenge on Pollycraft Challenge Blog is "A Card for a Child" which is fortunate coz I'd forgotten I needed to make a birthday card for my son's schoolfriend, Holly.



I used the Winter Elves "Joyous" acrylic stamp, some die cut shapes and some papers that came free with a magazine. I handcut the front panel of the card into a "H" shape to personalise it for her as I think that things like that are important when you're seven :o)

Winning this candy would really put a smirk on your face :o)

Caroline has put together a lovely bundle of pink candy over on her blog - to be in with a chance of winning why not pay her a visit and follw her instructions.

I never used to be a "pink" girl, usually I went for purples and blues but recently I've noticed a lot more pink creeping in. Seriously I don't think I owned more than 2 pink items of clothing before I had my little princess, and now she's pink mad and I think it's rubbed off!

Think it's about time I paid attention

I was lucky enough to receive Letraset Promarkers for both Christmas and Birthday so I now have about 40 different shades to play with. I've seem hundreds of cards coloured with these and the Copic markers and love the shading effects that people get with them. I'd managed to get some of the shading sorted by layering up the same colour like I did with this card earlier this month



However, so far I'd not been happy with my blending of colours etc. I went blog hopping in the hope of snaffling some tips and found a great copics tutorial here ...... great apart from the fact that I've got Promarkers not Copics!!!! More blog hopping resulted in me finding a really useful tutorial for Promarker users here

Anyway, as a result of finding the tutorials and having a little play around last night and today I have now made a couple of cards using the blending techniques ....


I'd love to hear what you think of my latest efforts.

Lazy hazy days ....... I wish!

Actually, I have to admit to being lazy today, letting hubby get up with the kids and staying in bed til 9.30 this morning was absolutely lovely! It's quite a rarity for me to wake up of my own accord rather than because of an alarm clock or because I'm being bounced on by one of the three fox cubs. I seem to recall I woke up in the middle of a very strange dream about going to a fancy dress lunch with some people I went to school with at Mr Tumble's house :oS I think the least said about that the better!

Once I got up I was feeling virtuous after making a big lamb stew for dinner so I sat down and did some crafting. There's an "Anything goes" challenge this week over on Penny Black Saturday Challenge so I made this card using one of their cute hedgehogs lazing in the sun.



The image is coloured with promarkers, layered on Core'dinations coloured card and embellished with Basic Grey buttons.

Candy to satisfy even the sweetest tooth!

Over on her Passion for Crafts blog Debbie is offering some truly amazing blog candy to celebrate her blogoversary! Of course, you COULD ignore this post to give me a better chance of winning it but I'd recommend that you hop over there and join in the fun before 30th April. Good luck

That's torn it .........

The current challenge on Cute Card Thursday is to make a card using tearing, sanding, distressing or sewing. I decided to use some Magnolia stamped images, coloured with promarkers and layered on torn paper and mulberry paper. I went back to my pastel colours comfort zone but I think cute cards work really well in soft colours.

Allow me to introduce ..........

SANTA PADDY



Yeah alright, I KNOW it's only just been Easter ...... but I never seem to catch up at Christmas time so the occasional card here or there has got to be a step in the right direction especially since I'm hoping to MAKE a lot of Christmas gifts this year as well.

I followed this week's challenge sketch from Cupcake Craft Challenges for the design of the card.

If anyone else would like to see Santa Paddy on their Christmas Cards this year he is available as an acrylic stamp or as a pre-stamped image ready for colouring direct from me at Foxcraft Cards

My mojo is back with a vengeance!!!!!

ANOTHER two challenge cards have been completed today and I'm working on a third! Are you impressed? I am! (modesty personified me y'see!)

Boo Hooo I didn't win the first challenge on Just Magnolia but that doesn't mean I'm giving up so here is my entry for their next challenge which simply asked for a card in Pink and Green colours. I was tempted to go for my usual pastel palette but as you can see I decided to be brave and make a "slap you round the face" combo of lime green and magenta instead.



As well as the Just Magnolia challenge I've also had a go at the Stamp Something challenge which is based on the theme of Flowers or Showers. I used the Lily and Milo "Rainy Days" image coloured with promarkers and added some Papermania paper which reminded me of raindrops on windows. I embellished the top of the card with some iridescent adhesive gems to give the effect of drops of water.



I'm so glad I've found these challenges, even if I don't win anything I am getting loads of inspiration to make cards for my stall at the school fete in the summer.

Trying to add ZING and BLING!

I've sort of got stuck in a rut of only using muted colours in my cards -- I think I'm a bit scared of the really bright stuff so I'm trying to coax myself out of it gently!

I went BRIGHT for the birthday card I made for my friend Anjie's birthday last week and gave Poppy a magenta and cyan makeover with my promarkers. I also dusted down my Craftrobo and used that for cutting the lettering. I know Anjie likes all things bright so I hope she liked my departure from the norm!



As another step in my brights aversion therapy I added some zingy lime green to my entry for this week's SketchSaturday Challenge It's a Lily and Milo image with Dovecraft and Papermania papers, some Cuttlebug embossed "Happy Birthday" bits and it's also got a bit of B*L*I*N*G in the form of some iridescent adhesive jewels from Papermania.

Truly Scrumptious and Creative Inspiration Challenges

One of my friends has just told me that her daughter has been rushed in to hospital to have her appendix out so I took the chance of making a get well soon card for her following the sketch challenge over on Truly Scrumptious I decided to use ribbon for two of the panels and have used my Poorly Poppy image which is available from me at Foxcraft Cards


Here is my entry for the Creative Inspirations recipe challenge. I used four fabric flowers, three pieces of Papermania paper, two buttons for the centres of two of the flowers and the Schoolgirl Poppy stamped image again available from me atFoxcraft Cards


Thanks for popping by, I hope you like what I've done so far this week, I feel like my mojo is on its way back!

In the words of the Pink Ladies ........ "THINK PINK!"

I had such fun yesterday with the challenge cards that I went to sleep thinking about what I could make as the next one! Now THAT'S when you know you're addicted to card-making!

I woke up this morning to a gorgeous sunny day and kids NOT fighting which is enough to put me in a happy mood YAY! And I had a flash of inspiration .... to combine the current sketch challenge from The Penny Black Saturday Challenge with the pink, black and white (and polka dots) colour combination challenge from Colour Create!

The resulting card came together quite quickly in the end using my trusty pro-markers (what on earth did I use before the stash fairy delivered them?), some Papermania pink papers that have been in my stash since the year dot and some black cardstock ...... oh and a couple of self adhesive gems for a bit of B*L*I*N*G!



Now ........ I wonder what I can find to challenge me today ...... hubby says the laundry but where's the fun in that!!!!

Another Challenge Card - 1 card 2 challenges

I've had so much fun today following challenge instructions so I decided to have yet another go with this card




This is for the weekly challenge on Pollycraft Challenge Blog where the challenge was to use a Pollycraft product to make a card with an ORANGE theme. I hope that there's enough orange on mine to count, I used one of the stamps I got for my birthday for the main image, coloured with promarkers and highlighted with Doodlebug jewels.

Hopefully it also counts for the Papertake Weekly Challenge as I followed their sketch albeit turned on its head!

Another blog challenge card - this time Stampavie

Hey hey I'm on a roll ....... I found another challenge over on Stampavie so I decided to join in using the lovely "Hand in Hand" image from Rachelle Anne Miller.

The cardstock is Core'dinations, the patterned strip is from Dovecraft's Amethyst collection and the brad and fabric flowers came from my big box of mixed up stash! I coloured the image using promarkers in shades of pink, brown and green.

Let's try again shall we ..... I'm a naughty blogger

I haven't been on here for soooooooooooooooooooooooo long and I'm hoping to get back on track so if you see me loitering please slap my legs and tell me to get on with it!

Poppy, Paddy and Pipkin are now on general release both as acrylic stamps and as pre-stamped images ready to colour from Foxcraft Cards We've been lucky enough to have features in a number of crafting magazines but word of mouth is equally important so if you have a look and like what you see then please let other people know about them too :o)



Here is a sample of a card that I made using the Schoolboy Paddy and Schoolgirl Poppy stamps.


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I have been inspired by the sketch challenge at Just Magnolia and decided to join in the challenge for the chance to win some GORGEOUS candy!

Here is my entry