Wedding Day

No my card has nothing to do with weddings, but when this pops up courtesy of Mr Blogger, we should be readying ourselves on the west coast of France for this afternoons wedding of our second eldest son.

It's likely to be a long day as they do weddings a bit different in France. First the Town Hall for the formalities, then the Church for the wedding ceremony - which is apparently about an hour long service, then a cocktail party and at 7pm the wedding breakfast. And that's not the end of it because after a night of music and entertainment, Sunday lunchtime everyone reconvenes for a brunch party.

The day has seemed forever coming, hours of making wedding stationery, dress fittings and all nature of arrangements then suddenly here we are. Hopefully the weather will be lovely and the happy couple will have a wonderful day.

Now I had better just tell you about the new challenge at Allsorts where the lovely Debs has set us the theme of Black and White plus one.

An old favourite style and sentiment which is Penny Black 2695K Dance very simply stamped with versafine black and embossed with detail clear onto a background distressed with Tim Holtz Victorian Velvet. The mat was cut with a Nestie though the Big Shot and the edges stamped with flowers from Magenta CS043 and embossed with detail clear before distressing with the TH ink.

The writing down the side is another well used favourite Hero Arts H2354 and the corner flourish Penny Black 3857H Footnote. A border punched with Martha Stewart doily lace from Fancy Pants DP which I also used to make the roses, a stick pin, bead and cord to finish.

Funky fairy

A scheduled post and all going to plan we are in France and tomorrow is the wedding........our second eldest son and his French fiancee are getting married in the beautiful surroundings of the French coastal fishing village of Saint-Gilles Croix-de-Vie.

Although she had lived in the UK for many years, her Mother still lives in the French village, her Father in Paris, so it was decided they would return there for the wedding. I think the fact that the surf is good on that part of the coast might have played just a tiny part in our boys decision to suggest that as the venue. I have visions of him arriving at the Church still in his wetsuit and board under his arm. And of course the honeymoon venue of Barbados is also well known for it's good surf, so you decide what swayed the decisions ! More about it all in my post tomorrow.

Today is Polkadoodle day and for this weeks challenge Lou has set us the theme of "Sew & Sew". Not my hot point, but I did managed a line of stitching round the edge of my backing paper which is from the new All Around CD. The fairy is Grace, one of the Fairy Flutterfy stamps, which I coloured with Copics and decoupaged. Her winds are stamped onto the same paper then again on acetate and glittered. Martha Steward double loop border and Magnolia flower plus a couple of others and some glittered leaves.

Wedding indulgence

Morning everyone, isn't the weather glorious and how lovely to be able to spend time outdoors without needing to wrap up warm. Needless to say the dogs are fed up with it already and puffing and panting and lolloping wherever they can find a cool spot, but it didn't spoil their appetites when we had a barbie last night and all four sat drooling as they always do.

I thought I would share two of the cards I made for the wedding couple, well I did actually show the wedding cake a couple of weeks ago, but have just made the box so now it's complete.

The word book of their initials was created in Cricut design studio welding various elements together, covering with Best Creations DP, some decoupaging, ribbons, Magnolia flowers, gems a bit of stamping with Penny Black 3851E Blessing and all in all total over indulgence, but I think it's rather pretty. And I made a box with an acetate lid, added yet more ribbon and an edge using Martha Stewart doily lace.

I am entering the work book for The Crafty Pad challenge which would like to see "Over the Edge" so I am hoping the ribbon will count here, Charisma Cardz who would like to see something 3D so the flowers and butterflies fit nicely and Flutterby Wednesday would like "Flowers" with our butterflies or fairies. Also the card below is for this weeks Penny Black challenge which is "Lots of Dots" where I have used Penny Black 4037K mixed media and 3857H footnote, memento inks, Swiss dots Cuttlebug folder and spotty MME DP.

And finally another bit of over indulgence on the box for the Polkadoodle wedding cake card, lace, Martha Stewart embossed hears punch, flowers, pearls and a computer generated sentiment.

I will see all you lovely peeps when I get back, but I have scheduled a post with a little something for you which should pop up tomorrow evening courtesy of Mr Blogger.

Poppies and flutterbys

Over at Allsorts Helene has set our new challenge and would like to see a tag or label on our artwork.

But before I tell you about my artwork for this week, I need to annouce that the winner of my part of our Birthday blog hop is Keryn. I am so pleased for you Keryn please mail me brenda@ibas.co.uk so I can get you prize off to you. Do go pay her a visit and see her adorable Jack Russel's and her great work of course.

I've gone all pink and Hero for my card using one of the shadow stamps that I so love working with. This one is Hero Arts CO140 Poppy Background. First I stamped a piece of dusky pink cardstock all over with the butterfly plate from Hero Arts CG300 using Tim Holtz worn lipstick - if I am going to bleach I usually stick to the TH inks because they always bleach out fine, whereas some inks can be a bit iffy and fade but won't bleach out completely. Of course it depends of the cardstock and it's always worth having a little test run first.

I then stamped the poppy stamp over the butterflies using versamark and heat embossing with detail clear, then bleaching out the flowers. I like this technique as it gives a subtle image through the embossed solid elements of the stamped image.

I used the same butterfly plate to stamp the card itself again with versamark and detail clear embossing powder to achieve a subtle finish. The border is Martha Stewart embossed butterflies and the sentiment on the tag is from a Rubber Tapestry set, no code though I'm afraid.

A day playing Sizzix

Hello everyone, Friday and only just getting round to posting what I planned to do yesterday and tell you about a bonus day at Stampalot yesterday.

Wednesday just as we were off to hospital my beloved MX5 went AWAL on me, no power, no nothing, so we used hubby's car and it was evening before I could call the RAC. But the good news is they could find nothing sinister in the tests and what they did find can be dealt with OK (won't go into gories). So a huge, huge relief, it's seemed forever waiting.

Mr RAC could not fathom the problem with my car so ended up having to take it to the main dealer yesterday. Apparently the battery was not holding a charge so they replaced it........I only had it new at Christmas, so what that's all about I have no idea. I just hope it's fixed because we are taking it to France......really fancy the journey across France with the top down.

So what did I do whilst it was in the garage, well Sir Andy Stampalot was a gem and collected me and I idled the day away at the shop and just by chance Chris and the gang (Mel and Judith) were in so we took over the classroom and did a bit of crafting.......well that's a fib really, I talked mostly and played with the new Sizzix Pro and dies, it's a wowser piece of equipment.

In full wedding plan mode this weekend, the bride and groom left for France last evening to arrange all the final bits and pieces, we go early Tuesday and the rest of the family follow in dribs and drabs during the week. The missing dress never showed so that one's still a bit in the air and the Matron of Honor might end up as a guest because matching a suitable dress is proving almost impossible, leaving only white, but that's not a real option with the bride in that colour. So the chief bridesmaid might be our girl on crutches.....who said my family did anything by the book ?

A quick card, not for anything specific, just a share of a Stampalot sample. A bit tardy of me but hope you will forgive all the details other than Hero Arts CG181 bird in a circle, Tim Holt rusty hinge and bundled sage, Martha Stewart woodland branch around the page and Basic Grey DP.

£200 Tim Holtz goodies up for grabs

This is a sticky so please scroll down for newer posts.

Hello peeps, just a quick reminder that all these fabulous Tim Holtz goodies are up for grabs in this months Stamplaot Challenge and includes an original signed copy of Tim's book A Compendium of Curiosities.

Our theme this month is Butterflies and Blossoms, so a nice easy one and don't forget you can enter twice with different types of projects, such as a card and a scrapbook l/o for example. So what you waiting for, remember you have to be in it to win it.

Bird in a circle and messy Muts

Good morning all, this one is scheduled so everything crossed it will pop up on time whilst I am at hospital having the dreaded camera tests.

One card, three challenges, the first Everybody Art challenges who have a sketch this week.......I was going to pass as it's circles and we know about my crafty phobia of them, but decided a challenge is a challenge. So one in the bin, the second completed, although not convinced I like the end product. I hope the flowers fit in with A Spoonful of Sugar challenge who are going Cute and Girly and finally Papertake Weekly who want to see "Shiny Sparkly and Special" and there's a good bit of sparkle to be had on this one.

The image Hero Arts CG181 Bird in a Circle dropped through my letterbox this morning from Sir Stamaplot, it's a cling stamp from the new releases but didn't not come in with the first deliveries so I have been patiently waiting for it to arrive. I think it is so cute.

The image is actually a square one, but I cut it into a circle with a Nestie through the Big Shot and layered it several times. I stamped the image three times and decoupaged after colouring the flowers and bird with Marvy pens and spritzing with Glimmer Mist pearl. The little birdie in the corner is punched with my new Martha Stewart woodland branch and flower patch set.

The sentiment is Hero Arts CL278, manipulated a bit to achieve more of a circle shape. The large flower is another of the beautiful Magnolia ones with some glitter added to the edges and I did the same with the smaller ones which are from my stash. The swirls are cut from glitter card with a Sizzix die. The final bit of bling is the gemstone brad.

Just had to share this one of Bernie and George