Eclectic Ellapu #46: And They Call It Puppy Love

Allo Allo! I'm back and this is not a scheduled post. my friends. Yep, it's little ol' me back from our vacation and jabbin' away at the keyboard with my scrawny fingers. I have burdened you with just under a month of scheduled posts and little or no visits and comments ..... I do apologise for that. But there were days when we just did not have ready access to the internet, not to mention it was near impossible to lug along my computer as we sweated it out in the jungles and streets of the Far East. But we're back from our tropical tryst, jet-lagged, worn-out and patently poorer BUT ... it was an extraordinary 3 weeks of mind-blowing adventure!

Here's my first project since our re-entry into reality. It's my turn to host a challenge over at Eclectic Ellapu. I wanted to do something to celebrate Xiara's life - she crossed over the Rainbow Bridge last year in September - and to remember my little Snoopster, who joined Xiara in April this year. A challenge theme was born:

"And They Call It Puppy Love"

No, it is not an homage to Donny Osmond and you don't have to include him or his siblings on your project (sigh of relief, I hear?!) But, here's your chance to showcase your best bud, your furry friend, your hairy homie. And since Eclectic Ellapu is an equal opportunities channel, Scales and Feathers are welcome to party along. This week we are paying tribute to all those gorgeous little fur-balls who bring limitless joy and unconditional love to our lives.  

I'm going for a clean look with this card. I embossed some black CS Crafts-Too's Argyle folder and stitched on some scrap patterned paper from Papermania'a Capsule Collection in Aqua. For texture, I dotted some silver Liquid Pearls on the DP and finished the card with some silver ribbon tied in a bow.

Here a closer look at the focal and sentiment - both from Our Daily Bread's  "Dog Sympathy" stamp set.  I love ODB's pet stamps - there aren't many out there that are elegant and tasteful as theirs. There's one for Kitty too and it's called "Cat Sympathy" - beautiful! Very simple colouring with SN and Promarkers in shades of aqua and turquoise.

On the inside I could not resist using that adorable stamp and every pet-owner will tell you - they really do leave paw prints in our hearts!

Let's talk challenges, shall we?

Tuesday Morning Sketches #214.html - sketch

Just Add Ink #181 - Silver, Bermuda Bay, Black - colours

Sweet Stampin' Challenge "Got The Blues"

Word Art Wednesday #96 "Anything Goes" - with inspirational sentiment

Catch The Bug "September Anything Goes"

Now it's your turn. Create a project featuring your pet and link it up to the Eclectic Ellapu Challenge Blog. If your stuck for ideas, take a peak at the rest of the DT and you'll be stuck no more.

That's all from me today, my friends. Thank you for stopping by and for all your lovely comments during my absence.  We still haunted by jet-lag. Ain't easy to get over the 8-hour time difference but I'll be starting my rounds today... so don't be shocked when you hear me knocking! LOL.

Before I leave I want show you this:

What is it??? Aaahhhh....You'll just have to head on over to Eclectic Ellapu blog to find out!

Have a blessed Sunday, everybody!

Beijinhos.

Tuesday Throwdown #163: Best Friends

Hello my friends! Today is the last day of our summer vacation and this is my scheduled post. My blog has been running on auto-pilot for the past 3 weeks - unbelievable! But I dare say I pulled it off fairly well.

Over at the Tuesday Throwdown Challenge Blog we are celebrating the start of a brand new challenge sponsored by the good folk at Robyn's Fetish  and the theme this week is "Best Friends". I made this card for my best-est best friend forever - BBFF. There is no else like her and I am so blessed to call her my sister.

The paper is from Dovecraft's Sugar and Spice 8x8 pad. No greeting on this card because the paper comes with a perfect description of my sister. To jazz things up, I added a few pink blings.

This adorable image called "Best Friends" by Robyn's Fetish. I coloured it with SN markers. For cutting and layering I used Spellbinders Circles and Scalloped Circles dies. 

The sentiment inside is from Chocolate Baroque's "Loving Sentiments" set... and I cannot think of a better way to describe my dear sister.

Now it's your turn to play along, and pay homage to your best friend. For more ideas and inspiration, visit the rest of the Tuesday Throwdown DT. Don't forget to link up your project over at the Tuesday Throwdown Challenge Blog and you could just win a prize for your effort.

That's all from me. Today is the last day of our 3-week summer vacation. We leave Kuala Lumpur, the capital city of Malaysia at 11:15, westward bound to Charles de Gaulle Paris and connect to Lisbon, Portugal. And then we start counting the days for our next vacation!

Beijinhos!

Polka Doodles #35: Fairy Time

There she goes again with another scheduled post! Sorry guys! ;-)

I'm here to tell you something exciting is happening over at the Polkadoodles Challenge Blog.... and it's called "Fairy Time"! What a wonderful excuse to play with the delightful Angelberry Christmas Collection. Are fairies angels and vice versa? I don't know, but does it matter? They are both adorable, fly and, supposedly, grant wishes. One and the same I say!

For my DT offering this week I bring you not one but two fairies on a swing card made entirely from images, papers and greetings. Take a look at what I made:

This is the front of the card featuring the lovely Snow Globe Fairy.  

A closer look at the Snow Globe Angel. I did very little to dress her up: some faux stitching a few blobs of silver Liquid Pearls and some Crystal Stickles on her wings. The sentiment is also from the Angelberry Collection.  

Open up the card and another fairy / angel swings into action to bring you the message of Christmas: Joy, Peace and Noel.

A close up of the lovely Peace Angel. As before, all she needed was some Liquid Pearls in Gold to compliment the golden message of Peace and some sparkly Stickles on her wings.

This is just a wonderful CD for Christmas. A perfect gift for yourself and for anyone who is in love with Christmas. There are so many project ideas to keep you busy with your festive makes.

Thanks for stopping by and hopefully, I'll be able to make a few visits over the next few days. Take care and enjoy the remaining days of summer.

Beijinhos!

Thinking Of You

Hello, my sweet friends! I'm bringing you another scheduled post, my friends.  We're still away, but nearing the end of our summer holidays. This is not a DT post - just something for all of my wonderful friends and followers who have been stopping by and leaving such lovely comments. This is me telling YOU that I'm thinking of you!

I made an easel card with papers from PolkaDoodles Sugar Birdies CD. It is probably my favourite collection, and certainly my  go-to CD for sweet paper and images.

The image is from PolkaDoodles Bonbon Belles Double CD Collection. I coloured her with SN and Promarkers. For cuttings and layering, I used Spellbinders Circles and Scalloped Circles dies. To finish, a bow in sheer white ribbon.
 

And some foam tape for dimension and to help the easel stand. 

Challenges for this card:
Make It Monday #155 "Anything Goes"
Word Art Wednesday #95 "Anything Goes" with an uplifting sentiment
Die Cuttin' Divas #130 "Just Because"
Crafty Sentiments "Make It Girly"
Bearly Mine Challenge #101 "Digi days" - digi stamp and papers

And if you are curious about the the image I used on my card, head on over to the Polkadoodles On-line Store and check out this is lovely Bonbon Belles CD.

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you are having a lovely day.

Beijinhos!

Christmas Card Club #16: Anything Goes

Another scheduled post? Oh yes indeed, my friends. We're still away...

Today I want to show you a card I made for the Christmas Card Club. Our hostess for this fortnight's challenge is the lovely Sue Copper and she has picked a theme that is close to my heart: ANYTHING GOES! Thank you, Sue!

Here's my simple festive offering for the Christmas Card Club:

Here is a fun little wreath card. The image is from the Angelberry Christmas CD by Polkadoodles. I enlarged it to 4" and fussy cut it creating a window to reveal the inside. For the round card base I used Spellbinders Circle dies.

To dress it up I used some yellow bling and red Stickles. The window reveals the Christmas greeting on the the inside.

The greeting is also from the Angelberry Christmas CD. For cutting and layering I used Spellbinders Circles and Scalloped Circles. I inked the edges with TH's Antique Linen.

Challenges for this card:
Hobby House Challenge #3 Christmas
Crafty Hazelnut's Extra Christmas Challenge "August"
Rudolph Day "August 2013"
Make It Monday #155 "Anything Goes"

That's my simple card for this fortnight. I hope you are all having a wonderful time. We have about a week left on our holidays before we head on home with a memories, shopping and a couple of over-used credit cards!

Thanks for stopping by and for all your lovely comments. And to all my British friends I wish y'all a fab Bank Holiday Weekend!

Beijinhos!

Eclectic Ellapu #44: Oldies Birthday

Hello there fellow crafters! Here's another scheduled post for you.

Welcome to another fabulous week of crafting with the Eclectic Ellapu team. Our hostess this week is Laurian and she has picked an interesting theme: Oldies Birthdays. There are loads of fun and humorous images out there to celebrate another year in an older person's life but I decided to make a more "elegant" card but with a subtle poke at the birthday girl's (advanced) age!

The papers are from Basic Grey's "Indian Summer" 6x6 pad.  The sentiment is from Clearly Besotted's "It's Your Birthday" stamp set, heat embossed in white EP straight on to the patterned paper. I also added a bow in dark red to finish the card. 

This beautiful elephant stamp is from Chocolate Baroque's "Indian Elephant" set, stamped in Memento Espresso Truffle and coloured with SN and Promarkers. I also added some Gold Liquid Pearls and Red Stickles dress up this noble creature. To cut him out I used Spellbinders Oval die and inked the edges with TH's Antique Linen.

For the inside I picked a sentiment from Chocolate Baroque's "Birthday Words" and stamped it in Memento Rhubarb Stalk. 

Challenges for this card:
Crazy 4 Challenges #200 "Use Animal on Project"
Sister Act Card Challenge #21 "Anything Goes"
Dutch Dare Card Challenges "Animal Antics"
Make It Monday #155 "Anything Goes"

That's my take on this week's "Oldies Birthday" challenge. What's yours? Please share your project over at the Eclectic Ellapu Challenge Blog, where you will also find more fabulous ideas by the DT.

Thanks for stopping by, my friends, and have a great weekend. Summer is almost over, so enjoy it while you can!

Beijinhos!

PolkaDoodles #34: All Things Bright & Beautiful

Howdy-doo-dee, folks! We're still away on holidays... which means you'll have to put up with another scheduled DT post for PolkaDoodles:

I love Christmas and wasn't about to miss out on a challenge with so much Christmas potential for no good reason! So I'm gate-crashing team A's party with this festive step card. The theme this week is "All Things Bright And Beautiful". (Remember that hymn form Sunday School?!)

On my card, the colours are bright, the baubles are bold, the presents are plentiful and the fairy... so beautiful! All papers, images, elements and greetings are from Polka Doodles' fabulous new Christmas collection called Angelberry Christmas. To finish my card I used just one thing - some twine! For dimension, I popped the pressies up on some foam tape...and I'm done!

I'm sticking to trad Christmas theme but you'l find loads of funky, groovy, non-trad colours and designs in the Angelberry Collection.

Here is a side view of the card. The step card is a great to showcase a lovely image , such as this tree decorating angel.  

And I let myself loose on a roll of foam tape. From this gorgeous Angelberry CD  I cut out the  presents and baubles and used foam tape to add some dimension to the card. Voila! A fun little Christmas card!

Challenges for this card:
Jellypark Challenges "Things That Fly"
Sister Act Card Challenge #21 "Anything Goes"

I do hope you'll join in this week's challenge. The ever-generous Nikky has lined up some wonderful prizes for 3 lucky winners. And if you're stuck for ideas,  head on over to the rest of the DT....and prepare to be stunned... and inspired, of course!

I may not be able to visit all of you, but I will make an effort to stop by when I can. And to all my wonderful friends and visitors - Thank You so much for your lovely comments. If you want to know what we've been up to, hop on over to my Facebook page (be my friend) for some (amateur) pix.

Thanks for stopping by my friends!

Beijinhos!

Tuesday Throwdown #161: Scrap It!

Hello, my crafty comrades. We are still away on our hols, so this is another scheduled post. As this goes live we should be in Bangkok, Thailand.

This week over at Tuesday Throwdown, we have a wonderful challenge sponsored by Digital Delights and you are all invited to party along with us. All you have to do is Use Your Scraps. What a great way to use up all the bits and pieces of leftover papers you've been hoarding. And that is exactly what I've done to make this friendship card. No harm in letting a friend know that I'm thinking of her and Digital Delight's Dilly Duck is helping do just that!

The background is made of scrap bits of paper from Cosmo Cricket's "Togetherness" pad. For embellishments I used a red bow and some bling. For cutting and layering, Spellbinders Scalloped Circles die came in handy.

I coloured Dilly Duck with SN and Promarkers. Doesn't he look cute in his green wellingtons?!

On the inside...I think this is what Dilly Duck would be saying.

Now it's your turn. Scrap It! Use your scrap pieces of papers on a project and link it up to the Tuesday Throwdown Challenge Blog. For ideas and inspiration, hop on over to the rest of the design team.

Thanks for stopping by and good luck!

Beijinhos!