WOYWW 95

What a wet and windy morning it is here in Devon, just right for packing the camper. 

I've already taken Ice for a walk - still dark but great dawn chorus. The birds were giving it their all despite the weather.

Well having said I won't be posting for a while I have a couple extra for you.

WOYWW   I know I'm a bit late but it's still Wednesday in some parts of the world!

My desk should be tidied before going away but it's impossible to throw anything away.

Great storage units but I really need another set!

Special Card for a Horse Lover

I'm afraid this will have to be my last posting for a few weeks as I'm off to France on Friday and have loads to do before then. We have a home there so the grass will be hiding elephants and the weeds will have taken over. That's the first week taken care of. The 2nd week we are taking our camper away for a real holiday - this will be a novelty as last summer we went for 4 weeks and only had one day out. It's no wonder our son thinks holidays are boring! For the 3rd week Robin's French friend who has moved to the South is coming to stay which will be lovely for him and a chance for him to talk in French again. He is fluent after going to school there for 2 years.

I'm taking paper, stamps ( all those I haven't played with yet ), Promarkers and my Inktense water colour pencils so I'll have plenty to keep me happy.

I have been asked to make an 18th birthday card for someone's Grand-daughter who loves horses so thought I'd use this stamp that I've had for a while from Lili of the Valley. Isn't she just a gorgeous sweet girl with her pony. Spot the cheeky little mouse eating the apple core.

             

I stamped 3 images, cut out  for various layers, coloured with Promarkers and used a Nestabilities Labels die. 

                                       

Materials

Daisy and Dandelion Picnic Patch paper

LOTV  Me and My Pony stamp

Promarkers

Sizzix Bigz dies - swirls

Gems

Challenges

Everybody-art-challenge - pink and brown ( hope there's enough of each )

Oh-la-la creations - special friend

Allsorts - mum / special lady

Charisma Cardz - birthday for a teen

Pixie Dust Studio - Let's go to the movies ( Black Beauty)

Make a Splash

I havn't had much free time today to craft but already had this cute otter coloured up ready to go.

This morning our local craft shop Just Tracy's had a free demo day to launch their own stamp range. Tracy was demonstrating Promarkers and her ability to blend was very impressive. I'll have to put some of her techniques into use. She blended with as many as 5 colours/ shades to give the finished colour.

These stamps from Joanna Sheen - Jayne Netley Mayhew Otter stamps are brilliant for those difficult mens cards. I've followed the sketch from Cards for Men - I just love someone else coming up with the idea! I've also used dotty papers so I can enter I love Promarkers Challenge.

Materials

Jayne Netley Mayhew Otter stamp

K&Co papers Hopscotch

Promarkers

Gems from stash

Martha Stewart punch

Challenges

Cards for Men - sketch

I love Promarkers - dotty

One Stitch at a Time - Something for the boys

Zooming Along

LOTV challenge this week is to use punches, this should just about qualify as the corners are the bits left over from using a Martha Stewart corner punch and the frame is a Nestie. Coloured with Promarkers and highlighted with glossy accents. It's a clean and simple card which is generally more suited to the men. I don't think they'd appreciate flowers all over the front. This also fits in well with  Moving Along With The Times Challenge of 'something metal' and what could be more metal than a car.


I went last night with a friend to a talk at the local library by the author Katie FFord. We were given tea and biscuits and enjoyed an entertaining hour. And how much were we charged? Nothing it was FREE! You can't say that very often can you. Thanks to all the staff and Katie for an interesting evening.


I've got so much to do as we're off to France for 3 weeks next Friday and my sister in law and BIL are here for the weekend. Not sure how much crafting I can sneek in. 


Challenges
LOTV - punches
Moving Along With the Times- metal

Old Romantics

I took this card outside to snap this morning but it's so sunny that the shadows were huge, so it was back into my kitchen with it's florescent lights. Shame they always look better with a bit of sun on them.
This is a simple card but effective and like by all who receive it - over a certain age of course.  

Materials
Paper Laughs Golden Oldies decoupage sheets
Artylicious Essence of Nature CD for gorgeous backing papers
Martha Stewart Border Punch

Challenges
As yet I don't know of any challenges suitable but I'd be grateful if anyone could suggest one for this type of card.

WOYWW

Whats On Your Workstation on Wednesday? 94


Organised chaos - I can put my hand on most things, honestly!
As you can see I'm on a roll making Easter Cards, they're basically quite simple and all use the same Penny Black stamp. The brain gets a bit addled so I find it easier to keep them all similar so that next year I don't have the dilemma of who got what. Nothing worse than someone saying 'that's lovely but it's just like the one you gave us last time'!


It's been beautiful weather again today and the views out over the Sound this morning were stunning. Blue sea and blue skies. Had friends here today so I haven't done any card making yet today. Jacky's mum will be getting the green hedgie for Mother's Day - yes I have changed the sentiment to say @with love on Mother's Day' and not Happy Birthday.


Di at Pixie's Crafty Workshop is offering some fabulous blog candy to celebrate her first anniversary. Pop over and take a look. Happy first birthday Di. 

Cuddle up Mrs.

I was asked to make a Golden Wedding card which I did but just wasn't ready to give up this cuddly pair, so they're still mine for a bit linger!
Coloured with Promarkers and layered. Feet and beaks have glossy accents on them.
 
Materials
Penny Black Lovin' & Huggin' 2863J, flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts, MS doiley punch, Paremania paper, Nesties hearts.

Challenges - Sketch and Stash 57,  A Gem of a Challenge 17 - anything but square

Spring Flowers for the first day of Spring

Love it, Love it, Love it. This stamp is just brilliant to work with.

No colouring needed with this Penny Black Stamp Gossamer 3865K which was stamped onto some scraps and cut out to give dimension. I'll be entering this into the Penny Black Saturday Challenge as the subject is Spring. 

I'm really pleased with how this turned out and in different colour-ways could be used for many occasions, Easter, birthday's, sympathy cards so I think you'll see this stamp again.

Materials used

Various papers including Pink Petticoat daisies, Artylicious Essence of Nature ( green ), Rob Addams roses, and left overs from my scraps drawer, Papermania buttons. Sentiment is also from Pink Petticoat, die cut swirl .

Challenges

Penny Black Saturday Challenge
Penny Black at Allsorts monthly challenge - Welcome Spring

Card for a son-in-law

My Mother-in-Law is fantastic at selling my cards at her Age Concern coffee mornings and brings me home orders for cards. Now, if I can then enter some of these into Challenges then that's great. On this occasion the lady requested African animals since she'd seen a similar one I'd made.
For this card I followed the sketch on Papertakes challenge which required just 3 of anything!
One elephant has been coloured with Promarkers but the layered one is actually coloured with Inktense pencils because I stamped it with Versafine instead of Momento. I suppose it would have been easier to stamp it again but it was an excuse to dust off my pencils which had got buried under various other bits and pieces.

Materials - DCWV papers, Joanna Sheen's Jane Netley Meyhew's elephant stamp, Promarkers, Derwent Inktense pencils, nesties, and buttons from stash.

Challenges -I love Promarkers 57 ( mens card )
                  Paper Pretties PWC 145 ( masculine card )
                  Ooh-la-la-creations 75 ( it's a man thing )
                  Papertake  ( 3 of anything )

Lili of the Valley - Gwenn

Wow. What a beautiful sunny morning it is today, it makes you want to go and work in the garden and to take my dog Ice out for a long walk. 

Why is it these look so much better in RL than in the photo!

I've followed the sketch on Lili of the Valley's Thursday Challenge for this card using the lovely Gwenn.  

Materials used 

 Promarkers - Leaf Green, Tea green, Orchid, Sandstone, Pastel Beige, Ivory and Blush.

Backing Papers - My Mind's Eye, Artylicious Essence of Nature, and one made using the Lavender flower.

The wings are glittered which don't show too clearly in the photo.

Punched flowers, and gems from stash.

Challenges - Lili of the Valley 88 and Papertake  ( 3 of anything )

My first ever Challenge entry - I hope!

I have decided to have a go and enter this weeks Penny Black Saturday Challenge, I hope it works. I've also entered it into Allsorts challenge for something Irish/ lucky or just green.

I just love this Hedgie called A Smile For You 1021K from Penny Black and bought it with Mother's Day in mind. Whilst doing a version in red, I also decided to do this one in greens to fit in with PB Challenge for St. Patrick's day.
I stamped and coloured 2 separate images with Promarkers using Apple, Tea Green, Ivory, Blush, Cool Grey 1, Sandstone and Terracotta.
The dress and hat were stamped onto some beautiful Japanese handmade papers.
I think maybe a few small leaves and some gems in the bottom corner would go well but I didn't want to make it too fussy. Perhaps I'll try adding them on MIL's red version.

Well at last I've been brave enough to start a blog, mainly so I can enter some challenges and give me more of an excuse to spend time crafting. 
Hopefully the Maud Martha blog will improve over time as I get used to what to do and how to do it. 


This was a card for my 30 something Niece. It's using the lovely Dancing Flower Fairies stamp by Stamps Happen , coloured in Promarkers and the wings glittered with glamour dust. It's fairly simple but I didn't want to detract from the beautiful image. The flowers are some I bought from Joanna Sheen ages ago.