Pink Poinsettia Sparkle

Hi there

This afternoon I've had a little play with one of my most recent purchases from Clearly Besotted Stamps, the Pretty Poinsettia stamp set.

I've seen some lovely projects using this set and here's my first creation...

 

 

I decided to use some vellum for my double layered poinsettia.  I stamped these with VersaMark ink then heat embossed using some gorgeous Wow! embossing glitter.  I was lucky enough to win this lovely set from Wow! when I was chosen as a challenge winner at Less is More in August, so thanks Chrissie and Jen, I love it!

I die cut the two poinsettias using the co-ordinating die and adhered these with some glue dots.  A cluster of Stickles in the centre and a sentiment finished of my card.

Materials used:

• Stamps and Dies: Clearly Besotted Stamps - Pretty Poinsettia
• Ink: VersaMark; Versa Color - Ash Rose
• Embossing Glitter: Wow! - Sugar Cane (from Sugar & Spice set)
• Glitter Glue: Stickles - Pink
• Vellum and cardstock from stash

I'm entering this card for the following challenges:

Less is More - Lucky Dip - Sparkle
Crafty Cardmakers - Clean and Simple
Let's Craft and Create - Say It With Flowers
Stampin for the Weekend - Feeling Festive
Muse - #45

 

 

This lovely, classy card by this week's Muse, Lucy, was my initial inspiration for my card this week, I used the same layout and substituted the snowflake with my poinsettia bloom.

That's all for now folks, thanks as always for popping by and letting me know your thoughts, I am so grateful for your comments. 

I hope you're all having a wonderful weekend  xx

Blogoversary - Neet & Crafty is 1 Today!

Hi there

I've just realised this afternoon that it was exactly one year ago today that I created Neet & Crafty!

I had no idea what I was doing and it took me a while to get going but since January this year when I shared my first cards I've loved every minute of it.


I want to thank each and every one of my fab followers and subscribers for your continued support and overwhelming comments, I appreciate you all so much.  I've found so many of you in blogland that I consider my friends, even though we've never met.  This time last year I never would have thought I would be mentioned or even come close to winning any challenges, and to have had the honour of two guest designer spots was the icing on the cake.


I've picked up so many tips, techniques and product information from you and I now feel that I'm beginning to develop my own style, rather than just throwing some things at a card and hoping for the best.  My purse is a lot lighter than it used to be but its a hobby I really enjoy and we all need to spend time doing the things we love.

My first year has been great so here's to many more :) xxx

Chalkboard Thank You

Hi there

Last night I decided to have a go at the chalkboard technique as I wanted to enter the current challenge at Muse.  I had absolutely no idea how to go about this so I found a link to a video where Marion Vagg, this week's fabulous muse, shares how to create this effect.  You can find her video here. 

So here's my card, I waited until this morning so I could photograph it in daylight.  I have kept the layout and the colours almost the same as Marion's card, just changing up the stamps.  Not bad for a first attempt, eh!

 

 

Materials used:

• Stamps: Clearly Besotted Stamps - Leafy Accents and Many Thanks
• Ink: VersaMark; Versa Color - White
• Embossing Powder: Stampin' Up - White
• Punch: Craft Creatives - Mini Paper Punches
• Gems and cardstock from stash

 

Here is Marion's card...

 

I'm also entering my card for the following Challenges:

2 Sisters Challenge - 171 Thank You
Card Crafter's Circle - 102 Thankful - Thank You
Creative Inspirations - 241 Thanksgiving/Thank You
Papertake Weekly - Giving Thanks


Thanks for dropping by.  I've got a few things to get done today but may be back later this evening if I find some crafty time.  I hope you have a lovely Sunday whatever you're up to.

Take care



Merry Little Christmas Robin

Hi there

How nice it's been this afternoon to actually do some crafting in natural light! 

I saw the new challenge at Less is More this morning and the theme is to make a Christmas card with the added proviso to 'Use a Bird'.  So off I went to have a rummage through my stamps to see what I could find.  I had a few options but decided on this little chap as he's just so cute!

 

 

A while ago I purchased a batch of stamp sets on eBay which were all sets the seller had received free with various publications and this little guy was from one of those sets.  This set is called Christmas Capers but I'm unsure of the brand.  There are some lovely images in this set but I had the same problem with this one as I did with my Hobbycraft stamp the other day, where the ink doesn't cover the stamp sufficiently.  It tends to bead on the surface so I ended up using Versamark and then black embossing powder.  I will try the suggestion I had from Anita at My Papercraft World which is to wipe the stamp on ultrafine sandpaper beforehand.  I've not yet tried this but will certainly give it a go, and any further suggestions would be appreciated.

 

My initial plan with this card was to curve the sentiment around the circle but it was quite a long stamp and the curve was a bit too steep.  It would hold for a few seconds but then as soon as I went to add the ink it kept flinging back...scrap that idea then, I'll have it in a straight line! haha

 

I simply finished off by rounding off the corners.

 

Materials used:

• Stamps: Christmas Capers (unknown); Paula Pascual - Christmas Messages
• Ink: VersaMark; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Embossing Powder: Stampin' Up - Black
• ProMarkers: Tan, Poppy and Grass
• Die: Xcut - Nested Circles

 

I'm entering this card into the following Challenges:

 

Less is More - Christmas 'Use a Bird'

Charisma Cardz - Christmas

Dream Valley Challenges - Clean and Simple

Stampin' for the Weekend - Feeling Festive

CAS Colours and Sketches - Colour Challenge

 

 

 

Thanks so much for popping by.  Your comments are always appreciated and I love to hear what you think.

 

I hope to see you soon

 

 

 

Happy Anniversary

Hi there

Phew, I made it.  I've been wanting to make a card for the current challenge at Addicted to CAS for days.  Addicted to CAS are celebrating their 1st Anniversary and the code word for this particular challenge is very appropriately, 'Anniversary'.

I still don't think I've discovered my own style yet, my range of designs is still very diverse, but its always my CAS cards that I love the most.

So, with just a few hours to spare, here's my entry...

I had the design in my head for this one but didn't know what colours to choose.  So then I thought, why not go for pink and blue, to signify a woman and a man.  I'm loving this wonky heart design from Clearly Besotted so I used the stamp and matching die here.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Clearly Besotted Stamps - Love Hearts (with co-ordinating die) and Paired Up (sentiment)
• Ink: Versamark; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Embossing Powder: Stampin' Up - White
• Cardstock: Papermania - Premium Textured Cardstock (colours); white card from stash
• Gems: Papermania - Glazed Gems (Iridescent)

That's all from me at the moment.  Hopefully I will be able to fit some crafting in this weekend as I'm home alone tomorrow night.  I think some cardmaking, with Strictly and X-Factor for company sounds like a plan :)

Have a lovely evening whatever you're up to and thanks so much for visiting.

See you soon

Patterned Paper Bloom

Hi there

Today I'm here to share my card for the current challenge at Less is More where the theme is to 'Use Designer Paper in a CAS Way'.

I don't have a massive collection of patterned paper but what I do have I don't use nearly as much as I could.  So, here is my first proper attempt at stamping on patterned paper.

 

I used the gerbera stamp and first stamped the bottom half in green onto some green patterned paper, then stamped the top half in burgundy onto some pink patterned paper.  The stamp does have a co-ordinating die but I decided to fussy cut the images as I didn't want any white edging.  I coloured the centre of the bloom with a ProMarker.  I used a border die to give some interest to the base of the card and used the same die to cut some matching patterned paper which I used to ground the image.  The stamped images were then adhered directly to the card base and a sentiment was stamped alongside it.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Clearly Besotted Stamps - With Love
• Ink: Versa Color - Burgundy and Green Tea; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Patterned Paper: Hot Off The Press - Cardmaker's Ultimate Pack (Floral)
• ProMarker: Antique Pink
• Die: Stampin' Up Edgelits - Adorning Accents

I wasn't sure I liked this card as it was evolving but I'm really pleased with the finished result.  It made a nice change to try something new :)

That's all for now, I'll shortly be off to grab some ZZZs

Night all

Birthday Cupcakes

Hi there

No challenge entry today, just dropping by to share a card I made for a friend's birthday.

 

 

I decided to use a stamp I bought from the £1 range at Hobbycraft.  There are some lovely designs and I have a few in my collection but I do have a problem stamping with them.  Whether I use pigment or dye ink the ink doesn't seem to stay on the stamp, it seems to disperse/bead on the surface of the stamp.  I tried stamping on some scrap card first but didn't succeed which is why I went with another option which was to use VersaMark ink and emboss with silver embossing powder.  The VersaMark ink is a lot tackier so covered the surface of the stamp much better.

 

I really want to use some of these stamps I have in my stash so any advice about how to resolve this problem would be gratefully received!  

Materials used:

• Stamps: Hobbycraft - Cupcake Stand; Penny Black - Salutations; Clearly Besotted Stamps - Basic Stripes
• Ink: Versa Color - Baby Blue; Versafine - Onyx Black; VersaMark
• Embossing Powder: Rubber Stampede - Silver
• Coloured with Promarkers
• Cardstock from stash

Thanks for popping by, see you very soon

Clearly Besotted Challenge #6 - Christmas

Hi there

First of all, please accept my apologies for being missing in blogland this week, I've not managed to find any time to craft since last weekend so have had no cards to share with you.

However, I've finally found time to have a little tidy up of my crafty mess (something I had to do before I could even consider making anything new!) and I'm now ready to share a card I've just made for the latest challenge at Clearly Besotted Stamps, and the theme this time is 'Christmas'.  The latest release included some wonderful Christmas stamp sets and I treated myself, so here's my card...

 

 

A friend of mine recently held a Stampin' Up make and take party so I treated myself to some new patterned paper.  I used the colours in one of the sheets of designer paper as my basis for this card and continued to stamp my design using similar colours.  The white cardstock panel and the 'buttons' were popped up on 3D foam to add dimension.

 

Materials used:

• Stamps & Die: Clearly Besotted Stamps - In Stitches: Christmas
• Ink: Versa Color - Mint, Winter Green and Sky Gray
• Patterned Paper: Stampin' Up - Winter Frost Designer Series Paper Stack

 

Thanks for popping by, hopefully I'll be able to find more time for crafting this week and be back a lot sooner!

 

I hope you've had a lovely weekend, see you soon.

 



One Layer Thank You

Hi guys

After a lazy morning followed by cooking the Sunday roast I decided to spend some time crafting this afternoon.

There are three current challenges I've spotted today, all requesting One Layer Cards:

Less is More - One Layer Card: Thank you
CAS on Sunday - One Layer Wonder
My Time to Craft - One Layer or Less

*Update - thanks to Nancy I'm also entering this card into the technique challenge at Just Us Girls which is to create a background of words :)

I decided to have a go at creating a word background.  Only yesterday I watched a video tutorial by the awesome Jennifer McGuire and had this technique in mind when I created my card.  Jennifer is a-ma-zing, its well worth a visit to her blog if you haven't yet discovered her talents.

I raided my clear stamp stash and grabbed any 'thank you' stamps I could find and then used a square die as my guide and organised the stamps upside down within the square.  This is a lot more difficult than it looks!  Once sorted I transferred them onto my stamp press to keep the stamps in position.

I then used my square die with my embossing mat to create an embossed square on my card base, without cutting through.  I then stamped the various thank you images in four different ink colours.

I'm not entirely happy with the layout but not bad for a first attempt!  With so many different fonts, some having scroll details, it was quite a task to find a layout that worked so what looks like a simple card actually took a while to create.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Clearly Besotted Stamps - Butterfly Wishes, Butterfly Wishes Additions, Honecomb; Woodware - Salutations; BoBunny - Sentiments Stamp; Marion Emberson Designs - It's all in the Words; Penny Black - Salutations; Wild Rose Studio - Everyday Greetings; Hot Off The Press (name of set unknown)
• Ink: Versa Color - Magenta, Turquoise, Violet and Split Pea
• Die: Xcut - Nested Squares

I think I need a few more attempts at this technique but I'm really happy with the embossed square frame, great for adding interest to one layer cards.

Thanks for popping by and I hope to see you again very soon.

Stitched Let It Snow

Hi there

I'm here this morning to share a card I've made for the latest challenge at Muse, and this week we are basing our creations on a lovely card made by the super talented Laurie Willison.

When I saw Laurie's card, the '&' reminded me of a snowman wearing a scarf so that's the direction I headed in.  I kept the layout and colour scheme almost the same.

 

 



I wanted to use one of my new stamp sets from this month's release at Clearly Besotted Stamps called 'In Stitches: Christmas'.  The cute snowman and sentiment are both from this set.  I masked off the bottom of the card and used a stripes stamp to create the diagonal base.  I then stamped a row of stitches which I have in another set of stamps, to continue the theme.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Clearly Besotted Stamps - In Stitches: Christmas and Basic Stripes; Hot Off The Press - Stamped Stitches
• Ink: Versa Color - Green Tea, Charcoal, Sky Gray and Scarlet

Here is Laurie's beautiful card...

That's all from me at the mo, I'm off now to do some very neglected and overdue housework!  Thanks for popping by and have a happy Saturday.

 

Snowscape

Hi there

A bit of a late one tonight but I wanted to share a card I've made for the latest challenge at The Paper Players where the theme is 'Wildlife'.  The challenge ends tomorrow and I wanted to catch the deadline.

I bought the stamp I've used here earlier in the year and as I haven't really made many Christmas cards this year I had completely forgotten I had it.  Its a wood mounted rubber stamp and I love how much variation in detail it has, when stamped in just one colour.

 

I simply covered the base card with some blue jacquard paper.  I stamped the image on some white cardstock and cut it down before adding a ribbon tag and popping it up on 3D foam.  I finished with a few touches of Stickles glitter glue.

Materials used:

• Stamp: Penny Black - Snowscape
• Ink: Versa Color - Atlantic
• Glitter Glue: Stickles - Star Dust
• Cardstock, paper and ribbon from stash

Off to bed now, I hope to see you again soon :)

Wishing You Luck

Hi there

This is my second post today and I'm just popping by this afternoon to share a card I've made for a very good friend and work colleague who is leaving Torbay for pastures new.

Hollie, we're going to miss you heaps but I know you'll be back down to see us in no time - Good Luck my lovely friend :) xxx

She loves clean and simple cards, she loves pink, she loves butterflies and she loves bling...so I combined all that and came up with this...

 

 

Materials used:

• Stamps: Clearly Besotted Stamps - Building Blocks II, Leafy Accents and Butterfly Wishes (and co-ordinating die); Personal Impressions - Mix and Match
• Ink: Versa Color - Sky Gray, Orchid and Green Tea; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Bling from stash

 

Challenge entry:

 

Addicted to Stamps and More #69 - Clean and Simple

 

 



Thanks for visiting and thank you for all your lovely comments, I'm still amazed by all the positive feedback!

 

TTFN

 

 

Masculine Stitches & Hexagons

Good morning crafters

I'm not usually here in the morning on a weekday but it's my boyfriend's birthday today so we've taken the day off.  I woke up early and as he's still in the land of nod I thought I'd share the card I made for him.

I really struggle with masculine cards and don't having much in my stash in the way of stamps so I decided to just use masculine colours and some die cuts.  I wasn't happy with this at all until I finally stuck everything in position and now I actually really like it.

 

I cut out the heart and hexagons from some coloured cardstock, not really knowing what to do with them at this stage.  I used a stitched line stamp to frame the white cardstock, which was then adhered to some charcoal grey cardstock.  It was then just a case of arranging everything until I found a layout I liked.  I stamped the sentiment and added some dew drops to finish.

Materials used:

• Coloured Cardstock: Papermania Premium Textured Cardstock
• Dies: Clearly Besotted Stamps - Love Hearts and Honeycomb
• Stamps: Clearly Besotted Stamps - Love Hearts; Hot Off The Press - Stamped Stitches; Personal Impressions - To My...(Sue Dix)
• Ink: Versa Color - Charcoal and Pinecone

I'm entering this card into the following challenges:

Daring Cardmakers - November Colour Combination

Moving Along With The Times - No (Design or Digital) Papers


That's all from me today, I've no idea what we're up to today but a good start would be to go and wake him up! :)

Take care and have a happy Tuesday.