2016!!!

Hi Bloggers
Okay, so don't faint...  I received a phone call yesterday from an old friend (Hi Claire) who thought she'd get in touch to find out why I hadn't blogged for a while. Maybe she suspected I was dead or something, as it has been a looooooooooong time since we were last in touch, but it was nice to hear I was missed so I thought I'd post something just in case anyone else (who isn't following me on Facebook and Instagram) was wondering the same thing???

So, I know it has been a while since my last post, that was in June 2015.  I went off to Australia to visit my rellies and while I was over there, Michelle (my cousin) announced that she was getting married to her long-time partner Mitch, in November 2015, so I just had to go back again so that I could be one of her bridesmaids.  It was a fantastic event and I was a very lucky girl to get to go over there twice.

Anyway, it is now the beginning of February 2016.  Since November, last year, I have had so much to do, it has been busy, busy, busy - with one thing or another. So I really didn't have much time for blogging. I'd like to show you all the cards I made after my return to England in December, but sadly that would take too long, and quite frankly, if there is anyone out there still following me, to be honest, I wouldn't want to bore you to death. So, for now, I am just going to blog this years' cards.  So here are a few I have made so far this year. Hope you like them, and thank you for your patience.

My good friend, Mike Murphy, has been ordering cards from me for the past 11 years now.  He is a teacher of upper school students, and every year, when term begins, he goes through his register, finds out when everyone's birthdays are, and writes them down for me (as all his students will be turning 18 or 19), he then sends me a copy of the list and I make all of his students and 18th or 19th birthday card.

Generally, they are all 18th birthdays, which is why you'll find there are quite a few in the 18th Birthday tag section.  Here's one I made a couple of weeks ago for his first student on the list.

The Image is from Stamping Bella and all my images are coloured using Copic Ciao markers and sometimes, a little Prismacolour too for added depth.

Another of his orders, was for a young lady, the following day. So I put together this one for her. Mike said she was quite a flamboyant young lady, with a zest for life, so I really liked putting this one together for her.

Another Stamping Bella image (I'm really into Stamping Bella at the moment - got quite a few for Christmas AND I managed to also spend a small fortune on just a few!!! Naughty!!).

Again, coloured with Copic Ciao markers and just used a little Prismacolour pencil, blended with Sansodor for the shading so she didn't look too 'flat' on the plain white background.

Added a few embellishments and a big old '18' on the front and I was really happy with the finished result.

This lovely image by Stamping Bella, happens to be my favourite at the moment. My Beagle, Ruby, bought it for me for Christmas, and I love it. She's just too cute (the image that is, not my dog - although she is rather, if I'm honest!)

Decided to go a bit girlie on this one, and, as you can see, one of the few 19th Birthday cards requested.

Kept it really simple with just a few embellishments and a sentiment, plus of course a '19' in the corner.

This young lady likes the 'old fashioned' way of communicating and Mike says she is always writing letters to overseas PenPals etc, so I thought I would use this image and call it 'Snail Mail'... Cute huh?

I decided to enter THIS card into the Passion for Promarkers Challenge, as this weeks theme is 'Show us your favourites' - well, this little beauty is definitely my favourite stamp at the moment (for the reasons above).  The challenge blog can be found here, if you'd like to enter your own little favourite something.  Good luck!

Anyway, that's all for now, otherwise this is going to be one heck of a long post.  I do have a few more cards to share with you, but I will add those to an additional post.

Hope you like the cards I have shared with you so far, and thank you for taking the time to visit, as always.

Much love

Pretty in Pink

This card is a belated 18th for URSULA.  Another fab Kenny K Digi Image (I just love these girls, although I do have a fella too, I just hven't put one on a card yet because everytime I print one out, Lewis colours him in!!!).

This image was perfect for Ursula, iPod included etc and I kept the colours quite neutral as she is a genteel girl and very pretty. The bold colours in the DP was enough colour for this card I thought and therefore I think the image stands out all the more.

Coloured with promarkers: blush, ivory, cinnamon, cocoa, denim blue, blossom, ice grey 1 and cool grey 3. Simples!

Added just a few flat paper flowers by Petaloo and a couple of gems. Hope you like her?

Thanks for stopping by
Hugs, Fae xxx

Bad Babe

Here's a little number that I created for a colleague at work to give to Katie for her 18th.  I just love these Kenny K digi stamps. This is such an easy one to colour and I really enjoy using all of these images.  I used some scrap DP from my stash. I printed the image and, after colouring her, mounted the image onto black mirri card. I then mounted the lettering to match and stuck it all down.

I used ProMarker pens; blush, bashful, denim blue, black, pastel yellow and canary.

The letters below the image were my freehand, vain attempt at grafitti. I think they're okay. The adhesive numbers are from Tesco.

Thank you for stopping by
Hugs, Fae xxx

18th 4 Paige

This is another of the 18th cards. This one was for Paige. The images were sent to me from my friend Linda (US), for which I am grateful. She loves Penny Black images so I just sent her a batch - hope to see them soon Lindy. I added some flowers and the letters were cut using my Big Shot.

18th 4 Mel

This is one of the 18th birthday cards I get asked to make from time to time. They are given to the pupils at my school by one of the RE teachers, he's really thoughtful like that and makes sure that no-one gets left out. As they all have a personal message inside from him, I always like to make sure that each card has the individuals name on the front too.

Unfortunately, he won't be teaching Sixth Form next Academic Year so this batch are the last of them. Boo Hoo!

Silly About You

This lovely little fella is from Penny Black and is called 'Absolutely Silly About You' another purchase from the Glitter Pot. I kept it really simple by just colouring in the tie and then mounting it onto coordinating cardstock and then re-mounting it onto a blue glitter adhesive sheet. Letters were made using the Big Shot.

Dog and Bone

Another stamp from the Wild Rose Studios collection (also purchased at the Glitter Pot... I really must stop going there). This one is called 'Dog with Bone'.

As you can see, the Big Shot is definitely being used a lot.

Louis with Flowers

Guess who's been using her Big Shot??? After using one of the girls Big Shot's at the Glitter Pot recently I just had to have one myself. She couldn't believe that I cut all my letters previously out by hand and sometimes layered them and cut them out again. She said that this would cut my card making time in half and she wasn't wrong. At the school where I work, one of the teachers very kindly sends his students a birthday card on their 18th birthday and he asks me to make them. I have always personalised them with their names to add some individuality to each card. The Big Shot is definitely going to make my life much easier from now on... The stamp is one of my purchases from the Glitter Pot, Louis with Flowers.

One for the Boys...

Another 18th birthday card for another lucky lad. Hope he likes it??? I really like this stamped image (again courtesy of a friend who stamped a selection for me because I couldn't make up my mind which ones to buy - I'm definitely buying this one, hopefully when I visit the Glitter Pot in June).

I just love him all done up in his leather and jeans, a definitely Jimmy Dean card (and who doesn't love James Dean???)

A little birdie told me...

This is a card I made for another 18 year old...so many! I love this Whipper Snapper image so much i decided to use him again. Coloured in pretty much the same way as before, watercolour pencils (without any water) added some wrapping paper in the background and three papermania flowers. Used the new stamps that Sarn was kind enough to get for me for the 'Happy Birthday' wording (they're part of a set from Woodware). Handwrote the 18 on the top right and bottom left of the card as I've run out of 1's on my Anita's sticker sheet! I feel another trip to the local Craft Store coming on... ooooerr! That could be trouble.

Lovely Bubbly

Lovely Bubbly is another stamp by Penny Black's Margaret Sherry Collection. I love her cats (as you've probably already guessed). Don't make many cards with this one though, tend to keep it for special birthdays and anniversaries. The background paper is recycled from a old birthday card and mounted onto green paper to sort of match the cardstock. Added a couple of PaperMania flowers, a few lengths of ribbon and added an 's' brad as the recipients name is Sinead. I was going to decoupage it so that the bottle stood out but I didn't have a lot of time as it had to be posted today. I hope she likes it?

EIGHTEEN again...

I made this card for Katherine's 18th, again with Sarn's image that she kindly sent me. Decided to go for bright colours this time, yellows and golds and of course....orange! The little brads on the flower are a 1 and an 8. Watercolour pencils, no water and added a scalloped circle for the birthday greeting. Cut the K out myself and bordered it on gold metallic card.

Psychocolate

Another 18th, another card. Penny Black's 'Sweet Slumber', coloured with watercolour pencils...yes, I actually used water this time. Giant 'C' cut out as before (her name is Clare), Psychodelic background paper by ProvoCraft, all mounted onto Lilac base card. Added '1' lilac flower although it looks darker than lilac here and added white ribbon with lilac spots, from local market.