Can YOU help a cyber-Buddy?

You may or may not know Karen (Krafty Karens) who makes simply divine cards. Karen became one of my cyber-Buddies through the Crafter's Companion Forum and whilst I knew Karen had health problems, it has only been in the last few weeks that I have been aware how much they impact on her everyday life ... things you and I probably take for granted. One of the things that has kept Karen going through this is her card making (and how she produces such inspirational cards I will never ever know) and, more lately, designing new card kits.

How can you help?

1. Please, please, please follow this link to Wendy's Blog (Wendy is another CC Buddy), read the whole post
2. Then go over to Paper Creator Exclusives which are Karen's 5 UK designs AND/OR go to Paper Craft Kits Exclusives which are Karen's US designs. Karen receives a payment for each sale, so this is something tangible which we crafters can do to help a fellow crafter in need.

Whatever you can do to help will, I can assure you, be very gratefully received as Karen seeks private medical treatment to combat her constant pain.

Thank you for taking the time to read this, thank you in anticipation of your purchases to help Karen's "Consultant Fund" and please keep Karen in your thoughts and prayers at this time.

xxxxxxxxx

Boy's Toys!

Hi,

Now I'm back from my holiday, I've had to turn my attention to a card for my Nephew's birthday ... today!

This great card is called Boys Will Be Boys, and it is one of the 30 kits in the £5 Summer Grab Bag, still available from Paper Creator. It's a Pop Out Stepper Card and, despite this being the first time I've made a stepper card, was very easy to put together thanks to the instructions provided. The set also includes a backing paper and envelope.

Depth is added to the card with the use of decoupage layers ... and this time, I did remember to use sticky pads to raise the layers! LOL :o) !!!!! The stars are only raised by 1 layer, the sentiment tag "Boys Will Be Boys" is raised by 2 layers and the central image of skateboard and handcart is raised by 4 layers, although I've only used 2.

I would like to enter this card for the following challenges:

• Challenge 48 "Masculine Card" at Top Tip Tuesday
• Challenge #5 "Red and Blue" at Paper Creators Crafts

Hope you like it!

Wow!!! I'm a Blog Hop Winner

Last weekend I participated in the Stamp Fairy Blog Hop in celebration of Gerda's Birthday. All her DT Fairies had made cards for the celebrations, each with different themes. For those who left comments on the DTs' Blogs, and a birthday wish for Gerda, was the chance of winning the Digi Stamp that was used on that particular blog.

The lovely Karen chose me to win her stamp and you can find her stunning card here.

Thanks Karen - I can't wait to start playing with my new stamp, oh and my new speccies!

:o)

Out of disaster came ...

Well actually, this lovely card.

This card should have been the Patchwork Flower Pop Out Stepper Card from the Summer Grab Bag from those Crafty Gals over at Paper Creator. However, following a card/printer malfunction (I've discovered that my printer now doesn't like printing the final 5cm of 290gsm white card :o(, so I'm going to have to find another base card to print on) I had to change it to something else! However, all was not lost as I had printed the decoupage layers onto a very lightweight card, and the pop out part of the stepper card had printed OK as well.

I decided to use the central part of the stepper (the base of the flower) as a layer on my card and mounted this onto a square card base made from Blackcurrant card from Centura Pearl Darks pack from Crafter's Companion. This pack just has to be my absolute fave at the mo! :o) As you can see from the picture on the right, I then mounted 2 layers of decoupage petals on the top, and pulled these forward a bit to give some depth to the card.

The sentiment also came from the same Pop Out Stepper Card, and needed to be tweaked slightly in size so it would fit onto my card.

I would like to enter this card for the following challenge:

• Say It With Flowers at Paper Creator's Blog

A Floral Thank You Card

Hi,
This is the third card I made last week to say Thank You to my childrens' teachers!

If you have been reading my earlier posts, you'll know that a few weeks ago I bought a bumper pack of cards from Paper Creator. This card is Just Flowers 1 from the Summer Grab Bag. As you can see from the photo on the right, this is a pyramage kit, although I don't think I have done justice to the pyramage 'cos I forgot to use sticky pads to raise each level ... lol!

The base card is Regal Blue Centura Pearl from Crafter's Companion, which I cut and folded to a 6" square card (with the fold at the top) using my trusty Ultimate Pro. The pale blue layer and darker blue backing paper came with the kit and the main picture has a dark blue surround, although I cut this off. There are 4 layers of pyramage circles to build up the design.

I completed my card by using a floral Thank You stamp on the front of it.

I would like to enter this card for the following challenge (and I hope I'm not cheating in that I made the card last week, but didn't have time to do a blog post about it until now!):

• All About Flowers at Paper Creator's Crafts