Sketch Saturday- Girlfriends and some BIG news!

Hello my crafty friends! 

Today I have a bit of personal news to share with you! From the end of this month I am going to be taking a little break from crafting but for a very good reason!!! On Monday, I will be 34 weeks pregnant (yes, I kept that quiet didn't I?!!) We are expecting our very own little bundle of joy in November!!! 

However, I have been beavering away with cards and have plenty in the bank for which I will be scheduling lots of posts so that way you won't miss me!! Though I am taking a break from MMCS, I do have Sketch Saturday cards scheduled til the end of the year and some additional cards too which I will be doing scheduled posts for.

Onto the crafting...I've got a fabbie stamp to show you today for Sketch Saturday...

This fabulous stamp is one of the Art Impressions Girlfriends range- perfect for ladies of a certain age! I've made a couple of cards for my Mum to give to her friends and she loves these images. I've coloured them with copics and paper pieced their swimming costumes. These papers are Pebbles Seen and Noted. Finished off with a Paper Smooches sentiment and some nailheads and ribbon.

Your close up!

Jen's sketch!

This week's sponsors are Wings and Willows- thanks guys! 

Crafty stash used: Stamps (Art Impressions, Paper Smooches); Copics; Assorted cardstock; Papers (Pebbles); Ribbon; Nailheads

Lili of the Valley Challenge & Truly Scrumptious Challenge

The challenge over at Lili of the Valley this week is Easter. I had a couple more Easter cards to make so I just thought I'd include them both under this challenge. This card is from the cutie Elzybells sheep set. I coloured with watercolour pencils, cut out with scalloped rectangle nesties, added some doodling and mounted on pink card. I can't remember where the paper is from. Ribbons are from Joanna Sheen and Laura Ashley.

Crafty stash used: Stamp (Elzybells); Watercolour pencils; Assorted cardstock; Paper (?); Black fine liner; Nesties; Flower & brad (Poppicrafts); Ribbons (Joanna Sheen & Laura Ashley)

This is my other card for the LOTV challenge. I used this gorgeous Penny Black stamp again coloured with watercolour pencils, cut out with nesties, doodled and doubled mounted on cardstock. Papers are from Papermania. Sentiment is Pink Petticoat.

Crafty stash used: Stamp (Penny Black); Watercolour pencils; Assorted cardstock; Paper (Papermania); Black fine liner; Nesties; Sentiment (Pink Petticoat); Flowers (Ebay & Poppicrafts); Brad (Woodware)

My final Easter card is for the Truly Scrumptious Challenge. It's very late, I did it in plenty of time and then forgot to post it! Anyway here is the sketch.

And here's my take on it. I used these lovely Art Impression watercolour stamps again with a mixture of watercolour pencils, ink pads and brush markers. Image and background shapes cut out with nesties. All papers are by Laura Ashley as are the ribbons. The sentiment is Pink Petticoat.

Crafty stash used: Stamp (Art Impressions); Watercolour pencils; Ink pads; Brush markers; Assorted cardstock; Papers (Laura Ashley); Nesties; Ribbons (Laura Ashley); Sentiment (Pink Petticoat)

Sketch Saturday and Penny Black Saturday Challenges

Here is another Easter card, a card for my sister's friend which I've based around Sketch Saturdays sketch for this week. I really enjoyed doing this sketch as it was quite simple but really effective.

So here is my card. I used a stamp from the Elzybells sheep clear set, coloured in with watercolour pencils and mounted on assorted cardstock. All the paper is from Making Memories. I really like these colours together.

Crafty stash used: Stamp (Elzybells); Watercolour pencils; Paper (Making Memories); Sentiment (Pink Petticoat); Ribbon (won, think it's Making Memories); Flower & brad (Poppicrafts); Assorted cardstock, Gems (Lakeland)

Hi everyone, I hope you're having a lovely weekend. Today's theme across at Penny Black is "Easter". As you know, I'm still desperately trying to get my Easter cards finished so I thought I'd do fairly simple designs for the remainder. As you can see I'm getting the most out of this gorgeous PB flower stamp I bought last weekend!!! I coloured in with watercolour pencils and cut out with rectangle scalloped nesties and mounted on assorted cardstock. The papers are from a Papermania kit. I added a Sizzix swirl cut in half and a flower with a sentiment from Pink Petticoat.

Crafty stash used: Stamp (Penny Black); Watercolour pencils; Paper (Papermania); Assorted cardstock; Flower (Poppicrafts); Sentiment (Pink Petticoat); Nesties; Swirl (Sizzix)

The second challenge is over at A Spoon Full of Sugar and this wonderful sketch by Lim, I really enjoyed doing it! I'm still trying to get through all my Easter card orders so this is another one using that gorgeous Penny Black stamp I bought at the weekend.

So here is my entry. The stamp is Penny Black coloured with watercolour pencils and highlights added with Crystal Stickles and cut out with nesties. The papers are all Cosmo Cricket bought at the weekend and mounted on assorted cardstock. I punched out flowers using a medium flower punch and added little gems. The sentiment is Pink Petticoat.

The 3rd challenge for today is a sketch over at Sketch and Stash Challenge where you can add sentiments and embellishments where you like. I thought I'd go for a different kind of look and experiment with my new stamps.

So here is my take on the sketch. I'm using my new watercolour stamps I bought at the weekend where you create your own image basically. The stamps are meant to be accompanied by a DVD but I thought "I don't need that!" Turns out it does need a bit of practice and I think there's alot of room for improvement!!! I tried a couple of techniques but ended up using brush markers on the stamp and then spritzed with water and watercolour pencils. I think it turned out OKish. Papers are by Laura Ashley and Papermania, cut out with nesties and mounted on assorted cardstock. Sentiment is Pink Petticoat.

Crafty stash used: Stamp (Art Impressions); Brush markers; Watercolour pencils; Ink pads; Paper (Laura Ashley & Papermania); Nesties; Assorted cardstock; Sentiment (Pink Petticoat); Ribbons (Laura Ashley); Flowers (Ebay); Tiny gems (Joanna Sheen)

Have a great weekend. My sis and I are taking my Mum to see Lionel Richie on Sunday so we hope we'll be able to enjoy ourselves though suspect there will be alot of tears as his songs always tug at the heart a bit x