The second March Birthday card..

As I said in my last post March is Birthday month here with Ian and my Brother Gary with birthdays one day apart.  So, as promised here is the card that I sent to my little Bro this year..

I used my craft CD Happy Happy Birthday for this card.  The backing paper is from the Blow Out The Candles collection so the digital stamp I used was appropriate!  Once again I was short on time so I used the coloured version of the digital stamp of the candles and added the Happy Birthday sentiment digital stamp underneath.  It's so easy to resize all the digital stamps in the workspace on the Papercraft Factory CDs to make sure they all line up and are the exact size that you want to fit on your card.  I just added some simple line doodling around the edge of the card and the topper using a black Sakura glaze pen to finish it off and it was ready for the post box just in time!!

Before I leave you again, just another reminder that the Get Funky Challenge for March which is 'Celebrating Spring' is still open.  Pop over and see what the Funky Hand Design Team have been making and leave them a few comments..we love to hear from you!  Then why not join in to have a chance to win any Funky Hand download collection that you fancy.  There's a Funky Freebie backing paper on my website www.funkyhand.com to get you going if you don't have any Funky Hand stash to use just yet.  Go on, have a go,  remember you have to be in it to win it!

Speak again very soon.
Anice xx

March is a birthday month around here!

The end of March is a busy card making time in the Garden Studio as Ian and my Brother Gary have birthdays one day apart.  I thought I would share the card that I made, rather quickly I'm ashamed to say, for Ians birthday on the 26th.

I made it using my craft CD Happy Happy Birthday.  I printed the backing paper, from the Surprize Collection, and images and sentiment directly onto a piece of A4 card and created this A5 card.  I used the coloured versions of the digital stamps of the computer and the numbers 41, which I layered on the screen of the computer image.  Once I'd printed it all off I added a bit of extra colour to the computer keyboard using a silver Sakura pen and added yellow Sakura glaze pen to the number one and more glitter to the number 4 stars!

To finish it off I used a couple of brads that you can attach ribbon etc onto and threaded some simple twine through them and tied a knot at the front. 

It's a simple and quick to make card but, it still was personalised just for Ian.  He liked it as it has a computer on it and of course he's a computer geek!

Before I go I wanted to remind you that the Get Funky Challenge is still in full swing so get yourselves over to the blog and take a look at the really fab creations the Design Team have been making this month..then join in and have a chance to win a Funky Hand download collection of your choice.  Don't forget there's a Funky Freebie on my website www.funkyhand.com to get you started.

Another reason to grab the Funky Freebie this month is that is matches in with the papers that have just been released in my Spring Has Sprung download collection so an extra paper for that collection for free!  Be quick though as the freebie backing paper is only available until 14th April.

Speak again very soon.
Anice xx

Winner of the Spring Has Sprung BLOG HOP

Thank you to everyone who took the time to join in with the Blog Hop my Design Team and I held over the weekend.  We really appreciated all your lovely comments about the Spring Has Sprung download and the craft creations that we had made using it.  But less of the chat who has won? I hear you ask.  Well, here's a picture of the pile of correct answers all ready to be picked from..

 And.. 'drum roll'   the winner of a free copy of the new Funky Hand craft download Spring Has Sprung is..

That's Debbie Johns.  Congratulations Debbie!  Contact me through the 'contact us' page on my website www.funkyhand.com and I'll let you know how you can get your prize.
Just a little side line but Debbie entered the blog hop and commented on the Funky Hand Facebook page so it just shows that being involved with the Facebook page gives you extra chances to win!!

Talking of other things you could win the Get Funky Challenge Blog is still in full force so take a few mins and pop over there to see the fab creations the girls have been creating this month so far.  You have until 14th April to join in and maybe win a Funky Hand download collection of your choice.  Don't forget that there is always a Funky Freebie backing paper available on my website www.funkyhand.com each month to help you so go and grab that anyway!  This months Funky Freebie is a bit special as well as it matches the new download Spring Has Sprung so, really you'd be getting a free backing paper that goes with the new collection if you get them both in your basket! 

Speak again very soon.
Anice xx

Spring Has Sprung Download Released

 
Hello everyone!  Just a quicky message to let you know that the new Funky Hand papercraft download collection Spring Has Sprung is now available to purchase from our website www.funkyhand.com.  It's priced very reasonably at just £3.19 and we are in the middle of a Blog Hop to celebrate the release.  Take a look at my blog post http://funkyhand.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/quickblog-hop-to-join-in-with-here.html to see all the details of how join in with the Blog Hop and have a chance of winning the new Spring Has Sprung download.  But don't worry if you want to purchase Spring Has Spring today if you win the Blog Hop draw on Monday you can choose any of the other Funky Hand backing paper download collections that you would like as your prize.  So what have you got to loose? Get hopping and then get crafting!!

Enjoy your Sunday!
Anice xx

Quick..BLOG HOP to join in with here!

Hello and welcome to the latest Funky Hand Design Team Blog Hop. If it's your first time joining in with a hop don't worry because I'm going to explain what you need to do very clearly.

This Blog Hop is to give you a peek at what you can make with my latest backing paper craft download collection Spring Has Sprung which will be available for sale SUNDAY 25TH MARCH on my website www.funkyhand.com  If you join in with this weekends Blog Hop you will get the chance to win a fab Funky Hand prize.

Whats the prize? A FREE copy of the new download Spring Has Sprung.

OK, what do you need to do to have a chance to win the prize?

• Firstly you need to visit each of the Design Team blogs and take a look at the wonderful card or project that they have posted there. They will all have been created using the new download collection Spring Has Sprung. Each of the Blog posts will contain a link to the next Design Team members blog for you to visit or 'hop' to, so it's nice and easy to know where to go next.
• On each of the blog posts you will find a letter that the Design Team member will give to you. Note down the letter from each post. (I have a letter to get you started which you will find later in this post)
• Before you move onto the next Blog post remember to leave a message letting the Design Team member know that you have visited their blog on your hop around. It doesn't have to be a long message just say Hi and if you would like to, let them know what you think of their crafty creation. (This is really important as you need to leave a comment on each blog post or you wont be able to win the prize!) If you don't have a blog account of your own don't worry, you can still post a comment but it will come up as an Anonymous comment. Just remember to put your name in your written comment so we know it was you who has visited!
• Once you have visited all the blogs you will have EIGHT letters and the last Design Team members blog you visit will send you back to this blog post. Mix the letters around until your find an eight letter word. (Hint..it's something you might use when you are crafting)
• Once you have worked out the word all you need to do is put it in a comment here on my blog. Now, don't worry if you don't see your answer appear here straightaway as I will be monitoring all the comments so no one can copy your answer!!
• The Blog Hop will end at 9am (GMT) on Monday 26th March. After that time on Monday morning I will post all the answers that were added to the comments section here. I will check all the correct answers I received also left a comment on all the hop blogs.(See, I told you it was important to leave a comment on each blog!) Then I'll put all those names into a 'hat' and pull out a winner!
• I'll post pictures of me picking the winner out  it here on Tuesday afternoon so come back then to see if you are the winner!!
• There's one little extra..Are you a member of Facebook? If you are, then follow this link to our Funky Hand Page. http://www.facebook.com/funkyhand  You'll find a post there about this blog hop and an invitation for you to comment, if you leave a comment there as well..and get the answer right at the end.. you will be rewarded with having your name go twice into the 'hat' so double the chance of winning.  Whilst you are on our Funky Hand Facebook page don't forget to 'like' it as we plan on giving special exclusive offers on there which you'll miss otherwise. If you are not signed up to Facebook..you could take this chance to create yourself an account..it's a great place to chat with friends, family and crafty virual friends as well.  I couldn't live without it now!

Right enough of all the rules, here is the card that I have made to get the hop started,

This card was created using a backing paper and a digital topper from the Spring Has Sprung download collection.It's a simple spring themed card but I think it shows that if you don't have lots of time to make a card, like I didn't, you can still create something that the person receiving it will love!  Hopefully you can see that this new download collection is made up of lovely spring colours and each paper has an great texture to it.  The latest Funky Freebie over on my website www.funkyhand.com actually matches this download perfectly so don't miss out on that..it's only available until the 14th April when the latest Get Funky Challenge ends.  Perhaps you should have a go at joining in with the challenge this month as well as it is all about Celebrating Spring!


So what is the first letter of this Blog Hop to get you started?  My letter is 'R'

OK..now it's time for you to start hopping, pop over to see what Ruth has for you by clicking her name and visiting her blog. Remember to take a note of her letter and leave a comment.. See you back here in a while..enjoy your Funky Hop!!

Just incase you get lost, here is a list of all the Funky Hand Design Team member posts so you can look at them again if you need to:

Ruth
Kathy
Lou
Jenny
Debs
Allison
Jackie

Good luck..and have fun!
Anice xx

Mothers Day Part Two!

Even though it was Mothers day last weekend I am still getting around to sharing my Mothers day makes with you.  My last post showed you the card I made for my Mom, this time I'm going to share the card for Ian's Mum..

Everything for this card was printed from my craft CD ROM Craft The Year Away.  All the papers are from the Come What May Collection.

Once again it's a simple layered card as I was in a little bit of a hurry (oops!) but this one has a different feel and I wanted a more classy looking card. (Not that my Moms card means she's not classy she's just more crafty!)  The digital image is also from Craft The Year Away and I very simply coloured it using Promarkers..here's a closer look,

I just used colours that matched in with the spotted ribbon that I used on the card so that it all tied in together. She really liked it anyway so that is all that really matters in the end.

Before I go don't forget about popping over to the Funky Hand Design Teams Challenge Blog Get Funky this month and joining in with the 'Spring Celebrations' challenge.  There's a chance to win a Funky Hand download and don't forget as usual there is a new Funky Freebie backing paper available on my website www.funkyhand.com to help you get started!

Speak again very soon.
Anice xx

Mothers Day a little late Part One!

As I said in my last blog post I'm a bit behind with my blogging, which is because I'm working very hard on the next Funky Hand CD and time has just got away from me..  I'm sure you all know what that is like!!

Well, I'm also sure you all knew last Sunday was Mothers Day, well I actually did find some time to create cards for my Mom and Ian's Mum so I thought I would share them with you..but I've decided to just show you my Moms today and my next blog post will have Ian's Mums on it!

So, here is the card created for my Mom for Mothers Day 2012...

I know it's a pretty simple layered card but it had to go into the post and I needed it to get there in one piece.

My Mom was my inspiration to start crafting so I have so much to thank her for.  Not only for being a wonderful Mom all my life but also for pushing me to try something new in 2006 when I was diagnosed with MS and my whole life changed.  I didn't realise then how much it would change as, if I hadn't had that initial push from my Mom to try card making I would never have started designing my own backing papers and Funky Hand would never have been born!  So, thanks Mom you are the best!

For this card I used my craft CD ROM Craft The Year Away for the base card which I printed straight onto the A4 card and scored and folded it into an A5 card base.  The collection used is the April Fool Collection.  The MOM topper was created in the workspace of the CD using matching letters and then using the writer tool to write the sentiment and sizing it and adding them together to print.

The light brown paper covered with writing that the topper is layered over is from my Steam Funk download. which has turned out to be a very popular download.  If you haven't got it yet you must be one of the only ones!!

I wanted to just add a little something extra to the card but that wouldn't increase it's depth too much and so have a chance of being wrecked by the post office!  So a little something has to be ribbon doesn't it?  I tied a piece of 5mm brown ribbon around the Steam Funk printed card knotted it and added a pin with a heart header..

So there you go, a simple but I think effective Mothers Day card combining two different Funky Hand products.

Before I go I have to tell you my little story about getting my Mom flowers delivered for Mothers day.  As you can tell I was running behind on everything so I left it a little late ordering flowers.  None of the big websites could deliver what I wanted..though they let me go through right to paying before saying they couldn't deliver..grrrr ( Hard stare for the bad programming skills, or lack of them, of the web developers on those sites ) Anyway so I went onto trusty Google and found a florist local to my parents.  I rang them and organised a bouquet to be delivered to Mom on Saturday.  I told them what I wanted written on the message card and as they spoke with the same accent as me..I was sure they had understood.  Unfortunately I was mistaken as my Mom received beautiful flowers from ALICE..she guessed it was me as she only has one daughter.  I say it's her fault for giving me a silly name!!

Hope you all had lovely Mothers Days, if you have children or were able to make fabby cards for your Mom.

Be back soon with another Mothers Day card sample!
Anice xx

New Get Funky Challenge has started...

I'm a little behind with my blogging..you may have noticed!  On the funky 15th March Kathy started us off with a fab new Get Funky Challenge with the challenge of 'Spring Celebrations' with this wonderful creation..

Now you really need to go over to the challenge blog to see how she made this card.  There is a really great tutorial about how to create the wonderful paper frill you can see at the bottom of the card. 

The Get Funky Challenge is really easy to enter just follow the challenge set, which this month is great as it's anything goes really as long as it has a Spring theme. The only other rule we have is that you need to use at least ONE Funky Hand backing paper or other product.  Now, no need to worry if you haven't got any Funky Hand products yet, you can still join in as I add a Funky Freebie (a craft backing paper) onto my website www.funkyhand.com every month that is available completely FREE for everyone to download.  I change the freebie every month so that the paper is appropriate for that months Get Funky Challenge.

So for a chance to win your choice of any Funky Hand download join in with us.  We are really looking forward to seeing your challenge entries.

Speak again very soon, when I have caught up!
Anice xx

Have you joined in with Fetch A Sketch?

It's a perfectly reasonable question...if you have seen this months Fetch a Sketch Blog Challenge ! This is challenge 19 and I'm proud to tell you that Funky Hand is one of the sponsors.  I decided to have a go at the sketch as well so see below for my effort..

This card was created using three brown Prima flowers with brown buttons as their centres and then two different papers from the recently released Funky Hand Steam Funk Download collection. If it to download on our website www.funkyhand.com

The Fetch A Sketch challenge blog is a really fun challenge blog and it's run by two of my best girls Ruth and Jenny from my Design Team so if that's not a good enough reason to visit them and join in, then you should see the great prizes they have available..you'll have to go over to take a look I'm not telling you anything more!  Go on, what are you waiting for??

Speak again very soon.
Anice xx 

You can never go wrong with flowers!

I thought I'd share this card I made a couple of weekends ago...

As I said in my post title you can never go wrong with flowers.  The card topper was created by using a clear stamp from one of our Funky Hand 'Our Betty' clear stamp sets.  This stamp is from the Your Special Day set.  I coloured it using Letreset Promarkers and then layered it onto some dark green paper that I then distressed around the edges using a craft file from the Basic Grey file set I have had for years.  I like distressing paper, it doesn't matter how it turns out, it's right..and it's very good for de-stressing yourself as well !!

The main green polka dot paper is from my craft CD ROM Happy Happy Birthday from the Winter Birthday collection.  I inked around the edge of it with black ink and glued it straight to the white 6" x 6" base card. As usual I had to do a little doodling and those are the rather uneven black dots along the left hand side of the green spotty paper!  I used a black Sakura glaze pen to create them.

Just to finish off I added three small dark green brads that I found in my stash.  I don't know why, but three brads, three buttons, three anything always seems the right amount..anyone else think that or is it just me?

This card could be used for anything, Mothers day, birthday, thank you..whatever you like I think.  All it would need is an appropriate sentiment added..so another one for my box of just incase cards!!

Speak again very soon
Anice xx 

Love You card..

I don't often get loads of time these days to craft and make cards so a couple of weekends ago when I was Hugo the dog free I crafted for all I was worth.

It's amazing how quickly you can forget how much you love messing with paper and glue.  Can you tell I really enjoyed playing?  That's the price I pay I suppose for running a craft design business..I don't get to craft as often as I'd like.  I'm creating the products and my lucky Design Team members get to do most of the playing. ( The next Funky Hand craft CD ROM is coming along nicely by the way..it should be available late April early May time)

Anyway less of my crafting woes!  Here's a card that I have been able to make.  I know it's a bit late for the old Valentine cards etc but I thought this card would be good for any sort of 'love' occasion..I'm keeping it safe so I can just add an appropriate sentiment should the right time arrive...

The topper image is from one of the Funky Hand 'Our Betty' clear stamp collections.  The Love 'n' That set.  I coloured her using promarker pens.  The heart backing paper is from my download I Heart You and so is the paper that I used to layer the stamped image. 

I wanted 'Betty' to stand off the card so I decided to set her to one side and add a simple red ribbon, tied in a knot to the other side to balance the card design. I cut the layer for Betty from more paper from the I Heart You download and glued it to the bottom paper first. Then I tied the ribbon around both of them.Both backing papers were printed onto card by the way. Once that was done I glued them both to the base card.
 
As soon as they dried I just added Betty to the layered section with foam pads so she stands up off the card. with the ribbon passing underneath her.

I hope you like the card as much as I enjoyed making it!
speak again very soon.
Anice xx

Get Funky Flying High Challenge

Well, if you can believe it another month has gone by, and it's my turn again to give you a bit of inspiration to join in with the Get Funky Challenge for this month. 

Allison has set us a challenge of making any card or other creation with a Flying High theme.  As always there is only one rule.  Use at least ONE Funky Hand product, a backing paper, digital stamp etc on your creation.  I make it easy every month by giving you a Funky Freebie backing paper so you can still join in if you don't have any Funky Hand products just yet.  You can follow the link or you will find it on my website www.funkyhand.com under the downloads section.

Right, here's my card..

If you would like to know more about how I made it then pop over to the Get Funky Blog where I have gone into alot more detail. I've used this months Funky Freebie backing paper and a paper from the I Heart You download collection.

So, a Funky Freebie paper and a chance of winning any Funky Hand download that you would like..why are you waiting join in with this months Get Funky challenge?  I'm looking forward to seeing your creations and visiting your blogs.

Speak again very soon
Anice xx