Crafty Cardmakers Spotlight - my 2nd post today!

Oh no - nearly forgot that today was Spotlight challenge day at Crafty Cardmakers and we have really fun challenge for you too!! 

This week our spotlight falls on Water and I chose water as my subject as well as part of the colouring method, I coloured the gorgeous Hannah Lynn digi image which I got especially for the challenge, from Crafts and Me, with a mix of Promarkers, Sakura gel pens and Twinkling H2Os,  I used Pearl outliner for her pearl necklace to give it a bit of dimension and spritzed the whole finished image with a mix of water and Blonde Moments Pearl Pigments which adds a shimmer difficult to see properly in the photographed card. I used Basic Grey backing paper and the stamped lobsters on the left are from Stampin Up.

This one is entered for:
Stampin' Sisters in Christ - Blue and green
Our Daily Bread Designs - The blues
Crafty Purple Frog  - Distressing
ABC Challenge  - “M” is for magical

Happy Monday

A new week is off to a bright start - in fact my card is so bright you might want to put on your sunglasses before checking it out! I have made it for the Sugar Bowl challenge, they really have fantastic prizes for their lucky winners so I just had to have a shot - Sugar Nellie stamps are a long term favourite of mine and Leanne Ellis has to be up there with my favourite artists, I really love all of her stamps and the most recent ones are definitely on my wish list at the mo! (really wish they were available in digi - more affordable and flexible). 

Anyways I followed the sketch above and here is my take, the gorgeous backing papers come from my new DCWV stack Cafe Mediterranean which which I bought with my Hobbycraft Christmas vouchers (thanks Owen x) along with the flowers and ribbon. The sentiment is Stampin Up.

These are the challenges I'm entering:
Sugar Bowl - Sketch
Let's Ink It Up - No digi and anything goes
Stamptacular Sunday - Whateva'!
Crafty Emma - Bold & bright
Totally Gorjuss - As you like it
Stampin For The Weekend - Getting warmed up
Crafty Sentiments - Your favourite things
Do You Stack Up? - Patterned paper
Pals Paper Arts - Bows

Love/Valentine's challenge at Creative Inspirations

This week's theme at Creative Inspirations is Valentines/Love and we are being sponsored by Quixotic Paperie and Di's Digi Downloads

For my DT card I used the wonderful Bella loves Bronte digi stamp from Mo Manning which I coloured with Promarkers. The backing papers are DCWV and I distressed the edges on the layered piece, scalloped the right hand edges and added some lace to accent the scallops. 

Sorry for the short post - I'm a tad hungover after a cocktail night at a friend's house - that last Strawberry Daiquiri was delicious but lethal!

 

Entering my card for the challenges at:

Craft Your Days Away - Love
Digi's With Attitude! - Include a digi person
Fairy Fun Fridays - For a sweetheart
Simply Create - Give your heart away
Charisma Cardz - Valentine/love
Crafty Purple Frog - Distressing
Delightful Challenges - Include a heart on your project
Meljens Designs - Create something with hearts
Little Red Wagon - Lace
Scrapbook Sisters - Add a little friend
Simon Says Stamp - Animal antics
Stampavie and More - Love

Butterfly Fairy

I have a brand new digi stamp hot off the press and soon to be available at Cardmadfairy's Creations to share with you today. Her name is Butterfly Fairy and I have coloured her up for the first time today using my Promarkers and adding a bit of sparkle with Sakura Stardust pens and a bit of Stickles round the hem of her dress and on her lovely wings. Hope you like her!

I'm entering the card for the following challenges:
Digi Doodle Shop's Best - Swirls
Paper Play - Layer it up
Rubber Cafe - Sparkle & glitter
ABC Challenge - “M” is for magical
Fab 'n' Funky - Use a digi
CES - Angels or fairies
Wags'n Whiskers - A Fairy Special Challenge!
Simply Create - Use your punches

Crafty Creations

Hello all, I'm back with another midweek challenge for Crafty Creations and this week our theme is Heat it up -  yes in the midst of winter we're thinking of  warmer weather! We want you to use heat embossing, warm colors, hot beverages, or hotter places to heat it up this week!

I have gone for a summery theme for my card with some gorgeous paper from K&Co Sparkly & Sweet, a shrink plastic butterfly (I had to Heat it up !),  die cut flowers (Sizzix) and lovely organza ribbon roses. I coloured the Tilda image with Promarkers and added some Stickles for a bit of sparkle & shine. My sentiment is from Stampin Up.

 

Also entering this for the challenges at:
Flourishes - add some hardware to your card
Promarker Challenge  - let it shine
Top Tip Tuesday - fabulous flowers
Kaboodle Doodles - Bling it up
Magical Mondays  - Flowers
Stamp Fairy - Circles
Magnolia Stamp Lovers  - Magnolia stamp and Being Sentimental
I love Promarkers - Lavendar & Lace 

Monkey Monday

Still working on the 4 monkeys (how many monkeys make a barrelful btw?) which Lynsey needs to collect tomorrow and only able to sneak onto the computer while Neil is off making some scrummy French Onion soup for lunch so only time for a hasty post today.

My card was inspired by the Stamptacular Sunday challenge Who said three's a crowd? which suggested 3 papers, 3 ribbons and 3 flowers. The papers are Making Memories, the flowers Petaloo and the ribbons are all from my stash and have been around for a while - especially the green bow which uses recycled ribbon from a very long since birthday present. Anyone for Anya wanted to see 2 images but didn't specify whether they both needed to be GF so I used a butterfly from an old set of clear stamps I found in a drawer and have never used before (the butterfly, not the set).

Entering the following:
Anyone for Anya - Use 2 images
Stamptacular Sunday - Who said three's a crowd?
Gingerloft - Things that fly
Crafty Pad - Girly
Corrosive Challenges - Reuse, reduce, recycle (Green bow)
Crazy Challenge - Dots & stripes
Sketchy Colors -  Sketch
Crafty Catz  - use a forgotten stamp (butterfly)
Paper Sundaes - Distressing
Our Creative Corner - choose any 3 colors that are next to each other on the color wheel
Stamp, Scrap & Doodle - Anything goes

Saturday crafting

Yey it's Saturday and the first one off work for a couple of weeks so I'm going to do some crafting. I have orders for four sock monkeys which I must try to get finished this weekend. So first a bit of sewing and then if I have time I'm going to colour up a couple of new images I have been working on for Cardmadfairy's Creations.

 

The Dormouse by Mo Manning is such a cute image and I'd coloured it up with no idea what I was going to use it for but then I saw the sketch at Stampavie & more and decided that it would work well with the image so put this card together. The backing papers are from a K&Co Recycled matt stack, the image was coloured with Promarkers and the little cupcake stamp is from Stampin Up.

The card also seems to fit the following challenges:

Delicious Doodles - Get well soon or cheer someone up
Fuzzy Wuzzy  - Animal, anything goes
Stamp Something - Cute somethings
AiFactory - Anything goes
Cute Card Thursday - Recipe 1-2-3 (3 papers, 2 brads, 1 button)
Pixie Dust Studio - Buttons
Fab 'n' Funky - Animal magic
Stampavie and More - Sketch
Tuesday Morning Sketches - Heavy metal
Crazy Challenge  - Buttons (2nd entry)
Die Cut Dreams  - Use a digi and a rubber stamp together
Karber Weekly - Digi stamp and ribbon
Scrappy Frogs  - Hey Cupcake

Blog candy on new challenge blog

My new challenge blog launches on Friday 4th of February over at Cardmadfairy's Digi Days and to celebrate I'm giving away candy which, as well as the items pictured, will include my brand new set of digi stamps which are all Love related. The new images are ready to be released alongside the launch of the new challenge. Go and check out the new blog now, become a follower and prepare to play along with me and the rest of the Cardmadfairy design team and don't forget to leave a comment if you'd like to win some candy.

It's a bird thing

It's a Bird Thing  is the new challenge today at Crafty Creations  -  your project needs to have a bird on it but must also include dots. I must confess that I as part of the design team I hadn't noticed the part about the dots and it really is a complete coincidence that I included a dotty backing paper on my card! The backing papers are Papermania, the bird, sentiment and border stamps are from PaperArtsy as is the bird shaped die. The flower stamp is from Stampin up and the flowers are a mix of Prima and Petaloo.
The sponsor for this week's challenge is Whoopsi Daisy Designs check them out they have a digi freebie available today.

Entering my card for these challenges:
My Time To Craft - Spots and dots
Creative Cowgirls  - Turquoise and black or brown
Etsy Inspired - Inspired by Modern Bird
Our Daily Bread Designs - Wings
Allsorts - Teal blue and brown 
Stamp, Scrap & Doodle - Anything goes
Craft Your Days Away  - Anything goes
Pile It On - Anything goes
Stamp Something - anything goes (using a rubber stamp)
Delicious Doodles - Use 3 colours (teal, brown and white)
Pear Tree Designs - Free for all

Blog Hop today

So today is our third birthday at Creative Inspirations and we are celebrating the occasion with a birthday blog hop, we have a fantastic selection of prizes from some wonderful Sponsors (listed below) who have been incredibly generous, as well as some random candy from DT members. To win one of the main prizes you must comment at each stage of the hop and collect a letter from every DT member, these letters when unscrambled form a phrase, at the end of the hop return to the Creative Inspirations challenge blog where there are instructions on what to do with the phrase. You can make a second entry to the prize draw by entering this week's challenge Celebrations.

You should have hopped here from Jude's blog but if not go back to the beginning at Corry's and start from there.

My Celebration card uses a digi image from Ann Bodil which I coloured with Promarkers, the backing papers are from Making Memories and the sentiment is by Woodware.
The letter you have to collect from me is Y and the next stop on the birthday hop is Suzi who celebrated her own birthday yesterday Happy Birthday Suzi!

Our fantastic sponsors have generously donated the following prizes

SIMON SAYS STAMP: A BAG OF CANDY
THE CRAFT BARN: 2 GORJUSS GIRL STAMPS
LETRASET: 1 PK PROMARKERS & 1 PK SELF ADHESIVE PRINTING FILM
DI'S DIGI DOWNLOADS: 5 DIGI DOWNLOADS OF YOUR CHOICE
LILI OF THE VALLEY: £10 VOUCHER TO SPEND IN SHOP
WHIFF OF JOY: 1 STAMP FROM SHOP
STITCHY BEAR STAMPS: $10 TO SPEND IN SHOP
QUIXOTIC PAPERIE: £10 VOUCHER FROM SHOP
FANTASTIC RIBBONS: 2 BAGS OF BUTTONS (150/BAG) FROM STORE
PRAIRIE FAIRY: 4 DIGIS
SENTIMENTS 4 YOU: $10 VOUCHER

and I will choose one comment at random to receive two of my own digi stamps which are available now at my new challenge blog:

 

I'm entering my card for the following challenges:
Craft Your Passion - Button up
Crazy Challenge  - Buttons
Karber Weekly - Digi stamp and Ribbon
Gingerloft  - Celebrations
 

Spotlight on Pencils

This week on Crafty Cardmakers the spotlight falls on Coloured Pencils - that's right you need to ditch the Promarkers & Copics for this one and dust down those poor forgotten pencils! Our sponsor this week is Derwent who have provided a fab set of 12 Inktense pencils for our lucky winner!

If you stop by my blog regularly you will know that since I discovered Promarkers I rarely use anything else to colour my images but I have coloured today's card using only pencils - the ones I used are my very much neglected Prismacolour set and I have blended them with the Prismacolour blender. I could do with a bit more practice with the pencils and haven't yet tried the current trend of using a mix of Promarkers and pencils but planning to try that out very soon!
The image is LOTV, the backing paper Dovecraft, sentiment Stampin Up and the flowers Petaloo.

Entering these challenges:
Catch The Bug - Birthday
Fairy Fun Fridays  - Happy birthday
Sew Many Cards - Birthday
Totally Papercrafts - Birthday
Sisterhood of Crafters - Birthday 
Dutch Dare - All stitched up

It's a Celebration

This week is a run up to our Birthday Celebrations  at Creative Inspirations and we have lots going on. On Tuesday 18th please pop back for our birthday Blog hop running from 18th - 25th Jan.

There will be a variety of sponsors and one winner for each sponsor!  Please feel free to take the banner on the side bar to display on your blog as there will be a spot prize for one lucky winner who displays it over next 2 weeks! If you take part in the challenge as well as the blog hop you will get 2 entries for all those lovely prizes. Some of the DT have candy too so don't forget to leave them all a comment for your chance to win.

So don't forget pop back Tuesday 18th Jan to be in with a chance to be one of our 12 winners!

Today's challenge is of course all about Celebrations - a birthday or any other celebration will do. Our sponsors for this challenge are Mami Doodles and Sentiments 4 You.

For my DT card I have used one of the new Simply Adorable digi stamps from Sugar Nellie, her name is Verity and I think she is gorgeous! I coloured the image with Promarkers and used backing papers from K&Co. The sentiment is from Stampin Up and the flowers from Wild Orchid.

 

Also entering this for challenges below:

My Partner in Crafting Crime - Something New - image

Raise the Bar - Use a Child Image

Paper Play Challenge - Cutie Patootie

Stamp, Scrap & Doodle - anything goes

Digi Doodle Shop's Best - pink, green

Fairy Tale  - flowers

30th Birthday

So glad that the snow has finally gone here in the south of Scotland after having snow on the ground for all of the last six weeks!! Somebody told me yesterday that there is to be snow right through February as well but I put my hands over my ears and chose not to listen lol

Made this card today for my sister's daughter in law Sarah who is about to celebrate her 30th, I haven't met Sarah myself so I'm not sure about her likes and dislikes so decided to make a feature of the numbers instead of choosing an image which might not be to her taste.

Entering it for the following:
Fairy Fun Fridays - happy birthday
Fairy Tale  - flowers
Mami Doodles - mostly blues
Stamp Man - distressing
Totally Papercrafts - birthday
Do You Stack Up? - distress it
Meljens Designs - square or round cards (no rectangles)
Sisterhood of Crafters - birthday

More New Beginnings and a winner

It's Wednesday so it's time for another new challenge from Crafty Creations,  this week's challenge is all about New Beginnings and my card is another of the new home cards I made last week (look away now Lyns!)

The gorgeous image is from Lavinia stamps and I coloured it with Promarkers picking out the colours from the Basic Grey backing paper. I stamped some leaves and vines on the green backing paper which is also BG and made the sentiment from two different sets of alphabet stamps. We are sponsored this week by Pink Gem Designs who are offering 4 digi stamps to our winner.

My random winner from last week's blog hop, winning two of my digi stamps is DJ from Designs by DJ - congratulations!

Also entering the following challenges:
Cupcake Craft - Something new
Pollycraft - New things
Creative Cowgirls  - Something new
Quirky Crafts  - New beginnings
Stamp, Scrap & Doodle - New beginnings
Let's Ink It Up - NO DIGI & anything goes
Phindy’s Place - Distressing

Just got a new die from Nellie Snellen and was desperate to have a shot so I created this card, the image is a Gorjuss Girl from Sugar Nellie and is coloured with Promarkers to tie in with the lovely backing papers from Doolicraft. I stuck gems on the buttons to give them a bit of bling and I added an old bit of lace I found in the bottom of one of my ribbon boxes, the sentiment is an old one too but unfortunately I don't know where it came from.

My card is suitable for these challenges:
2 Sisters  - gettin girly
Delicious Doodles - try something new or use something new (new die)
Do You Stack Up - cute as a button
By the Cute and Girly -  bling it on
Charisma Cardz - birthdays and celebrations 
Delightful Challenges - buttons
Digi Doodle Shop's Best - buttons
Craft Your Days Away  - anything goes
Our Daily Bread Designs - something old, something new (new die & old lace)

A new design team!

I am really delighted to announce my new appointment as design team member for the Crafty Calendar Challenge and am excited to share my first project with you today. Our first  challenge for this year is New Beginnings with an optional extra of punched borders and our sponsor this week is Pink Gem Designs.

For my card I chose a gorgeous digi image from Meljens Designs which I coloured with my Promarkers. The backing paper is by Papermania and the border at the bottom was punched with my (only) Martha Stewart punch - must save up for some more! The Mr & Mrs stamp is from a new set by American Crafts , I love the flourish border on it. The two hearts are Sizzix die cuts, an old favourite which I've not used for ages, and the words on them are rub downs from a wedding sheet I've also had lying around for a long time. The lovely blue rose is from Wild Orchid.

     

This card also works for the challenges at:
Delicious Doodles - try something new or use something new
Dutch Dare  - new beginnings
Creative Card Crew  - new beginnings
AiFactory - new beginnings
Sassy Studio Designs - use something new
Rainbow Lady's - something new
Paper Crafting Journey - use a digi
Stampin' B's - use an old favourite and something new
Stamp Something - Use a digi
Fairy Fun Fridays - new beginnings

Featured today on There She Goes Clear Stamps

I'm very excited today to be featured in the Trendsetting Spotlight on the There She Goes blog with this card which I entered in their challenge last week!!

If you like the idea of being featured in the Trendsetting Spotlight yourself try entering one of their challenges ;o)

New year, new home

My daughter is hopefully going to be moving into a new flat in a few weeks which had me thinking about new home cards - this particular one isn't for her cos I know she looks at my blog but I thought I'd do a few for my stocks and this is one of them. Backing papers are Stampin Up, scalloped frame die and cog die are Nellie Snellen.

I'm entering this for the challenges at:
Tuesday Taggers - New beginnings
Quirky Crafts - New beginnings
Paper Sundaes - Something new
Creative Cottage - Something new
Simon Says Stamp - New beginnings
Ellephantastic  - New beginnings

Today's card is a just for fun card, I wanted to use the stamp which I have had sitting on my desk for around a month and hadn't got round to inking up yet, it is a Greeting Farm image called Monday. I went with the red and black colour combo after seeing the photo inspiration at Cupcake Inspirations and because the stamped image reminded my of my daughter Lynsey when she was a little younger and dressed in these colours regularly (still does sometimes) - she also had the boots :o)  The backing paper is Dovecraft Funky Vintage, the flowers are from Wild Orchid, the lace came from the charity shop, I replaced the blue ribbon it came with for something more fitting and the greeting is Woodware.

The card fits the challenges at:

Cupcake Inspirations - Photo inspiration

Papertake Weekly - Anything goes + lace

Fab n' Funky - Anything goes

I Love Promarkers - Recycle (the lace)

Digi Stamps for Joy - Buttons

Ladybug Crafts Ink - Anything goes

All things new

The challenge at Crazy Challenges this week is for all things new so I inked up a brand new stamp Shopping Willow which I won on Whiff of Joy's Advent Calendar give away in December and coloured it with my Promarkers. The gorgeous glittery backing papers are from the All Dressed Up stack from DCWV and the chipboard flower is from a Pebbles pack of chipboard elements - I added glitter to the centre to match the papers. The die cut frame is from Nellie Snellen and the sentiment is also one of my new sets from Stampin Up.

Entering this one for these challenges:
Allsorts - Thankyou
Passion for Promarkers - Thankyou
Woodware USA - Something new
Crazy Challenge - All things new
Really Reasonably Ribbon - Something new + ribbon
I did it Creations - Favourite technique (stamping & colouring with Promarkers)

Creative Inspirations 50 - Promarkers vs Aquamarkers

For our first new challenge of 2011 at Creative Inspirations we are being sponsored by our new monthly sponsor

 

who are giving a $10 voucher to our lucky winner!
We are also lucky enough this week to have a second sponsor - 

who will be sending our winner a stamp from their new Valentine's collection! So what do you have to do to win - easy just use something new on your project Papers, stamps, embellishments - anything as long as it's new. Here's your chance to use some of your Christmas goodies - what are you waiting for??

For my own card I used two new things, firstly a new Tilda image which I received as a Secret Santa gift and secondly my new Aquamarkers which Lynsey gave me for Christmas. I had wanted to try Aquamarkers for a while - I love my Promarkers and use them practically every day but I also love a watercolour effect and was keen to see what I could do with the new pens. I stamped my image twice and coloured one with Promarkers and one with Aquamarkers  - what do you think? I wasn't sure which I liked the best but maybe I don't have to choose,  they are both great pens and am just happy to have more to play with!

Promarkers

Aquamarkers

So here is my finished card, the papers are from Papermania, the flowers are a mix of Prima & Petaloo and the sentiment is Stampin Up.

Also entering the challenges at:
Crafty Sentiments  (who also have blog hop on the 6th to celebrate their new release) - Anything goes
Catch the Bug - Anything goes
Southern Girls - Anything goes
Mark's Finest Paper - Use something new
My Time to Craft - Brand, spanking new
One Stop Craft - New beginnings
Just Magnolia - Anything goes

In with the new

My first card for 2011 is a new baby card, I actually made this one by mistake the other day for a DT challenge but I had looked at the wrong week and had the theme all wrong but decided to post it anyway as it suited a few other challenges. I used a Pink Petticoat image, backing papers from a Making Memories designer pad, some ribbon I've had in my stash for a while and twine from Stampin Up.

 

Entering my card for these challenges:

Stamp Something - Something Glittery
My Time to Craft - Brand spanking new
Bunny Zoe's - Sparkle & shine
I Did it Creations - Out with the old, in with the new
The Shabby Tearoom - Shabby chic baby
Fairy Fun Friday - New beginnings
Alphabet -  I is for infants
Sew Many Challenges - New things