Weddings all around

Our new challenge over at Cardmadfairy's Digi Days is up and running and what could be a more appropriate theme today than Weddings? I have used one of Cardmadfairy's digi images Flower 1 and printed it out several times, coloured with Promarkers and carefully cut them out individually, stuck them together and interspersed some tiny flowers from Wild Orchid to resemble a bouquet, then used embossing powder to colour my heart shaped brads for the centres.  The backing paper is from Pink Petticoat and the sentiment from MSE. The lovely heart trim has been in my stash for such a long time I have completely forgotten where it came from!

Entering my card for these other challenges as well:
Freshly Brewed - Weddings
Die Cut Dreams  - Wedding
Kaboodle Doodles - Here comes the bride
Amber's Crafts and Stuff - Use a digi
My Mum's Craft shop -  Flowers
Tuesday Throwdown - Add brads or eyelets
Crafty Sentiments  -  Wedding
Sassy Studio Designs - Monochromatic
Stampin for the Weekend - Weddings
Pixie Cottage - Royal wedding 

White Space

At Crafty Creations this week our theme is White Space, basically what that means is we want to see cards without a lot of fuss and layers, keep it simple and show us some space - it doesn't even need to be white! We are sponsored by the fab Whiff of Joy who have a lovely new stamp for our winner, pop on over to Crafty Creations for a look at it and to check out the rest of the team's lovely creations.

My card was so quick and simple to make - I stamped the greeting, from Stampin Up, straight on to my white cardstock and then stamped the image, from Lavinia Stamps, twice - added gems to the centres and after the greeting - added a piece of gingham ribbon from my stash and that was it, done and dusted in less than 20 minutes!

Entering these challenges:

Claudia & Co - Clean & Simple

Going Grey With Scrap-Creations - Flowers

Make it Monday - Anything goes

Less is More - Off centre

How would you use a bottlecap?

The challenge this week on Crafty Cardmakers Spotlight is to use bottlecaps on your creation - well that was a real challenge for me and way out of my comfort zone. First I had to go and fish a bottlecap out of the waste bin and clean it up but then I really struggled to come up with an idea of how to use it!

I ended up making a tag, for which I started with pearlised card and coloured it all over with distress inks, sprayed it with glimmer mist and then stamped a few images and words directly onto the card. I then stamped the main Paperartsy image on a piece of white cardstock, coloured it with Promarkers and trimmed it close to the lines. After sticking it to the card I printed out the face and coloured it again and punched it with a 1" circle punch which fitted inside the bottlecap, I finished it off with Glossy Accents and stuck it on to the figure with some fibre strands attached behind it to resemble hair. The tag was finished off with some distressed multi coloured ribbon.

My project is entered for the following challenges:

Sparkles Forum - Anything goes

Paper Sundaes - Use at least 2 from: Sparkle, Pearls, Die Cuts and the Colour Yellow!  

Ellephantastic - Anything but square  

Simply Create -  Time to rock the metal

Moving Along With The Times - Recycle (the bottlecap)

Stamp Insanity - Use metal

Creative Inspirations do digi

It's time for the new challenge at Creative Inspirations and this time our theme is Digi Days - all you have to do is use a digi stamp on your project, we are sponsored for this challenge by The Stamping Boutique who provided images for the design team to work with and by Letraset Promarkers.

I coloured the image with Promarkers and Sakura Glitter pens, used backing paper from First Edition, pearls from Wild Orchid and a sentiment from My Sentiments Exactly.

Entering these challenges:
Inspire Me Fridays - Anything goes
Flutterby Wednesdays - Open challenge
Paper Shelter Challenge - Nature inspired
A Gem of a Challenge - Pearls and/or swirls
Wee Memories - Anything girly

Another Teddy Bo card

I said in an earlier post that I'd bought a couple of new Teddy Bo images, well this is the second of the two and I wanted to make it quite different from the first card I made (see Tuesday's post). I chose the Promarker colours without looking out some backing paper and was really pleased when I found this  paper from the Basic Grey Marrakech 6 x 6 pad which went perfectly with my colouring! I'm really happy with this card and think I'll be using these images again soon - might even have to go back for more :o) The sentiment is from Stampin Up.

These are the challenge I'm entering:
I Love Promarkers  - Anything goes
A Spoonful Of Sugar - Lets celebrate
Paper Take Weekly -  Spots & stripes
Top Tip Tuesday - Open challenge
C.R.A.F.T. - Flowers
AiFactory - Flowers in bloom
Teddy Bo Challenge - Tags (Sent by Gayle to join in with the challenge :o))

Crafty Creations 1,2,3

Hello it's Wednesday and I'm back with the new challenge at Crafty Creations where this week the theme is Easy as 1, 2, 3 - 3 designer papers, 2 embellishments, 1 technique (stamping, distressing, sewing, etc.)

We are delighted to be sponsored by Whimsie Doodles

*Special Offer: A special offer for Crafty Creations Fans - use the discount code Crafty10 at the Whimsie Doodles online store and receive 10% off your next order! Code expires 30 days from today.*

I have used a new release digi stamp from Whimsie Doodles called Cotton Candy Leah, coloured her with Promarkers and added some Glossy Accents and ultra fine glitter on the cotton candy. My backing papers are from First Edition and the sentiment and little bird stamp are from Polka Doodles and were free with a recent craft magazine.

 

Entering these challenges:

Cupcake Craft - Lots of Layers

Incy Wincy Designs - Bright and Bold
Karens Doodles - Lots of Layers
Stamp with Fun - Birthday
There's Magic in the Air - Green, Yellow and Orange
Going Grey With Scrap-Creations - Digital Image
Ladybug Crafts Ink TLT Challenge  - Anything Goes

Keeping it simple

I love all of the gorgeous Teddy Bo images and could not resist buying a couple recently and this is the first I have coloured up. I wanted the images to really stand out so have kept the card very plain and simple, only adding a little designer paper, a spotted ribbon and a button to embellish. The image was coloured with Promarkers and Prismacolour pencils.

Entering the following challenges:
Make it Monday - Anything goes
Nettie G's Digital Gems - color your favorite digi
Craft Your Passion - You've been spotted (use dots)
Kenny K Krafty Girlz - Anything goes
Fussy and Fancy - Card for a child
Totally Stampalicious - Keep it simple

Busy week!

What a busy and fun week this week has been, firstly my sis Gillian and her husband Steve came to stay for a few days and we were quite active - yummy family lunch with my other sis Karen and her family, visiting Mum, shopping, visiting Lynsey in her new flat, more shopping, going to the pub, lunch in Ikea, walk along the prom at Portobello (Neil's old stomping ground). It was lovely to have them here and we enjoyed our few days. Then it was back to work and, on Friday, an interview for my old job at the library, a bit wierd as I was working on Friday and spent most of the day trying to suss out all the other candidates while they waited for their interviews, quite nervewracking! However I got the job so it was a big relief and a reason for a small celebration (couple of glasses of wine) on Friday night!

Today's card is a just for fun card, Gillian had brought a couple of new stamps from LOTV with her and let me stamp a few images for myself, thanks Gill, so I was dying to colour one up and make a card. I used my Promarkers to colour the image to work with the great backing papers which I had received in the post from my teamie at Creative Inspirations Corry who had a wee challenge recently and sent the participants something for taking part - thanks so much Cor it was a lovely surprise (will pay it forward too)! I made the roses myself by cutting circles of paper into spirals, glueing them into rose shapes then spritzing them with Tattered Angels mist, scrunching them then waiting for them to dry before opening them up. The sentiment is a rub down from Papermania.

Entering this in the following challenges:
By the Cute & Girly - Cute and Girly 
Freshly Brewed Monthly Challenge - Cute and Sweet  
Delicious Doodles  - All stitched up
Fabulous Friday - Homemade/handmade embellishment
Inspire Me Fridays - Anything goes
Let's Ink it Up - Show us your stitching

A Recipe

Our new challenge at Cardmadfairy's Digi Days is a recipe - 1 image, 2 patterned papers and 3 embellishments. I have used the Cardmadfairy digi stamp Flowers 1 available over here, which I coloured with Promarkers. The patterned papers are from 7 Gypsies and my 3 embellishments are ribbon, buttons and lace. Got to rush now - off for an interview at 9.30 - wish me luck!!

Entering my card in these challenges:
Cooking It Up With Katie - Recipe
Crafts and Me - Ribbon
Fab 'n' Funky - Spotty and dotty
The Paper Variety - Flowers
Your Next Stamp Challenge - Texture
Flourishes - Flowers, flowers everywhere
My Time To Craft - On the spot
Charisma Cardz - Use pink, black & green
Crafty Purple Frog - Texture & ribbon
Pixie Dust Studio - Say it out loud

Paper Piecing at Crafty Creations

It was my turn to choose the theme for this week's challenge at Crafty Creations so I chose a technique I enjoy doing - Paper Piecing! The image I have used is one of my own available here and I printed it out on white cardstock and on patterned paper from a First Edition set called Hideaway, love the glittered pages and the spring colours :o) I made the flower with punched flower shapes which I spritzed with water and crumpled before drying with my heat gun and inking the edges. The image was coloured with Promarkers, the sentiment was from a Buzzcraft set of unmounted stamps and the swirls are Sizzix die cuts.

Other challenges entered:
Anita Be Stampin' - Anything goes
Digital Tuesday - Female image on card/project
Karen's Doodles Netherlands - Anything goes
Promarker Challenge - Make your own embellishments
Top Tip Tuesday - Spring has sprung
Creative Stamp Friends - Swirls
Woodware USA - Anything goes
Crafty Pad - Spring
Paper Sundaes - Childhood Memories
Quirky Crafts - Sparkly, Punchy Easter/Spring 

Spotlight - Teen boy

Design team member Fiona has set a challenge for you this fortnight and that is to make a card for a TEENAGE BOY.  It's one we often dread - making male themed cards so face your fears with this one!

I chose the Mo Manning image because it reminded me of my 15 year old son, who spends a great deal of his time playing on his X-box, and coloured the image with Promarkers. Used K&Co recycled cardstock and ran one layer through a ribbler to add texture then distressed the edges and sanded the surface with an emery board. Used recycled twine to attach button and added a sentiment from Personal Impressions.

Challenges entered:

Paper Take Weekly - Anything Goes + Optional - Something New (image)
My Grafico - Anything goes
Aud Sentiments - Something for a child
Fussy and Fancy - Something for a child
Simon Says Stamp and Show... - distressing

Oops, I forgot!

Forgot it was Creative Inspirations challenge day today, we have family visitors at the moment and so I was a bit distracted! My card was made in time and was ready for the challenge blog, I just forgot to pop it on my own blog so here it now - better late than never :o)

Our challenge this time is Easter and we are sponsored both by Simon Says Stamp and by  Whiff Of Joy

I have used a Joanna Sheen Messy Rabbit stamp set, coloured with Promarkers, and papers from Papermania. I made a tag for the greeting and tucked it behind the image, the felt flowers and the ribbon were from my stash.

Entering it for the following challenges:
Craft your Days Away - Spots & stripes

Card Creations and more by C - Spring related

Little Claire's - Spring celebrations

Totally Gorjuss - Anything fluffy

Delicious Doodles - Ribbons for Easter

Digi's With Attitude! - Easter

Floweret  - Easter

Paper Cutz - Bunny, lamb, chicks or Easter eggs

Phindy’s Place - Easter

Stampin For The Weekend - Easter

Craft Us Crazy - Easter/ Spring

Gorgeous papers

I promised to share some quick cards I made using the same Stampin Up papers from a few posts ago so quickly - before I head out to today's craft fair - here they are:

All image stamps are from Stampin Up and the sentiments are Personal Imressions.

Off to the fair in a few minutes - wish me luck!

Crafty Creations - Rain Showers

Today's new challenge at Crafty Creations is Rain Showers which is pretty appropriate here in Scotland where it's chucking it down at the moment, looking forward to the weekend when we are expecting some sunnier weather :o)

Somehow I missed out on the chance of an image from our sponsors Some Odd Girl but my own digi stamp - April - available here seemed perfect for this challenge so I coloured her up with my Promarkers and added a matt/frame cut with a Nellie Snellen die. The papers from Paper Cellar were distressed around the edges using my scissors and I added Stickles and flat backed pearls to the swirls. Some organza ribbon and ribbon roses with a pearl pin to embellish and a sentiment from Woodware finish the card off. Have to get off to work now - wishing you all a great day - rainy or not!

Challenges entered:
Bunny Zoe's Crafts - Happy Birthday with lots of pearls
Craft Your Passion - Anything goes
Crazy Challenge - Just add flowers
Creative Craft Friends - Swirls
House of Gilli - Ribbon and pearls
Kaboodle Doodles - Lets get girly
Karens Doodles - Fancy & feminine
Stamping Scrapping Central - Sparkle
Anything Goes Challenge - Pearls
Going Grey With Scrap-Creations - Pick 3: Ribbons, flowers, pearls, glitter, button, charm.

A card for Haley

Today's project is a card my daughter asked me to make for 9 year old Haley who has been very poorly and has been in and out of hospital having various procedures and needs cheering up a bit. I saw this fabulous digi image when Donna used it for her entry to my Cardmadfairy's challenge and really loved it so had to go and buy it myself over here.

 

I have used Lime Rickey papers from Basic Grey, circles cut with nestability dies and flower dies from Marianne's Creatables. All was finished off with Stickles for sparkle and a sentiment from Stampin Up.

Entering the following challenges:

2 Sisters - Get well/Thinking of you
Allsorts - Blooming blossoms
Catch the Bug - Anything goes
Creations by Gill M - Pets (could be stretching this one a little but possibly a fairy would have a snail as a pet?!)
Dream Valley - Things with wings
I Did it Creations - Anything goes
Stampin' Sisters in Christ - Make a card/project for a child

'April showers....

.......bring forth May flowers'. 

Make of that what you will as that is the challenge this month at Crafty Calendar! I was happy for the opportunity to use this fab Sonny Honeycloud digi image from Pollycraft - I love colouring these images and this one was no exception. I coloured the image with my Promarkers to work with the gorgeous backing paper from Stampin Up - I have used this quite a lot recently and have several other cards to share later using the same paper! The sentiment was supplied by this month's sponsor Sentiments 4 You.

This also fits the challenges at:
Crafty Catz - April showers
Sketchy Colors - Colour
Digis with Attitude - Anything goes
Fairy Knoll - 'whatever'
Raise The Bar - April showers (or any kind of weather)
Stamp Something - Use something digital
My Graphico - Anything goes

Easter

Over at Cardmadfairy's Digi Days the theme of the new challenge is Easter so I have made a card using my digi stamped Dotty Blooms available here. I printed out two A4 pages of the flower shapes and cut them out, then I inked the edge of each one before layering them in threes and securing with mini brads.
I cut a cross shape from a piece of scrap cardstock then arranged the blooms on it. I used patterned paper from DCWV as a backing and finished the card off with a bit of cream seam binding ribbon and a computer generated sentiment.

Entering my card for the following challenges:
Craft Us Crazy - Easter/ Spring
Delightful Challenges - Flowers
Dutch Dare Card Challenge - Distressing
Little Miss Muffet Challenges - Stitching
The Rubber Cafe - Spring flowers
Amber's Crafts and Stuff - Use flowers
Your Next Stamp Challenge - Stitching
Ladybug Crafts Ink TLT Challenge - Handmade flowers
Partytime Tuesdays - Anything goes +  handmade flower
The Stamping Boutique - Hand made flowers