Too early for Christmas?

Well I hope not because today I've got not just one but two Christmas cards to share with you! I have just released a bunch of new Christmas digi stamps - see them here - and the new challenge over at Cardmadfairy's Digi Days has a Christmas theme to coincide so here are my cards using two of my brand new images. The first shows off Christmas Kitten - isn't he cute in his cosy Santa hat?

Challenges for 1st card:
Digistamps 4 Joy - Anything goes
House That Stamps Built - Animal
Inky Impressions - Punches or dies
Stamp-N-Doodle - Pets

The second card was made with my Joyful Elf digi and papers from the free MME pack from this month's copy of Cardmaking and Papercrafts - I love the muted colours on this one.

Challenges for 2nd card:
Partytime Tuesdays - Anything Goes
Penny's Paper-Crafty - Anything goes
Magical Mondays - Christmas in September 
Dream Valley Challenges - Buttons  
Paper Sundaes - Anything Goes

Here are the rest of the new stamps which are available now both at the digi stamp shop at Cardmadfairy's Digi Days challenge blog and also at Cardmadfairy's Creations.
I am currently working on a brand new web site dedicated to my digi stamp designs and am looking forward to launching it soon so keep your eyes open for that :o)

Clean & simple

Crafty Creations  new challenge this week is all about keeping  it clean and simple. The image and sentiment I have used were kindly supplied by this week's sponsor - Elizabeth Mae Design's.

I firstly printed out the enlarged black & white image straight onto my cardstock, I then printed it again on some patterned paper and stamped on some flourished and inked around the edges. I used a very light coloured Promarker (Satin) and gave the dress-form a hint of a shadow. I then used a silver marker to highlight the pins, finally I cut the sentiment and some patterned paper with pinking shears and added a pin and some ribbon and buttons from my stash to finish the design off - simples :o) Ooh and I doodled round the edge of the card to frame it all.

Some challenges I'm entering:

Celebrate the Occasion - Any Occasion- Must Use Ribbon

Partytime Tuesdays - Anything Goes

Digi Makeover Challenge - Re-size Your Digi's (I enlarged the original digi)

Heart Song Inspirations - Ribbon and/or Tag

Make it Monday - Always anything goes

My Craft Spot - Ribbon 

Gingerloft - Vintage or Distressed  

Dream Valley Challenges - Buttons 

Allsorts - Keep it Simple

Believe in your dreams

I fancied using this Gorjuss stamp from Santaro to make a card yesterday and I had new pennant dies from Whimsy Stamps that I wanted to try out so the card I'm sharing today is the result of my endeavours. I coloured the image with Promarkers, used papers from Basic Grey, added flourish die cuts from Marianne's Creatables and a sentiment from Kaisercraft and finished it off with lace from my stash and some crystals to give it a bit of sparkle.

Entering the following challenges:
Crafty Boots - Wings
Critter Sketch - Anything goes
Make it Monday - Always anything goes
Ooh La La Creations -  Punches/dies
Stamps & Fun = Creativity - Anything goes
There's Magic in the Air - Punches and die cuts - at least 3 different
Sparkles Forum - Something that sparkles
The Squirrel & the Fox - Anything goes 
Marks Finest Papers - Things with wings 

One for Christmas

There seem to be a few more Christmas challenges around now that we are creeping inevitably closer to the season to be jolly so I have started making the occasional Christmas card when I have a little time in between work and my dt commitments. This card was made with one of my own digi stamps - find them here - this one is called Skating Josie. I coloured the image with Promarkers and added some ultra fine glitter on her pom-poms. I used distress inks round the edges of the die cut frame and to stamp some swirls in her wake. The papers are from my favourite set at the moment - My Mind's Eye  Lost & Found Christmas. The snow flake and flourish dies are from Marianne's Creatables and the sentiment is from Inkadinkado.

Entering the following:

Craft Room Challenge - Anything Christmas
Jingle Belles - Christmas - Suzy Snowflake song
Polkadoodle - Distress it
Crafts and Me - Stripes
Little Darlings Challenges - Brown and red
Simon Says Stamp - Dies or punches
Digital Tuesday - People Images

Definitely not a card!

Just popping by quickly to share a canvas I made earlier in the week, I have really been enjoying trying something different recently with Christy Tomlinson's online She Girls workshop and this is my 6th girl, you can see the others on my Flickr page if you are interested.

 

I'm entering this in a couple of non-card challenges:

Creative Stamp Friends - Anything BUT a Card  

Lollipop Crafts - Anything BUT a Card 

Quirky Crafts - Anything but a card

Card & matching gift bag

The challenge this week at Charisma Cardz is to create a card and a matching gift bag or box.

For my dt project I returned to an old favourite Sugar Nellie tamp - A little bird told me by Suzanne Woolcot. To make the gift bag I used a solitary paper bag left over from an old paper bag album I made a while back, I trimmed it down a bit to create a square format to match my card then started both items working in tandem- cutting the cardstock and papers, colouring the two stamped images, assembling the tags and finally sticking all the parts together. 

The papers I've used are by Stampin Up as is the butterfly stamp, the sentiments are from Personal Impressions and Hero Arts and the ribbon is the last piece I had of this lovely rust colour - I'm quite sad to have finished it off but it was perfect for this project!

These are the challenges I'm entering:
Anything Goes Challenge - Anything goes
Clear It Out! - Alter something (paper bag left over from Paper Bag Album)
Crafty Sentiments - Happy Birthday
Going Grey With Scrap-Creations - Anything goes
Get Hippity with Ippity - Buttons and/or bows and/or bling
Ooh La La Creations - Punches/dies
Stamp with Fun - Anything goes
Card Cupids - Anything goes 
Pile It On - Colours of Fall/Autumn
The Squirrel & the Fox - Anything Goes
Crafting for all Seasons - Fall colors
Crafts and Me - Stripes
Flutterby Wednesdays - Anything goes
Little Red Wagon - Repeat a stamped image

Fabulous Fairies

Fabulous fairies is the theme of the new challenge at Crafty Creations, we are all rested and refreshed after our week off (I wish!) and we are back with a fantastic sponsor - yes Lily of the Valley are sponsoring this challenge so if you fancy a £10 voucher to spend on their gorgeous stamps go and join in with our challenge for your chance to win!

LOTV very kindly supplied the Design Team with some beautiful digi stamps, mine is called Birthday Fairy - isn't she fabulous?! I coloured the image with Tria markers from Letraset - they have a brush tip instead of the bullet one on the Promarkers and I have to say I really enjoyed using them although my choice of colours is a bit limited at the moment. I'm looking forward to the Flemarkers being widely available as they seem to combine the best of both of the others. I followed the sketch on Sunday Sketch & Stamp and used papers from Basic Grey.

 

Entering this for the following:

Crafty Boots - Wings
Digi Makeover Challenge -  Use Fabric (felt)
Make it Monday - Always anything goes
Paper Creations Ink - Buttons or bows 
Paper Pretties - Buttons 
Dream Valley Challenges - Buttons 
One Stitch At A Time - Punch It 
Paper Sundaes - Felt
Sunday Sketch & Stamp - Sketch 
The Hybrid Chick Card Caravan - Buttons
One Stop Craft - Girly
Stamp, Scrap and Doodle - Make a Birthday creation  

Tie the knot

One of my colleagues at the library is getting married on October 1st and as yesterday was the last time I was going to see her until after the honeymoon I made this card to give to Sarah and her fiance Gary. I got the funky digi stamp from Tiddly Inks and coloured it with Promarkers, the backing paper is also digital and came from Pink Petticoat. I also decorated the inside of the card but only remembered to photograph it after having written the message so can only show a little peek!

I'm entering the card for these challenges:

Inspire Me Fridays - Always anything goes

Crafty Ribbons - Anything Goes

Truly Scrumptious - Decorate the inside

Everybody-Art-Challenge - Flowers

Partytime Tuesdays - Ribbon Trim and Fibres....Oh My!

Die Cut Dreams - Flowers

Make it Monday - Always anything goes

Di's Digis Designs - Anything Goes

Creative Craft World - New (New life together ;o)

Gingerloft - Vintage or distressed

Lots of Layers

The new challenge today at Cardmadfairy's Digi Days is Lots of layers and our sponsor Bugaboo offered a choice of digi stamps to our design team, I chose this one which is called Scene it - Ladybugs, I printed the image 3 times and coloured them with Promarkers and added a bit of subtle sparkle with Sakura Stardust pens. I cut out the flower and the ladybugs and mounted them with foam pads to add extra layers to my card. I used a chipboard tag with a sentiment from LOTV and added a ladybug to it as well. The glittered flourish is a Sizzix die cut and the flowers are from Wild Orchid and were finished off with buttons and floss from my stash.

Entering this for these challenges:
Bugaboo Wacky Wednesday - Colour

Flutterby Wednesdays - Anything goes

Bearly Mine - Button it up 

Paper Take Weekly - Things With Wings

Crafty Boots - Anything Goes   

Heart Song Inspirations - Glitter and/or Chipboard

Kaboodle Doodles - Chipboard

Make it Monday - Always anything goes 

Pile It On - Layer it 

By the Cute & Girly - All things bright and beautiful 

Creatalicious Challenges - Anything Goes 

Little Miss Muffet Challenges - Things With Wings

Moving Along With The Times - Sparkle

Just for the love of...

...LOTV rubber stamps! I bought this stamp along with a couple of others some weeks ago but put them away when I received them in the post as I was too busy to play and promptly forgot all about them! It was a nice surprise when I suddenly remembered to look - I'd even forgotten which ones I had bought! So today's card is a just because one - just because I wanted to ink up one of the images :o)

I'm entering it for these challenges:
Kelley Kid's - For someone special
Papercraft Star - Anything goes
Ruby's Rainbow - For a girl
Deep Ocean Challenge - Lace
Everybody-Art-Challenge - Flowers
Ladybug Crafts Ink TLT Challenge - Flowers
Partytime Tuesdays - Ribbon Trim and Fibres....Oh My!
Craft Your Passion - Use the "F" Word
Die Cut Dreams - Flowers (at least 5 flowers)  
Make it Monday - Always anything goes 
I Did It Creations - Anything Goes 
Pile It On - Layer it

Another early Christmas card

What about this wind then?? I was very glad of my foam earplugs last night - probably would have had trouble sleeping otherwise as the wind was howling around us all night :o)

This should be my day off but I've just been asked to work this afternoon to cover for a sick colleague so before I have to go and get myself organised here is a card I have created for a bunch of different challenges - see below. I used one of my own digi stamps, Buttons Snowman available from Cardmadfairy's Creations and coloured him to work with some of my favourite Christmas backing paper which came from PaperArtsy last year - I've been looking to see if they have any new papers for Christmas 2011 but there's no sign of anything so far. The snowflake is a Marianne's Creatables die and the sentiment is from Personal Impressions.

These are the challenges I was using for my inspiration:

Christmas Inspirations - Glitter 
I Did It Creations - Anything Goes
Catch The Bug - Punches or Dies
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas - Swirls
Make it Monday - Always anything goes 
Woodware USA - Happy Holidays
Inspire Me Fridays - Always anything goes
Totally Papercrafts - Cute with buttons
Heart Song Inspirations - Glitter and/or Chipboard

Just time for a quick post before getting ready for work to share a card I finished yesterday.

I wanted to use some of the fabulous paper from a new 6 x 6 pad from My Mind's Eye called Lost & Found Christmas - I love these papers so much think I might need to get a second pad! The image is a Leanne Ellis one from Sugar Nellie, probably not meant as a Christmas image but I thought she'd look good in red and green :o) The sentiment is from Stampin Up and I followed the sketch from Sketch Saturday although I flipped it for my card.

 

Entering it for these challenges:

Crafty Ribbons - Festive Cheer in September

Going Grey With Scrap-Creations - Winter Wishes

Oldie But Goodie Challenge - 1st Birthday Blog Hop + Christmas In September 

The Crazy Challenge - Spots and/or Stripes

Christmas Inspirations - Glitter 

Sketch Saturday - SKETCH* #171

Stamp Something - Anything goes 

Inspired by a Song

Today's card is for the new Charisma Cardz challenge where the theme is Inspired by a Song.  Mine has been inspired by Eva Cassidy's Songbird, mostly because I bought a set of bird rubber stamps some weeks ago and have been waiting for an opportunity to use them ever since!
The set is from Lost Coast and is called Three Birds, I stamped my bird onto patterned paper, cut it out and inked around the edge. I then stuck it onto some cardstock which I then also trimmed around the shape of the bird, I used foam pads to stick it onto the backing papers. I have used papers from 7 Gypsies, a sentiment from Personal Impressions, punches from Stampin Up and organza ribbon roses from MeiFlower

Challenges entered:
Crafting for all Seasons - Birthday
Your Next Stamp Challenge - Song inspiration 
Anything Goes Challenge - Vintage/Shabby chic
Shopping Our Stash - Birds, bugs or beasts (no people)
Make it Monday - Always anything goes
Getting Cricky - Winged things 
Sparkles Forum - Punch it 
Creations by Gill M - Anything that flies

I'm late!

Sorry to be so late with my Crafty Creations design team offering - I have to own up, I knew we were having a break but I thought it was this week - it's next week doh! Never mind - it's not as late as the card itself is - my colleague forgot her cousin's 50th birthday - she's actually 51 now!

This week our challenge is Anything but a square so I printed my numerals onto patterned paper, cut them out and then shaped the card around the figures. I didn't want the card to be too flimsy so I left the bottom edge squared off and then added all the decorative details. The flowers are from Wild Orchid and the sentiment was printed off the computer. The papers used are Cafe Mediterranean from DCWV. I decorated the inside too since it was a special card - I hope it helps to ease my colleague's conscience!

Entering the following challenges:
Bearly Mine - Flowers, flowers, flowers
Creative Card Crew - Anything goes
Paper Take Weekly - Anything goes (option, use a shaped card)
Ribbon Carousel Challenge - must include ribbon - Anything goes
Craft Your Passion - Flowers
Crafty Boots - Anything goes
Daisy Doodles Creative Challenge - Anything goes
Lia Stampz - Birthday
Make it Monday - Always anything goes
Woodware USA - Anything goes
Truly Scrumptious - Decorate the inside

Monday again

Well it's Monday again and the start of another working week but I enjoyed a lovely restful weekend, which included a little retail therapy with my darling daughter Lynsey, so it wasn't too hard going back to work this morning and today's was only a short 3 hour shift. So I'm home now and heading back upstairs to finish clearing up my workspace ready to start some new challenges!

Before I go I wanted to share another of my new Imogen images - this one is Imogen and Puss, it can be found - along with all my other digi stamps here and here.

I coloured the image with Promarkers, the papers are from Seven Gypsies and the flourishes are from a Marianne's Creatables die set. The punched sentiment was from Hero Arts and the flowers and jewel brad came from Wild Orchid.

Challenges entered:
Aly's Sunday Challenge - Bows
Birthday Sundaes - Birthday Card  
I Did It Creations - Girly Girls 
One Stitch At A Time - Use a Digi
Ellephantastic - Here come the girls
Totally Gorjuss - Sketch
Jellypark Challenges - Punches and/or die cuts
Patties Creations - Birthdays
Show and Tell - Anything goes

Let sleeping bears lie

I am so happy to have this weekend off after a couple of very busy weeks both at work and out of it, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe is all over, my niece and her bff have gone home after being with us for nearly 5 weeks (will miss your chatter girls!) and I plan to have a relaxing weekend and try to fit in as much crafting time as I can! 

Today I'd like to share my card for Crafty Calendar's September challenge where the theme is Let sleeping bears lie - we want to see a bear on your card/project but it doesn't need to be sleeping! The challenge is sponsored by Crafty Sentiments  who have some lovely rubber and digital stamps in their store. There is also a DT call at Crafty Calendar right now so pop on over and check it out and look at the team's inspirational bear projects!

I have used a Teddy Bo image for my card which I coloured with my trusty Promarkers, adding some Stickles for a bit of sparkle.

Would like to enter my card for the following challenges:

Alota Rubber Stamps - Use green yellow and orange 

By the Cute & Girly - All things bright and beautiful 

2 Sisters - Friends

Sundays with Crissy -  Friendship

Do You Stack Up? - Friendly Critters!

I Love Promarkers - Anything goes

Partytime Tuesdays -  Anything goes

Passion For Promarkers Challenge - Anything goes

Daisy Doodles Creative Challenge - Anything goes

Fabulous Friday - Flourishes

Card Makin' Mamas - Go digi

Clearly Inspired - Patterned papers

Paper Cutz - Zoo times 2

Poodles Parlour - Animal antics

Another Imogen card

This morning I'd like to share another card showing off one the new digi stamps from Cardmadfairy's Creations, there are three new Imogen images now and more to follow soon. This week the challenge at Cardmadfairy's Digi Days is Add Flowers and the three new images are the prize for our winner.
I have used Basic Grey papers, a Stampin Up sentiment and flowers from Wild Orchid. My image was coloured with Promarkers and Tria markers.

Other challenges I'm entering:
Play Date Cafe - A splash of red
I Love Promarkers - Anything goes
Paper Shelter Challenge - Anything goes 
Sisterhood of Crafters  - Flowers
Stars and Stamps Midweek Throwdown - Anything but glitter
Bearly Mine - Flowers flowers flowers
Creative Card Crew - Anything goes
Passion For Promarkers Challenge - Anything goes
Daisy Doodles Creative Challenge - Anything goes
Make it Monday - Always anything goes