Friday 27 April 2012

Pick a number

Because the theme of the new challenge this week at Cardmadfairy's Digi Days - Pick a Number - coincides with my dear Mum's eightieth birthday my dt card is for her. 

I have used my dotty blooms digi stamps and printed them out in two colourways, cutting them out and combining them with jewelled brads to hold them together. I pinched the sides of each petal to add some extra dimension then die cut some leafy flourishes to complement them. The numbers and butterflies are die cut with Cuttlekids and Stampin Up dies and the sentiment stamp and punched shapes are also from SU.


Challenges entered:
House That Stamps Built - Card for a woman you love
Pixie Cottage - Sketch and/or for Mom  
Deep Ocean Challenge - Use punches & dies  
TCP Tuesday - Handmade Flowers
Creative Mondays - Yellow and Sunshine 
Lexi's Creations - Use Your Punches and Dies
Ooh La La Creations Bold and Bright 
Truly Madly Crafty Challenges - Handmade Flowers
4 Crafty Chicks - No stamping

Thursday 26 April 2012

Feeling Blue

Blue, black and white are the colours you will have to stick to if you're going to take the Charisma Cardz challenge this week, if you need some inspiration go and check out what my teamies have been up to - there are some gorgeous examples on the challenge blog!

I used a digi stamp from the Teddy Bo store and stuck to only blue and grey Promarkers to colour the image - the real challenge here was staying away from all the other Promarkers!! The backing paper has been in my stash for ever and I have no idea where it came from - it may have been something I printed off but was definitely not from a designer pad, I also used the last little bit of that black and white trim which, again, I've had around for ages.


Entering my card for the following:
Inky Impressions Anything goes
Just Keep on Creating Anything goes
My Mum's Craft shop - The great outdoors 
Clear It Out! - Karaoke inspired (I am Sailing - Rod Stewart) 
Digital Tuesday - Winter blues 
Passion For Promarkers Challenge - Cut it out! Use die cuts
Daisy Doodles Creative Challenge - One for the boys 
Crazy 4 Challenges - Add black cardstock

Wednesday 25 April 2012

Poppies

In the midst of the preparations for Monday night's Paper Jewellery craft session at the library (which was a lot of fun - I'll share photos of what we were making soon) I slipped in a quick card -
I was lucky to win a challenge at A Day for Daisies a couple of months ago and the image I have used here is one of the digi stamps I won, I really love poppies so it made the choice of this one a no brainer for me! I thought  a simple and clean layout would really make the most of the lovely image so have only added a piece of dp from Marriane's and a contrasting grosgrain ribbon finished off with three black sticky gems. The sentiment is from Stampin Up.


Challenges entered:
Digi Makeover Challenge Birthday 
Make it Monday - Always anything goes
Ooh La La Creations - Bold and bright 
Paper Creations Ink - April showers bring May flowers  
2 Sisters - Use a digital image
Fairy Fun Fridays - Anything with flowers
Hotshot Crafts - Red
Glitter Geeks - Red and white
Celebrate the Occasion - Happy Birthday (Must use ribbon)

Monday 23 April 2012


My monkeys now have a new home - come and visit them here!

Saturday 21 April 2012

Just jumping on the computer to quickly share a card I've made in between building a new home for my monkeys and other sock toys (here) and making a whole bunch of paper beads for my taster Making Paper Jewellery session at the library on Monday evening - (pop along if you're in the Penicuik area).
I have used a free collage digi stamp that I picked up recently but unfortunately have forgotten where from, I'll add the details as soon as I can find them :o) I used distress inks and dylusions spray ink to colour the image then added a coat of Glossy Accents to the dressform to give it a bit of extra dimension. The backing papers are Basic Grey, the flourish stamp is from Whimsy Stamps and all the other bits & bobs are from my stash.


Entering the following challenges:
Our Craft Lounge - Buttons 
Stamp Man - Shabby Chic / Distressed 
Totally Papercrafts - Buttons 
Fashionista Challenge - Anything Goes for Girls   
Tiffany Doodles - Any Digital Stamp
Crafts and Me - Vintage
Crafty Sentiments - Use A Digi 
Digital Tuesday - Distressed
Paper Take Weekly - A Stitch In Time 
Incy Wincy DesignsDigi’s ONLY

Monday 16 April 2012

Cupcake anyone?

Yay I made a card just for fun - don't have much time for that these days but I really enjoy just sitting down at my desk and making a card for no particular reason but just because I feel like it :o) 
The image is from Tiddly Inks, the flowers are Marianne’s die cuts cut from Cor’dinations card then embossed and distressed held together with little copper brads, the sentiment is from Stampin Up, papers are Basic Grey, the ribbon is from my stash and the little bows from Papermania.

  
Challenges I'm entering:
Craft Your Days Away  - Metal 
Card Makin' Mamas - Make it Girlie   
Fairy Fun Fridays - Anything Goes
Phindy’s Place - What's Cooking 
Crafty Purple Frog - Let's get distressed 
Shelly's Images - Seize the cupcake
My Mum's Craft shop - Celebration

Saturday 14 April 2012

Been Busy

Today I have had the first chance to try out the new Dylusion inks I bought with a gift voucher my fabulous daughter Lynsey gave me for my birthday - they are such fun to use and I know I'm going to have a great messy time playing around with them.
Right now I'm just getting used to the way they work on different surfaces- for instance I didn't much like the way they worked on my Moleskine Sketch Book - they went a bit dull and soaked through too easily but in the new 10x10 square wiro greyboard sketchbook, which I also got from the lovely Lynsey for Mother's Day, the colours remained bright and sat on the surface long enogh for me to transfer the excess ink to the opposite page as Dyan showed in her demo from CHA. I some of Dyan's rubber stamps for this page but cut the big bird from book paper and doodled it to match the smaller stamps colouring them all with the inks direct from the bottle with a brush.
I'm quite pleased with my first attempt and will definitely try to find more time for this kind of craftingin the future!





Friday 13 April 2012

Another showery April card

Time for another new challenge at Cardmadfairy's Digi Days and this time the theme is April Showers
- we've certainly had plenty of them this week - rain, sleet & snow showers! Pop on over to the challenge blog to see the DT inspiration and to join in. We are also holding a DT call - looking for at least 3 new members so if you like working with digi stamps and can commit to producing 1 project per fortnight get in touch before the 27th April - no DT experience necessary!

For my card this time I have used the April digi stamp available here and I cropped the image in 3 different places and added a black frame to each section before printing them out and paper piecing them. I used Promarkers for the additional colouring, papers from Stampin Up, a length of narrow black ribbon and some vintage buttons from a charity shop. I finished it all off with a fun quote sentiment and some faux stitching.

 

Challenges entered:
Paper Take Weekly - April Showers (Or Water Water Everywhere)   
Karens DoodlesSomething Spring   
Smudgy Antics - Anything Goes   
Victorine Originals - April Showers   
One Stitch At A Time - Use a Digi   
Scrapper’s Delights Paper Crafts - Spring has sprung  
Catch The Bug - April Anything goes  
Delightful Challenges -  Stitching (real or faux)
Paper Crafting Journey - 3 or more patterned papers

    Thursday 12 April 2012

    Fly

    It's time for another new challenge at Charisma Cardz and this time our theme is Fancy Folds. I struggled a bit getting started with this card and theme - my mojo had decided to take a holiday and I just couldn’t think what to do! However I looked at some 6 x 6 paper pads and  this Basic Grey set with the little blue birds caught my attention and I suddenly knew what to do. Inspiration is a very funny thing isn't it?


    Entering the following:
    My Craft Spot - Inside and out 
    The Squirrel & the Fox - Things with wings
    Stamp, Scrap and Doodle -  Things with wings 
    Bunny Zoe's CraftsRibbon or Twine 
    Cupcake CraftSpring is in the air 
    Stamp and Create - Spring 
    Make it Monday - Always anything goes
    That Craft Place - Its all about Spring
    Platypus Creek Digitals - Fancy folds


     

    Thursday 5 April 2012

    April Showers

    April brings more than showers actually, since Sunday we've had wind, snow, hail and today bright bue sky and sunshine and it's only the 5th! 
    Finally I've managed to take a break from monkey making long enough to make a card, I had a new die Honeysuckle Vine from Memory Box which I was dying to use. I used an old Miss Anya stamp which I coloured with Promarkers and then masked while I sprayed it with a new (to me) product  Goosebumps Texture Spray from Tsukineko which gives my background a wet, april showery look.


    Here’s a pic of some of the monkeys I’ve been working on for the last few weeks, these ones have been sent off to their new home now and I've started another batch for some upcoming craft fairs.

    Entering my card for these challenges:
    Crafting for all Seasons April Showers
    Inky Impressions April Showers
    Little Red Wagon - Umbrella
    Crazy Amigo Challenge - April does what it wants
    Creative Card Crew - Spring  
    Oldie But Goodie Challenge April showers (Stamp is over 6 mths old) 
    Paper Pretties - April Showers Bring May Flowers