Die Cuts

Die cutting is what is required for our challenge this week at Charisma Cardz, so I have die cut the edge of my card with a Tim Holt 'On the Edge' die and I have used a die cut chipboard bird from Maya Road which is my hoarded item for the challenge at Use it Tuesdays. I confess that although I did use Promarkers on my card, it was only to add a shadow to the birdcage stamped image - hope it still counts for the challenge ;o)

Passion For Promarkers Challenge - Butterflies
Use It Tuesdays - Die Cuts, Punches & Cut Outs
Craft Your Passion - Ribbons or Lace
Creative Creations Challenge Blog - Things with the letter B 
Sparkles Forum Challenges - Birds
Cards by Lady Anne / Stamp Challenge - Anything goes
The Perfect Sentiment - Fairies/Butterflies 

Who's for a sketch challenge?

I took a quick break from preparations for my first craft fair of 2013, the house is now full of monkeys and other stitched items such as spectacle cases and felt brooches - only 1 more day to get it all organised and labelled - eek!
However it's always fun to do a good sketch challenge and this week the Charisma Cardz challenge has a great sketch by Natalie which I really enjoyed using for my dt card. I used an old favourite stamp which I think came from Sugar Nellie but can't now find! I coloured the image with Promarkers and used papers from Basic Grey and crocheted flowers from Iamroses.com, I added a die cut Kaleidoscope butterfly by Memory Box with a diamonte gem to finish off my design.


Challenges entered: 
Cuttin & Stampin Challenges - Use Flowers 
Cuttlebug Mania - Butterflies 
Everybody-Art-Challenge - Butterfly 
Party Time Tuesdays - Die Cuts 
Artistic Inspirations - Things with Wings
Card Mania - Fairies or Butterflies  
Whoopsi Daisy - 2 Patterned Papers
Flutterby Wednesdays - Open 
Sugar Creek Hollow  - Lovely Lace

Only one layer

One layer cards are always a challenge, for me at least, but that is what the Charisma Cardz design team have chosen for this week's challenge! The image must be stamped directly onto the card - no sticking on any layers at all and keep embellishments minimal - I know there are some crafters who can really rock this style but I have to say I'm not really one of them :o)

I have stamped the images (from Kaiserkraft) onto the base card, by masking the flower while stamping the leaves. I used Stampin Up inks to stamp and colour the image then added a shadow under it with a Promarker. The sentiment is also from Stampin Up and I used some sticky gems to add a little bling to the design

Challenges entered:
Digistamps 4 Joy - Birthdays are fun 
Fab 'n' Funky - Flower Power
Penny's Paper-Crafty - Anything goes
Inky Chicks - Mothers Day or Birthday 
Card Makin' Mamas - Birthday

Love

Can you believe we're already at the end of the first week of February - only another week until Valentines Day which is, this year, followed closely by Mother's Day with Easter hot on it's heels - lots of work for us cardmakers in the early part of 2013!!
Today's card is my design team effort for this week's Charisma Cardz challenge where the theme is, of course, Love :o) I have used a Greeting Farm stamp, Madelynn and coloured the image with Promarkers, the backing papers are from BoBunny and Basic Grey, I used a Tim Holtz ‘on the edge’ die and the flowers all came from Iamroses.com. The lace, heart pins and jewel brad are from my stash.

I'm entering my card for the following challenges:
Cards by Lady Anne / Stamp Challenge - Anything goes 
Fab 'n' Funky - Valentines/hearts 
Inky Impressions - Love 
Simon Says Stamp - Heart 
Cards und More -  Love/Valentines Day  
Crazy Amigo Challenge - Hearts 
Deep Ocean Challenge - Love and Lace  
Party Time Tuesdays - Love & Romance 
Created With Love - Valentine's Day 
Incy Wincy Designs - Love is in the air

Hearts and flowers

This week's challenge at Charisma Cardz is all about hearts and flowers and we all used images (this one is Clementine) from Stampfairy - our sponsor for the week. I decided to do some paper-piecing on my card for a change and as I couldn't find any suitable paper in my stash I decided to use some free papers from an old copy of Craft Seller - one of my favourite magazines. Unfortunately however, there was a bit of show-through and you can just about see the design on the reverse side of the papers but as I didn't have time to start again I just had to run with it! This is one card which will not be used as anything other than a dt sample :o)

I plan to enter the card for the following challenges:
Crafting By Design - Polka dots
Sisterhood of Crafters  - Hearts
Stampavie and More - Spots and stripes 
Whimsical Designs - Love  
Papertake Weekly - Tie up your loose ends (add a bow) 
Sweet Stamps - Pearls & Lace 
Tuesday Throwdown - Furry Friends
Kaboodle Doodles - Ribbon
Pretty Little Ribbon - Flowers & Ribbon 
Totally Stampalicious - Paper Piecing

A new space to sew

I recently cleared out our porch to accomodate my sewing machine, my supply of socks and of course a couple of boxes of finished sock monkeys :o) It's so great to have a little space for my sewing instead of having to disrupt what I'm working on to use the dining table whenever we want to eat a family meal together! 

I made this little altered coffee tin which I am using in my new little sewing room for my machine's spare bobbins,  I covered the tin with scrapbook paper then stamped a sewing machine on to the reverse side of a scrap of the paper and stuck that on with sticky pads. I used some measuring tape paper and some lace from my stash to embellish then added some paper twine with a little framed charm hanging from it. I also altered the lid with some alcohol inks a paper flower,  a button and some twine. Waiting now till we finish the next tin of coffee so I can make another little container to go with it!

Entering these challenges: 
Speedy and Friends - Use Twine 
Crafty Catz -Anything but a card 
Frilly and Funkie - Vintage - anything goes
Ladybug Crafts -  Anything but a card

Happy Birthday Charisma

Here I am back with a new project at long last - actually a full month since I last posted and I've no idea where the time went! I'm going to try my best to be a better blogger this year :o)

This week is the Charisma Cardz challenge fourth birthday so the theme for the new challenge is of course 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

and if you use the number 4 on your creation you can enter up to 4 projects (but please remember to put 4 at the end of your name to qualify), your creations must all follow the theme. There are seven prizes up for grabs on our birthday week so it's well worth having a go!

For my card I've used a digi stamp from the great Dustin Pike, the papers are Bloom & Grow from MME and the sentiment came from a free set of stamps from one of last years's Homemade magazines.

A & T Emerald Faeries Challenge - Celebrations 
Loves Rubber Stamps - Use Dies Or Punches
Ooh La La Creations - Happy Birthday 
Whoopsi Daisy - Die Cuts & Punches
ATCs & Cards With Attitude - Celebrations Anything Goes 
Fairy Tale - Animals &Pets 
Fussy and Fancy - Furry Friends
The Stamping Chef - Celebrations
Jen's Digis - Celebration

Christmas is getting close

Christmas is coming up so fast now I've had to admit defeat and buy a few Christmas cards or all my friends and family would still be waiting for their cards in January! It's the first year in about the last ten that I haven't made all my own cards - must be more organised and start early (January??) for next year!

Today's card is for the Charisma Cardz weekly challenge where the theme this week is, of course, Christmas, I have used a Lili of the Valley stamp and coloured it with Promarkers, adding a bit of sparkle with Stickles and Stardust gel pens. The paper is last year's Holly Jolly by My Mind's Eye, the die cut bird is (I think) from Memory Box and to finish the card off I also used some old lace and a button from my stash.

Challenges I'm entering:
Cards by Lady Anne / Stamp Challenge - Anything Goes
Freshly Brewed - Christmas
I love Promarkers - Anything Goes
Paper Pretties Wednesday Challenge - Christmas inspired 
Clear It Out! - Christmas
Deep Ocean Challenge - Christmas
Everybody-Art-Challenge - Christmas  
The Stamping Boutique - Holiday Cards
Hooked on Craft - Christmas 
Passion For Promarkers Challenge - Mega Christmas Challenge 
 

First Christmas card of the season!

I'm way behind this year because my focus has been so much on sock monkeys, so much so that I'm  seeing them in my sleep!! These two are Wenceslas and Stefan :o)

However it was time to make a start on the Chrismas cards so I used the Charisma Cardz challenge to get me started - this week the challenge is a colour one and I've done my best to come up with a wintry, seasonal card using the colours!

 

The digi image I've used was a great freebie from QKR Stampede through their Facebook page, it was coloured with Promarkers.

Challenges:
Joanna Sheen Challenge - Cold and Frosty 
One Stitch At A Time - Use a Digi   
The Crafty Pad - Christmas  
Little Claire's  - Christmas
Paper Creator's Crafts - All about Christmas  
Fun with Shapes & More - The 1st Snow 
QKR Stampede  - Winter Wonderland
Bearly Mine - Snowflakes
Crazy Amigo Challenge -  Colours Of Winter 
Bunny Zoe's Crafts - Winter 
Crafty Bloggers Network - Christmas Anything Goes
Hooked on Craft - Christmas NO red/green 

He likes skiing, camper vans, holidays.....

I was commissioned to make a card for the 60th birthday of an aquaintance’s husband, the brief was that he liked skiing, holidays, camper vans and cars - well the cars was the only one I left out. I made an easel style card so that I could add the die cut numbers without compromising the design on the front.
I found a free digi image of a camper van which I used to cut the shapes from coloured and white card then assembled all the various layers to form the completed van. I created the skiing background myself on the computer then coloured it with promarkers to add a bit of subtle colour. I'm quite happy with the result - hope he is too!

Challenges entered:
Simply Create - Always anything goes
Digistamps 4 Joy - Anything goes + masculine bonus
Paper Pretties Wednesday Challenge - Masculine
Tandastamps -  Masculine 
Bearly Mine - Easel Card
Flourishes - Create A Birthday Card
Crafty Catz - Male Card  
Corrosive Challenges - Know When To Fold 'Em
Here Come the Boys - Die Cuts/Punches 
 

Don't be Square!

It's a little while since I've blogged and shared a card - life is particularly hectic at the moment with craft fairs every weekend so I've been concentrating most of my crafting time on making monkeys and other fun sock toys in an effort to keep the stock up. However in the last week or so I've had to make a bunch of commissioned cards as well as today's design team inspiration for the new Charisma Cardz challenge for which the theme is Don't be Square. 

I used a template to cut the crown shape out of Crate paper which I then stuck to some pink card and cut round the crown shape with scissors to leave a 1/4" border. The Princess word was made up with Basic Grey stickers, and I used another of the stickers for the centre of the circular sentiment finishing the design off with punched flowers, sticky backed gems and some lace from my stash.

Entering this for the challeges at:
Through The Craft Room Door - Always anything goes 
Cards by Lady Anne / Monday - Always anything goes 
Crafty Bloggers Network - Anything goes 
Lollipop Crafts - Happy Birthday
Make it Monday - Always anything goes 
Annabelle Stamps Challenge - Say it with...Kid's Card

Squigglefly Challenge Day

Yes it's time for a new challenge from the team at Squigglefly, my card is a bit last minute as I've been ridiculously busy with preparations for all of this month and next's craft fairs - I have at least one most weekends from now until midway through December so I have been sewing like mad and straining the poor muscles in my right arm and shoulder!! Anyway I enjoyed doing this - it made a nice change from making owls, monkeys and other sock toys.

This week our theme is a colour combo - Teal, pink & white and I have coloured the fab image Sassy Sally and her autumn leaves which is, again, by Cheryl Alger. She has to be one of my favourite Squigglefly artists! I used Promarkers to colour Sally and printed the image out twice so that I could decoupage a few of the leaves to add a bit of extra dimension to the card.

Challenges:
Joanna Sheen Challenge - Down in the garden
Robyn’s Fetish - Sewing (real or faux) 
Gingerloft - Stitching (real or faux)
A Gem of a Challenge - For the girls 
Catch The Bug - Seasonal / fall harvest 
Crazy 4 Challenges - Leaves 
Just Some Lines - Let’s Celebrate Fall 
Clearly Inspired - Fall 
Dilly Beans - Fall is in the air 
Emergency Crafters - Autumn leaves