Sweet Pea Stampers Challenge - Monday 19/7/10

Over at the Sweet Pea Stampers Challenge the topic is "black, white and another colour".  Yet again, I decided to challenge myself and use a colour I don't normally use - green.  I have used Ching-chou Kuik's Reflections image for the basis of the card and coloured her in with Promarkers - including green hair - with Promarkers and distressed the edges with Tim Holtz's Peeled Paint and Black Soot Distress Ink Pads.  The black and white card is some I have had for a few years from a Redhotbed kit, followed by some green vellum I've had for a while as well.  Underneath the mounts I decided to add an extra layer of some green mirri card edged with green and black peel-offs I've had for ages and ages.  The card is finished off with some ribbon I coloured with a black promarker, some card candy, a butterfly embellishment I've had for maybe 2-3 years, a sentiment off the computer and then two flowers I made using a book, various sized flower shapes cut out with my Cricut, each layer screwed up, flattened out and Peeled Paint and Black Soot distress ink put on alternate layers and all held together with some green glitzy brads.

This card fits the following challenges:

Paper Sundaes - Make your own flowers

Practical Scrappers - Using stash over 1 year old (Butterfly embellishment, vellum, peel-offs and black and white card)

Cupcake Craft - Cats and dogs

Pollycraft - Happy Birthday

Crafty Angels - Shabby Chic

Passion for Promarkers - Distressing

Crafty Creations - Happy or sweet

Fan 'n' Funky - Reuse or recycle (recycled the book into flowers)

Raise the Bar - Distressed, torn, ripped or broken

Stamp Something - Something flowery

Daring Cardmakers - Layer it up

Funky Friday - Reduce, reuse or recyle (recycled the book into flowers)

Creative Friday - Teenage Dreams - card is for an 19 year old

Craftalicious - Birthdays

The Stamp Man - Anything goes

Stamp, Scrap and Doodle - Animals.

Mo's Digital Challenge - Thursday 15/7/10

It seems an awful age since I have had chance to take part in Mo's Digital Challenge.  The topic this week is "masculine" and although it's female cards I need at the moment I have rebelled and made this card.  The backing paper is some Basic Grey which I've had for 1-2 years along with the DCWV paper that I cut the city landscape out with the Cricut.  I have cut the image out with a Nestabilities die and then coloured in with Promarkers and then distressed the edges.  For more male orientated embellishments I have used some ric-rac ribbon and two circles and a flowers shape cut from the Cricut which I have distressed with Tim Holtz's Faded Jeans and Tumbled Glass Distress Ink Pads and also have done some faux stitching on the white circle and around the card.


This card fits the following challenges:


CRAFT - Babies/children
Dare U 2 Digi Stamp - Stitching
Our Daily Bread - Coloured image
One Stitch at a Time - Use a digi image
Practical Scrappers - Using stash over 1 year old (both backing papers used are 1-2 years old)
Lexi's Creations - Real or faux stitching
Crazy Challenge - Boys will be boys
Everybody Art - Blue and white
Digital Tuesday - Happy birthday
Passion for Promarkers - Distressing
Papertake Weekly - Cutie Patootie.

Commissioned Card for my Son's Workplace

My son asked me to make a card for a colleague's mother who liked freesias.  Yikes I said as I don't know one flower from another apart from a few types.  Thankfully a friend came to the rescue.  I printed the main image onto photo paper and decoupage it up.  I used my new Cricut to make the two large frames and also the small flowers/leaves (Accent Essentials cartridge).  Inside I faded out an image on one side to put the verse on top whereas the image the other side was at 100%.  In My Craft Studio I did some faux matting and layering with some Crafty Ann's paper from the Polished Stone Collections and it was then layered onto some striped paper I was given.  The card is finished off with some ribbon, a sentiment off the computer and some diamante pins.


This card fits the following challenges:


Cricut Cardz - Use any feature from a Cricut cartridge (I used my scallop frame, flowers and leaves from the Accent Essential cartridge for my first attempt at a card for this challenge blog)
The Shabby Team Room - From the garden
Allsorts - Summer days - if these beautiful flowers don't make you think of summer what will?
Sir Stampalot Challenge - Lazy hazy days of summer
Craftalicious - Birthdays.

Crafty Ann's Challenge No 19 - Friday 16/7/10

Here we are again.  It is time for another challenge at Crafty Ann's.  This time the topic has been chosen by ................... me!!!  I have chosen "Sir Cliff Richard songs".  I know this might sound very hard but here are two places that you can look to gain some inspiration - check here and here.  I shall look forward to seeing what you all come up with.  The Design Team have come up with some wonderful cards to give you some ideas/inspiration and these can be found here.


For my card I decided to go with a 1963 film and song I played a lot of Sir Cliff Richard when I was growing up - Summer Holiday.  I have used three different blue backing papers from Crafty Ann's Digi Store - two from the polished stone collection and one from the mottled stone collection.  The mottled stone collection I stamped in black various Tim Holtz Paris stamps to give it a more vintage feel.  The actual beach scene I coloured in with Promarkers in more subtle/vintage style colours to fit in with the backing papers.  The bus and Athens picture are off the web.  The two guitars and ticket sentiment are also available from Crafty Ann's Digi Store.  The card is finished off with some raffia and some coins from a sheet from Red Hot Bed that I have had for ages and ages and ages.


Can you keep a secret??  The card is all brought together with a lot of love as I thought I would give it to my husband on Tuesday as it will be our 19th wedding anniversary.  For my 30th birthday he took me to Paris, he drives buses (even though he did first drive buses like that after his initial period of being a conductor, the buses are much more modern now) and I love being by the sea and my husband loves to see me happy so that was just the perfect image to use.


This card also fits the following challenges:


Totally Gorjuss - Water
One Stop Craft - Monochromatic
Cutie Sunday - Sea, beach, ocean
Stampin' Sisters in Christ - Something that brings you peace - flowers bring me peace but I also find peace and harmony when I spend time by the sea
Incy Wincy - Distress it
Donna's Den - It's a Man's World
Daring Cardmakers - Something sea related
Totally Stampalicious - A splash of red
Tuesday Taggers - Anniversary
Everybody Art - Holidays
For Fun Challenge - No die-cuts and you must colour your main image
Gingersnap Creations - Markers
Just Inspirational - Vintage.

Commissioned Birthday Card

A customer asked me to make her a girly birthday card with lilac/purple/pink.  Well the girly bit was more difficult but as purple/lilac are my favourite colours I got stuck in.  I decided to use a Sugar Nellie Leanne Ellis image called "Tell me something".  She's standing there holding a little bird and talking to him.  I have coloured the image with Promarkers and Copics and then I tore the edges, distressed it a bit more and then highlighted the edge with a purple Versamagic chlak ink pad.  The image is mounted on a tag that I made myself using alcohol inks and then I stamped the U-mount crackle stamp over it and put on Tim Holtz's black distress powder.  I still find this difficult to know when it's finished but this time after I let it cool down and then rubbed away the excess it looked better than my last attempt.  More practice needed I think!!!  The mounts for the card are some silver mirri card, some purple backing paper scrap and then a scrap of purple vellum.  The card is finished off with some lace around the front of the card, a thinner lace instead of ribbon on the tag, some brads to hold the vellum on and a peel-off.


This card fits the following challenges:


Sweet Stampin' - Things with wings
Practical Scrappers - Embossing
Incy Wincy - Distress it
Party Time Tuesday - Anything goes birthday
Papertake Weekly - In the garden
For Fun Challenge - No die-cuts and the main image you must have coloured yourself
Gingersnap Creations - Markers
CAS-tastic - Use any 3 of the following:  (1) stamped/digi image (2) inked edges (3) Masking (4) paper piercing (5) lace (6) embossing - I've managed to use 4 out 6 on this card ie (1), (2), (5) and (6)
Rainbow Lady's - Lavender and lace
Meljen's Designs - Long or tall card.

Sweet Pea Stampers - Monday 12/7/10

Monday brought the new challenge over at the Sweet Pea Stampers.  Oh boy did I struggle and I nearly didn't enter.  The challenge this week is:  no patterned paper, 1 butterfly, 2 images and 3 different embellishments.  


I chose to use the image Autumn Harvest and stamped with Versafine, embossed with clear embossing powder and out came my Lyra Watercolour crayons.  I enjoyed having a play with these instead of Promarkers.  The second image I stamped with a purple Memento ink pad.  Both images have had Tim Holtz's Tattered Rose and Dusty Concord around the edges.  The backing paper has been made with these two inks and using cut-and-dry foam they have covered the white card.  Next out came the mister.  I have a Cosmic Shimmer one and no matter what I always end up with large blobs so I located my Ranger one I got with Tim Holtz's TSV six months or so ago.  I know Dawn Bibby always raves about these and now I know why as it worked brilliantly.  I sprayed the backing paper all over and then sprinkled on some table salt and then heat set it.  Then I rubbed off the salt to leave speckled areas.  For anyone that knows me - I don't do mess - but I did enjoy having a play.  The images I cut out with a Nellie Snellon die and the large image I weaved in-and-out some black ribbon.  It was tough going as I couldn't find my tapestry needle but I got there in the end.  The card is finished off with a Dawn Bibby butterfly which I coloured with Dusty Concord ink, some purple lace and some pearls.  I am not sure I totally like it but it might grow on me - like the pumpkins and the grapes!!!


This card also fits the following challenges:


Sweet Stampin' - Things with wings
Stamp with Fun - Fairies
The Craft Garden - Fairies
Incy Wincy - Distress it
Papertake Weekly - In the garden
My Time to Craft - Butterfly bliss
CAS-tastic - Use 3 of the following:  (1) stamped or digi image (2) inked edges (3) masking (4) paper piercing (5) lace (6) embossing - so my 3 are (1), (2) and (5)
Simon Says - Let's get fruity.

Party Time Tuesday Challenge - 13/7/10

Over at the Party Time Tuesday Challenge this week the topic is "anything goes birthday".  It is my husband's birthday today and I made this card using a Gordon Fraser image available from CraftsuPrint here.  It's a wonderful image and such a pleasure to work with.  I have used a few backing papers from Crafty Ann's Digi Shop as my scraps wouldn't fit on this 8x8 square card.  To compliment the circles of the snooker balls I cut out some cicles with two different sized dies to adorn the card.  They are all in lovely colours of black, brown, green, red, blue and gold - not that you'd know as no matter how many times I took a photo because they were all mirri card it bounced off the flash!!  I finished off the card with another circle but this time stamped Happy Birthday on it with a Personal Impressions stamp designed by Paula Pasqual.


This card also fits the following challenges:


Creative Inspiration - On the move
Penny's Challenge - 7 of something - I used 7 die-cut circles
Meljen's Designs - Cicles galore
Crazy Challenge - It's hip to be square
Donna's Den - It's a Man's World
Pollycraft - Bold and bright.

Creative Craft Challenge - Tuesday 6/7/10

Over at the Creative Craft Challenge this week the topic is "summer lovin" so I thought this Sarah Kay image would fit the bill.  I have left my Promarkers in the cupboard and out came the watercolour pencils.  It made a nice change to have a play with a different medium.  I have finished the card off with some papers from my stash, some Papermania Glitterations, a thank you sentiment and some Dawn Bibby butterflies.


This card also fits the following challenges:


My Time to Craft - Angelic
Your Next Step Challenge - Flower power
Flutter by Wednesday - Open theme
Cute Card Thursday - Summer theme
Sweet Stampin' - Things with wings.

Charisma Cardz Challenge - Thursday 8/7/10

Over at the Charisma Cardz Challenge this week the topic is "watch the birdie" so I thought I would make a card with this stamped image I was given by a friend of this gorgeous peacock.  I have coloured the image with Promarkers but then I triple embossed it to make it look glass-like.  The papers are scraps from my "bit box" and that's why the papers had to be torn as they wouldn't quite reach the edges but you'll keep the secret won't you??  I have distressed the edges of the papers to accentuate the ripped edges.  The card is finished off with some raffia, some gems and a ticket sentiment from Crafty Ann's Digi Store.


This card also fits the following challenges:


Sentimental Sunday - Celebrations
Rainbow Lady's Challenge - Triple treasure
Creative Inspirations - On the move
Your Next Step - Flower Power
Sweet Stampin' Challenge - Things with wings

Sweet Stampin' Challenge - Saturday 10/7/10

Over at the Sweet Stampin' Challenge this week the topic is "things with wings" so I thought this beautiful Sweet Pea stamp would fit the bill.  I have coloured the image in with Promarkers and Sakura pens.  I have layered the image on top of some die-cut circle handmade hearts papers.  I have edged the card with a red peel-off and blue peel-off hearts.  The card is finished off with some faux stitching, some flowers and a blue ribbon.


This card also fits the following challenges:


Cutie Sunday - Fairytale
Stampin' Sisters in Christ - Red, white and blue
Sweet Pea Stamper - Red, white and blue
The Pink Elephant - 3 layers, 2 die-cuts and a ribbon
Craft Your Passion - Faux or real stitching
Creative Card Crew - Die-cuts
Flutter by Wednesday - Open theme
Simon Says - Photo inspiration
Allsorts - July love.

Karen's Doodles Scandinavia Challenge 7/7/10

Over at the Karen's Doodles Scandinavia Challenge the topic this week is love.  I have used two of Karen's Doodles images as I was asked to make a card for someone who will be leaving work soon to have a baby - a fun image and a more traditional image.  I have coloured the image with Promarkers.  The front of the card I made to look as two wardrobes with the images inside.  I have decorated the inside of the card so people can sign inside and the back has been decorated with various baby stamps that I have and a verse added.  I have used my Cricut to make the die-cut letters and flowers.  The card is finished off with some Bearlymine flower images, some Jak Heath blossoms and some baby items from my stash.


This card also fits the following challenges:


Dare U 2 Digi Stamp - The great outdoors
Craftalicious - Cute
Totally Papercrafts - One for the girlies
Creative Craft - Summer love
Creative Card Crew - Die-cuts
Passion for Promarkers - Give us a laugh
Party Time Tuesday - Outside in
Your Next Step - Flower power
ABC Challenge - Y is for You and Me.

Crafty Ann's Challenge No 18 - Friday 2/7/10

Well, it's amazing how quickly another fortnight has come around and it's time for another Crafty Ann's Challenge.  This week the challenge is "shaped easel cards".  I've done a number of easel cards but wasn't sure what shape to use.  In the end I went for a long rectangle, curved the corners and then cut some scalloped squares on my new Cricut to make the shaped part of the card.  I used one of my favourite embossed backing papers from Crafty Ann's, the embossed dots, as they didn't over-power everything else. I have used one of Crafty Ann's new digital images for a graduation and thought this would make a good card to go on the charity stall next week.  The card is finished off with some ribbon, gold star brads, peel-off and some card card candy.  Click here to go and have a look at all the other Design Team cards.


Crafty Ann's also has some free shaped easel templates if you want to give this challenge a go.


This card also fits the following challenges:


Saturday Secret Crafter Challenge - Strawberries and cream - I decided to go for a red and cream colour-way
Daring Cardmakers - Ruby Red
Craftalicious Challenge - Cute
Totally Papercrafts - One for the girlies
Charisma Cardz - Metal Mickey
Spoon Full of Sugar - Animal crackers.

The CD Sunday Challenge - 27/6/10

Over at the CD Sunday Challenge the topic this week is "in full bloom".  I was asked to make a birthday card for a customer for someone who likes rabbits.  I have used Joanna Sheen's Jayne Netley Mayhew Part II and decided to try out my first side-stepper card.  I am happy with how it turned out in the end.  Before I cut the side-stepper out I decided to print the other side with one of the backing papers from the CD.  I made the verse mount in My Craft Studio as it was a small area left on the card for this to go on.  After cutting out the items off the CD and placing them on the card I simply finished off the card with a ribbon bow.


This card also fits the following challenges:


A Spoon Full of Sugar - Animal crackers
Everybody Art - Birthday
Sew Many Cards - Anything goes
Dutch Dare Challenge - Floral inspiration
By the Cute and Girly - Warm summer days
The Corrosive Challenge - Lots of flowers
Magical Crafts Fortnight - Flower power.

Sweet Pea Stampers Challenge - Monday 28/6/10

Well, two weeks in a row I have made a card for the Sweet Pea Stampers Challenge only to find out when I was about to post, the deadline had shut.  This week my friend is a Guest Design Team Member, Debbie, so I thought I'd better get in soon and get my card in on time.  I have used my new Cricut to make the three different shaped scalloped backgrounds, one I have distressed, one I have left plain and the other I have stamped with little dots See D's Morsels stamp.  The Sweet Pea image, Forest Blue, I decided to colour in with reds and oranges as the topic this week at the Sweet Pea Stampers is "Earth, Wind or Fire".  The backing paper is from Crafty Ann's and is from the Funky Collections.  I think it was the perfect backdrop for the card.  I've finished the card off with flowers from my stash, card candy and some ribbon.


This card also fits the following challenges:


The Craft Garden - Fairy
Sew Many Challenges - Anything goes
Fun with Shapes and More - Distressing
Magical Crafts Fortnight - Flower power
Corrosive Challenge - Lots of flowers
Incy Wincy - Things with wings
Cute Card Thursday - Let's get fruity
Dutch Dare Challenge - Floral inspiration.