Dream Valley Challenge 1 - Anything Goes

Today is the very first challenge over at Dream Valley Challenges and I am thrilled to say that I have been picked for the design team.  Normally the challenge will run every fortnight but the first week is for one week only and Melly is offering some absolutely super prizes for our initial week.

1st Prize £10 voucher for Lili of the Valley

 2nd prize is Fashionista and Dude Simply Sassy set

and 3rd prize is wee Windswept Simply Sassy

How's that for amazing prizes!  And all you have to do is make something that fits the theme which this week is ANYTHING GOES! 

I've gone for an Oriental card and used a stamp from Simple Expressions The Orient plate stamped in Versafine Sepia onto cream card which I tore and then distressed with Victorian Velvet Distress Ink and added a tiny bit of gold embossing powder.  She is then mounted onto brown card that has gold embossing powder too.  The background is a piece of pink card I ran through the cuttlebug (twice!) with the D'vine Swirls plate and then wiped my Versamark pad over and added more gold embossing powder (yep, two types of embossing, lol).  The little fans were strips of Dovecraft Eastern Promise paper that I crinkled with a Papercrimper then folded.  I thought this bit would be easy but I ended up covered in glue while they stuck!  The fabulous ribbon came from a box of equally fabulous Belgian chocolates and the swirl was cut with a QuicKutz flourish die.  Then all I did was add some Wild Orchid flowers and a few pearls.

I am entering my card in the following challenges:

Happileigh Scrappin' - Sketch

Do You Stack Up - Anything Goes

Fussy and Fancy Friday Challenge - Embossing and/or paper piecing

Love Hanging

I decided to make a little simple inchie hanging, you know, just three little inchies hung from jump rings, nice and simple.  Well somehow I got a bit carried away and this is what I ended up with.  First I inked up the lovely little Anita heart with Brilliance Rocket Red, clear embossed it and cut it out with my Woodware 1" punch.  Next came those lucious lips (again Anita's).  Then, of course, I decided that 3 wasn't enough so I played around until I came up with the little punched hearts (Woodware punch) using a tiny word from a Penny Black set and a cute heart border stamp from DoCrafts, this time using not just Rocket Red but also Pearlescent Orchid.  After playing around a bit more I decided to do lots of layers and then finally mounted all the squares onto a deep red piece of mountboard.  Now how to hang my hanging?  I found some great ribbon in my stash and after adding eyelets top and bottom tied the ribbon with simple knots both to hang the hanging and as embellishments at the bottom.

 

Here are a couple of close-ups of the hanging.

I am going to enter this into the following challenges:

The Artistic Stamper - Love is in the Air

Ooh La La Creations - Pink, pink and more pink

Crafty Calendar Challenges - Love

Where Dreams Are Made

Click on pic to enlarge and get a better view

The silver really makes Audrey shine!

Every time I use this stamp my friend comments on how much he likes this image so I decided to make him a little piece of artwork to put on his desk.  I also challenged myself to use the 'wrong side' of a canvas frame.  I find it so hard to turn these frames round and leave all that lovely blank, clean canvas untouched, lol.  Soooo, I turned my little box canvas over (its a 5x7 canvas) and stuck newspaper clippings all over the frame.  I used mainly film reviews for this but had to add a few record and DVD reviews as I only had one paper to work with.  Next I printed out a map of Hollywood and fitted that in the bottom of the frame.  I added silver stars to some of the places marked on the map.  Next made my film strip by cutting a strip of black card, then punching the holes with my Bind-It-All and then cutting out the apertures.  I fixed a piece of acetate behind and voila - film strip.  I stamped the lovely Audrey Hepburn (The Stampsmith stamps) onto the acetate and backed one frame with silver card.  This was then attached inside the frame on sticky pads to raise it off the background.  I printed the 'Where Dreams Are Made' and framed it with my computer and the word Hollywood was cut using an old Xcut Impress Alphabet with lots of added bling.  To finish off I scattered a few more stars and bling.

I am entering this into the following challenges:

The Stampsmith - Travel (off to Hollywood)

The Cheerful Stamp Pad - Anything But a Card

Crafty Catz - Friendship (Create something for a friend)

Maribel

Last year I was lucky enough to be a winner at Bunny Zoe Craft Challenge and for my prize I chose this fabulous stamp from her shop.  She is by Stempelglede and called Maribel.  I stamped her using Versafine Onyx Black, then cut her and matted her with oval Nestabilities.  The DP is from a gorgeous stack by DCWV called La Creme.  Just a simple card but such a gorgeous image.

I am entering her in the following challenges:

Party Time Tuesdays - Anything goes

Stamps R Us - For the girls

Stampin' for the Weekend - Monochrome

Phindy's Place - Monochrome

I got an award! . . .

Thank You to a fellow blogger called Sylvie for this lovely award.

The conditions of this Award are . . .
1. Make a post linking back to the person who gave you the award!
2. Share 7 random things about yourself
3. Award 7 recently discovered bloggers with this award
4. Contact these bloggers and tell them they've won the award.

Here are 7 random things about myself:
*  I sometimes go to Stonehenge on the way home from shopping
*  I stopped doing a weekly shop years ago and now only go when I need things (or want to
    visit Stonehenge!)
*  I am a Gemini
*  My favourite bird is the Eider duck
*  I'm addicted to CSI
*  I'm useless on a computer
*  I belong to my local Wildlife Trust

I'd like to pass this award onto these lovely bloggers . . .
Lin
Lottie
Alison
Melly
Lucy
Valerie
Donna

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge 40 - Fairies and use at least 2 paper punches

Over at Crafty Cardmakers this week is set by Gill.  We are sponsored by the lovely Joanna Sheen who is offering a £10 voucher for her online shop (thanks Joanna).

For this challenge I got out my Sweet Pea stamp by Ching-Chou Kuik called Forest Blue.  I watercoloured her with my Whispers Pens and added sparkle with Sakura Stardust pens.  I added some background with a little Hero Arts Graceful Leaves stamp and the DP is some 12x12 paper from Dovecraft (Kate Knight's Aquamarine Floral Prints).  For the punches I used my Daisy Geo Punch to make the lacy strip behind the image and my EK Success Corner Adorner to fix the image to it's mat.  I added swirls (Sizzix Decorative Flourishes), a butterfly sticker which was stuck to holographic card, ribbon and flowers from my stash and some diamond  bling to the swirls.

I'd like to enter my card in the following challenges:

Crafts and Me - Anything with wings

Creative Craft World - Square card

Party Time Tuesday - Sketch

Bunny Zoe - Flowers

Sparkles Forum - Fairies

In a Sweet Pea Dream - Anything

Sweet Pea DT call

Over at Sweet Pea Stampers they are having a DT call.  Well, how can I resist?  After all they promote my favourite range of stamps and the DTs already on the blog are amazing.  I just love, love, love these stamps and don't own anywhere nearly enough.  On my desk is a permanent list of all the ones I still really, really NEED, lol.  Imagine being on the DT and having an excuse to play with Sweet Pea stamps more than I do already!  They ask you to show at least 2 of your best pieces of work so I've been really strict with myself and here they are:

Ching-chou kuik's Cheshire Cat

I love these Alice stamps, they are so different from any of the others out there.  That cat has such a fabulous grin.

Sweet Goth Night

I was very sorry I had to cut off part of her fabulous tail to make her fit on my card.

Spring Luna

This was inspired by a friend who introduced me to these fabulous stamps.  I just love the way her hair is billowing.

Well, there they are, wish me luck cos I'd really love this.

Crafty Cardmakers Spotlight - Plastic

This week at Crafty Cardmakers we have a spotlight on using Plastic.  You can use any plastic - acetate, friendly plastick, shrink plastic, sweet wrappers, etc.  And this week Vix is offering a prize of Shrink Plastic to the winner.  I decided to play with acetate as I'd seen someone on TV make flowers with pre-printed acetate and thought to myself 'I can do that' lol. 

The first problem I came across was finding acetate that wasn't heat resistant.  Luckily I had some extra thick stuff that I'd bought from Joanna Sheen. 

I cut flower shapes from the acetate (harder than I thought as I used nesties and the acetate was too thick so I had to finish cutting with scissors) and then made a hole in the centre of each flower with my Big Bite.

 

Next I inked up the flowers using Alcohol Inks (Butterscotch, Wild Plum and Red Pepper).  I coloured both sides to intensify the colour.  Then holding each flower with tweezers I heated them with my heat gun until they went floppy.

 

While the flowers were still hot I dropped them onto a foam block and pushed a large embossing tool into the centre to shape.  If you don't get the shape you want you can reheat and try again.

I fixed flowers together with some bling brads (PaperMania)

 

The box was from Hobbycraft.  I painted it first with white acrylic paint and then I used Tesco Go Create Green Metallic paint.  I made the border by punching a strip of American Traditional Designs Brights paper with a Daisy Geo Punch.  The leaves on top were made using my McGill Pine punch with the same paper. 

 

The card was made with a white square blank and I used a corner-rounder on the corners.  The central panel is a square of green card with the corners punched using the Geo Punch.  The sentiment is from Hero Arts Anytime messages stamped onto a circle of green matted onto a scalloped circle and the leaves are made as above.  The little flowers in the corner were punched with my Woodware Multi Sun Flower punch and a little bling added to the centres.

Her Majesty

Today I'm playing at 'Last Minute Miss' as I wanted to enter The Stampsmith Challenge and today is the last day!  My starting point was the sketch from Sweet Stop Sketches and a shiny, cream, square card blank.   I added some lovely paper from K&Co Classic K Baily pad.  The cream background rectangle has been run through the cuttlebug using the D'vine swirls folder and then I swooshed some Stampin' Up Baja Breeze over the top, and cut the bottom of the brown mat with deckle-edged scissors. The main image is from PaperArtsy Wings Plate 3 stamped in Memories Sand and the sentiment is from Studio G Clear stamps.  The flowers, fibre and buttons are from my stash.  Over at Gingersnap Creations there is a Kings and Queens challenge that my card fits too.

So, I'm entering my card into the following:

The Stampsmith - Royalty

Sweet Stop Sketches - Sketch

Gingersnap Creations - Kings and Queens

Oriental Tree

I'm really enjoying the challenges over on the Less is More Challenge Blog.  But I have to admit I had the same problems as last week - a sleepless night!  I kept getting all these ideas and then getting up and popping into  my Craft room to check out the stamp I was thinking about, lol.  Of course this meant that I overslept this morning so all the things I had planned went out the window so I could make my card!  Fortunately this time everything went to plan and so here it is:

After rejecting most of the stamps I had put on my desk during the night I chose a clear set from Cards Unlimited called Trendy Oriental and stamped it to the side of my lovely pink card blank in Stampin' Up Old Olive.  I have never used a coloured blank for a One Layer card but I found this in my stash and it inspired me.  Next I added the flowers using Brilliance Moonlight White and then embossed them with White EP.  The Brilliance pooled on the clear stamp so I didn't get a clear image but I like the effect.  Next I added the leaves again in Old Olive.  Finally I added the gorgeous sentiment that came from a Stampscape Scenic Sentiments set.

Less Is More - Flower or Tree

Not played with parchment for ages . . .

I haven't played with my Parchment paper and embossing tools for so long as I've been suffering from Carple Tunner and it really aggrevates it.  But today I thought I'd have a little play (even though I cheated quite a bit, lol).  First I stamped the nesting birds (from Crafty Secrets Clear Art Bird Notes) in Brilliance Moonlight White.  When it had dried I embossed the patterns using a grid (Pergamano Multi Grid No 6).  I have to say that even though this is only an ATC doing the embossing did affect me.  I cut round the edges with fancy scissors and attached it to some dark blue glossy card with little silver flower brads.  I made this for a swap so I hope my friend likes it.

Lilac and Lemon

I decided to have a play with a Sweet Pea stamp that I haven't used before (not that I've got many of those, hmmmm!!!!).  She's by Ching-chou Kuik and is called Blue Rose Tatoo.  I stamped her onto watercolour paper with Jet Black Archival ink and watercoloured her using Whispers pens scribbled onto an old tile and picked up with a damp paintbrush.  When she was dry I added a little bit of Sakura Stardust to her earring and roses but the photo doesn't really show it.  I love using sketches and for this I used the sketch from A Gem of a Challenge.  I cut and matted the image using Nestabilities Labels One.  The DP is from K&Co Tim Coffey Daffodil Pad and PaperMania Amethyst Infustion Pad.  I also used my Nesties (Circles) to cut the circle behind the image and ran it through my Cuttlebug using the Script folder.  The sentiment was from a stamp that has no name (I got a few of them from a closing craft shop) and just inked up the word Dream.  I stamped it onto the DP paper and cut and matted it with Classic Ovals Nesties.  To finish off I added some Debbi Moore pearls.

I am entering this card to the following challenges:

A Gem of a Challenge - Sketch

In a Sweet Pea Dream - Anything this time

Charisma Cardz Challenge - Mythical/Fantasy (Mermaid)

Little Claire's Designs - Anything Goes

Two Stamps

I am a big fan of One-Layer Wednesday and this week the challenge is to use two (and ONLY two) image stamps.  Just two.  No sentiment.  But you may use each stamp more than once.  You may also use heat embossing and/or markers to colour your images but absolutely NOTHING ELSE!  Jennifer (whose turn it is to run the challenge this week) is very strict and says no bling, no ribbon, no hippopotamuses.  Well I stuck strictly to the rules and used a Rhinoceros instead, lol.  First I cut a circular mask for my square card blank and then stamped my Rhino (English Stamp Company) in the middle(ish).  I made a mask of the Rhino then I followed Ann Craig's fab tutorial to make the background.  She uses torn paper to make a mask for the sky and land and sponges ink along the edges.  I added a line of felt pen to define the horizon then stamped the tree branch (Stampscapes The Light and the Sea set) twice.  Then I removed all the masks and this is what I was left with.

I am only entering this into the One Layer Wednesday Challenge.

Eiglas Super Challenge #1 - Baby Birth

Check out the very talented blog by Eiglas as she is running a special challenge to celebrate the birth of her gorgeous grandson Tobias.  For a chance of winning you need to make a card or project specifically for the birth of a new baby.  The colours must be on the traditional side (Ei is a bit old-fashioned and doesn't like gaudy or very dark), she'd love to see at least one hand-made flower and you have the option of using one of her fabulous digistamps.  The first prize is 7 Copic Ciao markers plus a selection of Ei's very own and very fabulous digis.  There will also be two more prize winners who will get one of her digi images each.  Ei plans to run this challenges every now and again so keep a lookout on her blog Eiglas.

Loving Less is More

I came across a new blog when I was hopping about called Less Is More.   Their aim is to encourage Clean and Simple cards.  They have weekly themes and prizes monthly.  So for their first challenge I made this card

The theme for this week is Pink, Black and White.  Simple I thought, I can have my card done in minutes.  Well it kept me awake all night as I kept coming up with different ideas.  Then after I had got back from shopping I started on my card.  First I tried it out on scrap paper, which was a good idea because it took me half an hour to find the right flower, then stamped it up.  I stamped a DoCrafts Happy Birthday stamp with lots of HBs on and stamped it twice across the bottom third of the card, using Versafine Onxy Black.  I added a Penny Black HB to fill in a gap at the bottom. Then I added the little flower (also from Penny Black) in Brilliance Pearlescent Orchid.  Lastly I added a little pink bling gem.  The actual stamping of the card only took 10 minutes.  Then I decided I would scan the card.  I tried all sorts of settings.  The preview each time was great but the actual scan was useless as the pink flower turned grey.  Not being of a technical mind I have no idea why so after about an hour I gave up and photographed the card.  I assume it had something to do with the fact that the little tiny itsy bitsy bling kept the card off of the scanner screen but why it was perfectly alright in the preview I have absolutely no bloomin' idea!

So I am entering this in the following challenges:

Less is More - Pink, Black and white

Craft Your Passion - Anything goes

Pear Tree Designs - Free for all

Hearts and Thoughts

You would think love is in the air with all the Valentine/Love challenges around at moment.  And as I had to make a card for someone (wonder who, lol) I decided to enter it into a few challenges.

For my card I used the cute Baking Tilda and watercoloured her using Whispers pens.  I added a bit of Sakura Stardust to her wings and hearts then cut her out and mounted her onto circles cut with Nestabilities.  I used some cute heart paper (Me & My Big Ideas) and some lovely damask paper (sorry, no names on it).  The sentiment is from Penny Black (Transparent hugs set) and the corner swirls were a stamp from Prima Clear Stamps Nouveau stamped with Colorbox Pigment Dusty Plum.  The flowers are from Wild Orchid and the ribbon and heart charm are from my stash.

I'm entering this into the following challenges (I restricted myself to 10 challenges - there were loads and loads!):

A Spoon Full of Sugar - Let's see some love

Just Magnolia - ribbons

Magnolia Down Under - Love

Totally Tilda - Tilda with lots of hearts

Bunny Zoe - Love is in the air

Incy Wincy - Love

Creative Cowgirls - Valentine or love

The Sweet Stop - Sketch

Fairy Fun Fridays - for a sweetheart

Stampin' for the Weekend - St Valentine's Day

Dream Valley Challenge

My friend Melly is starting a new challenge blog called Dream Valley Challenges.    You can make anything you like (scrap books, note books, book marks, boxes, cards, 3D items etc)and winners will be chosen at random.   The challenges will start on 27th Feb with a special one week Anything Goes challenge.  After that the challenges will be every fortnight.  Come along and join in the fun.