A Seaside Sketch

I wish I could draw and paint.  Thank goodness for rubber stamps is all I can say.  I've got these fabby sets by HobbyArt called Scene-Its and this card is made with stamps from the Harbor set and the Coastal set.  I stamped onto watercolour paper and left the edge at the top where it had been torn from the pad.  Stamping this scene involved using masks and the ones I made for the little yachts were teeny-tiny!  I then watercoloured using Stampin' Up inks (Elegant Eggplant, Night of Navy, Basic Grey, Bashful Blue, Tempting Turquoise and Marina Mist).  Then I mounted my little watercolour onto dark blue card.  The seagul was cut and mounted with nesties and popped with foam squares.  He is a Blackheaded Gull by the way.  The bg paper is from my friend Ei and is from the Roseheart Digi set.  The strip with the seashells I made by stamping the shells from Personal Impressions Clear Summer set in Tempting Turquoise.  To finish off I added a little ship's wheel charm.

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

Inspirational Card Sketches - Love this sketch

Karen's Doodles - Life's a Beach

Get Hippity with Ippity - Summer/Anything goes

Craft Your Passion - Show us your layers

Pixie Dust Studios - Let's Play (Yachting)

Paper Romance - Summer

Do You Stack Up - Make it Pop (I've popped the seagull)

Raise the Bar - We 'Shell'

Polkadoodles - Colour challenge (aqua, blue, purple) and fav stamps (I lurve these scene-its and definitely NEED more, lol)
Simon Says Stamp - Anything Goes

Forest Red

This week I'm having a run on the fabulous stamps by Ching-chou kuik.  Today's image is Forest Blue except I've made her Forest Red!.  She is coloured with Stampin' Up Inks and I've given her a bigger dress than is usually shown as I thought today she looked a bit cold (absolutely nothing to do with not concentrating and colouring her back red, LOL) and added glitter to the moon.  The bg papers I've used are from Basic Gray (Boxer).  I love these papers but you only get one 12x12 sheet of each in the pack so after stroking them for quite a long time I've started using them.  I used a corner rounder to shape the image and it's matting and nesties for the circle.  All that was then needed were 3 little flowers with brads, some lovely lime green ribbon, a button with silver thread tied in a bow and a dangling charm (all from my stash).

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

The Pixie Cottage - Sketch

Incy Wincy Designs - Buttons and Bows

Flutterby Wednesdays - 3-2-1 Recipe (3 flowers, 2 dps, 1 button)

Playdate Cafe - Colour challenge (Red, Lime, Grey)

Totally Papercrafts - Glitter

Stamp Something - Something with Wings

If The Shoe Fits (Fashionista Friday) - Things with Wings

BasicGrey Challenges - Charming (and Boxer paper)

Poised in Purple

I've not done a lot of crafting this week as DH has been off but today managed to sneak away to my craft room and make 2 cards (good job too as next week I'm off to Wales for a few days!).  I decided to ink up my new Ching-Chou Kuik stamp, Fly Butterfly and went for a Purple theme.  She is watercoloured with Stampin' Up inks (Cajun Craze, Bashful Blue, Elegant Eggplant and Perfect Plum) and then I added silver gel pen to her dress, wings and the 2 moons before adding Crystal Glamour Dust for extra sparkle.  She is cut and matted with Nestabilities, as is the sentiment (from Hero Arts).  The bg paper is from PaperMania's Creative Tones Amethyst pad.  To finish off I added some ribbon, PaperMania pearl brads and flowers.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:

Magical Monday - Monochromatic

In A Sweet Pea Dream - Anything Goes

Everybody Art - Fairy

The Stamping Boutique - Winged Things

Critter Sketch Challenge - Sketch

Florence

It's my son's birthday soon and as he and his lovely wife are currently living in Florence I decided to use a photo I had taken when I visited last year.  I'm not great altering things on the computer but I do have a basic Photoshop programme that lets me add effects to my photos so for this one I added an Arty type brush stroke and printed it onto watercolour paper.  I stamped the base card with images from Laurence Llewelyn Bowen's Venaissance set in Stampin' Up Crumb Cake and Basic Grey and the bg paper is Crafty Individuals Travels in Italy.  The sentiment (Hero Arts Anytime Messages) was stamped onto acetate with StazOn.  The decorative strips are embossed with my cuttlebug using the Iron Works folder and Tim Holtz Damask folder.

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

Stamping Vacation - Getting Geographical - Tuscany Italy

Crafts and Me - Vintage/Distressed

Papertake Weekly - Fab Sketch

Bunny Zoe - One for the Boys

Stamp-n-Doodle - Masculine

Red Hearts in Pink



Click on pic to see detail



 

Today I inked up my beautiful Ching-chou kuik stamp Red Hearts and decided she would look good in pink as it's my flavour of the month at the mo!  I coloured her wings with Starburst stains in Alpine Icy Rose and Magnolia Magenta Gold (if you click on the pic you can just about see the shine) and the background in Icy Primrose Gold.  The rest of the image was watercoloured with Stampin' Up inks (Cajun Craze, So Saffron, Bashful Blue, Regal Rose and Melon Mambo).  I then added a little more sparkle with Crystal Glamour Dust on the moon.  She was cut and matted with Nestabilities.  The pink background is card I painted with Magnolia Magenta Gold Starburst Stain and sprayed with Gold Glimmer Mist then ran through the Cuttlebug using Tim Holtz Alterations folder (Regal Flourishes).  The strip of bg paper is from K&Co Bordeaux Garden.  The circle behind the image was cut using my new(ish) Nesties Eyelet Circles and I put a little Doily on the top that I got from Poppy's Cabin.  The sentiment is from Hero Arts and is stamped with SU Crumb Cake.  The flourishes are by Sizzix (Decorative Flourishes) with added Debbi Moore Pearls.  I finished off my card with some Wild Orchid flowers and ribbon from my stash.

I'd like to enter it in the following challenges:

Sugar Creek Hollow - Sketch and Sensational Circles

Cooking It Up With Katie - Show me a pink, flowery lady

Crafty Purple Frog - Touchy Feely (embossing and ribbon)

Flutterby Wednesday - Open

In A Sweet Pea Dream - Favourite Colour . . . Sweet Pea

Our Creative Corner - Easel Cards

Totally Gorjuss - Bling it on

Freshly Brewed - Flowers
Secret Crafter - Colour Challenge

Anything Goes - Colour Challenge

New ATC Challenge Blog

ATC Challenge Blog

Woo Hoo!  I've been picked as a Design Team member on the new ATC Challenge Blog!  YAY!  I LOVE ATCs.  Our first challenge will start on 1st May and will run for one week only, but thereafter the challenges will run for a fortnight.  And the fab prize for the winner of the first challenge will be a DCWV paper stack!  Watch this space, LOL.

In the pink

Just a quick post today as I'm getting ready for Easter.  DH has actually got time off this year (a whole week!!!) so we shall be off out and about - if the sun stay shining.  Another charm bracelet for another niece this time in pink.  These are great to make but they do take up a lot of headpins.

Vitruvian Man

 

I'm on a roll today with this my second post, trying to get ahead for a change!  This card uses the image of Leonardo Da Vinci's Vetruvian Man from Katzelkraft Da Vinci plate.  It is stamped with Versafine Vintage Sepia ink and them matted onto purple and green card with all the corners rounded with a punch. According to Wikipedia the original is kept in the Gallerie dell'Accademia in Venice so it's appropriate that I've used backing papers from Crafty Individuals Travels in Italy pad (the ones I've used are definitely Venetian inspired papers).  I've added some lovely fibre and silver squares from my stash, then a strip of green card with i-rock gems to finish off the outside.  Inside I've used paper from the same pad. The sentiment (Creative Expressions) is in SU Rich Razzelberry with background images from the Katzelkraft plate stamped in SU Cake Crumb, then again matted and layered on green and purple card and corners rounded.

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

Crafty Individuals - Simply square (CI papers)

Dude Time Doodles - Picture inspiration

The House that Stamps Built - Sketch

Bearly Mine - Inside out

Card Ideas - Let's Hear it for the Guys

Spring in Paris

Today I had a play with my new stamps that I bought with the help of my prize from The Stampsmith Challenge blog.  This stamp is from the Paris plate and is stamped in Memories Sand ink.  I cut and matted it with my Nestabilities Labels Four.  The beautiful flowery bg is actually a paper napkin from Tesco.  I punched the border in the blue card with my Martha Stewart French Scallop punch and added some lovely ribbon, a bow, flower and button. 

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

The Stampsmith - Spring theme

Inspirational Card Sketches - Sketch

The Play Date Cafe - Cath Kidson colours

Truly Scrumptious - Vintage

Scrapbook Sisters - Buttons

Thinking of you

I've seen some cards lately that are nice and simple and done on brown card - or Kraft if you are American.  I really like the effect so decided to have a go myself.  I used a stamp I've had for at least a couple of years, Edwin in Plaster (a Magnolia stamp) and stamped him on brown cardstock (SU cake crumb) with Stampin' Up ink (Soft Suede).  Then I drew a line for him to sit on with a whispers pen, and added a sentiment (Hobby Art General Greetings) in the same ink.  I added just a little colour with Derwent Studio pencils to his plasters, cheeks and t-shirt and then some Sakura Stardust to his little wings.  I mounted my card onto a white card blank.

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

Claudia & Co - Clean and Simple

Bunny Zoe Challenges - One for the Boys

Heart necklace

Well I said I would make a necklace to go with my bracelet and here it is.  This is one of the hearts that was way too big to go on the bracelet.  I'm making a lot of jewellery lately as it's part of my new diet plan - you can't eat and bead, lol.  

So Tweet!

When I saw this cute little bird freebie at Doodle Pantry I just couldn't resist!  I printed it out onto watercolour paper and then watercoloured it with Stampin' Up inks (Tempting Turquoise, Delightful Daffodil and Pumpkin Pie).  The sentiment is a freebie from another set (Tweet House).  Then both the bird and sentiment were cut out and matted with round Nestabilities.  My card base was cut using my new Nestabilities Eyelet Circle die (loving this!).  Finally I added a little sunflower button.

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

Doodle Pantry - Use a Doodle Pantry image (bird and sentiment)

Incy Wincy Designs - Bright and Bold

Aud Sentiments - Anything goes

Paper Crafting Journey - Use a freebie (image and sentiment)

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge 44 - A Royal Wedding

With a certain wedding coming up soon, over at Crafty Cardmakers we decided to have a right royal theme for this week's challenge.  We are giving you the option of using RED, WHITE & BLUE (these must be the most prominent colours) AND/OR a Wedding card or creation.  The fabulous Joanna Sheen is our sponsor again this week and offering a £10 voucher for her online shop.

I have decided to do a Wedding Card and I started with the lovely bride image from Lilac Lemon Designs (Art Deco Set 1).  I watercoloured her with Stampin' Up inks and added Sakura Stardust pen to give her some bling.  She was cut out with a round Nestability and matted onto silver card.  The aqual bg paper is from Create & Craft Rose papers and the fabulous swirly bg paper is from my talented friend Ei's Roseheart Digi set.  I then added the ribbon, some pearls and, of course, her bouquet (flowers from Wild Orchid).

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

Going Grey with Scrap Creations - Fabby Sketch

Digital Tuesday - Little Women (digi papers)

Crafts and Me - Ribbon

A Gem of a Challenge - Pearls and Swirls

Polka Doodles - Tie the Knot

Mejen's Designs - 3 colours (aqual, white, silver), 2 patterned papers and a bow

Scrapbook Sisters - Wedding or Anniversary

Happileigh Scrappin' - A Royal Challenge

Silver Hearts

I had this idea to make a charm bracelet with just silver hearts.  Like most of my good ideas when it came to checking out my rather small (hhhmmmm!!!!) bead stash, I found that I only had a couple of hearts.  Soooooo, off to ebay I went.  Now, not being of a technical mind (and too lazy to check a tape measure) I had no idea about the size of the different hearts I bought until they arrived (after all what are centimetres???).  In my mind the hearts were all going to be the same size but, of course, in reality they were all different sizes from the teeny-tiny ones (I ended up putting 3 of these on each jump ring) to some that were too big for the bracelet altogether (I can see a necklace coming on).  I have to say I am pleased with the result even if it is slightly different from my first imaginings.  Of course buying from ebay means you don't just buy one of anything so I've probably got enough hearts to make several more of these, LOL.

Dream Valley Challenge 5 - Easter

Over at Dream Valley this week the theme is Easter, couldn't be simpler, lol.  We want to see your cards, baskets, hats - in fact what ever you make that is Easter related, we want to see it!  This week we are sponsored by the fabulous Stitchy Bear who are offering a $10 voucher for their on-line store.  Over on the DT we had a lot of fun using some of the images available.  Go check out what my other teamies have made but here is mine.

 

I started with a template for the baskets from Waltzing Mouse (the downloadable templates are in the How To section). They were a dream to make.  I used my new digi paper called Roseheart from my talented friend Ei's shop.  The edges of the liners were cut with Deckle edge scissors and the little flowers were made with Woodware punches and have Liquid Pearl centres.  The little tags (again Woodware punch) have the cutest little bunny from Stitchy Bear called Bunny Flop and are coloured with Stampin' Up inks.  I'm afraid the chocolate won't last till Easter, LOL.  I  made the card with the same papers and image and added a computer generated sentiment framed by my new Nestabilities Fancy Tags.

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

Sketch and Stash - Great sketch and new papers and image

Ooh La La - Happy Easter

Stampin' For the Weekend - Easter

Craft Your Days Away - Easter
Telen's Place - Easter (Bunny Rabbits and more)
Easy Craft Projects - Easter
Die Cut Dreams - Easter
The Crazy Challenge - Easter
Penny's Paper Crafty - Easter
Creative Belli Blog - Eggs/Bunnies (Old punches used to make embellishments)
Delightful Challenges - Easter
Simply Create - Egg-tra Special Challenge
Pattie's Creations - Easter or Spring
Crazy 4 Challenges - Make an Easter Gift

Butterfly and flowers

I'm really loving this new stamp set - Garden Collage by Stampin' Up.  I stamped the butterfly collage onto watercolour paper and watercoloured it using SU inks (Certainly Celery and So Saffron).  The image was cut and matted with Nestabilities circle and scallop circle dies.  The card base is a lovely cream one and on top I added some patterned paper (you can hardly see the pattern as it's a 12x12 with big patterns) from Dovecraft Kate Knight Aquamarine Floral Prints and the bottom was punched with Martha Stewart Scallop Dot punch.  Then I stamped the flower corners (Inkadinkado Garden Flowers) in Certainly Celery.  The handwriting paper is from K&Co Life's Journey Script pad.  The card is finished off with some SU ribbon.

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

Crafts and Me - Ribbon

Card Cupid Challenges - Two colour cards
Flutterby Wednesdays - Pastel Colours

The Playdate Cafe - Colour challenge

Gentle Thoughts

Over at Stampotique the challenge is to use newspaper or old book pages.  Well, my son and his wife gave me an enormous old technial book with a beautiful cover and old cream pages.  I used one of the pages for the background and stamped the little bird from Stampin' Up's Garden Collage set.  Then I inked up the page using Stampin' Up inks (Rose Red and Always Artichoke) adding some inking through sequin waste and then stamped the flowers (Inkadinkado Garden Flowers) in Always Artichoke.  The sentiment (from the same SU set) was stamped in Rose Red onto cream card and I sponged Always Artichoke round the edges.  To finish off I added some paper flowers with tiny buttons in the centre.

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

Stampotique Designer Challenges - Old Book/Newsprint

Happileigh Scrappin' - Sketch

Rubber Redneck - Rose Red/Always Artichoke/Very Vanilla

Stamp Insanity - Flower Power

The Paper Variety - Flowers

A Pleasant Pheasant

I recently got my new Stampin' Up Stamp set, Autumn Days, and I just love it! I stamped the grasses directly onto a white card base with Stampin' Up Old Olive, stamping more than once before reinking to get a feeling of depth. The pheasant was coloured with Whispers pens and the sentiment (Amy R Stamps) with Old Olive.  These were matted onto a piece of burgundy card and a bit of SU ribbon tied round.  

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

A Spoon Full of Sugar - All Creatures Great and Small

Allsorts - Anything but a square

Daring Cardmakers - Draw a bird (I can't draw birds but I did colour direct to the stamp with pens to make it look real)

The Secret Crafter Challenge - Our Feathered Friends

Grungy notebook

I've seen lots of things lately made with Sir Tim Holtz's Studio Multi Medium.  Well I haven't got any of this so I had a think to see what I could use instead.  I started with a notebook and covered it with pages from an old technical book.  Then I got out my alternative Studio Multi Medium (Versamark!) and stamped some PaperArtsy Clocks 4.  I dried the images and then sponged over Distress Inks in Old Paper, Stormy Skies and Bundled Sage.  Next I stamped the shrubs/trees from Darkroom Door Wilderness Vol. 1 in Forest Moss Distress Inks, the large clock in Stormy Sky and Bundled Sage and the small clocks in Chipped Sapphire.  Lastly I stamped the sentiment (PA Clocks 4) and the Tim Holtz Collection Time stamp in Chipped Sapphire.  The images I stamped with Versamark are very ghostly and show up better in the close-up. 

Crafty Cardmakers Spotlight - Card for Tweenage Boys (Tweens)

The theme this week over at Crafty Cardmakers Spotlight is Teenage Boys (or Tweens). Not the easiest of subjects I know, but that's why it's a challenge, lol.  We have a fab prize on offer of 4 sets of American Crafts Mini Marks rub ons.  Here is my card but don't forget to and check out the brilliant cards made by me Teemies.

I don't actually own any stamps for Teenage boys so for my card I've used a freebie from Cuddly Buddly.  It's a LIllyBoo design.  Cuddly Buddly are so generous they've got loads of freebies as well as some fab digi stamps.  I printed the image onto watercolour paper and then watercoloured it with Stampin' Up inks (I used Old Olive, Always Artichoke, Terracota Intenso, Early Expresso, Bashful Blue and Not Quite Navy).  The bg papers I've had for ages and are twelve x 12 Dimensionals (Renaissance Antonia and Guiliana).  The fab swirl sentiment is from Hobby Art (General Greetings) and was cut and matted with Nesties.  The little tickets were from a great set I've just bought  by Inkadinkado (Paperwork Greetings) that I stamped onto grey card and cut out then attached with a little star and a brad.

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

Craft Your Days Away - Spots and Strips

Aud Sentiments Challenge - Sentiment/Card for a child

Papertake Weekly - Anything goes/optional something new (stamp set)

Something for me

I've had this big glass heart for ages but I have had so much trouble trying to find beads to go with it.  If you place it next to black beads it looks brown and if you place it against brown beads it looks black.  It IS black and silver lined.  I promise.  In the end I went for 4 types of seed bead: clear, clear silver lined, black and clear amber.  The beads that the seed bead lines are threaded through came from a set of black and clear beads and again the black ones look brownish.  There are three strings of seed beads all threaded through the smaller beads and through the heart and then I made three little tassels from the bottom of the heart.  This necklace is for ME.

Planning a trip

Now be honest, isn't this just what you would pack if you were planning a trip to Paris???  I found the background paper in my scraps folder and there was just enough to fit on the card.  I wish I knew where it came from but as I haven't looked in that folder for yonks I think it's origins are lost in the mists of time, lol.  I stamped the little corset (Hampton Arts ATC Corset) in Versafine Sepia then ran it through my Cuttlebug using the Tiny Mosaics folder.  Then I sponged on some Frayed Burlap ink and embossed it with clear embossing powder.  The plan was to make it look like leather but I'm not sure it worked.  I added the lace by putting a strip of double-sided tape on the back of the corset and scrunching up the lace along the sticky bit.  The little tickets are various stamps from Clear Choice Stamps 22 Travel FRance and Clear Art Stamps French Mail and I added a Moulin Rouge poster from Stampsmith's Paris plate.  I also added Stampsmith postal marks.  The pink strip of card across the middle was embossed with Tim Holtz Texture Fades Regal Flourish folder and the flowers and brads were from my stash.  The little heart is a Cuttlebug die - Heart #1 and the finally addition was two little pearls in the bottom corner.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

The Stampsmith - The Female of the Species

A Gem of a Challenge - Sketch

Kaboodle Doodles - Let's Get Girly

Pixie Dust Studios - Lace it up

A Horse of a Different Colour

Well not exactly a horse, lol.  My jewellery project today is for a friend who admired what I had made.  Luckily for me her choice of colours were different from my usual colour scheme.  I just love the brown/gold/cream combination. I had a lovely rose toggle clasp that went beautifully with the beads too.

Variation on a very similar theme

Today's bracelet is a slight variation on my usual colour scheme.  No blue or turquoise this time but purple and black.  Same but different, lol, and as it was for a friend who's favourite colour is purple . . . well what else could I do?  I used some lovely faux purple pearls with black crystals threaded on Beadalon and then added a cute little skull to the clasp.

A Host of Golden Daffodils

Today I decided to have a play with a colour I don't use very often.  Yellow.  I stamped Tilda Dressed Up with Archival ink onto watercolour paper and then watercoloured her with Stampin' Up inks (Daffodil Delight, So Saffron, Terracota Intenso. Bashful Bue and Regal Rose) and added little orange bling to her flowers.  She was cut and matted using Oval Nestabilities.  The bg paper is from K&Co Tim Coffey Daffodil pad and I matted it onto green card.  I ran the bg green card through my Cuttlebug twice using my Swirls and Birds folder but it was a bit short so I got out my embossing tools and finished off the embossing.  I added paper flowers with button and ribbon centres and finally added green flourishes (QuicKutz die).

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

The Sweet Stop - sketch

Crafts and Me - Use Yellow

Prarie Fairy Fun Fridays - Oh So Spring

Allsorts - Blooming Blossoms

Stamptacular Sunday - Buttons, Bling and Bloom

Sparkles Forum - Springtime

Dream Valley Challenge 4 - Things with Wings

Over at Dream Valley Challenges the theme is Things with Wings.  Oooh this opens up so many possibilities - fairies, butterflies, birds!   And we are being sponsored by One Stop Card Crafts who are offering the winner a £10 voucher.

Go check out the fab cards made by my teamies to give you some inspiration.

I chose birds for my 'thing with wings'

I decided to make a Twisted Easel this week as I've never made one before.  And the stamps I 've used are from Simple Expressions.  I stamped them with Stampin' Up Cherry Cobbler onto cream card and matted onto darker card.  The bg squares are some marbled paper that I've had for ages (think it's K&Co) and the Oriental paper is from Dovecraft Eastern Promise stack.

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

Bearly-Mine Challenge - Sketch

Everybody Art - Brown and Pink

Pixie Dust Studios - Fluttering Wings

Time of My Life

I decided to have a play with something a bit Tim Holtz-y and this is what I came up with - a grungy (well grungy for me) easel card.  All my papers are from a stack I bought ages ago and had just kept in the drawer for stroking.  They are Basic Grey papers, Boxer collection.  There is only one sheet of each paper so it was very hard for me to cut into them, lol.  The dark blue paper was run through the Cuttlebug with Tim Holtz Alterations Texture Fades Retro Circles.  It sort of cracked the paper so that the white shows through.  You can't really see in the picture but the blue is actually patterned.  I even stamped on the cream zig-zag paper with my Tim Holtz Components Time stamp.  The little sentiment on the oval (cut with Nesties) is from PaperArtsy Clocks 5 set and is held in place with a little key brad and the sentiment on the base is from Amy R Stamps Birthday Sentiments.  The gromets came free with my Big Bite and although I've had them over a year this is the first time I've used them too.  (No, what ever made you think I am a horder!!!).

I'd like to enter this in the following challenges:

Basic Grey Challenge - More than one fold (papers are Basic Grey)

Telen's Place - Embalming (had papers and gromits so long they may well have been embalmed, lol)

Sassy Studio Designs - Fancy folds

The Outlawz - Favourite sentiment