Crafty Cardmakers and More Challenge 149

This time, at Crafty Cardmakers and More, we're challenging you to go round and make a circular card!

Knowing this challenge was coming up and having wanted to get some large circle dies for a while, I splashed out on the Presscut set at Ally Pally recently. They were on my 'shopping list'. Not on my 'shopping list' was the set of Celtic circles from Tonic, but once I'd seen them, they magically fell into my basket. I love that the patterns can be cut out of solid card, or cut into rings - it just gives so many more options. For this challenge, I decided to use all but the largest parts of the set. I started with a 7 by 7in card and cut it using one of the Presscut dies. Then I added layers in various shades of turquoise, and finished with some flowers which I made using dies from Sizzix and Crealies. Very simple, but quite effective, I think.

I hope you can join us this time.

Crafty Cardmakers and More Challenge 138

The challenge this time is to make your own background - so no patterned paper (unless you've applied the pattern yourself)!

For this challenge, I decided to give my Pan Pastels an outing. I use them a lot when I make flowers, but haven't used them widely for backgrounds despite that being the reason I started getting some.

I started with a sheet of white watercolour paper (because it was there and I wanted something with a little texture) and shaded various citrus shades over it. Then I embossed using an Embossalicious folder, before added further detail to the embossing with similar and darker shades. I cut the result to size for a 7 by 7 card. The sentiment is from a Spellbinders die set, and the background and matting for that use some Sizzix dies. The flowers were made using a range of dies including Sizzix, Crealies and others I can't currently remember.

I hope you can join us this time.

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

Be Crafty and Craft where anything goes,

Crafts Galore Encore where anything goes,

Crafting Musketeers where they want us to use a die cut,

Craftalicious where they want embossing,

613 Avenue Create where anything goes,

Come and Get It where they want something feminine,

Suzy B's where they want 'no patterned paper',

Fussy and Fancy where they want 'lots of flowers',

Sister Act where anything goes.

One Stitch at a Time Challenge 211

This week at One Stitch at a Time, we want to see some ribbon and/or lace! That's it - otherwise, you can choose any theme/colours you wish!

We're sponsored by

I got to choose from Stitchy's range of products for this one, and I chose Misty.

I cut the image with one of my new Sizzix dies, then coloured with Promarkers. The paper is a MME magazine freebie from a few years ago, and I finished with some ribbon and lace from my stash as well as a flower made using a Crealies die and some from Cheery Lynn.

I hope you can join us this week.

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

Crafting by Designs where anything goes,
Inklings and Yarns where anything goes,
The Paper Shelter where they want ribbon,
Crafty Sentiments where anything goes,
Crafty Girls where anything goes,
C.R.A.F.T where they want us to make our own embellishment (hand-made flower),
Crafty Ribbons where anything goes (with a ribbon),
Crafting at the Weekend where anything goes,
Inkspirational where they want pink and green,
Suzy B's where anything goes.

I've Been Visiting Sweet Pea Stamps

I recently heard that Sweet Pea Stamps were doing a 30% reduction on everything, including digis, so I went to have a look. I've bought a few of their rubber stamps before (via Crafts and Me) and I love the style of some of their artists. I ended up buying quite a few ... So far, I've only coloured up a couple, and here are the results:

This is one of two images I bought from the range of Conie Fong. Despite its very oriental appearance, I decided to colour her as a blonde. No idea why, it just seemed like a good idea at the time! I teamed her with some Kate Knight paper, and coloured her with Promarkers. I finished with a floral arrangement where the flowers were hand made using die cuts from Sizzix, Memory Box, and Crealies.

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

Moving Along with the Times where the theme is 'pretty pastels',
C.R.A.F.T where they want us to make our own embellishment (lots of flowers),
Creative Knockouts where the theme is 'flowers galore',
Penny's Paper Crafty Challenge where they want pastel colours,
Scrappers Delights where they want pastel colours,
Creative Card Crew where they want 'girly',


The second one is rather different!

This is one of two I bought from Norma J Burnell's range. These are very 'different', and just seemed to me to cry out for bold, bright colours. I've teamed it with a rather bolder Kate Knight paper, and again coloured with Promarkers. This time, I've added a Sizzix die cut in the background. It's actually too big for the 6 by 6 card I made, so I cut a chunk out of the middle of it! It matches up pretty well, but I decided to finish with some pretty ribbon so no one can see the join!

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

Milk Coffee where they want us to 'use those bright colours',
Sassy Studios where the theme is 'so bright gotta wear shades',
Crafty Ribbons where anything goes (with some ribbon),
Inky Impressions where anything goes,
Inklings and Yarns where anything goes,
Crafting by Designs where anything goes,

One Stitch at a Time Challenge 209

This week at One Stitch at a Time, we want to see your favourite things! That can be images of something you love or a favourite technique or favourite colours ... Lots of scope here!

Our sponsor is

This week, I got to choose from Stitchy's collection of images which is perfect for this challenge because my one of my favourite things to create with are Stitchy's silhouettes. And one of the advantages of having been on the OSAAT team for a while is that I've got quite a selection! Another favourite thing for me is designing on my computer. And among my favourite images are fairies. So, here's what I came up with!

For this, I created a background in Photoshop Elements using various shapes and gradients. Then, I added various images from Stitchy's selection of ground-cover silhouettes called Grazin' in the Grass. I then added two of Stitchy's fairy images - the larger one is called Reach and the smaller one is from a pack called Rainbow Magic. Once everything was composed, I copied everything, cropping it using a circle, then faded the background before pasting the circle on top. Apart from matting, the only other addition is another favourite - hand-made flowers. These used dies from Crealies and Cheery Lynn.

I hope you can join us this week.

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

ABC where the theme is, 'Just as you Like it',
Crafting Musketeers where they want monochrome,
Everybody Art where anything goes,
Party Time Tuesday where they want die cuts,
Crafty Girls where anything goes,
Crafty Calendar where they want 'things with wings',
Digitally Sweet where they want flowers,
Totally Gorjuss where they want die cuts,
Savvy Handmade Cards where they want fantasy creatures,
Sister Act where anything goes.

Citrus Colours and Flowers

On a whim, I decided to make a card this weekend for no specific purpose. It seems I don't do that very often these days - it's normally for someone specific or it's a DT commitment that gets me crafting.

I printed out an image I've had for a while: it's from Delicious Doodles and it's available via the Stitchy Bear Outlet - link in my sidebar.

Now, it seems that whenever I use this image, I'm drawn to my collection of Kate Knight papers, and this time is no exception. I chose this rather pretty citrus-themed paper, and coloured the image to match using my Promarkers. I cut the image with a Spellbinders die - one I've found less useful than I'd hoped, but it worked well here. I edged the image with Distress Ink (vintage photo) and completed the card with some hand-made flowers. The larger ones were made using Crealies dies - not my favourite because they're foam backed making it harder to get a good cut. However, I was successful this time. I used a variety of punched shapes for the centres. The smaller flowers use the dies for the small lily from Susan's Garden, but I've used them to make a rather different-looking flower.

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

Suzy Bee's Blooming Challenge where anything goes,
ABC Challenge where 'E is for Embellish',
Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper challenge where anything goes,
Feeling Crafty where they want die cuts/punched shapes,
Come and Get It where they want us to 'make it girly',
The Alphabet Challenge where they want 'zesty colours'.

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge 91

This time at Crafty Cardmakers, our host is Sharon, and she wants us to 'Use Three Techniques'. The techniques must come from the following list:

Embossing, distressing, masking, make your own flowers, paper piecing and shrink plastic.

Our sponsors for this challenge are:

and

See the challenge blog for prize details.

I used an image from our sponsor (Milk Coffee) and made another Christmas cards.

The three techniques I used are: masking, embossing and I made the flowers.

For the background, I used a mask. I embossed some white card using it, and, with the card still attached to the mask, I dabbed the card with a Versamark ink pad. I then removed the mask and applied some Perfect Pearls in blue, pink and gold.

I coloured the image with Promarkers, adding a bit of Sakura Stardust pen to the wings, and cut it with an oval nestie. While it was still in the die, I applied some distress ink to the edge of the image. I added some using an Ink Duster, and then added some more to the very edge using a sponge. I matted using another Spellbinders die.

The flowers were cut using a Crealies die. I embossed the edge of the petals using some pastel-toned embossing powder and cut each petal in half before shaping the various layers. I finished the flowers with some turquoise Stickles.

I hope you can join us this time.

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

Left of Centre where they want a dig image,
Our Creative Corner where anything goes,
Brown Sugar where they want angels or fairies,
As You Like it where they want punches/dies
My Heart Pieces where anything goes,
Papercrafting Journey where anything goes,
CMC where anything goes,
Divas by Design where anything goes,
Papertake Weekly where anything goes.

One Stitch at a Time Challenge 162

This week at One Stitch at a Time, our theme is, 'Anything Goes'! So, show us whatever you've been crafting.

Our sponsor is:

See the challenge blog for details.

Now, there are loads of talented artists who sell through the Stitchy Bear Digital Stamp shop, and one of my favourites is Hope Jacare. I was lucky enough to work with one of her images this week - it's called Bonsai 2.

This is the front of the card. Now, you can't see the image very well, but  kind of wanted to do some sort of 'window' effect for this image, so I used a double fold card from Craft Creations. If you open it up once, you get this:

And if you open it up agan, you get this:

And, so you can see the lovely image a bit better,

The mage is coloured with Promarkers and edged with Distress Ink in Pine Needles.  The paper (both types) is from a MME pad I've had for a while. The flowers were cut with my new Crealies dies - some flower and leaf shapes with punched centres. I'm a little disappointed in the dies - they don't cut as well as I'd like. The two flower dies with long petals need several passes through my BSP, and since they're foam backed, that leads to a slightly different cut each time, with the edges of the die cut being shaved off to some extent. I edged the petals and leaves with Distress ink - Spun Sugar for the pale flowers and Victorian Velvet for the darker ones and more Pine Needles for the leaves.

The apertures and image were cut using a Sizzix die set, and the lattice is from Spellbinders. The lattice is always a hard one to cut - in fact I suspect it was largely responsible for my first set of cutting plates breaking when I first got my BSP. I've since learned how to strip-shim and that works really well, but I think, from now on, I'll use that die in my Wizard. Yes, it takes more passes through the machine, but I don't believe those great, thick plates are going to be cracked! (And if I'm wrong, then I'll just have to put my Wizard out to grass as I haven't seen any cutting plates available for it for ages.)

I hope you can join us this week.

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

Love to create where they want punches/die cuts,
Paper Pretties where they want pink and green,
Crafts and Me where they want a floral frenzy,
Fab and Funky where they want lots of pink,
Annabelles Stamps where anything goes,
Card Crafter's Circle where they want flowers,
Creative Corner where they want flowers,
Left of Centre where they want a digi image.