Crafty Cardmakers Challenge 85 - 'Blooming Images'

This time at Crafty Cardmakers, our host is Marie, and she wants to see our Blooming Images. The main image on the card must be flowers, although you can embellish as you wish.

Our sponsors this time are:

and

I started with an image by Floppy Latte Designs which you can get via the Stitchy Bear shop. I love this image! I'm not an artist, but this image is shaded so beautifully that it guides you through colouring, and each time I've coloured it up, I've been pleased with the results.

This time, I went for three Promarker/Flexmarker shades from the Magenta range, and two greens. I cut the image using a Spellbinders die, and matted using a scalopped octagon. The paper is by Paper Cellar. I bought it ages ago, and, although I love the various designs in the pad, I rarely use them because the colours are quite muted. (This isn't called Josephine's Rainbow for nothing ... I generally like my colours bright!)

I finished with some Wild Orchid Crafts roses and some silver flowers from Hobbycraft. (They actually had their first use in my daughter's hair when she went to her Year 11 Ball (over two years ago!)

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


A Gem of a Challenge where they want die cuts,
Sweet Pea where they want digital images,

I Love Promarkers where they want something 'for the girls',


And because I had so much fun with that, I tried a different colourscheme!

Blues this time, again coloured with Promarkers and Flexmarkers. The background this time uses white card that I embossed. Now, I've seen so many people using Pan Pastels and I'd love to have a play. But, my eldest pointed out to me that he's got a set of 'normal' pastels that he doesn't use, so I thought I'd see what I could do with them. They're too hard to brush or sponge on, but I simply ran the side of the stick over the embossed areas and then brushed to soften the result. I used a couple of blues and a green to get the effect you see. I think the technique could use some fine-tuning, but I was pretty happy with my first attempt.

I made the flowers using punched white card, adding colour with the pastel sticks and finishing the tiny ones with a seed bead.

The die cuts are courtesy of Spellbinders and the pearlescent card is from Papermania.

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

Craftroom Challenge where they want us to make our own embellishments,
Tuesday Throwdown where anything goes,

I hope you can join us this time.

One Stitch at a Time Challenge 151

This week at One Stitch at a Time, we want you to go 'girly'! So, break out your frills, flowers and pearls.

We're sponsored by

This week I worked with a lovely image from Gingerloft.

I went for girly colours (well, I love peach and aqua shades ...) and coloured the image with a mix of Promarkers and Flexmarkers. (Love that Rose Peach shade!) Theb I matted using some Spellbinders die cuts and embellished with some Sizzix swirls. The paper is from Papermania and the rosebuds and pearls are from my stash.

Hope you can join us this week.

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

Tuesday Throwdown where anything goes,
Bunny Zoe where they want flowers and pearls (rose buds and pearl gems.)
Eureka Stamps where they want pearls and swirls,
I Love Promarkers where they want something 'for the girls',
A Gem of a Challenge where they want die cuts,
Sweet Pea where they want digital images,

Phlox Princess

While perusing the Crafts and Me website the other day, I spotted a digi stamp that I just had to buy. It's called Phlox Princess and it's by Sara Burrier who has the most gorgeous images!

So, I've coloured her up and this is the result.

Now, I know a phlox is a flower, but I don't have any idea of appropriate colours, so I found this lovely Kate Knight paper and took colours from that! I used a mix of Promarkers and Flexmarkers. I used a Spellbinders border die to cut some purple mirriboard. The paper is so bright that I didn't want to add anything else, so the actual design is quite simple. (I think I generally prefer simple designs.)

Although I love the image, and it's obviously possible to colour it sized for a six by six card, I think next time I use this image, I may go bigger - the floral pattern in her skirt was quite fiddly due to the tiny size of the flowers - even using the very fine tips available for Promarkers.

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

Eclectic Ellapu where they want 'girly',
I Love Promarkers where they want 'One for the Girls',

One Stitch at a Time Challenge 150

This week at One Stitch at a Time, we're having everyone's favourite challenge - Anything Goes!

Our sponsor this week is:

(See challenge blog for more details.)

This week, I got to work with some beautiful paper from Panda Bear Designs. It's a set of six papers called Serenity, and the only shame is that I only had time to use one of them for this project.

I've kept the card very simple - the paper is so lovely that I just wanted to add some inspirational words!

I printed one of the papers to fit a five by seven card, and matted it with some textured blue. The verse is an Apache blessing that I found online. In case you can't make out the words from the photograph, it says,

May the sun bring you new energy each day,
May the moon softly restore you by night,
May the rain wash away your worries,
May the breeze blow new strength into your being.

May you walk gently through the world and know its beauty.

I put the verse onto a blue background in Photoshop Elements and printed, before cutting it with a Spellbinders die in my Big Shot Pro.

I hope you can join us this week.

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

Anything Goes where they want monochrome,
Bearly Mine where anything goes,
Papertake Weekly where anything goes,