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Thursday 28 July 2011

Thank You!

I just wanted to pop in and thank those who've visited and commented on my posts over the past couple of weeks. My mum died last week, and while it was expected, it meant that we had to travel north to arrange the funeral and start to get her estate sorted out. Although I'm back home at the moment, it looks like I'll be 'on call' to go up again soon, so I doubt I'll be posting much this summer. Any posts you see have most likely been scheduled in advance, and I've got several more scheduled, but I don't know if I'm going to want to do much cardmaking in the immediate future.

I really appreciate those of you who take the time to visit - reading your comments (on my phone as I don't have internet up there otherwise) was a wonderful boost at a difficult time. Thank you.

Monday 25 July 2011

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge 51

One of my favourite themes at Crafty Cardmakers this time - Butterflies! I think if I were to sort my craft goodies by theme, butterflies would probably come third to flowers and fairies!
I started with the butterfly - a beautiful digi from Delicious Doodles which I printed and coloured with Sakura Stardust pens in a range of blues, greens and copper. I then made some paper using the same image, coloured digitally, in Photoshop Elements.

The flower is from Prima, and I coloured it using Twinkling H2Os, and finished it with a sticky gem which I coloured to match using a Promarker. I used a Martha Stewart border punch. The 'stem' ribbon was coloured with Promarker, and the card was finished with a bow.

Hope you can join us this time!

Sunday 24 July 2011

One Stitch at a Time Challenge 72

This week at One Stitch at a Time, we're challenging you to show us your swirls and pearls! Our sponsors are
and

This week, I had an image from Sylvie to work with.
Isn't that a lovely image! I framed it and added the sky detail in Photoshop Elements before printing and shading with Promarkers. For the background, I embossed some card with two Papermania folders in my Wizard.

The swirl was cut with a Spellbinders die, and I followed its lines with some grey pearls I've had for a while. I finished the card with some Glimmer Mist.

 A close-up of the pearls!

Hope you can join us this week!

Sunday 17 July 2011

One Stitch at a Time Challenge 71

This week at One Stitch at a Time, our theme is 'Flowers'! Our sponsor is Joanna Sheen.


This week, I had a lovely image from Beary Dust to work with.


I coloured the image and background with Promarkers. The pink layer was punched with a Martha Stewart border punch. The flowers are bits from my stash, and the paper is some of the lovely MME pad called 'Springtime'. And that's it - really quite simple!

Hope you can join us this week.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
Creative Craft Challenges where the theme is 'pretty blossoms',
Simon Says Stamp where 'anything goes',
Sarah Hurley where they want 'colouring',
The Rubber Cafe where they want us to use Spellbinder dies (label die used to cut image.)
Card and Scrap where they want dies or punches,
Emerald Faerie where they want 'girly'

Monday 11 July 2011

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge 50

A very different challenge this time from Crafty Cardmakers. Put away your matting and layers. Forget lots of pretty papers. We want you to make a single layer card. You can add some simple embellishment if you wish, but there should only be one layer of paper or card.

Well, my first thought was to think about putting my fingers in my ears and hum loudly. (Jack O'Neill at his best ...) But then I considered a largely digital option and decided that was much less frightening. I'd been thinking I should have a sympathy card in my stash, and that seemed the perfect idea given that the result was bound to be a fairly simple design.
The image is the beautiful 'Apple Blossom' from The Creative Mind of Sylvie. I sized it in Photoshop Elements, and then changed the image outline colour from black to a dark grey to soften the effect. I added the sentiment, and then framed the result with a feathered gradient. I printed the card, and then coloured the flowers with Promarkers.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
I love Promarkers where they want 'clean and simple',
Stamp Insanity where anything goes,
Charisma Cards where it's all about flowers,
Meljen's Designs where they want no more than two layers (I've got just one!).

Sunday 10 July 2011

A Couple of Birthday Cards

If you're looking for my OSAAT post, scroll down!

This might be the last 'real' post here for a while. My mum's taken a turn for the worse (she's been ill for a long time) and I'm liable to have to travel north very soon. I'm hoping to wait until school breaks up, but that might not be possible. So, I've spent some time lately trying to get as up to date as I can, and I've got DT posts scheduled where I can.

One of the things I wanted to get done, is to make a couple of birthday cards sor my husband's brothers. They're twins, and their birthdays are next month.


Both images are by Becky Muir - she's so good at male images. So many are very stereotypically sports-orientated, but hers are more general. Both images have been coloured with Promarkers, and had greetings added in Photoshop Elements before printing. In the blue card, I made a paper to match the design I added to the greeting, and for both, I embossed some card in my Wizard using a Cuttlebug and a Papermania folder.

I'd like to enter these into the following challenges:


Blue Based:
A Gem of a Challenge where the theme is 'Let's Hear it for the Boys',
Paper Creator's Challenge where they want special occasions,
Stamp Insanity where anything goes,
Papercrafting Journey where they want things 'for him',
Aud Sentiments where they want sentiments of at least two words,
Craft Room where they want summer birthdays,
Ladybird Challenges where they want summer birthdays,
Partytime Tuesdays where they want square cards,
Kaboodle Doodles where they want celebrations.

Brown Based:
A Gem of a Challenge where the theme is 'Let's Hear it for the Boys',
Paper Creator's Challenge where they want special occasions,
Stamp Insanity where anything goes,
Papercrafting Journey where they want things 'for him',
Aud Sentiments where they want sentiments of at least two words,
I Love Promarkers where they want clean and simple,
Craft Room where they want summer birthdays,
Partytime Tuesdays where they want square cards,
Kaboodle Doodles where they want celebrations.

One Stitch at a Time Challenge 70

This week at One Stitch at a Time, we're making things even easier for you! Our theme is 'Anything Goes'! So, whatever you make, you can enter. And remember, if you use an image from the Stitchy shop, you are eligible for our top 3.

We're sponsored this week by
My eldest has just finished his Maths degree, and I needed to make him a card. So I was very pleased when I got to choose a lovely graduation image from Stitchy for this week's card!
I went for a simple design - my son really isn't in to fussy things. I printed the silhouette, the coat of arms of his university and a sentiment, adding a 'glow' to the first two images, and cut them out. The background is hand-written. Not university standard Maths as I would've had to have asked him for that - instead I borrowed my daughter's A level text book and added some titles from memory. It's written on black card in a mixture of Sakura silver shadow pens and some rather nice multi-toned pens from Zebra that I've had a while.

To be honest, I've been looking for a good graduation image for a while, and while there are a few around with caps and the likes, this is the first 'person' I've found who looks like an adult.

So, what's happening in your life? A birthday, anniversary, university graduation? Or even if you've started your Christmas cards, we'd love to see what you come up with this week.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
Craft Your Passion where anything goes,
KB Cute Monday where anything goes,
Bearly Mine Challenges where anything goes,
Shelly's Images where the theme is 'celebrate',
Stamp Insanity where anything goes,
Papercrafting Journey where they want cards 'for him',
Simply Create where they want silhouettes,
A Gem of a Challenge where they want 'one for the boys',
Ellephantastic where they want 'celebrations',
Paper Creator's challenge where they want 'special occasion',

Sunday 3 July 2011

One Stitch at a Time Challenge 69

This week, at One Stitch at a Time, our challenge is to use a digi. How easy is that? It can be any digi, but remember, to be in line for our top three, it has to be one from the Stitchy Bear shop, but that's easy too, as there are so many artists with so many different styles available there!

We're sponsored by

And, as an added incentive, how would you like to see your creation included in a major papercrafting magazine? Stitchy Bear Stamps is currently running a series of ads in Papercraft Essentials, and this is your chance to get your project in print. Keep an eye on the next four challenges for your chance - there's even advance notice of the themes in the ad below!


This week, I worked with an image from one of our newer artists at the Stitchy Bear shop - Gillu's Gallery and an image called 'Friendship'
Isn't that a pretty image? I coloured it with Promarkers, and cut the image and mat with some Nesties. The papers are from My Minds Eye - from a freebie pad from a magazine a while ago, and one which remains one of my favourites because of the gorgeous colours.

To finish, I used some ribbon, and some bead strings which were another magazine freebie several years ago. I threaded the strings through the ribbon, anchoring them on the other side.

I hope you can join us this week.

I'd like to enter the following challenges:
Digital Tuesday where the theme is 'flower power',
Hooked on Crafts where they want flowers,
KB Cute Monday where they want flowers,
Truly Scrumptions where they want 'things with wings'
Ruby's Rainbow where they want flowers,
The Paper Shelter where anything goes,
I Love Promarkers where they want us to include flowers,
Divas by Design where they want die cuts or punches,
Colour Create where they want fuschia, green and white,
Digi Doodles where anything goes.

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