Crafty Cardmakers Challenge 80

Our challenge this fortnight, hosted by team-mate Fiona, is a photo inspiration challenge.

Make a card or project inspired by the following photo. You can take inspiration from any part of it really, from the actual image or from the colours.

We are sponsored again by

DI'S DIGI DOWNLOADS

and

CROP STOP

The things that stood out for me when looking at that photo, are the colours, the Christmas theme and the fact that the tree looks so sparkly. So, that's what I combined to come up with my card for this challenge:

Now, when my children were small, a regular part of the run-up to Christmas, was watching 'The Snowman'. The stamp I used comes from a set of stamps from Crafter's Companion, and I coloured the image with Promarkers.

In order to get the sparkle, I got out my Shimmer Paper. I used a sheet of the fairly neutral shade in the background, and cut lots of snowflakes from the blue/green variety, using dies from Marianne, Spellbinders and Cuttlebug. I matted using some Nestibilities, and it's complete. (And since I didn't go too 'dimensional', I'll even be able to post it without a 'large' stamp!)

Hope you can join us this week.

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

Crazy Amigos where the theme is 'colours of winter',
Ladybug Crafts Ink where the theme is 'snowflakes',
Artistic Inspirations where anything goes,
Bunny Zoe where the theme is 'winter',
Hooked on Craft where the theme is 'Christmas',
Paper Playtime where anything goes,
The Paper Girls where the theme is Christmas,

One Stitch at a Time Challenge 141

This week at One Stitch at a Time, our challenge is to use fabric, ribbon or lace.

Our sponsors are

and

This week, a made another Christmas card - this time using an image from Kaz Crafts called Wish Upon a Star.

I added the wording in Photoshop Elements, and set the image so that the star and wording printed in grey rather than black, while leaving the little girl to print darker. I coloured the girl with Promarkers, then added gold Glamour Dust to the star. I added further sparkle to the star with a Sakura Stardust pen, and used the same pen to add some sparkle to the text.

I cut the image using a Spellbinders die in my Wizard, and matted it using larger ovals from the of the same type.

The background uses some gold-printed vellum which I backed with white card, and I matted everything on red. To finish, I've used some gold ribbon at an angle to mirror the angle of the image oval.

I hope you can join us this week.

And, if you like this or any other image or paper available on the Stitchy Bear site, there's a 50% off sale for 24 hours starting tomorrow at 5am GMT. So, what are you waiting for?


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

Papelitos Challenge where anything goes,

Artistic Inspirations where anything goes,

Paper Playtime where anything goes,

The Paper Girls where the theme is Christmas,

One Stitch at a Time Challenge 140

This week at One Stitch at a Time, our challenge is to use a digi. That's it!

We're sponsored by

and

This week, I decided to add to my stash of Christmas cards using an image from Floppy Latte called Christmas Candles 2.

I coloured the image with Promarkers, and added some sparkle with gold Glamour Dust. I cut the image and mat with a Spellbinders die, and made the poinsettia using a Marianne Creatables die. The paper has been in my Christmas paper stash for at least four years, and the ribbon is of a similar vintage - the last length of a much longer piece!

I hope you can join us this week.

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

LEJ where the theme is 'Season's Greetings',
Tuesday Alchemy where anything goes,
The Pink Elephant Monday Challenge where they want us to use punches/dies
Divas by Design where anything goes,
Just Keep on Crafting where anything (Christmas) goes,
Penny's Paper Crafty Challenge where anything goes,
Crafty Catz where they want some sparkle,
Papercrafting Journey where anything goes,
Little Claire's where the theme is Christmas.

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge 79

This fortnight's challenge at Crafty Cardmakers is an easy one. It's been set by my team mate Betty, and she would like to see something created using at least two punches or die cuts.

We have two sponsors this time. First there's Hobby Art

and also

 (see the Challenge Blog for details of both prizes.)

I was lucky enough to work with an image from our sponsor Milk Coffee. Isn't it sweet? I coloured the image using Promarkers, and added some sparkle with Glamour Dust to the snow falling, and to the ground with a Sakura Stardust pen. I cut the image using a Spellbinders Label die in my wizard, and matted it onto card I cut with the equivalent decorative label - a recent purchase which I think is gorgeous!

The white background card was punched using my Tonic Border system and punch, and the corners of that, and the blue background card were rounded using a punch. I added some Quickie Glue to the snowflakes and sprinkled with Glamour Dust there too.

Hope you can join us this time.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
Southern Girls where they want a Christmas project,
Papertake Weekly where anything goes (with an option of Christmas),
Sweet Stamps where the theme is Christmas,
Hooked on Craft where the theme is 'Christmas with no red or green',
Stamping with the Dragon where they want 'Christmas with no red or green',
Delightful Challenges where they want snowflakes,
Paperplay where they want snowflakes,
Dream Valley where anything goes,
Joanna Sheen where the theme is 'Cold and Frosty',
One Stop Craft where anything goes.

One Stitch at a Time Challenge 139

This week at One Stitch at a Time, the challenge is 'Thanks'!

Our sponsors this week are

and

This week I chose a gorgeous image from Delicious Doodles called Kingfisher in the Rushes.

I added the sentiment in Photoshop Elements before printing, then coloured with Promarkers. The papers all come from the Papermania Capsule collection, and I've matted with card from my collection. the flowers were made from the same card and paper, and I shaded the main flower layers using Distress Ink in Rusty Hinge. I finished with a feather from a bag I bought ages ago and keep forgetting I've got!

I hope you can join us this week.

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

Anything Goes where anything goes,
LEJ Designs where they want us to use die cuts or punches,

Papertake Weekly where anything goes,

Aud Sentiments where the theme is 'Thanks',
Happy Campers where they want bright colours,
Papercrafting Journey where anything goes,
Sarah Hurley where they want bright colours,
ATCs and Cards with Attitude where they want us to add a sentiment,
Card Making Mamas where they want a thank you card,
Poodles Parlour where they want a thank you card,

A Special Birthday and a Wedding!

Hot on the heels of my last post, here's another with two more cards using images from the Enchanted Dreams CDRom.

First, one for a 50th birthday.

I digitally smudged the name. There's no chance the future recipient, or even anyone who knows her will visit this blog, but I just don't feel comfortable putting other people's names up here. The two papers were both created in Photoshop Elements by tiling small sections of the image.

And a wedding card. Again, I've smudged, this time both the name and the wedding date, and again, the papers were created in Photoshop Elements.

 

Four Christmas Cards

I'm conscious that, as a result of various worries during the summer, I haven't made as many Christmas cards as I usually have by this time of year. Now that these worries have been largely resolved, I'm trying to get stuck into doing some, and I decided to use my Enchanted Dreams CDrom for some inspiration.

There are four fairly wintery images on the CDRom, and this is the first of those. I used the backing paper provided for the image, and used the lady's lacy clothing to create a background which I used to frame the image, and to frame and fill the text. I matted using some Papermania shimmer card. I had intended to place everything straight, but, having placed them as you see as a first stage, I decided I liked the effect!

This time, I added the work 'Winter' to the image in Photoshop elements before printing. I also used the backing paper supplied for the image.

For this one, I again added some wording in Photoshop elements, but I also used some bevel effects on the image. I didn't like the paper supplied for this image, so I made a couple using tiled elements of the image. One's fairly dark blue (the detail doesn't show well in the photograph), and the other picks out the blues/lilacs and pinks of the image.

Again for this image, I didn't like the supplied paper, so I put one together. The only other thing I added was some silver mirror card to provide a contrast.

I haven't embellished these cards at all. I purposely printed the images fairly big for the size of card - there's so much detail in every image and I hate to lose it because it's printed small. I think they work really well with just some matting to draw the eye into the image.

One Stitch at a Time Challenge 138

This week at One Stitch at a Time, we're having that easiest of all challenges: Anything Goes!

Our sponsor this week is

and

This week, I worked with an image from Gingerloft, and it's one of three in her set called Vintage Valentine Set. And just to show that they're versatile, I didn't make a valentine card or anything specifically romantic at all!

The image is supplied in black and white, but I decided to soften the effect by changing those shades to brown and cream. Then, still in Photoshop Elements, I added a border to the image in a pale saffron shade before printing. I matted it on dark brown, and then on some textured metallic coated paper and I mirrored the stars in the image using a punch I've had for many years. I mounted all of that onto more of the dark brown card, and finished with a roughly tied bow.

Hope you can join us this week.

I'd like to enter this card intot he following challenges:
Fab 'n' Funky where they want die cuts or punches,
The Paper Shelter where anything goes,
Anything Goes where anything goes,
LEJ Designs where anything goes,
Pause, Dress, Enjoy where they want orange and brown,
Raise the Bar where anything goes,
Card Making Mamas where anything goes,