Crafty Cardmakers and More Challenge 154

This is the last challenge of 2015, and as winter has definitely arrived in the northern hemisphere, the theme for this challenge is SNOW! So, whether you've made a last-minute Christmas card or gift, or something else altoghther, so long as there's snow somewhere, why not join us for this challenge?

When I came to make this challenge, I'd made all my Christmas cards, except for one for my husband. He likes things plain - everything from clothing and decoration right through to, well, anything. So, I made a card with a very simple design. I used an image and paper from a My Craft Studio CD I've had for  while. I used Photoshop Elements to re-compose the background paper so it fitted on a square format. I used the image as supplied, and printed an extra copy of the main image, matted everything with silver mirror card and layered using sticky pads. I generated the sentiment in Photoshop Elements.

I hope you can join us this time. And whether you can or not, I hope you all have a wonderful Festive Season and send all good wishes for 2016.

Crafty Cardmakers and More Challenge 153

This time, the challenge at Crafty Cardmakers and More is to make something on the theme of, 'The Night Before Christmas'.

Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St Nicholas soon would be there.

The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads.
And mamma in her ‘kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled our brains for a long winter’s nap.

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.

The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below.
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature sleigh, and eight tinny reindeer.

With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be St Nick.
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name!

"Now Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!
On, Comet! On, Cupid! on, on Donner and Blitzen!
To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
Now dash away! Dash away! Dash away all!"

As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky.
So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,
With the sleigh full of Toys, and St Nicholas too.

And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.
As I drew in my head, and was turning around,
Down the chimney St Nicholas came with a bound.

He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot.
A bundle of Toys he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a peddler, just opening his pack.

His eyes-how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow.

The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath.
He had a broad face and a little round belly,
That shook when he laughed, like a bowlful of jelly!

He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself!
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread.

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And filled all the stockings, then turned with a jerk.
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose!

He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, ‘ere he drove out of sight,
"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night!"

Clement Clark Moore

As you can see, there's a lot of inspiration there!

I chose to use an image I've had for ages. It's from the Crafty Image Emporium CD from Crafty Computer Paper.I've teamed it with a Spellbinders die cut mat, and some sanded and embossed Coredinations card. I've completed the card with some gold ribbon and some die cut holly finished with red glass beads.

I hope you can join us this time!

Crafty Cardmakers and More Challenge 152

This time the challenge at Crafty Cardmakers and More is to make something for a winter birthday. It's my turn to host, and as long as your creation meets that requirement, you can do whatever you want, although as I'm hosting, I'll be especially looking for creations that seem wintery in some way.

For this challenge, I decided to make a card for a friend who's got a December birthday. She loves Josephine Wall images, so I headed straight for my CDRom and found this one. It always seems very wintery to me - cool blue shades and those bare trees in the background - but it's not Christmassy, so I think it's ideal.

I love my Josephine Wall CDs as the images are gorgeous, but I rarely find I like the backing papers. They often seem very pale and insipid when used with the images. Maybe that's intentional so that the images really stand out, but I feel it makes the project seem unbalanced somehow. But, through the wonders of Photoshop Elements, I can always take a small section of the image and tile it to make a paper that works perfectly, and that's what I did here. I added some framing and the sentiment, as well as mirroring part of the image, again in PSE. To finish, I added some crocheted lace and a little glitter.

I'm looking forward to visiting all the entries to this one, so I hope you can join us.

Crafty Cardmakers and More Challenge 151

This time at Crafty Cardmakers and More, we're challenging you to be thankful about something. You might want to make a remembrance card as Armistice day's coming up, or just an old-fashioned thank you card.

For this card, I've stuck to a fairly simple design.

I've used a stamp set I got with a recent magazine. I coloured the image with Promarkers - the first time I've used them for a while! To complete the card, I made a branch of small flowers using a Sizzix Susan's Garden die set, shading the flowers and leaves with Pan Pastels and finishing the flowers with a dab of glitter glue.

I hope you can join us this time!

Crafty Cardmakers and More Challenge 150

This time at Crafty Cardmakers and More, the challenge is to use Autumn colours!

Being somewhat awkward, I decided to make a Christmas card, and this is what I came up with.

I was recently given some cards by someone who was doing a clear out - long, narrow gold cards which seemed perfect for Christmas when you sometimes want something smaller than I usually make. I matted with red card - it's really quite a warm red but for some reason seems to be shading to blue in the photo - no idea why! I added a raised snowflake panel and the word 'Noel'  in brown. I triple embossed heavy duty card snowflakes using Cosmic Shimmer UTE in a red/gold shade and used these to finish.

I hope you can join us this time.

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 148

This time at Crafty Cardmakers and More the challenge is to make it sparkle!. Oddly, when I saw this, I didn't reach for my glitter collection. Instead, I saw an opportunity to get out my Twinkling H2O watercolours which I haven't used in ages.

The image is from Floppy Latte Designs and I printed it onto watercolour paper. The background paper is from a magazine freebie pad I've had for some time. The flowers were made using watercolour paper painted to match the image and cut using Sizzix dies.

Having done one card, I decided to do another in a completely different colourscheme.

I hope you can join us this time.

I'd like to enter this card intot he following challenges:

Crafty Cardmakers and More Challenge 147

This time at Crafty Cardmakers and More we're challenging you to use flower embellishments. That's easy! (My problem comes when I'm not allowed to use flowers.)

I decided to try out a new (to me) techinque - colouring on dark card using pencils.

I stamped the image on black card using white ink. I coloured using a mixture of Spectrum Noir and Derwent Coloursoft pencils. Interestingly, I've discovered that the Derwent pencils are a lot softer and give much better coverage than the Spectrum Noir - despite being more robust. (I've had a  lot of problems with the colour in the Spectrum Noirs breaking.) The result is trill fairly dark - I may need to consider doing something different, like giving an undercoat of white before adding colours. I foresee some further experimentation.

The flowers were made using some dies from the Crafts Too Presscut range. I've added some patterning to the card using a fine line pen and finished the flowers with black gems.

I hope you can join us this time.

One Stitch at a Time Challenge 245

Well, this is my last post as a DT member of the One Stitch at a Time team. My first post was on 4th July 2010 - more than five years ago! It's been fun, but, although I'm still making cards, I've discovered other things which also take up my time and I decided that it was time to step down. I'd like to thank all the other DT members past and present who've made the team such fun to be a part of, and especially our previous DT co-ordinator (Choccy) and, of course, our current co-ordinator, Jane. Thanks for your encouragement and for the friendly and efficient way you've run the team.

So, now, onto the challenge. The theme is, 'Anything Goes with Gratitude', so anything you feel grateful for. In my case, I'm grateful for flowers which brighten up our world with such a gorgeous array of colours. I love colour, the brighter the better, and I can't think of any single thing in nature which provides such a wide range of colours than flowers. For this challenge, I used an image from Floppy Latte Designs called Pretty Sprig of Flowers. I've coloured it using a new (to me) colouring medium - Inktense pencils.

I printed the image onto watercolour paper. I like the fact that I use less water using these pencils compared to most watercolour techniques, so it's especially suited to digi-stamps since there's less chance of smudging the image.

The background paper is from Paper Pizazz and I made the flowers using some of the Sizzix Susan's Garden range of dies, a couple of Spellbinders dies, Pan Pastels and Liquid Pearls.

And that's it! I hope you can join us this time.

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

Crafty Cardmakers and More Challenge 146

This time at Crafty Cardmakers and More, we're challenging you to put away your patterned papers and create! So, nothing too hard, unless you're addicted to patterned papers!

I decided to try to increase my stash of Christmas cards, as I'm woefully behind in making for this year. I stuck to die cutting as my major technique as it's fairly quick and very reproducible, so I should be able to make several to the same design without too much difficulty.

As I said - fairly simple. I've used dies from Tonic and Crafter's Comapnion and some glitter card. The sentiment was stamped using a very old stamp which has the ink included with it. I'm just impressed it hasn't dried up yet!

I hope you can join us this time.

Crafty Cardmakers and More Challenge 145

The challenge for this fortnight at Crafty Cardmakers and More is to make something using warm, summer colours. So, not too difficult, eh?

I started with a stamped image - I've had that stamp for many years - and coloured with Promarkers. In the background, I decided to try out a new die set I've recently bought - one of the Tonic Verso range. I've got to say, I'm very impressed. Because it comes as a set of dies rather than a single, not only do you get more flexibility as to what you cut, but it cuts much more reliably than other doily-type dies I've got. Here, I just used a single die to cut a patterned ring in a square of red card. I matted that with some orange, rounded the corners, and that's about it. I love the die cut so much I didn't want to lose it in added clutter so I didn't add anything.

I hope you can join us this time.

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

Cards Galore Encore where anything goes,

Crafty Cardmakers and More Challenge 144

This time at Crafty Cardmakers and More, we're pushing the Cardmaking aside and promoting the More! We want your project to be anything but a card.

Now, I don't often make things that aren't cards, but I'd often thought of doing something to put on my parents' grave. I live several hundred miles from where they're buried and don't visit very often. I put flowers there when I go, but they only last a few days and then they're not replaced, so I wanted something that would last a little longer but be very personal. This is what I came up with.

I started with a blank plaque that I stained and then sealed with Spray and Shine from Crafter's Companion. I scanned and edited one of their wedding photos before printing and sealing. the flowers were made using a range of Sizzix Susan's Garden dies with added colour supplied using Pan pastel and a little liquid pear. I sealed each flower separately before assembling the plaque and sealing again. I honestly don't expect it to last very long once it's out in the elements, especially as the cemetery is on a windy hillside in an area known for its rainfall, but it should (hopefully) last a little longer than flowers.

And by a complete coincidence, it's especially appropriate that I'm blogging this today, as it would have been my dad's 88th birthday.

I hope you can join us this time.

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

Crafty Cardmakers and More Challenge 143

The theme for this fortnight's challenge at Crafty Cardmakers and More is water. That's a pretty big topic, as you can use anything from waves and oceans to rivers or rain. So long as there's water depicted somewhere on your project, you're eligible to enter.

I remembered a mounted stamp I've had for some years showing a rocky beach and a lighthouse (with water around it), and so I dug out a box that doesn't often see the light of day. While searching for that, I came across this stamp which I decided was even more suitable for this challenge. I stamped the image with Memento ink and coloured with Promarkers. I created the background and sentiment in Photoshop elements then matted onto some purple card before finishing with some ribbon. I rather like the result - but then I love bright colours and like the simplistic lines in the image.

I hope you can join us this time.

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

Simply Papercrafts where anything goes,
Sister Act where anything goes,
Crafty Friends where anything goes,
Scrappers Delights where anything goes,
Card Mania where anything goes,
Crafting from the Heart where anything goes,
Craft your Passion where anything goes.

Crafty Cardmakers and More Challenge 142

Another challenge from Crafty Cardmakers and More - this time to use a sentiment on your project. While it would be lovely if the sentiment was the focus of the project, so long as there is one, it fits the challenge. So, what are you waiting for?

I was asked to make a card for a friend whose mother got married recently. The colour scheme for the wedding is white/silver, so I looked out all my white and grey card as well as some silver mirror card and gave my Big Shot Pro a bit of a work out!

I've intentionally put the watermark over the couple's names. I used papers from two CDRoms - the floral one is from my Flower Power CD and the very pale lacy one is from Ivory Cats. In both cases, the papers were coloured, but I took the colour out in Photoshop Elements before printing. I generated the sentiment and matted it using Spellbinders dies. The flowers were made using dies from Sizzix, Memory Box, Cheery Lynn and quite possibly others. (I keep my 'normal' sized dies in a box intended to store CDs, in little CD sleeves, so the original packaging is long gone.) I've used some liquid pearls for flower centres and the tips of stamens.

Now, although I used some of the flattest of the flowers I've got dies for, this card wouldn't easily fit into an envelope, so I made a box too.

The label here is blank so my friend can address it herself, and it's not even attached in this photo because it's a pain to write on things on the top of a box! Here, I've used similar dies to before, with the addition of a Creative Expressions bow die.

I hope you can join us this time!

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

Crafty Gals Corner where anything goes,
Penny's where anything goes,
Sisterhood of Crafters where the theme is Weddings,
Crafting for the Craic where the theme is The Big Occasion,
Cards Galore Encore where anything goes,
Paper Creator where anything goes.

One Stitch at a Time Challenge 240

This time at One Stitch at a Time, we're having a colour challenge - you can make anything you like so long as it's got the following colours: red, white and blue.

Our sponsor, as usual is:

See the challenge blog for details.

This time, I used an image from Barbara Jensen called Parrot.

I printed the image onto watercolour paper and coloured with promarkers. I added some shading to the background with Pan Pastels. For the white background, I first die cut using a hexagon border die before embossing with a Cuttlebug folder. I wanted a little more red visible, so I added some red Perle cotton to the hexagons. The card blank is a blue pearl shade from Craft Creations.

I hope you can join us this time.

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

Crafty Creations where the theme is 'red, white, and blue',
Crafty Gals Corner where anything goes,
Creative Moments where they want embossing,
Penny's where anything goes,
Doodle Pantry where anything digital goes,
Through the Purple Haze where they want bright colours,
Crafts Galore Encore where anything goes,
Lia Stampz where anything goes,
Paper Creator where anything goes.

Crafty Cardmakers and More Challenge 141

The challenge this time is hosted by Vania, and the theme is For a Man or Boy. So, get thinking about those mens' cards and gifts you need to make and join us!

For this challenge, I decided to make a card for my brother-in-law, or I should perhaps say two of them, as my husband's brothers are twins, albeit with birthdays a day apart. I always do something similar for both of them, but not identical. This time, I had a look through my CDRoms and decided to go with the Crafter's Companion disc Diary of an Edwardian Lady and a bird theme.

I kept things simple, combining a number of CD elements and finishing with a personalised greeting.

I hope you can join us this time.

One Stitch at a Time Challenge 239

This time at One Stitch at a Time, the theme is Anything Goes with Men. We're sponsored by:

See the challenge blog for details.

I decided to make a card for my son, who grew up hearing about Dr. Who, only to have them resurrect the series some years ago. So, when I saw this image from Alipeep's Art, especially when it's a picture of The Doctor, it was perfect for him.

The wording, of course, comes from the series. I made the background paper using some key words from the series, and coloured the image with Promarkers, after adding the speech bubble in Photoshop Elements. The watch is a Marianne die cut which I've touched up with Pan Pastel to make the details more obvious.

I hope you can join us this time.

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

Creative Corner where it's 'Just for Boys',
Krafty Katz where they want CAS,
Graph'it where the theme is blue/boys,
Kitty Bee where it's 'for the boys',
Left of Centre where the theme is 'for the boys',
Polkadoodles where the theme is 'masculine',
Simply Create Too where the theme is 'masculine',
Simply Papercrafts where anything goes,
Sister Act where anything goes,

Crafty Cardmakers and More Challenge 140

This time, at Crafty Cardmakers and More, the challenge is to use stitching. It can be faux, but we'd really like to see some 'real' stitching or embroidery on your project.

I decided to make a card for a colleague who's moving on.

I started by pricking out a regular pattern around some pale, shimmery green card. I then back-stitched it to a piece of darker green, before adding a 'spirelli'-style frame. (Although, I was making patterns like that long before I'd ever heard of 'Spirelli'!) I generated a sentiment in Photoshop Elements and cut and matted that using Spellbinders dies. The flowers are made using Sizzix dies. I shaded the centres with Pan pastels and finished them off with a little liquid pearl.

I used to stitch cards long before I'd heard of rubber stamping or die cutting, and I must say I really enjoyed doing this one. I've got several more leaving cards to do in the next few weeks and I suspect I'll be doing some variations on this theme!

I hope you can join us this time.

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

Simply Papercrafts where anything goes,

A Gem of a Challenge where they want flowers,

Inspiration Destination where anything goes,

Paper Shelter where the theme is Flower Power,

Penny's where anything goes,

One Stitch at a Time Challenge 238

This time at One Stitch at a Time, our challenge is Anything Goes with Flowers. So, if, like me, flowers are your go-to embellishment, that means pretty much anything you like.

Our sponsor this time is:

See the challenge blog for prize details and you can find a link to the shop in my sidebar.

So, I worked with an image from Stitchy Bear called Patches.

Isn't she sweet? And with her pretty patchwork dress and mis-matched shoes, I had to use a patchwork background. Fortunately, I've got a CDRom with several - Joanna Sheen's Ivory Cats. I may not make many cat cards, but I do love the papers! I coloured the image with Promarkers, cut with Sizzix dies. The flowers use some Sizzix dies and some from elsewhere - Memory Box, I think, but I struggle to remember dies unless they've got a distinctive appearance. I blame my age ...

I hope you can join us this time.

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

Simply Papercrafts where anything goes,

Inspiration Destination where anything goes,

Paper Shelter where the theme is Flower Power,

Penny's where anything goes,
Tuesday Throwdown where anything goes,
Crafting from the Heart where anything goes,

Crafty Cardmakers and More Challenge 139

This time, at Crafty Cardmakers and More, we want to see shaped creations. Any shape you want so long as it's not a plain square or rectangle.

I actually planned to make a circular card for this challenge, but the die set I ordered has failed to materialise so far (looks like it had incorrect postage on it), so I had to re-think a bit.

And yes, it is a Christmas card - my second of the year. I normally try to get started on Christmas cards during the Easter break, but that didn't go to well this year, partly because we were away for a few days and partly because I'm just struggling for inspiration. Still, I'm quite pleased with how this one turned out.

I cut the card base using Spellbinders Grand Nestibilities and covered the plain card with some shimmery white card. I matted with two shades of pearly aqua card. The grid was cut with a smaller Spellbinders die and framed to give it a finished appearance, then it was adhered using a glue gel to give it a bit of height from the previous layer. The poinsettias used Marianne dies, and I added a little hint of detail to the leaves using Pan Pastels and finished with a little silver glitter glue in the centres. The sentiment is a pre-inked stamp I've had for many years.

I hope you can join us this time.

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

Sister Act where anything goes,
Crimbo Crackers where they want die cuts,
A Gem of a Challenge where they want 'more than one fold',
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge where they want some our your favourite things (die cuts, pearly paper and flowers ...)
Penny's where they want 'more than one fold',

One Stitch at a Time Challenge 237

This time, our challenge at One Stitch at a Time is to show some appreciation! As usual, we're sponsored by

See the challenge blog for details of our prizes.

For this challenge, I used one of a set of sentiments from Sentimental Susan called A Whole Lot of Thanks. There are several styles in this set, and they're all available in multiple file types. I chose just one to use here:

I started by recolouring the text in Photoshop Elements, making it a mid-blue shade and outlined it with a darker blue. Then, I added a pale background. After printing, I die cut the sentiment and matted it using Spellbinders dies. The background paper comes from a CD Rom. To finish the card, I made some flowers using Sizzix dies and added some extra swirly bits cut using some more Spellbinders dies. I toned the flowers and edged the sentiment with Pan Pastels.

I hope you can join us this time.

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

A Dragon's Lair where the theme is, A Bouquet of Flowers,
Digitally Sweet where the theme is Aprils Showers bring May Flowers,
Sister Act where anything goes,
Stamping Boutique where they want us to use a die cut or punch,
Di's Digis where they want us to load on flowers,
Fantastic Tuesdays where they want flowers,
City Crafter where they want us to focus on flowers,
Digi Choosday where the theme is flower power,.
Crafty Gals where the theme is May Flowers.

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 236

This time, at One Stitch at a Time, our theme is 'Special Lady'. And we're sponsored by

See the challenge blog (link in my sidebar) for details.

I got to choose an image from the collection by Reece's Scrap Pieces and chose a set called 'Leaving the Nest'. It comes as a digi stamp and a pre-coloured image, and I decided to use the pre-coloured version.

Where does the special lady come in? It's a card for my sister!

I added the sentiment and frames in Photoshop Elements, and printed, adding extra layers of the clock and little bird, which I layered. I embellished with a pocket-watch die (from Marianne) which I used to add the detail with Pan Pastels, and a little bird from a different company (whose name I can't remember.) I completed with some pretty lace to give the card a more feminine feel.

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,

Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge where anything goes,

613 Avenue Create where anything goes,

Come and Get It where they want something feminine,

Sister Act where anything goes.

Crafty Cardmakers Challengeand More 137 - Dots!

This time at Crafty Cardmakers and More, we're going dotty! Any project, any theme, just so long as it's got obvious dots - so a really easy one to join in with.

While trawling through my collection of CDRoms for dotty papers, I came across some lovely ones on my Crafter's Companion Paintbox Poppets CD, and so came up with this.

I love the images in this collection, but haven't had many opportunities to use them, so this was a definite bonus. The sentiment, ribbon and flower all come from the CD, although I layered the sentiment, and printed three copies of the flower, again to layer. Even so, this was a quick card to make.

I hope you can join us this time.

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

Little Miss Muffet where anything goes,
Allsorts where Quick and Easy Does It,
Crafty Calendar where they want us to add a sentiment,
Sister Act where anything goes.

One Stitch at a Time Challenge 235

This time, at One Stitch at a Time the challenge is 'daughers/girls'. Our sponsor is

See the challenge blog for details.

For this challenge, I decided to make a gift for my daughter for Easter, instead of making her a card. I worked with some lovely papers from Panda Bear Designs called Renew Paper Pack 1.

It's a sort of Easter basket idea, to which I will add some chocolate treats once I've managed to buy some! I used a piece of 12 by 12 card for the base, and two of the papers from the pack.

I filled the inside with some shredded raffia, and added some hand-made flowers.

 I added a die cut butterfly to each side, and held the whole thing together with some lace.

And, so you can see a little more of the second paper I used.

The paper pack is not a standard size in the UK, but with the wonders of Photoshop Elements, I was able to resize it to the square format I needed for this project. The butterflies were made with Spellbinders dies, and the flowers with dies from Sizzix's Susan's Garden range. I do love those dies, and have put together quite a collection. It's just a pity that the range is being discontinued (although I've made the most of that by increasing my collection while the dies are being cleared!) I added some colour to the petals with Pan Pastel, and the spotty shading to the green petals with Promarkers.

I hope you can join us this time.

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

A Gem of a Challenge where Spring is in the Air,
Suzy Bees where they want us to use a die or punch,
Chocolate, Coffee and Cards where they want us to use a die cut,
Crafting for the Craic where they're Die-ing for Spring of Easter,
Fussy and Fancy where the theme is Springtime Flowers,
QKR where the theme is Spring Flowers,
Simply Create Too where they want no digi or stamped images,
Wags n Whiskers where the theme is Flowers,
Moving Along with the Times where they want anything but a square card,
Penny's where they want Something for the Girls.

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge 136

This time at Crafty Cardmakers, the challenge is to have wings! They can be any type you like - fairies, angels, butterflies, birds - even aeroplanes - you choose.

For this challenge, I've made another Easter card.

The image is one I stamped ages ago when I was having a play with different techniques. The stamp is from Crafty Individual  and I 'inked' it using a combination of Aquamarkers and Marvy Brush Pens. I was wondering what to use for this challenge and spotted this! I've added some further colour with Promarkers.

The background paper is from my trusty Flower Power CD. The sentiment is computer-generated and cut with Spellbinders dies. The lace is another example of my attempts at crochet. It's not perfect, but I love that I could do it in the colour I wanted rather than having to use what I had or trying to shade with Promarkers. The flowers are also hand-made using dies from the Sizzix Susan's Garden range, shaded with Pan pastels and finished with liquid pearl centres.

I hope you can join us this time.

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

Artistic Stamper where the theme is 'flora and fauna',
Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge where anything goes,
Craftalicious where anything goes,
Emerald Faeries where the theme is 'Spring Flowers/Easter',
Ladybug Crafts where anything goes,
My Artistic Adventures where the theme is 'Easter',
One Crazy Stamper where anything goes,
Paper Creators Crafts where the theme is 'flowers',
Scrapbook Cardmaking where the theme is 'Easter',
4 Crafty Chicks where the theme is 'Easter'.

One Stitch at a Time Challenge 234

This time at One Stitch at a Time, we want a project with an Easter or Passover theme. We're sponsored by

Details of the prize are on the challenge blog.

This time, I worked with an image from Ken Benner Designs. That presented me with a slight problem as his images are all intended to raise a smile and are perfect for most occasions, but not, perhaps, Easter. To me, Easter cards are either religious or perhaps floral. So, I had to twist the theme a bit and go for the season: Spring.

I used Cartoon Explorer. I added the blue frame and text in Photoshop elements before printing, then coloured with Promarkers. I added the die cut umbrella (from Spellbinders) threading it through a slit in the image to (hopefully) give the impression he's holding the umbrella in his hidden hand. I added a raindrop-shaped sentiment (also generated in Photoshop Elements). The background is one of those provided in my version of PSE - raindrops!

I hope you can join us this time.

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

ABC Challenge where they want us to 'go digital',
Craftalicious where anything goes,
Ladybug Crafts where anything goes,

Live and Love Crafts where the theme is 'signs of spring',

One Crazy Stamper where anything goes,
Aud Sentiments where anything goes with a sentiment,
DRS where the theme is 'rain',
Seize the Birthday where anything birthday goes,
Crafting by Designs where anything goes,
Crafty Gals where the theme is 'humour'.

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge 135

This time at Crafty Cardmakers and More, we're celebrating spring! So, anything that's about new growth - colours, flowers and so on is fine.

I decided to get a start on some Easter cards. I don't make many of these, and only send to immediate family, but somehow Easter still creeps up on me, and I find I'm behind with them.

I kept it fairly simple. The paper is from a CD called Flower Power which always seems to be my first port of call when it comes to Easter creations. Since there are pretty daisies on that, I decided to make some daisy-like flowers. The larger one is actually an adapted Sunflower and the smaller one is the daisy - both from the Susan's Garden Sizzix range. I used some gold-toned white card and tinted the centres with a little Pan Pastel. The flourishes are Sizzix too, and the computer-generated sentiment and mat were cut using Nestibilities.

I hope you can join us this time.

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

Crafting for All Seasons where they want spring colours,
FabnFunky where they want us to 'spring into colour',
Penny's where they want us to use our favourite embellishments (flowers),
Whimsy where they want us to use a die cut,
Bunny Zoe where they want spring colours,
Challenge Up Your Life where the theme is Easter.

One Stitch at a Time Challenge 233

Our challenge this time is: Anything Goes with Nature. So, not too hard?

We're sponsored by

See the challenge blog for details.

This time I worked with an image from My Heart Pieces called Peacock.

I coloured the image with Promarkers, and, although it isn't obvious in the photo, gave the background a faint blue tinge with Derwent Coloursoft pencil. The two papers are from Paper Pizazz. I used a Sizzix die to cut the border, and Memory Box dies to cut the flowers to match the background.

I hope you can join us this time.

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

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

Addicted to Stamps and More where anything goes,

Penny's where they want us to use our favourite embellishments (flowers),

Whimsy where they want us to use a die cut,

FanTastic Tuesdays where they want it square,

Sassy Studios where anything goes,
That's Crafty where they want 'wings and things',
Sister Act where anything goes,
Brown Sugar whre anything goes,
2015 World Wide DT where any DT project goes,
Come and Get It where the theme is 'winging it'.

Crafty Cardmakers and More Challenge134

This time, at Crafty Cardmakers and More, we're gearing up for Mother's Day which is coming up soon, so the theme is For a Special Woman. Since I don't have anyone to make a Mother's Day card for, I decided to make a birthday card for my sister.

I cut one of Sue Wilson's Striplet dies three  times using some pearly card, and backed it with gold mirror card. For the centrepiece, I used a Papermania decoupage flower which I layered on more of the pearly card (cut using a Spellbinder's die) and printed a sentiment to finish.

I hope you can join us this time.

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

Catch the Bug where anything goes,
Sister Act where anything goes,
Penny's where they want 'one for the girls',

The Crazy Challenge where the theme is 'Birthday',

One Stitch at a Time Challenge 232

This time at One Stitch at a Time, the challenge is, 'Anything Goes with Women'. So, not too hard, I hope.

We're sponsored by

See the challenge blog for details.

I used an image from Ike's Art called Rapunzel, to make a card for my daughter's 21st birthday. Despite my personal feelings on the matter, I think that, by 21, she just about qualifies as a woman even though she'll always be my little girl! She loves the film Tangled and so I thought of her when I saw this image.

I added the wording and border in Photoshop Elements before printing, then coloured with Promakers. The background paper was made using the same border as the image - it's a Dover image I recoloured and repeated. To embellish, I wanted a 'floral profusion', so I used a Creative Expressions die in the background and then various branch and small flower dies to create the blossom.

I hope you can join us this time.

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

Catch the Bug where anything goes,

Digi Galore where 'It's All About her',

Sister Act where anything goes,

Penny's where they want 'one for the girls',

Craft Your Passion where anything goes,

Crafting from the Heart where anything goes,

The Crazy Challenge where the theme is 'Birthday'.

Crafty Cardmakers and More Challenge 133

This time at Crafty Cardmakers and More our challenge is to use stripes! Other than that, your project can be anything you like.

I chose to make a card for my son's birthday.

The stripy paper comes from the Joanna Sheen Thomas Kinkaid CDRom. I cut it using a Sizzix grid die to make a jazzy background, then used a little more to make the cake case for the Marianne fairy cake die. I finished with a computer generated sentiment.

I hope you can join us this time.

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

Crafty Calendar where anything goes,
Simply Create Too where anything goes
Sister Act where anything goes,
Inspiration Destination where anything goes.

One Stitch at a Time Challenge 231

This time at One Stitch at a Time, the challenge is Anything Goes with a Birthday. So, another easy one.

Our sponsor for this challenge is:

For details, see the challenge blog.

For this challenge, I used a lovely image from Gingerloft called Sunflower Collage.

I coloured the image with Promarkers. The paper is from Paper Pizazz, and I've used dies by Spellbinders and Creative Expressions, along with a pre-inked stamp for the sentiment.

I hope you can join us this time.

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

Allsorts where they want purple,
Crafty Calendar where anything goes,
Digi Galore where anything goes,
Simply Create Too where anything goes
Sister Act where anything goes,
4 Crafty Chicks where they want 'things with wings',
Southern Girls where they want 'winged things',
Addicted to Stamps and More where they want us to 'make our mark',
Inspiration Destination where anything goes.