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.