International Art and Soul Challenge 103

 This fortnight's challenge is hosted by Sall, and the them is Natural World at Christmas without robins! I know that last bit caused be a bit of consternation, as every time I thought of an image, there was a robin somewhere. And then I thought of a CDRom I've had for years but rarely used. It's a Debbi Moore CD, and I can't actually remember if it was from a magazine or bought direct from her site. I combined a couple of backgrounds, borders, a sentiment, and an image in Photoshop Elements, and this was the result.

I added some silver mirror card to create a border to the printed image, and that's it.

I do hope you can join us this time.

One Stitch at a Time Challenge 227

This time at One Stitch at a Time, our challenge is 'anything goes with stitching'.

Our sponsor is:

See the challenge blog for details.

This time, I chose to work with a fabulous set of digis from Stitchy Bear called 'Vineyard'. I've been on the OSAAT team for a while, and that means I've collected quite a lot of images, and I really love Stitchy's silhouettes. So, I combined several of them including from the Rainbow Magic set and the Grazin' in the Grass sets.

I used PSE to combine the various elements, and 'drew' the background seascape you see, framing it in black. I stitched a border for the image using various Krenik threads, and that's it. The grass and vineyard silhouettes are absolutely perfect for use in combinations like this, and I'm pretty sure I'll keep coming back to them.

I hope you can join us this time

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

That's Crafty where anything goes,
Creative Knockouts where anything goes,
Divas by Design where anything goes,
Inspiration Destination where anything goes,
Paper Shelter where anything goes,
Penny's where anything goes,
Scrapper's Delights where anything goes,
Whimsy where anything goes,
Crafty Sentiments where anything goes.

One Stitch at a Time Challenge 209

This week at One Stitch at a Time, we want to see your favourite things! That can be images of something you love or a favourite technique or favourite colours ... Lots of scope here!

Our sponsor is

This week, I got to choose from Stitchy's collection of images which is perfect for this challenge because my one of my favourite things to create with are Stitchy's silhouettes. And one of the advantages of having been on the OSAAT team for a while is that I've got quite a selection! Another favourite thing for me is designing on my computer. And among my favourite images are fairies. So, here's what I came up with!

For this, I created a background in Photoshop Elements using various shapes and gradients. Then, I added various images from Stitchy's selection of ground-cover silhouettes called Grazin' in the Grass. I then added two of Stitchy's fairy images - the larger one is called Reach and the smaller one is from a pack called Rainbow Magic. Once everything was composed, I copied everything, cropping it using a circle, then faded the background before pasting the circle on top. Apart from matting, the only other addition is another favourite - hand-made flowers. These used dies from Crealies and Cheery Lynn.

I hope you can join us this week.

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

ABC where the theme is, 'Just as you Like it',
Crafting Musketeers where they want monochrome,
Everybody Art where anything goes,
Party Time Tuesday where they want die cuts,
Crafty Girls where anything goes,
Crafty Calendar where they want 'things with wings',
Digitally Sweet where they want flowers,
Totally Gorjuss where they want die cuts,
Savvy Handmade Cards where they want fantasy creatures,
Sister Act where anything goes.

One Stitch at a Time Challenge 167

This week at One Stitch at a Time, our theme is: Pretty it Up! You can do what you want, provided you add something pretty to the mix - flowers, butterflies, glitter ...

Our sponsor this week is:

who are offering some Promarkers as the prize. And who doesn't need a few more of those?

This week, I chose a gorgeous silhouette from Stitchy herself. To be honest, I think it's really pretty on its own, but I added some flowers anyway!

I printed it on my usual favourite Ryman matte ink jet paper and cut the image using a Sizzix die. The paper is from the Papermania Capsule collection. I assembled the flowers using a set of Sizzix dies designed by Susan Tierney Cockburn. I bought one of her books a while ago and have played with making flowers using punched shapes, but to be honest, I only tended to do 'as close as I could' with those due to the cost of punches! Having said that, there were enough ideas that I was able to make some pretty flowers even though they're probably not botanically correct. When she brought out his range of dies, I had to take a look and have bought a few - including the one I used here which is the daisy set. It's probably my favourite because it produces the smallest flowers. Having said that, I intentionally kept them fairly flat so the card will go into an envelope. I dusted the tips of the petals with black pastel, and finished each flower with a dollop of glitter glue. The die cuts at the bottom use silver mirror card, and were also cut with Sizzix dies.

I must say that, when I had my Wizard, I stuck almost exclusively to Spellbinders, Marianne and Nellie Snellen dies. Having bought the Big Shot Pro, I've tried some dies from different manufacturers, including those that have ejection foam, and I've got to say, that it seems like it's a way of ensuring the dies don't last very long. The foam seems to become damaged quite easily, and bits of card can become lodged in the foam. I'd much rather have to poke die cuts out with my trusty poky tool and even use some wax paper for the more intricate dies. I'm very glad the flower dies are from the Sizzix Thinlits range which are more like Spellbinders style - no ejection foam!

I hope you can join us this week!

I'd like to enter the following challenges:

Card and Scrap where they want flowers,
Bearly Mine where they want dies/punches,
Creative Card Crew where they want punches/dies,
Papertake Weekly where anything goes,
4 Crafty Chicks where they want flowers,
Nutcrafters where they want monochrome,
The Paper Shelter where the theme is 'flower power',
The Hobby House where anything goes,
Digi Haven where anything goes,
Totally Papercrafts where they want more than three different dies/punches (flower petals, 2 different leaves, two arched labels, swirls)

One Stitch at a Time Challenge 88

This week at One Stitch at a Time, we're challenging you to put your colours out of sight, and stick to Black and White!

If you want to enter this challenge, and need an image, head over to Stitchy Bear because there's a huge range of lovely silhouettes over there that would be perfect! I chose to use one of Stitchy's own silhouettes, or to be more exact, a set of two of them called Snow Angels.

Isn't that a pretty image? I added the words and made the background paper in Photoshop Elements, then printed and added some detail with Glamour Dust. I sprayed both the black and white card I used with Crafter's Companion Spray and Sparkle in irridescent, and embossed the white using a Papermania embossing folder. I cut the black border using the Tonic border punch system and a couple of punches and finished it with some clear sticky gems.

 And here's the second image, along with the rest of my sentiment. I put the insert together in Photoshop Elements.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
Heartsong Inspirations where anything goes,
House of Gilli where the theme is monochromatic,
Stamps Plus Fun Equals Creativity where the theme is winter,
Papertake Weekly where the theme is 'First Christmas',
Top Tip Tuesday where it's 'anything goes Christmas'
Delightful Challenges where they want snowflakes,
Wags 'n Whiskers where the theme is Christmas.



Our sponsors for this challenge are Stamping Boutique,

and  I was lucky enough to get one of their images to work with too. It's called Smoochie the Fashionista.

I was worried at first, as this didn't seem to me to be the sort of image I'd choose for a black and white challenge, but I decided to have a go and was very pleased with how it turned out. I've coloured the images with Promarkers, using only black and various greys. I reinforced the white spots with a Sakura Souffle pen in white, and added some sparkle with a Sakura Stardust pen. I cut the image with a Nellie Snellen die, and added embellishments die cut with a couple Marianne dies I bought recently. The papers are from a CD called Flower Power.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges;
Digital Tuesday Challenge where anything goes,
Crafty Catz where they want a digital image,
2 Sisters where anything goes,
Stamptacular Sunday where they want a punch or die to be used,
Paper Sundaes where they want digital images.

And then I thought I'd have another go but use some skin tones this time.

This time, I used some paper I designed in Photoshop Elements, Promarkers, Sakura Souffle pen, some oval nesties, and Spellbinders borderabilities.

I hope you can join us!

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',

One Stitch at a Time Challenge 67

This week at One Stitch at a Time, our challenge is to make something with wings! That's right - a bird, fairy, butterfly, bat ... as long as it's got wings, you're ok.

And even better, we're sponsored this week by the amazing Joanna Sheen. Remember, she ships around the world without charging extra for postage!

And this week, the artist in the spotlight is Floppy Latte Designs. There are some gorgeous papers and images in her collection, among them some stunning silhouettes.

The image is coloured with Promarkers and I added a little Glamour Dust in gold to her wings. The paper is from Papermania. The butterfly was cut using a Marianne Creatables die in my Wizard. Now, I find those intricate non-Spellbinders dies hard to cut cleanly, so I turned that disadvantage into a positive by cutting it from some fairly thin white card that I use for punching. Then, I coloured the die cut with Promarkers, using the same range of reds I had in the image, and again, added some gold Glamour Dust.

I hope you can join us this week.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
Stampavie and More where they want butterflies,
Craft Your Passion where the theme is 'magical',
Bunny Zoe's Crafts where the theme is 'fairies',
Top Tip Tuesday where there's an open challenge this time,
Delightful Challenges where anything goes,
Southern Girls where anything goes,
Delicious Doodles where they want things that flutter,
Polka Doodles where their theme is 'all of a flutter',
Simply Create where they want us to fly with them,
The Stampman where they want butterflies and dragonflies.