One Stitch at a Time Challenge 206

This week at One Stitch at a Time, our challenge is ... Anything Goes! So, show us what you've been up to!

This week, the image was chosen by my team mate Jeanette from the collection by Crafty Girl Creations. She chose an image called Puppy.

Our sponsor this week is

and you can win a pack of the seven images/papers used by the design team this week.

I added the text in Photoshop Elements and then coloured with Promarkers. Apart from that lovely Kate Knight paper and some matting, all I added is some pretty brown and gold braid.

I hope you can join us this week.

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

Digi Chooseday where they want animals,
Fan-Tastic Tuesday where anything goes,
I Love Promarkers where anything goes,
Creative Card Crew where they want animals,
Charisma Cardz where they want CAS,
Little Miss Muffett where anything goes,
Papercrafting Journey where anything goes,
Crafty Catz where anything goes,
Pattie's Creations where anything goes (with an image),
Sister Act where anything goes.

One Stitch at a Time Challenge 205

This week at One Stitch at a Time, in honour of Mothering Sunday, our challenge is to make something for a 'woman in your life'. That could be your mum, of course, but it can be any other woman who's important to you.

Our sponsor this time is

I worked with a pretty floral image from Stitchy Bear called Flowerlicious, which is available from the shop - link in my sidebar. It's perfect for any woman - in this case, it's for my sister's birthday.

I added the text in Photoshop Elements and then printed the image (or parts of it) three times, and coloured with Promarkers. I layered both the flower and the butterfly, and finished the flower with a sticky gem. The image is cut and matted using shapes cut with Spellbinders dies, and the die cut butterfly is another Spellbinders die. I added some glitter glue to the butterfly's body. The paper is from Kate Knight, and was a magazine freebie a while ago.

I hope you can join us this week.

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

City Crafter where the theme is 'spring in the garden',
Fan-Tastic Tuesday where anything goes,
Lady Bug Crafts Ink where they want something for a special lady (my sister),
Addicted to Stamps and More where they want us to 'Make your Mark' (mine was made with Promarkers)
The Crafter's Cafe where they want a square card,
Divas by Design where the theme is 'flower power',
Crafts and Me where anything goes,
Bearly Mine where they want 'one for the girls',
Digi Galore where anything goes.

Derwent Coloursoft Pencils

I bought some Coloursoft pencils a year or two ago, and I even used them, but was never that pleased with the result. I'm more familiar with my Promarkers, and so often, especially when I've got DT commitments, I go to them for colouring because it's the simplest option. In particular, I remember having problems with getting a believable skin tone. So, when I found I had some colouring time while getting over a nasty lurgy, I decided to find an image that didn't have any skin tones and have a go!

I used an image called 'Camelia Still Life' by Blackberry Lane. I got the image as part of my DT work for the Stitchy Bear outlet, but she doesn't sell through them any more. However, a little google magic and I came up with this.

I used my pencils and blended with baby oil. I was pleased enough with the result to want to make it into a card, so this weekend, I got out my background stamps and ink and set to. I've used a variety of stamps from Indigo Blu, Inky Doodles and others whose origin is lost! I stamped in Distress Ink and added some further colour with Pan Pastels. For the flowers, I used Sizzix dies, and the feathry leaf is from Spellbinders.

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

Shabby Tearoom where anything goes,
Paper Nest Dolls where anything goes,
613 Avenue Create where the theme is 'anything goes with option 2 or 3d flowers',
Challenges 4 Everybody where anything goes,
Lacy Sunshine where anything goes,
That Craft Place where they want flowers,
Crafts Galore where they want a stamp (rubber or digi).


Flush with success doing that image, I found one of my stash of pre-printed images which needed skin tones and had a go there too.

I was happy enough with the skin tones, to go ahead and do the rest of the image. In fact, I think that's one of my best attempts at black hair ever - somehow with Promarkers, I seem to end up working so hard to blend that I get too much bleed. But, enough of that! The image is a gorgeous digi from Crafts and Me by Sara Burrier. As above, the background is a result of various stamps and Distress Ink with some Pan Pastel to finish it off. I added some glitter glue and liquid pearl to the image, and finished the card with a paper doily, and some more flowers made using Sizzix die cuts and the same Spellbinders feathery leaf.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
Fan-Tastic Tuesday where anything goes,
Digi Sketch where the theme is 'fantasy' (following theme only),
Melonheadz where the theme is 'girly',
The Crazy Challenge where the theme is 'flower frenzy',
Eclectic Ellapu where they want 'wings',
Kitty Bee where they want 'things with wings',
Crafts and Me where anything goes,
Digi Galore where anything goes.

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge 112

This time at Crafty Cardmakers, it's my turn to host the challenge, and I've gone for something I enjoy but don't often find time to do - Paper Pricking (or Piercing if you prefer.) I'd like to see some decorative paper pricking on your project. It can be a border, an embellishment or the whole design, so long as the paper or card has been pierced. If you want, you can stitch the holes - that's up to you, but no faux-stitching! As far as I'm concerned, the more decorative, the better!

Our sponsors this time are:

I used an image from our sponsor called Tess Summer Fun.

As you can see, I've pricked and stitched a frame for the image. I did consider leaving it unstitched, but in the end, I just couldn't! The pattern from the frame comes from The Art of Decorative Paper Pricking by Janet Wilson, although I had to adapt the inner pattern to make it work the way I wanted it to. I stitched it with some thread I keep for paper embroidery - it's got a beautiful sheen and it's nice and fine. I think it's intended for machine embroidery, but I wouldn't trust myself anywhere near a sewing machine! The image is coloured with Promarkers, although I shaded the background slightly with Pan Pastels. The image and matt were cut using Spellbinders dies, and I threaded some ribbon from Papermania through the eyelets. I finished the card by adding some liquid pearl to the pricked pattern.

I hope you can join us this time. I'm looking forward to visiting your blogs to see what you've come up with - and I'll be choosing a winner and top five. So, let me see how decorative you can make your paper-pricking!

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

Fan-Tastic Tuesday where anything goes,

Papertake Weekly where they're playing bingo (centre horizontal line - I've used a corner rounding punch - hope that covers the 'punched shape' option, if not, ignore this entry.)

Tuesday Throwdown where they want stitching,

Addicted to Stamps and More where anything goes,
Penny's Paper Crafty Challenge where anything goes,
Crafty Girls where anything goes,