Sunday Pirates

Ooh, Arr!! Another Grand Prix! :)  so I had time to make a card for my dad.  He loves pirates, and always joins in 'Speak like a Pirate Day' with absolute gusto, to my complete embarrasment! :) lol. 

I used mesh, coins, pumpkin glittered card, and brads, distress ink and antique pearls, and had very inky, gluey fingers afterwards!

This card is my entry into the following challenges:

Just Magnolia - Hot and Spicy

ABC Challenge - Vintage

Sketch Saturday - Great sketch!

Craftycatz - Boyz are back

Pile it On - Veggies - I used pumpkin glittered card, as I didnt know what veg pirates ate! ;)

A helping hand........

Now today I wanted to make a really quick card, time is short sometimes eh? :) but I then had an extra challenge with this one..... I had quite a lot of help (interference) from my husband! lol. 

One of the challenges I am entering this card in Cute Card Thursday stipulates NO DESIGN PAPER, so I had a good mooch through my stash, and found this sheet of quite rigid irridescent plastic.  Its really unusual, but great fun to play with.  On seeing this really weird stuff, husband No1 (I call him that to keep him on his toes) decided he wanted to play.  I handed the reigns over, and this is what he came up with!... no kidding :D 

I obviously coloured the image, and played about with the girly flowers and stuff, but he is certainly handy with the pencil, ruler and cuttlebug!  I'll bear that in mind at christmas - that'll teach him! ;)

Anyway, I am entering this card in the following challenges:

Cute Card Thursday - No DP

Crafty Creations - Favourite stamp (this is without a doubt my favourite stamp)

Mo's Digital Pencil - Stamp is TwoJill

Pile it On! - Out of the box (no DP)

I used pearl cardstock, cuttlebug and petaloo flowers, charm and weird orange plastic from stash.

Hope everyone has a great weekend! xx

Summer Garden

Today we had hail here :( tut!... and I was feeling all summery as well!

So I decided to make a garden, and was dying to ink up this gorgeous fairy from Lili Of The Valley . 

They have a great range of new stamps launching on 1st of June, and they all look adorable!  ( I wonder if my dad would like a set for his birthday? (lol!) 

Now I'm not someone who believes 'less is more!' :) so this card has layers of HOTP papers, die cuts and MS punches.  I used stickles on the wings, adhesive pearls on the NS die, and a silver butterfly charm from stash.

I should have been studying today, but the hail threw me off! :) lol

I am entering this card in the following challenges: 

Lili of the Valley - Bev's Sketch (which is great!)

Flutterby Wednesday - Anything goes (with wings)

Charisma Cardz - Circles

Everybody Art - Fairy Tales

Totally Gorjuss - Wings

Coffee and Cream

Today I felt like making something a little less vibrant and dramatic, and was keen to use a new colour combination for me. This is my entry for this weeks SCS Sugar Nellie Forum where the challenge this week was 'flowers'.  I really enjoyed colouring this in such soft colours, and I decoupaged the second layer to allow her legs to fall outside the nestie.

I will also be entering this in the Quixotic Challenge - 27 as the theme is embossing.  I have previously bought some excellent embellishments from Quixotic, and have used a lot of their coffee and cream pearls to embellish this design.  They have a great choice of pins, and pearls etc, that you can get a real goody bag from there without breaking the bank.  

 

I am also entering this in the craftycardmakers challenge, as they want to see the decorated inside of your card.   I usually do this, but never photographed or managed to get 2 pictures in one post before! yay!

and:

SimonSaysStamp as the theme is pink or blue, with green and brown.  Now it might not look that obvious, but her socks and ribbon are coloured in pastel green promarker.

Crafts and Me - distressing

Creative Inspirations - distressing.

I used HOTP papers, coffee and cream pearls, ribbon, flower and bumble-bee charm from stash.

Good luck to all this weeks entries in these challenges :)

16th Birthday Card

A little bit of drama...

I made this card today for my neice Cianna, as she is soon to be 16.  I'm not sure when it is, so I am getting in early.  I am rubbish at remembering things like that and in our family we dont really make birthday fuss, so 'big up' me for making an effort! lol 

As an original Goth (ahem), my favourite colour has always been black, but for a little bit of light relief I sometimes do green.  When it comes to making cards for family I also tend to make them something very me, instead of very them! Wicked eh? ;) and on this occasion, I felt that something dramatic would suit a teenage drama queen! ........(tee hee) good thing she doesnt check my blog!

This card is BIG, I mean mahoosive!.. It was from a qvc kit and is 8 x 8 inches square.  I really felt quite scared when I sat looking at all that blank space, but this Kraftin Kimmie stamp of Marie Antoinette is quite large, and definately needed something spacious and regal.

I used MS daisy punch (on loan) and some kanban foil paper.

I am entering this in several competitions, as I am not sure when I will find time to enter many more over the next few weeks - my revision has to start in earnest. :)

Totally Gorgeous  - Bling it on!

Kraftin Kimmie  - Use a charm

Papertake Weekly  -  Follow a sketch

A Spoonful of Sugar  -  Celebrate

My Time to Craft - Vivid

Stampavie and more - Girl Birthday

Just Magnolia - Challenge 56

This is my entry for the Just Magnolia Challenge this week.

This week there was a sketch to follow, and I really enjoyed it :)

I wanted to go for a faded/bleached out denim look, with just a tiny bit of distressing on the DP.  It really feels wrong to rip and damage paper, but I love the look of distressed cards, so I'm trying to get used to it gently! lol.

Anyway, this was made again using HOTP papers (I'm working my way through the pad, as I have 2 of them!) and I used an MS punch, card candy, distressed stickles and I die cut the leaves and flowers.  I also hand stitched the back panel again, as it doesnt take too long, and helps me think about my design.

I am also entering this in the Charisma Cardz 3d Challenge - its 3d this week, and my nestie is on foam pads, and my flower is hand made and layered on top of the leaves.

3 Challenges

We are having a scorchio May here in Scotland!. I took my dogs Kevin and Oliver for a swim in the waterfall at the back of the house this morning.  It was glorious, and cooled them down a treat.

This afternoon while they relaxed and snoozed, I made one card that i'm hoping fits 3 challenges.

I have loved Forever Friends bears all my life I think, something about them just makes me want a hug! :) Recently I bought the Docrafts Forever Friends digital designer cd, and in the christmas section there are about 30+ digital stamps to print off and colour yourself.  This image is taken from that cd.

I am entering it in the following 3 challenges:

Forever Friends Challenge

Papertake Weekly

Cute Card Thursday

I'm getting quite addicted to sketches, so on CCT there is a great sketch by Caroline Sears .  I admire her work so much, and on Papertake Weekly we had to use flowers.  I love, love, love the flowers at Wild Orchid Crafts, and this is to be in with a chance of winning a prize from them. 

I used HOTP papers, and flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts, die cut some leaves and flower backings from the scraps, and used a white peel off for the sentiment from Dawn Bibby Designs.

Hope everyone else has had a beautiful summers day :) xx

Circle Challenge

Today I was lucky to be able to play again - The Grand Prix is good for some things then! :D lol

Anyway, this is my entry for the Sugar Bowl challenge.

This time the challenge was to follow a sketch by one of my favourite designers - Marlene

with an additional theme of recycling.  I recycled a scrap of card that was actually in my paper bin since yesterday and die cut the leaves.  I mostly try to die-cut scraps, but then you end up with so many scraps that are even harder to throw away!! lol.

I am also entering this in the Totally Gorjuss Challenge as the theme this week is circles :) I just LOVE those gorjuss girls!

I used K&Co paper (6x6) and the image is a digital stamp available from Funkykits/sugar nellie called Web Knitter.

Lili of the Valley Sketch

Today, for the first time I followed a sketch! :)

I have tried a few times, but always end up veering off in a totally different direction! lol :)

Anyway this is the sketch I followed over the the Lili of the Valley challenge blog. http://liliofthevalleythursdaychallenge.blogspot.com/

They have some amazing designs on that site, really inspirational, and I love how sweet all the stamps are. One of my favourite card designers is Bev Rochester, and this is one of her sketches.
http://bevscrafts.blogspot.com/

This image was so easy to colour in, and the sketch was such a lot of fun. This will be the first time I have entered a challenge over there.

I also discovered why my pictures look so bad......... Husband No1 had swapped the settings on the digital camera and everything was in low resolution lol! - I was getting quite frustrated with it yesterday...... (tuts) :)

Papers: Kate Knight (a free pad with a magazine), and also a sheet from a K&Co 6x6 pad.

Ribbons, card candy and ribbon flowers from stash. Stickles on the wings and ribbon.

Sir Stampalot Challenge - Butterflies and Blossoms

To celebrate the end of my studies (though I still have an exam to take in 3 weeks), I allowed myself the luxury of making and entering 2 card challenges. A great way to relieve stress! :)

I have never entered the Sir Stampalot challenge before, but I love their website, and thought I would give it a go.

http://sirstampalotchallenge.blogspot.com/

This month the theme is Butterflies and Blossoms, and there is a fab Tim Holtz compendium prize up for grabs....Woo!

I chose this magnolia stamp, as I fell in love with it as soon as I saw it. I am originally a Nottingham lass, and so anything to do with Maid Marian and Robin Hood rocks! (see pic of Richard Armitage as sexy Guy of Gisborne to the right >>>) (faint!) and this Magnolia really looks Maid Marianish to me! :)

I hand stitched the panel, used die cut leaves, and used an MS punch for the butterflies. Its also spritzed with Ranger Heritage Gold, so its quite shimmery but less bright IRL. K & Co, K'ology Hannah 6x6 pad, and rosebuds from stash.

Good luck to all the entries in this challenge.

Sugar Nellie - Decoupage Challenge

This week the challenge on Sugar Nellie Splitcoast forum is Decoupage (Papertole). http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=490419
There are already some fab entries this week!

I had never decoupaged a stamp before, and I found it quite tough!.. This was my third attempt, as I kept cutting all the wrong bits out! lol. This decoupage is 3 layers on top of the nestie.

I thought I would try something else different too - completely unfashionable - a rectangle card! I love using square cards, they are so easy to design a layout for, and I wanted something less formulaic for inspiration. This was quite a large card base too...... (glutton for punishment, me!)

K & Co, K'ology 6x6 Hannah paper - (an old pad from stash and much softer looking colours IRL). Again handstitched and hand-blinged with some gems and a bead nicked from an old bracelet.

Monochrome Challenge

This is my card entry for the Sugar Nellie Monochrome Challenge on Splitcoast Stampers. http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=489600

I had planned to finish my essay today, but it is a Bank Holiday, so I threw caution to the wind! No way was I studying today!

Anyway, monochrome......I lost sleep wondering how on earth to stick to just 2 colours and still have flesh!.... luckily a bit of artistic licence is allowed, and you dont have to colour your characters as zombies! :D lol.

This is slightly larger than a 6 x 6, from a kit of massive square cards from QVC. The flowers, papers and glitter borders are also QVC, as is the ribbon and brad. Amazing what you can find when you have a good old mooch through your stash! ;)

I found it quick to colour in, but much longer to faff about with the flowers! I cut up an old necklace for the chain, as have quite a passion for de-constructing mass produced supermarket jewellery - you can often get it at a bargain bin price!

Hope everyone had a great Bank Holiday - our weather was fab :) Good luck to all the entries in this challenge. xx