Stampin' For The Weekend #11

I won another 'Top 5' Blinkie last week over at Stampin' For The Weekend, and I'm going to keep going till I win!!!!!! That's not the only reason I enter tho ;)

I love the fact that they actually choose a winning card, which must take soooo much time with all of the fantastic entries they have every week - so if you win you know your card has been picked and you weren't a 'random' choice - although I still enter plenty of those, cos to be honest I probably wont ever win if my card has to be picked!

This week the spec was 'Days Gone By' - I've used this gorgeous PB image that was sent as a RAK (can you tell I've been going through my RAK's today!) and again I'm afraid I don't know what it's called - although if you do, could you please leave a message to tell me as I'd love to see if I can find one!

Again I've watercoloured with my pencils as I think I'm liking the 'softer' look at the moment!

I think my distressing has got a little better on this card too - more 'Distressing' rather than the 'Traumatising' I'd been achieving previously!

I'm using the 'almost closed scissors dragged around edge' tip that my lovely blogging friend Helen gave me - Thanks Helen - It's working! lol ;)

The base paper is LLB the piece to the right of the image is Dovecraft and the piece to the left of the image (that you can see only a tiny bit of) is 'Brown Parcel Paper' reduced at the Supermarket! Lace and pearls to finish.

Want to Win $150 ..........................

.............................to spend at your favorite craft shop? I know I'd love to! Which is why I'm entering Steph's Candy!

Steph will pick a winner on 29th August - so hurry!!!

Cute Card Thursday #73

This week over at Cute Card Thursday they asked for 'At The Beach'.

I used a gorgeous image that I recieved as RAK so I'm afraid I'm not sure who or what it is :( But I do know she's gorgeous!

I coloured her with my WC pencils as I feel this type of image needs a 'washed' look. I backed the image onto a piece of card that I'd made a faux frame out of DST and sawdust!!!

And I also added some real shells from the real beach close to us :)

Simon Says Challenge #16

This week on the Simon Says Challenge blog the spec was 'Anything But Card!'

My inspiration for this piece came from a wonderful creation I saw on Mummylade's Blog a week or two ago - She does some fantastic pieces!

I don't drink Tea so I made my cover for my Cappuccino's that I drink by the pint!




I've used Basic Grey 'Sugared' paper and Willow with (Cappuccino!)


I've just been over to Mummylade's Blog to link her from here and guess what she's made for the SS challenge! Yep, another Tea Box - but hers is SO much better than my boring one!


As well as me having to 'rush' this a little I'm putting it down to the fact thet I'm only just starting to learn to 'distress' properly - if you look at my Charmed Crafts Cat card a couple of posts below (Allsorts #13) you'll see I do 'Traumatising' much better than 'Distressing'!



One day Helene I may do a coffee box as good as your tea boxes :)

Allissa Designs'.....Shroom!

Here is my entry for the candy on offer over at Allissa Designs. I added the pic and link to my Candy Jar weeks ago but realised yesterday I'd still not done my entry :0

I used Allissa's Shroom image to make this 'New Home' card - I hope she thinks I've done her fab image justice!

Aswell as the image, she wanted 1 ribbon and 1 charm to be used and also the colours Green, Mustard, Brown & Red.

I used my Promarkers and decoupaged it to show off the 'door' that I cut! The wording was printed directly onto the card blank using WordArt.

Stamptacular Sunday #19

I'm on a roll tonight......Well this morning! Needed to get this one done too as I wont have web access now till Sunday afternoon - and didn't want to miss another challenge!

This weeks theme on Stamptacular Sunday was 3-2-1....... 3 brads, 2 papers and 1 flower!

The image is a Whispers stamp - I think it's called 'Boy with Watering Can' but they don't put the names on their stamps :(

I use him loads - He makes a lovely card for Grandparents. He's coloured with Water Colour Pencils. Papers are again BG 'Perhaps' (do you get the feeling I use a paper - then use it again and again and again!!!)

See you Sunday evening :)

Allsorts #13

I managed to get another challenge done - I'm a little late but I hope they don't mind me still linking it over at the Allsorts challenge blog. 'Vintage' was the theme this week - I really must watch some tutorials on how to distress properly - I just 'hack' at it with files and boards, then add ink to cover it all up!!!

The image is from Charmed Cards and Crafts again and is from their Cat collection - I printed over a backing paper download for a different look.

The papers are from the same stack as my last addition - BG 'Prehaps'. The fab buttons came from mum's button tin :) And I even inked the lace to try and make it look old!

Penny Black Saturday Challenge #61

Don't know why I don't enter the PBSC more often, as the majority of my stamps are Penny Black! Especially when the sketch is always so great :)

I used 'Ladybug 'n Hedgehog' on this card. The papers are from BG 'Perhaps' stack. Paper pieced the flower to keep the colours tied in - first time I've done this properly!

The gorgeous flower cap is from Quixotic Paperie again - I need to get some more!!!

Sketch Saturday #63

Wow! I've done another one tonight! Although it is now Friday I did do the card on Thursday..............in between popping outside to see if the cloud was clearing enough for my Meteor spotting - could see a few stars tonight - which was a huge improvement on the last 2 nights - but no shooting stars :(

Another great sketch on Sketch Saturday challenge blog this week.

I set my own challenge with this one too - I decided I had to do another male card. Finding a substitute for the flowers was the most difficult, till I remembered I had these buttons!

I used a Digi Image of Mikey from Charmed Cards and Crafts and coloured him with my Promarkers.

The paper is from DCWV Glitter Stack and again I've used vellum for one element of the sketch as I didn't want to cover the paper, I so hate covering gorgeous papers!!! The sentiment is stamped directly onto the vellum.

Friday Sketchers #64

How good am I being with these challenges this week? I might even manage to get next week's up more than a few hours before the cut-offs!

This weeks sketch at Friday Sketchers is by Tanja and is great! I so love working from sketches :)

I chose a Penny Black image that I'd coloured a little while ago with my Water Colour pencils (I like to paint/colour images when crafting at my desk isn't possible - lunch hour at work, at mums and even on holiday!)

I chalked the front edge of the card whilst it was shut so that the inside back would mirror the shape - I quite like the effect too, I'd normally add a paterned paper to the back inside of cards where it is visible. I did add some decorative corner peel offs tho to finish it off.

Fingers crossed the cloud stays away tonight as I'm desperate to go up in the mountains to watch the meteor shower - with the cloud the last 2 nights I couldn't even see the roofs of the houses!

Just Magnolia #17

This week on the Just Magnolia challenge blog is a fab sketch to work from by Martine.

The intial element I wanted to use for this card was the lace - it fell out of my ribbon box (well, one of them!) last night so I just had to find some way to incorporate it into Martine's sketch - I hope she feels it constitutes for the bottom panel!

I felt the only colour combo I could do with this lace was monotone - but due to me not having any of the grey Promarkers yet I had to pick a colour too! I spent ages matching up Promarkers with a selection of coloured card I fancied using!

Tilda's dress was coloured with a selection of the paler skin tones, highlighted with Gold and then blended with Satin - I'm still in the Promarker's school of 'keep colouring till it looks ok'!

Stampin' 4 the Weekend #10

This weeks challenge over on Stampin' 4 The Weekend was a fab sketch by Vicki

I did feel a little daunted when I first saw it as I wanted to use my Manga Boy but couldn't see past the flowers in the botton left hand corner! But as I played this evolved...............

I used my Promarkers, again taking into account the colours I have - luckily I still have some of the brights card from the Papermill and they seem to matched well :)

I wanted to do something a little different with the scalloped circle behind the image so used the piece left over from a punched circle (red piece) and matt & layered that onto more of the bright colours (yellow then blue).

Obviously flowers would not have suited this card and I couldn't find any other suitable embelishments, so I tied some matching ribbons together!

Whiff Of Joy #42

This week the challenge over at WOJ was a great sketch by Jacqui and as always the DT created some gorgeous cards :)

I've used my Princess Charlotte Stamp and heat embossed areas with clear powder (by painting Versamark onto specific areas with brush) I then dusted off my Twinkling H2O's and painted the rest of her dress. Her hair and skin is then coloured with Promarkers.............Bit of a mixed bag this week with colouring mediums!

You might be able to see the areas inbetween the Heat Embossing and the purple where the paint wouldn't take - I need to get a 'magnifying-lampy-thingy-majig' so I can make sure I stay in the lines!!!!

The paper is from DCWV Pocket Full Of Posies.

Truly Scrumptious #13

This is my offering for this fortnight's Truly Scrumptious Challenge! :)

The sketch by Mina for this fortnight was FAB! Possibly the most enjoyable one I've worked - I will def. be using it again! And I think I've added enough 'Bling'!

When I first saw it I didn't have clue what I was going to do.....but after about 5 hours mulling it over I'd decided on one of my new Manga girls and this gorgeous paper from DCWV Pocket Full Of Posies. Now usually I colour images and then match papers - but this time round I actually picked a paper first! Although I did have to keep in mind the limited ProMarker colours I have at the moment! The sketch encorporates a square in both top left & bottom right corners and as I'd used this gorgeous paper I decided to use vellum for these squares - so as not to cover the pattern completly.

I'm quite please with the result, so think I will try picking papers first a little more often :)

Friday Sketchers #63

A great sketch by Jeanette this week over on Friday Sketchers.

I've used my brand new 'Custard' Stamp by Sugar Nellie - isn't she sweet?

I used my 3d pop-out Butterfly punch, but to get it to fly away from Custard I had to punch it in a seperate piece of paper - hence the scalloped edges you can see on both sides of the butterfly. I used another pair of wings and layered them with some of the dark paper to give a little more interest.