Mo's Fantasies and Fairies

Where does the time go? It’s all such a rush…& I am even finding it difficult to fit my cards in at the moment. Only managed to do this as my train today was full when it got to my station and no one could get on! The train before had been cancelled and there were still people on the platform waiting around because of that.  At least I hadn’t waited in vain for an hour.  A day’s plans gone in an instant. The next train was already showing as delayed so I thought better of waiting half an hour for the same fiasco to play out.  I decided it prudent to turn back and go home, but at least this meant I had a bit extra time to craft.  I will be more organised again when the rest of the household is back in their regular routine and not disrupting me. LOL.

I coloured Mo’s Fairy Flora with Promarkers, paper-piecing her dress to coordinate with the main DP from Cardmaking and Papercraft.  I used my new Double Do dies to cut the swirling foliage either side of Flora, dotting tiny flowers about which were really the remnants from a Fiskars circular punched pattern, but waste not want not -and perfect scattered tiny flowers. I am not sure you can fully see the sketch due to placement of the sentiment hiding the division of the creamy/sandy card behind, but it is still there to be seen at the top as the watermark doesn't quite hide it. The gems are from Anita’s and the sentiment one of Paulette’s at TLC Creations.  I was aiming for a spring-like cure to the winter weather.  Hope you all like it!

Challenges:

Friday Sketchers - sketch

Mo’s Digital – fantasies and fairies

Sentimental Sundays – baby (well, she’s a baby fairy!) + sentiment

#46 Floral Anniversary

I haven't been too well recently, so I am not too sure about my card today, but I am at least feeling a lot better than I was and on the way back to 'normal', whatever 'normal' actually is!  LOL.  Hey, there isn't time to be ill though is there?  I don't really need to tell you all that it is Christmas time do I!  LOL.  Here at I ♥ Promarkers we are celebrating with a two week challenge where 'Anything goes'.  Good eh?  The DT have all used images from Digi Doodle for their cards and the one I have chosen, called 'Fancy Frames', has a blank box in the centre so that you can add in any message that you choose for your floral tribute.  It is also one of a set of two, the other also having a blank area for your sentiment but features a snowflake design.  I have added a sentiment from TLC which I thought worked rather well for an anniversary card though the Happy Anniversary wording I did on the PC.

I have kept it all pretty simple for this one but I have of course, coloured it with Promarkers and in this instance, matched up to a paper from Melissa Frances.  I know things are very hectic this time of year, but if you do get a chance to play along with our challenge this holiday time we would love to see your creations.  Don't forget to use your Promarkers!

Wishing you all the very best for Christmas and New Year.

Tine :)

Challenges:
Sweet Stamping - celebrations
Digital Tuesday - celebrations
Aly's - anything goes
Papertake - anything goes
Creative Craft - anything goes.

#45 Excuse Me Santa

Our theme this week at I ♥ Promarkers is good ol’ Santa and for my DT card I have used this ever-so-cute image from Elizabeth Dulemba, popping it into a circular mat and colouring with Promarkers. I have only used the one design paper today, running it horizontally behind the image but clear of the sewn presents in each of the card’s corners. The sewn embellishment was done with a plain running stitch on the machine going very gingerly when it reached the parcels and even turning the wheel manually when it came to the bows so that I was sure where the needle was going. Rather than mat the image I added gems where white met white.

Right, I have managed to keep it fairly short and sweet this time, but do try to join in with our challenge. Just remember to enter you must use Promarkers on your project and don’t forget Santa! We look forward to seeing your work go up onto our blog and hope to be able to leave you a comment soon.

Tine :)

Challenges I would like to enter this card for:
Passion for Promarkers - Christmas anything goes
Stamp with Fun - Christmas
Stamptacular Sunday - winter wishes
Aly's - Christmas movie theme (Santa Claus the Movie)
Dutch Dare - Christmas card, tag or ornament
Allsorts - last minute Christmas
Stamp Challenges - use a digi
Creative Inspirations -  Christmas anything goes
ABC Christmas - Z for Zero (use an older challenge - S for Santa)



Winter Wonderland

Well, I am not quite bored of my snowflakes yet…getting there…but not yet! LOL. Today’s card uses an image from Mo Manning called, ‘Skating’. Isn’t she so sweet – Bella dragging pet Bronte to play, albeit perhaps a little reluctantly onto the ice.

I coloured this image using the colours suggested by Colour Create, grey, green & white and I have used green tones all the way from the jade-like marine to leaf green. These were the fabulous shades in the backing paper I chose to use, which when I saw it on Jak Heath’s pages, I knew I would have to use – it just ‘spoke to me!’ LOL. Mind you, these colours on the DP are hiding behind the image and of course these are the very snowflakes I was matching up to! Ah, well, can’t be helped…. but to get round this lamentable fact I printed off a bit more of the DP and used that central section to create the horizontal MS snowflake border and the escaping snowflakes. I like the large grey snowflakes at the DP’s edges mind you, and I have added Stickles to various points for a bit more ice and a general frosty feel. To continue the textured ‘cold’ elements on my card I added Polar White Flower Soft for snow at the base of the image and white paint around one of the mats as ‘frosting’ as a change from my usual distressed and ruffled ‘iced’ borders . I then edged the banner, which uses a sentiment from Birdscards, the same way. Takes a bit of drying time mind you, but there again so do Stickles! LOL.

I went for the design over at Truly Scrumptious this week for the card’s layout, rotating it 180° - though I did add the diamond shape behind the image’s mat for a bit more movement. Having used my favourite Marianne Creatables snowflakes to die cut the vellum, I then added white & silver pen highlights as well as Stickles to give a bit more definition and lustre. All I had to do then was to pop on the odd gem and the card was finished!

Tine :)

Challenges I would like to enter this card for are:

Truly Scrumptious – design sketch
Mo’s Digital – Winter Wonderland
Colour Create – grey, green and white
Gingersnaps (GC82)– white glitter
Wags & Whiskers – snowflakes
Paper Pretties – punches ( Martha Stewart snowflake border)
Creative Belli – Christmas embellishments
Allsorts - last minute Christmas cards
Passion for Promarkers - Christmas anything goes
Digital Tuesday – It’s cold outside.

#44 While Shepherds Watched

 A Christmas Carol/Song 

Go on, admit it….you’ve been there…either trying not to cry or sat there with tears rolling down your face as your offspring stands frozen with stage-fright at being the third angel from the right whilst their angelic class mates sing Away in a Manger. You, with your camera in your hand, wanting to take the photo to immortalise that moment forever - whilst not really wanting to put your eye to the view finder as you can no longer see the real life version playing out before you.

Yes, at I ♥ Promarkers this week we want you to illustrate a seasonal carol or song, and this little cherub with his pull-along lamb from Sarah Kay is representing those earnest shepherds tending their sheep in the carol, 'While Shepherds Watched'. Coloured with Promarkers as is the requirement at I ♥ Promarkers of course, I have used a nestie (labels 8) to mat him up. The papers might not be the first kind of design you would think of for a Christmas card, but I thought them appropriate for all the homemade Nativity outfits – the old curtains and tea-towels taking to the stage this month. Each and every child a rising star.

For the other elements in this school-play Nativity scene I have drawn a couple of push-pins, coloured with Promarkers and snipped the end off the one on the sentiment so it looks like it is stuck into the card wheras the other one lies on the floor as it supposedly fell out of position (hence the sentiment being at an angle!). LOL. The real-life brads are 'Papermania Designer' with a twisted cord between.  I also lightly distressed the bottom of the horizontal mat before cutting loads of little lines up to the second horizontal paper and ruffling it up a little just to help illustrate the 'homemade' idea. The star peeking out at the top was made using a Fiskars Squeeze punch from gold mirri.

So then, why not think of a Christmas Carol or even a seasonal song as the theme of your card this week and play along with us at I ♥ Promarkers. Don't forget to use your Promarkers and we look forward to seeing your creations.

Tine :)

Other Challenges I will be entering this card for:
Ooh-la-la - Christmas Song/Carol (While Shepherds Watched)
Dutch Dare - Christmas or Winter
Passion for Promarkers - mega Christmas/anything goes
Sundays with Crissy - Christmas is Coming/Winter is here
Papertake - no red or green
Simon Says - not red or green
A Spoonful of Sugar - Christmas card.

Glitz and Glimmer

The image for my card today is ‘Hanging the Star’, one of the latest images available from the talented Mo Manning. There is a different feel to this cutie compared to Mo’s other images as she is drawn in a more sketchy style and that to me also denotes some movement. I coloured the image with Promarkers, hopefully with the same sketchy feel of the outline. I thought I wouldn't go with the usual pink colour for a little girl but I rather like lilac, in fact it is one of my favs but the colour combo I have used is a bit more unusual.

Following this week’s sketch over at Crazy4Challenges, I used 2 backing papers from Bearly Mine. For the half circle though, I lightened the starry paper and sprayed it with Crafter’s Companion iridescent spray and then outlined in Icicle Stickles. I was hoping to give the impression that the semi-circle was the glow from the brightest star in the little girl’s hand which had also been Stickled, this time with Star Dust Stickles on top of its Promarker shading. I then punched out tiny sparkling stars and added translucent sequin ones to decorate the edge of the ‘glow’ further. The horizontal element to the sketch is pearlescent paper, punched & embossed with a Fiskars punch and then cut with a fancy blade for a deckled edge top. The actual base card is also fabulously pearlescent for some serious ‘gleam’. Further sparkle, is on the Fiskars’ squeeze punched star, bearing the age of the recipient with a Christmas birthday. This had been printed on the PC before being spritzed with the iridescent spray and then punched out to follow the angle of the star the child is holding.

Hope you like it!

Tine :)

Challenges for this card:

Crazy4 Challenges – design layout
Mo’s Digital – glitz and glimmer
Aly’s – Christmas movies (Disney’s ‘The Christmas Star’)
One Stitch at a Time – old/new stash (old punches/new image)
Prairie Fairy – use a star
CRAFT – Christmas birthdays
Ooh-la-la – Christmas Carol/song (Carol - Brightest and Best).

Winter Birthday

Well, I have been so busy making Christmas cards, I really ought to get a move on with the necessary birthday cards. This one is for a male (hubby actually and he loves his cuppa tea so much it would be easier giving it to him by drip!!!!) and having chosen the layout from Truly Scrumptious to work with, I then found this relaxed mouse image which seemed to sum up just what I wanted for a winter birthday card’s message – relax and enjoy the day - not to mention brew in hand!  LOL. The image is from Torico and is called ‘Have a break’ and I decided to colour him in monochromatic colours. To make his lovely jumper even warmer for him I added a 'knitted pattern' in pencil before colouring it in. Yes, I do know that his outfit looks decidedly sepia, but you will have to take my word on it that it was coloured in the Warm Greys of my Promarkers & looks nothing but tonal grey in real life. No matter how many times I have photographed it, the photo still looks like he has a brownish jumper…Grrr. Ah well, it can’t be helped.

The whole image was of course done in my beloved Promarkers, not just the jumper and I kept the image relatively unfussy, even to the exclusion of a mat because of the very busy background I had used. These were actually scrapbooking papers from Shabby Princess and I matched the pattern up from one layer to another for a sophisticated feel. If you look carefully, as they don’t show up very well, the two arrows have black gems on them. They started life as regular clear gems until my pens altered them to suit. As they are unlikely to be handled I reckon the colour shouldn’t come off. The ticket sentiment is from Sentiments4you.

Hope you all like it!

Tine :)

Challenges for this card include:

Truly Scrumptious – design sketch (optional pink - didn't dare, this is for my husband's birthday, I would never hear the end of it! LOL)
CRAFT – Christmas birthdays
Paperplay – monochrome
Allsorts – monochrome
Tip Top – anything goes (+ tip – you can colour your clear gems with markers).

#43 Christmas Trees

The Coordinated Tree

The theme this week at I ♥ Promarkers is to use a Christmas Tree on your card or project and for my DT card I have chosen an image by Mo Manning, combining it with a single DP from Barely Mine. This gorgeous paper just so happens to be filled with stitched swirl designs and so is not only perfect for the theme at Mo’s Digital Challenge (to use swirls on your card), but hopefully also perfect for the illusion of decorations on my paper-pieced tree. The swirls are representing the tinsel draped over it - well, it makes sense to me! LOL.

So to emphasis this even further, having added shading using my Promarkers to the paper-piecing, I went over some of the swirl design with my silver pen which was also used on the star at the top of the tree and the ‘paper’ at the bottom from which this star had supposedly been cut. Anita’s gems passing as shiny baubles complete the coordinated tree.

The rest of the image was coloured with Promarkers too of course. Further swirls to each side of the triangular mat were cut using a Marianne Creatables die in pale grey card and the large silver stars were cut using a very old punch of mine with no branding, so I can’t help with that one. These, along with the corners of the triangle were then wrapped with this fabby angel hair yarn. Twinkles nicely when the light is on it too. It’s like miniature tinsel. The whole triangle and the silver stars were then added to the card using foam pads. Hope you like the result!

Tine :)

Challenges for this card:

Mo’s Digital – swirls & flourishes
Paperplay – stars
Fussy ‘n’ Fancy – Christmas, not red & green
Crafty Catz – Christmas
Paper Sundaes – corner embellishment
Scrappy Frogs – Christmas
Ooh - la - la - Christmas song - (Oh, Christmas Tree)
Charisma – for a girl (pink Christmas card...need I say more! LOL)
Passion for Promarkers - (old & new - old the digi image/new the DP)
Digital Two for Tuesday - digi animal+ Christmas.

A Fairy for All Seasons

As I am sure most of you are aware, Mo’s Dream Team are on the lookout for a new member and have asked anyone interested in joining them to use their favourite Mo Manning image on the card they are entering for the challenge. The choice! I could have been there for a week just contemplating which one to use! The fact that I have eventually chosen to use Finna would probably be of no surprise to anyone who has visited my blog before. No matter how many other wonderful images Mo has, Finna is special to me. I think it is her innocent expression as she toys with the water through her fingers…but whatever the reason I am drawn to her in particular, I am sure you will agree she is totally adorable. I know she is theoretically and in name, ‘Summer Fairy Finna’, but she can be so much more than that. I have had her playing with leaf boats in the autumn and now she is an Ice Fairy Princess sat at the frozen water’s edge talking to the fish trapped below the ice.

To create the scene I drew a couple of fish and coloured the whole image with Promarkers other than her swim suit which I paper-pieced with a gorgeous new paper from Jak Heath which happily was just the colour I was looking for. Once dressed in her paper outfit, I added shading to it with Promarkers and touched her hair with Icicle & Star Dust Stickles.

The background paper was also on Jak Heath's site only a short while ago, and I printed that off for the side panels as well as behind the main image. I added torn vellum to the panels for snowy drifts but secured into position with my Stickles as this also made the snowdrifts sparkle in the sunlight. Well, I hope they do! LOL. The icicles dripping down are also vellum - embossed from the underside which not only gives them the perfect white finish but helps to shape them. These were later popped onto the card using silicone glue. They also run along the top of the side panels, even behind the centre panel so that there is interest even from the side. The frozen water is also vellum touched with glistening Stickles but into the glitter glue and a dash of Glossy Accents I added some Polar White Flower Soft for some snow lying on the frozen surface.

Now, I think I have become totally addicted to these Marianne Creatable snowflakes. The ones today have been cut from vellum and acetate, each layer different from any other being highlighted with white gel pen and Stickles before layering together. I popped them not just onto the main part of the card but also one on a side panel and one to the back of the central panel for extra dimension.

Well, I hope you all like my card today, and I certainly hope that the Dream Team does!  If you ladies would like to see the cards I have made so far using Mo Manning's images, they are on a slide show on my page at PCP whereas just about all my cards, including my 'Mo's' are on my page at CDAC.

Tine :)
............(Fingers crossed!)

Challenges for my card:

Mo’s Dream Team – use your favourite Mo Manning image

Simon Says Challenge – let it snow

Creative Cottage – untraditional Christmas colours

ABC – I for ice & snow

Fussy and Fancy - Christmas (not red and green)
Quixotic - not a square or rectangle

Tip Top – paper-piece/layers.

#42 Anything goes!!! (Optional Glitter)

Right then, here goes….I think it is a first for the I ♥ Promarkers Challenge, you did indeed read it correctly – ANYTHING GOES… (providing you use your Promarkers of course!). We on the DT are all using images from Digi Doodle and mine is that of ‘Stocking Puppy’. Aw, who would put a cute little bundle like that into a stocking? I reckon he is in need of a cuddle....LOL.

He has been coloured with Promarkers of course, though I have paper-pieced his seasonal stocking with a digi paper from the Crafter’s Companion Vintage Christmas CD ROM, scaling it down so it is more in keeping with the size of the image. I then went over my holly covered stocking with Promarkers to add shading but I also added the stronger, ‘knitted’ heel & toe with my Promarkers too. A gel pen then added touches of highlights.

The background paper is also from Crafter’s Companion, cut into the design elements from the lovely sketch at Cute Card Thursday this week. This allows the extra-Christmassy red glitter card to peek through.

I would love it if you could play along with us this week – there is no excuse whatsoever considering you can have any image and any theme you want – providing you own Promarkers! LOL. Hope to be able to leave you a comment soon.

Tine :)

Other Challenges for this card:
Cute Card Thursday – design layout
Creative Inspirations – Christmas
Scrappy Frogs - Christmas
ABC Christmas - X for Xmas (optional flowers)
Lexi's - traditional Christmas colours
Crafty Creations - Christmas
Shabby Tearoom - card suitable for a charitable cause (RSPCA)
One Stitch at a Time - season or event
Crafty Pad - red and green
Ellephantastic - butterflies or Christmas
Passion for Promarkers - old/new (old papers/new image)
Creative Belli - embellishments beginning with R (ribbon!)
Hodge Podge - anything goes
Digi Doodle - anything goes.

My best-est friend ever!

The challenge over at Mo’s Digital this week is to use 3 punches so I have constructed this particular card with that in mind. The three punches in this instance are a circular Fiskars – for the circular element of the design layout, a shaped corner – on the image itself (and highlighted with the silver corners) and a small X-cut heart. This small heart punch has been used to create hearts in matching papers to the 2 DPs in the background. I drew silver swirls and hearts onto the paper before using the punch and then added the darker hearts to the lighter paper and vice versa. These then had gems added to them. The 3 lilac papers are all from Bearly Mine and I split the two designs used for the background into two, zig-zag stitching them together onto the lilac card base before stitching all the way round with a slightly smaller stitch to secure them in place. I had gone with a hazy kind of feel for my paper choices, hoping to convey the fact that Bella here is more or less oblivious to all around her other than her beloved Bronte. That is also the reason that Bronte is so different colourwise. To emphasise the dog from the rest of Bella's world.

The image of ‘Bella Hearts Bronte’ is by Mo Manning of course, and whilst it has been coloured with Promarkers, I have paper-pieced her skirt and cardigan and also decoupaged parts of both to give it dimension using silicone glue so that I could shape the paper. The shading was added to the cut out pieces of clothes before being decoupaged. I also used white gel pen to decorate the cardigan and a touch of silver again for Bronte's name tag. I think that is all the for this card. Hope you like it !
Tine :)

Challenges for this card:

Sunday Sketch and Stamp – design layout
Mo’s Digital – use 3 punches
Shabby Tearoom – card suitable for a charity (RSPCA)
Our Creative Corner – 3-d (skirt and cardigan)
Gingersnaps GC79 – stitching
Crafty Emma – lace
Wags ‘n Whiskers – lavender and lace
Mark’s Finest Paper – use a circle (subtle, LOL, but there in the background!)
Passion for Promarkers - old & new (old punches/new papers)
Tip Top - paper-piecing
A Spoonful of Sugar - anything goes.

Mistress Mary

Hi all. Now as you have probably gathered by now, I am not usually one for throwing a florist shop at a card unnecessarily but the theme of this card lent itself to such treatment really. I am using Nicecrane’s image of ‘Mistress Mary’, presumably the same Mary as in ‘Mary, Mary Quite Contrary (How does your garden grow?)’. Isn’t she a bit of an imp giving her brother a soaking with the watering can! That must be the ‘contrary’ element! LOL. It is a new image, available now from his site - a further link is on my side-bar. I have coloured her with Promarkers, inking around the image itself too. This has been matted onto several layers of cardstock including one which has been distressed and one of silver mirri. For the distressed layer I have also created some faux hand stitching to echo that on her hat and sleeve using a pricking tool and a fineliner pen (0.5 width).

(Close up courtesy of Nicecrane Designs)











The sentiment, similarly layered, is from Raindrop Echo Designs and the backing paper is from Crafter’s Companion and features fabulously blousy pink blossomed trees which goes perfectly with her puff-ball skirt. The circle element to the design sketch is also cut from a paper from Crafter’s Companion and is a lighter, softer variation of the same tree design, and being circular, almost looks like the sun shining on the garden scene to me, (providing the sun has trees on it that is! LOL). I made two large flowers out of pink card to pop at the relevant corners, adding extra colour to them with Promarkers randomly for interest, but concentrated it more towards the edge of the ‘petals’. I added a few smaller bought ones from my stash whilst trying not to lose the pattern on the background paper entirely which would have been a shame. The printed green ribbon is from my stash too and whilst Pixie Cottage also mentioned 'bows' for part of their criteria, as one of their DT only had the ribbon, not the bow, I had to assume that it was OK to leave the bow off, but I think it doesn't need a bow really.

Tine :)

Challenges for this card:

Sunday Sketch & Stamp - design layout
Passion for Promarkers – distressing and stitching
A Spoonfull of Sugar –distressing
Pixie Cottage – ribbon/bow and/or sketch (I used just the ribbon element)
Crafty Emma – think pink
My Partner in Crafting Crime – use markers
Prairie Fairy – make your own flowers (well, not all -but my 2 main ones are and didn't think my fingers up to making tiny ones! LOL:) )
Stamp with Fun - square
Digi Doodle – anything goes.

For a chance to win the complete set of Nicecrane Design's Nursery Songs images, just leave me a comment here and at the end of November, one lucky person will be chosen at random.

If you cannot wait until then to try out one of Ignacio's images, why not visit his blog where he has a tells me he has a freebie from the range for all those leaving a comment here!

Have fun!
ENTRY FOR THIS  CHANCE TO WIN IS NOW CLOSED.
Congratulations to winner of the Nicecrane images, KathyK.
Happy crafting Kathy. :)

#41 Snowmen

Do you know what they get up to when you are not there to see?

This week’s theme at I ♥ Promarkers should help with getting more of those all too important Christmas cards out on time. Ah, the ‘thick fingers’ of a child, frozen to the bone through woollen mitts which are encrusted with caked on snow - all because they want to make a snowman. I remember the feeling well. Yep, I used to make them too! LOL.

My DT card today shows what snowmen may get up to when your back is turned, an image from Arthur’s Clipart which I thought was rather fun. I hope I have not made the resulting card a bit too sinister. LOL. I coloured it with the obligatory Promarkers having created a circle for it out of which the sledge is zooming out and out of control. For extra snowy sparkle I Stickled the highlighted snow on the ground and on the snowmen, as well as adding pearly ‘glitter glue’ to do the same.

The background design from Tiddly Inks was printed onto pearlescent cardstock to get a bit of a sheen peeping through and onto this I stuck sections of regular paper printed with the same pattern which I had carefully distressed just a little for a tiny ruffled edge before sticking down. The layout itself actually follows the one given at CLP this month, though being the occasionally perverse creature that I am, rather than adding the horizontal line across the centre of the square, I have removed it instead! LOL. Having stuck down the central image, I drew my own baubles, colouring them in again with Promarkers adding them to the top corner as if they too had been knocked off the air-borne tree. The sentiment is from Raindrop Echoes, Ann Es sentiments, courtesy of the Sentimental Sunday Blog, which I thought seemed perfect for the mischievous snowmen.

I then attached this now mega topper to the bright blue card fancy fold which I had cut into the necessary shape, adding more pearlescent printed card onto the side panels and adding further to the glitz by using the pearlescent glue again - on the large stars and dotting it about for the twinkle of those in the universe beyond.

Well, that’s the ‘how’s and why’s’ for this card and if you like it, please don’t’ forget to leave me a comment in the box as I do appreciate your kind words and I like to know who has visited. If you would like to make a snowman card and join in with our challenge this week, please do remember to colour your image, or even the background instead, with Promarkers (as that is why we are the I ♥ Promarkers blog, coz we do ♥ Promarkers!) Just get some Promarkers on your card somewhere folks and I look forward to visiting you and leaving a comment in return.

Bye for now,

Tine :)

Other Challenges I would like to enter this card for are:

CLP – sketch
Winter Wonderland – winter sports (tobogganing)
Secret Crafter – sparkle and shine
Simon Says - sparkle
Crazy 4 – Christmas card or item
Stampman - Christmas
ABC Christmas - X for Xmas
ABC - H for holidays
Christmas Card Challenges - shaped card
Gingerloft - outdoors
Creative Craft - stars
Creative Inspirations - trees, woodland or winter landscapes
My Partner in Crafting Crime - use markers.

Thank you Ulina

I would like to thank Ulina (aka Apricot Bubbles), for giving me a Blog Award. It is very kind of you.  :)

There are rules attached to accepting this award apparently, namely that those chosen for the honour should tell you all three things about themselves before nominating 5 more recipients to receive the same award. As the award refers to 'Attitude' then the 3 things you share about yourself should reflect this, namely what is it that makes you the individual that you are, the three things that make you different from anyone else.

Here goes:

1. My hair - that has more than enough attitude for anyone, and always has have. In fact it is relatively 'tame' now to what it used to be. It is coarse, thick to the point of being wirey and regularly 'does its own thing'. It used to drive me nuts but now embrace it's 'robust' nature. LOL. Rapunzel must not have been blonde. Rapunzel must have had my hair!!!! (yes, it used to be long, very long - as a teenager it was right down my back, and plaited).

2. My favourite colour is light blue or any other water-like colourway really.

3. I L-O-V-E crime/detective programmes - and CSI is my absolute fave.

Right then, for fellow recipients - difficult to choose, I have to say:
http://anothermessycrafter.blogspot.com/  for her inspiration
http://kathleensmagnolia.blogspot.com/     new teamie, for her creativity
http://suzilous.blogspot.com/                     for her exuberance
http://stampingsuestyle.blogspot.com/       for her distressing perfection
http://cardscatscollections.blogspot.com/  last is certainly not least!....for always leaving comments each and every week, which we all know can be sooo time-consuming, but which mean so much to us all.

I do hope you all accept the award in the spirit that it is given. You deserve it! :)

Lastly, if you do choose to accept this award do visit http://digiswithattitudechallenges.blogspot.com/p/i-got-attitude-blog-award.html for the full set of rules/information.

Tine :)

Heavy Snow

Well, having used vellum on my card for last week’s Mo’s Digital Challenge entry and acetate the week before that, I did wonder if I was on a strange parallel but mis-aligned course with the creative ladies on the DT there. The question was, could I do it all again, and if so which should I go for? LOL. Having ended up with a few new ideas bubbling round my head using several different possible images, I took the bull by the horns and opted for ‘both’. Can you have too much of a good thing?

Well, I do hope not, as I have chosen an image I used not too long ago in September, that of ‘Jack Waiting’, by Mo Manning of course. I picked this image as it seemed to lend itself perfectly for the combination of media that was being called for this week. Acetate made the perfect glass in the window and the vellum took over the role of snow for a winter’s card - ripped, torn and Stickled to make it glisten in the cold winter’s light.

As for the colour choice of this card, I looked to the challenge over at Passion for Promarkers for inspiration. Opting for the sepia variation (as opposed to black and white), I went back to the fabby digi papers of Jak Heath, which I have developed a real soft spot for. They are so ethereal with their hazy white and sepia tones and furthermore, the snowflakes echo the embossing you can do with vellum.

I coloured little Jack with Promarkers and then I cut away the ‘glass’ from his window. I made piles of snow for the sills out of spare card and Stickled it, adding it behind the frame. Outside his window, Jack can see layers of Stickled, torn vellum for the undulating snowy landscape and even the sky is vellum, this time lightly embossed to show the grey snow clouds catching what little sunlight there is. The trees drawn onto the vellum with Promarkers have also been Stickled and touched with white pen where the snow is the heaviest on the branches. Over the whole scene white gel pen snow falls.

The sentiment on the front is from Paulette at TLC whilst the one on the inside of the card is from Raindrop Echo, Tameko’s Sentiments available as a freebie from Sentimental Sundays this week.  The 'Especially for You' was made on the PC and printed onto card as well as vellum which was then torn across before being tucked under the mat to be stuck into position. As for embellishments, all the vellum snowflakes are either Marianne Creatables or from Martha Stewart, each made unique by adding white gel pen. A narrow silver peel-off frames the image.

Hope you all like it!

Tine :)

Challenges for my card today:

Sweet Sketch Wednesday - sketch (vellum snowflakes follow the pattern rather than different papers)
Mo’s Digital Pencil – vellum and/or acetate
Wags and Whiskers – acetate, tissue or vellum
Crafty Catz – paper tearing (the vellum)
Secret Crafter – sparkle & shine
Crafts and Me - glitter
Paper Pretties – embossing
ABC – H is for Holidays
ABC Christmas – winter wonderland
Tip Top – use image/sentiment and/or tip
A Spoonful of Sugar – snow/snowflakes
Sweet Stamping – snowflakes
Sentimental Sunday - childhood & sentiment
Craft your days away – Christmas trees (tiny, but they are there out of the window! LOL)
Passion for Promarkers – black and white or sepia tones.

#40 Icy Colours

These two little cuties in their co-ordinating outfits are of course a digi from Mo Manning, ‘Siku & Shiya’. I have coloured them in icy colours to tie in with our theme at I ♥ Promarkers this week which is just that – Icy Colours. Icy colours, other than their little chapped faces, glowing with the cold. All done with Promarkers needless to say, other than touches of silver and white gel pen here and there for the embroidery detail on their costumes.

Now, as we can see, they are ‘Eskimo Kissing’, and as it is a seasonal card, I wanted to add a bit of mistletoe for them as it seemed quite appropriate. As I didn’t seem to have a suitable mistletoe stamp or digi I, as in time-honoured-fashion, ‘did it myself’. LOL. I will pop the image at the bottom of the posting, so if you think you might need a bit of mistletoe for your cards, feel free to click on the image and save to your computer. If you do use it at all, I would appreciate a mention and, and as with all digis, do respect the copyright. Just resize it to suit your project. Other than that have fun with it!

The backing paper is a design from Fred She Said, but I lightened the very back piece so I had a tonal variation. Fab paper though isn’t it, with that swirl blowing across? Just like the Arctic winds howling over the frozen lands. I then added a snowflake overlay to help get across the ‘really cold as ice’ idea and Stickled the edges for even more ‘ice’. You will notice the great restraint I showed as I did not Stickle the fur on the images. I let the ‘ice’ gleam & glisten, not the people. LOL.

Hope you like the result. Happy Crafting!

Tine  :)

Other Challenges for this card:
Paper Sundaes - let it snow
ABC Christmas - winter wonderland
One Stitch at a Time - winter wonderland
Charisma - Christmas
Wags and Whiskers - sisters or friendship
Stamping Sisters in Christ - weather
A Spoonfull of Sugar - snow/snowflakes
Winter Wonderland - Sing a Christmas carol (See Amid the Winter's Snow)
Pixie Cottage - sketch and/or 2 colours
ABC - holidays
Crafts & Me - glitter
Creative Belli - old, new, borrowed & blue (well, my Promarkers are not new, the digi I drew is very new, blue-goes without saying....LOL....but for the borrowed? I reckon I could do with borrowing more Stickles...I am nearly out of it now..too much 'ice' LOL)
Tip Top - use image/sentiment (or both) inc. a tip too (I always say how I have constructed my cards but this week there is a digi too!)

Here you go. As promised.  :)

Kindness.....

Following Dorcas’ lovely sketch over at Sentimental Sunday, I have chosen to use the sweet image called ‘Angel with Puppy’ from Mo Manning.  It was coloured with Promarkers with touches of Stickles in her hair, matted and layered up & with free DPs from the talented Jak Heath depicting white and sepia toned snowflakes.  The edges of the angel’s mat were gently distressed so that I got the tiniest of ruffled white edges from the card’s core. I wanted it to tie in with the torn vellum I used as the horizontal element to the sketch, which to me represented a snowdrift, (maybe you have just to be inside my head to make sense of it! LOL), with added  Stickled  snowflake.  To add this without showing any adhesive, it was wrapped behind the backing paper.

 

The sub-theme I have given myself to work to follows the sentiment (in full on the inside of the card) of Kindness. This came from TLC and I used just the first word of her sentiment for the centre of the snowflake on the card front. This large snowflake was made using a Marianne Creatables die in pearlescent card and vellum and was again touched with Stickles. The vellum parts to all the snowflakes were carefully hand-embossed to give white highlights to them - though the smaller snowflake on the front of the card also had the addition of white Gelly Roll pen.

The inside of the card uses the same DP and I used a second smaller portion of the same design, this time printed onto card to create a pocket. The sentiment in full was also printed onto this, but I also printed it out onto vellum which was then ripped and torn top and bottom and overlaid onto the card sentiment. Snowdrift again…LOL. The tag is basically a posh ‘To’ and ‘From’ popped into the pocket.   

Hope you like it!

Tine :)

Challenges for this card:

Sentimental Sunday – sketch (and use a sentiment)
Mo’s Digital – pockets
Crafty Calender – winter snowflakes
Quixotic - Christmas
Karber – digi animal
Crazy – things with wings
Flutterby Wednesday – wings
Our Creative Corner – gratitude
Stampman – Christmas
Cute Card Thursdays – vellum, parchment or tissue
Lexi’s – anything goes.

Mrs. C. Hits The Shops

Hi everyone. When I saw this week’s Mojo sketch I just had to make a card with it. (You will have to scroll down a bit to see the sketch itself). It was the little shape at the top of the rectangle that did it…silly, I know… but I could just see it as an awning. So as you must have noticed, that’s exactly what I did with it! LOL.

To get that awning to make sense though I had to find a relevant image from my stash and this particular one was a Precious Moments digi from the Internet, downloaded some time ago which seemed perfect for a hassled Christmas shopper. I chose to colour it using Promarkers with traditional Christmas colours, paper-piecing her carefully wrapped parcels, headscarf and matching handbag. Giving her a bright red coat with white trim, I turned her into a very busy Mrs. Christmas scurrying around the shops and for the shop front itself, (which serves to frame the image), I made two pillars, again coloured with Promarkers from a long rectangle, an oval and a very short rectangle as a sturdy base. The awning I created myself too, as I couldn’t just find any red and white striped paper in my stash, but at least making it myself meant I got the proportions I wanted for the stripes. The awning is simply folded, as you can perhaps see from the photo below, but this means it will fold down flat in an ordinary envelope for postage - definitely a bonus I reckon.

Hope you like the resulting card!  (Sorry the photos are a bit poor today, but this weather is so dark and lousy, this is the best I can get).  :(

Thanks for visiting my blog, hope to see you here again soon!

Tine :)

Challenges:

Mojo – sketch

One Stitch at a Time – Christmas

Tip Top - Christmas inspired

Charisma – With love @ Christmas

ABC Christmas – Christmas (optional, mainly white)
Christmas Card Challenges – Christmas (optional candy canes)
Everybody Art – untraditional Christmas, (colours maybe traditional, but imagery isn’t)
Stampman - Christmas
Digital Tuesday – digi plus frame (I have used the shop and awning to frame the image)
Crafty Catz - spots and stripes
Pattie's Creations - Christmas.