# 94 Snowflakes & Snowmen

Theme at I ♥ Promarkers - snowmen & snowflakes
Sponsor & prize this week - Robyn's Fetish (5 digi images of your choice).

All the DT are using images from our sponsor this week and the snowman featured on the front of my card today is called 'Carl the Snowman'.  He was of course, coloured with Promarkers.  The blue & white snowflake design papers are digis from Jak Heath and I distressed the edges before adding acrylic paint to them for tiny snowdrifts. Well, in my imagination they are so you will have to bear with me! LOL.  Keeping with the drifted snow idea, on the lower part of the card for Carl to stand on, I tore pearlescent card, (the same as the main card base), topping the revealed core with Stickles for reflecting iciness. The individual blue snowflakes behind the snowman were also glitzed with Stickles as were the tiny white card ones (residue from a MS punch & the large one behind the sentiment which was cut using Marianne Creatable dies. The sentiment itself is from Raindrop Echo Designs.  To give me dimension on all the various layers on the card front, I used a combination of both silicone glue & foam pads.

...& on the inside.

For the inside of the card I toned down the layering to make it flatter for posting, edging the sentiment I had created on the PC as before but not on the rest of the layers. I used an image here too, again from our sponsor (called 'Snow Days are Fun Days', which I thought worked well with the image on the front) &  I faded it out slightly so I could hand write the 'from' over it later.

Tine :)

Challenges:
Crafty Catz - snowmen
Phindy's Place - a sprinkling of snow
Charisma - snowflakes
Sassy Cheryl - winter
Cardmadfairy - winter wonderland (+digi)
Simply CreateToo - Christmas
Fairytale - Christmas
Lothian Crafts - Christmas
Totally Papercrafts - Christmas
Marianne Design Divas - sparkle & shine.

Kenny K #71 L.O.L Drama Queen

Theme at Kenny K's Krafty Girls - stitching either real or faux
Sponsor & prize this week - Dies to Die For  (£10 voucher) & Kenny K (5 digis).

Drama Queen in close up.

No, not a Christmas card but there are people with birthdays at this time of year too so the show must go on & they have to be catered for.  Isn't this image just so perfect for all those teens with mobile phones seemingly permanently clamped to their ears! LOL. This thoroughly modern Miss is called 'Drama Queen' & I coloured her with Promarkers.  Having layered up my chosen papers I sewed them down into position using both a single straight stitch on the blue papers but with a zig zag elsewhere.  Now sometimes my sewing machine happily sews paper & yet other times it just isn't too happy to oblige.  I muddled through!  I added a suitable 'text speak' sentiment from TLC on the outside of the card though on the inside I used a fun sentiment from Ginger's House.

On the inside of the card

Have a great week crafters!

Tine :)

Challenges:
Fab 'n' Funky - birthday
Bearly Mine - favourite things (digis, in this instance papers & image & of course my beloved Promarkers)
Birthday Sundaes - birthday
Soartful - photo insp (sewing)
Card Makin' Mamas - sentiments
Inspire Me Fridays - always anything goes
Sassy Cheryl - anything goes
Papercraft Star - anything goes
Stamping with the Dragon - anything goes
Creative Craft - free for all.

#93 A Mother's Love at Christmas

Theme at I ♥ Promarkers - anything goes!
Sponsor & prize this week - Digi Doodle, $10 gift certificate

Now, I might be taking a few liberties here with my image setting this twosome in a wood in winter, (my first thoughts would be this was a spring/summer kind of image), but I seem to recall Bambi walking through the snow & if it was good enough for Disney to do it then I am willing to take a risk with it too! LOL.

This image is from our sponsors this week, Digi Doodle and is called 'Deer & Fawn'.  I coloured it in using Promarkers and a couple of Trias using this month's sketch over at CLP.  I wasn't quite sure how deep a colour to give them as they would surely have a thicker, usually slightly less colourful coat in the winter months so it was a bit of guess work really.  Then of course, I had made it into a night scene so this would take down the colours rather too - just to make things even more problematic for myself!  On slightly safer territory, to create all my various snowflakes which I just love on Christmas cards, I used a combination of Martha Stewart punches and Marianne Creatable dies and the swirling foliage was cut using 2 dies from Double Do.  These were given their sparkle courtesy of Stickles (this time Frosted Lace), and a few pearls scattered about for good measure. The fabric is edged with acrylic paint and still more texture was created using a dotty embossing folder.

On the inside of the card.

The card base, punched layers & the embossed dots etc, were white pearlescent stock for a shimmering gleam but I also used some matt white card for a couple of layers of the snowflakes & swirling foliage to add a bit of interest. The light blue snowflake patterned dp was another from Jak Heath a while back & I used a midnight blue card too for the layering. The pearls, from my stash are a mixture of larger flat-backed ones & spherical shimmering ones.

Tine :)

Challenges:

CLP - design sketch
Moving Along With the Times - let it snow
Phindy's Place - Christmas
Wags 'n' Whiskers - Christmas
Bunny Zoe - Christmas & pearls
Crafty Emma - snowflakes
Totally Gorjuss - swirls
Passion for Promarkers - swirls & sparkles
Winter Wonderland - cute
Marianne's Design Divas - sparkle & shine
Crimbo Crackers - make it sparkle
Sundays With Crissy - Christmas using non- traditional colours
Cardmadfairy's Digi Days - texture
Truly Scrumptious - Christmas (& either pearls or vintage)
Sparkles Forum - vintage
Digital Tuesday - sparkle & shine
Forever Friends - (Monthly) something old, something new (old, my snowflakes dies/punches - new, the image) +use an animal

Kenny K #70 Kids Cards

Hi, and Team B are celebrating the latest release of images in the Kids’ Nation range  so what better a theme this week at  the Kenny K's Krafty Girlz Challenge than to make a kid’s card! Don’t forget if you join in with the challenge & use one of Kenny K's fab digis you will be in with a chance of winning the fabby prize this week which is from none other than

who are, as always, offering a choice of 5 digis to the winner.

Take care,

Tine :)

#92 Chrissy Tree

Theme at I ♥ Promarkers - Christmas Trees
Sponsor & prize this week - Stampeezee - £10 voucher to spend online

Well, with our Christmas Tree theme I knew that I would just have to use this adorable digi from Phindy's Place called 'Miss Chrissy Tree'. OK, she isn't actually a tree, but she seems to think she is! LOL. In case you needed to ask - I coloured her with Promarkers including the gold metallic marker for the star & on the baubles.  It was then I started to run into trouble.  I had plenty of Christmas tree papers but not one of them seemed to coordinate with my cardstock.  Grrr!  As you can see, in the end I abandoned being ever so clever & using tree-themed papers too, in favour of baubles.  However, I am not too sure that it is now too dark! Of course, once I had sewn all into position, I then found lighter coloured paper featuring baubles. Isn't it always the way? Still, you can't win 'em all I suppose & hopefully, the black gives it depth.

To add to the tree theme, I cut the image into a traditional Xmas tree-like shape with a corresponding mat & this was stuck onto the card using silicone glue for a bit of dimension. There are actually 2 horizontal ribbons, the red satin one on top of the glitzy gold one and I finished that off with a double bow made from the double-sided red satin one with a matt red button sewn with gold cord.

For the insert this time I went back to the double page spread, lightening the image to set behind my own few words of greeting though the circular sentiment opposite is from Bizzybecsstore.

Tine :)

Challenges:
Paper Sundaes - digital images or sentiments
Totally Gorjuss - Christmas traditions
Wags 'n; Whiskers - Christmas
Digital Tuesday - Christmas
Emerald Faerie Garden - Christmas green
Di's Digi Designs - ribbons & bows
The Pretty Little Ribbon Shop - buttons & bows
Art Impressions - use 2 or more ribbons
Cupcake - two's company (use 2 images - mine are inside as well as outside)
Incy Wincy - tic tac toe (red, Christmas sentiment, ribbon)
Dream Valley - stitching
DYSU - song inspiration (An Old Fashioned Christmas - Sinatra).

Kenny K - #69 My Super Hero

Theme at Kenny K - embossing
Sponsors this week - My Mum's Craft Shop & Kenny K.

The Kenny K image I chose to use this week is 'Super Hero' & this muscular specimen flashing his pearly-whites is a perfect image for a male's fun birthday card. Whether or not your male recipient bares any resemblance to this hunk is another matter, of course. LOL. The image was coloured with Promarkers.

Whilst our theme this time around is embossing (wet or dry, it doesn't matter), I just wanted to keep it all very subtle, but I hope it isn't so subtle that you can't see it!  LOL. I ran the matt red paper behind the star through an embossing folder but the blue horizontal paper I hand embossed with a brass stencil to scatter varying stars all over it. The large yellow star was punched out of white card before I set about it with my Promarkers & I then hand embossed my own narrow lines not far from its outline before I liberally spritzed with Spray & Shine (twice actually, as it just wasn't that glossy after one dose). The sentiment is from Pollycraft.

Tine :)

Challenges:
Bearly Mine Designs - one for the boys
Craft-room - for a man
DYSU - inspired by song (Heroes - David Bowie)
Paper Crafting Journey - embossing
Incy Wincy - stitching
Ooh - la - la - stitching
Creative Inspirations - stitching
Paper Pretties - buttons
Crafts & Me - birthdays
Crafty Catz - use a digi
Digital Tuesday - anything goes
Stampavie & More - anything goes

For Sarah

Now, this is a major change for me - nothing like stretching yourself a little is there, but there isn't one, yes, you read that correctly - NOT ONE Promarker on this card!!!! Shock, horror I know. LOL. I was fiddling about with my dies (yes, I suppose playing might be the better word, LOL), & the result was that I thought I would try my hand at layering my papers - edging & creating with nothing more than my Spellbinders. I can't say it was a quick card either, given that I wasn't using an image (so no colouring in), but I am not the most decisive of crafters & choosing papers, layout & embellishments is usually what takes my time up anyway. LOL. What is more with the papers being digital & therefore at the mercy of my printer they are more 'blue' than they were on screen. Still, there are greater things to worry about in this life than truculent printing - so more blue they will just have to remain. LOL.

Not sure what I think about it really, it has to be said - but 'nothing ventured nothing gained' as they say & Sarah will be receiving this card this weekend regardless!  My indecision also meant that I wasn't sure how best to photograph the card. Angled to show the dimension (no envelope for this one of course), or my regular straight on shot. So you got both, as well as the inside of the card which echoes the layout of the front but without the very dimensional centre-piece of course or it wouldn't close!!! LOL.

On the inside of the card.

Hope you like my artistic deviation.

Tine :)

Challenges:

Colour Q - colour palette
Dutch Dare - punches & dies
Crafts & Me - birthdays
Art Impressions - two or more ribbons
Creative Craft - minimalist (no image is VERY minimal to me!)
Fab 'n' Funky - use a lot of white
DYSU - inspired by song (Billy Don't Be A Hero - by Paper Lace!)
Bunny Zoe's - lace (I hope paper lace counts).

#91 Fishin' Buddies

Theme at I ♥ Promarkers - use the sketch
Sponsor & prize this week - Letraset  (pack of Promarkers)

Karen has given us this fab sketch to work to this week.....

.............but me being me, I altered the oval in the middle to accommodate this beautiful Labels 18 shape from Spellbinders.  As I used the largest of the nesties for the image I did the 'fake nestie' trick of drawing around the edge of the die with a pencil and cutting it out by hand to give me the outer frame.

All this of course, as I just had to use this adorable LOTV image that I was so incredibly lucky to win a couple of weeks ago. It is called 'Fishing Buddies' & I just lurve it!  Really has the 'Aw' factor, don't you think?  Image chosen, I had to decide on a colour scheme & thought that the fab palette suggested by Colour Create (turquoise, deep pink & ivory), was just perfect. I coloured it all in with Promarkers, aided with a liberal touching up with sparkle with Stickles for all the iciness. I know that my papers look more blue than turquoise but I used digi papers again on this card & I really don't think that my printer likes turquoise or greens. I just don't seem to get what I am expecting when using greenish tones, no matter what paper or card I am using.  To add to the frustration, the Stardust Stickles were definitely NOT playing nicely today in any shape or form. They wouldn't squeeze out (& no, I hadn't shaken the bottle first) & I had to prize the nozzle off the bottle to get at the glitz hiding within. Said nozzle then hurtled behind my work desk trapping itself between it & the wall. Argh!  The things I have to endure just for a touch of sparkle!  I then had to squeeze the contents onto scrap & 'paint' the Stickles on using a cocktail stick. Where there is a will, there is a way. LOL.

The edges of the papers were distressed & then had paint daubed down them before being sewn into postion onto the softly pearlescent cardstock. The Marianne Creatables snowflakes were also Stickled & a sentiment added from Bizzybecstore to the centre of one of them. As you can see, I placed the snowflakes a little differently than outlined in the sketch, shifting them over to the left as it seemed to balance out better given that I had changed the central shape.

I echoed the front of the card on the inside but made it all that little bit smaller & replacing the image with my sentiment in the central position. This time too I was more faithful to the design sketch itself, adding my 3 snowflakes under the central shape.  Hope you like it!

Tine :)

Challenges:
Colour Create - turquoise, deep pink & ivory
Lili of the Valley - bright & sparkly
Winter Wonderland - sparkle
Crafty Purple Frog - sparkle
Delightful - sparkly Christmas
Sundays With Crissy - non traditional Christmas colours
Glitter Fairies - non traditional Christmas colours
Craft Garden - Christmas - no red or green
Marianne Design Divas - die cuts
Card Makin' Mamas - die cuts
Christmas Stampin' - use a favourite sketch
Mami Doodles - Christmas
Little Claire's - Christmas
Papertake - Christmas
By the Cute & Girly - Christmas girls
A Gem of a Challenge - cold & frosty
Totally PaperCrafts - stitching
Creatalicious - distress your edges
Crafty Emma - song or film inspired (See Amid the Winter's Snow - Christmas carol)
Penny Black & more at Allsorts - all creatures great & small (no digis).

Kenny K #68 Celebration

Hi, and the theme this week at Kenny K's Krafty Girlz Challenge is to 'Celebrate' - whether it is for a wedding, engagement, special birthday etc., is totally up to you.   So play along with Team B as I am sure you can think of a special something to celebrate & if you use a Kenny K digi you are in with a chance of winning the prize this week which is a fabulous £10 gift voucher (not inc. P&P) from

as well as our regular sponsor of course,

who are, as always, offering 5 digis of your choice.

Happy crafting!

Tine :)

#90 Kisses From Heaven

Theme at I ♥ Promarkers - glitter & glitz
Sponsor & prize this week - Joanna Sheen - £10 gift voucher

Yes folks, it's time for my yearly battle with the bottles of Stickles. LOL. Will they or won' they cooperate & give me the required amount of glitter glue when squeezed - or will it blob or even refuse to come out at all!  Well, it has to be said that on the whole, this week each bottle has played relatively nicely, which is a good job as I would hate to ruin my 'Mo card'. I do lurve Mo's images and this adorable 'Kai in the Snow' is amongst my favs.

I coloured Kai with Promarkers of course, though I also paper pieced his outfit to match in with the frosted tones of the dps - fabulous papers from Jak Heath. Even the papers I used for his winter suit were some of hers.

The dotty embossing at the back was done with a Cuttlebug folder, but as it was narrower than the area I wanted to cover I had to emboss as much as I could before carefully moving the paper over slightly so the dots matched up & embossing the remaining area. Not perfect of course, but wasn't too bad. Why aren't embossing folders 6"x6" or at least thereabouts?  Having constructed my layers, I added the Marianne Creatables die cut snowflakes, (with centres using the punch outs from a Martha Stewart corner), duly Stickled of course - and dotted some matching gems on the dp. The sentiment on the front is from Raindrop Echo Designs. All this was mounted onto gorgeous shimming cardstock to add to the sparkly effect.

For the inside of the card I rescaled the papers and added my own sentiments, leaving just enough space to write the recipients' names too.

Tine :)

Challenges:
Mo's Digital - any holiday or celebration (Christmas!)
Little Claire's - Christmas
Phindy's Place - paper piecing
Totally Papercrafts - glitter it
Marianne's Design Divas - die cuts (all those fabby layered snowflakes!!!)
Card Makin' Mamas - die cuts
A Gem of a Challenge - cold & frosty
Totally Gorjuss - I remember....(my son had a warm winter suit when he was a baby, it was however a tad big for him so he looked like the baby on 'The Simpsons' in her's - like a star with arms & legs with a mind of their own, LOL)
Kraftin' Kimmie - monochrome
Whimsy - monochrome
Craft Your Passion - bingo (use a punch, sentiment, bling)
Digital Tuesday - cute & cuddly (well I would give him a BIG hug, wouldn't you?)
Sundays with Crissy - Christmas cards using non-traditional colours
Craft Garden - Christmas - no red or green
Cupcake Craftroom - sweet Christmas (my interpretation of sweet here is 'cute'!)  :)
Papertake - anything goes (+ bit of bling)
Sweet Stamping - anything goes.