Crafting Christine

#108 Sweet Birthday

2012-03-14T08:00:00.021Z

Theme at I ♥ Promarkers this week - anything goes!!!!!
Sponsor & prize this week - Joanna Sheen -£10 voucher

All together now, "Aw..." isn't this a cute image! These two meeces who have stuffed themselves with all that resplendent cupcake are a House Mouse stamp. Yes, my Promarkers coloured them in as usual and that includes the tiny one in the centre of my sentiment from Bird's Cards. Can you ever have too many cupcakes? LOL. The dps with the jolly balloons perfect for a party atmosphere are both from TLC and cut into a fancy border shape at the bottom. The card is sugar-candy coloured.

Another little mouse is on the inside of the card, 'reading' the large circular sentiment from Cindy Close. The calendar, to which the relevant birthday date has been added using a fine liner was also one of Cindy's. Yes, I can get away with saying 'All the best people were born in March' as it is my birthday in March too, LOL, and not only in the same month as one another, as my friends know, I share 'my day' with my daughter for whom I have made this card. I will let you do the detective work out what day that was last week! LOL. I made the tag shape too, cutting out her name and layering an off-cut from the dps (well, I don't like waste when it can be put to good use), from the front of the card placing it behind the cut-work so that it would peep through for a bit of added interest. I have written who the card is from (as if she didn't know!! LOL), on the reverse of the tag before slipping it into the pocket. The ribbon was from my stash.

Tine :)

Challenges:
Sundays With Crissy - animals
The Pretty Little Ribbon Shop - Spring colours
House Mouse - (cupcake) photo inspiration
Poodles Parlour - birthday)
Pink Elephant - photo inspiration
Totally Papercrafts - favourite things (colouring with my Promarkers/border cut using cutter)
Hotshot Craft - ribbon
Jellypark - favourite things (colouring with my Promarkers/border cut using cutter)
Truly Madly Crafty - colour inspiration
Gingersnap - border punches
Joanna Sheen - spring is in the air (colours)
Papertake - for a girl/mother (my daughter).

On Mother's Day

2012-03-11T12:16:00.003Z

Well, I have managed to squeeze a Mother's Day card into my itinerary - for my MIL, who apparently was unaware that all the cards she ever got from me were actually coloured by me too. She thought I just bought everything 'as is' and stuck it down!

Yes, I used this LOTV image not too long ago (Rosie Posy), and yes, I certainly do have other LOTV images I could have used, but you can't go far wrong with a bunch of flowers for Mother's Day can you? This time I put the image into a frame I cut using a design by Bird's Cards and added the required elements at Lili's Little Fairies this week - lace (from Fantastic Ribbons) and ribbon from my stash.

I chose the fab sketch to work to from Creative Belli and one of the required elements was a sentiment on the front, in this instance, a circular one from Bluebird Flats. As the writing in the centre of the sentiment was rather small, I repeated it on the inside of the card but enlarged it to make it more legible having layered the papers on the opposite side to the sketch. The white rectangle is of course for my hand written 'from' - as long as I don't forget to do that bit! LOL.

Tine :)

Challenges:
Lili's Little Fairies - ribbon & lace
Little Darlings - pearls
Passion For Promarkers - mum/female relative
Crafty Catz - Mother's Day/special lady
Crafty Ribbons - celebrate a mother figure
Crafts 4 Eternity - special mum (for my MIL)
One Stop Craft - Mother's Day with ribbon
Dream Valley - Mother's Day
PanPastel - girly/Mother's Day
Allsorts - say it with flowers
Cupcake Craft Room - spring bouquet
Sweet Stamping - layers (&/or sketch if you want)
Joanna Sheen - spring is in the air
Mark's Finest Papers - bingo (lace, bling (pearls) & circles)
Hotshot - ribbon
Totally Papercrafts - fav things (Promarkers & a new fav toy too, my cutter)
Jellypark - fav technique/product etc (Promarkers!!!!)
Papertake - anything goes
Paper Shelter - anything goes

Creative Belli - design sketch

#107 Wedding Tryptic

2012-03-07T08:00:00.140Z

Theme at I ♥ Promarkers - ribbons & bows
Sponsor & prize this week - Lili of the Valley - £10 gift voucher (I want to enter too....!!!)

This card is going to my God daughter/niece who gets married this year so I am getting this done in good time. I designed, created & cut out the card base myself - well, you never know if you can until you try do you! It was a bit problematic at times but for once, I managed to do exactly what my head had created. A kind of tryptic with lattice side panels all cut from shimmering white & ivory heavy weight card. I hope you can see it clearly enough. I even changed the colour of my light-box back drop so you could see it a little more easily.

I chose to use a simply gorgeous stamp from LOTV, (our generous sponsors this week), which I am sure most of you will recognise as 'Wedding Couple', and I did the honours with my Promarkers once again. All the dots at their feet are meant to be the confetti in case you were wondering were I was coming from with that one. LOL. You might wonder too at the blue frame and coordinating coloured ribbons on the image but this apparently is the colour of the bridesmaids' dresses so I thought I would try to personalise the card entirely.

The fabulous satin edged ribbon which is such a brilliant match to my ivory card, was part of the stash I won over at Jak Heath's blog fairly recently. Wasn't I a lucky girl?!?! Having run some of it across my embossed card, I managed to tie a fairly small bow for above the central panel's set of ringing bells. The small crosses on the front & reverse of one of the side panels was cut using a couple of dies from Spellbinders rather than me cutting them out. This also meant that I could emboss them. I was a little tempted to add some flowers I must admit, but wanted to keep the card flat enough to fold together. So although there is a bit of dimension from matting using a touch of glue gel there is nothing to impede the tryptic closing.

I then personalised the rear panel too, cutting out the name of the 'happy couple' with a space beneath so that I can write on the 'from' later. You can see the front of the side panels too from this angle and I have put a second layered Spellbinders' cross in a similar position on the circle so both crosses back onto one another.

Have really enjoyed making this one & I hope you all like it!

Tine :)

Challenges I would like to enter this card for are:
Little Claire's - Romance
Lothian Crafts - 2 colours (white & blue)
Emerald Faerie Garden - embossing (on the front panel)
Crazy4 - fun folds
Our Creative Corner - music (White Wedding - Billy Idol)
Crafts 4 Eternity - digital (cutter)
Pan Pastel - stamped image
Love to Create - monochromatic
Simon Says - either Mother's Day or special girl (my God-daughter)
Pink Elephant - at least 3 layers
Whimsy - no sentiment
Paper Minutes - colour combo
Clearly Inspired - anything goes
Papertake - anything goes.

#106 Games Over - sketch

2012-02-29T08:00:00.031Z

Theme at I ♥ Promarkers - use the sketch
Sponsor & prize this week - Digi Doodle Shop ($10 gift voucher)

For my take on the sketch that Karen has devised for us this week, I have used an image from our sponsor, Digi Doodle called, 'Games Over', of this poor, dejected lad whose side would have appeared to have lost given the sad look on his face. Now, you could write on a postage stamp what I know about baseball, but the outfit I have given him looks good enough to me. LOL - and by the way, that is indeed a red shirt & hat I gave him, but try as I might it kept coming out in the photos a little pinkish rather than a colour very similar to the circles around him that it actually is. Grrr. In fact, all the colours on the image look washed out compared to the original today. No idea why.

Still, whatever team this might or might not be, it was coloured using Promarkers and I continued the ball kind of theme with the border around him, using red as well as white, as I believe they 'sew' the baseball with red stitches. I then set the bordered image so it was slightly above the card base using foam pads.

The layers of card are all Papermania textured cardstock and for the detailing on the sketch I cut out two circles at the top & bottom of the card so that the white below (yes, you guessed it - more balls, LOL) would peep through. Nothing like running with a theme is there! LOL.

Tine :)

Challenges I would like to enter this card for are:
Crafty Catz - 'b' is for baseball
Hotshot - one for the boys
Wags 'n' Whiskers - masculine birthday
Sweet Stampin' - it's a man thing
Stamp, Scrap & Doodle - manly or for a boy
Cupcake Craft - boys and their toys
Sisterhood of Crafters - use a digi
Pixie Cottage - (either use their sketch) or anything goes.

#105 Reading Time in Olden Times

2012-02-22T08:00:00.153Z

Theme at I ♥ Promarkers - time
Sponsor & prize this week - Crafty Emma (£10 voucher)

I inked up for my DT card this week, in order for me to use this adorable image from Sarah Kay and one, I have to admit, I haven't used for a long while. If it has a proper name (which I am sure it has), I sorry but I can't tell you as it's not on the original packaging which I still have to safely keep it in before it goes into my 'Stamp File'.

The sketch I have followed is from the CLP challenge this month, but me being me, I rotated it so it was upside down. The image was stamped onto white card before I cut the shaping around it using the largest of the Spellbinders Labels 22 dies (embossing it too for good measure) and I then created my own larger mat for it from the same blue card-stock as I had chosen for the base and mounted it using glue gel for dimension. I coloured the image, needless to say, with my Promarkers, including a couple of the new Spring release colours which of course, I simply had to get my mitts on! Yes, the little lad has ginger hair, but my son had this kind of hair style when he was small (it was fashionable at the time I hasten to add!!!) and he seems to think I have to always colour this one so it looks vaguely like him with his big sis - so when he saw which stamp I had got out I was under orders. LOL.

The several layers of papers I have used were distressed at the edges before being sewn into position and the horizontal cut work designs following the design layout were made from a deep cream 'woven' textured card (as were the swirling leaves) and also from off-white pearlescent card too which I used on the taller row of flowers. I also made the 3 blue flower embellishments from two different shades of blue card and the two pink horizontal elements of the sketch (see below), I interpreted as two ribbon/bow 'butterflies' with blue pearls in the centre to match the 3 pearls I added to the corner for balance.

On the inside of my card I replicated the basic elements of my layout, reducing it a little in size. The sentiment on the nestie shape is from TLC and the February calendar from Cindy over at Bluebird Flats. Having cut myself more floral borders, I made a less dimensional flower (well, whilst pretty dimensional considering it is for the inside of the card is nothing like as 3-D as the roses on the front, LOL), and also the two-layered tag with the word birthday cut out of it. This was slotted behind the central mat (which was attached using glue gel along 3 sides especially to accommodate the tag fitting behind), the tag having the 'to' and 'from' written on the back of it. So, a very dimensional card overall but I am giving it to a friend by hand this weekend and not having to squeeze it into an envelope!

Hope you like it!

Tine :)

Challenges:

CLP - design layout
Glitter Geeks - girls & boys
Stamping Boutique - stitching
Bunny Zoe - celebration
Do You Stack Up - layers
Sundays With Crissy - birthday
Corrosive - dimension
Allsorts - free & easy February
Secret Crafter - bingo (I have actually managed two rows! LOL, - middle row of swirls, flowers, pearls & bottom row of ribbon, bow & leaves)
Whimsy - monochromatic
Totally Papercraft - ribbons & bows
Sentimental Sundays - use a sentiment
Die Cuttin' Divas - favourite pets
Tuesday Throwdown - winter blues (use blue)
Fashionable Stamping - (no digi images) - monochromatic plus one
Stamping for the Weekend - photo insp

#104 Nature

2012-02-15T08:00:00.070Z

Theme at I ♥ Promarkers - nature
Sponsor & prize this week - Stampeezee (£10 voucher)

No, not a square card this week, but a rectangle for a change and I tried to keep it all relatively simplistic & uncluttered. Yes, I know it looks pretty square to you, but the back of the card actually extends out with cut circle detailing - it is just when the card is open you can't actually see that element at all! Best laid plans going astray I think we can safely say on that one. LOL. However, if you look at the angled photo you can see the glossy black die cuts on the back.

The die cut on the back of the card can only really be seen when fully closed or from an angle.

The image of this resplendent peacock is from A Day For Daisies and as he is something of a stylised bird I decided to colour him with Promarkers in quite a stylised way. I layered my papers and cut out ovals which themselves were layered up to echo the feathers' eyes. Hopefully, the die cut border (a Spellbinders'), on the glossy black card has something of the same effect.

Tine :)

Challenges:
Charisma - things with wings
Flutterby Wednesday - ANYTHING with wings
Divas By Design - wings and things
Truly Scrumptious - all creatures great and small
Scrappy Frogs - die cut (Spellbinders Borderability die on the edge of the back of the card)
Inky Impressions - punches or dies (....see above)
Stamps Are Us - anything goes
Penny's - anything goes
OSAAT - anything goes.

For Dorcas.....

2012-02-10T10:00:00.060Z

Welcome to this special hop in honour of my blog-buddy, Dorcas, who is understandably feeling a bit low at the moment after her much loved feline companion of many years was sadly killed in a road accident. This card then, Dorcas, is FOR YOU! I do hope you like this one - it was a bit of a rush to get it made for you & posted out at short notice - & you know I don't do quick cards, LOL, but I hope that it cheers you up a little at least at this difficult time). Bet you can't wait to check your postbox! LOL. You should have arrived at my blog from Tracey's blog - and if anyone else around Blogland would like to join in with our hop you might want to start at the beginning at Stacey's.

The Promarker-ed image is of course, LOTV, this one being 'Rosie Posy' with her bouquet of flowers. I only got her & a few other LOTV gems a couple of weeks ago & haven't had time to ink her up before now. The card base, whilst still square is actually a little smaller than I usually use as I generally create my own base from A4 card but this was a pre-scored card complete with envelope so was perfect for a quick turn around card that had to go through the mail. I even managed to find some card to match the pretty, spring-like floral papers which I though rather cheery. I also paper-pieced her outfit for a soft pattern effect to match in. Her mat was cut using the largest of the Spellbinders' Labels 18 set of standard dies so I had to I do the 'fake Nestie' trick of drawing around the die & cutting out by hand to give me the pink mat to go behind the image.

Whist relatively flat still has some dimension.

It actually took a few dies & punches to create my floral embellishment. The largest of the flowers was created using 2 different dies - the outer section being from the newish Marianne Craftables lacy oval shape set (CR1204) which came with a flower too. This section was the smallest of those included 3 floral dies. The centre petals were cut using one from a set of Marianne Creatables flower dies. The tiny pink flowers scattered about were punched using a Woodware punch but I went 'all creative' for the blossom that I thought matched the pattern of the dp pretty well really. For those 2 dimensional blossoms I cut out the berries from Spellbinders' poinsettia set of dies from pink card, folding back one of the berries to lie against the other 2. I then punched a circle (from Do-Crafts), coloured it with Promarkers and cut 2 'V'-shapes into it at the top & bottom to echo the dp flower design. These were set onto 2 differing swirling sprigs (Double-Do dies) and there is the perhaps recognisable punched trellis of Martha Stewart's running across the background. All I had to do then was dot my flowers with a few gems and I had managed to keep this relatively flat for posting too. Well, I did use some glue gel to raise my image up slightly - but I do like a bit if dimension if I can.

I kept the insert relatively simple (& flat!!!!) by printing a sentiment from TLC onto deckled-edged paper. Now that I have finished telling you about my latest creation, you should hop along over to Babs' blog who has a gorgeous creation made especially for you, Dorcas.

Tine :)

P.S. I am sure you won't mind me entering this card into a few challenges.....

Sir Stampalot - in the garden
Crafts & Me - (use a new image)
Sparkles Forum - new crafty goodies (believe it or not this adorable stamp as well as 2 of the dies)
Crafty Pad - fresh, spring colours
Digital Tuesday - red or pink
Papertake - anything goes.

#103 Love is in the Air

2012-02-08T08:00:00.044Z

Theme at I ♥ Promarkers - Love is in the Air
Sponsor & prize this week - Letraset (pack of Promarkers)

Aren't these House Mouse images just so cute? As ever, Promarkers did the colouring honours & I just had to do the inside of the card too (another excuse to colour another mouse!)

All 3 of my stamped images come from the Joanna Sheen 'Smelling the Rose' set. On the front of the card, the image was layered up using card cut using a Spellbinders' Edgabilities die and Anita's gems dotted equidistantly apart onto that pearlescent ivory card. (the same as the card base). I echoed the layout on the inside to some extent altering to suit each variation. On the left as you view it (where it is predominantly a horizontal layout, the deeper pink & white card peeping out has the space for writing the 'to' & 'from'. Yes, on my Valentine's to my OH I used to play along with the large question mark as if absolutely anyone could have sent it - but really, who else does he know that is mad enough to make him a card other than me anyway, LOL.

On the opposite side I replicated the front layout a bit more closely using my single mouse to continue the sentiment. Hope you (& my other half) like it!

Tine :)

Challenges I wish to enter this card for are:
House Mouse - love (with more than one heart)
Joanna Sheen - love is in the air
Penny's - love is in the air
By The Cute & Girly - love is in the air
One Stop Crafts - for the one I love
Di's Digis - Valentine
Card Makin' Mamas - Valentine
Sentimental Sundays - feel the love
Glitter Geeks - pets (Wouldn't you like little meece like these? Hey, they can even read!!)
Allsorts - free 'n' easy

Anniversary Rose

2012-02-06T08:17:00.002Z

Well, have you missed me? LOL. Nope, quite sure you haven't. LOL. It has been though odd not posting for over a week, but I am feeling so much better now (there is a pic of my face half-way through its inflammation but is too frightening to show you, LOL) & now I am as raring to go as I ever was. Well, I was until my printer threw up an error message up telling me that it was now 'ill' & needs to go the the Service Centre. What we will do without I printer I don't know!

Well, as I start to head straight into 'silly season' for birthdays in my family, it kicks off, as it does every year with the anniversary of my parents-in-law. I am still trying my hand at making cards without featuring any coloured image (still seems a bit strange - as you know how I love to colour!), but I want to get my head around every avenue of card making if I can. Well, I can try! LOL.

I used a peach rectangular card base for a change . I matted & layered the sentiment from Elegant WordArt using a Nestie (Labels 22) and copper-coloured mirri to tone in with the peach. To my mind it looks rather like 'rose gold'. Spellbinders' Fleur de Lis Accents created my white feature borders and I used yet another Spellbinders' die, that of Shapabilities Spiral Blossom One for the gorgeous rose helping to illustrate the sentiment next to it. This was cut from double-sided card so it would look equally fab from any direction - well hopefully! LOL. Yep, another one that won't fit into a regular envelope. LOL.

For the insert on this occasion, I returned to the traditional paper sort, giving the edges a deckled finish as I know my own mother loved deckled paper. She also would have appreciated the lengthy verse as I am sure my father-in-law will too as he is known for writing long poems to celebrate certain family occasions (a gift my own hubby has too). This one though was from Verses For Cards and I think is very meaningful. Sadly, although the photo I took is quite legible it is decidedly blurry now it is on Blogger. Could just be my eyes of course, but just in case, so that you can appreciate the thoughtful text, it goes......

Children do not realize
till childhood days are past
How deep
their parents' love can be,
How long that love can last --
They do not fully understand
How helpful are their ways,
How kind and thoughtful
are their deeds,
How busy are their days...

But as they grow,
they come to know,
In one way or another,
The happiness and love and care
Bestowed by
Dad and Mother,
And when a special day appears,
What they want most to do
Is to say, in all sincerity,
"Thank heaven for you two!"

With Love on Your
Anniversary and Always

Tine :)

Challenges:
Paper Shelter - love is in the air
Penny's - love is in the air
Joanna Sheen - love is in the air
Ladybug - loves me, loves me not
One Stop Crafts - for the one I love
Stamping Sisters In Christ - show love
Sentimental Sundays - feel the love
Whimsy Stamps - make your own flowers
Craft Us Crazy - anything goes
Divas By Design - anything goes.

#101 Pinks & Purples

2012-01-25T08:00:00.041Z

Theme at I ♥ Promarkers - pinks & purples
Sponsor & prize this week - Digi Doodle Shops - $10 gift certificate

I have chosen to use the Digi Doodle Shop image of 'carousel' for my card this week & coloured it with Promarkers - and using the specified colour combo this week, very girly I think it looks too. I kept my variation of purples to the softer, lighter lilac variety and setting the merry-go-round horse in a circle he could almost be in a snow globe. LOL.

On the front, I have punched several of the dps corners using a Fiskars punch which also gave them an embossed finish that I thought tied in fairly well with the floral design on the carousel - it is just that photographing such intricacy is never easy! In case you are unsure which corners these are (because of the poor camera work of yours truly), I you can tell as I also dotted them with tiny 2mm gems - lilac & pink ones of course. The white die cut border peeking out behind the pink horizontal paper is actually just the very top of a Nellie Snellen border punch. The flowers, this time sporting 3mm gems in their centres, where created using a Woodware punch & layering up.

On the inside I cut circles to accommodate my Irish blessing sentiment from Raindrop Echo Designs but on the opposite side I went all arty & fiddled with the carousel image to make my row of horses go up & down. That is the trouble of having my head - prone to seeing other possibilities too!

Tine :)

Challenges:
Totally Papercrafts - make your own flowers
Hotshot - flowers
OSAAT - round & round (carousel imagery as well as circles)
Sentimental Sundays - dies/punches/digi cutters etc (& use a sentiment - just on the inside this time)
Clearly Inspired - pastel colours
Sundays With Crissy - beat the mid-winter blues (I think the pastels are so spring-like)
Truly Scrumptious - something forgotten (not used this punch in ages - but rang the changes by constructing the flowers differently to how I normally do them)
Joanna Sheen - celebration
Stamping With The Dragon - anything goes.

Pyramid of Prayer

2012-01-19T13:00:00.008Z

Still, trying to catch up on myself! So here is another thoughtful & prayerful project and I managed not to colour an image on this one too! LOL. Don't worry, my Promarkers aren't being made redundant. LOL. Instead I went for shape & die cuts - as well as the sentiment needless to say, to convey my message.

A tepee card, it has of course got 3 sides - and with the symbolism of 3 in Christianity (Holy Trinity or even different aspects of creation as in birth, life & death or mind, body & soul or even past, present & future), not to mention the point going ever heaven-ward like a spire on a Gothic church, this seemed perfect shape for a condolence card - one to hopefully be more uplifting than sad.

The card base, Spellbinders' crosses & fleur de lis borders were all cut from pearlescent card stock which I think does actually show up on the photos for once. I made a paper template for myself to make sure that each of the 3 design papers were cut to exactly the same size and I popped a matt, silver peel-off down the longest side of each of the panels. Why did I chose blue patterned paper? Well, I have to admit it is my favourite colour, especially when teamed with white (I'd say just like the clouds in the sky but our clouds are usually grey! LOL). There is another reason I used blue though, I thought this most appropriate too for the message of the card. A 'soft' blue is thought to be the colour of the spirit with calming & restful qualities.

I then added the Shapabilities fleur de lis borders to the lower edges and matted & layered the sentiment from Digi Doodle Shop which I had cut into a circle & embellished with 2 more fleur de lis die cuts. The sentiment which I hope will prove of help in time of sorrow says, 'For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believeth in Him shalt not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16'.

I used all but one of the Spellbinders' crosses in the set, layering each up using glue gel for dimension but I then added to this further by cutting two of the fleur de lis 'circles' & used gel glue again to attach them behind my cross. I then found a large pearl for the centre. Attached to the second of the triangle's sides, the third side is for the 'to' & 'from'.

Tine :)

Challenges:
Our Daily Bread - W-I-N-T-E-R (W-white ,T-triangle & E-edging)
Stamping Sisters in Christ - new something (this was the first time that I had made a pyramid card)
Mark's Finest Paper - use border punches
Lothian Crafts - die cuts
Pink Elephant - favourite colour/s (blue & white)
My Mum's Craft Shop - favourite colour combo
Little Darlings - favourite colour/s (blue & white)
Secret Crafter - anything goes with blue
Crazy4 - blue
Crafty Bloggers Network - monochrome
Inky Impressions - shaped card
I Brake For Challenges - shaped card
Simply Create Too - layers (the cross itself has 5, LOL)
Card and Scrap - clean & simple
Craft-room - clean & simple (logo on sidebar)
Crafty Cardmakers - no floral embellishment
Die Cut Dreams - sympathy.

In Sympathy

2012-01-19T09:00:00.093Z

Well, I hate having to make these cards if only as it means there is a tragic loss of someone. For this particular card I have gone for a DL size, matting & layering my Spellbinders' cross (cut from varying hues of white, off white, pearlescent & gold card) and setting it into the arched window of a Joanna Sheen design from her 'Heavenly Cards' collection. I decided not to mat this image onto gold card but added wavy peel-offs to the edges instead. The multi-flower head design is also from this CD and on top of this is a two-layered Spellbinders sentiment onto which I dotted a couple of tiny ovals which were actually peel-off 'residue'.

The layers of the cross & sentiment were set using glue gel for dimension.

I went for a traditional kind of insert, which I hope features a verse which the recipient will find gives comfort and I used a fancy blade to cut a pattern around the edges. I still haven't entirely got to grips with my new camera either, so apologies if my photography is still a little 'iffy'.

Tine :)

Challenges I wish to enter this card in for:
Die Cut Dreams - sympathy
Lollipop - no embellishment
Crafty Cardmakers - no floral embellishment
Truly Scrumptious - something not used in a long time or forgotten (a long while since I used this particular CD - & come to think of it, don't recall blogging any of my makes with it either)
Scrap-creations - die cuts
Card & Scrap - clean & simple
Craft-room - clean & simple (logo on sidebar)
Charisma - clean & simple
Dream Valley - anything goes
OSAAT - anything goes.

#100 Round 'n' Round

2012-01-18T08:00:00.025Z

Theme at I ♥ Promarkers - anything goes
Sponsor this week - our very own Lorraine! aka Digital Downloads by L R Design -£10 spend

It is that favourite of favourites amongst you craft bloggers this week here at I ♥ Promarkers - yes, 'Anything goes'!!!! So if you use Promarkers or any other marker from Letraset head on over & enter our challenge this week - but please not before you have seen my card! LOL.

As this card is relatively CAS with a fair bit of 'white space', I wanted a bit of interest in the card stock base itself so chose this one with a textured weave which fortunately is on both sides of the card. I say fortunately as I wanted it to show on the inside of the card too but whether or not you can actually see the texture is another thing of course. Mind you, I have had to get a new camera after the sad demise of my own before Christmas. I had borrowed my daughter's for the last couple of cards but couldn't really keep doing so. Hence the new camera & I don't know my way around it yet. The image you might recognise as being from Mo Manning (and I have actually used this at least 3 or 4 times before - but I like it! LOL) He is called 'Georgie Cartwheel' & I coloured him with Promarkers to match the single dp I have used on the front as well as the inside of the card. I cut myself a few circles of card to match the dp & layered them up - one of which features a circular 'hello' sentiment I acquired once from My Grafico.

Rolling on to the inside of my card, this time the circles are bouncing around a bit, LOL and whilst one has a small uncoloured version of Georgie another features a sentiment from Sentiments4You/Crafts4You with a larger space being kept blank for the 'to' & 'from' being added by hand at a later date.

Tine :)

Challenges:
Mo's Digital - CAS (using an image of Mo's)
Moving Along with the Times - spots and/or stripes
Joanna Sheen - celebration
Sundays with Crissy - beat the mid-winter blues (he seem full of the joys of Spring to me!)
Sassy Cheryl - bright & cheery
Charisma - happy birthday
Catch the Bug - birthday
Craft-room - clean & simple (logo on sidebar)
Truly Scrumptious - something forgotten or not used in a long time (ages since I last used Georgie)
Dream Valley - anything goes.

#99 Barry Balloons

2012-01-11T08:00:00.054Z

Theme at I ♥ Promarkers - cute & cuddly
Sponsor & prize this week - Stamp Fairy ($10 gift certificate)

The I ♥ Promarker team have all been given an image from our sponsor this week, Stamp Fairy to create their cards with and this image is one from the 'Barry Birthday' range and I have given him some bright & happy party colours around him, even if he himself looks a bit perplexed. LOL. Maybe he has just eaten too much ice cream! LOL.

The image has, of course, been coloured with my ever-ready Promarkers and whilst I still cut my circles by hand I have Spellbinders to thank for the scalloped circle and scalloped edgability. Whilst I was very good and kept this card nice & flat to make it post-friendly, I can never resist a little bit of dimension so set Barry's mat up using glue gel.

The inside of the card vaguely echoes the design layout of the front but this time the circular mat supporting the sentiment from Sentiments4You (Crafts4You), was kept flat so that it would fit into the envelope more easily.

Tine :)

Challenges I wish to enter this card for are:
Sunday's With Crissy - beat the mid winter blues ( he is too colourful to be dismal!) LOL
Paper Sundaes - saturated with colour
Fussy 'n' Fancy - happy birthday (or animal print)
Whimsy - happy birthday
Joanna Sheen - celebrations
Simply Create - layers
Jellypark - old/new (scalloped circle die is old/ edgeability die is new)
Lothian Crafts - die cuts
Papertake - die cute special
Crafty Cardmakers - no flower embellishment
Corrosive - use something new (edgability die + image)
Passion for Promarkers - inspired by a song ((Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear - Elvis Presley)
Crafty Emma - anything goes
Crafts & Me - anything goes
Cupcake Craftroom - anything goes.

#98 Christening Day Angels

2012-01-04T08:00:00.042Z

Theme at I ♥ Promarkers - buttons & lace
Sponsor & prize this week - Joanna Sheen (£10 gift voucher)

First of all, I would like to wish you all a very Happy New Year - & for my first card to post in 2012 I have used an image from A Day for Daisies called 'Angels Resting' to create a christening card. These angels contemplating the Spellbinder's cross, were coloured with Promarkers and Stickles applied to their wings. This was then matted onto silver mirri and a touch more sparkle comes from the gems added to the layered cross.

The white card layer beneath the image's mat was run through an embossing folder, well twice actually, as these things really are not made the right size for our regular square cards are they? Whilst the join wasn't actually too bad, any discrepancy in the design was covered up anyway with the narrow floral lace onto which I also added a flower made using a Marianne Creatables die with the obligatory button in the centre.

The insert was given a deckled edge and uses a verse from 'verses4cards', altering the font & alignment.

As this was of course, a rather special card, I decided to make it a coordinating box, so used the same pearlescent cardstock as the card base & part of the cross for the box's top & decorated it with another Spellbinders' cross as well as a lacy shape from the Lace Doily Accents set. The four tiny sections which had popped out of the die cut silver cross I used as embellishments & added them to the corners of the box lid. I then created an insert for the box (well, it isn't as if I didn't have enough to do is it, LOL), and this time used a sentiment from 'verses-for-cards'.

Tine :)

Challenges:
Glitter Geeks - brand spanking new (image & new life as a Christian)
Simon Says - new something
Allsorts - new beginnings (for a baby & new life as a Christian)
By the Cute & Girly - new beginnings (for a baby & new life as a Christian)
Bling It On - new beginnings (for a baby & new life as a Christian)
Emerald Faerie - flourishes/swirls (embossed)
Sparkles - anything but a Christmas card
Joanna Sheen - celebration
Phindy's Place - scraps (the crosses & flower were all taken from off-cuts and the button was from an old shirt)
Crafts & Me - anything goes.

#97 Hooray! It's a Snow Day!

2011-12-21T08:00:00.035Z

Theme at I ♥ Promarkers - anything goes (runs for 2 weeks, 3 entries only still mind you!!!)
Sponsor & prize this week - Di's Digis ($10 gift certificate)

Yey, for 'anything goes' weeks - and this means I have managed to play along with Mo's challenge with this cutie called 'Snow Day', rejoicing in the falling snow. Yes, I wasn't exactly leaping for joy myself when the real cold, wet stuff was coming down but I can at least still appreciate the excitement for a child. LOL.

She has of course, been coloured with Promarkers and I paper pieced her coordinating snow-suit to match in with my chosen red, cream/white & black colour scheme. Now, my followers might be getting fed up of my Marianne Creatable snowflake die cuts & those that are, will be glad that this is at least my last Christmas card of the year, but to be honest, I am just not fed up of them at all! I have used them so much that I should have shares in the company! LOL. The touches of sparkle on the snow are of course, Stickles & hooray for it coming out of the bottle with no problems at all. :)

Dorcas set the last theme over at Mo's challenge, asking us to use fabric. Now then Dorcas, I don't want you to think that I have chickened out and just gone for a bit of ribbon (gorgeous though it is with beads on it - snowballs to me of course, LOL), but I have also been a bit creative with my favourite snowflakes this week. Yes, I managed to die cut some of the layers using a bit of old white shirt which I stiffened & glittered. How is that for tenacity & dedication to a cause! LOL. I even chose the card base to fit in with the fabric theme, choosing a white one with a linen weave effect embossed into it.

The fabric snowflakes.

I also cut snowflakes from my treated fabric using a Martha Stewart punch. I wouldn't recommend trying this with smaller more delicate patterns and in fact, I am not sure that it is worth doing at all really as I am not sure this fabric variation adds anything particularly to the overall effect, but hey, 'nothing ventured nothing gained' as they say. All the snowflakes on the inside of the card were punched using MS punches from 2 different types & shades of card as well as the couple of fabric ones. The circular sentiment is from Bizzybecstore.

...and on the inside.

As this is my last blog post before Christmas, I want to wish all of you a blessed, peaceful & happy Christmas and every good wish for the coming New Year.

Tine :)

Challenges:
Mo's - use fabric
Hot Shot Craft - use promarkers
Ribbon Girls - red, cream & black (plus ribbon!)
Marianne's Design Divas - it's Christmas! (plus use MC item)
Joanna Sheen - Christmas Wishes
Mark's Finest Papers - make a Christmas card
Dream Valley - Christmas
Card Makin' Mamas - Christmas inspiration
Truly Madly Crafty - Christmas image & colours
Card A Day - use a previous challenge (Christmas & snow)
Phindy's Place - scraps (well mine were scraps of an old shirt as well as white card for the snowflakes, LOL)
Card Crafters Circle - celebration
Critter Sketch - let it snow
Simon Says - bingo (ribbon/gems/sparkle)
Sundays With Crissy - anything goes
Crafts & Me - anything goes
OSAAT - anything goes.

Kenny K #74 ANYTHING GOES!!!!!!

2011-12-18T08:00:00.016Z

Yes, Kenny K fans, today the challenge hosted by the gals on Team B is that favourite, ANYTHING GOES, but don't forget that if you use a Kenny K image you might be the lucky winner of not only 5 more digis from Kenny K's store but also from our other sponsor this week, the fabulous

who are offering a $15 gift certificate. You will have extra time to play along at this very busy time of year as this challenge will run until 8th January, 2012.

This will be Team B's final card of the year so why not go by & leave them some appreciation in their comments for all the wonderful cards they have made during the current run.

I wish all you lovely crafters a wonderful Christmas to all those who celebrate it and a great New Year to you all.

Tine :)

#96 Blue & White

2011-12-14T08:00:00.088Z

Theme at I ♥ Promarkers - blue & white
Sponsor & prize this week - Crafty Emma - a £10 voucher!

Whilst not exactly CAS this one is heading that way - and this particular ice maiden is nothing like the one on the last card I posted. This one is serene as she gazes at the falling (blue) snow of the dp and is an image from Beccy's Place called 'Mum's Coat'. For the said coat, I paper pieced with a swirling blue design from FSS, & and like the image itself, has of course, been coloured using Promarkers, though the odd Flexmarker did sneak in today. You might notice too, that I was a bit creative with my Spellbinders die on the image as not only was my ideal size not included in the Nestie range but I was also awkward enough to only want the shaped cut on two of the corners. To get around this I cut the image's mat to the rectangular dimension I wanted and then sneaked it onto the die, taping into position so one corner would be cut. I then carefully ran it through the die cutting machine making sure I only went part-way over the die, before taking the image out of the Nestability & repeating for the second corner.

There is no sparkle on her fur, though it almost looks that way.

The snowflakes falling outside her window (well it is a window in my head! LOL), are a re-coloured digi from Crafter's Companion to which I added Waterfall Stickles for an blue-icy look. As you can see, as my imaginary ice maiden lives in a castle built of ice, it is apparently snowing inside too! LOL. This is a combination of not only the smallest of my Marianne Creatable dies, but Martha Stewart punches too in pale blue, navy, white & pearlescent shimmer card stock which hopefully shows up all the more against the pure white textured card base. The odd section of snowflake as also been spritzed with Crafter's Companion Spray & Sparkle for that extra bit of reflected light.

Happy Christmas crafting!

Tine :)

Challenges:
Paper Crafting Journey - Christmas
Joanna Sheen - Christmas wishes
Moving Along With The Times - last minute Christmas
Glitter Geeks - let it snow
Crafty Purple Frog - it's cold outside
Hanna & Friends - a winter card
Dream Valley - Christmas
Crafty Boots - Christmas
Kaboodle Doodles - let's get together for the holidays
Passion for Promarkers - celebrations
Emerald Faerie - Christmas - non-traditional colours
Creatalicious - Christmas & sparkle
Scrappin' Chics - Christmas or December holiday
Paper Makeup - paper piecing
Everbody Art - blue & white
Sundays With Crissy - anything goes.

Kenny K - #73 Blue Christmas - Ice Maiden

2011-12-11T08:00:00.110Z

Theme at Kenny K - Christmas blues
Sponsors & prizes this week -
Michelle's Scrapbooking Store ($15 gift certificate) plus
Kenny K Downloads - (5 digis of your choice)

I have gone for very subtle, icy blues for the background papers with deeper shades for the Promarkers colouring my image this week, one of Kenny K Steampunk galz called ' Helga Frost'. She with the pout & hynotic eyes (or should that be 'eye' given that she has this Veronica Lake thing going on with her curling locks), is just so brilliant to colour - but there again, I just lurve to colour! LOL. Don't you reckon she makes a great enchantress, a latter day Snow Queen ready to capture an unwary male & take him to her Ice Palace?

The larger snowflakes behind the image's mat are die cuts created using a Marianne Creatables set of dies and the slightly smaller ones running in a straight line were cut using a Martha Stewart punch. Some have been spritzed with Crafter's Companion Spray & Sparkle while others have been cut from matching printed paper and pearlescent card. The circular sentiment was from Sentiments4You and has been set in front a snowflake constructed from die cuts & very narrow ribbon. I have given this a longish 'tail' of wider satin ribbon, pleated into folds so the overall effect is rather like a snowflake rosette.

She is one sassy ice maiden!

Tine :)

Challenges:
Passion For Promarkers - celebration
Joanna Sheen (monthly) - Christmas
OLLCB - sparkle
Marianne's Design Divas - sparkle & shine
Crafts & Me - Winter snow/snowflakes
Crafty Sentiments - snowflakes
Glitter Geeks - let it snow
By the Cute & Girly - let it snow
Bearly Mine - untraditional Christmas - not red or green
Incy Wincy - non-traditional Christmas colours
Emerald Faerie - non-traditional Christmas colours
Ribbon Reel - ribbon & anything goes
ABC Christmas - Y for Yipee!
Hanna & Friends - a winter card
Crafty Purple Frog - it's cold outside
Papertake - anything goes
Stamping With The Dragon - anything goes
Christmas Cards All Year Round - anything goes.

#95 'O Christmas Tree'

2011-12-07T08:00:00.058Z

Theme at I ♥ Promarkers - shaped cards
Sponsor & prize this week - Joanna Sheen, £10 gift voucher.

I thought I would try my hand at a teepee card, and whilst not exactly post-friendly, certainly makes a change from a regular square format. I thought it was just the perfect shape for a Christmas tree shaped card too, so made my variation with zig-zags at the base before layering it up with punched green card. Onto this I dovetailed a strip of white pearlescent card to meet the zig-zagged edge of the green & then punching a bit more white for the snow-covered lower branches. I used a Martha Stewart to punch & a bit more pinking to add to the spiky fir tree feel. I then added old-gold coloured satin ribbon and dotted clear glitzy gems & a row of yellow & gold ones.

Each of the three sides were treated similarly & each was also topped with star punched from more pearlescent card stock (though gluing them to each other so they all met at the top was a tricky manoeuvre!)

For the front I coloured an image from Mami Doodles with Promarkers and mounted it onto gold mirri (cut & embossed using a Spellbinders decked oval). I backed this oval too with more mirri so that any protruding bits which might peep out on each of the other two sides would only show shining gold - & this sandwich was popped onto the tree using Pinflair glue. For the side I am using for the 'to' & 'from' I typed a few words into the centre of a bauble image from Bird's Cards, mounting this onto more gold mirri this time cut into a circle.

Et voilà! Hope you like it!

Tine :)

Challenges:

Fussy 'n' Fancy

Fussy 'n' Fancy - photo inspiration
Christmas Inspirations - unusual fold
Stamping Sisters in Christ - angels
Wags 'n' Whiskers - angel or fairy
Flutterby Wednesday - angel, fairy or butterfly open challenge
Rainbow Lady's - Christmas Carol (O, Christmas Tree)
Paper Variety - Christmas Carol (O, Christmas Tree)
Joanna Sheen - Christmas wishes
Passion for Promarkers - Christmas
Creatalicious - Christmas & sparkles
Hybrid Chick - glitter/sparkle
Winter Wonderland - Christmas or winter birthday
Crafty Creations - card with sentiment
Papercraft Star - tree
ABC Christmas - Y for Yipee!
Ribbon Girls - jingle all the way to Christmas (& use ribbon!)
DYSU - ribbon (or anything that ties)
Ribbon Reel - ribbon + anything goes
Christmas Cards All Year Round - anything goes
Stamping With The Dragon - anything goes (Christmas).

Kenny K #72 Texture

2011-12-04T08:00:00.005Z

Hi all, just popping by to tell you that over at the Kenny K's Krafty Girls' blog today the challenge that Team B are setting you is to add some texture onto your cards. You are free to interpret that as you will of course but the prize for one lucky winner selected at random from those using one of Kenny K's images, is to win their choice of 5 digis from the Kenny K digi shop. A great prize for all you Kenny K fans.

Have fun crafters!

Tine :)

# 94 Snowflakes & Snowmen

2011-11-30T08:00:00.020Z

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

2011-11-27T08:00:00.081Z

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

2011-11-23T08:00:00.039Z

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

2011-11-20T08:00:00.032Z

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

2011-11-16T08:00:00.085Z

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

2011-11-13T08:00:00.014Z

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

2011-11-11T14:18:00.002Z

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

2011-11-09T08:00:00.088Z

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

2011-11-06T08:00:00.001Z

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

2011-11-02T08:00:00.018Z

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.

Kenny K #67 Glitter & Bling

2011-10-30T08:00:00.095Z

Theme at Kenny K - glitter & bling
Sponsors & prizes - Bearly Mine Designs (2 Christmas sets of your choice) plus Kenny K - (5 digi images of your choice too!)

We have gone all festive here at Kenny K's Krafty Girlz this week to celebrate the launch of some new seasonal images. Yep, new Christmas ones which go perfectly with our 'glitter & bling' theme. This fun two-some decorating their tree is called 'Xmas Tree' & I coloured them with Promarkers. I even used the Silver Metallic Promarker on the tinsel & star before adding even more glitz to it with silver glitter glue. I used more glitter glue on the spots of a present as well as for some baubles on the tree before popping on some red gems too for my 'blingy' element - along with the pale green ones on the stripy dp at the bottom.

I actually paper pieced the boy's pyjamas having to recolour my digi striped paper to match the spotty one of his PJ top (fortunately the terms of use of the papers allowed for such emergencies!). The trouble I go to just for a tiny bit of one card. I know, I am mad! I also paper pieced the large red spotted present at the foot of the tree.

I mounted up using some glitter card & will leave it to your imaginations as to the state of me & my workspace by the time I had finished! LOL. But hey, if you can't glitter up for Christmas, when can you? LOL.

Tine :)

Challenges:
Sparkles Forum Christmas - Christmas songs (Wizzard - I wish it could be Christmas everyday)
Scrap-Creations - digi image & papers
Paper Crafting Journey - use a digi (image & papers)
Southern Girls - stripes & polka dots
Hanna & Friends - glitter
Totally Papercrafts - glitter it
Meljen's - Christmas
Little Claire's - Christmas
Phindy's - paper piecing
Totally Gorjuss - I remember (ooo to be a kid a Christmastime - magical!)
One Stop Craft - no sentiment (I think the image says it all really, LOL)
Simon Says - anything goes
Paper Shelter - anything goes
Sweet Stamping - anything goes.

#89 ...Only Us Bunnies. Gulp! Tag

2011-10-26T08:00:00.085+01:00

Theme at I ♥ Promarkers - tags
Sponsor & prize this week - Digi Doodle Shop - $10 gift certificate

This week I am using this fun image from our sponsor, Digi Doodle called 'Turkey in Disguise'. This 'dinner-in-waiting' has donned some bunny ears & gone undercover to hide his identity & comes with a few free fun one liner sentiments to illustrate his predicament - whether for Christmas or Thanksgiving . Of course, being in the UK, for me he is on a Christmas themed tag and has been coloured with Promarkers to what I hope is at least something vaguely turkey-like. LOL. I don't know about you, but I normally only see them when they are all plucked & in a shop freezer. LOL. I made the tag circular as I hoped it echoed his rotund shape given that he will have undoubtedly been especially fattened up! The addition a piece at the top maked my circle into a suitably Christmas-sy bauble & I hammered a slot into this for the ribbon to go through. The backing papers, by the way, are both designs by HOTP from my stash.

The satin ribbon I folded into a rosette kind of shape & secured with a few stitches before adding a Marianne Creatable snowflake to the centre and finishing it off with a gorgeous spotted button. The twine knotted through the button was a regular greyish-string colour but I recoloured it black with my Promarkers. The two tiny white snowflakes on the snowflake print dp are the punched out residue from a Martha Stewart border punch.

That's all for today then. Happy crafting!

Tine :)

Challenges:
Forever Friends - use a sentiment (+an animal)
Outlawz Paper A La Mode - Tag You're It!
Stamping With The Dragon - buttons & bows
Marianne's Design Divas - die cut (using MC die - snowflake)
Sparkles Forum Christmas - Christmas song [Elton John - Ho! Ho! Ho! (Who'd be a turkey at Christmas)]
Little Claire's - Christmas
Christmas Card Challenges - 2 dps, ribbon & bird
Cards for Men - animals
Catered Crop - FTR23 recipe (I used fall colours, pattern paper, button, tags, ribbon, twine, die cuts & make us laugh!)
Christmas Cards All Year - Christmas, die cut (snowflake) + a colour of Halloween (black)

Challenge Up Your Life - photo insp
Paper Pretties - embellish
Whimsy - use one or more buttons
Simon Says - anything goes.

Shanna - for you

2011-10-25T11:57:00.000+01:00

Well, I actually managed to squeeze in another card this week. I am sure that you will all recognise 'Sorry Shanna' by Mo Manning & I paper pieced her dress having coloured her with my beloved Promarkers. She is so adorable, don't you think?

I chose to use the interesting sketch offered by Sketch Saturday this week & cleared my head of all these autumnal colours with fresh, spring-like papers instead. Of course, choosing pink is also so relevant this month as it is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. As such, I am dedicating this card to the memory of a dear friend who had discovered BC, had it treated only to find some while later that it had in fact spread - & it was this secondary cancer that took it's toll on her. She passed away this time last year. Please remember to keep yourselves safe.

Back on the subject of the card, I rotated the sketch so that the oval was on the other side - so basically, the sketch was now upside down. Never managing to make life easy for myself, I chose this Nellie's oval die to use behind Shana & layer it up. I cut it out of both green & pink card so that I could inlay the tiny pink triangles. As this die doesn't cut an outer oval shape I had to freehand cut the white oval I placed behind. This acted as a base to adhere the die cut & those tiny triangles to as well as allowing white to peep through where I hadn't inlaid the pink. I typed up the 'for you' sentiment on the PC & then die cut the oval (again, a Nellie's die) which already had the slots in ready for the narrow ribbon. I made the 3 flowers using a Marianne Creatables die but treated them differently than usual, cutting slits to the centre of the flower shapes & folding the resulting petals down the centre which gave the flowers a different look. I then popped a gem into the centre for good measure.

See you all again tomorrow.

Tine :)

Challenges:

Sketch Saturday - sketch
Mo's Digital - use your favourite Mo image + sentiment (how do you choose? LOL)
Totally Papercrafts - layer upon layer
Marianne's Design Divas - use MC die (flower)
Squirrel & the Fox - one for the girls
Critter Sketch - 3 different dps
My Partner In Crafting Crime - colour palette (white, mint, green, bright pink, light pink)
Clearly I Stamp - pink
Papercutz - in the pink
Whimsie Doodles - think pink
Outlawz - Greeting - breast cancer/pink awareness
Crafter's Companion - pink/green breast awareness (CC product used - permanent glue tape runner)
Emerald Faerie Garden - flowers
Catered Crop - FTR23 recipe (I used: pattern paper, polka dots, thread,ribbon, paper piecing, sewing, die cuts).

Kenny K - Get Dotty!

2011-10-23T08:00:00.008+01:00

Hi, and the theme this week at Kenny K's Krafty Girlz Challenge is to Get Dotty! Team B would love to see you dig out all your polka dots this week & join in with their challenge & don't forget if you use one of Kenny K's fab digi that you are in with a chance of winning the prize this week which is a fabulous $15 gift certificate from

and also up for grabs from our regular sponsor,

who are, as always, offering a chance of getting your mitts on 5 digis of your choice.

Have fun!
Tine :)

#88 House Mouse & Friends

2011-10-19T08:00:00.029+01:00

Theme at I ♥ Promarkers - cute
Sponsor & prize this week - Crafts4You (Sentiments4You) - £10 gift voucher

All together now, aww! Don't you think this stamp is just so perfect for our 'cute' theme? How adorable are they! An image of friends helping one another. I have made this card for a lovely girl who gave me this stamp last week - she had made a few cards in the past but gave it up & she knew I would appreciate it & give it a good home. :) Isn't that so kind of her. I thought I would take the opportunity of thanking her using this image in conjunction with a sentiment from our sponsor this week, Crafts4You (Sentiments4You) which I used on the front of the card.

The image (House Mouse, in case you couldn't tell, LOL), was coloured with Promarkers & a couple of Flexmarkers & mounted up to follow the sketch over at CLP this month. Now, as you might know, I rarely manage to make life easy for myself, LOL, and I wanted to replicate the image on the insert but lighten it so that it was just in the background and so that the message of thanks would take precedence. Now, this might have been easier if I had a 'dying' ink pad or even a grey one so this is how I got round it. I inked up with a dye ink pad & then scanned the stamped image. I then opened this in my photo programme & lightened it. I then measured the actual stamp & made sure that the now digital version was the same size. This meant I could print it & add the internal circular sentiment (from the Frugal Crafter) to echo the layout on the front, as well as adding my own few words over the greyed image. Yes, I know, why didn't I scan the image I had stamped for the front of the card before I coloured it in to save me having to stamp a second time!!! LOL. Well, you know me - too happy to start colouring in! LOL.

Tine :)

Challenges:
CLP - design sketch

Forever Friends - anything goes (+ always inc. an animal)
Catch the Bug - animals
Sweet Pea Stampers - thanks
Sunday's With Crissy - thank you or Thanksgiving
Simon Says Stamp & Show - stripes
Glitter Geeks - two's company (2 images & 2 lots of sentiments - inside & out)
Stamping Sisters in Christ - use 2 of anything (2 images/2 lots of sentiments)
Mark's Finest Papers - seeing double (image inside as well as out)
Cardmadfairy- spots & stripes
Whoopsi Daisy - free & easy
Outlawz Greeting - anything goes (using a sentiment on the front)
By the Cute & Girly - anything goes.

Kenny K # 65 ....Out of Control

2011-10-16T08:00:00.040+01:00

Theme at Kenny K - Autumnal / Fall colours ( green, orange, yellow, brown & reds)
Sponsor & prize this week - Crafty Ribbons - Bev's bag Autumn Cascade

Here at Kenny K it is the turn of Team A & we have a very seasonal colour challenge this week. Just let the colour of those autumn leaves inspire you. I have chosen to use an image to which I am sure most mothers of boys can very much relate to - 'Remote Control'. LOL. Oh, the hours they can spend trying to get to the next level if you let them, but that of course, makes it a perfect choice of image for a lad's card, don't you think?

I coloured him with Promarkers, but actually paper-pieced his T-shirt. Now, I used digi papers for this card & whilst they looked great on my screen, printed off so much lighter than they should be & sadly much of the definition of pattern was lost along with the intensity & depth of colour. :( Needless to say, the soft pattern on the paper I used to piece his T-shirt is just not showing up on the photo at all so I might as well have not bothered. LOL. Ah, well! That aside, I think that an autumnal colour palette lends itself so well to a male card don't you? I also had the perfect sentiment to team with this image to go on the front & this was from Jedi a while back. Hope you all like it.

Tine :)

Challenges:
Southern Girls - for the men in your lives
Sweet Stamping - masculine
Stamping for the Weekend - colours of autumn
Delightful - colours of Fall/Autumn
Digital Tuesday - fall colours
Deep Ocean - fall colours
Wags 'n' Whiskers - fall colours
Crafty Emma - shades or images of autumn
Paperworks - colour inspiration
Stamptacular Sunday - anything goes.

#87 Autumnal Armchair Bear

2011-10-12T08:00:00.020+01:00

Theme at I ♥ Promarkers - Autumnal colours
Sponsor & prize this week - Letraset - Promarkers!!!!! YEY!

I inked up this week with a totally gorgeous LOTV image that I think is called 'Armchair Bear' & he was, needless to say, coloured with Promarkers though I did use the odd Tria pen too. The scene itself might not be autumnal in particular, but I have gone with the idea of my bears keeping snug & warm as the days & nights are getting colder & using leaf printed papers as well as card in autumnal leaf & berry hues.

The image & its mat were cut out using Spellbinders Labels Two dies & the beautiful flower was made with Spiral Blossom One - well, I think it is beautiful anyway. LOL. I actually have some roses blooming at the moment, but I don't think they can work out what season it is - & who can blame them. If you live in the UK you will know exactly what I mean! I have attempted to make these two more autumnal though with my paper choice, going for golden tones rather than the summery reds that I have in the garden, & although it might be 'rose-shaped' it reminds me of the crisp, crunchy leaf-fall that has that particular autumn smell to it as you walk through them. I am sure you know what I mean. The side panels of my shaped card have also die shapes both by Marianne Creatables - creamy swirls & veined leaves (which was cut down so that I only had two leaves on each side). A further spiral 'frond' on each side was made of green wire coiled into shape. Hope you all like it & enjoy your day everyone!

Tine :)

Challenges:
Allsorts - bears
Raise the Bar - animals
Totally Papercrafts - animals
Artistic Stamper - (must use rubber stamp) Autumn colours
Stamping with the Dragon - Fall/Autumnal colours
Stamping for the Weekend - colours of Autumn
Fussy & Fancy -Fall or Halloween
Digital Tuesday - fall colours
Paperworks - photo inspiration
ECP - autumn or thank you
Marianne's Design Divas - bloom & grow (+MC products - swirl & leaves)
Emerald Faerie Garden - punches/dies
Papertake - at least 3 different shapes
Craft Your Passion - general/any occasion card
Scrap Affair - photo inspiration (the autumn colours)
Crafty Cardmakers - anything goes.

Kenny K - shaped card challenge

2011-10-09T13:04:00.000+01:00

Hi everyone and those talented ladies on Team B are asking you to join in with the Kenny K Challenge using shaped cards this week. Added incentive to get you away from those beloved square cards comes in the form of a fabby prize from this week's sponsor,

as well as our regular sponsor of course, digis from

so don't forget to use one of Kenny K's images if you would like a chance of winning.

Happy crafting folks!
Tine :)

#86 Spooky!

2011-10-05T08:00:00.070+01:00

Theme at I ♥ Promarkers - Spooky
Sponsor & prize this week - Joanna Sheen who has kindly offered a £10 gift voucher

Well, as you can see I have put my own slant on our spooky theme, creating not a Halloween card, but a birthday one! LOL. It didn't stop Michael Jackson's 'Thriller' running through my head the whole time I was making it though! LOL.

The slightly confused looking zombie is from Make it Crafty & both he & the background have been coloured with Promarkers. Do you reckon he looks 'spooky' enough. LOL. The haunted house background I gave him is, if I labelled it correctly, is from Stampers Best but it came with 'Happy Halloween' written below the image so I had to remove this so it could be a birthday card & so it wouldn't be obscured with my zombie. This too was coloured with Promarkers until it was little more than a silhouette.

I distressed my background paper at the edges before inking with Tim Holtz Distress Ink & then added some white acrylic paint. I added paint to his 'bandages' behind the images mat too. The sentiment I created myself on the PC using a suitably spooky font, putting it onto a scroll - and apologies if now you too start singing 'Thriller' for the rest of the day! LOL.

Challenges:

Phindy's Place - autumn
Moving Along with the Times - spooky Halloween
Art Impressions - Halloween
Little Darlings - Fall/Halloween
Secret Crafter - Halloween
Victorine Stamps - Halloween
Crafty Calender - spooky birthday
Stamptacular Sunday - photo insp (see pic above)
Crafty Purple Frog - layers
Paper Sunday - layers
Barely Mine - 3 dps (the sentiment is printed onto a dp too)
ECP - autumnal project
Crafts & Me - use a digi ( I used two)
Crafty Cardmakers - anything goes
Papertake - anything goes.

Kenny K #63 Girlz

2011-10-02T08:00:00.152+01:00

Theme at Kenny K - Girls & die cuts/punches (use more than one image for this challenge)
Sponsors & prizes - Whimsy Stamps - $15 gift certificate / 5 digis from Kenny K

My KKKG card this week uses 2 of Kenny K's images - 'Hot Weave' & 'Soho' who both seem to be girls who know their own minds & I hope the paper choice reflects their attitude & dynamism & the embellishments their feminine sides. The images themselves have been coloured with Promarkers.

The theme as you will have noticed is to use dies &/or punches on your card & on this design I have used a Martha Stewart border punch on the dotted papers in the background, a floral Woodware punch for the smaller flowers, 2 differing Double Do dies for the leafy flourishes & a Marianne Creatables die for the larger pink flowers. Now, I do admit it is a bit difficult to see the MS punched work on the front of the card as most of it is hidden behind the image & its mat, but at least it is clearly seen on the inside of the card. LOL. I love this Marianne Creatable flower die as it produces a lovely sized floral embellishment which is quite sturdy when glued together too. I was going to punch out of pink dps but finding the same colours as my PMs was a bit tricky so decided to colour the flowers with my Promarkers too so they would perfectly match the girls' outfits.

For the inside of the card I used the same papers & glossy black card as the front, as well as the same MS punch. The cleverly worded sentiment in two sections (on the left hand side as you are looking at it), is from Marlene (at Disguised As a Grown Up), and on the opposite side I used one of Paulette's at TLC - a heart with 'friend' on the side - but faded it out to a grey so that I will be able to write who the card will be going to over the top. The 'happy birthday' on the top of this I added myself on the PC.

Tine :)

Challenges:
Bearly Mine - use 3 dps
Scrap-Creations - it's a girl thing
Crafty Emma - pretty girls
Ooh-la-la - dies/punches
Paper Crafting Journey - dies/punches
Emerald Faerie Garden - punches/dies
Marianne Design Divas - bloom & grow
Crafts & Me - flowers
Wags 'n' Whiskers - handmade (flowers)
Party Time Tuesday - anything goes
Simon Says - anything goes.

GDT Gingerloft - Argh!

2011-10-01T20:00:00.018+01:00

GDT Gingerloft GL26 - this week's theme - use orange
Prize is the choice of 3 digis from the Gingerloft store.

Hi & my post today is especially for the guys at Gingerloft who have asked me to play along with them this week using the colour 'orange'. Surely the perfect colour choice for a Gingerloft challenge & what better an image to use then than that of a ginger cat. This fun feline is by Dustin Pike & is called 'Scaredy Cat', & in this instance is scared of yet another birthday - & one year closer to a BIG birthday! LOL. He has been coloured with Promarkers & the odd Flexmarker & mounted onto this 'popping' card shape so it will 'ping' out of the envelope. LOL. I have also done my trick with the folded acetate for even more dimension & movement - & it can still lie flat in an envelope!

The sentiment to the right hand side as you look at it is from Sentiments 4 You but I added the relevant numbers to the middle whilst the other side's message I created myself on the PC.

Challenges:
Incy Wincy - fancy folds
Ladybug - fall/fancy folds
Card Makin' Mamas - folds
Pile It On - fancy folds
2 Sisters - fancy folds
Pixie Cottage - pop it up (&/or sketch)
Aud Sentiments - happy birthday
Deep Ocean - happy birthday
Little Miss Muffet - animals or monsters
Crafting For All Seasons - fall/autumn colours
Stamping with the Dragon - fall/autumn colours
Outlawz - Greeting - anything goes (always with sentiment on the front)
Critter Sketch - anything goes
Party Time Tuesday - anything goes
Simon Says - anything goes
4 Crafty Chicks - anything goes

#85 Honey Bear

2011-09-28T08:00:00.048+01:00

Theme at I ♥ Promarkers - distressing
Sponsor & prize this week - Digi Doodle Shop - $10 gift certificate

Hello again fellow crafters, and my card today uses one of the images from our prize sponsor this week, Digi Doodle called 'Honey Bear'. Now, why said bear is crying I am not too sure given that he seems to have plenty of honey in his jar and the bees around him seem friendly enough! I have coloured him in with Promarkers, though the wings of the bees were coloured with the new Flexmarker pens.

For the obligatory distressing elements I have torn my design paper using a tearing ruler and inked around the edges with several colours of Distress Inks. I have also made my own flower as you can see, by scrunching up some Spellbinders die cuts to create a kind of carnation, (which might not be seasonal but is at least distressed, LOL), which I then sat on a Marianne Creatables leaf die cut. I thought this leaf perfect for an autumnal-feel card given its vein-like structure. I had used the same scalloped Spellbinders shape as the flower to create the mat for the image & the sentiment, cutting this time from white card and inking it with the a couple of the same Distress Inks I had used on the dp. I created the sentiment myself on the PC, adding the isolated bee from a copy of main image. The double-sided satin 'old-gold' ribbon is from my stash.

Challenges:

Crafty Calendar - bears
Cupcake Craft - if you go down to the woods today...
Di's Digi Designs - make your own flowers
Crafts & Me - flower/s
Marianne's Design Divas - bloom & grow (+MC product)
Mark's Finest Papers - things with wings (the jolly bees!)
Paper Works - photo inspiration (for colour choices- see above photo)
Corrosive - punches/dies
Ooh-la la - dies/punches
Designed2Delight - die cut diva
Crafty Pad - stitching
The Outlawz - Copic/Promarker Friday Challenge - anything goes
Creatalicious - anything goes
Simon Says - anything goes
Sweet Stamping - anything goes (optional sketch)
Party Time Tuesday - anything goes.

Kenny K #62 Christmas Cards & New Release!

2011-09-25T08:00:00.039+01:00

Hi all and in case you didn't know, Kenny K has a new release out today! Yep, some new seasonal Christmas images are now available in the digi store & the creative gals on Team B have been creating with them this week. Being a Sunday there is a new challenge running too, (Christmas cards of course!) and the prizes this week come from Bearly Mine (fabby papers)

& Kenny K too.

Can't be bad, eh? Hope you can join in the fun this time around.
Tine :)

#84 Two by Two

2011-09-21T08:00:00.040+01:00

Theme at I ♥ Promarkers this week - use a number
Sponsor & prize - Crafty Emma - £10 voucher

I have endeavoured to be good & get on with a card I need to do for a relative of mine ahead of time and as he is approaching his second birthday, what better a design than all the animals sailing off in the ark, two by two. The image is by Crissy Armstrong & is called 'Noah's Ark' and I have chosen to colour it with Promarkers, paper piecing the little brolly. Following the theme of '2' there are two ribbons & two bows - & even two weather systems as I have it only raining on the little monkey sporting the umbrella, LOL. The number mounted with glue gel is from Bluebird Flats.

On the inside.

Tine :)

Challenges I would like to enter this card for are:
Forever Friends Monthly - paper piecing (+animal)
Ladybug - animals
By the Cute & Girly - all things bright & beautiful (...'all creatures great & small', by 'creatures' I refer to the animals in the ark, not to little boys! LOL)
Stempeltraeume 'Stamp Dreams' - inspired by a song (hymn - 'All things bright & beautiful, all creatures great & small'
SSDS - birthday creations
Lexi's - card for a child
Tip Top - one for the kids
Stamptacular Sunday - sentiment on front of card (& I have on the inside as well)
Crafty Sentiments - happy birthday
Addicted to Stamps - stitching
Kaboodle Doodles - layers
Sentimental Sundays - monochrome
Partytime Tuesdays - monochrome (&/or sketch)
Di's Digi Designs - anything goes
Cute Card Thursdays - anything goes.

Kenny K #61 ...Not a Day over 49!

2011-09-18T08:00:00.075+01:00

Theme at Kenny K this week - use your favourite KK image
Sponsor & prize - Michelle's Scrapbooking Store - $15 gift certificate

What a question to ask, eh? Favourite image? It took me a few days to decide which to use I have to admit. Of course, some images are more suitable than others for different occasions & often the character of the recipient has a strong bearing on my image choices. Sometimes my fav image is the last one I coloured & it is true that I have a soft spot for 'Captain Locke' as she was such fun to colour, (though I have to say all the Steampunk gals are soo enjoyable to colour - & I love to colour as you know, LOL), but as I had used Ms Locke only last week thought I should really use one of the others. It was nearly 'Queen's Cutie' or 'Troublemaker' ...but no, in the end I decided to use probably my favourite male image, that of 'Cheers Dude', suitable not only for those liking a 'bit of a tipple', but also for non-drinkers too as the image is toasting their good health. What was even better, once I had made my decision & worked out what I was going to do with it, it was brought to my attention that my brother in law needed a card for his birthday - and whilst I had thought I had been clever & had already made him one, hadn't realised until all the baby photos were making an appearance that it was a BIG birthday - & so needed a different card with a definite age reminder on it - just to rub it in! LOL.

The 'wiper' in action.

So 'Cheer's Dude' it was, following the layout over at CLP this month and coloured with Promarkers. His t-shirt and the crown of his hat have been paper-pieced to give them a bit of pattern & interest & I used my new MS punch to create the horizontal zig-zag element. Whilst this describes the front of the card itself, in actuality I had created a 'wiper' card, which Tip Top have a tutorial on this week. Now my version is slightly different than theirs & uses my own variation of measurements etc, but is the same general gist. My tip, though you might do this yourselves anyway, is that I always do a 'dry run' for moving cards - using plain paper to make sure my measurements are correct and the moveable parts are not catching on anything & actually work. If the mechanisms work fine on the flimsier paper then they should be great when constructed in card & in cases like this when the 'wiper' is quite long, then double checking saves messing up your beloved stash. The circular numerical reminder of his increasing age (in case my BIL had possibly forgotten which mile-stone it is this time, LOL), is from Bluebird Flats but the other sentiments I created myself on the PC & I will hand write our names in the blank space on the back just before I give it - unless I forget, yes, I have done that too before now! LOL.

The reverse - with blank section for adding the 'from'.

Tine :)

Challenges:

CLP - design sketch (used on front)
Tip Top - birth or birthday (+ tip)
Crafting for All Seasons - birthday
Craft Your Passion -
the 'f' word
(ssh...better whisper it -' fifty')
Scrap-Creations - unique fold
Cards for Men - anything but square
Cardmad Fairy - layers
Frosted Designs - punches (Martha Stewart one)
Simon Says Stamps - song or film title (song - Cheers [Drink to That] by Rihanna)
Outlawz Greeting - inspired by a song (see above)
Di's Digi Designs - anything goes
Inspire Me Fridays -always anything goes.

#83 Travel/Transport - Here Comes Santa

2011-09-14T08:00:00.056+01:00

Theme at I ♥ Promarkers - travel/transport
Sponsor & prize this week - Letraset / pack of Promarkers (wish I could enter!!!! LOL)

The fun image I am using for my DT card this week is from Elizabeth Dulemba. Santa is hurtling along on the Vespa but his poor reindeer is looking a tad concerned. No, it's not Rudolph - no glowing nose! LOL. He has been coloured with Promarkers of course, from the grey 'heavy with snow' skies to the tip of Santa's weather-beaten nose - and if any of those talented crafting children we have had entering our challenge of late are reading this, I would like to point out that I think that Santa here is probably going to one of his guest appearances at a store rather than trying to do his main delivery - so not to worry.

Basically, as you can see, other than the colour on the image it is just white on white, layering up pearlescent card. The base layer (on top of the main card) was run through an an embossing folder in several pieces as the folder was too small to perform the task in one piece. Any joins are hidden behind the layer above it thankfully, so having to piece it, whilst hardly ideal, didn't matter too much in the end. That next layer, the diamond shape, has a border created using the PATP Martha Stewart snowflake punches but the layer on top of that has a hand embossed border with another dotty layer added on top of that. This whole layer of mats is supported using sticky pads for added dimension & Santa's mat above that has also been added onto the card using foam pads. The large snowflakes were made using my Marianne Creatables die with centre pieces utilising the punched out flakes that were left from the MS border & corner punches.

The insert

For the inside of the card I went for a full insert this time around but continued my snow flurries here too, though drastically reducing the layering so it could still close! The sentiment is from Paulette at TLC.

Tine :)

Challenges I am entering this card for are:
Gingerloft - create a sky
Polka Doodles - setting the scene
Catch the Bug - dies/punches (I used both)
Forever Friends - (must use animal) - dies
Winter Wonderland - Santa Claus is coming to town
Fussy & Fancy - celebration challenge (celebrating Christmas)
Charisma - inspired by a song (Santa Claus Is Coming To Town - Mariah Carey)
Secret Crafter - inspired by a song (Santa Claus Is Coming To Town - Mariah Carey)
Craft Your Passion - 'f' words (flakes & flurry)
Stamp Challenges - anything goes.

Kenny K - Pins & Pearls

2011-09-11T08:00:00.002+01:00

The theme at Kenny K's Challenge is Pins & Pearls & Team B are showing you some great examples to get your creativity going. Why not pop over & see? If you do decide to enter this week there is a prize of a £10 gift voucher from

as well as 5 digis from

Happy crafting!
Tine :)

#82 Use metal - Key To My Heart

2011-09-07T08:00:00.012+01:00

Theme at I ♥ Promarkers - use metal
Prize & sponsor - £10 gift voucher from Joanna Sheen

This week for my DT card, I have used one of Kenny K's fabby new images in the Steampunk range called 'Captain Locke', who just happens to be clutching a ring of keys just the right size for my metal key charm to be attached to. What better choice then for our 'metal' theme this week! I even managed to add a bit more metal too, with the addition of the white brads down the side. Ms Locke has of course, been coloured with my Promarkers - as has the super winged padlock from Kim Lariviere .

I altered the base dp by adding my own cog wheels to it & stencilling large wheels using the designs I made for the card on my last post (drawing concentric circles & cutting slits into the outer rim to make the cog shaping) & inking through. Sadly, I then covered a lot of this up! Doh! LOL. I also inked around the edges of my papers using Distress Ink. As you might know my now, I love the Fleur de Lis dies from the Spellbinders range so couldn't resist adding another one here in a corner & then embossed one of my panels. I then layered it all up using both foam pads & glue gel for a bit of dimension.

For the inside of the card today I layered up some of the same card & papers, creating my own sentiment on the inside on the PC but incorporating the heart/scroll (that came without the wording - I added that), from Bird's Cards and the key to the side which was from Kim Lariviere. The white rectangular piece of card is where I can pop the name & 'from' etc.

Hope you like it!

Tine :)

Challenges I would like to enter this card for:
Card Makin' Mamas - digis
Stamp Something - digi day
Rainbow Lady's - emboss
Jellypark - dies or punches
Challenge Up Your Life - for men
Cards for Men - G is for......(glamorous, gorgeous & goggles)
Stamping Dragon - occupations (captain of a plane)
Crafty Catz - monochromatic
Sundays with Crissy - friendship
Creative Craft - charming - use a charm
Fussy & Fancy - celebration challenge
Truly Scrumptious - decorate the inside of your card
Paper Shelter - embossing (some on the inside as well as the outside)
Papertake - anything goes
Creative Card - anything goes.

Kenny K #59 Vintage/Grunge - Time Flies

2011-09-04T00:00:00.000+01:00

Theme at Kenny K this week - vintage/grunge
Prize & sponsor - £10 gift voucher from Bearly Mine + 5 Kenny K digis of your choice!

Hope any of you who were at the craft fair near the Trafford Centre, Manchester yesterday (Saturday), had a great time. I know I did & got a few more crafting goodies to keep me going too.

As for my card here, gosh, where to I begin with this one then, eh? LOL. Not exactly minimalistic is it! LOL. Yes, Kenny K has drawn us all some more images to play with - adding to his Steampunk range - & this sassy gal is a pilot (you got that from the goggles, right?) going by the name of 'Brianna Blaster'. Now to me, Steampunk is more than a collaboration of Victoriana + Punk. To me, it is more Victoriana meets modern technology. Basically, if a Victorian were to have our technology to play with, what might it look like - & there seems to be a twist of 'future' into the mix. So on this card I have gone for the eclectic attitudes of the Victorian era (ie., if there is an inch of space, fill it with something elaborate) & let this girl with her futuristic gun loose into this crowded mechanical world.

Brianna has been coloured with Promarkers to give her a leather cap & Air Force blue 'uniform' - well that was my intention so if I succeeded I am sure you will let me know. :) I gave her a long mat with no layering as I wanted it to look as if she had just been beamed down, like a time traveller. Now, I don't reckon she would be able to run very far in those 'killer heels' but that said, with that gun in her hand, she probably wouldn't need to! She looks quite a capable young lady to me. LOL. I used the tops of her stockings as the 3 rows of a ranking officer (I think 3 stripes is a Sergeant) - well she hasn't got room for emblems on her arms has she! LOL. For the remaining colours I tried to achieve a gun & back-pack etc., of steel & brass, using Promarkers to colour the large clock in too. This clock, the 'butterfly' & the tickets are all from Kim Lariviere.

I got out my Fleur de Lis dies from Spellbinders again for the corner pieces & the shape above & peeping below the clock-face, colouring them using Promarkers again even the gold or silver highlights. However, for the cog wheels I didn't rely on a die at all but created my own, drawing 3 concentric circles quite close together & cutting 'teeth' from the outer one to the middle one. For the larger wheel I added spokes cutting out the triangular shapes (to the inner most circle), using a craft knife & making a hole in the middle with my Crop-a-Dile. Each wheel was then inked & embossed. The backing paper which seemed just perfect for my daring aviator was from TLC but I added my own finishing touches to that too by making a large cog wheel the same way as my smaller wheels & then using it as a stencil for my Distress Inks (at the corner with the other wheels). I then inked around the rest of the page too before adding the metal brads to hold a cog wheel in place & to adorn 2 corners.

The layering

Well, I wanted to finish it off by creating a suitable insert & this one uses word-art from Kim Lariviere (yes, it is in French & the translation, should you need it, is "Friendship is love without wings" which seemed just perfect not only for a card for a friend but for my pilot image- wings, get it, LOL) - & yes, I am pretty sure the recipient would understand the French without me having to explain it, fortunately! I tore around the edges of this before sticking down at a slight angle. The Spellbinders Fleur de Lis die at the top & bottom edges gave it the relevant Steampunk 'je ne sais quoi" - sorry gone back into French mode! LOL, & this design helped it match in with the front too. Getting the strip of Fleur de Lis all the way across was a bit fiddly as I needed it to be longer than the die actually is, but as you know, I rarely make life easy for myself! LOL. As I didn't want to add 'bulk' to the insert of the card by using any metal embellies I went a bit creative with the photo anchor too. I very carefully embossed a metal one (by running it through my die cutter) then cut it out by hand and added a card circle punched out using my Crop a Dile to create the idea of a top of a brad. I coloured this with Promarkers before sticking down to give a punctuation of colour to the otherwise very white interior.

Well, I think that is everything! Hope I haven't missed anything out but there is quite a bit on this one. LOL. If you feel like playing along with our vintage/grunge challenge this week you don't of course, have to use Steampunk as your inspiration - but do remember that if you use any of Kenny K's images on your card you stand a chance of winning some of Donna's fabby papers & Kenny's digis .

Tine :)

Challenges I would like to enter this card for are:
Papercraft Star - Steampunk
Passion for Promarkers - anything goes (but use Promarkers - as if you need to ask me! LOL)
I Brake For Challenges - shabby chic
Crafty Creations - use at least 3 dies/punches (3- all from the Spellbinders Fleur de Lis range, 3 corners dies, 3 single elements & 2 borders) - plus embossing my metallic photo corner to make a card one too
Jellypark - dies/punches
Cards for Men - G is for.....(grunge)
Anything Goes Challenge - inspired by tv/film (Dr. Who - a kind of Time Lord, she is beaming down from one time period to another)
Stamp Challenges - September digi day
Card Makin' Mamas - digis
Crafty Pad - blue & brown
Glitter Geeks - sports mad (given that she is a Pilot with a gun in hand, - flying & shooting)
Stamptacular Sunday - sky's the limit (be creative)
Inspire Me Fridays - always anything goes (logo & bottom of sidebar).

Well Done!

2011-09-03T20:00:00.000+01:00

It has been a frantic couple of weeks with scholars getting the results of their A-levels & GCSEs & as you know, without the right results you can't get to study at either the University or Sixth Form College of your choice or even study the subjects you want to. I ended up making a few cards - mercifully all the same - to give to those kids I know gaining a large clutch of passes between them. I just have to hope now that they all can go on to study where they want to at the start of the new term.

The number of cards I had to squeeze in between my DT cards (not to mention housework!) LOL, meant that I had a go at a CAS design. I also had to bear in mind the ages of the recipients when selecting the image itself, as well as the colours I could realistically use, especially when half of the kids the cards are going to are male. As the focal point I used this perfect image from Elizabeth Dulemba, coloured it up with Promarkers & set it in front of a lined paper dp -as if torn from a school book & clipping the two together with a coloured paper clip. To finish it off I added the horizontal ribbon & the sentiment printed simply from the PC & put the layers on a very classy looking white card base.

Two of the few

A relatively simplistic card, so hopefully more good practice at a CAS card - & a short & sweet posting today too. See you all again in the morning!

Tine :)

Challenges:
Simply Create - here comes the 'school' bus
Crazy 4 - back to school
Sentimental Sundays - back to school
Pixie Dust - school is cool
Stamp Insanity - back to school
Passion for Promarkers - anything goes (using Promarkers)

#81 Anything goes - Quiet Fairy

2011-08-31T08:00:00.195+01:00

Theme at I ♥ Promarkers - anything goes
Sponsor - Letraset (pkt of Promarkers)

Don't these week's just fly by? This week you can use any image you want of course (don't you all just love 'anything goes' weeks, LOL), just so long as you use Letraset products to colour it in - Promarkers, Trias, Flexmarkers or Aquamarkers.

I have used what I am sure will have been proving a popular design sketch from Cute Card Thursdays for the front of the card and for the base design I went with a tent fold card in shiny black. It is a lot more simplistic than a lot of cards I have been making but I reckon it is good to shake things up a bit & do things a bit differently for a change. The image is from A Day for Daisies and is called 'Quiet Fairy', a fairy rose which is a very tranquil image & seemed almost Oriental to me - so I used the ADFD challenge of using twine to create my own tassel which I thought might add to this Oriental feeling as well my use of the black background. I shall try to explain how I made my tassel at the end of my post if you are interested. I didn't however want to be too obvious & go with the colour red, no matter how traditional a colour to go with black on Oriental themed cards, so chose peach colours instead which I hope also adds to the overall soft feel.

The tent card shaping at the side

Cutting my papers to follow the design layout guidelines, I then carefully distressed the edges of the triangular layer before sewing into position. The original sketch had a verse where my 3 gems actually are but I thought it better to fill out the space on the back with my sentiment (so I hope the Cute Card Thursday ladies don't mind this slight alteration) but I did balance out the design they provided with the matching gems.

For the reverse of the card I layered up a sentiment from Raindrop Echo Designs adding my own words of greeting underneath.

Challenges I would like to enter this card are:

Cute Card Thursdays - design sketch
A Day For Daisies #25 - twine (+ADFD image)
Cuddly Buddly - say something nice
Order of the Opus Gluei - create with roses (rose fairy)
Craft Us Crazy - anything goes
Creative Card - anything goes
Passion for Promarkers - anything goes
Heart Song Inspirations - anything goes (or fav col combo)
Outlaws - Copic/Promarker Friday Challenge - anything goes
Cupcake Inspirations - photo insp (colours)

Making my tassel

I will try to briefly show you how I made the tassel. I had to put it down to photograph it which wasn't always that easy to do. LOL.

I found some scrap card and folded it in half. So the total length of card I used before it was folded in half was exactly double that of the length of tassel I wanted to finish up with. I then wrapped the twine around the folded card. How much you wind depends on how thick you would like the finished tassel to be. (You can see the tension on the twine as it is trying to wrap around itself).

How you do the next bit is up to you but I put a piece of the yarn through the loop at the top of the card. You could have just pulled the wound yarn off the card base & then added the securing thread afterwards but this way I knew I had got each strand accounted for. You could also cut the bottom end of the tassel at this point, using the gap at the bottom of the folded card as a guide for the scissors. I thought I might leave it till later on. Having slid the wound twine off the card base, I knotted the piece of twine I had threaded through the top to secure all the strands together.

With another length of twine I threaded up a needle with a wide enough eye to take it & wrapped this twine around the top, using the needle to sew into the back of the tassel when I had got a sufficient amount of twine there. I then cut all the loops at the the bottom of the tassel making sure they were all even.

As I wanted a thicker element to the top of the tassel to create a kind of fancy finish, I cut off another length of twine, folded it in half & held the looped end in one hand & the cut ends in the other & twisted the 2 together so that I got a lot of twists all the way up from one hand to the other. (This is where I needed another pair of hands to do the photos really!) I then carefully took the looped end towards the cut end so that they were now both in one hand but grabbed what was the middle of the twisted length with my now free hand & let the two sides twist together using the created tension. I do hope I am explaining this well enough.....

The doubled up length I started with.......

...& the finished amount of twists.

The picutre above shows what it looked like once the two sides had twisted themselves together - with a knot at the end to secure. Sorry, this photo is slightly blurry but I think you can see it well enough. I then used the needle to sew this thicker, twisted element into the 3 looped design at the top of the tassel & once completed I used glue gel to adhere to the card.

Happy crafting everyone. :)

Hello, you down there

2011-08-24T13:52:00.000+01:00

Yep, a second card today from me. Not a DT card this time around, but one just 'for fun'! LOL. So I wrote down a few challenges & this is the resulting card.

I used the lovely sketch over at Glitter Geeks as the basis layering up my cards & papers with glue gel as well as tape for a variety of layers & depths. Whilst I had used these particular colours on a card which posted only last week, this time around the tones are far more subtle & soft - which I thought suited this picture of innocence from A Day for Daisies far more (& the image, if you are interested, is being offered as a freebie to anyone wanting to join in with their challenge). I coloured her (with my Promarkers, of course! LOL), but kept it all a lot more simplistic than some of my cards to try to retain some of that innocence. I popped her circular mat into the centre of a couple of layers created with a Spellbinders die to turn it into the centre of a flower - and the sentiment, from Artistic Whispers was recoloured & then also die cut to match the central mat.

The white satin ribbon (which is one of those my daughter brought back from India when she was there) was layered up with a narrower green satin ribbon from Fantastic Ribbons. The gems are by Anita's & the twine, in the centre of my layered buttons, is actually pale green like the 'bling' but it might be difficult to tell this from the photo.

Sorry, it's not a very clear photo so I hope you can see the image too.

I also gave the card a coordinating inside using a traditional kind of insert, recolouring the A Day for Daisies image to pink, fading it a little & setting it behind a sentiment that actually came from Mo Manning a while ago, placing to the top & bottom of the insert so that the name of the recipient etc., can be written in the middle over the background image. I then cut the insert to size using a scalloped blade which I thought also tied in with the scalloped flower shapes on the front. Voila!

Have a great day & happy crafting everyone.
Tine :)

Challenges:

Glitter Geeks - design sketch
A Day For Daisies - twine (& one of their images)
Birthday Sundaes - colour scheme - pink, green & white
Crazy 4 - bingo (square/die cuts/2 or more dps)
Karen's Doodles - punches/diecuts
Papertake - dies
Barely Mine - bling
Kaboodle Doodles - ribbons
Digital Tuesday - cute & girly (& digital)
Corrosive - girlie
Gingersnap (Chestnut) - babes & tots
A Spoonful of Sugar - happy birthday
Sentimental Sundays - birthday
Paper Crafting Journey - anything goes.

- & thank you for your comments. :)

#80 Little Bird

2011-08-24T08:00:00.037+01:00

Theme at I ♥ Promarkers - paper piercing (not piecing!)
Prize & sponsor this week - $10 gift certificate from Digi Doodle

Yes, you know how I like my paper piecing, but this week is paper PIERCING - so basically put some holes in your paper & card fellow Promarker lovers. The image I chose to work with this time around is from our sponsor, Digi Doodle & is that of a humming bird. I reckon he could have pierced my card with that beak of his! See how my mind works! LOL. I went with very subtle ones echoing the corner shaping but you could go as fancy as you like with yours. As well as colouring my image with Promarkers I went with the colour theme over at Colour Create of blues & greens reserving my pop of colour for the flower. I thought that these tiny birds would only be attracted to a bright tropical bloom & I have hopefully giving him a hot & sunny forest glade to reside in. :)

When I was taking the photo for my blog I realised that it looked so much better viewed from a distance, LOL, I know, I know I can hear the wise-cracks from here, but honestly it does. Think it is because the background works better, merging together further so that the image itself pops out more.

If you would like to join in with our challenge this week, don't forget to use either Promarkers, Trias, Flexmarkers or Aquamarkers on your card or project - and don't forget the theme of PIERCING (not piecing!!! - I have visions of some fabby paper piecing & not a hole in sight, LOL). I would love it if you could find the time to leave me a comment, as would all the DT I am sure if you would like some more inspiration.

See you all again soon,

Tine :)

Challenges:

Colour Create - photo inspiration
Fussy & Fancy - celebration challenge
Catch the Bug - birds & the bees
Rainbow Lady's - song choice (Bird of Beauty - Stevie Wonder)
Hooked on Craft - things with wings
Craft Room - masking - whole image so I could add the background (logo at very bottom of side bar)
Inspire Me Fridays - always anything goes
Designed 2 Delight - anything goes
Paper Crafting Journey - anything goes
The Poodles Parlour - anything goes
Hotspot - select from the col. palette (see colour chart on blog).

Kenny K #57 Layer it up fancy folds

2011-08-21T08:00:00.041+01:00

Theme at Kenny K - layers
Prize Sponsor - Crafty Ribbons

My Kenny K card today uses the gorgeous gal 'Uptown Angel' & she has been coloured with Promarkers to give her tumbling golden locks & faded grey jeans. The theme as you will have seen is to use loads of layers on your card and I chose to use a shaped card base (so there are layers on the side as well - not to mention the back! LOL), and I also used the great sketch over at CLP this month for the main body of the card. I combined my version of a stepper card with yet another card shape by adding the restraining gusset of a tent card underneath the main section of the card which would ensure that the card wouldn't want to sag & go flat when sat on a mantelpiece or window sill.

Tent card gusset on the main body of the card.

Adding to all the paper & card layers are die cut embellishments (so layered flowers too, LOL), from Marianne Creatables, small flowers cut using a Woodware punch, a couple of Martha Stewart butterflies & frond leaves & floral swirls cut using Double Do dies.

The sentiment on the front of the card, layered up too of course, is from TLC creations but as I wanted to add a section on the back for the 'to' & 'from' I did my best to recreate the selection of fonts (whilst obviously not knowing what Paulette used to create hers), my own wording on the back. Well, it kind of matches of sorts, but given that it won't be viewed in normal circumstances at the same time as the original on the front, I am sure the discrepancy in fonts won't be noticed too much.

...& on the back.

Right folks, you have seen my take on using loads of layers, now it is your turn & if you join in with our challenge & use one of Kenny's images you are in with a chance of winning the fab ribbon prize on offer this week not to mention 5 of Kenny's images to add to your collection. You don't have to use a fancy fold shaped card as I did just show us lots of layers.

Hope you like my card & I appreciate the time you spend in leaving me your kind comments.

Tine :)

Challenges:

CLP - design layout
Gingersnap - teens
Craft Garden - bold, bright & loud
Hotspot - colour selection to choose from
Pixie Cottage - big on birthdays (or/& sketch)
Marianne Design Divas - anything goes (using any of Marianne's products - 2 different sorts of flower dies)
Sassy Studio - die cuts
Rainbow Lady's - song of choice (Wildflowers - Sheryl Crow)
Outlawz - (Copic/Promarker Challenge) how does your garden grow
A Spoonful of Sugar - happy birthday
Fussy & Fancy - celebration (optional -use the colours of their logo)
Paper Crafting Journey - anything goes
Poodles Parlour - anything goes.

#79 Arrgh! Another birthday!

2011-08-17T08:00:00.111+01:00

Theme at I ♥ Promarkers - easel card
Sponsor & prize this week - £10 voucher from Stampeezee

Nope, this isn't a Sunday, you are not losing your marbles but it is a Kenny K image from me. This gal flying head first into the birthday flower is called 'Skate Chick' and had been coloured with Promarkers. Now, I know that sounds a little silly given that I am on the DT of I ♥ Promarkers (& I have said in the past that I might ask to be buried with my Promarker pens, LOL), but in actuality to enter our challenge you can use either Trias, Aquamarkers or even the very new 'brush' tipped Flexmarkers as we allow all of these on our challenge now as they are all from Letraset.

I am not too sure I have got the knack of colouring brunette hair. Odd I know, given that as a brunette (even if now something of a 'bottled' one, LOL), you would think that it might somehow come more naturally. However, I think that knowing all the different shades that actually made up my colouring is also my downfall - as there really are not enough pens in the world to make up the vast variations I had in my locks! Still, on the plus side, it probably means I can't go too far wrong. Whatever I colour it might well be someone else's variation!

These fabulously girly papers are from Studio Flergs and the lime satin ribbon is from Fantastic Ribbons. The fabric flower (behind the sentiment from Bird's Cards) is from the Precious Petals range from Cardology. I had to hand cut the bracketed shape (for the 'to' & 'from') as I don't have that kind of shaped nestie so you will have to forgive any wonky bits! LOL. The image & the sentiment flower were popped onto the card with Pinflair Glue Gel but the bracketed shape uses foam pads for not only dimension but strength given that this is the retainer for the easel to rest on. I could have put loads of embellies on of course, but given the fact that the top has to in reality fit over the lower element of the card, not to mention the cost of postage these days, keeping it all at a certain restrained level seemed to make more sense.

Do join in with our easel challenge if you can. It makes a fab change to the regular square shape we all love but also allows a bit more space to embellish etc too. Straight easel like mine, twisted, double or even treble it is up to you. I know the DT would all just love it if you could pass by their blogs & leave a kind comment & we look forward to seeing your easel creations & leaving you a comment too.

Until next time,

Tine :)

Challenges I would like to enter this card for are:
Glitter Geeks - colours taken from the photo inspiration
Bunny Zoe - easel card
Celebrate the Occasion - easel birthday card
Sentimental Sundays - shaped card (+sentiment)
Stamptacular Sunday - fancy fold
Karen's Doodles - fancy fold
Crafty Pad - cute & girly
Craft Your Days Away - birthdays
Pixie Cottage - big on birthdays &/or sketch (on blog)
Hotspot - use from the selection of colours (see their blog for colour range)
Craft Garden - bold, bright & loud.

Kenny K #56 Summer Sparkle

2011-08-14T08:00:00.014+01:00

Team B are doing the honours over at Kenny K’s Crafty Girlz this week with the fab theme of ‘Summer Sparkle’. I know they will just love it if you could join in, especially if you use one of Kenny’s images which puts you in with a chance of winning a prize from our sponsor this week, which is a $15 gift certificate from:

#78 Tiger & Butterfly

2011-08-10T08:00:00.012+01:00

Theme at I ♥ Promarkers this week - sketch
Challenge sponsor & prize - Di's Digis (5 digis of winner's choice)

Hi again everyone and my card this time around uses an image called 'Tiger & Butterfly' from our sponsor this week, Di's Digis and isn't he a cutie? I lurve tigers, & this one is particularly cuddly! He was of course, coloured with Promarkers but our challenge does accept the use of other Letraset markers, the Trias & Aquamarkers if you want to use those in any of our challenges. Other than my Promarkers, I used a couple of Distress Inks on some of my papers & the central circular mat is raised up with Pinflair Glue Gel.

Karen has drawn up this sketch for us, and as long as we can see this layout on your card feel free to use whatever digi or stamp you want. Quite an easy one to work with I'd say, so I hope that you will be able to play along with us this week.

Tine :)

Challenges I wish to enter this card for:
Simply Create - favourite animal (my fav wild animal - the tiger, not the butterfly! LOL)
Glitter Geeks - furry or feathered friends
Here Come the Boys - critters (& suitable for a male)
Corrosive - earth tones
Stamp Challenges - digi day
Pink Elephant - use a butterfly
Poodles Parlour - round & round the garden
Paper Crafting Journey - photo inspiration (image colours)
Craft Your Days Away - birthdays
A Spoonful of Sugar - happy birthday
Card Makin' Mamas - birthdays
Frosted Designs - use colour (Promarkers & Distress Inks)
Raise the Bar - anything goes.

Kenny K - #55 Fun in the Sun

2011-08-07T08:00:00.087+01:00

Theme of Challenge #55 at Kenny K - Fun in the sun
Prize & Sponsor -$15 Gift certificate from Whimsy Stamps!

Yep, I am sure you have come across this particular image before but she is just so perfect for a summery card, chillin' with her ice cream! She is called 'Troublemaker', though possibly not living up to her name whilst clutching her melting ice. Now, I am sure it was the dripping ice cream that did it, but I made a card with a little tot eating her cornet earlier this year. It just struck me she could be the same girl but a few years older! Of course, once that had entered my head that was all I could think of so I ran with the idea rather than fighting it, using the same colour palette etc. but upgrading it all for an older gal with a little more street-cred.

I coloured her with Promarkers, but paper pieced her hoodie with a re-coloured digi paper from Create & Craft and then did the same for the mesh bits of her trainers. I wish I looked as good as she does! Oh to be young & carefree eh! LOL. Well, back to the card & the sun (which is hopefully making the whole scene hot enough to melt the ice cream if not to get her out of a hoodie & into a sleeveless top! LOL), is punched out of vellum from Papermania with a circular Fiskars' punch.

I have this fresh faced girl with the amazing hypnotic eyes ambling along the (Promarker-ed) beach next to the sea, though contained in a rectangle like that maybe it should be a swimming pool. LOL. I just love all those shades of blue. I added my charm sun, suspended over the water as it is representing the sun reflecting off the rippling waves. Guess I have had my 'arty' head on today. LOL.

For the inside of the card I created something of a regular insert, though layering a background up to complement the front of the card & give it a hot kind of glow. I gave the sentiment a white hot sun circle idea, adding a few words of my own on the PC before adding wording from Raindrop Echo Designs.

Hope you can join in with our 'fun in the sun' challenge this week & and don't forget, if you want a chance to win the fab prize from Whimsy Stamps to make sure you use a KennyK image when you play along with us.

Tine :)

Challenges:
Bunny Zoe - fun in the sun
Creative Craft - summertime
Stampavie & More - summer
Craft Room - summer holidays
Totally Paper Crafts -holidays
Cardmadfairy - (digi) + summer holiday
Tuesday Taggers - on the beach
Crafty Emma - water
By the Cute & Girly - the sea
Stamp Challenges - digi day
Card Makin' Mamas -birthday card
Craft Your Days Away - birthdays
Craft Your Passion - anything goes
Papertake - anything goes
Catered Crop - recipe (see site for full list -here I have used: blue, yellow, Promarkers, thread/twine & matted layers). This week is a change to the norm too, as we have to also canvas for votes so if you like my card & are browsing through to the Catered Crop site do vote on 19th Aug, especially if it is for me! LOL).

#77 Fairy Queen of the Night

2011-08-03T08:00:00.058+01:00

Theme at I ♥ Promarkers - things with wings
Prize Sponsor - Joanna Sheen (£10 voucher)

The image I have chosen to use on this week's DT card is called Fairy Queen from Stamping Dragon Designs. The trouble with some shaped cards though is that they become rather small & difficult to see when transferred to Blogger so you might want to click on it to see it better. She is quite a sassy fairy with a definite attitude so I didn't think she would appreciate a very 'girly' card being constructed around her. Instead, I set her in front of a full moon with a starry paper from HOTP. Coloured with Promarkers, I took full advantage of those new tiny nibs to get into the narrow wings & wand as well as the craters on the moon. Do you reckon she grants wishes? Maybe a few more Promarkers & tiny nibs might wing their way to me if she did! LOL. As I was creating a little scene for her with my shaped card, I dotted the twilight sky on the sections to the side with gem stars and a created an eerie, dusky, heavy undergrowth from lots of layers of die cut flowery swirls. I set these into place with Pinflair Glue gel to give yet even more dimension. The super ribbon 'path' running along the bottom, echoing her dress, is from Fantastic Ribbons.

Hope you like it.

Tine :)

Challenges I would like to enter this card for:
Stamping Dragon Designs- 2nd birthday celebration- use a Stamping Dragon image
Lexis - shaped card
Crafty Emma - feeling the blues
Frosted Designs - circles (nothing like a big new moon! LOL)
Ooh-la-la - circles
Outlawz - Copic/Promarkers Challenge
Cooking It Up With Katie - old, new & favourite thing /technique (old -dies, new -not coloured up this fab image before & new ribbon too, favourite -one of my fav card shapes & the pointillism colouring technique)
Pixie Cottage - sketch (see blog for details) or favourite technique (pointillism)
Craft Your Passion - anything goes
Papertake - anything goes
Crafts & Me - anything goes
Allsorts - free 'n' easy.

Kenny K - Challenge

2011-07-31T08:00:00.020+01:00

Hi all. Not a Kenny K card from me this week as it is Team B taking over the reins for the challenge today. However, it is another special day at Kenny K as it is another release day! In suspense? – Need to know the theme? In one word – STEAMPUNK!!!! Yes, grab those metal embellishments, those broken watch bits, brads, pins & charms you have squirreled away as you will need them to enter the Kenny K challenge this week. For inspiration on what a steampunk creation entails & to find out what fab images Kenny has penned for us all now, head over to the Challenge blog & you will see what the Team B girlz have conjured up using the latest images.

The prize sponsor this week is

& I am sure you don’t need me to tell you what fab papers Donna creates, so well worth winning too.

Tine :)

Phindy's #66 A Snowman's Prayer

2011-07-29T08:00:00.068+01:00

Theme at Phindy's Place - die cuts

The image I have used on my DT card this week is called 'Snow Buddy' & I coloured him with Promarkers, paper piecing his hat and jacket & the snowman's scarf (possibly purloined from his granddad I reckon as it is a traditional plaid, the 'de rigueur' of scarf design! LOL). Went for that heavy with snow sky again as you can see but I just love the effect. As for the all important die cut element of this week's challenge I decided to use the negative rather than the positive of my snowflake dies for a change, setting the white card layer above the main dp using Pinflair Glue Gel so that the dp would show through. The sentiment from bizzybecsstore.com is set into the centre of a Spellbinders die cut and a touch of Stickles hopefully adds an icy touch to this & the white snowflake die cut square.

For the inside I created an insert using the same design paper as on the front and also a sentiment from Elegant WordArt which I thought went rather well with the image. LOL.

Didn't I do well to keep that short & sweet today, but this gives me the chance to remind everyone that Phindy has a DT call on so if you appreciate her penmanship, do head on over to the challenge blog for further details. I have so enjoyed my time with them & I am sure you would too. As for this week, as ever, the challenge posts on a Friday and we would love it if you could join in with us using at least one die cut element. You don't have to actually use one of Phindy's images to enter, but if you do, you can enter your card twice using the linky - meaning you double your chance of winning!

Tine :)

Challenges I wish to enter this card into are:
Creative Inspirations - Christmas in July
Designed 2 Delight - Christmas in July (no red or green)
Crafty Creations - Christmas in July
Southern Girls - photo insp
Outlawz - Paper A La Mode
Deep Ocean - ribbons
Totally Gorjuss - punch or die
Christmas Card - plaid (well, only on the scarf but I didn't want plaid snow, LOL)
Catered Crop - recipe here I have used: white, blue, grey, sentiment, circles, Promarkers, Glitter, ribbon & die cuts (full list on Challenge blog)
Creative Craft - 3-d (dimension built up in layers using Pinflair Glue Gel)
Daisy Doodles - anything goes
Allsorts - free 'n' easy July.

#76 Wedding Cake

2011-07-27T08:00:00.050+01:00

Theme at I ♥ Promarkers - anything goes
Prize sponsor this week - Digi Doodle Shops

We are heading very quickly to August now, which in our family means weddings & then of course, anniversaries! Well, I am trying my hand once again at a CAS card as they can look particularly elegant for such occasions & as they say, practice makes perfect! LOL. The image I am using is from our sponsor, Digi Doodle, called as you might expect, 'Wedding Cake'. You will also notice that I have been very adventurous, not only in attempting another CAS card but that there is more intense colour outside the image than there is on it.

I have of course, coloured my entire image using Promarkers and I have been aided in this by the wonderful addition of the tiny nibs for these pens. The detail on the floral elements on the cake would have been a nightmare for a regular Promarker nib. This addition (whilst another expense I grant you), is what Promarker users have been waiting for so if you are a Promarker gal (or guy), do get your inky mits on them if you can. It gives the Promarkers the kind of nib that Letraset's more expensive 'bigger brother', the Tria has & operates using the same principle. The tiny nib clicks on top of one of the original nibs & drains the colour from this nib to the newly attached one. Whereas the Tria does this on top of the wide nib, it is the regular sized nib on the Promarker attachment. Ideally you would have one for each of your pens but if you are lucky enough to have a full set, or the best part of one, realistically this isn't necessarily going to happen all at once. I wouldn't suggest swapping the tops around too much though either, as you will contaminate your work but keeping a top for colour 'families' might be a better option until you can get a nib for each of your markers. You won't regret it I promise you. Getting the new nib into tiny corners is a breeze.

I have coloured the shading on the white cake too, (I assure you...just not too clear on the photo so you just might have to look a bit closer, LOL), but I think the colour outside the cake is so intense it is either draining the colour from it or distracting from it. Not sure which, maybe both - so you have to look carefully. Mind you, my photography skills can often leave a lot to be desired! LOL.

For the insert on the inside of the card I have tried to retain the overall feel of the front, layering a more washed out version of the digital rose paper over the more intense red one on the sentiment side and just a simple floral square on the other.

I am sure you Promarker fans will be able to join us this week for our 'anything goes' week and you never know, you might be the lucky recipient of a $10 gift certificate for Digi Doodle Shops.

Tine :)

Challenges I will be entering this card for:
Paper Creator's Crafts - wedding
Bee Crafty - wedding wishes
If the Shoe Fits - ruby
Deep Ocean - use a ribbon
Crafts & Me - ribbon
Card Makin' Mamas - food & drink
Our Creative Corner - black, buttons, bling or bows (or all four)
Catered Crop - recipe (see challenge blog for full list - red, white, grey, Promarkers, sentiment & ribbon)
Allsorts - free 'n' easy July
Daisy Doodles - anything goes.

Kenny K - Ker-ching!

2011-07-24T08:00:00.053+01:00

Theme at Kenny K - pocket card
Prize sponsor - Kenny K - a chance to win 5 digis!!!!

Hi everyone, and as you can see, the pockets I have on my card are those on a wallet. I reckoned that the guy in this image has loadsa ker-ching! With that pimped ride and the flashy jewellery adorning him he can certainly splash the cash. So I reckoned that the perfect kind of pocket for him just had to be on a wallet.

The image I chose to use is called 'King Bling', and I coloured him with Promarkers and a couple of Trias. I did however, paper piece the lower part of his hoodie and the t-shirt so they had a design on them. I thought grey marl joggers suited his ensemble though so just coloured them with my Promarkers. LOL. Sucker for punishment as I am, I also coloured a second image, a cut down version for the 'photo' in the wallet, complete with the same paper pieced elements - and yes, it really does pull out of pocket #1 as if it is a photo & has an acetate 'window' like a real wallet! To make it more 'photographic' though I added sky to this second image as he would need a background.

Pockets #2 & #3 are on the other side to hold the 'credit cards' and the cash - and in this instance, the sentiment too. This means it doubles up perfectly not only as a card but as a present as I can pop in any relevant shop voucher etc. into the pockets too. See, method in the madness! The stitching around the edges is all faux today made with a Letraset fineliner as this card was made before I got my mits on any of the new nibs. I made the sentiment on the PC in the shape of a credit card to fit in with the theme. I then added the 'metal' corners to both sides of the front as this is how my son's wallet is designed - why they are not on the back too I have no idea, as surely the back gets as much wear as the front? Still, mine is not to reason why a gent's wallet is as it is, so I just added my card corners (which were coloured also with Promarkers), to the front .

You might have to click on the image to get a better view!

Now then, I hope that having seen the fabby cards the KKKDT have produced this week you are all suitably inspired to have a go and create some pocket themed cards of your own and join in with our challenge. Don't forget, you can use any image for the Kenny K challenge, but only those using Kenny K Digi Stamps will be entered into the draw.

Happy crafting!

Tine :)

Challenges I would like to enter this card for are:
Tip Top - shaped cards
Crafts4Eternity - shaped cards
Karen's Doodles - shaped cards
Stamptacular Sunday - hot pockets
Totally Papercrafts - one for the boys
Here Come The Boys - travel
My Mum's Craft Shop - card for a teen (my son has begged for this card & he is 19 so I guess I have got this right! LOL)
Sweet Stamping - fashion (well he thinks he's an 'IT' guy at least!)
Crafty Catz - no pink or blue
Crafty Creations - seeing double (used the same image twice)
Catered Crop - recipe (see blog for full list: here I have - red, grey, sentiment, Promarkers, corner rounder & faux stitching)
Daisy Doodles - (digi stamp) + anything goes
Allsorts - free 'n' easy July
Paper Cutz - anything goes
2Sisters - anything goes
Lollipop Crafts - anything goes.

Phindy's #65 Sharing Daniel's icecream

2011-07-22T08:00:00.055+01:00

Theme at Phindy's Place - use two of something

Yes, it doesn't matter what the two of something is - could be images/buttons/brads etc - just this week we would like to see where using 2 takes you. My card uses the image of 'Sharing', though whether his generosity is through his misfortune of spilling his dripping ice or vaguely intentional, is perhaps debatable! LOL. I have visions of him moving off towards the sea, seeing a wave rolling in under his feet & promptly plopping down into the ripples. Yes, I know - you are asking yourselves why I have put a caterpillar onto sand - but there again, why not? LOL. Maybe the little lad brought his pet caterpillar on holiday with him! LOL.

The image has been coloured with Promarkers though I also paper pieced a couple of elements of his clothing - two pieces of course, LOL, his shorts & sun hat. The other sets of 2 on my card are: 2 rows of stitching, 2 eyelets, 2 Flemish knots in 2 'ropes' (aka string!) & 2 corners embellished with triangles. I do have two images....it is just that the second one is in the inside, along with a recoloured sentiment from Elegant WordArt and the birthday wishes I added on the PC.

Hope you like it and would love to join in with the challenge at Phindy's Place this week. If you can use one of Phindy's images, we just love seeing them, but it isn't compulsory - though as an incentive you can add your card twice into the challenge to double your chances of winning. What is more, if you just love Phindy's images do you know there is a DT call on? Sadly, my time is nearly up but this gives you the chance to be part of a great team. If you think you might be interested & would like a few more details it is on the blog here. In the mean time, I hope to see your entries at Phindy's Challenge this week.

Tine :)

Challenges I would like to enter this card for:
Sweet Stampin' - one for the boys
Pink Gem - let's hear it for the boys
Designed2Delight - go to the beach
Lexi's - on the beach
City Crafter - it's a shore thing
Paper Playtime - summer
Fussy & Fancy - summer
Ladybug - summer birthdays
Charisma - sunshine colours
Stamptacular Sunday - animal antics
Creative Card - animal antics
Stamp Challenges - something embellished
Allsorts - free 'n' easy July

#75 'Twas The Night Before Christmas......

2011-07-20T08:00:00.027+01:00

Theme at I ♥ Promarkers - Christmas in July
This week's sponsor - Crafts4You (3 sets of sentiments of winner's own choice)

If your conscience is pricking that you haven't made any Christmas cards so far this year, here is the perfect opportunity to make a start & possibly win a prize into the bargain. Grab those Promarkers ladies & gents & join in with us our challenge this week!

I chose to use this lovely mouse & candle image from the talented Elizabeth Dulemba and used not one but two sentiments from our sponsor this week - the linear one echoing the title of the poem our illustrious mouse is reading, the other just reinforcing the date of celebration. Mind you, as my son was only too quick to point out, surely I should have used the 24th rather than the 25th given the title of said poem! LOL.

I have used papers from Barely Mine, inking around some of the edges with Distress Inks & then distressing the edges before sewing into position. The one with the golden 'Merry Christmas' message in the design I also added a couple of gold borders to, as cutting it down to size lost the golden border it had originally & I wanted to match it in. The main cardstock for the base is rather glitzy & 'posh' in itself with a kind of dual tone sparkle to it and the base mat has also this fabulous sparkling sheen to it but my photographic skills sadly can't do them justice. I also inked the Fleur de Lis shape behind the circular sentiment & touched the edges with gold to match the gilded paper.

This time around, for the insert I went down the more traditional route adding a sentiment etc. to folded paper. I did however, add a lightened version of the image itself, placing it behind the extract of the poem (just the first 2 verses) & I can add the 'to' & 'from' by hand on the opposite side at a later date when I know who I am sending it to. LOL.

Hope you all like it!

Tine :)

Challenges:
Simply Create - Christmas time
Digi Stamps 4 Joy - Christmas in July
Jellypark - Christmas in July
Crafty Pad - Christmas in July
Paper Sundaes - Christmas in July
Creative Inspirations - Christmas in July
Christmas Card Challenges - Christmas in July/optional theme, 'faith'
Crafty Emma - Christmas
Rainbow Lady's - a stitch in time
Stamptacular Sunday - animal antics
Deep Ocean - ribbon
Allsorts - free 'n' easy July.

Phindy's #64 Setting The Stars

2011-07-15T08:00:00.079+01:00

Theme at Phindy's Place - pastel colours

Welcome all, and my card for Phindy's today uses the rather seasonal image of 'Setting the Stars' and I have coloured her with Promarkers, setting her in a Nestie shape. I went with a more limited pastel palette of just blues & creamy yellows, picking out the colours from the single dp.

The paper is one from Bearly Mine with white stars amongst the swirly background. I have my angel popping the stars onto it, flying above the swirling clouds to do so. Yes, I know you are thinking that this is probably an odd colour choice for what could well be a night time scene - after all, you don't see the stars at any other time. But that is the reason for my pastel colourway. The stars are always there - day or night - just obscured by daylight and what better a time for a busy angel to be sorting the stars out, unseen to human eyes!

For the swirly cloud I embossed white card and cut out by hand a cloud shape from it, inking the edges with Distress Ink. I then did another cloud in the same shape but this time in plain card and off-set that against the swirly one. I then added this fab bit of lace which reminded me of falling rain - but then again, that is probably only me! LOL. The only real concession to it being a more wintery theme other than the Christmas-like angel image is the distressed edges I gave to the design paper & the plain card behind which I then also ran some paint over to catch on the raised texture. I hope this gives the impression of tiny snow drifts. The sentiment set in a circle & recoloured blue is from TLC.

The actual card shape itself is a tent card, and yes, it is my second this week but this time around it is more conventional - a square with no shapes jutting out - well, the cloud does a tiny bit, but I am not counting that. LOL. As it is the tent shape and doesn't open out, then my main sentiment plus the 'to' & 'from' are on the back rather than inside the card. For this I made a pocket using the same paper & card as the front & there is a tag into the pocket for the recipients' names to be added by hand later. The larger silver mirri star on the top of the tag has a foam pad behind to raise it above the layered Nestie shapes below and helps keep the tag in position. The stars running along the back of the card have either been punched from vellum or card and have either been given a dose of Crafter's Companion Spray & Sparkle, an outline of blue Stickles (or a bit of each) or given a shadowy outline with a Promarker like the stars on the image itself. As is usually the case, none of the sparkle is really showing up in the photo.

The sentiment I printed out in blue rather than the regular black and was made on the PC. I shall pop it on here if you would like to use it in the future yourselves.

I hope that you will be able to play along with us at Phindy's this week. As ever, you don't have to use one of her images on your card but if you do you can enter your card twice to double your chances of winning.

Tine :)

Challenges I wish to enter this card for are:

Cupcake Crafts - use your favourite Cupcake challenges (here I have used: #39 Christmas, #106 let's get digital [paper & image], #133 up in the air & #57 sing a Christmas Carol [Angels from the Realms of Glory])
Digital Tuesday - digi + use dies (digi paper & image +Spellbinders)
Digi Stamps 4 Joy - Christmas in July
Stamp Something - Christmas in July
Divas By Design - pastels
Crafty Pad - lots of texture (distressed edges/paint/embossed cloud/lace)
Paperplay - things with wings
Stamping for the Weekend - wings & things
Rainbow Lady - stitching
Charisma - it's in the stars
Crafty Catz - tags (on the reverse, in the pocket)
Winter Wonderland - embossing
Barely Mine - anything goes
Simon Says - anything goes.

Eat More Cake

2011-07-14T08:00:00.115+01:00

My card today is a special one, made specifically to play along at Catered Crop where I am lucky enough to be the Guest Chef this time around.

The criteria for the FTR 16 recipe is:

* Colours – red, white, green, and brown
    * Stamps and Stickers – cake, flowers, mice, strawberries
    * Patterns – circles, checked/gingham
    * Color Mediums – markers (ProMarkers, Copics)
    * Embellishments – banners
    * Tools – border punches
    * Techniques - faux stitching, doodling/drawing
    * Theme – birthday

- the red text highlighted ones shown above I have used on this particular card but to play along you just choose any from the list.

The image is called 'Celebrate with cake', available from Phindy's Place and I have coloured her with Promarkers giving her red patent shoes that any little girl would be proud of. The Martha Stewart border punch I did my 'cutting it through to go round a circle' trick for the front of the card and the sentiment within the oval shape on the front is from TLC, placed in a die cut with slots in for the ribbon. I had to be a bit crafty with that narrower ribbon too, as I found that I had run out of narrow red so coloured my fabby white satin ribbon from Fantastic Ribbons with Promarkers instead. It goes a little stiff once dried, but on the positive side that does make it all the easier to stick down! LOL.

When I was sketching out what I wanted to do with the inside of the card I realised that my papers made it look rather like a fruit cake with a paper 'sash' around the middle (like my mum used to put onto our Christmas cake). There again, maybe that is just my hectic imagination again & no one else can see it! LOL. With that thought though, I then added the frilled punched borders & faux stitching to the 'sash' and it was mounted onto the inside of the card to create a pocket for my 'to' & 'from' tag to go into. The top of the tag I drew in pencil to look like a candle (albeit a short, stocky one) on top of dripping icing and when in the pocket, the top lines up exactly with the back of the card. - so it looks like the candle is on top of the cake when in position.

I would like to thank Linda & the lovely ladies over at Catered Crop for choosing me as Guest Chef and asking me to play along with them this week. I hope they, & you, like my resulting card! I am sure they would love it if you could join in too. Just choose as many items from the provided recipe as you like to use on your card.

Happy crafting,

Tine :)

Challenges I would like to enter this time around are:

Sweet Sketch Wednesday - design layout

Cupcake - use your favourite Cupcake challenges (#43 - something sweet)
Ooh-la-la - tag it (functional tag on the inside of the card)
Wags 'n' Whiskers - birthdays
Kaboodle Doodles - use scissors (I always have to cut my circles with scissors as I don't have a circle nestie or anything but of course, I can have any size of circle I like! LOL - also I had to cut around the candle & flame with scissors)
Ladybug - summer birthdays
Penny's - birthdays
Fab & Funky - baker's dozen (food)
Scrap-Creations - at least 2 papers & 2 embellishments (ribbons & gems)
Cute Card Thursday - circles
Barely Mine - anything goes
Simon Says - anything goes.

#74 Beer Monster

2011-07-13T08:00:00.034+01:00

I ♥ Promarkers Recipe - 2 dps, 2 buttons/gems/brads & one ribbon
This weeks prize sponsor - Sassy Studio

Yes, there are indeed only 2 papers on this one....I just split them up and mixed 'em up, not to mention tearing one & then inking them all up with Distress Inks. I chose the layout over at CLP this month (...well, my take on it, LOL so I hope the ladies over there like my version). I teamed the papers with glossy black card stock and made a variation of Dena's fab tent card (shallower & longer so I got the deviations in dimension & layers - & without the hole in the middle).

All colouring has been done with Promarkers and a couple of Tria pens. The image itself is an 'oldie but a goodie' from Pollycraft called 'Beer Monster', which kind of says it all really and I gave him a Man City coloured T-shirt as I am thinking of sending this to my brother-in-law - ( & I am sure my sister-in-law will definitely see the funny side! LOL.) As for the other required elements for the challenge this week, I drew my own buttons and made them 4-hole to be 'extra manly' LOL and these were popped onto the card using Pinflair Gel. The 'ribbon' is another of my variations as I made this from plaiting twine and sewing it down onto the card itself to secure - again more 'manly' that satin would be. LOL.

As it is the tent card shape it doesn't open out, but the 'to' & 'from' can be popped onto the reverse of the card. I just love all the dimensional layers with this one. Hope you do too!

Tine :)

Challenges I would like to enter this card for are:

CLP - design sketch
Creative Belli - make your own embellies (buttons)
Just Us Girls - make your own paper buttons
Paper Crafting Journey - for him
Gem of a Challenge - let's hear it for the boys
Crafty Creations - boyz to men (male cards)
Wags 'n' Whiskers - birthdays
Craft Your Days Away - fancy folds (tent fold)
Cupcake - use your favourite Cupcake Challenges of the last 150 ( here I have used #25-fancy fold & #138-lots of layers)
Crafty Pad - texture (lots of varying layers & plaited twine)
Simon Says - anything goes
Digital Tuesday - digi + dies (digi image & papers +bracket die cuts)
Kaboodle Doodles - use scissors (- for cutting around my 'buttons')
Scrap-Creations - at least 2 papers & 2 embellishments (buttons & brackets)
Barely Mine - anything goes.