#97 Hooray! It's a Snow Day!

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!!!!!!

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

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

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'

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

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

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

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

...& on the inside.

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

Tine :)

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

Kenny K #71 L.O.L Drama Queen

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

Drama Queen in close up.

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

On the inside of the card

Have a great week crafters!

Tine :)

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

#93 A Mother's Love at Christmas

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

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

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

On the inside of the card.

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

Tine :)

Challenges:

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

Kenny K #70 Kids Cards

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

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

Take care,

Tine :)

#92 Chrissy Tree

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

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

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

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

Tine :)

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

Kenny K - #69 My Super Hero

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

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

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

Tine :)

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

For Sarah

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

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

On the inside of the card.

Hope you like my artistic deviation.

Tine :)

Challenges:

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

#91 Fishin' Buddies

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tine :)

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

Kenny K #68 Celebration

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

as well as our regular sponsor of course,

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

Happy crafting!

Tine :)

#90 Kisses From Heaven

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

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

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

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

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

Tine :)

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

Kenny K #67 Glitter & Bling

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

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

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!

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 :)