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Sunday 27 February 2011

Bee Bear

Over at the CDAC Just Some Lines is the host for the colour challenge and has given us this gorgeous freebie to work with and the spring colours of pink, blue, green & yellow.

I started with the sketch from the latest challenge over at Basic Grey and thus with the exception of the scrap of yellow damask paper from Papermania, all the other papers are by BG from the Two Scoops collection.

The image has been coloured with Promarkers and I used a new Marianne Creatables die to cut it out. This is such a pretty frame and I have only just used it this weekend!! I have used another die to cut the sentiment mat. The sentiment is a Papermania adhesive sticker with some glitter added to it.

Accessories are mulberry paper daffodils, Flora Doodles fabric flower with matching centre. Double layered dahlias with Paperchase gem centres, lacy pink ribbon from the Rag Market and yellow bow from Papermania.

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:-

Thursday 24 February 2011

I'm on the AI Factory Design Team


Have you seen this post on the AI Factory Blog??


The news I was bursting to tell you, but sworn to secrecy is that I have been selected to be a member of the new Design Team from March. Tammy had asked if I was interested in applying and initially I said no, purely because of my current situation I was wary of taking too much on and didn't want to let anyone down. I told myself off for my own negativity, I have worked hard in the blog world to improve my cards and get on DT's and I'm not the kind of person to let anyone down anyway so I did apply and was accepted.

I am looking forward to playing with these new images, I have seen some real cuties already. The DT call was so successful that we have 2 teams and will submit on alternative weeks so with therapy and a possible new venture all my DT work should dovetail nicely.

Congratulations to the other successful applicants, I'm looking forward to getting to know them.

Tuesday 22 February 2011

Recent Challenge Successes

My goodness I have been so fortunate over the last few days to win 5 challenges and all with the same 2 projects.

I honestly can't believe my luck. I have entered challenges for so long with little success and right at the time when I need the confidence boost I am getting it. At a time when I've got no income the free crafty goodies are pretty fab too :) I am really enjoying throwing myself into my crafting and it is great therapy for me at the moment.

I've got some good news to tell you tomorrow but I've got to keep it secret until then........

Happileigh Scrappin' Challenge HLSC #11

Again, I must apologise for being late with my post for the latest challenge over at Happileigh Scrappin' Challenges. Paul and I went for a lovely weekend away and stayed at an old mill in Somerset, it was so quiet and peaceful and we even went to the seaside :)

We've got our 1st ever sketch challenge this week and Leigh has given us the choice if a simple version or a more fancy one. I had intended to do the simple one but my card sort of grew all on it's own and it was a great sketch to work with.


Leigh has got some great digi's released into the Happi Scrappin' Store this week, however I chose one of the gorgeous digis from last week, Jenny Jeans.


I chose a colour scheme of blue and brown and coloured the image with Promarkers. I cut the image out using the 'Out of The Frame' technique which I have done for the first time following a tutorial I had seen on another challenge blog. I always thought if your Nestie was too small you couldn't use it to cut out your image, how wrong was I? LOL

Anyhoo, the papers are from Creative Cardmaking magazine. The big gems are Paperchase, the little gems and sequin flowers are from a Let's Make Cards pack. The swirl is actually 2 double sided Doodlebug stickers that I have added glitter to. The paper flower was one that I made by cutting a swirl out of a circle. It is the first time have made one of those and I am not sure if it looks right but it has a lot of dimension. I added a bit of silver marker to the edge. The ribbon is a chocolate velvet which feels so lovely and last but not least the sentiment is one that has been recycled from a shop bought card.

Please do take a minute to have a look at the rest of the DT's cards as there are some beauties on there and I hope we will see your entries in our challenge this week.

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:-

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge # 40

OMG, I am so late with my DT card, Vix will be threatening to chuck me off the DT! Paul and I went for a lovely weekend away and stayed at an old mill in Somerset, it was so quiet and peaceful and we even went to the seaside. Anyhoo, I digress and must get back to the job on hand.....

This week Gill has set the challege to feature a fairy and you must use at least 2 punches (NOT DIECUTS!!)

We are sponsored for this one by the lovely

Who has once again offered a gift certificate of £10 to one lucky winner. I myself have shopped there many times and their service is superb. I've never had any out of stocks and the despatch them very quickly.

So onto my offering for this challenge:-


Do you know I went through my ever expanding collection of digital stamps and I only have 6 fairies!! I am sure that is something that would give Vix the sweats as she luvs her fairies and is brilliant at colouring them in. If you have never visited her blog before you NEED to, her cards are so detailed and I am in awe of how good they are. I will never be able to colour as good as she does but I have improved an awful lot :) I am not normally into fairies but I have to admit I really enjoyed colouring this one in.

The Daisy Fairy image is from Prairie Fairy and for the card I chose a colour scheme of Purples and Yellow as they are lovely spring colours and I just want this blooming dull weather to go away now please.....I have coloured the image with Promarkers and really concentrated on my shading to try and add depth to it. I think this is one of my better efforts, for some reason I find working with purples easier than most other colours. I have added a clear Sakura glitter pen to the wings to make them shimmer 'cos little fairies have to have twinkle don't they?

The dotty paper in the background is MME, the yellow stripe is Papermania. I cut a strip of this paper for the yellow 'ribbon' and trimmed a piece of purple cardstock with a Martha Stewart punch.

I also used 2 flower punches to create my little daisies and added some bling to the centres. I made my own stick pin from some hat pins I bought at a haberdashery. The faceted bead came from a necklace I bought at the Rag Market for £1. It had loads of yellow and brown beads on like these and was worth chopping up for that price! I added 2 small purple beads from my stash and there is a glue dot inside the last bead which holds it all in place.

The butterfly is a mirrored glass embellishment I bought from Hobbycraft. There were 3 designs in the bag and they are so pretty. I have just added some gems to the centre and a small sentiment from an assorted pack by Anita's

I hope you will visit the Crafty Cardmakers blog and take part in this challenge. The rest of the DT have made some fabulous creations. Also take a visit to our new Crafty Cardmakers Spotlight blog where the spotlights plus tutorial will be going shortly and we are having a DT call at the moment.

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:-

Thursday 17 February 2011

Love a Latte




This chocolate & cream creation is a digi from Designed 2 Delight, it's the perfect hot chocolate with frothy cream, sprinkles and chocolate curls, Nom Nom Nom.......

I used Promarkers to colour the design, and cut out the image using a Nestabilities die and mounted on 3D foam pads. The DP is from Dovecraft and I used a velvet ribbon & some lace. All the papers and cardstock has been distressed with a small brown ink pad. I love using a small one for this as you can get into the nooks and crannies better ad I have better control with it :)

This is the very last of the Valentine's cards I made although I do have some images that I coloured in but didn't make it to a card in time. They may re-appear as a different project now.....

I would like to enter this into the following challenges:-

Forever Friends Envelope Bag


I made this gift bag to contain the tin I made Paul for Valentine's Day as well as some Face Masks for men so I can pamper him when we go away for a hotel break soon. It is made from a large envelope which has been re-folded to give it a base like a shop bought gift bag.

I have decorated it using a Forever Friends clear sticker on some Nestabilities mats. The papers are from the Love Letters pad from Trimcraft. I have added some faux stitching around the edges with some little kisses - you've got to have kisses for Valentines day :)

The little puffy hearts are from Paperchase and the punched border and hearts are courtesy of Martha Stewart. The sentiment is digi from Doodle Pantry and I tied the bag with an organza ribbon which has been threaded through punched holes courtesy of my Cropadile.

Paul is a keen amateur photographer and has just been invited to take part in a photo shoot with a real life model and everything. There is only a small number of people invited so it is a real achievement for him. I am so very proud of him as when he takes up a hobby he spends a lot of time learning and researching and he has taken some lovely photos. He has a very good eye for depth of field and has taken some amazing portraits. Only trouble is the shoot is on his Mom's birthday and he's yet to break the news to her........

I would like to enter this into the following challenges:-

Wednesday 16 February 2011

2 Peas in a Pod


This little beauty is the card I made for Paul for Valentines's day. It is part of a digistamp set called Romantic Vegetables from Little Musings by SJ. I follow her on Facebook and as soon as I saw these 2 little peas in a pod I KNEW that this was the image. However, due to IT and printer issues I nearly didn't get to print it off in time. My knight in shining armour came to the rescue once more. (love you loads sweetie xxx)

I used a very simple sketch from Order of the Opus Gluei as I wanted the image to be the main focal point. It has been coloured with Promarkers and I paper pieced the peas and the front of the pod to add dimension. There is a tiny heart on the image but I covered it up with a gold brad to tie in the brad and gems on the velvet ribbon (one of my Hobbycraft bargains, 29p for 2m!) I matted the image on a Nestie with a gold gilding pen border.

The paper is from the Woodland folks range by Papermania and the sentiment is a digi from Doodle Pantry which has been cut out using a Quickutx cookie die.

I would like to enter this into the following challenges:-