Another Attempt with Watercolour Paper

Yes, I've been having another go. Well, the sheets of watercolour paper are A4 sized, so I printed out four images at once. This time, I've used an image I've used several times before but which remains a favourite. It's another Crafts and Me digi - this time from Sara Burrier.

I've combined several favourites into this card! First, there's the image which I do love. Then, there's the colour scheme. I love blues with peaches and golds. And then there's the punched background. one of the reasons I like die cuts is because of their clean, hard edges. There's nothing woolly about them. But before I invested in my first die cutter, I used punches. This punch is one of a pair I bought at a show at Olympia before they decided to switch to just stitching and knitting. They came with a little bracket which allows you to do repeat patterns. It's much simpler than the more recent Tonic device (which I've also got).

I coloured the image with Promarkers on some Clas Ohlsen watercolour paper. I managed to create a stippled effect in the stonework which i think worked fairly well, and I added a background in shades which (I hope) are reminiscent of a beautiful sunrise (or sunset). I finished with a little Sakura Stardust pen on her dress, wings and hair.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:

Sister Act where anything goes,
ABC where 'V is for Vibrant',
Emerald Faerie where they want 'things with wings',
Sisters of Craft where anything goes,
Crafting at the Weekend where anything goes,

One Stitch at a Time Challenge 110

This week at One Stitch at a Time, we're having an 'anything goes' week! So, show us what you've got! Our sponsors are

and

 

My image this week is from Sylvie's Stamps, available from Stitchy Bear Digital Stamps, and it's called Swans.

I was tempted to do an 'all white' card with this gorgeous image, but decided to add some silver for contrast. The image has some shading with Promarkers and I've given the background a touch of colour using some Flexmarkers.

I cut the border from silver mirror card using a Martha Stewart border punch, and embossed some white card using some Sizzix folders. The image and mat were cut using some nesties.

I loved the clean lines of the result, so I decided to simply add a sentiment (from the 99p shop!) to finish.

Hope you can join us this week.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:

Whoopsie Daisy where anything goes,
Craft Your Passion where they want die cuts and punches,
Crafty Boots where they want 'no girls',
Incy Wincy where they want digis,
Lexi's Creations where they want die cuts and punches,
Bearly Mine where they want embossing
Crafty Sentiments where they want us to use a digi,
Whimsy Stamps where they want die cuts and punches,
Wags 'n' Whiskers where it's anything goes,
Di's Digi Designs where they want to meet 'our animal friends'.

One Stitch at a Time Challenge 109

This week at One Stitch at a Time, our theme is Bright! A theme close to my heart!

Our sponsor this week is

My image this week is from Hope Jacare, called Treehouse with Bridge, and it's available at Stitchy Bear Digital Stamps. I love Hope Jacare images - they're so quirky but gorgeous too, and they look perfect in really bright colours!

I coloured the image with Promarkers. The paper is from a Kate Knight pad that came with a recent magazine, and I made the flowers using punched shapes coloured with the same Promarkers. To finish, I've used a whole length of that gorgeous floral lace I've been hoarding for ages. (I've never used as much on a single project before!) I think it's perfect for both the image, and the theme.

Hope you can join us this week.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:

Pink Elephant where they want flowers,
Paper Makeup where they want bright colours,
House of Gilli where they want flowers,
Truly, Madly, Crafty where they want hand-made flowers,
Use it Tuesday where they want flowers,
Sassy Cheryl where anything goes,
Crafts and Me where they want 3D embellishments,
Crafty Creations where they want flowers,
Prairie Fairy where anything goes,

One Stitch at a Time Challenge 108

This week at One Stitch at a Time, our theme is 'Use a Digi'!

Our sponsor this week is

This week, Hazel and I are both using a gorgeous image from Ike's Art available at the Stitchy Bear Shop, called Peacock.

I coloured the image with Promarkers. The paper was put together in Photoshop Elements using an enlarged, repeated area of feathers from the image and colouring it with several gradients using colours to match the image.

The flowers were made using punched shapes with added (Promarker coloured) sticky gems, with some added gold punched swirls and leaves.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:

Can You Digi It? where they want us to find our inner peacock!
Kaboodle Doodles where they want anything but a rectangle,
Anything Goes where anything goes,
Oozak where anything goes,
Cupcake Crafts where they want bugs and birds and wings and things,
ATCs and Cards with Attitude where anything goes,
Wags and Whiskers where they want us to 'say it with flowers',
4 Crafty Chicks where they want flowers,
A Gem of a Challenge where they have a photo inspiration of a beautiful aquamarine gem.

One Stitch at a Time Challenge 107

This week at One Stitch at a Time, our theme is 'New'! And we're sponsored by

This week, I got some gorgeous papers from Panda Bear Designs to work with, as well as a lovely image from Stitchy herself!

So, of course, I decided to go for the theme 'new wardrobe'!

The image is coloured with Promarkers to match the gorgeous papers. I printed the image a little smaller than I usually would to show off the background! And then, to finish, I made some flowers using a couple of punches, colouring the card with the same Promarkers as I used in the image.

Hope you can join us this week!

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:

Stamps +Fun where they want us to make our own flowers,
Party Time Tuesdays where anything goes,
Squigglefly where anything goes,
Crafty Purple Frog where anything goes,
For Your Inspiration where there's a photo inspiration (I chose the colours),
ATCs and Cards with Attitude where anything goes,
Cardmadfairy where they want die cuts or punches (flowers made from punched shapes)
Mark's Finest Papers where they want square cards,

One Stitch at a Time Challenge 85

This week, One Stitch at a Time is giving you the chance to win some gorgeous images or papers from the Stitchy Bear shop. The theme this week is embossing - so whatever occasion you're making cards for, add some embossing and let us see what you've done!

My image this week is from Ginger Loft, and it's called Christmas Door. It's so lovely and detailed that I thought I'd leave it just as it is. Well, except for adding some glitter.

The white background has been embossed using a couple of folders from Papermania and my Wizard. The snowflakes were die cut using some Marianne Creatable dies, and the card is standard black that's been sprayed with Crafter's Companion Spray and Sparkle in Irridescent.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
Ooh La La where it's snowing,
Charisma Cards where they want embossing,
Paperplay where they want us to use black,
Shelley's Images where anything goes,
Some Odd Girl where they want a black and white image,
One Stop Craft Challenge where they want no design paper,
Paper Sundaes where they want (among others) black and sparkly
Pan Pastel where they want glitter.

But, because I got carried away with the image, I forgot the purpose of the challenge was embossing, so I made another card first.

This time I added a little colour with Promarkers, and I added a 'wreath' made with gold-coloured jewellery wire and some beads. The background paper is from Trimcraft, and I finished the card with some punched pieces. The border uses a star punch I've had for ages, and gold mirror board, and I used the cut out stars and some larger ones in gold to finish the card.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
4 Crafty Chicks whose theme is 'marker it up',
Christmas Inspirations where they want punches or die cuts.

(I may be late actually linking for these challenges - hope that's ok.)

Hope you can join us this week.

One Stitch at a Time Challenge 79

It's been a while since I've done a DT card for OSAAT, but I've decided it's time to get back to normal. So, this is my card for this week's challenge which is that easiest of options - anything goes!

Our sponsors this week are The Stamping Boutique, and there's a fabulous prize to be won, so what're you waiting for?

My image this week is from Stitchy Stamps and it's called Night Angel. I've made a Christmas card, but the image isn't limited to Christmas - I think it could be used for a lot of other reasons.

The image was coloured with Promarkers and Stardust pens for the wings and details, then mounted onto mirricard which I cut with what is probably my favourite nestibility - the Fleur de Lis Rectangle. The paper is from Personal Expressions, and I finished it with some die cut and punched stars.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
Flutterby Wednesdays where the theme is 'anything goes with an angel, fairy or butterfly',
Creative Card Crew where anything goes,
Crafty Boots where anything goes,
Di's Digi Design Challenge where anything goes.
Mark's Finest Papers where they want punches (plain stars are punched).

Watercolouring with Distress Inks and Making Flowers

The other day, I decided to have a flower-making day. I wanted to try out some ideas using some of the newer punches I've got. And to make them a bit more interesting, I first prepared some card coloured with distress inks. (Thanks, Jack, for the tip to dry each colour separately - it definitely worked better that way.)

Some of the flowers looked great, but there's no way I could use them on a card - they'd be much too big - but I've put them away for boxes and such. But some others were fine, so I made a card to show them off.

Since I had the distress inks out, I decided to have a go at watercolouring with them. (Well, the brown is actually Momento ink because I don't have a brown DI.) I'm not sure how well it'd have gone if I'd had very specific colours in mind - or if I'd been doing a flesh tone - but I was happy enough with the result. The image is one I was lucky enough to win from Digi Doodles recently. I printed it on watercolour paper. (If any of you are lucky enough to have a Clas Ohlsen near you, check out their art supplies - the watercolour paper I used is from them and it's light enough to go through my printer with ease.)

The flowers used a mixture of a Martha Stewart cornflower punch and various sun punches, and all colour is distress ink.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
Daisy Doodles where anything goes (providing you use a digi)
Paper Creations Ink where they want flowers,
I Did it Creations where the theme is nature,
Sparkles Forum where the theme is 'punch it',
Jellypark Challenges where the theme is 'punch it',
Papercrafting Journey where anything goes,
Digi Doodles where anything goes,
Totally Gorjuss where the theme is 'as you like it',

A Charming Challenge at One Stitch at a Time!

This week at One Stitch at a Time, we want you to dig out your charms and use one! That's all! I chose this challenge, because I've got charm I've had for years, and I just don't ever think to use them. In fact, having set the challenge, I decided to use a black and white handbag charm, and then designed the card around it.

And, even better, we're sponsored by Creative Craft World, and the prize is 5 Promarkers!

I was lucky enough to be able to choose an image from Beary Dust this week - she's called 'Glam' and she's available here.

I've done something very unusual for me - I've gone for black, white and silver! (I do love my colour.) But, something about the name of the image made me think of this colourscheme, and that was that. The image is coloured with Promarkers in a range of skintones and greys. I dabbed the background with Brilliance Ink in silver with a coarse paintbrush, and cut the image with one of my label nesties. The circle is also a nestie - pinking circles - and I've wound some pretty white sparkly thread around it to make a frame for my charm. The flowers are also cut with my nesties - Blossom 2, and the white layer edged with more Brilliance silver. The papers come from a CD from Crafty Computer Paper called Crafty Image Emporium, although the originals were red and blue so I recoloured as you see (and printed greyscale just in case there was any colour left). The ferns were punched.

Hope you can join us this week.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
My Grafico where anything goes,
Simon Says Stamp where they want 1 image, two papers (background and flowers) and thee different embellishments (flowers, handbag charm and spirelli-style circle)
Bling it On where anything goes providing there's bling (flower centres) and a charm.

Digi Doodles where they want 'black and white'
Paper Playtime where 'anything goes with a digi'
Papertake Weekly where 'anything goes'
KB Cute Monday where 'anything goes with a digi'
Craft your Days Away who want black and white
Cardmad Fairy's Digital Challenge where they want Glitz and Glamour.

Lavender and Lace

It's always the same at this time of year. I've got to my box of made cards, taken what I need for the next few week's worth of birthdays, and I'm running out! It's the inevitable consequence of spending several months at the end of last year concentrating on Christmas cards. So, I took a look at some challenges for inspiration, and set to work.

The image is a Molly Harrison one from Crafts and Me, and she's been coloured with Promarkers and highlighted with Sakura Stardust pens. (You can't see that well in the photo - but I've given her wings a slight pattern, and glittered the stars and moons on her dress as well as giving the yellow parts of the flowers a bit of glitz.) The backing paper is from Personal Impressions, the lace from Hobbycraft and the flowers are from Prima (coloured with Promarker) and the local pound shop. The two types of fern were punched using my lovely new punches which arrived this morning.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
I Love Promarkers whose theme is 'Lavender and Lace'
Stamp, Scrap and Doodle Saturday who have set a punchy challenge this time,
Magical Monday who're looking for flowers

Paper Minutes who want flowers
Lil Red Wagon who want lace

An Anniversary Card

This week, Creative Craft Challenges is being sponsored by Stitchy Stamps. It's their first anniversary, and as a result, the theme this time is anniversaries. Now my oh and I are due to celebrate a 'big' anniversary next year. Unfortunately, the date's at the end of a really busy cardmaking period, and I often end up leaving it to the last minute and struggling to do something I like. So, seeing this challenge, I decided to get ahead of the game!

The image is from Stitchy Stamps and it's called 'The Raggedies'. Very appropriate, really, since both my oh and I could be considered to be 'past our best'! It's a lovely image to colour, which I've done with promarkers, and mounted it on mirri-silk type card. The background paper was designed in Photoshop Elements, as was the sentiment, and the hearts were punched.

I'd also like to enter this card into the following challenges:

Creative Card Crew who are looking for punches,
Sketchy Colors whose sketch I followed,
Incy Wincy where 'Anything Goes',
One Stop Craft Challenge where 'Anything Goes'
The Stamp Man who want 'Cards for Men' (It's for my husband.)
Crafty Purple Frog where 'Anything Goes'

And if you've started your Christmas crafting, don't forget that this week's One Stitch at a Time challenge is ... Christmas!

It's Those Christmas Baubles Again!

I said I'd made a couple of cards with the Craft Stamper freebie, and here's the second.

This time, I cut some hexagons and dabbed the centre areas with Distress Ink in Pine Needles and Worn Lipstick before stamping the image. I've glittered the baubles, then matted on gold, green and red mirriboard, punching the corners with a punch I've had for ages. Don't know who made that one - I was going to use a Fiskars corner punch but it jammed on me. I really don't have any luck with those things. And believe it or not, it jammed while I was lubricating it with wax paper.

The paper is from Papermania, and I used a dark red card blank.

One Stitch at a Time Challenge 22

The theme at One Stitch at a Time this week is Digi-Madness. A nice, easy challenge then - just use a digi-stamp somewhere on your design. And this week we're sponsored by Craft Brulee who have the most gorgeous lace and ribbon! Go and take a look.

I used a gorgeous digi from Robyn's Fetish called Daisy Days, available from the Stitchy Bear store, and don't forget there's still a 30% off sale on almost everything in the shop. 

Isn't she cute? And fun to colour too. I added the background before printing the image using a pastel blue/green gradient, then coloured with Promarkers. I also took the flower element of the image and repeated it on a border, and again coloured with Promarkers. The border punch is from Martha Stewart, and the flowers and leaves were punched. The striped backing paper was designed in Photoshop Elements to match the image colours, and the plain is from a magazine.

I hope you're able to join us this week at One Stitch at a Time.

And things are due to change again at Stitchy Bear stamps - no details for now, but watch this space - there'll be news soon.

I'd like to enter this card for the following challenges:

Sir Stampalot whose theme is 'Lazy, Hazy Days of Summer',
Crazy Challenge whose theme is 'It's Hip to be Square' (square card),
Polycraft whose theme is 'Bold and Bright',
Papertake whose theme is 'In the Garden',
For Fun Challenges whose theme is 'Favourite Colouring Techniques' (Promarkers and digital),
AI Factory which is looking for flowers,
My Partner in Crafting Crime whose theme is summer,
Allsorts whose theme is 'Summer Days'.

Fantasy and Flowers

This is one of my new stamps from Crafts and Me! It's another of Ching Chou Kuik's gorgeous images and like all the others I've got, it's wonderful to colour. Naturally, I used my Promarkers. One day soon, I'll have to have a go with my Twinkling H2Os for these stamps too, but then again, the Promarkers are just so much fun! I've highlighted her jewellery and some other detail with Sakura Stardust pen.

The sentiment is also from Sweet Pea Stamps. The flowers and leaves were made using various punches, and in the case of the largest flower layer, one of my Spellbinders blossom nesties (slightly altered to separate and round the petals a little). All the layers were cut from white card and coloured with Promarkers, except the smallest layers on the larger flowers which use Sakura Stardust pen, and they were shaped with various embossing tools, and finished them all with a sticky gem.

The backing paper's another one of my current favourites - from My Mind's Eye and those colours I just love!

This card fulfills the requirements for two challenges - Passion for Promarkers which calls for fantasy/mythology and I Love Promarkers which calls for make-your-own flowers.

Birthday!

Allsorts Challenge is celebrating its birthday, and the challenge there is to produce something birthday related.



I used an image from La Boite a Surprise. It's coloured with Promakers and I've added a little bit of glitz to the stamens with Sakura Stardust pens. I've layered the image, and then finished the card with papers from My Mind's Eye Pretty Please papers and some flowers, The flowers were also coloured with Promaker - the orange were assembled from punched layers and finished with a coloured pearl, and the red uses tissue paper cut in my Wizard. The sentiment is a label that also came from the My Mind's Eye pad.

The card fulfils the requirements of this time's challenge at Crafty Catz which requires the use of petals and pearls.

Brown, Khaki, Aqua and Cream

It's not a colourscheme I'd choose if left to my own devices. I love various turquoise shades with brown, but I'd normally be loath to add the khaki to the mix. But that's where colour challenges come in, isn't it? They get you to try things you otherwise wouldn't, and that's what this time's Colour Create challenge is asking for, with an optional extra of circles.



Now, the problem with challenges like this is that while pretty much everyone thinks of the same sort of colour when the basics like 'red' or 'yellow' are mentioned, some other colours are less clear - at least to me. And providing a sample on the site isn't foolproof either because in this case, the image looked like brown, pale turquoise and two shades of grey. Now I know that's a feature of my screen, but I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one with that problem. And then there's the definition of the colour. Khaki. To me, that's olive green, but a quick check of online sources suggests that there are many different khakis and they range from sea green through olive green to brown. So, I used my own 'definition'.

The image is a Sugar Nellie stamp and it's coloured with Promarkers. I used my trusty Wizard and nesties to cut various circles and a circular frame as well as the computer-generated sentiment. Then, I used the same nesties to cut layers of tissue paper which I then coloured with my Promakers to make the flowers. To finish it off, I added an element from the Spellbinders lattice pendant die, and then added a couple of leaf fronds cut with a punch. All of those were coloured with walnut Promarker. The background paper is my own design, using my Promaker colour chart to match the colours in the image, and Photoshop Elements to put it together using some shapes and gradients.

Ching-Chou Kuik Stamps

I got a few of these this last week, and I've been busy with them.

The stamps are all gorgeous, and I agonised over which to get. This one's 'Fluttering Butterflies' and it's been coloured with Promarkers chosen to work with the dark background paper. That came from a Papermania pad called 'Spring Life' that I picked up at the recent Olympia show. The colours are very definite and I suspect they might be quite hard to use, but I love the combination. The spotty paper is from the Pretty Please pad by My Mind's Eye that was a free gift from Cardmaking and Papercraft magazine a while ago. I've finished it off with some blue paper roses that came from the local 99p shop. They only had one pack of them - if there'd been more, I might've cleaned them out! I considered adding more, but the paper is so gorgeous, I didn't want to hide any more of it!

The card fulfils the requirements for the current Crafty Catz challenge.

I made another card, but this one isn't suitable for any current challenges.

This image is 'Fairy of the Night' and I coloured without considering backing paper. (Sometimes a mistake!) But, I found this one in the same Papermania pad. Again, I used Promarkers to colour the image, but this time, I added highlights in Sakura Stardust pen. I finished the card with flowers using made using some of my punches, and card coloured with Promarkers and Sakura Stardust pens.

I've Been Busy

It's been hard to do much cardmaking over Christmas due to more people in the house, to say nothing for the Christmas paraphanalia that always seems to be left around. I even had to put some of my bits away that normally stay within easy reach! But, even though it's a couple of days until twelfth night, things have got a bit quieter - eldest is back at work and two younger children at school (My school doesn't start until tomorrow!) And I managed to take over the table for long enough to make some cards.


This card uses a digi stamp from Cute Daisy May and I've teamed it with papers from Papermania and tried out my new Martha Stewart punch. The image is coloured with Promarkers, and I even pulled out a punch I've had forever that does those photo corners. The sentiment is computer printed and cut using my circle nesties.


This one is similar in layout, but uses a Sarah Kay stamp. The paper's from the same pad as the last card, and again, I've done a sentiment on the computer and cut it with my nesties.


A different layout this time, although the Martha Stewart punch was used again. This time the image is a Sugar Nellie stamp, and again, it's coloured with Promarkers. I didn't have any ribbon to match this peach/brown colourscheme, so I improvised, using the papers I'd used for matting and layering, punching one and embossing the other using a Cuttlebut border folder. Like the others, the sentiment is computer generated and cut with my nesties.



This one uses some more of the Kars Oliphant stamps I got for my birthday. I masked so I could add the dog and some grassy mounds behind. Oddly enough, what I thought were grassy mounds turn out to be hedgehogs in reality, but it's amazing what a bit of green colouring does! Again coloured with Promarkers, and with some more Papermania paper, and finished with an embossed flower I made a while ago and kept as a spare embellishment.