Serenity... and a card

Today I just may have had the most relaxing day ever.  We have enjoyed a few days off and today we went to Bath and visited the Thermal Spa.  The rooftop pool is just 100m or so from the Abbey, there are steam rooms with differently scented areas and there is a basement pool.  All use the hot spring water and are really, really warm.  Just blissful!

OK so despite all that laziness I do have a card to show you.  It's an "on the mend" card for a sewing friend, the patchwork block in the background is Churn Dash.  I've used Basic Grey Kioshi DP, a Martha Stewart punch and the digis are from Pink Petticoat.  The buttons at top right and the one on the flywheel of the machine are from my buttonbox.

My card is for the following challenges:
ABC Challenge - V is for violet
Creative Card Crew - anything goes
Inspirational Card Sketches - sketch
Papertake Weekly - pale, pretty pastels
Digital Tuesday - add some texture (popped up image, buttons)
Creative Craft - restful colours

Tiffany Doodles - sneak peek

This week's release at Tiffany Doodles includes this pretty crocus image.  I've coloured it with Copics, added some Kioshi Basic Grey DP, a bit of glitzy ribbon, some gems and a MS punch to come up with a Spring birthday card.  I followed the layout at Sketch Saturday.

My card is for the following challenges:

Sketch Saturday - sketch

Paper Sundaes - texture

Simon Says - emboss it (strip under ribbon)

Digital Tuesday - pretty punches

ABC Challenge - S is for sparkle

 

You're Sew Special

I'm just sneaking in under the wire for this week's Less Is More. When I saw the sewing digis at Pink Petticoat I broke my stash diet for them (to get both sets for a bargain price you understand ;) ) and I knew just what I wanted to make fpr the 3 squares recipe.  I had a go and managed to print my sentiment directly onto the card after reading the tutorial on Less Is More.  My printer only likes very thin card and usually I spraymount thicker stuff to a piece of paper but that's no good for a one layer card!  I couldn't get the sentiment as low as I'd have like but I wasn't prepared to feed too many card blanks through!  Digis are coloured with Copics and matted onto pink, pink ribbon from stash.

My card is for the following challenges:
Less Is More - Three squares
ABC Challenge - P is for pink

A Place to Pause

I have completely fallen for the new image from Phindy's Place, called A Place to Pause, very beautiful, very serene.  I found it didn't need much colouring, I made the stained glass windows as vibrant as I could and added Glossy Accents to them and to the lamps on the bridge.

I saw some lovely cards on sale with notched corners but was too stingy to buy them :), so I've used a small circle punch to make my own version, measuring out on the back and marking lightly with a pencil.  I like the effect, what do you think?  The DPs are Magnolia ones that I bought last year and loved so much I didn't use them.  I've since decided this is a daft idea, stroke them, love them, then USE them is what I should do!  I've added a Craftwork Cards sentiment, some snowflakes and sprigs of leaves cut with my new MS border punch.  And that's it, pretty simple.
My card is for the following challenges:
Sketch Saturday - sketch
A Spoonful of Sugar - snow/snowflakes
ABC Christmas - winter wonderland
Creative Cottage Challenge - someone special at Christmas
ABC Challenge - H is for Holidays
Cute Card Thursday - anything goes
Sassy Studio Designs - anything goes
Paper Sundaes - let it snow

I'm Nearly All White!

This started out when I saw the challenge at Simon Says Challenge, which this week is to make a card which is all white, with the exception of colour on any image that is used.  Gulp!  I found this really tricky and I will admit that I have cheated a little and my card may not be eligible.  I have two white dry-embossed pieces of card on here and it was just impossible to tell one from t'other, so I edged the snowflake embossed piece with Weathered Wood grey Distress Ink and ever-so-gently sponged some onto the diagonal grid that I'd put onto the larger piece.  In my defence, it took ages to make the grid with my Scor-pal and I couldn't bear it if all that hard work was invisible LOL!
The stamp is by Sheena Douglass and is one I bought at the NEC, stamped in Distress Ink.  I've used a brush and a little water to shade with the ink.  The snow on the rooftops and in the sky is Liquid Pearls and I've sprayed the whole image with iridiscent Spray & Sparkle by Crafter's Companion.  I suspect this is one of the aerosols one is not supposed to inhale, it smells just like Pear Drops - mmm! LOL.  It gives a lovely soft shimmer, hard to show it in the photo.  The gems are from stash, the sentiment is Craftwork Cards and the snowflakes were from a Woodware punch and a Spellbinder, both have clear Stickles on them.
I'm entering the following challenges with my card:
Simon Says Challenge - are you all white ?
Sketch Saturday - sketch
Paper Sundaes - let it snow
Pile it On - Christmas with animals (reindeer in sky!)
One Stitch at a Time - winter wonderland
Allsorts Challenge - the night before Christmas
One Stop Crafts - embossing
C.R.A.F.T. Challenge - dry embossing
The Creative Cottage - embossing
Winter Wonderland - sing a Christmas carol (Silent Night)

Craft Your Days Away - all white
CCEE Stampers - create a winter scene
Patty's Creations - Christmas card

DT Post - Phindy's Place Friday Challenge#29: 3-2-1-Go!

Welcome to Friday and welcome to another Phindy's Place Challenge.  Thank goodness it's nearly the weekend, I had a fun but tiring day at the NEC yesterday with my blogging freiends Val and Chrissie, meeting up with Viv and Maureen too.  We all went home with laden with goodies, had a fab time - at least I know I did!

OK back to the Challenge:  this week it is a 3-2-1 recipe in which you can choose your own ingredients.  I've used 3 x card candies as well as 3 x DP, 2 x sets of 2 ribbons, 1 x image and 1 x sentiment.  I've used the Saturday Sketch Challenge layout again, that must be a record for me to use the same sketch 3 times in a row!
I've used the adorable Jingle Bear image from Phindy's Place, colouring, cutting out and mounting him onto DP with a lovely snowflake pattern.  The sentiment is from Craftwork Cards.
I'm entering my card for the folloowing challenges:
Saturday Sketch Challenge - sketch
Charisma Cardz - with love at Christmas
ABC Christmas Challenge - W is for Winter Wonderland

Time for something different...

I've like the look of the paper pricking and seen the digis with templates at Fred She Said but not tried it out before.  This is my first go at it, I've used the Fall Flowers set and coloured in some pink asters.  The pricking was pretty but didn't show up as much as I would have wanted (need to use a bigger tool next time!) and I sponged the background with Distress Inks then spritzed it with water, which shows it off much better.  Then I tried another new technique:  I sponged over a stencil for a very clean and simple background to my card, which uses no DP.  I stamped a couple of swirls (Personal Impressions clear stamps) over the corners and added a few gems.  The card is an 8" pre-shaped card from Craftwork cards, bought and never used before.  Nice big blank to play with, think I'll be getting them out again soon...

I'm entering the following challenges with my card:
Stamp Something - digi
Aly's Sunday Challenge - distressed
2 Sisters Challenge - anything goes
ABC Challenge - f is for flowers

Pumpkin Bouquet

Good Morning!  It's absolutely perishing here with lovely blue skies and frozen ground.  I've a beautiful card to show you this morning that uses a Fred-She-Said digi that is a freebie over on Crafters Digital Arts Centre.  The freebie is part of a purple, green and orange challenge, click here to find the challenge and the freebie.  It's such a pretty image, I didn't want to add harsh bright colours to it so I was pleased to find a few sheets of paper left in my Green at Heart Basic Grey pad - ideal!  Coloured with Copics and some Stickles, I've followed this week's Friday Sketch Challenge.  The leaves are cut with a Marianne Creatables set and the sentiment is Joanna Sheen.
My card is for the following challenges:
Friday Sketchers - sketch
Paper Pretties - green, purple and orange
Creative Belli - pumpkins
Crafty Cardmakers - use a freebie - great challenge idea!
Basic Grey - Autumn, harvest time - asters are always in Harvest Festival flower arrangements, aren't they!

ABC Challenge - F is for flowers

Hope to see you over at Fred She Said and playing along in the challenge, don't forget to grab your freebie!

Autumn Splendour

The very talented Tracey at Fred She Said has a gorgeous new Autumn design of sunflowers and pumpkins, you can buy it here.  I've challenged myself to colour it, but if you don't want to the set includes a ready-coloured design that I plan to use printed multiple times for some decoupage cards, can't you just see those sunflowers popping off the page?
I'm not totally pleased with my card, I spent a long time fussing with the background, dotting and swirling Copics.  Didn't like it, sponged some Rusty Hinge Distress ink on top!  Also, I don't seem to have my image quite centred, I wonder if my Nestie sandwick slipped or maybe I just wasn't looking.  Oh well...
Background paper is from Artylicious Essence of Nature CD, I've added a bronze ribbon and some brown lace, sentiment is from Cratwork Cards.  I've followed the sketch from Midnight Madness Challenge, flipping it onto its side.
My card is also for the following challenges:
Everybody Art Challenge - Autumn
Creative Card Crew - Autumn
Your Next Stamp - Give Thanks (Thanksgiving)
Sweet Stampin' - Stitching
Paper Sundaes - Fabulous Fall
ABC Challenges - D is for Distressing

Cooking it up With Katie #29 - Autumn embossing and folding

This week's recipe at Cooking it up With Katie is a really fun one:  your ingredients are:  a fancy fold, embossing and Autumn.  I CASED my blogging friend Sylvia and made a zig-zag card which was easier to do than I expected!  Those HobbyArt Scene-It stamps came out again and I created an Autumn scene on watercolour paper,  using a mixture of Aquamarkers and Marvy le Plume pens.  Our trees haven't really changed colour yet but apart from that it is just how Lambourn looks in September.  I used a Crafts Too embossing folder and added a bit of raffia and a tree charm, just for fun.   Here's a side shot so you can see the shape of the card better:).
 I would like to enter my card for the following challenges:
Creative Card Crew Challenge - Autumn or Fall  
A Spoonful of Sugar - Autumn into Fall    
Allsorts Challenge - Colours of Autumn
ABC Challenge - C is for Charms
Incy Wincy Designs - Autumn Colours
Mark's Finest Papers - Autumn Colours
Fairy Fun Fridays - Embossing
Charisma Cardz - Try Something New (zig-zag card)
Digi Doodle Shop - Charm Me
Paper Play Challenges - Autumn

DT Post - Phindy's Place Friday Challenge #19 - Oh baby!

Welcome to this week's Phindys Place Challenge, this week we're challenging you to make a card for a baby or a child.  I've used the adorable image Something New with the cat and cat looking dubiously into the crib.  The gingham digi paper that I used to paper piece the frill on the crib and for background paper is a freebie from the lovely Bev Rochester, I've changed the scale for the frill and made it smaller than the background paper.   If you visit her blog they are available as downloads, check out the RH column and you'll find a link.  The card is based on this week's Sketch and Stash Challenge and I'm also entering it for the current ABC Challenge - B is for Blue , for Stamp Something's Digi Challenge and Stampin' for the Weekend's Anything Goes Challenge. 

Flowers are made with my Little Claire die, leaves are punched and I've used a Martha Stewart doily lace punch on the border.  Sentiment is Papermania.

DT Posting - Cooking it up with Katie #23 - get fruity, paper piecing, circles

Good morning and welcome to another Cooking it up with Katie Challenge!  Today the recipe is:

• get fruity
• paper piecing
• circles  so these are the elements you need to include in your project.   

This week's challenge is sponsored by Robyn's Fetish and the DT was kindly given images to use; my image is called Daisy Days.  I've based my card on Sketch'n'Stash's latest sketch, with my new stash being the image and neglected stash is the Papermania DP that I bought a while back that has been sitting in my drawer.  


Daisy's hat, dungarees, shirt and flower are all paper pieced in the citrus colours, lime ribbon around the Martha Stewart picket fence is from stash, as are the gems, and the sentiment is from Craftwork Cards.


The colourscheme fits Papertake Weekly's  theme of white and bright and Crafty Cardmakers' Challenge is to use punches (picket fence).  Finally, the ABC Challenge is back to A is for...  with August.  Daisy Days looks like a summery August gal to me (it's raining outside as I'm blogging this LOL) and I'm entering her for this challenge too.

A tale of two stamps

I'm lucky enough to have a DH who will go to the local craft shop and buy me things for birthday and Christmas. Last Christmas he bought me a really unusual Hero Arts stamp, the first of the Clings that I had seen, a negative of a field of flowers. I stamped it out a few times and really liked it, brayered inks across the surface and did a few other things. Set it to one side, as you do, then when I wanted to use it, around March time, it had vanished. I turned my craft room upside down, DH looked everywhere, I looked everywhere, with no luck. In the end, yesterday, I admitted defeat and bought another Cling as a substitute. I joked in the shop that now I'd bought another the original would turn up. This afternoon, lifting down one of my ring binders of stamps, I noticed something on the shelf. Yes, the Cling had reappeared on the shelf that had been searched many times. Deeply weird; perhaps it was abducted by aliens who wanted to make cards...

So in celebration of its return I've made two cards:).
Card number 1 uses the new Cling of a bird in a circle on top of text. I've cut out and popped up the circle; flowers and bird are coloured with Copics, the background are sponged with Distress Ink. I used my MS hydrangea punch on the bottom of the mat for the image, the DP is Basic Grey Capella, I've dry embossed a couple of bits of pink pearlescent card and addded pearls to the centres of the flowers.

This card is for Sketch Saturday's Challenge, and it's colourscheme is based round this week's Simon Says Challenge of Pink or Blue with Green and Brown. My greens look a bit greyish but they are green! This week's ABC Challenge is V is for Vintage, Create4Fun has the same theme of Vintage and the theme at Quixotic Challenges is embossing.
Card two uses the original stamp on this week's Mojo Monday sketch. I've inked it with Distress Inks and added some gems to the daisy centres. They are yellow in real life, the photo isn't great. DP is K&K, sentiment is Craftwork Cards and ribbon is from stash.

ABC Challenge Guest DT - T is for Thank You

This is my second card as Guest Designer for the ABC Challenge, this week they are up to the letter T - is for Thank You. I've combined all sorts of images and sentiments here and had a lot of fun:). I've based my card on the Sketch Saturday Challenge and decided I was in a cupcake frame of mind:). I'm entering my card for A Spoonful of Sugar's Challenge to 3D something, and also to Pile It On, who have the theme "Make It Sweet" - think I've got that one covered:).

You can see the 3D layers here:The main image is It's All Yours, a fun digi from Phindy's Place, I've also used little cupcake stamps from Elusive Images, popped up on silicon glue. "Thanks" is a clear stamp for Dovecraft and "You Make Life Sweet" comes from Impression Obsession, I've combined them on an acrylic block to make my own sentiment. The papers are of course Nook & Pantry from Basic Grey on Bazzill Bling. I've coloured my images with Copics and Glossy Accents, there are 3 layers to my main image and the punch used on the bottom of the image is Martha Stewart.

GDT - ABC Challenge - S is for Sparkle

I was really excited to be invited to be a guest on the ABC Challenge blog for 2 challenges and here is my card for this week's challenge which is S is for Sparkle. Sparkle is such a fun challenge but for me, I find the really challenging part is taking a photo of a card with sparkles in it, they always seem to look better in real life:). Hopefully I've caught all the shimmer and sparkle here...

The image is the cute Baguette's Accessories yorkie dog from Shirleys2Girls, coloured with Copics and Stickles, head and paws popped up on silicon glue for extra dimension. The DP is all Craftwork Cards metallic papers, with shiny gold stripes, the image is matted onto gold mirri card. The little sparkly pearls came from Hobby House and match the DP papers perfectly.

Dogs... make our life whole

This is the second card I've made with the same digi image from Phindy's Place, for the multi-tasking challenge over on PCP, I hope you can join us and play along.

I've used the sketch from Saturday Sketchers Challenge for my inspiration. There is a lovely quotation on it that is a free download from Ann at Raindropecho, I'm entering my card in the ABC Challenge Q is for Quotation. Pile it On's challenge this week is Furry Friends and Cupcake Craft Challenge's theme is Food and Drink.

Image is coloured with Copics, Peeled Paint and Tattered Rose Distress Inks around the edges. All papers are Basic Grey porcelain, sentiment from Raindropecho's blog.

Spring Birdsong

I got my Spring stamp kit from Whiff of Joy last week, only just had time to cut a couple out and ink them up. Isn't this the most beautiful Spring image?

I used the sketch from Paper Sundaes as the basis for my card, another great to work with sketch, thanks! I've kept my card clean and simple, so I'm entering it for Saturday Spotlight's Keep it Clean theme. The ABC Challenge this week is P is for Paper Piecing; one of my favourite techniques; I've paper pieced Willow's dress from a lovely small-scale Basic Grey Wisteria paper.

All DP is Basic Grey Wisteria, Whiff of Joy image is stamped with Memento London Fog and coloured with Copics, as well as some Stickles on the flowers in Willow's hair. Distress Inks edge the image. The paper punch used is Martha Stewart Hydrangeas, card candy is from Craftwork Cards, white ribbon from stash is coloured with Copic pen.

Love the image, now to try to find the time to use the others in the kit... does anyone have any spare time going spare please? :)

Decorating the Tree

This card is to add to the small but growing stack for next Christmas, the theme on the ABC Christmas Challenge is D for decorations, a perfect reason to ink up one of my Whiff of Joy Christmas stamps of a boy decorating the tree. ABC Christmas also wanted a ribbon on the card; mine has a metal Christmas tree charm on it, from Quixotic Paperie, which fits the theme at Cute Card Thursday of Metal Mania. Papertake Weekly's Challenge is Check This Out to use checks in your project. I've used some Basic Grey Eskimo Kisses paper that is checked; it's the only DP I've used so I'm entering it for the other ABC Challenge which is O is for One Paper.

Whiff of Joy Elizabeth Bell stamp is coloured with Copics and Stickles; sentiment is Paper Artsy, stamped in grey and with Stickles added.

Domino the dog does a dozen challenges!

Meet Domino, he's an Airedale terrier (I think) from Shirleys2Girls, he's a Christmas digi with a wreath and sentiment included, but I've used him along here for a "With Love" card. I was so pleased to get this digi, he's lovely and useful for lots of occasions, with the gift bag in his mouth. This card has the alternative title "A Dog Is Not Just For Christmas", in view of the Christmas digi :). I think I've broken my own record here, with a DOZEN challenges from one card! OK with all the "Love" themes around this week it wasn't as tricky as it sounds!

I don't really *do* Valentines cards, so a With Love is as close as it gets :). I've based my card on the sketch from Mojo Monday's Challenge and am also entering it for a few other challenges, including Papertake Weekly's Love Actually Challenge - great name for the theme! Cupcake Crafts has the theme Four Legged and Friendly and this is another entry for this theme, which is certainly a popular one with me. Stampin' for the Weekend's challenge is "love is in the air"and the ABC Challenge is N for New (the digi is new). I hope Dareu2Digistamp will accept this as a Valentine's card for their challenge, Charisma Cardz has I Love You as its theme, Stamp Something has Love Somethings, Double Dutch and Creative Card Crew both have Valentines for their theme, the Belli Challenge is to use ribbons and Pile It On's theme is "To the one you love".

Domino is simply coloured with a couple of shades of Copics, his present is paper pieced from Artylicious paper which is also used behind the Prima flower in layers. The sentiment is Elusive Images and the ribbon came from a box of chocolates. He's cut out with a deckle edged Nestie and the DP is also Artylicious. Isn't he gorgeous and adorable?

Hot Chocolate - yes please!

The weather is cold and snowy and hot chocolate sounds really inviting - if the delivery of milk gets through the snow to the local shop that is - the shelves have been bare for a couple of days, but today the newspapers arrived in the village, which has to be a promising sign :).

Amazingly there are two challenges this week themed to hot chocolate so I reached for the first Whiff of Joy stamp that I bought - Willow with hot chocolate, which is still one of my favourite stamps. This cards was made for the following Challenges:

• Simon Says Hot Chocolate
• Quixotic Challenge - Hot Chocolate
• ABC Challenges - L is for Layering - lots and lots of layering
  
• Corrosive Challenges - a few of my favourite things - favourite embellishments of flowers and ribbons
• Fussy & Fancy - New - Gorgeous new Prima flowers that I won in blog candy from the generous Belles & Whistles
• Sketch Saturday - great sketch from Simonne
• Charisma Cardz - colour combo of pink, brown, cream & toffee - yum!

I'm really pleased with the look of the card, Willow is coloured with Copics and a white Inktense pen. The gold & white stripy and spotty papers are from Craftwork Cards, as is the gingham ribbon, the flower DP says "the paper element" and has been maturing in my stash for a few years :). The beautiful Prima flower came from blog candy, isn't it stunning? There are multiple layers of brown shades of cardstock matting the papers as well as a little bit of gold mirricard on the corners.