March Showers, Spring Flowers

Today has been a really miserable day weather wise- began to wonder if the living room windows would stand up to the wind and rain! Good excuse to stay in the house and craft anyway...

Here is today's make:-

Another quick & simple card from me today (my favourite kind) and it is similar to a card I made ages ago but the main image is so detailed that I don't like to add too much too it.

I started by printing the image from my Walk in the Countryside cd-rom and decoupaging the flowers. I mounted it onto a piece of dusky pink card and then mounted that onto a 6x6 scalloped edge card blank. I added a pink organza bow to the spine of the card and a little bit of Stickles glitter glue to the centre of the flowers. Done!

I am entering this card into the following challenges:-
Crafting for All Seasons 'pastel hues' 30.3
In the Pink 'lots of layers' (decoupage) 1.4
Crafty Cardmakers 'spring' 5.4
Craft your Passion 'anything goes' 29.3
Digi Choosday 'lots of layers' (decoupage) 7.4
Paper Shelter 'blooming' 31.3
That Craft Place 'Easter/Spring' 11.4

hop hop hooray!

Here's another of my SWALK cards, this time using a topper that could be suitable for a whole range of occasions- new baby, exams, driving test, child's birthday, thank you etc.

I started with the topper which is printed from the SWALK cd and created my own message topper using the verse writer facility. I inked both of these pieces with 'salty ocean' distress ink and then mounted them onto a star print holographic mirror board. I then got a 6x6 white card blank and topped it with a Kanban star print paper. I then added the toppers and finished the card with 3 star gems.

I am entering this card into the following challenges:-
Creatalicious 'new beginnings' 14.1
Quirky Crafts 'clean & simple' 17.1
Creative Card Crew 'for a child' 18.1
Digi Choosday 'thanks' 20.1
Crafters Cafe 'new' 14.1
Crafty Catz 'polka dots' 15.1
Cute Card Thursday 'what's new?' 14.1

Caravan Holiday

I've been busy today making cards with some new goodies I got this week. I've been looking at the Polkadoodles Work and Play collections for a while so when there was a discount code on the Digi Choosday website this week I had to get them. Set 4 isn't yet available as a download so I just got sets 1, 2 and 3.

I made this card using elements from set 3

I really like these collections as they have pre-coloured digis as well as images that I can colour. I've used the pre-coloured option to make this card super quick. I printed the caravan to A5 size and the characters 9 to a page. I cut out the elements I wanted leaving a white border around the characters to help them stand out.

I then took a piece of A4 pale blue card and made a small stepper card using roughly 2/3 of the sheet. I attached some DCWV grass paper to the front step and then placed the deck chair man onto this step. I attached the caravan to the back step with double sided tape and used 3d foam on the lady.

I am entering this card into the following challenges:-
Craft Room Challenge 'sun, sand & surf' 23/6
Crafting for all seasons 'no squares' 23/6
Graph' It 'blonde hair' 27/6
Digi Choosday 'pink' 1/7
Clear it out 'anything goes' 24/6
Cute card Thursday 'seaside' 25/6
Crafts Galore 'stamp or digi' 30/6
Crafting Musketeers 'stamp or digi' 30/6

Scruffy Little Cat

Another new product I've bought in the last few weeks is another new cd from Crafters Companion. It's called Scruffy Little Cat and has some modern female designs. It was a pick of the week on C&C but I got it straight from the Crafters Companion website after joining their Inspire club which gives you a 5% discount on every product. I also found a voucher code online so I also ordered some SLC acrylic stamps that weren't available on C&C too.

This card is made using a topper from the cd as well as some Primarni wrapping paper, card candi and a craftwork cards paper bow.

I started by folding a beige piece of A4 card into an easel card and covering both the base and front panel with metallic leopard print wrapping paper. I then took the topper from the cd and mounted it onto pink 'bling' cardstock. I attached my mounted topper onto the front of the easel and embellished it with a paper bow. I then used 6 pink leopard print card candis to act as the stopper for the easel.

I am entering this card into the following challenges:-
Graph'It 'anything goes' 31/5
Creative Inspirations 'birthday' 27/5 (I've left a space for the birthday message as it may need to be in Polish as I sell a lot of cards to Eastern European friends)
Crafters Cafe 'girly' 28/5
Totally Gorjuss 'buttons &/or bows' 31/5

Muddy Mess

I made another card today using lots of old goodies but some of them haven't been used very much!

It's a card in my usual CAS style and was quite quick to create (apart from the colouring of the digi stamp). The digi image comes from an Angelica & Adam crafters companion cd-rom that I've had for a while but not used all that much. I coloured the image with a mix of promarkers and spectrum noirs. I then used walnut stain distress ink to dirty up the edges of the topper. I took two different colours of camouflage print paper from DCWV 'boys'A4 stack and cut them to mat the topper. I used a Sheena Douglass embossing folder to add muddy splats to the green paper and then inked it with the same walnut stain distress ink as the topper. I scrunched up the brown paper before teaching it to the card to add the dirty scruffy look and add another texture. I layered everything up onto a khaki green A5 card blank folded from a sheet of A4 card.

I am entering this card into the following challenges:-
A blog named hero 'embossing' 28/5
Catch the Bug 'photo inspiration' 31/5
Challenges 4 Everybody 'anything goes' 30/5
Crafty Catz 'embossing' 29/5
Digi Choosday 'day out' 3/6
Papertake Weekly 'cute' 27/5
Cutie Pie 'embossing' 7/6

Angelica giggles

Just this morning, I had a delivery of the beautiful new Crafters Companion 'Angelica & Adam' double cd-rom that I ordered from C&C on Monday morning. It has some brilliant boy friendly images and cute girly ones too. This is the first card I've made using the digi stamps that are on cd 2. I'm really pleased with how it turned out although I'm not sure if I used enough pink! :-)

I started by printing the digi stamp from the cd to roughly half a sheet of A4 (the option that puts 2 photos on one sheet but slightly smaller because of not fitting to frame). I then coloured the image using my Spectrum Noirs but (for me) using a very limited selection. I tried not to blend the colours too much, particularly on the skirt, as after watching Leann from Crafters Companion doing her demos, I think I probably blend my colours together a little too much and lose the shading- I like how this has turned out anyway.

When I had finished colouring the image, I used an old Kanban mat as a stencil to mark out and hand cut the image to the finished shape. I did the same with a slightly larger mat onto some Kanban pink dot embossed card which I matted my topper onto. I then chose a piece of pink A4 card stock and folded it in half to make an A5 card blank. I wanted to add an extra something to the background but not too much to take away from the main image. In the end, I decided on some stamping. I used my Inkadinkado rectangle stamping gear and simple heart stamp to create the simple background design.

I mounted my topper up onto the base card and then added 4 small pink buttons in the corners. The final touch was to add some 'crystal' Stickles glitter glue to the girls dress and bows. You can't have a pink girly card without glitter on it somewhere, can you?

Close up of the new colouring style...

I am entering this card into the following challenges:-
Catch the Bug 'bingo challenge' buttons, pink/red, embossing
Craft your Passion 'girly' 24/2
Cutie Pie challenge blog 'spots' 1/3
Creative Inspirations 'buttons' 25/2
Crafters Companion 'Clean & Simple'

Crafters Companion are also having a DT call. I've entered, if you want more info there's a link here.

prickly on the outside...

Another SWALK cd card today and I really love the topper image & the sentiment that goes with it. I've given the card a kind of dirty look using my distress inks.

I started with a dark green A4 sheet of card that I folded in half to make an A5 card base. The backing paper is from the SWALK cd but didn't stand out enough from the card so I inked it with a 'walnut stain' distress ink. I used the same ink to colour the edge of the message and then laid it onto my inking mat to pick up some of the other ink. I think the almost finger print look works really well. I attached the backing paper and the message to the card and then mounted the topper onto some brown mirror card. I finished the card by tying the raffia around the spine of the card.

I am entering this card into the following challenges:-
Digi Choosday 'anything goes' 25/2
Crafters Cafe 'vintage/shabby' 24/2
Kaboodles Doodles 'twine' 23/2

one in a million

Another SWALK card today using toppers from the cd and a message I've created myself using the verse writer. I'm really loving the designs from this cd at the moment- I've been colouring my own images and using the pre-coloured ones from the 'Pawfect Pals' cd.

For this card, I inked the edge of the topper & the message with 'picked raspberry' distress ink and then mounted them onto silver mirror board. I chose a piece of A4 pink card, and folded it to make an A5 card blank and then used a piece of Kanban patterned card as the background. I added my toppers and then placed some small holographic circle stickers into the centre of the flowers to add extra sparkle.

I am entering this card into the following challenges:-
Totally Gorjuss 'furry friends' 31/1
Cute Card Thursday 'so sweet' 29/1
Paper Shelter 'digit image & sentiment' 28/1
Crafting for all Seasons 'for the girls' 3/2
The Pink Elephant 'pink &/or red' 27/1

Rock God!

Today's card uses a few old favourites that I always know I'll use at some point and one of those things that I should use more often but just don't seem to!

The background card is an 8x8 base card, inked with 'tea stain' distress ink. The 2 backing papers are both from DCWV 'Rockstar' 8x8 & matstack pads. Rockstar was my first DCWV stack and it is still my favourite. I use it for so many scrapbook pages too. The topper is printed from 'Just Ink'lined' best of 2012 cd-rom which is a disk I've has since the end of 2012 but don't use that often. This topper was perfect for what I wanted though.

I coloured it with mainly Spectrum Noirs today but with an odd bit of Promarker. I wanted to make the topper look as if the posters & drum kit were old & the guitar was the shiny new toy so after colouring the posters & drum kit using slightly subtle shades, I went over the top of it all with a light brown to tone down all of the colours and add that vintage look. I then coloured the guitar in a totally different colour palette and added some glossy accents to the body of the guitar.

I used 1 8x8 DCWV paper as the background and then trimmed down a matstack piece for the element in the corner. I wanted to pick out the 'rock and roll' part of the paper so I glued it with a quickie glue pen and then foiled it. This is something I've tried before on a scrapbook page and it worked really well.

I tore the edge of the topper and inked it with 'tea stain' distress ink too before using 3d foam to add it to the card.

I am entering this card into the following challenges:-
Polkadoodles Digi Choosday 'for the boys' 23/1
Clear It Out '2+ papers' 21/1
Creative Inspirations 'anything goes' 21/1

winter wonderland

This card uses another topper that I coloured a while ago but ran out of time to make into a card. I've finally got round to using it, and it means that I've made 2 Christmas cards so far in January!!!

I coloured the topper using both Spectrum Noirs & Promarkers and then used a Kanban mat as a stencil to cut it into the decorative shape. I added a, hand cut, blue mirror card mat and a larger mat cut from Dovecraft 'Merry & Bright' snowman paper. To add extra detail to the 6x6 elegant edge Craftwork Cards card blank, I ran it through my grand callibur with a snowflake mask, and then gently rubbed on some pale blue chalk with my finger.

I am entering this card into the following challenges:-
Christmas Card Challenges 'anything goes with option of polka dots' 19/1
Catch the Bug 'winter wonderland' 18/1
Crafty-Hazlenut's Christmas Challenge 'winter weather' 17/1
Cute Card Thursday 'cold & frosty' 15/1
Creatalicious Challenges 'turquoise winter' 13/2

winter cheer

Here's another SWALK card made using the digi stamps from the Crafters Companion cd-rom. I coloured this one a while ago so the hair isn't quite as good as it could be but I'm really happy with how the card turned out. Considering I coloured the image a while ago, it all matches really well.

I coloured the digi image with Spectrum Noirs & Promarkers and highlighted aspects such as the bow on the basket with stickles and the pearl necklace with perfect pearls. I used a Kanban mat as a stencil to cut the topper into an unusual shape and then added a pre-cut gold mirror card mat. The backing paper is from a new Papermania 6x6 paper pack and the tartan pattern matched perfectly so I just trimmed it down slightly and matted it onto a 6x6 card blank. I attached the topper and then used another paper sheet from the same 6x6 pad to cut out the poinsettia, stars & holly images that I decoupaged onto the card. I used a little more stickles and perfect pearls to add a highlight, including the freehand squiggles at the bottom.

I am entering this card into the following challenges:-
Creative Inspirations 'traditional christmas colours'
Creative Card Crew 'holly or poinsettia'
Songbird Challenges 'merry christmas'
Stampin' for the Weekend 'red'
Totally Gorjuss 'special Christmas'

the cats miaow

I'm back! It's been an absolutely manic few weeks at work and with a load of craft shows (where I've bought lits of new things) & craft fairs (where I've managed to sell a few bits too) I've not been making as much as I'd like! BUT, I've finally made another SWALK card today and have also managed to use up a bit of some Kanban papers that have been in my stash for years (no exaggeration!). Not sure what's wrong with me- I don't tend to do actually using stuff!!!

This was a really quick card to make- I started with a sheet of A4 white card that I folded into an A5 card blank. I then added the metallic Kanban paper, leaving just a small white border. The main image topper was a pre-coloured one from the SWALK cd and I again created the message myself using the verse writer function. I inked the edges of the toppers using 'dusty concord' distress ink and then mounted them onto a dull gold mirror board.

I am entering this card into the following challenges:-
Penny's Paper-Crafty Challenges 'feminine with a sentiment'
Cutie Pie Challenge Blog 'cute card for a special friend'

let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

I've been busy colouring this week, using some images from a cd-rom that I've had for a while but have recently re-discovered. I love it when you've forgotten exactly why you bought something and then look through it again and get that whole "ooooooo" again!

Anyway, this is another Christmas card using the Crafters Companion SWALK images.

I started by printing the image at the 4 to a page size, and then coloured it with a mix of promarkers & spectrum noirs. I used a Sakura glitter pen to highlight the snowflakes and then 'white opal' perfect pearls for the small snow blobs. I'm not yet an owner of any die-cutting shapes so I had to cut these out by hand- I used some Kanban mats as the stencil for the patterned paper and coloured image. I didn't have a stencil for the mirror layer so I used the same stencil as the topper and then just cut a little away from the pencil line to create the mat. The tree design paper is from a Dovecraft 'Merry & Bright' 6x6 paper pad which was a bargain last January! The card blank is from Craftwork Cards and already has the fancy edge that matches my chosen mat shape. To add a little extra interest to the plain white base card, I used a snowflake mask and 'picked raspberry' distress ink to stencil the snowflake design.

I am entering this card into the following challenges:-
Polkadoodles 'xmas'
Papertake Weekly 'oh Christmas Tree'
Creative Inspirations 'anything goes'
Graph'It 'alternative xmas colours'
Crafty Catz 'spots & stripes'

snowflake kisses

This is my most recent card, and the start of a bit of a SWALK marathon. Last Christmas, I bought a Crafters Companion triple cd-rom featuring the SWALK images as digis to colour myself and 'Pawfect Pals' themed toppers. This is one of the digi designs that I have coloured myself.

I coloured my digi image with both Spectrum Noirs & Promarkers and added the snow using 'white opal' perfect pearls. I used a Kanban mat as a template to cut the topper into the decorative shape and then mounted it onto a purple mirror card mat that I also hand cut. I cut a larger mat (again using a Kanban mat as a stencil) from a pre-glittered DCWV paper. I wanted to layer the 3 parts onto a Craftwork Cards card blank that has the same shape to the edge as my toppers but I found that it looked a little plain. I therefore, decided to stamp some small snowflakes using a Versamark ink and to use a mix of lilac & blue mica powders to dust over the ink. This has given the base card a subtle sheen.

I also rubbed the versamark ink onto the edge of the card and dusted this with the lilac mica powders too.

I am entering this card into the following challenges:-
Graph'It 'xmas blues & purples'
Daring Cardmakers 'digital'

Work in Progress

It's amazing how 6 weeks off work seems to mean less crafting than when I'm at work 5 days a week and only have Sundays to play! But, I'm back at work now and so today has been a crafty day. Yesterday I decided to tidy my craft room (normally that ends in disaster but this time it worked out quite well) and I now have a 'Work in Progress' box for storing my printed digis that need colouring (rather than a table covered in things and no room to work!). I'm trying to colour at least 1 image per week and this is today's. As you'll see from the last photo, it's ridiculous how many colours I need to finish an image (+ flock & puffy white paint for snow!)

Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore!

Many people who have seen my blog posts will know that I love Harry Potter so when I found the Har Repotter digi stamps on the Bugaboo site, I had to get them all! I am slowly getting round to making cards with each of them but I'm also making some shopping bags using the same designs. Here's my first card & bag using the Dumbledore image.

The card was made with an 8x8 square base card, a paper printed from 'Wishing on a Star' cd-rom (Katy Sue Designs), some stickles glitter glue, 'Hog Castle' stencil with black stencil paint and then the 2 Har Repotter digi stamps coloured using both Promarkers & Spectrum Noirs.

The bag uses the 2 digi stamps transfered onto heat'n'bond- iron on adhesive for fabric and a load of fabric scraps. The details of the images are hand sewn.

I am entering this card and/or bag into the following challenges:-
Crafty Cardmakers 'card with matching bag'
Creative Inspirations 'anything but a card'

Practically Perfect

Here is my latest card for the Card Makin Mamas Design Team. The main topper comes from the brilliant Sassy Studio Designs and the theme is 'Happy Birthday'.

I am also entering this card into the following challenges:-
The Pink Elephant 'Love is in the Air'- as I love Mary Poppins and she is, of course, in the air with her umbrella! Love to Create 'Feelin the Love' and Digital Tuesday Challenge 'Up, Up & Away'.

As soon as I saw the fabulous Mary Poppins image, this card was in my head. It is my most favourite film of all time & I knew that I had lots of things in my crafty stash that would match the theme.

I started with a 6x6 scalloped edge card blank (not sure what I used before these came out!) and a 6x6 sheet of DCWV cloud patterned paper. I used my cricut 'Elegant Edges' cartridge to cut the paper with a cloud style edge. I inked the edge of the paper with 'Chipped Sapphire' distress ink and stamped Big Ben (Kanban stamps) using 'London Fog' memento ink, before attaching to the base card with double sided tape. I then printed the digi stamp onto white card and coloured it using a mixture of Spectrum Noirs & Promarkers. I carefully cut around the image leaving a small white border and then used foam pads to put it onto the card. I used the DoCrafts Digital Designer software & the Portobello Road design disk to make the message topper, again attaching with 3d foam pads.

s.w.a.l.k. 'new parents' card

I've been having a play with my new s.w.a.l.k. digi stamp cd rom and really loved some of the images for the slightly more unusual card sending moments e.g. new home, belated birthday & expecting a baby. They seemed perfect for the Basic Grey Challenges blog, challenge 85 'New Beginnings' http://basicgreychallenges.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/challenge-85-new-beginningssomething-new.html. So here's my entry-

I started with a Craftwork Cards 6x6 fancy edge card. I drew round the card onto the back of a flamingo & giraffe print 6x6 paper from Basic Grey 'sugared' paper pad. The paper made me think of couples and love as the giraffes had little hearts above their heads. I cut out the paper to match the shape of the base card and attached it with double sided tape.

The topper was printed from my Crafters Companion s.w.a.l.k. cd-rom and coloured with Spectrum Noir pens. I used the leftover piece from a Kanban mat sheet, as a stencil, to draw the fancy shape around the image and then cut it out by hand. I inked it very lightly around the edges with 'Squeezed Lemonade' distress ink. I then got a matching Kanban silver mirror card mat slightly larger than the one I had cut myself. I used my Grand Calibur with a Crafters Workshop 'Mini Star Shower' 6x6 stencil to emboss a star design onto the mirror card mat. I then inked this with Tim Holtz Adirondack 'Wild Plum' alcohol ink to give it the pink tone to match the backing paper. I completed the card by using 3d foam tape to attach the mirror card layer and then the main topper.

Teal & Brown RockStar birthday card

This is another card that I've made to enter into a challenge but this time I'm entering 2 challenges with just 1 card!

I am entering this card into the Daring Cardmakers challenge http://daringcardmakers.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/january-colour-challenge.html and Creative Inspirations challenge #195 http://cinspirations.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/challenge-195-celebration.html

The Daring Cardmakers aspect is the colours I have used and the Creative Inspirations aspect was the theme of 'Celebration'.

I started with a piece of A4 brown card that I folded into an easle card using my ScorPal score board. I cut a piece of DCWV Rock Star cardstock to act as the stopper at the base of the card, attaching it with foam pads. The toppers all came from a Card Creations Plus cd-rom 'Garden Sheds' that I printed out in the 'monochrome' format so that I could colour them to match the colour challenge. I used both Spectrum Noirs and Promarkers to do this. I then cut out the toppers, decoupaging the man image, and then attached them to the easle part of the card using 3d foam pads.