Daring to Digi- Winter Scene

More of my self-imposed challenge to use some of my craft CDs and digi images. I used two freebie CDs here.  The background was from Winter Wonderland (My Craft Studio?) and the woman from Deco Follies.  The woman's dress was a different colour and when I changed it in the editing package, her skin became blue too. So I printed the woman twice, one original and one blue and then cut out the dress and stuck it on. I then stuck her onto the background , using dimensional pads. One thing you can;t seee in the photo, that makes a big difference in real life, is that the image is sprayed with glitter. I also put some jewels in the trees.

Now, you may be thinking that it looks a bit chilly for her to be out in that dress. I'm thinking that she's some kind of mystical character, a snow queen or something. Or perhaps she's been at a party and drank a bit too much. The alcohol is blocking out the cold but she's feeling a bit dizzy and decided to have a little sit down....

I've used a couple of challenges to help me get started on this digi lark. They are Winter Wonderland at CD Sunday and Blue and White at Digital Tuesday.

Challenged! - Christmas Wishes from London

The 'Across the Miles' challenge at Winter Wonderland got me thinking about what I could put on a card to remind faraway friends of us at home. The red double-decker is often seen as a symbol of London. I inked some white card and put it in my printer to print out the santa sleigh and saying. Then I stamped the Artemio bus in 'Barn Door' distress ink. I know it will not be to everyone's taste but I quite like this card!

Challenged! - Vintage Children

Thanks to the challenge blogs, I'm gradually getting a few Christmas cards done. This one is for the Vintage Children theme at Sugar Creek Holllow. The Stamp is by Personal Impressions .

Challenged! - Cousins

I really loved the sketch at Scrapbook Challenges  and this is my layout.

Daring to Digi - Wizard

I've decided to challenge myself to use some of those digi images/CDs that I've been amassing. Easing in gently with the 'people images' challenge at Digital Tuesday Challenge, I used an old Create and Craft Mystical CD for this image. I brayered the background, stamped the star (free with Craft Stamper this month!) and stuck on the wizard with silicone glue. Then I faffed about for a considerable time looking for embellishments, trying them out in different places and then deciding to keep it as it is! I know this is a bit plain for some people's tastes and I really do admire beautifully embellished cards, but often decide to keep it simple myself.

Challenge!- School Uniform List

I wanted to scrap these photos of my son in his new school uniform and the  Studio challenge gave me the idea to use a list. The coloured papers and the title and journalling spot are from  Echo Park. The background paper is Basic Grey and the ruler is from 3 Birds.

Challenged! - Girly Christmas

Almost everything here came free with a magazine. The central image was cut out from some paper's from a Crafts Beautiful from last year.  The other papers and the robin were from a recent Cardmaking and Papercraft magazine. I think the ribon was a freebie too but can't remember where and when. I made this card for the 'Girly Christmas' challenge at Winter Wonderland.

Challenged! - Steampunk

Confession - I made this ATC for Make my Monday's Steampunk ATC challenge two weeks ago...but by the time I got over to their website to upload the link, I was too late. So when I saw this week's challenge, Steampunk Metal, I thought, as it has lots of metal on it, I'd enter it this time. Hope it isn't considered cheating!

Doing the Docrafts - Shabby Birthday



Remember my quest to use all the stuff I’ve got in Docrafts Goody Bags? The challenge at  Daring Cardmakers - How many Candles? – had me grabbing an unopened acrylic stamp set – ‘Build a cake’. I really didn’t know what to do with it so I looked to other challenges for ideas : Shopping Our Stash – Vintage/distressed/shabby chic; Stampin B's – use 2 border punches; Sugar Creek Hollow – Fancy borders.

Daring Cardmakers have a random draw to win a Funky Hand CD . To be in with a chance you need to leave a link to Funky Hand ...finger crossed!

The Happy Shopper : Hart and Bloom

I raided the garden to take this photo!

I saw a little acorn necklace pictured in a magazine and just knew I needed it for my ‘autumn wardrobe’. When I went onto the website  http://www.etsy.com/shop/HartAndBloom , I got waylaid into also ordering a feather pendant.

They arrived quickly ,cutely packaged in little boxes topped with vintage seed label stickers and tied with red ‘string’.

When I opened the boxes, one contained the feather necklace and another contained this little necklace of a bird and postcard. I loved them both – but I still wanted the acorn.

I emailed Hart and Bloom and told them their mistake and guess what? I was sent the acorn and told to keep the necklace sent in error. What great customer service! I’ll be going back to Hart and Bloom .

Challenged! - Back to School/ Pencil lines 251

Pencil Lines have been offline for a few weeks and I’m glad they’re back as I wanted a sketch to use to scrap this photo.

I’ve used Papermania Kraft paper; Autumn Leaves / Rhonna Farrer patterned paper and epoxy sticker ; stickers and diamond pattern paper from Piggy Tales; and the ribbon and button were just wallowing in shoeboxes. I’ve used real coloured pencils as an embellishment.

I’d also like to enter this for http://clearitoutchallenge.blogspot.com/   Back to School.

Challenged! - Koi

My Out-Laws are koi carp enthusiasts, so I have several stamps on this theme. They're very good at having my son to stay for a few days, for which I always make a thank-you card.

The Thank You stamp is by Hero and the Koi stamp has no brand name, but I think it is Once Upon a Stamp. I cut an oval with my die-cutter and sponged the shape with Spiced Marmalade Distress Ink. I highlighted the fish with Papermania Metallic Pencil in gold.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
Less is More Seeing Double
Stamp, Scrap and Doodle Saturdays  Thank You

Magazine Addict - Handmade Living October 2011

We made the Berry Bakewell from this magazine. My son and I went out first to pick the blackberries - it started to rain but he was happy to get wet while blackberry picking!

Our tart didn't look much like their picture - and not just because it lacked the professional finish! The filling was purple because the recipe tells you to stir half of the berries into the 'Bakewell' mixture. It didn't look like they'd done that!

It tasted absolutely gorgeous- very sweet - next time I might use less sugar.

Here's the recipe(my notes are in italics):

Ingredients

300g shortcrust pastry

3-4 tablespoonsjam ( we used strawberry)

100g berries, e.g. blueberries, raspberries, blackberries ( blackberries of course)

150g butter ( used a bit less than this)

150g caster sugar

150g ground almonds

30g flaked almonds (we omitted these)

1. Preheat the oven to 180C or gas mark 4.

2. Grease a round tin or dish (24cm/91/2in diameter).

3. Roll out the pastry and line the tin/dish.

4. Spread the jam over the pastry base.

5. Sprinkle half of the berries over the jam.

6. Make the filling mixture by combining the eggs, butter, caster sugar and ground almonds together. Now stir in the remaining berries.

7. Pour the filling mixture over the berries.

8. Sprinkle the almonds over the cake mix.

9. Bake in the oven for 30-40 mins, until firm to the touch and golden. (In fact mine was in there for an hour and was not overcooked ....it got neglected while we retrieved our rabbit from next door’s garden).

Challenged! - Fairy Wishes

I buy craft CDs, then never use them! I am going to try and rectify that... or give up and chuck them all out.  These images were from My Craft Studio Flourishes CD. I printed onto acetate and brushed tha back of the image with mica powders. It is for the Fairy Wishes challenge at http://digitaltuesdaychallenge.blogspot.com/.

Challenged! - Anniversary card

This card is for my friend's silver wedding anniversary next month. Is it controversial that I didn't use silver??? A few challenges inspired my decisions - paper piecing, the umbrella ( 'inspire by a song' - Rihanna's Umbrella-eh-eh-eh). The tree is papermania. The couple is Unity Stamp, as is the sentiment , although I only inked part of it. The papers were Nancy Watt freebies from a magazine.
I'm entering this card for the following challenges:
Charisma Cards Inspired by a song.
Stampin' B's Anniversary card
Secret Crafter Inspired by a song
Challenge up your life Paper Piecing

Challenged! - Poppy Tag

I made this tag for the 'Mostly Red' challenge at Dragons Dream. My fingers are now mostly red too!

Doing the Docrafts - Goody Bag Done!

So...I set myself a challenge...to use a bit of everything in the September 2011 Docraft Goody Bag . The contents of the bag are here. There were 13 items in the bag-some of them not to my taste at all - so I didn't find it easy.

First up the card above -  I used the text stamp and embossed it on some of the red card. I cut out a Santa from the 'Postage Stamps' and tags and stood him on top of the text. The gold paper and patterned strip were from the paper pack and I used one of the gold brads. That was 5 out of the 13 items used - easy so far!

I'd also like to enter this card into the following challenges:
http://sparklesforumchristmaschallenge.blogspot.com/  Santa
http://christmasblogchallenge.blogspot.com/ Santa Claus is coming to town.

The 'Reason for the Season' toppers were probably my least favourite item in the bag but, strangely, this card is probably my favourite out of these items. I thought they were too brightly coloured and I wanted to get more of an antique look. I dabbed the topper with distress ink, stamped it with a crackle pattern and edged it in Krylon pen. I layered it onto black card, then an alcohol ink background I had leftover and then onto a card blank that I inked and stamped with a text. That brought the total up to 6/13!

These little die cut wreaths were a real challenge - I had not idea what to do with them. Then I decided to stick them back-to-back on a cocktail stick and write on them. They could be used as lables on a plate of sandwiches, or put into a wineglass as a name card. Just don't have any sandwiches or friends with long names! That was the 7th item of the 13.

I enjoyed making this one - my only complaint could be that it was too easy! The decoupage was already die cut and only needed layering with sticky pads. The greeting was ready to stick. I cut a jagged edge on the card and stuck some of the sticky ribbon behind it. If you had a visitor who you'd forgotten to make a Christmas card for, you could whip this up while pretending to make a cup of tea! Greeting, sticky ribbon, decoupage - that's another 3 items and 10/13.

I had a plan for the 'Outline Sticker' tags- I was going to use one as a mask. But when I peeled it off I realised the blank areas were covered with acetate. So I stuck it to some of the patterned paper , trimmed round it, made a hole and- voila- a gift tag. 11/13.

Finally I stamped and embossed the sleigh stamp in gold and used the metallic pencils to colour it in. The stars were from the other pack of outline stickers. So that was the final two items - I had used all 13 ....Docrafts:done!

My Perfect....September

A new academic year. Fresh starts. New diaries. High hopes.

A bit of flattering coverage – foundation for the skin, sleeves for the upper arms.

Free fruit – apples from our trees, blackberries from the hedges. Apple chutney and blackberry pie.

Challenged!- Love Fool

Here's a tag I made for Dragons Dream Tag it On  Roses and Metal challenge. It didn't really turn out as I'd hoped but I think I'll enter it anyway - don't know what else I'd do with it!

Doing the Docrafts - September 2011 Goody Bag

It's arrived!

It’s all about Christmas in this month’s goody bag and , as usual , there are some real hits and some ...er...misses.

Here’s the stuff I’m really pleased with :

...and here's some stuff that I think will come in handy:

...and here's the stuff that I would never normally buy and don't have a clue what to do with.

As usual, my complaint is they're a bit too 'made'.

So, once again, I'll be challenging the My perfect Life Design Team ( that's me!) to Do the Docrafts. The challenge is to use at least a bit of every item in this month's Goody Bag. Check back to see how I get on!

Challenged! - Wedding Menu

I decided to give myself a real challenge and make something for the ‘picture inspiration’ challenge at

Dreamvalley Challenges.

I made a wedding menu, pressing my big shot into service for cutting and embossing; and then coloured with chalk.

So now I’ve got the menu for the wedding, all I need is a venue, a dress....and a groom!

Challenged! - The first Christmas Card for 2011

Not just my first Christmas card this year, but my first Shaker card ever! Do you think icing sugar goes off? Maybe by Christmas the snow will have turned green!

Thank you to http://bah-humbug-christmas.blogspot.com/ for kickstarting my Christmas cardmaking. When I saw their 'sentiment/text' challenge, I remembered the 'softly fell...' stamp and the ideas fell into place.

Challenged! - Metallic Autumn

For this card, I used alcoholic inks to make a background paper, stamped a leaf with Versamark and embossed it with clear EP, with a little copper EP at the edges. I cut out the leaf and then rubbed it over with metallic rub-ons...rubbing it off again , so it was left in the veins of the leaf.

This card is for these challenges:

http://craftuscrazy.blogspot.com/ autumn colours

http://polkadoodle.blogspot.com/  autumn colours

http://thesecretcraftersaturdaychallenge.blogspot.com/  clours of  autumn

http://simplylessismoore.blogspot.com/ metalic

Challenged! - Altered Trash

Look at this Victorian Tonic Powders box I found in Great-Granny’s trunk! The box has a secret, however. Look inside and there are no tonic powders, just the printed packaging of No7 Advanced Hydration Night Cream.

First I undid the box, turned it inside out, and inked it with Hero Vanilla ink. The image of the girl was a Printable Heaven freebie  and I rubbed this with the ink too. I made the words ‘ Tonic Powders’ on the PC and printed them onto Safmat. The flash of the camera shows them up as shiny, but you can hardly see that in real life. I put the image on the top and two sides; the bottom and the other two sides were stamped with a Stampendous stamp.

 I made this box for the following challenges:

http://sugarcreekhollow.blogspot.com/  Trash to Vintage Treasure

http://tuesdaytaggers.blogspot.com/2011_08_01_archive.html Alter Anything

Challenged! - Birds, Ribbon and Embossing

I think I am weird as I’m not really into ribbon. I hear lots of papercrafters go wild for it but I seem to have accumulated a tangled boxful without even trying. And I actively dislike bows!

Seeing the ‘Ribbon or Lace’ challenge at Fashionable Stamping Challenges, was the spur I needed to untangle some ribbon and use it up. I layered them and used two! To avoid over-frilliness, I folded the ribbon and secured it with a brad.

The ideas for the rest of the card came from other challenges: birds at Sunday Stampers and embossing  at  http://rainbowladyschallengeblog.blogspot.com/.

Doing the Docrafts - Forever Friends to the Rescue!

At 8pm, I got a text from my childminder asking if it was okay for her to take my son to the party of another child she minds, the following day. It was time for some of the Docrafts Goody Bag stuff to step up to the mark, to make a quick, emergency card.

I had some Forever Friends embossed cards and toppers, that, though cute, were just too ‘made’ for my taste. It seemed a simple case of ‘stick topper to base card and go’ – not usually what I’d want, but ideal right now.

However, I thought I’d experiment with the embossed card to make the embossing stand out. First I tried dtp inking over the whole thing; then- running Versamark pen on the embossed areas and dusting with Mica pigment; then rubbing  gold ink ove the main image : they all looked WRONG. Too ‘homemade’ to go with the topper. And I only had 2 left of the pack of five!

So I just decided to stick with the easy way and all I added was a die cut and embossed scalloped circle, edged with a touch of gold ink. My quick and easy card had taken ages!

Casualties!