Painting in the Garden

For the last few days I've had a horrendous (feels-like-I'm-dying) cold, which has been particularly depressing because I'm halfway through my four weeks annual leave when I should be enjoying time with my son.

I started to feel a bit better this afternoon so decided to go into the garden with a box of paints and a bag of Paper Artsy stamps.

Here are two cards that I started in the garden and have now finished off .

This one I stamped onto kraft card , painted the birdhouse and stems. I had some white tissue paper and I stamped the flowers onto it , coloured them with blue paint , cut them out (not very accurately as I was using the kitchen scissors!) and paper-pieced them. Later on I trimmed the panel, added some definition with a marker pen , added liquid pearl and mounted it onto card.

I'd like to enter this into:
Paper Artsy  flowers
Addicted to Stamps  photo
Chocolate Coffee and Cards flower image

For this one I created the background on some waste cardboard, using Gesso and paint. I stamped the flowers and leaves and coloured them with paint.

I'd like to enter this into:
Fab n Funky  no patterned papers

What was my son doing while I did all this? For some reason he decided to research and paint European flags. I suppose it will come in handy for quizzes!

Mermaid Thanks

Here's a thank you card I made using a digi from A Day for Daisies. I paper pieced with patterned paper and if you look closely you will see that I have spelt out 'thanks' on the tails.

I'd like to enter:
QKR Stampede  swimming
Give a Crafter a Cookie  mermaids

The Nice List

I don't often enter CASE challenges, but Alice's card at Time Out  gave me lots of ideas .

Alice's Card 

I've been looking for a stamp or digi to get that torn hole effect but in the end I just copied a royalty -free picture and printed it onto my card. The Santa and sentiment are stamps by My Favorite Things.

As well as Time Out, I'd like to enter :

One Layer Christmas Card  

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday  anything goes 

Holly Jolly  carol - Santa Claus is coming to town. 

Rock Star

I wanted to enter CD Sunday's Rock Star challenge but it did take quite a bit of trawling through CDs before I found an image I liked. (I had initially hoped to find a female rock star silhouette, but it was not to be.)

I also decided to use the sketch from Stamplorations .

This image is from Polkadoodles not for girls CD and was part of a topper , so I needed to  crop it out. I also changed the background colour to tone with my scrap of striped paper. In Silhouette Studio, I traced the figure and cut it out in black card and stuck it over the printed image, to give it more presence. I also cut out the headphones (also from Polkadoodles Not for Girls) and the sentiment (using the text feature).  On the base card, I used a music notes stencil and grey ink.

I'd also like to enter this at That's Crafty (stencils/masks) and Crafts4eterntity music.

Summer Picnic

Inspired by some of the challenges out there (listed below) , I wanted to make a pretty, summer-y card.

I used a rubber stamp by Elizabeth Bell with a die cut frame and coloured with alcohol markers. I embellished with a basket (Creative Pointe svg) , flowers and a butterfly sticker.

I'd like to enter:
The Paper Girls  forever in blue jeans
Die Cuttin Divas  great outdoors
Glitter n Sparkle  starts with b - basket, blue jeans, butterfly and bare feet.
Tuesday Throwdown summer fun
Shabby Tearoom  summer picnic

City Crafter - Masculine Birthday Card

Our challenge this week at City Crafter  is to create a masculine birthday card. 

For my DT card I created a card for my daughter's partner. It was his birthday last week and this weekend he's been at a big dance music festival in Belgium. I tried to create the feeling of being at the best gig ever. 

I created a background using alcohol inks and then randomly stamped patches of a Sarah Hurley text stamp. Then I dry - embossed with a Tim Holtz sunray folder. I found a crowd scene silhouette on the internet and traced and cut it on my Silhouette  Cameo. The sentiment is by Hero Arts. 

I hope you'll create any kind of masculine card and join us at City Crafter.  Please do visit the challenge blog, see what the rest of the team have done and meet our Guest Designer , Dana . 

I'd like to enter:

Simon Says Stamp Monday no ordinary paper (glossy cs for alcohol inks) 

Cardz4Guyz  something beginning with T ( text stamp and Tim Holtz embossing folder) 

Scribbles Designs  birthday bonanza 

Guest Designer at Crafty Boots

Today I am honoured to be Guest Designer at Crafty Boots.  This is because I won their sketch challenge - here is the sketch:

and here is my winning card: 

I think you can see what I've done here! The current challenge at Crafty Boots  is Christmas in July , so I made a Christmas version of my winning card. I hope that's not too boring! 

On my Silhouette Cameo, I turned some pictures of tree baubles into sketches and, using a pen instead of a blade, sketched them , and the 'stitching' onto card. I coloured them with markers and then stamped random Christmas words and numbers. I added a die cut sentiment and some gems. 

I hope you like it and I hope you will join in with the challenge at Crafty Boots.  Thanks for having me as Guest Designer! 

I'd like to enter:
Christmas Card Challenges anything goes
Dragonfly Journeys Christmas in July
That Craft Place words

Make My Monday - Flowers

Our Make My Monday challenge this week is 'Flowers'. How easy is that?

For my DT card I used a digi from A Day For Daisies, a sentiment I made on the p.c and magazine freebie papers.  The fairy wings are glittery too.

This will be our last challenge at Make My Monday until September, when we will be relaunching with our new Design Team members.  I hope you will make a floral project and join us at Make My Monday. 

I'd like to enter:
Simply Create Too  for a precious child
Chocolate, Coffee and Cards a flower in your image
Fantasy Stampers  pretty petals
Moving along with the times  baby
Come and Get it  fairies

Happy Birthday Stella

Today at City Crafter  we are celebrating Stella's birthday. I mailed this card to her a few days ago so if you haven;t received it yet, Stella, it's on its way.

I used a star stencil which I inked through and then stamped through with ink blob stamps in shades of blue/turquoise, aqua. Then I embossed the star with a mix of clear and holographic embossing powder.  The sentiment is by Clearly Besotted.

Stella, Happy Birthday. I hope you have a great day.

I'd like to enter
A Gem of a Challenge  birthday
Dream Valley  embossing wet or dry (I've used both)
That's Crafty  stencil

Riding the Waves

Seeing the 'chevron' challenge at Addicted to CAS , I thought it'd be fun to use my Lawn Fawn chevron stamp as waves. The whale and the sentiment stamps are an old set (mystery brand) and I used a chevrom embossing folder and punched heart.

I'd also like to enter this at Stampin Royalty , Keep it Simple.

Thanks to the kind suggestions left for me in the comments, I'm also going to enter The Male Room  (was worried about the spots but there are some above the whale's head), and Less is More .

From My Deer Family

Die cut deers are probably my most overused Christmas card element and this little deer family is an SVG cutting file from Pretty Paper Pretty Ribbons. (I'm not sure if it was one of their Friday Freebies, which I do appreciate.)

I love using snowfall acetate too. And my spotty embossing folder.  So lots of old favourites on this one. The sentiments are Mama Elephant and Stampin Up.

I'd like to enter:
My Time to Craft Christmas
Die Cuttin Divas Christmas
Ooh La La  Christmas
The Glory of Christmas feature a creature
Christmas at Sweet Stampin  oh deer

Owls, Two Ways

I went to my local crop at the weekend, which I always enjoy. The class kit contained these owl-themed papers by Kaisercraft and I decided not to use the kit design, because I wanted to scrap this photo of my son sitting in a tree. I know there is a bit more pink than often used with boy layouts! 

I used the leftovers to make the card, on which I layered up two of the owls.

I'd like to enter the layout into:

 Another Freaking Scrappy Challenge use word awesome 

I'd like to enter the card into:

Let's Craft and Create birds

Incy Wincy things with wings  

City Crafter - Hemp and Twine will be Fine...and prize to be won!

Our challenge at City Crafter  this week is to use hemp cord or twine.

For my DT project I stamped a background with leaves from an old set (Woodware I think). Then I wrapped it with twine and let my die-cut monkey hang from it.

We'd love to see your ideas for using twine. I hope you'll come over to City Crafter, see what the DT have done, meet our Guest Designer Lise, and share your project with us.

STOP PRESS!!! Join in our challenge at City Crafter and you could win this lovely prize!

What's in this prize package:

A little note book to write down ideas:)

Toothpick sentiment flags

Speech bubble stickers 

Washi tape in sweet summer colors

Rhinestones

I'd like to enter:

Time Out  nature/animal - thanks Sandie for suggesting it, Luckily no entry limit on this challenge! 

Sweet Stampin  no designer paper 

Try it on Tuesday hot and wild 

Spotty Giraffe

I cut out this giraffe when I was trying out the Silhouette Pixscan technology - it was printed on patterned paper and I scanned it and cut it electronically. I thought it would be fun to place it on an embossed spotty background. It's very CAS!

I'd like to enter:
Monday Mood Board  (it's the redcurrants)
CAS-ual Fridays  embossing
4 Crafty Chicks cas

Make My Monday - Steampunk

This week at Make My Monday  , Joan has chosen 'Steampunk'.  I used an ATC sized piece of Stampbord ,stamps from Non- Sequitur and Kaisercraft, Distress Inks and spray mists, and a distorted clock charm. I scratch some highlights in the Stampbord but they don't show up well in the photo.

I hope you will join in our fun theme and link up a Steampunk project at Make My Monday .

I'd like to enter:
Paper Artsy  time
Incy Wincy - Things with wings

Sorry I'm so Late

I made this card to enter a few of my favourite challenges - CD Sunday  (stamped image plus item from CD), Paper Artsy (time) and Shopping Our Stash  (paper piecing) .

This 'Alice' image is from My Craft Studio 'A Very Important Date' CD, and I have used it before, always cropped off as I think the face is too cartoonish but the lower body alone suggests a more classic Alice.  I printed it onto patterned paper and paper pieced the skirt.

I stamped clock faces on the background (Prima stamps), stamped the mushrooms (Paper Artsy) and paper- pieced them with paper I'd inked in Victorian pink. ( Before sticking down the paper on the big mushroom, I did an unusual technique which involved accidentally dropping it into a mug containing the cold dregs of my tea!)

Then I stamped the caterpillar - this (and the mushrooms) are from a new Paper Artsy set and the main reason I bought it was for the caterpillar!  I coloured it in, cut it out and covered it in Glossy Accents.

Finally, I cut out the sentiment on the Silhouette and covered it with Wink of Stella.

Blurred Vision

This is the card I sent to my dear blogger friend Kylie for her birthday last week.

The dress form and cage are from a Claudine Hellmuth set where you get a solid foam stamp and a matching acrylic stamp. The butterflies and sentiment are from a Clearly Besotted set. I stamped them twice, once in lilac and then again in black, in keeping with the slightly blurred look of the Claudine Hellmuth stamps.  Then I doodled a frame and a chain for the cage.

BTW : this is a one- layer -card : sent from the UK to Australia.
I'd like to enter:
Incy Wincy  doodle what
Brown Sugar  girly
Sweet Stampin  no designer paper

Three Cards from Scraps

I'm sure I'm not alone in having bags and boxes of scraps - scrapbook paper leftover from a layout, extra backgrounds made when trying a technique, offcuts of card, extra die-cuts ......!!!

This week I grabbed one of these bags and challenged myself to make some cards using these scraps.

This cocktail was cut out, using a freebie SVG file, the first time I tried 'print and cut' on the Silhouette ecutting machine. The cardstock was offcuts and I added glossy accents, gems, glitter (to the lime) and I cut out the sentiment.
I'd like to enter:
Fairytale Challenge bling
Curtain Call  celebrate

Here I used scraps from Graphic 45 paper left from a project kit from my local crop months ago. The tag was one that at some stage  I distressed, stamped with compasses...and shoved in a bag of scraps! I cut some of the paper into banners and dry embossed the teal card.
I'd like to enter:
Eureka Stamps  the beach
Little Red Wagon  beach

Here we have offcuts of card, digital patterned paper I printed out and didn't use, die cut trees and torn kraft paper altered with paint and text stamp (leftover from a project). The only thing I used that was not in the scrap bag is the sentiment.
I'd like to enter:
Crazy4Challenges tree
Simon Says Stamp anything goes 

Inkspirational - Anything Goes with Kraft

Our challenge at Inkspirational this week is 'anything goes with kraft'.  I made this DT card months ago, but last week I opened the new issue of Craft Stamper magazine and saw a card with white embossing on kraft card, using the SAME stamp set from Alte New!  As they say, great minds think alike!

I finished my card with Sakura gel pens and a metal embellishment I've had hanging around for a VERY long time.

I hope you will join in our challenge at Inkspirational , see what our DT has done and meet our Guest Designer , Bobby .

I'd like to enter:
Fab n Funky flower delights
Alphabet Challenge k for kind thoughts
Fantasy Stampers pretty petals
Sweet Stampin  no designer paper

One layer Gifts

see the glitter! 

Still trying to make one layer Christmas cards, spurred on by OLCCC. Their theme this time is 'gifts'. The gifts and the sentiment are from a free-with -magazine set.  I made a semi-circular mask and sponged over it with distress ink, and tried to add further dimension by using a grey marker. Then lots of glitter - that's the sad thing about craft blogging, you just don't get the twinkle! 

As well a OLCCC, I'd like to enter

Color Throwdown 

Addicted to Stamps holiday

Simply Create Too get ahead for Christmas 

Challenge up your life  mask 

City Crafter - Woodland Animals

Our theme at City Crafter Challenge Blog this week is 'Woodland Animals' 

This is a much-loved theme for me - I love to include owls and foxes on cards, and usually go for an autumnal or even winter look.  But for my DT card I decided to go for a more summer-y look. I used a Kaisercraft stamp set, and the double circle stamp was free with a magazine.

I hope you will join us at City Crafter with a project featuring a woodland animal. Please come over and see what the work of the DT , and our Guest Designer, Laurie.

I'd like to enter:

Stamping Sensations  feature a creature

Craft Stamper  stamp 

Time Out  nature/ animals 

Try it on Tuesday  frame 

Make My Monday - Anything But a Card

with the lid on 

This week at Make My Monday  Fliss has chosen 'Anything but a Card'. I like to try making different kinds of things, some with more success than others. (I won't be blogging the cake that was so disastrous it didn't make it to the school summer fair on Saturday!)

I made some lip gloss, using a kit from Plush Folly. The little plastic pot came with the kit but I thought I'd find a way of dressing it up to give as a gift. 

I measured the neck of the pot, found a flower svg cutting file and made a circle (in Silhouette Studio)  in the middle to fit the pot.  Then I made an internal offset and cut the shapes out. 

I hope you'll share what you've made with us at Make My Monday. 

I'd like to enter:
Silhouette Challenges 
Simon Says Stamp

Not on Porpoise

I'm still working my way through my daughter's list of requests. This one is 'a thank you card with a dolphin on it'. I hope this is actually a dolphin and not some other , similar, marine creature!

The dolphin was a die-cut from a Tilda paper pack - I wouldn't have chosen to do this card in black and white if I hadn't found this die-cut , but I'm glad I did now, as I think it gives it a bit of a twist.

I cut the splashes and the sentiment on my Silhouette.

I'd like to enter:
Crafty Boots stripes
Crafty Gals Corner  under the sea
Time Out  nature/ animals
Fairytale  under the sea

Thanks for a teacher

Here's another of the cards my daughter asked me to make. She said 'a thank you card for a teacher - don't know what theme'. !!! How about a teacher/ school theme? (Doh!)

This is a digi from Bugaboo; the frame was empty so I added the sentiment. I coloured it with markers and added 'Wink of Stella' to the apples. The apple in the corner was cut from glittery patterned paper.

I'd like to enter:
Incy Wincy spots
Addicted to Stamps  make your mark
Try it on Tuesday  in the frame (frame round sentiment)
CRAFT thank you

Walking the Dog

I've just had a rash of card requests from my daughter and this one is 'a thank you card with a scotty dog on it.'

I die- cut the dog, coat and 'thanks' on my electronic cutting machine. I embossed the dog and the black card base with a spotty embossing folder- it doesn't show very well in the photo but it does add a lot to the card, I think.

The papers are old freebies from Making Cards magazine and I faked a turned down corner and secured it with a brad.

I'd like to enter:
Pinspirational  photo
Creative Card Crew  die cuts
Cas-ual Chic embossing
Fab n Funky  - song - Walking the dog - Rufus Thomas

City Crafter - You are my Sunshine

This week's challenge at City Crafter is 'You are My Sunshine.... Use lots of yellow. '

I was flicking through an old magazine and saw the image I've used above (by Kirsty Neale) . It was on the 'template' pages of the magazine and when I checked my computer I discovered that I had downloaded a digital version of the templates at the time. I coloured it with Promarkers, paper-pieced with Cosmo Cricket scrap patterned paper and added a die-cut balloon which I inked and stamped with a Hampton Art chevron stamp. The sketchy sun with the word 'sun' were created in Silhouette studio and I added yellow embellishments such as flowers, button, washi tape and a metal flower. 

I hope you will join us at City Crafter. Pop over now and meet our GD, Margaretha.

I'd like to enter:
Shabby Tea Room  sweet as sunshine
My Time to Craft paper piecing
Clear it Out  anything goes 

Make My Monday - The Sea

I chose this week's theme at Make My Monday , The Sea. When I chose the theme I had a vague idea for a classic nautical card. However, this card came about because I thought I'd experiment with a stencil I'd made.

I made the stencil by tracing an image using the Silhouette Cameo and cutting it from mylar. I made it to do Tshirt painting with my dolphin-mad grandson. Here's the Tshirt we made:

For my card, I created two shadowy dolpins in different shades of ink and then made the one on the top using a die-cut I made when I test-cut the stencil in card. For my background I did lots of inking and used a Creative Expression bubble stamp and a verse from Crafty Individuals.

I hope you'll join us at Make My Monday with a sea-themed project.

I'd like to enter:
Paper Artsy - stencils
Fairytale Challenge under the sea

Inkspirational - Grunge and Empty Box Project #22

When my most  CAS teammie , Sandie , told me she wanted to choose 'Grunge' as her 'Designer's Choice' theme I was really suspicious . I associate grunge with mixed media or shabby styles ...and then I realised the date we were emailing about this was April 1st! But no, she assured me that grunge was no April Fool's joke and if you look on the Inkspirational  blog, you'll find some guidelines. 

For my DT card  I used a variety of stamps - the ones stamped in red are from my empty-box-project box (brand unknown but they were probably a magazine freebie).  The word 'Christmas' and the ticket (which I did a sort of distress masking thing with)  are from a Pink Paislee stamp set; and the splatters are by Visible Image. Just in case you can't tell from the photo - the red borders are glitter paper.

Just to recap:

On New Year's day I revealed my stamping shame - a big box of unused stamps - and started my Empty Box project. My aim is to work through the box , one stamp/ stamp set at a time and see if I can use them. If I can't use them, I will dispose of them. The aim is to finish with an empty box.

So, please come over and join us at Inkspirational with your grungey projects. Ashwini is our fabulous guest designer this time.

I'd like to enter:
Chocolate, Coffee and Cards seeing red
Eclectic Ellapu  fave holiday
Winter Wonderland  all that glitters
Christmas Stamping  glitter
Simply Create Too get ahead for Christmas

Creative Cutting Challenge - Flip Flops

I made this card using the flip flops from The Creative Pointe's Beach Set :

The summer challenge at Creative Cutting Challenge  is to use any Creative Pointe SVG - and there are freebies to try if you haven't bought any. I hope to see you there.

I'd like to enter:
Fairy tale challenge flip flops
Die Cutting Divas anything goes