Hoppy Birthday

When people think of spring animals, they tend to think of bunnies and chicks but, for us, spring brings plenty of frog action in my partner's beloved pond. (Or should I say my beloved partner's pond?! )

This card is for his birthday. I used Marianne Designs stamps coloured with Promarkers and sentiments by Newton's Nook.

I'd like to enter:

Little Red Wagon  happy birthday boys
Watercooler Challenges masculine
The Male Room  many legs
Addicted to Stamps cas
Cupcake Inspirations   animals

Pro-Am Showdown # 3 - Krafty Christmas

close up 

Two things I've not been very good with so far this year...making Christmas cards and doing my self-imposed challenge - Pro-Am Showdown. The idea is to be inspired by some of the many mass-manufactured cards (the professionals) and make my own homemade version (the amateur).

So here's the commercially produced card I took inspiration from:

the professional card

Like the original, I wanted  to have a large image with a hand-drawn look. I realised I have no suitable stamps that big, so I looked through my digistamps and found the wreath. (Unfortunately there was nothing on the file name to say where it came from - I suspect it was a prize originally). I stamped and gold-embossed the sentiments (Mama Elephant and Avery Elle) and them used an embossing pen to trace some fronds and gold embossed them. 

I'd like to enter: 
Crimbo Crackers  kraft 
Merry Monday  kraft
Tuesday Throwdown embossing 
Happy Little Stampers Christmas  embossing 
Rudolph Day Christmas  

City Crafter Challenge Blog - Birthday Case ~#4 with Prize!

It's the final week of our birhday month at City Crafter and the last chance to win a prize. This week it's my turn to provide the card to CASE (above) .

I used a stamp set by Docrafts and a sentiment (?) all stamped in brown , plus gold glitter dots.

I'd like to entr this birthday card into:
Always Fun  cas
Aud Sentiments  stamped sentiment
Alphabet Challenge  c is for cake

Even though it's my card, I still have to CASE it, so here's my second version:

I was a bit worried that people wouldn't be able to tell what this was so I showed it to some family members and they could see it was a wedding cake!  I used paper shapes stamped with a Concord and 9th flower, coloured with Promarkers and liquid pearls.  I also used a Docrafts sentiment and an embossing folder,

I'd like to enter the wedding card into:
Alphabet Challenge  c is for cake
Crafty Cardmakers pearls (hope liquid ones are ok)
Cards in Envy Pretty Pastels
Stamp Ink Paper  cas wedding

Case my card and link up at City Crafter Challenge Blog, and then hop around and leave comments at the following blog list.

City Crafter Challenge Blog

Kirsty Vittetoe

Ros Crawford

Stella Schenkel

And here's what you could win:

I hope to see your creation in our gallery. 

Love is in the Air

Here's a slightly unusual wedding card - one of the couple is a helicopter pilot.

On vellum, I stamped and silver-embossed the helicopter and banner (from a set that was free with a magazine). The sentiment is Papermania. The card base was cut on the Silhouette (a free cutting file by Bird)  and I layered some dry-embossed silver card behind the heart-shaped holes.

I'd like to enter:
Make My Monday  embossing
Sweet Stampin I wish I could fly
Fussy and Fancy shaped card
Crafty Friends  anything goes

Inkspirational Challenge- Graffiti Stamping

Our new challenge at Inkspirational is Graffiti Stamping.  This is new to me and, even though this card wasn't my first attempt, it isn't a good example of it. In fact, if it was street graffiti , I think I'd chuck away my spray cans! Thank goodness you have the rest of the Inkspirational DT to be inspired by!

Why don't you head over to Inkspirational and give it a go?

City Crafter Challenge Blog - Birthday Case #3 with Prize!

We're still celebrating our birthday at City Crafter  and we'll be having CASE challenges all month with the chance to win prizes.

This week we'd like you to CASE this fantastic card by Stella  (below):

Stella's Card

For my DT card I stamped and paper-pieced a balloon (Mama Elephant?) and added a large sentiment made up from Avery Elle and Waffle Flower stamps. 

Case Stella's card and link up at City Crafter Challenge Blog, and then hop around and leave comments at the following blog list.

City Crafter Challenge Blog

Kirsty Vittetoe

Ros Crawford

Stella Schenkel

And here's what you could win: 

I hope to see your creation in the gallery!

I'd like to enter:
Sweet Stampin  paper piecing
Creatalicious birthday

Pegasus

Glitter shot

I was lucky enough to win a prize at Crafting When We Can  and the prize was some digistamps by Fabrika Fantasy. To be honest, I probably would not have normally gone for these but I noticed the challenge at Cupcake Inspirations is 'mythical' , so I thought I'd try using this image to enter.


I printed it out and cropped it to focus on just part of the image. I found colouring it, with Promarkers, a little challenging so I hope I've got it right and it doesn't look weird- well, any more weird than a winged horse already looks! I just used two grey and a lavender markers,

I masked the horse and used a Crafter's Workshop template to stencil with Distress ink.  I stamped the sentiment (Alte New), and added Nuvo drops and a mat of glitter paper. Finally, I added glitter.

As well as Cupcake Inspirations, I'd like to enter:

Dream Valley  differently coloured hair
Crafty Cardmakers things with wings
Fab and Funky  fantasy
Inky Chicks  use purple

Spring at the Garden Centre

It's the last day of my annual leave and I'm relaxing by scrapping some photos and entering some challenges.

I'd like to enter:
Lasting Memories use the word spring
Sketch n Scrap 

Eggs - Not Just for Easter

Before I went to my scrapbooking retreat recently, I looked around at some challenge themes and sketches, so I could work on them over the weekend, I noticed that Lasting Memories  had a challenge coming up - use bunnies, chicks or eggs.  I've been meaning to scrap this photo of my son in a giant eggshell for a while - it wasn't taken at Easter, but in summer.

But now I have it ready to upload to Lasting Memories, I'm having doubts about whether it fits the challenge . Does 'use eggs' mean feature them on the layout or do I need to add extra eggs? ( And that's without the worry about whether one egg is enough!)

Anyway, I will link it up and hope for the best,

Modern Teacups

And another request from my daughter. She's going out to afternoon tea for her friend's birthday and so she wanted a tea themed card ...but NOT with a vintage look.

I found a black and white digi of stacked cups on Polkadoodles Picknix cd1 and I turned it into a electronic cutting file, which I cut on the Silhouette, The background is a Hero Arts birthday text background, clear embossed and coloured with Distress ink. The sentiment is Waffle Flower.

I'd like to enter:
CD Sunday  spring colours
Ooh La La  birthday
Seize the Birthday  birthday/ patterned papers

I Aint Lion

My daughter, well known for giving me last minute crafting challenges, actually gave me advance warning that she needed a baby boy card for her friend and it was made and given to her weeks ago.

THEN a few days ago she said to me 'They've called the baby Leo! Can you make a card with a lion on it?'

You can see I've done something a little experimental with shape on this card - not sure if it works - but if she doesn't like it she can always go to a shop and buy a card (gasp!).  Anyway, I stamped and white embossed the lion (Little Yellow Bicycle) and sentiment (Creative Expressions? ) and the stitch-like circle (49 and Market).

I'd like to enter:
Cardz4Guyz animals
Sisterhood of Crafters stamp it
4 Crafty Chicks  babies
Crafty Catz  animals
Creative With Stamps  baby

Last Minute Birthday Card

Did I mention I was at a scrapbooking retreat last weekend?!?  Well, it turned out to be one woman's birthday and so I wanted to make a card at the last minute with the stuff I had with me. I made a background using Lindy's Stamp Gang gold stain and repeatedly stamping it with a Hampton border text stamp. Then I stamped the flowers (Impression Obsession) in red ink.  I made a black card base for it and added a Clearly Besotted sentiment.
I'd like to enter:
Use Your Stuff  flowers
That's Crafty  flowers
Unicorn petal power

Spring Card Kit Swap - Day 4

The fourth and final day of my card kit swap with Nonni and Pia. 

Today we are sharing the cards we made by mixing up the three kits.

For my first card (above)  I used the bunny from my kit, coloured with markers, The patterned paper was from Pia's kit and the speech bubble and enamel dots were from Nonni's kit.  I added sentiments by Creative Expressions.

I'd like to enter:
Creative with Stamps  baby
4 Crafty Chicks baby

The other day my grandson had hurt himself and was crying, so to distract him , I told him to choose himself an Easter card. This  was the one he chose without hesitation.

It could have almost been shown on day 2 because it's almost all Nonni's kit ( the eggs, the spotty paper, the speech bubble and the white embossed sentiment). But I added the washi tape from my own kit...I'm not sure if this will have survived the journey to Pia and Nonni !

I'd like to enter:
Double D Challenges  neons/ brights

Finally, I made the background for this card by spraying through a doily from my own kit. The resin butterfly ( which I coloured with gold wax and a green powder) and the branch are from Pia and the blossoms were punched from Nonni's paper. I added an Alte New sentiment and gold liquid pearl.

I'd like to enter:
Time Out  photo (below)


And I still have bits left over from the kits to play with!

This has been such a fun swap - Nonni and Pia are two amazing crafters and really lovely people to swap with and I hope you will go and see all their four Spring Card Swap posts.

Shouldn't have gone to....

Here's another layout I made last weekend. I had taken my grandson with me to collect my glasses and he started to clown around with a display pair.

I made the title using the Silhouette , using both fonts and print-and-cut.

I used this sketch for the challenge at Rochelle Spears :

Spring Card Kit Swap - Day 3

Day 3 of my card kit swap with Nonni and Pia. 

Above is the kit that Pia made and sent to us. It has a really fresh, spring-y feel. 

Here are the cards I made with this kit:

I masked the bunnies image and also used the die-cut border as a mask and sprayed them with yellow ink. I added a sentiment and white enamel accents, 
I'd like to enter:
Simon Says Hip Hop 
Alphabet Challenge  bunnies 

The image, spotty paper and the banner paper were all from the kit, I added a sentiment, white gel pen , die cut cicle and lots of doodling. 
I'd like to enter: 
Inspired by all the little things  photo (below) 

Please go and visit Pia and Nonni's blogs to see what they did with this kit.

But wait...there's plenty left over from the kit , and I will be posting the cards I made with the leftovers from all three kits tomorrow, 

Spike

I've been aware of CSI Challenge  for a while but I've always been a little intimidated by it - it really has a lot of elements to it,  But as I was on a scrapbooking weekend, I thought I'd give it a try. Here's the brief:

So here's how I met all the elements :
The picture - my layout is about my daughter's cat.
Colours - all in there! 
Sketch- yes 
EVIDENCE - CHOOSE AT LEAST 3 CLUES 

• floral pattern 
• animals 
• flowers 
• metal (brad in centre of flower) 
• frames - around journalling 

TESTIMONY - CHOOSE AT LEAST 1 CLUE 

• Topic: Document something about pets or other animals. 
• Presentation: Write your story inside a frame. 

Phew! 

Spring Card Kit Swap - Day 2

I'm doing another card kit swap with Nonni and Pia. 

Above is the kit that Nonni made and sent to us. I was immediately struck by the mix of dark and very bright colours - very different to my kit.  

Here are the cards I made with this kit:

I think this is my favourite as it is so different for me. The image of the chick emerging from the egg was coloured with markers . I darkened the yellow on the speech bubble and stamped 'hey chickie'.  Apart from the yellow mat, everything else was from the kit. 
I'd like to enter:
Dragonfly Journeys  egg
Little Red Wagon  egg
Snarky Stampers  silly 

A totally different look for my second card - I coloured the flower image and filled the centres with Glossy Accents, The green patterned paper was also from the kit, 
I'd like to enter: 
Come and Get it : in the garden 

Now, if you're wondering what happened to the other items in the kit, don't worry - I made some cards mixing up the kits and I'll be posting them later in the week. But don't expect to see anything made with the flower bouquet image..that was a casualty of my clumsy colouring. 

Please go and visit Pia and Nonni's blogs to see what they did with this kit.

Tomorrow I will show you Pia's kit and what I did with it.

City Crafter Challenge Blog - Birthday Case # 2 with prize!

We're still celebrating our birthday at City Crafter  and we'll be having CASE challenges all month with the chance to win prizes.

This week we'd like you to CASE this wonderful card by Ros (below):

For my DT card I made a Christmas card, using a cat stamp by Katzelcraft. I added a Santa hat from a different Katzelcraft set and coloured him with markers. I layered him onto an embossed music panel and cut 'falalallala' on the Silhouette. 

Case Ros's card and link up at City Crafter Challenge Blog, and then hop around and leave comments at the following blog list.

City Crafter Challenge Blog

Kirsty Vittetoe

Ros Crawford

Stella Schenkel

Marina

And here's what you could win: 

I hope to see your creation in the gallery!

I'd like to enter:
Winter Wonderland  animals
Quirky Crafts pets
Christmas Card Throwdown  musical notation

Spring Card Kit Swap - Day 1

I'm doing another card kit swap with Nonni and Pia. 

Above is the kit that I made and sent to them. The main event are the stamped images from Neat and Tangled' Cottontail Cuties' set. I'd seen this set and wanted it but felt that I might not get much use out of it because it's so specifically Easter, However, when we decided to do this swap, I felt able to justify my purchase!

Here are the cards I made with this kit:

I made a simple stepper card and used the 'cutie' image , coloured with markers, and half a doily. I added some patterned paper,

I'd like to enter:
Cute Card Thursday  Easter
Crafty Catz Easter
Aloha Easter

Another 'cutie' coloured with markers. I used two of the die-cut labels and spray - stencilled some sunshine.

I'd like to enter:
Sweet Stampin  mellow yellow
Fusion  photo (below)

Now you might be wondering if that's all I used from my kit, but I did use more, but mixed with stuff from the other kits, and I'll be posting these later in the week.

Please go and visit Pia and Nonni's blogs to see what they did with this kit.

Tomorrow I will show you Nonni's kit and what I did with it.