Matted and Layered Bird

There's a new challenge in town - Back to Basics - and the challenge is 'matting and layering'. These days, I make a lot of one or two layer cards, but I do think that matting and layering is a simple way of getting a more 'luxe' look.

Here I gold embossed a Hobby Art bird on black card and watercoloured it with Pearl-Ex paints. The sentiment is Hero Arts.

I'd also like to enter Make My Monday , embossing. 

Flowers for Sympathy

Sadly, today we received a letter from our former next-door neighbour, telling us that her husband died last month.

I'd already , stamped and embossed this stamp by Alte New - it is massive and this is only half of it - I'll get another card out of the other half. I watercoloured it with Twinkling H20s and added a Hero Arts sentiment.

I'd like to enter:
Cupcake Inspirations 
Mod Squad floral watecolour
Challenge Up Your Life  watercolour
Always Fun  flowers

Glittery Pink Unicorn

I made this card for my niece. She'll be fifteen, so I hope that's not too old for unicorns!

I created a unicorn cutting file by tracing a photo of a unicorn (haha, a drawing obvs). I cut it out of pink glitter card on my Silhouette. ( The lying old camera makes it look a very different pink to the other elements but it is a much closer match in real life.) The sentiments are Alte New.

Expect to see black and white stripy paper on every project I make for the next twenty years. I bought a whole pad of it and, as I only use a little at a time, I think it'll go a long way.

I'd like to enter:
Shopping Our Stash mythical
Dragonfly Journeys  sequins
Moving Along with the Times  fantasy 

The Library Challenge - Plenty More (A Cook Book)

The new Library Challenge  is Plenty More, which is a cook book.

I do love to look at cookbooks. They give me lots of ideas although I don't often cook recipes exactly as they appear in books - I just never seem to be able to get all the correct ingredients into my kitchen at the same time! Anyway, I don't have this particular book, but I do have his previous book, Plenty. 

My first card just has a general food theme and the many colour I used (after brown) is red, which i think pops out from the cover. I used a Penny Black stamp, coloured with pencils. The sentiment is an old Craft Stamper freebie. 

I'd like to enter:
Stamp Ink Paper  colour it 
Allsorts  pets
Papercraft Challenges cas 

My second card is a small notecard using another old Craft Stamper freebie.Here I took inspiration from the over by using a group of coloured containers. (The sentiment is a freebie from another magazine,) 

I'd like to enter:
4 Crafty Chicks  cas 
QKR Stampede  anything goes 

I'd love it if you popped over to The Library and entered the challenge. 

Orange flower and stripy circles

Most Saturday mornings I watch my son play football. Last week it was sunglasses and factor 30 but today it was back to wellies and winter coat! I was so happy to get back home, put on the heating and get into the craft room to make a card for some great challenges.

Here I used a flower and sparkly thing from my stash, MFT striped paper, white enamel drops and a sentiment by Alte New.

I'd like to enter:
Just Us Girls 
Less is More 
Cas-ual Fridays 
Addicted to Stamps 

Think Purple

I had a play with my new stencil from Funky Fossil. Tbh, the stencilling isn't perfect, but I decided to go fro a grungy look so it didn't matter!  I used three colours of purple inks and lots of different stencils and stamps to add pattern.
I'd like to enter:
Just Us Girls  purple
Tuesday Throwdown  anything goes

Marble Town

Here's a simple Christmas card using a very old stamp (who remembers PSX?) , stamped onto some leftover paper that I'd done the shaving foam marbling technique on.

I'd like to enter:
Merry Monday  photo
Watercooler  Christmas

City Crafter - Case me if you Can (4) - with Prize!

It's our 8th birthday at City Crafter Challenge Blog!  All this month we'll be case-ing former Design Team members and there will be prizes on offer.

Here is the beautiful card we're case-ing this week, by Char 

case this beautiful card by Char.

I realise that at first glance my card doesn't look much like Char's but here's how I case-d it :

- patterned paper background with a thinner strip of a different pattern. (I also paper-pieced some of the dotty paper onto the heart)

- shaped panel (Char's is a heart, mine's a circle) - Char has a stitched effect round the edge and I doodled some dots. 

- black strip with white embossing for the sentiment.

My snowman is Paper Smooches and the sentiment is Penny Black. 

Here's the prize you could win this week:

So please visit Char's blog, visit the City Crafter Challenge Blog and enter your own creation, case-ing Char's card.

I'd like to enter :
The Holly and Ivy 
Addicted to Stamps 
Christmas at Sweet Stampin 
Tic Tac Toe   stripes , punch (circle) , patterned paper

Plane and Simple

What a nice day - alternating between the craft room and the garden.
The plane is an Avery Elle stamp and the sentiment is Penny Black. The cloud backgroud was made with a template I cut on the Silhouette.

I'd like to enter:
The Paper Players  sketch
Cardz 4 Guyz transport
Shopping Our Stash  yo dude
Tic Tac Toe stripes, masculine, neutral

Pink and Panda

I made this card to join in a few challenges.

I stamped the panda (Aall and Create)  and masked him. Then I took some copying paper, folder it in half, drew a semi circle using a roll of tape , cut it out and stamped the MFT music background through the circle. I then decide the circle needed more definition and despite my lack of planning, I was delighted to see that my Winnie and Walter circle stamp fit it quite well.

 The words (party animal) are from the same set as the panda, and the sentiment is Hero.

I'd like to enter:
Casual Fridays  forget your trebles
Alphabet Challenge  b for bears
CAS on Friday  black, white and pink 
Card in Envy  birthday

Inkspirational - Play

Our new challenge at Inkspirational  is 'play'. I used Waffle Flower layering stamps for the girl on the bike - with that ginger hair it could be either me or my sister cycling . I seem to be using a lot of orange on cards lately.

We have a fabulous guest designer, Sarah, so please visit her blog and also the Inkspirational blog to see what the rest of the team have made - then enter your own playful project.

I'd like to enter:

AAA cards  perfect day 

Seize the Birthday  vibrant colours 

QKR stampede anything goes 

Pet Goldfish

Here's my entry in to this month's Twofer Challenge - pets. As you can see, my chosen pet is a goldfish - loyal, affectionate, easy to care for ....

For my first card I made a shaker.  The stamps are all from a Lawn Fawn set apart from the small sentiment which is Newton's Nook.
I'd also like to enter:
Mod Squad  birthday
Aud sentiments birthday
Let's Craft and Create   through a window
Craftaholics R Us  anything goes

For my second card I used the same fish and some bubbles from the same set .  The jar is from a different Lawn Fawn set and the sentiments are Concord and 9th. I added shimmer pen to the bubbles.
I'd also like to enter:
Creative with Stamps cas + sentiment
Addicted to CAS bubbles
Watercooler  masculine
Shopping Our Stash  male

City Crafter - Case me if you Can (3) - with Prize!

It's our 8th birthday at City Crafter Challenge Blog!  All this month we'll be case-ing former Design Team members and there will be prizes on offer.

Here is the beautiful card we're case-ing this week, by Wen :

case this beautiful card by Wen

For my DT card I used a dragonfly collage stamp by Stamp It Australia, coloured with Promarkers and ink spray.  I added faux stitching and clear  Nuvo drops.

Here's the prize you could win this week:

So please visit Wen's blog, visit the City Crafter Challenge Blog and enter your own creation, case-ing Wen's card.

I'd like to enter:
Make My Monday  in the garden
Try it on Tuesday nature's beauty 

Five

I made this for my next door neighbour.  The mermaid and rock are by My Favorite Things and I coloured them with Promarkers and glitter pens. I made the background with Distress Inks. I think the sentiment is Hero and I cut the number on the Silhouette.

I'd like to enter:
Shopping Our Stash  beach
Crafty Cardmakers  water 

The Library Challenge - 101 Dalmations

The new Library Challenge  is 101 Dalmations .

As a child, I only saw the film , but I actually read the book to my eldest child and loved it just as much as the film. It was a second-hand paperback - the same cover as the above (which was designed for the first edition), and as we read, the book kept falling apart in my hands!

For my first card, I was inspired by my favourite character - Cruella de Vil. I had a digi stamp by A Day for Daisies and turned her into Cruella by colouring her with markers . I drew a cape around her and added spots with a marker pen. I word-processed 'had a de vil of a day?' and the 'I'm Here for you ' is an MFT stamp , which I heat embossed in white.

I'd like to enter:
As You Like It  My fave colouring medium - alcohol markers as they are clean and you can keep it quick and simple or go for more photo-realistic looks.
Cardz4Galz black, white, 1 bright colour (just her lipstick!)
Addicted to Stamps  make your mark
QKR Stampede  anything goes
Pause Dream Enjoy  anything goes

For my second card I used a stamp by Indigo Blu with lots of dogs on it, and I coloured it with grey and pink markers. 

I'd like to enter:

Watercooler  all about occasions

Fab n Funky  cute critters 

Aud Sentiments  birthday 

Dragonfly Dreams pink 

Sweet Stampin   animals 

I would love it if you popped over to The Library and entered the challenge.