Bunny Friends

There's a lovely theme for this week's Penny Black Saturday Challenge of 'In the Garden'...it's just a shame that the weather's been so miserable this weekend...we've all been cooped up indoors! Nevermind...rain is perfect weather for crafting! lol

I followed the sketch from Sketch & Stash, using some new My Mind's Eye paper (from the 'Out & About' collection). The green paper is also My Mind's Eye (from the 'Bloom & Grow' pad)...and I distressed all of the edges, and added some faux stitching using my Cutter Bee Bug and a white gel pen...for the Creative Inspirations (Sunday) challenge where the theme is 'Sewing'. The image is called 'Bunny Friends' (by Penny Black), and the flowers and large brads are from Poppicrafts.

Secret Crafter Manga Stamp Release...Day One

Wendy, at the Secret Crafter is releasing her new range of Manga stamps, exclusive to her store, this week. There are five brand new stamp designs, which will be released one stamp per day over the course of this week. The first stamp is called 'Cat Girl'...and she's available to order from today at the Secret Crafter. 

I decided to keep my card really simple, in order to make the image the real focal point, watercolouring her to match the BasicGrey 'Porcelain' papers (available here at the Secret Crafter). The sentiment stamp is from the 'Anytime Messages' set by Hero Arts.

I'm going to enter this card into Stampavie & More's 'Happy Birthday for a Girl' challenge.

There's loads more inspiration from the rest of the Secret Crafter design team over on the Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge blog...and don't forget to pop back tomorrow for the next installment! lol

Just Cute Bears - Thank You!

This week at Just Cute Bears our challenge is:

'Thank You'

I've used another adorable Lili of the Valley bear...'Teddy with Bouquet'...what better way to say 'Thank You', than with a big bunch of flowers?! I coloured him with watercolour pencils, then added some sparkle to the flowers with a Sakura Stardust pen, to match the glittery 'Penny Lane' papers by My Mind's Eye. The sentiment stamp is by Cuddly Buddly.

 

My lovely teamies have created some really gorgeous cards again this week...you can see them all on the Just Cute Bears blog.

Susie & Vikki's Christmas Club - Guest DT Card

I was so excited last weekend, when I saw that I'd been chosen as the next guest designer for Susie & Vikki's Christmas Club...as you all know, I love making Christmas cards!

The theme for their challenge this week is:

 'Baby's Christmas'

They are sponsored this week by Roberta from The Prairie Fairy...and the prize is 5 images of the winner's choice...and she has some really fabulous images to choose from! She also kindly gave the design team one of her images to play with...the adorable 'Bundeer'.

I decided to make a card for a baby boy's first Christmas. I watercoloured 'Bundeer', and matted him on shapes cut using my Nesties. I decided to keep the background really simple, using my 'Swiss Dots' and 'Snow Dots' Cuttlebug folders to emboss plain white card. The snowflake was cut using the Cuttlebug 'Ice Crystal' die, then I sprinkled it with lots of Glamour Dust. The sentiment is computer generated.

 

 

Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge - Buttons & Blooms

It's my turn to set the theme for the Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge...and I have chosen:

'Buttons & Blooms'

I've used 'Jump for Joy' (by Penny Black), and papers from My Mind's Eye's 'Abbey Road' collection...which I though sort of looked like droplets of water. I used my Cuttlebug 'Spots & Dots' folder to 'deboss'...yes...I did put the paper in the folder the wrong way up!...then I lightly sanded the surface to bring out the detail. The felt flowers are by Making Memories, and the buttons are Papermania.

 

 My lovely DT mates have created some gorgeous cards again this week...so do pop over to the Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge to check them out.

Christmas Stampin' All Year Long - Guest DT Card

I'm sure that regular visitors to my blog will have noticed my love of making Christmas cards...it's my favourite type of card to make, and I make them all year round...so I was thrilled to be asked last week, to guest design for the Christmas Stampin' All Year Long Challenge! 

The theme for their challenge this week is a colour one:

'Chocolate & Roses'

(in other words...Brown & Pink)

An unusal, but delicious sounding colour combination for Christmas cards! I've used a Whiff of Joy image...'Ice Skating Henry Mouse'...watercolouring him to match the yummy 'Eskimo Kisses' papers (by BasicGrey), which I've matted on to chocolate brown card. I cut a snowflake using my Cuttlebug 'Ice Crystal' die out of the same card, adding some 'frosting' around the edge with a white chalk inkpad, and popped a few pieces of card candy in the opposite corner.

Why not get ahead with your Christmas cards this year, and join in the fun at Christmas Stampin' All Year Long...where there's plenty of inspiration from their fabulous design team!

Adorable Candy!

Judging by the number of entries already...it would seem like you all already know this...but just in case...the Lili of the Valley Challenge blog has a complete set of the 12 new Lili of the Valley stamps to give away to one lucky blogger to celebrate their release on June 1st.

Aren't they adorable???
The candy is only open until midnight on Saturday...so you'll need to be quick...

XMouse Ornament

I love this wee mouse ('XMouse Ornament' by Penny Black)...and he's so quick to colour too! I followed the sketch from Card Patterns, and am also entering this card into the following challenges: Corrosive - 'Clean & Simple'; Quixotic - 'Emboss It!'; and Susie & Vikki's Christmas Club - 'Anything Christmas. I used my Cuttlebug 'Swiss Dots' and 'Snowflakes' folders for the embossing, an EK Success punch for the scalloped border, and added a few adhesive gems.

I'll be back with more Christmas cards tomorrow and Saturday...as I'm guest designing for a couple of Christmas challenges...

Happy Cow!

I've had this cute digi image coloured for absolutely ages, just waiting to be made into a card...it's called 'Happy Cow' by Hambo stamps. I followed the sketch from Crazy4Challenges, and have used it to make a boy's birthday card for the Dare U 2 Digi Stamp and Daring Cardmakers challenges. The paper is from the 'Granola' pad by BasicGrey, the stars were cut using Nesties, and I embossed the smaller one with my Cuttlebug 'Spots & Dots' folder.

Bubbly Birthday!

I was one of the lucky winners of the Penny Black Saturday Challenge  '100 Celebrations'...my fabulous prize (the Penny Black 'Bubbly' set) arrived last week...thanks girls!...so of course I had to have a play at the weekend...and have made this card using one of the stamps for their 'Lots of Dots' challenge. I followed the sketch from Our Creative Corner, and used papers from the Papermania 'Sweet Nothings' pack...I even managed to find some dotty ribbon amongst my stash.

Dream a Dream...

I've used one of my favourite Penny Black stamps ('Dream a Dream') on this card. I followed the sketch from Friday Sketchers...and it combines quite a few other challenges...so I'll list them at the end. The papers are all from the '29th Street Market' collection by My Mind's Eye...another of my favourite things, and I used my Cuttlebug 'Victoria' and 'Swiss Dots' folders for the embossing. The flowers are by Making Memories, and I used an EK Success punch for the scalloped border.

Other challenges entered:

• Colour Create: Light Green & Soft Aqua
• Papertake Weekly: Say it with Flowers
• Stampavie & More: Flower Power
• Teddy Stampers: Bedtime Bears

Pile It On! - Out of the Box

The theme for this week's Pile It On! Challenge is:

'Out of the Box'

Well...I was all out of ideas, until I went and browsed the images from our sponsor for this challenge...Some Odd Girl...I have printer issues using digi images...it leaves grey smudges over the card, and then the ink smudges when I try to colour, so I print all my digis out when I'm visiting my parents...but I really wanted to use one of the Some Odd Girl images on my card...so, thinking 'outside of the box', I decided to have a go at printing the image directly on to patterned papers...and it worked! I printed the tree several times on to different papers (from the 'Ooh La La (for Him)' collection by My Mind's Eye), then cut around the trunk and branches to mix and match the patterns .

I decided to make a tent card...placing one of the trees inside the aperture, on the circle of paper cut from the front of the card. The sentiment is from the 'Anytime Messages' set by Hero Arts, and I added a little bird stamped using a stamp from the 'Sending Sunshine' set by Simon Says Stamp.

Here's a side view, so that you can see the dimension:


As this card is for Pile It On! Here are the other challenges I'm entering this card into:

Charisma Cardz: 3D
C.R.A.F.T.: Birthdays or Celebrations
Prairie Fairy Fridays: Tent Card
Sew Many Challenges: Anything Goes
Stamp Something: 2 of Something (2 trees)

The prize this week is 3 images from our sponsor Some Odd Girl...and if that's not enough...they've given all of our challengers a discount code (PileItOn30) which gets you 30% off your entire order this week!
My teamies have created some really fabulous projects this week...you can see them here.

Just Cute Bears - Sketch

This week's Just Cute Bears Challenge is a fab sketch by our lovely guest designer for this month...Bev:

I used it to make a Christmas card using an adorable Lili of the Valley stamp called 'Little Star'. The papers are from the 'Wonderful Winter' glitter stack by My Mind's Eye, I used an EK Success punch for the scalloped border, and the satin ribbon I found amongst my stash.


There's more inspiration from my lovely DT buddies on the Just Cute Bears Challenge blog.

Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge - No Patterned Paper

It's Donna's turn to set the Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge theme...and she has chosen:

'No Patterned Paper'

Eeek! Now, I'm addicted to pretty papers...but I do like to try the clean and simple look with plain embossed card every now and then. I used my Cuttlebug 'Swiss Dots' and 'Victoria' folders for the embossing, and mounted 'Henry - Hugging Heart' (by Whiff of Joy) on some shapes cut using Nesties. The scalloped border was made using an EK Success punch, and the flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts.

Don't forget to check out the cards by the rest of the Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge design team.

Relax!

I love this Lili of the Valley bear...he's called 'Deckchair Dreaming'...and he just looks so happy snoozing in his chair! lol
I followed the sketch from Create4Fun...and have incorporated the One Stop Craft Challenge's 'Summer Breeze', and Stamp with Fun's 'Stripes' themes. The papers are from the 'Penny Lane' glitter stack by My Mind's Eye, the flowers are by Making Memories, and the lettering was done using a little set of Studio G stamps.

Ready, Set, Go!

I've combined the Sketch Saturday sketch, and the 'Distressing' theme of the House Mouse & Friends Challenge on this card. The image is called 'Ready, Set, Go!'...and I watercoloured it to match the My Mind's Eye 'Ooh La La (for Him)' papers. I distressed all of the edges with inks and my distressing tool, and added some ribbon and large brads from Poppicrafts and a Tim Holtz adage ticket in place of the sentiment.

Snow Friends

I'm having a festive kind of day...this is my second Christmas card post today! This one uses a Prairie Fairy digi stamp called 'Snow Friends' that I won a while ago...but this is it's first outing on a card...I love the little 'snow dog' with his twig tail and gloves for ears! lol
I followed the sketch from Sketch & Stash...and am also entering this card into some other challenges...but I'll link them all at the end of this post, as there's quite a few.
The papers are all BasicGrey (from the 'Figgy Pudding' collection)...and I distressed the edges with inks and my distressing tool, before adding some faux stitching. I used my 'Scalloped Diamond' EK Success border punch for the border down the central strip, the sentiment stamp is by Cuddly Buddly, and the snowflake was cut using my Cuttlebug 'Ice Crystal' die.


Bah! Humbug! - Punched Borders
BasicGrey - Punch It!
Dare U 2 Digi Stamp - Anything Goes
Susie & Vikki's Christmas Club - Christmas Stitching
Winter Wonderland - See Amid the Winters' Snow

ABC Christmas Challenge - K is for...

We've reached the letter 'K' at the ABC Christmas Challenge...can you believe we're already nearly halfway through the alphabet??? It's my lovely furry friend Squirrel's turn to host the challenge...and the theme is:

'K is for Kisses'

...and her 'optional extra' is to create a shaped card...ie. something other than a square or rectangle.

We are sponsored for this challenge by our very own Lacey...and her store...Stamp & Create.

I decided to make a little round card using the biggest of my large scalloped circle Nesties (being careful to place the 'hinge' of my folded card outside of the die...so that the front and back would still be held together!). The adorable image is 'Mistletoe & Mice' by Gillian Roberts for Stampavie, which I watercoloured, then simply layered up with some more Nestie shapes. I then added a bow which I tied through holes punched through the front of the card.

I'm going to enter this card into Totally Gorjuss' 'Round & Round' challenge.

The rest of the design team have created some fabulous 'shaped' cards this week...so make sure you pop over to the ABC Christmas Challenge to check them out. There's also some candy on offer...as an extra incentive to get ahead with this year's Christmas cards...and we have something really exciting in the pipeline too...I'd love to share it with you...but it's a secret! Sssshhhh!!!!

Nap Time!

I'm not really sure where the inspiration to make a new baby card came from...I don't know anybody who's expecting at the moment...but I just couldn't resist colouring this adorable wee hedgie ('Nap Time' by Penny Black). I followed the sketch from the Simon Says Stamp Challenge...and am also entering this card into a few other challenges: Penny Black Saturday - 'Flowers'; Crazy Challenge - 'Something New' (New Baby); and Stamp Something - 'Celebrate Something'. I decided to echo the polkadot pattern on the hedgie's hammock in my Cuttlebug 'Swiss Dots' embossed background, and ribbon (from Hobbycraft). The flowers are from Poppicrafts.

On Tiptoe

This is another of the gorgeous Lili of the Valley images my lovely friend Pauline sent to me a few weeks ago...I'm not really a 'fairy' kind of girl...but this one ('On Tiptoe') is adorable! I followed the sketch from the Creative Card Crew Challenge, and am also entering this card into the Papertake Weekly's 'Shiny, Sparkly & Special' and Creative Inspirations (Wednesdays) 'Fairies' challenges. The sparkly papers are from the 'Penny Lane' stack by My Mind's Eye, and the flowers are a mixture of Prima and Making Memories.