Joy!

 

I've really enjoyed making this card. No doubt knowing what I wanted to do helped although, I did have a bit of a change at the planning stage that turned out to be part of the fun. It's for 6 challenges:

Bah! Humbug! - Holly

Sketch and Stash - my new stash is the image and the promarkers, neglected stash is the happy christmas sticker

Cooking It Up With Katie - the recipe this time is "home or family theme, punch something and use a sticker." The sticker is the greeting, the snowflakes are punched..............and the family theme..........I'm probably pushing my luck a bit here, but Christmas and little 'uns go hand in hand don't they - and I'll send this one to a family member. Hope that fits Katie.

Fab's Big Christmas - bling it or punch it - this one does both and is a 2nd entry.

Rainbow Lady's Challenge - Seasons - winter (just in case you didn't guess!)

DP2 - as I've just bought my first couple of Mo's images, I had to check this one out and this is where the little change at the planning stage came in. This week's theme is 'wood' or 'would'. In my case it's the polished wood of the frame and the woodgrain red bp - and that's where the fun came in, fitting wood into a Christmas card!

The holly frame and woodgrain bp are both from Crafty Ann's.

Thank you for your visit today.

1 & 2!

 

I'm going to start this post by apologising for the photo! Try as I might, I can't seem to get a better one today - it might improve if you click on it.

I've done this for several challenges and because I wanted to play with a birthday present. I got my first promarkers and already know that 30 is nowhere near enough!! They'll take a bit of getting used to I think but all in all, I'm reasonably happy with my first attempt although I need more practise. So this is the 1 part of the title - 1st time using promarkers.

The 2 part of the title is my 2nd entry into this weeks Bah! Humbug! - baubles. Now, I did warn the girls that they might get another card into this challenge but this wasn't what I had in mind! At least I'm caught up now, so I might just pick my loyalty sidebar banner up when I link this.

The card details are: 

Image - Christmas Garland from Crafty Ann's, coloured with promarkers and glitter

Plaid bp from Adobe Illustrator

Greetings Stamp from See D's

Snowflake button and gold ribbon from my stash

Swiss dots embossing folder for white mat.

The other challenges I'm entering my card into are:

ABC- new

Alphabet - new

Truly Scrumptious - sketch and the additional challenge of buttons and bows

Fab's big Christmas Challenge - bling it and/or punch it

Fab 'n' Funky - Embossing.

I've thoroughly enjoyed my foray into promarkers and you can expect to be seeing a lot more of them from now on! Thank you for your visit today and for all the lovely comments you leave me.

Christmas is everywhere!

I'm late with my post this morning peeps - sorry about that. It's already time for Crafty Ann's Challenge #7! This time the theme is metallic and this can be metallic colours, card, paper, metallic embellishments or altered metallic items and can be any project for any occasion. My occasion is Christmas, for a couple of reasons - I missed challenge #2 on Bah! Humbug! so wanted to catch up and because I wanted to use this image to try out a technique I'm learning. I'm indebted to Ali for the inspiration here - this lady is an absolute whizz with PSP and on her GDT card this week she has used Electric Guitar 2 and given it a fabulous metallic look by colouring it in PSP and printing onto glossy paper. Now, I don't have PSP, but do have Adobe CS3 and have barely used it other than to sort out photos in photoshop to compensate for my lousy photography. So this week, I sat with some of the training videos and have made a tentative start with Illustrator. To take you through the card, the image is the Christmas tree hanging bauble from Crafty Ann's and I have coloured it entirely in illustrator and am rather pleased with the chrome look on the stand, considering that it's my first attempt and I have a humungous way to go!!! I layered this image onto red polished stone paper from the brights collection. I did this digitally so just made the bp the size I wanted it to be, haven't added any more red to my bits box and didn't waste ink. I've enjoyed doing this and will experiment some more because I think having images ready coloured will come in handy when time is of the essence, but for me, nothing beats sitting down and doing my own colouring by hand.

The silver and gold mirri cards came from my scraps boxes and have been put through two different c/bug folders and the whole card has been finished with gltterations peel offs and gold metallic ribbon. I've also made it for these challenges:

Bah! Humbug! - baubles
Fab's Big Christmas Challenge - snowflakes
Mojo Monday - Sketch, which I turned round to suit my image
Pile it on - warm wishes
Alphabet Challenge Blog - N is for new (new technique)

Thank you for your visit today, and I do hope you'll come and join us at Crafty Ann's this week - as usual there's a prize and we do love to visit your blogs and see your lovely interpretations of the challenge.

Glitter for Bah! Humbug!

I'm running late with this one, which is annoying because I got it finished last night but completely forgot that I hadn't uploaded it!! I'll link it anyway because it's for the Bah! Humbug! week 3 challenge which is to use glitter and I missed last week's so didn't want to miss this one as well - sorry girls. It's a very simple card really - silver glitter card, the image and sentiment both stamped with versamark and embossed with silver detail ep and some cyrstal glitter added to various parts of the image then finished with a couple of peel off corners and a bit of silver ribbon.

Sorry to be so late girls, will try to do better with #4!

9 in 1!

This is the third of the 3D flowers I drew at the weekend - this one is the long petal version. I've made this card for 9 challenges  so I'll tell you about the card then list the challenges. The image is the 3D Long Petal Flower from Crafty Ann's and I've coloured it and the leaves using Twinkling H2Os. The bps are from my stash and are in keeping with my resolve to get them used up (check back with me round about 2025 and I'll let you know how much of an inroad I've made! lol!!) The one with the stars on it is more lavender than it looks it this picture. The silver foil card I've used from my bits box and I put the circular mat through the b/bug mosaics folder. The 3 hearts are plasitc embellishments that I picked up ages ago when they caught my eye but this is the first time I can remember using them.

The challenges I'm entering this card into are:

Fab 'n' Funky - Any digi image or sentiment (the flower and leaves)

Little Red Wagon - hearts

Your Next Stamp - anything that sparkles ( the silver holographic card and twinkling H2Os

Charisma Cardz - fruity colours

Allsorts - hearts and flowers

Saturday Challenge - colour challenge using the colours in the photo that you'll see when you click on the link

Crafty Pad - Sketch

Kaboodle - pink, lemon, green & plum

Creative Inspirations - feminine

and last but certainly not least, I couldn't resist a 3rd entry into Cooking it up with Katie whose recipe is: a non human image, add some texture and use something new which can be the image.

Thank you for your visit today and for the lovely and much appreciated comments you leave.

Floral Fun

 

This is the second of the 3D Flower digi stamps from Crafty Ann's and is another one that I enjoyed painting and cutting out in front of the TV. I decided to move myself out of my comfort zone colour wise with this one because for some reason I don't seem to think of using blue for flower cards.  I've used the lovely sketch from Stamp with fun and am also putting it into Raise The Bar which is a new challenge to me and the theme there is to use something you were given as a gift. My gift (from my adorable hubby) was the cuttlebug and the die I used for the 3 small sqares. I discovered ages ago that when I forgot to use the piece of card I use as a shim, the die doesn't cut completely but leaves a lovely embossed look so that's what I do sometimes - it makes a change and makes my die twice as useful! All of this makes it suitable for Cooking it up with Katie  - non human image, add texture and use something new (the image) so I'm adding it as a second entry.

Another new challenge to me is Fab 'n' Funky who have the colour combo blue, white and green this week. I coloured the flowers with Whispers strokes pens and used twinkling H2Os over the top to get the colour I wanted. The photo isn't showing the true colour which is more of a forget-me-not blue and because I created the twinkling H2Os part out of 4 colours, I'll never be able to repeat it exactly that's for sure! The blue cardstock and vellum that has blue cloud like areas have both been in my stash since the crafting year dot so I'm keeping up with my resolution to use it up and the bits of silver mirri are from my scraps box - can you see my halo shining?

Thank you for your visit today.

3D Daisy

This is one of those cards that I really enjoyed creating. Almost everything on it is mine - the only bits that aren't are the peel offs and the gold mats. I've been inspired by 3 challenges for this one. Digital Tuesday has supplied the sketch, Cooking it Up With Katie has supplied the recipe which is: use a non-human image, add some texture and use a product you've never used before which can be the image and last but not least, Incy Wincy Designs want us to use our favourite colouring medium.

The image is a brand new digi stamp from Crafty Ann's and is the 3D Daisy/Gerbera. It comes with two leaves so that you can choose which one you want your flower to be when you make it. I decided on a daisy this time. My colouring medium is twinkling H2Os which is my favourite medium of the moment and I love the effect here. The bps are from the embossed dots earth tones collection and a sheet I created with alcohol inks. I put the white card behind the flower though a c/bug folder for extra texture (I could have entered it into the current Crafty Ann's Challenge - but that would be cheating! lol!!).

I know there are lots of lovely fabric flowers out there, but sometimes I just like to have done as much of the card myself as I can and I had such a lovely time sitting in front of the TV painting and cutting this one out.

Thank you for your visit today and the much appreciated comments you leave me.

A Posy For You!

I can't believe that another fortnight has gone by already and we're already on to the second Crafty Ann's Challenge of the year! This time our theme is Embossing - dry, heat or both. This card is also for quite a few other challenges so here goes. I used the lovely sketch from PTW and made an easel card with it so have also used the sketch on the 'floor' part of the card. The image of the rosebud posy is brand new and deliberately so because it's for a special lady who is my card swap partner for this month and our theme was something new so I decided that you couldn't get much newer than something freshly drawn and I only finished this on wednesday evening which also makes it suitable for Creative Inspirations who want us to use something new that you've bought or been given after the new year so I'm hoping that my drawing still comes into this category, and Charisma Cardz who have given us permission to use anything at all that is new. Unfortunately, all this means that my partner will get to see it before she receives it because we've had more snow and I couldn't get out to the post box today and I know that she reads my blog - sorry Tess!

Crafty Creations want textures and Digital Tuesday want Embossing too. Theme Thursday want Hearts and ABC is L is for layers this week.

I've coloured the image with inktense pencils which I haven't used much for a while. The large bp is K & Co and the embossed hearts bp is Crafty Ann's. The gold card was put throught the cuttlebug and I've used a long neglected bit of stash around the edeges and to form the cross on the large piece of bp - beadazzles which gives lovely texture.

Phew - I think that's it - I hope you'll come and join us at Crafty Ann's for this challenge, we had a record number of entries for the last one and loved coming to see your creations.

Recyled For Two Challenges

This was such a quick card to make! It's for two challenges - Bah! Humbug! and Rainbow Lady's both of whom have asked us to recycle this week. I decided to keep it simple and on semi-glossy card have stamped a ummount corner flourish stamp and then stamped the two images onto separate card, cut them out and mounted onto 1mm foam tape. All the stamping was done with Brilliance sky blue ink. The label was stamped onto slightly different card - this isn't visible to the naked eye, but of course the camera has picked it up!

And the recycled bit? Those lovely blue gems! - and I promise they were on a shop bought card and not one of my treasured hand made ones.

Flowers and Ribbon

I had doubts about whether this card would come to fruition - I've known what I wanted to do for this Cute Daisy May Challenge which is Flowers and Ribbon ever since I saw this image but struggled for time all last week then developed a yukky head cold on Friday and spent Saturday feeling like I was trying to trudge through porridge. I got here in the end though and I'm pleased with the result. Several other challenges have inspired me too so I'll let you know what they are as I go along starting first of all with this lovely and unusual sketch from Friday Sketchers. When I first saw it, I wasn't too sure but I love how it makes the image really take centre stage. I took the colour scheme from Charisma Cardz which is Pink Brown Cream Toffee and Cute Card Thursday and Fussy and Fancy Friday both want us to use something new, which in my case is the Cute Daisy May image. The Pink Elephant is celebrating Birthdays and last but certainly not least, Rainbow Lady is urging us all to recyle this week and the ribbon I've used on here is from a box of chocolates.

I'm still keeping up with using up some of my humungous stash of card and papers - the main pink paper I've had for so long that I can't remember just how long and the two brown pieces are my own but are scraps I'm using up.

Daisy has been added digitally to one of my own frames - it just seemed perfect for her showing off her pretty dress, and I've decoupaged the flowers. I've used both inktense pencils and twinkling H2Os to colour the image.

I hope you'll join us for this week's challenge at CDM, we love to visit your blogs to see your entries and you could be in with a chance of winning a blinkie for your blog and a sheet of images of your choice.

Love is in the air!

It is at Cute Daisy May Challenge anyway! It's the first challenge of the new year and Linnie has come up with some fabulous new images to get us off to a great start. This one is from sheet  133 and I had a bit of a fight with myself to decide whether to use the birds or this one first - as you can gather this one won!

I'm not one for making resolutions but I am determined this year to use up some of the stash of card and paper that I could use to stock a shop! We'll see what happens because despite having upmteen drawers of the stuff I had such a job to get designs I liked in colours that went together! Has designing my own made me lazy I wonder?????? Anyway, onto the card - the two smaller bps are K&Co and the larger piece was one I've had in my stash since the crafting year dot I think so can't remember it's origins. The photo doesn't do it justice though, it has a beautiful irridescence to it and is rather less purple than it looks on here. I decided to keep it simple and have edged all the pieces of bp with glitterations peel offs but otherwise have kept embellies to a minimum - bearing in mind that anniversary cards usually go to a man as well as a woman. I've coloured the image with coloursoft pencils.

I'm also entering my card into these challenges:

Papertake Weekly - who provided the lovely sketch

Incy Wincy Designs - Bling it up! (I need no excuse for that!!)

Stamp Something - New (the CDM image)

ABC - K is for kissing

Charisma Cardz - Celebrations

I hope you'll pop over and check out the other DT cards at CDM Challenge then join in with us for the opportunity to win some of these lovely new images.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I'd like to start this post by wishing you all a very happy and healthy 2010.

It's lovely to be starting our first Crafty Ann's Challenge of the year on the first day of the year and for this fortnight our theme is:

"Challenge #5 - New Year, New Inspiration - Be inspired by something new - new stash for christmas, a new technique or a new idea you've picked up while blog hopping and tell us what the new bit is."

I've taken inspiration from a few places starting with Tess (Crafty Tess) who contacted me and asked if I would consider adding a Classical/Spanish guitar to my digi stamp collection. This I've duly done and this is it's first outing - by me anyway so that makes the digi stamp new.  I've also taken inspiration from The Pink Elephant who have given us a choice of two lovely sketches for this week's challenge. The one I've chosen to use could have been created for what I wanted because it feels perfect not only for this digi stamp but also the fact that the card is for a man. The backing papers are from three of my own collections (polished stone - earth tones, embossed stars - earth tones and abstract 2 - autumn tones.) I've coloured the image with coloursoft pencils and used both the blender and burnisher pencils with them. Next time I use a silver gel pen on the frets I'll also use a ruler though - I promise they are straight on the digi stamp!! The two tier flower is from an elusive images set and embossed with detail gold ep. I chose it because it isn't too 'girly'. The gold mirri mat has been put through the c/bug music folder. It's also ideal for Rainbow Lady's Challenge this week as Cynthia wants "new",  MTTC who have very obligingly given us a free hand with "Anything Goes" and Pile it on who have two challenges running just now with the option of entering one or both. The one I'm entering is "Anything Digital".

I hope you'll pop over and join us for this challenge, we do love to see your creations and it's well worth checking out the Design Teams offerings - they are just fabulous and we also have Ali & Jenny, our GDT members for January who have really pulled the stops out for us.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

I'd just like to wish all my lovely blogging friends a very

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

and a 

Happy and Healthy 2010

Last for this year?

Click on image to enlarge

Well I hope this is my last Christmas card for this year anyway! It's for my sister and her family and of all the people I make cards for, my sister and her twins who are 8, are the most satisfying. They really appreciate them and the work that goes into them. The twins are wonderful little crafters in their own right (I got them into it while they were still babies!!) and love all my projects so it was a delight watching their pleasure when I gave them this yesterday. I've made it for 6 challenges starting with the wonderful sketch at Mojo Monday. The backing papers are my own from the polished stone brights collection and the embossed dots earth tones collection and the image was created using the snowman and oval holly frame digi stamps - all of them available from Crafty Ann's. As you can see, I've had a field day with the glitter and where I haven't used glitter, I've used twinkling H2Os so there's a lovely sheen and sparkle to this card which my sis loved. I've also used glitterations borders.

The other challenges I'm entering this into are:

Tanda Teaser - It's cool to be square - this one is a 20cm square easel card (they hadn't seen one of these before so it was quite entertaining watching them work it out!!)

Simon Says - Merry Christmas

DU2DS - Last minute Christmas card - well this one is even more last minute that the other one I entered so I couldn't resist entering again!

Stamp Something - A holiday themed card

OCC - Let it snow - rather apt as it is snowing as I type this and am very grateful that we visited sis and family yesterday.

Crafty Ann's Challenge #4

Click on image to enlarge

This is my first 'proper' post since I decided to come back to blogger and how nice that it should be my Christmas card for my husband and for my own challenge! It's for several others too so I'll tell you the card details and then list them all.

I've used the royal blue backing paper from the polished stone brights collection and the Bridge over stream digi stamp, both from Crafty Ann's.  I changed the colour of the digi stamp to blue in publisher and added a little extra blue ink as paint in a few places and have touched crystal glitter here and there to give a frosty look. Other than that, all I've use is silver mirri card, die cut letters and snow flakes, gems and glitterations borders. I'm happy to say that my husband loves it. :o)

The challenges I'm entering it into are:

Crafty Ann's - Any colours except red or green

Sketch and Stash - the sketch and new or neglected stash which in my case is the snowflake die at the two corners of the picture

The Pink Elephant - Winter/Christmas

Creative Card Crew - Anything goes

MTTC - Yuletide Wishes

Cooking It Up With Katie - Christmas theme, ribbon and any current sketch

One Stop Craft - Christmas Love

Saturday Spotlight - a project which represents your favourite music - mine is Country

Wednesday Stamper - Blue and white

DU2DS - Last minute Christmas cards - I've only just finished this one!

C.R.A.F.T. - Free for all!

There was a time when I would have been so impressed with myself managing 11 challenges, but I've visited some blogs lately that put this tally to shame! It's still a personal best for me though, so I'm still pleased :o)

Thank you for popping by today, especially at this busy time of year - I do hope you'll be able to find time to join us for the Crafty Ann's Challenge, you have until 30th of December and we'd love to see your creations.