Another colour challenge.

Note if you are here for the Lily Pad Blog Hop please go to the next post down!

 

Here is a card I made with the challenge over at CR84FN21, the inspiration photograph shows dark red green and cream and I was really pleased with my card till I tried to photograph it.  The weather has been quite dull lately and all my photos show the green looking really dark and muddy.

 In real life the Green is so different and I have also sprayed with perfect pearls so it has a really lovely shimmer to it. Never mind I will enter it anyway.

Just a short post tonight as my daughter needs some moral support.  She has just found out she has a big interview to go to next week and there is a lot of preparing to do.  I need to be on hand with cups of tea and snacks to help her through!!


Supplies: Hero Arts stampCG184 peacock. S4878 Old letter writing. Crushed Olive and Peeled paint distress inks. Cream ribbon, gems and button.

Lily Pad Cards and my First Blog Hop!!

Wecome to the Lily Pad Blog Hop!!!!

 Hi everyone, its Wednesday and another exciting day in this fabulous Blog Hopping week, you have now reached hop 3 of day 3  and you should have arrived here from the wonderful  Virginia's blog . If you missed any hops on the way please go to The Lily Pad Cards to start at the beginning.

This blog hop started on Monday and features seven blogs per day,  it culminates on Friday, April 1, with the grand opening of Lily Pad Cards. Lily Pad Cards is a new challenge blog that will feature interviews, articles, videos, challenges, great prizes, and more!

Although Lily Pad doesn’t officially bloom until April 1, 2011, you’ll be able to see a new sneak peek every day until then. And you’ll definitely want to drop by because there are three HUGE prize packages with a total retail value of over $800 - including a $100 gift certificate to a very popular online store! Go here for specific prize details and contest rules.

The hop’s theme is "Welcome" because not only are we welcoming Lily Pad Cards to the neighborhood, but we’re also welcoming all of you to come in and join in all the fun.

 I have decided to make two cards for the hop.

This is my first card and very much my style, I love pretty feminine cards with bling, butterflies and flowers!! I have made the background with a mixture of distress inks and perfect pearls for shimmer.  I then lightly stamped on the graph background stamp.  The butterflies are from Hero Arts and are stamped onto coloured vellum and embossed with white embossing powder, then layered up for texture. The handmade roses are made using a sizzix die cut (Thanks Suze)! I have generated the sentiment on the computer.

My second card is just a bit of fun to welcome all you hoppers to my blog!!! I wanted to make a card with a blue frog and a lily pad and as I didn't have the right stamps I just found the image on google and paper pieced it.  The jumping frogs in the background are made with a punch that I have had for years.

Please now hop to the next stop, which is over at Simon Says Stamps.  If you hit a bad link you can always go here to continue hopping.  Please report any bad links to webmaster@interlinkz.com.

Thanks so much for stopping by and hope you enjoy the rest of your hop!!!!


 Supplies for top card: Hero Arts Stamps S5435 Graph background. CL383 Antique engravings. Distress inks in, Bundled Sage, Mustard Seed Yellow, Spiced Marmalade, Dusty Concord. Perfect Pearls, Lace, roses and gems.

Felt flowers and a new challenge blog!!

When I saw these pretty flowers that Kelly had created I was dying to have go myself, so this weekend I had a little play with some felt scraps that I had in my material basket.  I have made these into brooches as they are really popular in the UK at the moment. I haven't stamped on these as ink doesn't take well on felt but after seeing Heathers gorgeous creations I am going to have another go with material!

Just in case you've missed it, there's a new card challenge blog starting called "Lily Pad Cards "and it's launching with a week-long blog hop, starting today! Click here to start hopping- There are some fabulous prizes involved check here to see! The week ends on April 1st with the grand launch!

If you visit my blog on Wednesday you can see my contribution to this fun event.

March CCC

For this months Card Chain Challenge ( Organised by the super efficient Deborah) I was lucky enough to receive this fabulous card from Jane and this time my card only had to travel from Bracknell in the UK :0) so there was no worry about it getting lost in the post !! Love the bright and cheerful colours Jane has used! 

And this is the card I sent to by blogging friend Sanne in Denmark, I tried to follow Deborah's sketch this month.  Don't forget to visit Deborah's blog on Friday and sign up for Aprils CCC you won't regret it!

Please try and visit my blog on Wednesday as something special is happening and also before I go, a little reminder to check out Vicky's blog on Monday at 9:00 AM EST....you wouldn't want to miss this!!!

Wee Memories Challenge#49

Another week has flown by and its now my last week as Guest Designer at the Wee Memories Scrappy Saturday Challenge.   Challenge#49 is sponsored by my My Favourite Things and as you can see "Anything Goes"

This card is a CAS design for me (well as clean and simple as I can do, I love adding little extras like pearls and ribbons to my cards).  I have been playing around with distress inks alot lately and this image is stamped onto watercolour paper using distress inks sprayed with perfect pearls.  I love the shimmer it gives to a card.  The butterfly is paper pieced onto some text patterned paper.

 The Top Hoot as picked by the design team will win a $25 gift certificate to the My Favorite Things Store!!! And we've also added a random hoot as a thank you for playing that will win a Wee Memories prize pack!


So, ready to play along? I hope you will! Link up your finished creation to the Wee Memories blog. You have until midnight PST on Fri., April 1st to be eligible for the prize. Have Fun.

I have really enjoyed the last month, thaks Jenny for giving me this opportunity.

Supplies:Hero Arts StampCG187 Floral Brocade. Distress Inks Walnut Stain and Spiced Maramalade. Perfect Pearls. Spellbinders Lacey Circles.

Fresh Inspiration Friday

Its a Fresh Inspiration Friday challenge today on the Hero Arts Blog! The idea is to stamp something just for fun that’s based on the inspiration piece provided.

 My Hero Arts Hostess"sista" Anita  emailed us  a photograph of some gorgeous pictures she has hanging on her dining room wall. Here’s one of them! The challenge is to create a card using this photo as inspiration.

 This is my card , I am not really a blue person, I prefer pinks, reds and oranges but this has changed my mind about using blue.  The background is on watercolour paper and I have layered up the Classic Fabric stamp and the Envelope pattern stamp using broken china distress ink and some perfect pearls.  I have then stamped over with Chipped sapphire and the Garden Bouquet stamp and more perfect pearls for a real shimmer.

Here is a closeup, I am really pleased with the effect.  The butterfly is one that the lovely Brenda sent me, Thanks Brenda, I just distressed the edges a little for a vintage effect.

Supplies: Hero Arts Stamps. S5507 Envelope Pattern.  CG172 Garden Bouquet. CG245 Classic Fabric. Distress inks. Broken China and Chipped Sapphire. Perfect Pearls. Spekkbinders Lacey Circles.

Joy's and Linda's Challenges

 I have long been an admirer of Jacqueline's cards, she has her own shabby chic style and I love it, so when Joy set her first challenge "Create a project that honours someone in the crafty world that has inspired you", I had to choose Jacqueline.

The card I have chosen is this one, made by using up scraps of stamped paper that would otherwise be thrown in the bin.

 I also know that Jacqueline  loves to use butterflies cut from pretty patterned paper and she loves this Hydrangea stamp.  So a perfect tribute to a crafter with a unique style.

This second card was my entry in the 90minute challenge set by Linda yesterday in the Hero Arts flickr group, I followed Linda's sketch and created this card in the 90 minute time deadline.  Such fun, I was lucky enough to have my sewing machine already set up, as I had been sewing all afternoon. it meant I was able to add the zig zag very quickly to my card.  The background was really simple, I just stamped the classic fabric design with Bundled Sage Distress ink and spritzed with water, followed by the envelope pattern also in Bundled Sage.  The butterflies were stamped onto a piece of shimmery green paper from my scraps box.

I have had a really crafty weekend and  have had time to do a little gardening as well, so a productive time, always a bonus!!


Supplies for top card. Hero Arts Stamps CG187 Floral Brocade. CG 245 Classic Fabric. K5376 Hydrangea stamp.CL383 Antique Engravings. Artistic Outpost stamp. Bloom and Grow. Distress inks.
Bottom Card. CL383 Antique Engravings. CG245 Classic Fabric. SS507 Envelope pattern. Bundled sage Distress ink.

Wee Memories Scrappy Saturday Challenge #48, "Cute or Cuddly"

Wow another week has whizzed by and its time again for the Scrappy Saturday Challenge over at The Wee Memories Blog, this is my third week as Guest Designer and I am really enjoying it!

This week's challenge theme is "Cute or Cuddly". All you need to do is create a card with this theme for your chance to win a stamp set from this weeks wonderful sponsor Lawn Fawn,

This week is extra exciting as we are doing a Co-Challenge with Lawnscapings! Everyone will have TWO chances to win a  Lawn Fawn Prize. The same inlinkz code will be used by Lawnscapings. So anyone from there and from us can enter!


Kelly-Marie  from Lawn Fawn Stamps  and Kathy Racoosin will be joining in with us as guest designers.how exciting is that! !

 Here is my card as you can see I went with the "Cute" theme and created this night time scene with the two foxes. The blue background paper has a lovely shimmer to it which is hard to see in the photograph.  The fox stamp is from Hero Arts and to make the reverse image, I scanned a stamped image with my computer and flipped it, adding eyelashes to make it female!

So, ready to play along? I hope you will! Link up your finished creation to the Wee Memories blog. You have until midnight PST on Fri., Mar. 25th to be eligible for the prize. Have Fun.

supplies. Hero Arts Stamps. E5465 Fox. Copic markers.

A new challenge.

This is a new challenge for me, but when I saw the mood board over at Simply Create, Alford I knew I would have to make a card.  I love these colours and the images are beautiful so I had to make a pretty card to match!

I have been having more fun with layered backgrounds and made this using Broken China distress ink on my HA Classic Fabric stamp and then spraying with perfect pearls for a light shimmer.  I have then lightly stamped the envelope pattered stamp just on the edges.
Hope you are all having a great St Patricks Day!


Supplies: Hero Arts stamps. CG245 Classic Fabric.  S5507 Envelope Pattern. CL 383 Antique Engravings. Broken China Distress ink. Flowers, buttons, lace, ribbon and pearls.

Hostess Gift Box and Tag!

It's  Hostess week on the Hero Arts Blog, and we decided we would all use this months theme of birthdays for our cards and projects.  Yesterday Linda and Sharon featured birthday cards and today its my turn.  If you looked through my blog you would notice that I love to make gift boxes and gift cards as well as general cards. (you can see one of my gift cards in the post below!) I always like to make an effort when wrapping my presents for friends and family,  You can really make your gift stand out by making your box unique, go on have a go and make your gift even more special!!

Boxes are really easy to make there are so many great tutorials if you search through the Internet, for this box I have used this tutorial for a "Five in one" template box from splitcoast stampers.

If you visit the Hero Arts blog you will find all the instructions and supplies for making this project.

Please check out the Hero Blog all this week to see what all the Hostesses have created!!

Give seeds as a gift.

Wow this week has flown by and its time for another challenge over at Wee Memories.  Challenge #46 is sponsored by Annabelle Stamps, go check out their site to see some great stamps and crafting items.

For this weeks challenge I decided to make a gift card, the idea is you give a card with a hidden surprise inside like special tea bags (see some I made here) store cards or even seeds as I have done.  I like the idea of giving a wildflower garden to a friend.  Its easy to sow and creates a beautiful sight in the summer and it attracts butterflies.

I made the holder using this Tutorial  The only difference is instead of making a band to fit round the card I added some ribbon that is attached behind the main stamped image, so can tie it with a pretty bow.

The base image is made using bundled sage distress ink to cover the card and then I stamped old letter writing in the same colour.  For the main image I used a Dew Drop ink called Pearlescent Thyme and then after attaching the ribbon I put it on to the card with pop dots..

So, ready to play along? I hope you will! Link up your finished creation to the Wee Memories blog. You have until midnight PST on Fri., Mar. 18 to be eligible for the prize. Have Fun.

Supplies:Hero Arts Stamps F5407 Lets Garden. CG197 Old Letter. CL430 Real Garden Petals.  Distress inks. Bundled Sage , Forest Moss and Dusty Concord. Dew Drop ink. Pearlescent Thyme.

Another go at layered backgrounds.

I had another go at Shari's layered background technique , this time I used earthy tones and I love the result.
Busy day again so another short post, be sure to check back tomorrow when the new challenge at Wee Memories starts!

supplies: Hero arts stamps, CG172 Garden Bouquet, G5507 Envelope pattern. Distress inks, Old Paper, Spiced Marmalade, Crushed Olive and Scattered Straw. Spellbinders Lacey Circles.

Layered Backgrounds!

Hi ladies its been a beautiful sunny day here but still very cold so I needed another bright card to cheer me up.  I have at last been successful with Shari's Layered background technique, after quite a few attempts hitting the bin this is the card I ended up with.  Its still not perfect but I love the reds and purples.


Supplies:-Stamps by Hero Arts CL430 Real Garden Petals, CL383 Antique Engravings , S5507 Envelope pattern.  Distress inks:- Old Paper, Barn Door, Crushed Olive, Dusty Concord.

Spring flowers.

Just a quick post tonight, I decided to get my marker pens out of the drawer as I haven't used them in ages and this seemed the perfect stamp for them!  I wanted to make a Spring like card , so I used the markers to colour the stamp then spritzed with water before putting on the paper, I love the soft effect it has created

Hope you are all having a great week.

Supplies. Hero Arts stamps: CG172 Garden Bouquet and S5507 Envelope pattern. Marker pens and Tumbled Glass Distress Ink.

Guest Designer for March !!!

I was so thrilled when sweet Jenny from The Wee Memories Blog contacted me a few weeks ago and asked if I would like to be their March Guest Designer , for the "Scrappy Saturday Challenges".  I jumped at the chance as I have been a follower of her blog for ages and often take part in the weekly challenges.

This is my inspirational card for this weeks challenge  #46, the theme is "Woodland Friends" and a card or project  inspired by woodland creatures and nature!

To make my card I used an old owl stamp that I had and enlarged the stamped image on my computer, I then cut it out and added strips of Patterned Paper cut with a border punch.. The balloons are coated with UTEE to give a shine.

 The challenge is sponsored by Serendipity stamps and the prize this week is a stamp set.

So, ready to play along? I hope you will! Link up your finished creation on the Wee Memories blog. You have until midnight PST on Fri., Mar. 11 to be eligible for the prize.  Have Fun.