Walking in a Winter Wonderland with Ooh La La Creations

Well this will be our last challenge of 2013, over at Ooh La La Creations. Thanks to everyone who has supported us through the past 12 months. We had some really great ideas for using doilies in response to our last challenge and the winners can be found over at the challenge blog.

I know by now everyone will be finished making their Christmas cards and waiting for the big day to arrive, So when I chose my theme for this fortnights challenge, I was thinking of all those other winter occasions, birthdays, weddings, anniversaries etc. So I chose....

Winter Wonderland 

So here is my card, using papers and image from the 'Snow Scene' folder on the Yesterday's memories CD. You can buy a copy at Ooh La La Creations Website.

I started by distressing both papers and then layering them one over the other and sticking them to an 8x8 card blank. I die cut a frame from Kraft card and added white faux stitching round the edge and placed this over the image at an angle. The image had Merry Christmas in the corner but I covered this up by adding two die cut trees, these were also originally cut from Kraft card and I had added polar white flower soft to them but having added then to the card I really didn't like the effect so painted them whilst they were stuck on with white acrylic paint the flowersoft underneath gave a really nice texture and I will be trying this happy accident again. I finished off with some white die cut snowflakes that I have glittered with clear rock candy dry stickles (this has become a firm favourite since buying a jar at the NEC back in November). I finished off with a Happy Birthday tag and added a die cut pine branch and some faux stitching.

DT call over at Fab n Funky Challenges.

Hi Everyone 

Just to let you know there won't be a challenge over at Fab n Funky on Wednesday this week what with it being Christmas Day. We girls on the DT are on our Christmas Hols until January 8th when we return with a whole load of new challenges. 

We have had a few of the DT girls step down in the last few months, most recently Rachel and Jackie and we really miss them all, but the spaces they have left are there to be filled by a whole new set of DT members and so we are very excited to announce our DT call for 3 or 4 new members for 2014.

So.... What's it all about!

• Fab'n'Funky Challenges is a very popular weekly challenge going live each Wednesday- but we have two teams who post on alternative weeks so as a DT member at Fab'n'Funky your commitment would be to make a project every other week - though you can join in every week if you would like to.  We take holiday breaks in the busy summer and Christmas periods so you don't need to worry about meeting deadlines at these times.

• We have sponsors every week and prizes for our challenge winners - the majority of these sponsors provide digis for the team to work with - so you need to be able to colour and work with digi stamps, 

• Also you must be prepared to promote our sponsors and their images on your blog -  we have some wonderful sponsors for 2014.

• We have crafters of all styles and abilities on our team - so you do not need to be an experienced crafter or DT member as there is always someone around to help out on our DT blog on blogger where we chat and keep up to date with our challenges - so a blogger account is required so that you can join in with us as we are a very democratic bunch!!

• The other requirement is that you comment on your allocation each week - and it's always nice to visit your fellow teamies!

• Oh and just one other thing! - as an added twist this year we are introducing a Christmas challenge in the last week of every month - in a bid to get everyone organised with a few more Christmas cards for next year - now that can't be a bad thing -                                                       so it's Fab'n'Funky Challenges - with an added twist of Christmas!!

If you are interested please pop over to Fab n Funky Challenges and follow the instructions at the end of Judith's blog post to apply for the DT - Good Luck and I'll see you over on the DT blog in January.

Alli xx

OK so I couldn't resist one more project for the Challenge

Whilst Through The Purple Haze challenges are sponsored by Penny Black this week I couldn't resist sharing this project with the ladies of the DT over there. They always leave such lovely comments and have come up with some great inspiration over the past few weeks so here's my take on Zentangle.

Materials

Centura pearl card hint of gold

Black card

White ink me card from Hunky Dory

Papermania Self- adhesive crystal gems

Double sided tape and foam pads

Tools Used

Ebosser and A4 embossing folder that comes with the machine

 Ruler

Black Micron drawing Pens – 0.2 and 0.4 mm nibs

White Sakura Gel Pen

Dream Weaver Poinsettia Stencil

Sweet poppy Noel Stencil

Technique

Draw a Square 6”x6” on a piece of the white card using the 0.2 mm pen. Divide the Square into a grid of 0.5” squares using the same pen. Then using the 0.4 mm pen draw the Zentangle pattern ‘Fiore’ into each of the smaller square. 

For full instructions on drawing Fiore go to http://tanglepatterns.com/2013/06/how-to-draw-fiore.html

Once the whole grid Is filled mount the finished piece on black card and trim to leave a thin border.

Stick the Poinsettia stencil to black card using low tack tape and draw through the stencil using the white Gel Pen, once complete remove the stencil and fill in each area with different patterns once finished, mount onto White card and then black card trimming to leave a narrow border each time.

Stick the Noel stencil to Black card and draw through the stencil with the white pen, once complete remove the stencil and fill in each letter with a white chequerboard pattern, once finished mount onto white then black card leaving a narrow border each time.

Cut a piece of black card to measure 7.5”x7.5” and emboss in the free brocade A4 folder that comes with the ebosser machine. Cut a piece of Centura Pearl measuring 6.5”x 6.5” and stick this in the centre of the black embossed panel. Stick this panel onto a 8x8 card blank.

Using double sided tape stick the zentangled panel in the centre of the white panel.  Then use foam pads to add the poinsettia and Noel panels.

Finish off with adhesive gems in the centre of the poinsettia and across the ‘o’ in Noel, and as corner accents on the patterned panels.

I am entering this card into the following challenges

http://throughthepurplehazechallenges.blogspot.co.uk/ - Christmas 

Twenty Third and final entry

So here it is the twenty third and final entry in the  ongoing Through The Purple Haze weekly challenges. I have had such a fun time coming up with a new design each week for the Massive challenge set by Anita Blake and her Design teams on the challenge blog. It feels sort of sad that today sees the final project for this particular set of challenges. Sponsored by Penny Black I have used their Peace and Joy clear stamp set and their cutting die Peace to create a CAS style card.


Something of a departure for me as it is plain to see on the rest of my blog  I love my embellishments. So here it is.

I stamped the image of  the dove with poinsettias 3 times using versafine ink and coloured the poinsettias using promarkers in berry red, poppy, and ruby, for the flowers and Forest and Holly green for the leaves. the centre were coloured with sunflower, I coloured the 'pearl frame using a sakura sparkle pen. I left the dove on the main image uncoloured and cut out a second dove which I also left uncoloured and stuck it over the image using gel glue to give some height. The third dove I added cool grey 1 highlights to the feathers and edged the wings tail and tummy with stickles rock candy dry glitter. I embossed a square of centura pearl hint of gold card  in an interlocking circles embossing folder by Sue Wilson and matted this onto a dark green centura pearl paper which I trimmed to leave a really narrow border,

I added the dove motif and the die cut word which was also cut from centura pearl card and coloured using a forest green promarker . and here is my take on a CAS type card.

I am entering this card into the following challenge
http://throughthepurplehazechallenges.blogspot.co.uk/ - Christmas with Penny Black

Snowflakes at Fab n Funky

Good morning, we had some marvellous entries for our Touch of Frost theme last week and the winners can be found over at the Fab n Funky blog.

This week we are keeping with the Winterey  theme  and it is .....

Snowflakes

Our lovely sponsor this week is StampArt Design by Kathryne

Prize: 5 Digis

As always we were given some wonderful digis to work with and I have used Using Alannah by  StampArt Design by Kathryne

This card is destined for our gorgeous grand daughter Chloe Ann and whilst she is a bit of a tomboy she also loves pink and glittery.

I used an 8x8 card blank and covered this with a piece of centura pearl card stock which had been wrapped in ribbon - it doesn't show up too well in the photograph but the ribbon is silver with little snowflakes printed on it. 

I coloured the image using Spectrum Noirs and Promarkers 

Hair Specturm Noir  FS2, TN1, GB,2, GB3, GB6

Skin  Spectrum Noir FS1, FS2,TN1 FS8

Eyes - Pro marker Cyan

Coat and trousers - Spectrum Noir PP1, PP2, PP3

Boots and Fur Promarkers Cool Grey 1, Cool Grey2, Cool Grey3 

I added clear rock candy dry stickles to the fur to add some sparkle.

I added a panel embossed using an embosilicious folder on Centura Pearl and then cut the snowflake wreath twice stuck one on top of the other and added white glitter. 

I fussy cut around Alannah leaving a very narrow white border and stuck her on to p of the wreath before adding more glittered snowflakes cut using a Tattered Lace snowflake die. Finally teh sentiment was cut from white card using Tattered Lace dies and I coloured them pink before sticking to the ribbons 

Twenty Two Down only One more to go.

This week at Through the Purple Haze Challenges we are being asked to use our favourite Christmas colours and being a bit of a traditionalist I have chosen Red and Green. More importantly this is my husband's Christmas card this year and eh is even more of a traditionalist when it comes to Christmas colours - he really doesn't get the blues and pinks and will always gravitate to red and green given teh choice.

Here is the card I have made for him .....

I started off with an A5 card blank and cut a piece of 'red velvet' card from pink pig crafts to fit leaving a narrow border. The card is a rich deep red and although foiled has a mat finish so it really does look like velvet. The only disadvantage is that it is quite expensive so knowing I wanted to add a white panel on top I gutted the centre of teh card and used what was removed to make the flowers. 

I embossed a piece of white centura pearl card in a 'honeysuckle' folder from Crafter's Companion and then turned this upside down as I thought the flowers had an appearance of mistletoe leaves when viewed upside down.

I cut two large ivy leaf sprays using green mirror card and a tattered Lace die and stuck these on the front of the white panel to trail down. 

The hearts are chipboard shapes that I painted with white gesso and then coloured with a berry red pro marker. Once coloured I coated them with a thin layer of glossy accents and allowed it to dry slightly but whilst still tacky added white stickles distress glitter in rock candy to give a sparkly effect once completely dry I added the gingham ribbons. 

The poinsettias were cut using Britannia dies and Green mirror card and the red velvet card gutted from the base layer. The centres are cut using a tattered lace winter florals die from off cuts of the Centura Pearl as were the pine cones and some of the pine branches and coloured with a 'Sunflower' 'Cocoa' and 'Holly Green' promarkers respectively. The Holly leaves were cut from Green Mirror card using another die from the Tattered Lace winter florals set. 

I placed the hearts on the card where I wanted them and then used a chain effect border peel off to make them look as if they were hanging down the card before sticking them down with glue gel. I added the Flowers branches and leaves and added red gems for Holly Berries. The finishing touch was the wooden sentiment tag with a scrap of gingham ribbon threaded through. 

Whilst flowers may not seem the obvious choice for a male card I know hubby will love this as his mum sadly no longer with us loved the bright poinsettia plant and would have several in the house every Christmas, we have kept the tradition alive and always have at least one in the house over the Christmas period, so they have a bit of special meaning for us which I know he will appreciate.

I am entering this card into the following challenges 

http://throughthepurplehazechallenges.blogspot.co.uk/ - Use your favourite Christmas Colours I chose red and green 

http://trimmiescraftchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/ - Christmas 

http://craftyhazelnutschristmaschallenge.blogspot.co.uk/ - For Someone Special

http://craftyhazelnutschristmaschallenge2.blogspot.co.uk - Anything Goes so long as it's Christmas 

http://pennyschallenges.blogspot.co.uk/ Tic Tac Toe I chose Flowers glitter and ribbon

Use a Doily differently at Ooh La La Creations

Well it's Monday and time for our latest fortnightly challenge at Ooh La La Creations. Thank you to everyone who entered our last challenge and the winners can be found on the Challenge blog This time Ciska has set the challenge of using a doily in a different way. so here is my creation made using bonus papers and images from the Yesterdays Memories CD which you can purchase over on the Ooh La La Creations Website.

I used an 8x8 card blank and covered it with the pink spotty paper I then distressed the lovely subtle pink plaid paper before adding a cut out from a paper pad in my stash - I have had it so long the cover has come adrift so not sure who made it. The image was matted onto black card and I used a quickie glue pen to add dry stickles distress glitter in clear rock candy- sadly this doesn't show up that well in the photo but it does add a lovely sparkle to the card.

I used two doilies one I folded both into 4 to make quarters and then cut one quarter from the doily I then folded and tucked behind the image. The other doily I cut into 4 quarters and along with the odd one from the other doily rolled each of these into a cone shape sticking them along the join. I then stuck them side by side to form the parasol and stuck a die cut umbrella handle behind them. Before sticking to the card I flattened and pleated then to give the effect of the parasol being partially open. I finished off with a die cut sentiment, some grey pearls, small sweetheart flowers, and a bow topped with a dazzler.

Twenty One down Only Two more to go

This week at Through The Purple Haze challenges it's all about Christmas which is useful as it means I don't have to clear all my Christmas crafting goodies off the desk to work on something completely different. Hers is my entry for this weeks challenge as I need to post this card and postage is so expensive these days I used a few tricks to minimize the weight and bulk of the card.

I used My Craft Studio's Winter Wishes CD for the image and backing papers. The beauty of MCS is that whilst there are some pre designed image toppers on the disc there is also huge scope to create your own. I chose the basic background topper and then added the fairy of choice to it. I also incorporated the sentiment into the topper and there is a faux layering effect going on - not obvious in the photo but there is a mulberry paper effect in the centre of the white topper. The flowers can be added as required from the CD. I added some sparkle to her dress and to some of the flowers and foliage using stickles dry distress glitter in rock candy.

I used two backing papers from the CD and the smaller panel I used strips of washi tape with gold script on it, rather than ribbon round it so that the surface of the card is flat. I added to the faux layering effect using gold peel off borders and then added teh snowflakes cut from centura pearl card and glittered using the same glitter as on the topper.

Inside the card I used two pieces of the same backing paper as the small panel on the front minus the washi tape. I also printed the same plain topper onto the right hand page and used some extra flower imaged to make a frame round it.

I am entering this into the following challenges.
http://throughthepurplehazechallenges.blogspot.co.uk/  - Christmas

A touch of Frost at Fab n Funky

Good Morning everyone, firstly thank you so much for all your marvellous entries in last weeks Cute Critters Challenge please check the Fab n Funky Challenge blog for the winners.

This week with the mornings getting colder and Christmas fast approaching I have chosen the theme 

'A Touch of Frost'

We want to see your cards showing frosty scenes with lots of sparkle or how about the frosting on a cake? 

Our  sponsor this week is the wonderful
Stitchy bears Digi outlet

The prize is $10 to spend on artists images feature here today
(Stitchy Stamps, Barbara Jensen, Reece's  Scrap Pieces)

My card has been made my card using Stitchy Stamps Backyard

The gorgeous black and white image comes with a white bench but I wanted to inject some colour so coloured it using a Sakurs Glaze pen in Christmas red.

I went to town on the image adding white glitter to the branches of teh tree and to the snow in teh foreground.

I used papers from Ooh La La creations Yesterdays Memories and distressed these using scissors. The bottom layer was edged using grey stone staz on ink ( I didn't have a grey distress ink).  The upper paper was curled in one corner. 

I added the image and a die cut Pine tree, this was cut using a Marianne die from kraft card which was then pained with acrylic and flower soft added to give dimension. Once the flower soft was dry I added stickles clear rock candy dry glitter to add a frosty sparkle. 

The poinsettia was cut from 'red velvet card' from Pink Pig crafts and green card from my stash using Britannia dies. I added more sparkle to the flower. The finishing touch was a wooden sentiment and ribbon bow added to the top corner.

I am entering this card into the following challenges 

http://throughthepurplehazechallenges.blogspot.co.uk/ - Christmas 

Twenty Down Four to go

This weeks challenge at Through the Purple Haze the challenge is to use your stash. I have boxes and boxes of bits and pieces that I have collected through the years and in one such box there are loads of chipboard shapes I bought them because they were at a ridiculous price but have always struggled to use them on my cards as they are just a wee bit too big for a card embellishment. So I decided to make the effort to use some of them up for this project.

I have had these two super shots of my eldest grandson aged 4 languishing on a memory stick for five years. However I am now making a conscious effort to start scrapbooking and I knew these would work perfectly with the large garden themed chipboard shapes I had.  The previous year at his nursery school the class had grown sunflowers and he had loved it. However on finding himself in proper school the class were not growing them, so knowing I had some seeds in my garden shed I offered to grow some plants and promised to go down once they were big enough so that he could plant them in the garden for Mummy. On the way to London we popped into a garden centre and bought some pots and a gardening set for him as well as some smaller Bizzie Lizze plants for him to put in the post with the sunflowers as a centre piece. He was a little impatient at first and wanted to put the plants in the pots as soon as the first few trowels full of earth had been put in but with guidance he really got the hang of it including the need to sweep all the mess up after we had finished planting.

I used a 12x12 sheet of paper from American Crafts project life Midnight set as a backing and the zigzag paper and was a strip I had left from another page done using a backing paper from the Honey set. the orange circles were cut using a circle cutter from left overs from some Bazill papers I had and I managed to find some orange card stock that matched in my scraps box for matting and layering the photos. I had some Sunflower resin stickers in my stash as well as some flowers and leaves I had made up from Martha Stewart paper clay for a previous project and then not used. The lady birds were a freebie from a card making magazine and have sat in a box for a couple of years. The vibrant journalling card is again from the Honey set by American Life. The title strip is computer generated and then matted onto orange and black card stock.

The plant pot, watering can, trowel, and sun were all from the box of chipboard shapes and I painted them with gesso before colouring with promarkers. As a finishing touch I added Glossy accent water droplets coming from the watering can and on two of the Leaves.

I am entering this project in to
http://throughthepurplehazechallenges.blogspot.co.uk/ - Use your stash.

Cute Critters at Fab n Funky

Wow we really did get a huge amount of entries during our Birthday fortnight and the winners have been posted on the Fab n Funky Challenge Blog.

This week the theme is 'Cute Critters' and our sponsor is The stamp Fairy

Who are offering a fab prize of a $10 voucher to spend in 

The StampFairy shop

I used one of their images Lionel to create my card.

The background was really simple and I used a pale blue paper from Dovecraft to create the sky and a dark brown paper to create the ground and these were stuck onto a 6x6 card blank. The leave at the top of the card were cut out from a piece of dark green mottled paper I had printed off from one of my CD roms and I used an embossing folder and then cut the leaves out and gathered them in clumps across the top of the top of the card.

Lionel was coloured using promarkers in Buttercup, Mustard and sandstone with blush for his nose.
His crown was coloured using a Sakura twinkling Gold pen and the rubies were done using a Sakura glaze pen in Christmas red.

I added a few die cut leaves and a computer generated sentiment. The card is destined for a male friend and although Lionel comes with a large bone he has been chewing on the original stamp I cut this off as my friend is vegetarian and may not appreciate a card with raw meat depicted on it.

Happy Birthday with Ooh La La Creations

Good Morning Everyone.

Thank you so much for all your wonderful stitched creations for the last challenge you can find the winners over at the Ooh La La Challenge Blog.

This week it is all about birthday's. I have again used the fabulous Shawn Jenkins CD. I have to say this appears to have very quickly become a firm favourite with the Ooh La La design team girls. You can get your copy on the Ooh La La website

I used the Nautical folder to make this card for my Brother-in-laws birthday, although he does not  live by the sea he does have several nautical decorative elements in his house, and his bathroom has a definite seaside theme.

I printed off the topper and then matted it onto bright orange pearlised paper. I did the same with two of the backing papers and the sentiment. I layered these up as shown on an A5 landscape card and then used string to make the 'rope coils'.

The finishing touches were the starfish made from Martha Stewart paper clay coloured orange and pushed into a silicone mould for different sized stars once released and before they fully dried I added texture with a pin and squeezed each leg slightly so that they looked more natural. I glued them on with Cosmic Shimmer dries clear glue. The paper clay is fabulous for moulding embellishments for cards as it is so light weight it keeps the postage costs down, but it also has the advantage of air drying so no need to heat it up. 

Playing Tag

I recently visited the NEC for the Hobbycraft show and picked up some marvellous goodies for my crafting stash. I decided to have play with some of the new Tattered Lace dies and having cut various bits of card decided I needed to do something with the results. the colour challenge of use red or purple or pink at Through the Purple haze challenges this week inspired me and I decided to use all three together.

I used a large chipboard tag I had bought at the show and painted it in white gesso before coating with cosmic shimmer in purple mixed with white acrylic and then adding some pink glitter I got free with a magazine ages ago and it has been languishing in a drawer ever since.


The mask was cut from the most sumptuous 'Red velvet' card that I got from Pink Pig crafts whilst at the show. The ribbons and feathers were from my stash and the flowers are the daisy and Marguritte dies from tattered lace. I coloured the solid underneath layers using Sakura glaze markers and coloured the lacy bit with a Sakura twinkling marker these were also purchased at the show and I love the finish they give.

I'm not sure what I'll do with the tag yet but considering my step daughter is both into Purple and into masks (she has quite a collection including a couple of quite rare ones) then it may end up attached to her Birthday present next year as I pained the back white so a message can be added.

I am entering this into the following challenges

http://throughthepurplehazechallenges.blogspot.co.uk/ use pink/red/purple
http://delightfulsketches.blogspot.co.uk/ - Anything but a card
http://pennyschallenges.blogspot.co.uk/ - Anything Goes

Birthday Fortnight Week 2 at Fab n Funky

Hello everyone!

 I have some wonderful news for you! We are still celebrating our 4th birthday at Fab'n'Funky and we want you to help us celebrate it in style! 

We are having another week of celebrations and plenty of prizes.

Be sure to play along for a chance at winning one of the prizes from our fabulous sponsors!

The challenge this week is about as easy as it can get!


'Anything Goes'

For my DT card this week I have used Toy Truck Ants from Doodle Pantry, this is a dual purpose card as well as being for the DT for this challenge it is also for my grandson's birthday. Aaron loves creepy crawlies and even has his own ant farm but he also loves monster trucks so this seemed like the perfect combination.

I used the backing paper from the kit which I matted onto black card and then stuck this to an 8x8 card base. I coloured the trucks using promarkers Canary, Sunflower, Cyan, Green, Orange, Cool Grey 3 and sandstone for the sand. the ants I coloured using a black sakura gel pen and gave them a couple of coats so that they are raised and nice and shiny.

I fussy cut the images and mounted them onto black card and then placed three diagonally on the card to show the empty truck the ants acquiring the truck and then driving along with the sand inside. The sentiments are also from the digikit.

Inside I used more of the backing paper mounted onto black card I then drew and cut out the white shapes and stuck these on, before adding the final truck on the left hand side showing the ants playing in the sand. I added the speech bubble which I drew free hand and wrote inside with black marker and matted it onto a scrap of black card before adding to the design.

So there you go my DT card for the second week of our birthday challenge why don't you pop over and join us you could win one of the prizes donated by our fabulous sponsors as listed below.

Our wonderful sponsors
and
Prizes

Hello! My name is Joanna Munster, owner/designer/illustrator of Inspired by Stamping. I started crafting 12 1/2 years ago when I started capturing my daughter’s special moments with scrapbooking. I quickly fell in love with all things crafty including cross stitch, crocheting, knitting, drawing, jewelry making but my love has always been towards the paper crafty industry. It is a place where I can lose myself in creating for hours. 

Three years ago, my hubby, myself and our three children moved from the United States to Australia. While waiting for my working visa, I started drawing and paper crafting full time with my blog. One of my dear friends suggested that I make a stamp set with one of my drawings and this is where Inspired by Stamping started.

We love every moment of working in this industry from the beautiful women and men that we meet daily, to the amazing and creative designs that we see when a friend uses an Inspired by Stamping set. 

You as our customer will ALWAYS be our top priority! If you have any questions or if something is not right, please let us know. We will get back to you ASAP! Our email is customerservice@inspiredbystamping.com

Prize - 5 digis of the winners Choice
 - and a GDT spot at Fab'n'Funky Challenges

Prize is a class of the winner's choice

My Creative Classroom is an online arts and crafts learning center. Our interactive and in-depth courses are instructor led and filled with wonderful projects and techniques to help you get the most out of your supplies. Our Fall Semester  offers over 100 classes to choose from. We also offer Library classes which feature retired classes at 40-50% off their original price!  New this fall we are offering deals on bundled classes. 

Register for any class beginning in the month of November and you'll be automatically enrolled in the FREE class, Tag It!  It's our way of saying Thank You for your continued support.

We are excited to be sponsoring Fab'n'Funky Challenges. You can view our entire class list on our website at My Creative Classroom. You can also view classes on our Facebook Page too! One lucky winner will receive a free seat to a Workshop class of their choice.....Good Luck!

Prize is 3 digis of the winners choice

Prize is 3 images of the winners choice from the Lacy Sunshine Shop

Nineteen Down Five to go

This week at Through the Purple Haze challenges the theme is to use red or pink or purple in our creations.

Here is what I have come up with.

The image is from Mo Manning and be purchased here. I decided to have a go at something new so actually used watercolour paints to colour her, I have never used them before but I picked up a tin of watercolours at a local supermarket ages ago and they have been sat in a drawer ever since so I decided to give it a go.

I had off cuts of the polka dot and striped papers from another project so used them to create a background I wrapped a strip of broad seam binding and lace around the centre to cover the join as they weren't quite big enough to cover the 8x8 card blank and then I matted the whole lot onto pink card stock. The corners were cut using a Tattered lace die as were the letters to form the word 'Yummy Mummy' I cut the image out using a spellbinders labels die and cut a larger mat from pink Centura Pearl card stock. The flowers were from one of the many freebies I have from various magazines and I cut them up and layered them up adding glitter and sparkly pink centres.

I am entering this card into the following challenges,
http://throughthepurplehazechallenges.blogspot.co.uk/ - use pink or red or purple

Birthday fortnight at Fab and Funky

We are now in the second part of week one, of our birthday celebrations at Fab n Funky Challenges and we are having a blast. Be sure to play along for a chance at winning one of the prizes from our fabulous sponsors!

The challenge this week is  as easy as it can get!


'Anything Goes'

So play along! It may be you that will Win one of the Prizes that we have on offer for you:

Here is my card

I used happy Birthday Princess form the Little bear range at Stampart by Kathryne who is one of our sponsors this week, scroll down to see the rest of the sponsors for the first week of our birthday fortnight.

I coloured the image using promarkers and used Sandstone and cinnamon for the fur, blossom, dusky pink and blush for the dress and vanilla for the cake. 

I used one of the spellbinders label dies I got at the NEC to cut out the image and to create teh kraft frame, I think pink and Kraft looks perfect together. I embossed a piece of pink card using a  patchwork embossing folder and mounted this onto kraft before sticking onto a 8x8 card blank I matted a piece of 6x6 patterned paper from the beach babe paper pad from fancy pants designs from craft and added this at an angle before adding my image. 

The flowers are made from Martha Stewart paper clay and the balloons are peel offs stuck onto Kraft card. The bunting is cut using a Joanna sheen signature die, and the final touches were the gems and ribbon.

So that's what I made remember this is an anything goes challenge so pop over to the Fab and Funky blog and have a look at what the other girls have done and give it a go you may win one of the prizes listed below.

Our wonderful sponsors
and
Prizes

Prize - 5 digis of the winers Choice - and a GDT spot at Fab'n'Funky Challenges



The first South African online digital image store was launched in 2010 – Digistamps4Joy (or DS4J)http://www.digistamps4joy.co.za/eshop/ .  In February 2012, Margy Kieser took over ownership of DS4J, and there are now two South African artists who contribute to the more than 500 images available. Margy has taken the store to new heights and the store now stocks digis that are cute, whimsical, artistic, sometimes serious, and sometimes humorous. The store has PAYPAL and EFT (South African) facilities.  Digistamps4Joy offers a monthly freebie on the first Friday of every month, and holds regular bi-weekly card challenges on our blog (http://digistamps4joy-sa.blogspot.com )that draw entries from many international card makers. Feel free to join us in our challenges!
- the prize is 5 images of the winners choice from DS4J shop



Prize is 3 images of the winners choice from the Lacy Sunshine Shop

Inky Impressions 

prize is 3 digis of the winners choice

The fabulous Flonzcraft

prize - $20 voucher to spend in store - with free shipping! how great is that!

Eighteen Down Six to go

This week at Through the Purple Haze the challenge is to include winter scene with an option of including animals or people.

Whilst at the NEC Hobby crafts show last week I picked up some new toys so wanted to give them a try and came up with this

I started by creating my snow lines on white card using a couple of bits of copier paper torn to make masks and then positioned them with a small gap between and used Versafine 'deep lagoon' to ink through the gap. I then used Versafine Majestic Blue to ink up the Stag Cliff Hanger stamp from Indigo Blu and then masked off the cliff to Leave just the stag and the tree which I stamped in position on my panel. I finished the panel off using a quickie glue pen to underline the snow lines and add rangers crystal distress glitter, and left the panel to dry.

I made the sentiment by masking off the stag and tree and just stamping the cliff part of the stamp and cutting out the greeting section which was mounted on to plain white card stock using foam pads.

I embossed a five and half inch square of white card using the embossing folder that comes free with the ebosser and then mounted this onto royal blue Centura Pearl paper and stuck it to the front of a 6x6 card blank.

The snowflakes were cut from scraps of white card using a Tattered Lace Snowflakes die and then I added more of the distress glitter using a glue pen and left them to dry.

I matted the stag panel onto royal blue Centura Pearl paper and trimmed it to leave a narrow border and stuck it to the card blank off set from the centre then added the greeting and the snowflakes. The finishing touch was a bow tied in organza ribbon and finished with a large gem stone centre. 

I am entering this card into the following challenges

http://craftyhazelnutschristmaschallenge.blogspot.co.uk/  - Outdoors 

http://craftyhazelnutschristmaschallenge2.blogspot.co.uk/ - Anything goes so long as it's Christmas

http://throughthepurplehazechallenges.blogspot.co.uk/ - Winter scenes optional animals or people in it 

http://abcchristmaschallenge.blogspot.co.uk/- V is for Vixen add a reindeer to your design

Stitching real or Faux at Ooh La La Creations

Good Morning everyone and thank you all so much for the fabulous food and drink entries for the last challenge You can find out the winners at Ooh La La Creations Challenge Blog.

This time we are looking for stitching in your designs whether it be real or faux. Once again I used an image set from the new Shawn Jenkins CD you can get your copy from the Ooh La La Creations Website,  

I used the Love stitch folder to produce the following card 

The design itself has lots of Faux stitching included and I added my own Faux stitching round the plain paper I used as a background mat. I have included false mats in this card as the I used My Craft Studio to put one of the toppers onto the basket weave paper and printed this off as a whole rather than as separate layers. 

I added some bunting again from the CD and the greeting from the sentiments folder having added faux stitching round the edge in white.

Finally as a twist on the Stitching theme I used crochet stitches to crochet the little flower out of bakers twine. 

The flower is really easy to make and can be adapted for use with crochet cotton, wool or even string depending on the size of hook. I used a 2.00 hook with the bakers twine. I actually adapted a shell pattern from a baby's matinee coat pattern to make the flower.

I made a chain 6 stitches long and joined this with a slip  to make a circle.

The foundation row is 4 chain 1 dc into the circle repeat until there are 5 loops work a slip stitch into the base of the first of the 4 chain at the beginning of the row.

Then work 1dc, 1htrbl,1 trbl, 1htrbl, 1dc into each of the loops until you have 5 petals finish by working one slip stitch into the base of the first dc worked and fasten off. 

Finish the flower with a button centre.

Traditional Christmas Colours at Fab N Funky

Good morning all!

This week the challenge over at Fab n Funky is traditional Christmas Colours now that doesn't mean yiou have to make a Christmas project just something in traditional Christmas Colours such as 

Red, Green, Gold, Silver  maybe some black (for Santas boots!) 

- I'm sure you get the picture

Of course at the same time we'd love to see your Christmas cards
one more card for Christmas can only be a good thing!!

We have a fabulous sponsor this week

and the great prize on offer is
5 images of the winners choice

I worked with lovely Santa Clause 2 and We wish you a Merry Christmas stamps

I think Santa has a lovely retro feel to him and kept the colouring really simple I used Promarkers and for his face I used Ivory Satin and Blush and for the hat berry red and poppy. For the Greeting I used Holly for the letters and berry red for the border. 

I used a lovley rich mat gold card from Hunky Dory and embossed it using Christmas Patchwork 6x6 folder from Crafters Companion. I then added the sentiment panel and Santa who had a bit of flower soft and some iridescent sparkles added to his hair beard and hat. The finishing touch was a poinsettia cut using Tattered Lace Winter florals dies and coloured using Berry red, Holly and Canary yellow Promarkers.

I am entering the card into the following challenges 

http://craftyhazelnutschristmaschallenge.blogspot.co.uk/ - Bling it up - the glitter on Santa

http://craftyhazelnutschristmaschallenge2.blogspot.co.uk - Anything Goes so long as it's Christmas