Three Down, Twenty One to Go

The challenge at Through the Purple Haze this week is to use 'favourite colours' I have to say when it comes to designing I love working with red, because it can produce such dramatic results. I have teamed it black white and gold to produce this Anniversary Card.

Materials used 

Card blank from Hobby Craft - I don't usually use A5 pre folded blanks as I prefer to fold my own but couldn't resist a pack of these blanks with the delicate punched edge.

Image 'My Funky Valentine' digital stamp from Simply Betty 

coloured with Spectrum Noirs

Skin FS1, 2, 3 TN1, 

Hair IG 4,6,8,10

Eyes, JG2

Dress and Umbrella CR10, DR1, 2, 3,7

Lace ruffle IG1 

Heart, GB4

I added tiny black gems for the buttons on the coat and red Gems and Glitter to the hairpiece.

The backing paper is from Raspberry Road and came free with a magazine

Roses from wild orchid crafts 

Red and gold mirror card, Black lace and ribbon and the two punched butterflies from my stash.

I fussy cut the top and the bottom of the image then used the second largest plain circle nestabilities die to cut the centre section. I then mounted it onto a gold background which had been cut using the largest circle from the set.

I matted and layered the backing paper onto gold then red card and wrapped a scrap of black lace and red polka dot ribbon that had a bow tied in it round the lower third of teh panel before sticking to the card blank. I then added the image panel and the roses and the die cut gold leaves.

The greetings panel is red card mounted onto gold mirror card with the die cut sentiment added and the two butterflies.

I wanted the filigree border to be visible when the card was opened so only lined the right hand side of the card. I used red card and then added the tumbling heart die cuts the smallest heart is cut from pearl card stock so that a greeting can be added from the sender inside. 

I am entering the card into the following challenges 

http://throughthepurplehazechallenges.blogspot.co.uk/ - Favourite Colours 

http://trimmiescraftchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/ - for the girls 

http://createdwithlovechallenges.blogspot.co.uk/ - Anything Goes 

http://diecuttindivas.blogspot.co.uk/ - Anything Goes 

http://pennyschallenges.blogspot.co.uk/ - Bling it on the gems and glitter 

http://sisteractcardchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/ - Anything Goes 

http://thepapershelter.blogspot.co.uk/ - Anything Goes 

Making a Match at Fab n Funky

Firstly huge thanks to everyone who entered our Christmas in July Challenge last time. There were some absolutely stunning entries. You can see the winners chosen by Anne-Marie over on the Fab N Funky Challenge blog. 

This time Shirley is challenging you to 'Make it a Set' so a matching card and envelope, a set of cards, matching card and tag, you get the idea.

This week you have three times the luck of winning a wonderful prize! That's right this week we have three wonderful sponsors. 

and

Here is what I made using the Baby Birdie set from Doodle Pantry 

This particular set comes with a boy and girl baby birdie image and the appropriate sentiments.
I printed the little girl birdie onto white card along with the three sentiments.

I used my spectrum Noirs and Promarkers to colour the images as follows.
Feathers TN1, TN2, TN3, and on the wings and tail TN4
Beak - GB3
The hat and bow PP1, PP2, and CR1
The Nest - TN4, TN5, GB6, Henna. Cinnamon

I also used PP1 to colour the sentiments and rattle on the card
TN2 for the sentiment on the gift bag and the rattle handler

I made the bag from Kraft Paper that has a lovely textured finish and added a piece of backing paper from my stash before sticking the image and the sentiment to it. I finished the image and the sentiment with a border of pink pearls made using a pearl pen.

Teh card is a 6x6 Kraft blank with a piece of backing paper and then a strip of pink pearl paper that has been punched along the edge using a Martha Stewart punch and a strip of the Kraft paper I used for the bag that has been wrapped with a thin strip of pink lace.

I added the image again a border of pink pearls has been added using the pearl pen. The rattle and the sentiments. To finish the card I added two little bells and a pink organza polka dot ribbon bow.

I am entering this project into the following challenges 

http://www.craftdoormagazine.com/ _ anything goes 

http://anythingchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/ - Anything Goes 

Two down Twenty Two to go.

The theme this week at http://throughthepurplehazechallenges.blogspot.co.uk/ is Flowers. This fitted perfectly with my latest crafty play things some new dies from Tattered Lace. - Here is what I came up with

I kept the design quite simple and used Centura Pearl card stock hint of silver to create an 8x8 card blank I then cut a panel of lilac card from the pastels selection and matted this onto silver mirror card and trimmed it to leave a narrow edge. I then used a panel of the hint of silver card stock which I embossed using a lattice design and matted this onto silver mirror card and trimmed to leave a narrow border. The centre piece is the silver frame cut using Tattered Lace circle die and I stuck this onto an off cut of the white card stock. the Sentiment was created from a combination of the Christmas Sentiments dies and the relations sentiments and the words were stuck to the centre panel. The flowers were cut using the sentimental florals set from two shades of purple pearlised papers, the leaves and centres from off cuts of the mirror card. and the flourishes and small leaf branches from off cuts of the lilac card stock.

I threaded white organza polka dot ribbon through the centre of one of a die cut piece from the tattered Lace ovals set cut from a scrap piece of the pearl card and wrapped this round the main panel before sticking this to the card blank.

I am entering this card into the following challenges
http://throughthepurplehazechallenges.blogspot.co.uk/ Flowers
http://www.craftdoormagazine.com/ - Anything goes

For the one you love at Ooh La La Creations

Hello everyone, we had some great entries for our Ebony and Ivory Challenge last week and you can see the winners over at Ooh La La Creations Challenge Blog. Whilst you're there check out the fabulous DT cards for the current challenge chosen by Chris

For the one I love - here is my card,

I chose to use the image and papers from the together forever on the Everyday Occasions CD. I matted the image and all the paper panels onto pale pink card stock. I used a 6x6 card base and layered up the panels. The ribbon is seam binding which was white but I coloured with my distress inks using bundled sage to get a matching colour. I let it dry whilst it was wrinkles to get the lovely effect of crushed silk. The flowers were from a decoupage sheet I had in my stash.

The insert was made by using the backing paper printed at 50% opacity via MCS and the other side was a DL insert I shrunk down to fit inside the card.

I will be entering this card into the following challenges.
http://anythingchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/ - Anything Goes
http://challenges4everybody.blogspot.co.uk/ - Anything Goes

One Down Twenty Three to go

When I saw the information about a new Challenge Blog starting this week I was looking forward to joining in the challenges there. Then I saw the competition they were running to win a huge bundle of crafting goodies, you can check out the details in the post below this one. So here is my first card for the competition over at Through The Purple Haze, and as the title says that means there are only twenty three more to make to be in with a chance of winning all those lovely crafting goodies.

I was asked by a work colleague to make a card for her friend's daughter who would be celebrating her Prom at school this year. The only instruction I had was 'her dress is a sort of Midnight Blue so if you could do something with that colour it would be great'

As it happened I recently picked up a magazine with a free cover disc that just happened to be the Debbi Moore Deco Rome CD.

I printed two different versions of the image off the CD one for the box lid and the decoupage for the card itself. 

The backing papers and flowers were also from the CD. To add some glitz and glamour to the card I added a glitter glaze to the main skirt of the dress - I make this myself by adding ultrafine glitter to clear glaze and then painting it over the image.

I used the same backing papers inside the card and added a name panel. The Opposite side I kept with Art Deco theme by adding a central panel that had been created using a 'Glitter Girls' embossing board and also embossed the gold corners.

To make it just a little bit more special I created a box using my Ultimate Pro and decorated the box to match using gold flowers from the CD this time.

I used a slightly different backing paper and added the embossed gold corners. The finishing touches were the little butterflies and gems for the bodies and the centres f the flowers.

My colleague loved the card and, I have now been told that the dark blue matched the dress perfectly even down to the sparkle.

I am entering this card into the following challenges.

http://throughthepurplehazechallenges.blogspot.co.uk/ - Anything Goes 

http://2sisterschallengeblog.blogspot.co.uk/ - Make it Sparkle

http://anythingchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/ - Anything Goes

http://createdwithlovechallenges.blogspot.co.uk/ Anything Goes 

http://sisteractcardchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/ - Anything Goes

http://thatcraftplaceblog.blogspot.co.uk/ - Ribbons or Lace

Mega Blog Candy up for grabs at Just Inspirational Challenges

The Below post has been copied from Just Inspirational Challenges 

MEGA BLOG CANDY

***MEGA BLOG CANDY ALERT***

Yes that's right bloggers, we are offering you all a chance to be the winner of our amazingly huge blog candy.

Wanna see ????

WOW!!!

I know, look at all those goodies.

The fab DT ladies have been donating crafty supplies for this mega candy, not only do they create fantastic projects every week but they also wanted to help in with the blog candy so thank you DT ladies xx

OK so now whats exactly could you win, well you best grab a cuppa and sit back for a long read, here's whats up for grabs:

5 Bunches of Paper Flowers

5 Stamp Sets

3 Individual Stamps

1 A4 Sheet of Shrink Plastic & Ideas Book

3 Packs of Rub-Ons

1 Die

2 Packs of Sticky Alpha's

1 Pack of Die-Cut Notelets

2 Packs of Toppers

1 Sheet of Epoxy Stickers

7 Packs of Fabric Toppers

2 Packs of Canvas Labels

1 Pack of Wax Seal Sentiments

3 Packs of Glittered Toppers

1 Pack of Brads

1 Pack of Stick-On Gems

1 Pack of Embossed Toppers

1 Pack of Mini Envelopes

1 Card of Buttons

1 Pack of Photo Corners

2 Bags of Mixed Card Candi

2 Packs of fabric Flowers

1 Bag of Mixed Charms

18 Lots of Ribbon

PLUS

not in the photo (as silly me forgot to add them)

Card Blanks 

so you are ready to go

SO HOW DO YOU STAND A CHANCE TO WIN THIS GIGANTIC HAUL?

Well I'm going to tell you

1. You MUST be a follower of this blog

2. You MUST post a piccy & link back to this post in your sidebar

3. To get an extra entry make a blog post about our candy and include a link back to this post

4. For every one of our challenges you enter between 1st - 31st July you will gain another entry into the draw, but only if you have our blog candy linked somewhere on your blog

5. Share our candy with your friends, if they mention your blog in their post about the candy you will get 1 more entry

Easy Peasy

The blog candy will run from 1st - 31st July and is open to all followers world-wide

As this is such a big prize we will be checking to make sure you have followed the rules :-)

Good Luck & Happy Crafting

Hippie Birthday

Being a child of the 60's when I saw the wonderful range of Hippie Chick stamps over at Lacy Sunshine's I just had to have them. Heather Valentin has perfectly captured the spirit of the 'Summer of Love' and all things 60's they are just gorgeous.

Here's my first card using Blossom

I coloured her using Spectrum Noir Markers
Skin FS1 FS2 FS3 TN1
Hair TN2 GB1 GB2 GB3
Clothes - I used CG2 for the background of the dress and then used the Fluorescent range of pens from the brights set.
Flower - LY1 GB1 and OR1 then glittered using stickles iridescent glitter glue

The sentiment is from the Hippie Bits range from Lacy Sunshine and has been coloured using the Fluorescent range of Spectrum Noir Pens

The backing paper is from a CD - MCS Carousel of Classics and was one of the first CD's I ever owned as it was free with my very first subscription to Quick Cards Made Easy in 2008.

I Fussy cut teh image and mounted her on an oval of purple card which has been in my stash for a couple of years and then mounted this onto bright yellow card and trimmed it to give a narrow border.

The flowers are die cut from various papers from my stash including some fluorescent vellums, I added the polka dot buttons as centres.

I added a large daisy charm and then used alphabet beads to spell out the word birthday.

I'm off now to make some more cards with the other Hippie Chicks from the range.

I am entering this card into the following Challenges
http://audsentimentschallengeblog.blogspot.co.uk/ - two words
http://catchthebugblog.blogspot.co.uk - Anything Goes
http://challenges4everybody.blogspot.co.uk/ - Anything Goes
http://digitallysweetchallenges.blogspot.ca/ - Anything Goes with bright Colours
http://cutecardthursday.blogspot.co.uk/ - Good Luck Charm
http://digidarlas.blogspot.co.uk/ - make an easel card
http://divasbydesignchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/ - Charming
http://lacysunshinechallengeblog.blogspot.co.uk/ - Anything Goes with hand coloured image
http://ladybugscraftsinkchallengeblog.blogspot.co.uk/ - Birthday
http://sisteractcardchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/ - Anything Goes
http://useittuesday.blogspot.co.uk/ - Birthdays

Never Ending Story

Here is a card I have made for my Sister-in-law and her husband for their Anniversary.

I have recently bought several MCS CD roms and whilst browsing through the content of  Quintessential Country Garden I cam upon this wonderful sentiment.

This seemed so perfect for an anniversary card, that I just had to use it for my Sister-in-law and her husband.

I chose a lovely delicate cream paper as my main backing it has musical  staves printed on it in a darker cream and lovely apricot and pink flowers.

I added a strip of paper that has delicate pink rose garlands on it at the bottom of the card and added some fabric scraps which were from a wonderful sample book that had been given me by a work colleagues mother, simply because she felt I could use the samples in my card making. There are pages   of fabrics approximately A3 in size all gorgeous, satins, silks and organzas. As well as hundreds of tiny samples which I have soaked in hot water to remove the glue and use behind images on my cards as I have done here.

The image is a bride and groom from the Ooh La La creations CD Yesterday's Memories and I used the Tattered Lace die I bought yesterday to cut the frame. I cut a heart from blue script paper and put this behind the main image.

I also embossed a piece of the script paper and cut a corner for the front of the card.

The finishing touches were the pretty roses from The Hobby House a piece of vintage seam binding tied in a bow, a little string of pearls and 2 pearl pins, as it will be their pearl wedding anniversary

Inside the card I added a doily which I had coloured using a gold marker pen and I added two images from the MCS CD which had been aged using Momento Cocoa ink.

I am entering this card into the following challenges
http://allsortschallenge.blogspot.co.uk - Favourite Things - die cutting, lace, ribbon and vintage
http://pinkgemchallengeblog.blogspot.co.uk/ - Lots of Layers 7 on the outside and 4 on the inside of this card
http://challenges4everybody.blogspot.co.uk/ - Anything Goes
http://craftsandmechallenges.blogspot.co.uk/ - Anything Goes
http://onestopcraftchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/ - Anything Goes
http://papertakeweekly.blogspot.co.uk/ - Old, New, Borrowed or blue
http://sparklesforumchallenges.blogspot.co.uk/ - Steampunk or vintage
http://thatcraftplaceblog.blogspot.co.uk/ - Ribbon and or lace
http://hobbyhousechallenge.blogspot.co.uk/ - The Hobby House Challenge

Christmas in July at Fab and Funky

Well it's Wednesday Morning and that can mean only one thing it's time for a new challenge over at Fab n Funky Challenges . We had some wonderful entries for the Anything but Square challenge last week and you can see the winners over on the blog. Whilst you are there check out teh DT inspiration for this weeks challenge there are some gorgeous cards there.

This week it is Ginny's turn to host the challenge and she has chosen the theme of Christmas in July. 

Our sponsors this week are the wonderful

Dilly Beans Stamps 

The Winner will receive 3 Digi's of their choice from their Store.

And also

My Creative Classroom

Who are offering a fabulous prize of the winners choice of a class

So without further ado here is my card 

The image is Gingerbread House from Dilly beans coloured with promarkers 

the main house is coloured using 'Spice Cinnamon and Honeycomb' which seemed so appropriate to the image.

The Candy canes are 'Mint and Berry red'

I also used blossom, dusky pink, mustard yellow,canary yellow,and pear green.

The snow was great fun to do and is just white acrylic paint dabbed on and pulled up to give texture using a spatula and then a really thick layer of white stickles was added it gives it a frosty look which doesn't show up very well in the picture.

Once everything was dry the image was fussy cut and I mounted it onto a die cut which is one of my spellbinders nesting frames. this was mounted onto a red frame cut with the largest square in the set and that was stuck to a panel of gold backing paper on a 6x6 card blank. 

Finally I die cut the computer sentiment and added a red organza bow (it started life as white but looked wrong so I coloured it with a berry red promarker. I added the candy cane charm using bakers twine. So you have it another Christmas card finished and ready to go.

I am entering this card into the following challenges
http://simplycreatetoo.blogspot.co.uk - Christmas in July
http://cardmaniachallenges.blogspot.co.uk/ - Christmas in July
http://alwaysplayingwithpaper.blogspot.co.uk/ - Merry Monday Challenge anything Christmas
http://www.craftysentiments.blogspot.co.uk/ - Crafty Sentiments
http://lejdesignschallengeblog.blogspot.co.uk/ - Christmas in July
http://www.platypuscreekdigitals.blogspot.co.uk/ - Christmas in July
http://cutedaisymay.blogspot.co.uk/ - Christmas in July
http://thesquirrelandthefox.blogspot.co.uk/ - Christmas in July
http://stampandcreateblog.blogspot.nl _ Christmas in July
http://inkyimpressionschallenges.blogspot.ca - Christmas in July

Ebony and Ivory - with Ooh La La Creations

Once again we had some wonderful entries for our last challenge and Dawn had a really difficult job selecting the top three - you can pop over to the challenge blog to see her choices. So this week it is Lorraine's turn to chose the theme for the next fortnight at the Ooh La La Creations Challenge blog. She has come up with Ebony and Ivory - and apart from the fact it has resulted in me singing the flippin' song in my head all day it also inspired me to come up with this really simple easel card.

Made using the Femme Fatale CD from Ooh La La creations 

I started with a 6x6 card blank and folded the front in half to form the easel. I then cut two panels of backing paper which was mounted onto black card and these were stuck to the two halves if the front of the card keeping the fold line clear.  I used the same backing paper on the inside of the card and layered this onto black holographic card and white mirror card before sticking to the base of the card.

By adding the extra layers of card to the backing paper it weights the front of the card so that it doesn't  tip over when the easel is opened.

I decoupaged the image from the CD, I stuck the base layer to black card and then cut all the way round her before adding the layers of the waistcoat, top hat and gift. I also printed another base layer which I cut using a Marianne star die, I then layered it onto a star cut using the largest dies in the set and used this as a guide for positioning the decoupage figure with her legs and head outside the star outline.

Once happy with this I stuck her to the easel making sure that she would sit above the line of the fold when the card was opened.

I printed the two greetings and die cut these and several other stars using the same dies set. The Happy birthday was layered onto a black holographic and a white mirror card star with each one at a slightly different angle and these were then stuck to the side of the card.

The other greeting was stuck to the base of the card as a stopper for the easel and a further star cut from black holographic card was layered over this.

To finish off I added clear star shaped gems to the front of the card and added a black velvet brad.

I am entering this card into the following challenges 

http://onestopcraftchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/ - Anything Goes 

http://papertakeweekly.blogspot.co.uk/ - Anything Goes 

http://sisteractcardchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/ - Anything Goes 

http://cdsundaychallenge.blogspot.co.uk/ - Hats

http://crazychallenge.blogspot.co.uk/ - without stamps

Anything but Square at Fab 'n' Funky

So here we are my first post as a full fledged member of the Fab 'n' Funky design team. I have to say there were some beautiful entries for last weeks challenge of use a doily and you can check to see if you were a winner over on the Fab 'n' Funky challenge blog. Whilst you're there check out the DT creations for this weeks challenge - 'Anything but Square' The theme has been chosen by Angelique and we have two sponsors this week.

DigiDarla Designs 

And 

StampArt Design by Kathryne

For the challenge I got to work with this wonderful design from DigiDarla - called Cheery Cheerleader 

Considering the time of year she just cried out to be coloured in red white and blue.

I used Spetrum Noir pens as follows 

Hair TN 4 TN6 and GB7

Skin FS2 FS3 TN2 and PP1

Outfit and Pompoms 

CR8,CR10 and DR1

TB2,TB3, and TB4

IB-1 to highlight the white bits

I then added stickles iridescent glitter over her T shirt and shoes and the white areas of the pompoms to add a bit of sparkle.

I love circular easel cards and all the base shapes were cut using an x-cut circle cutter in different sizes. 

The backing papers are a combination of papers from my stash and some from a black and white folder on the Ooh La La Femme Fatale CD that have just had the red or blue boosted in MCS before printing off. 

I cut some triangles from scraps of paper t make the bunting which was then just stuck down on the background and tiny little star gems were added at the corners of the pieces.

I added a rose from my stash that had been glittered with ultra-fine glitter and then hand rolled some roses from red polka dot paper. I added some ribbon and some leaves. The finishing touches were the gems which I have had in my stash for as long as I can remember.

The sentiments were computer generated and cut using inverted scalloped circle and plain circle dies from nestabilities.

So all that remains is to wish All of my American friends a Happy 4th of July.

I am entering this card into the following challenges. 

http://craftycatzweeklychallenge.blogspot.co.uk/ - say it with flowers
http://craftyfriendschallengeblog.blogspot.co.uk/ - use bling - The stars and the glitter
http://craftyourpassionchallenges.blogspot.co.uk/ - red white and blue
http://www.digidarlas.blogspot.co.uk/ - Red White and Blue
http://digihaven.blogspot.co.uk/ - Fun with flowers
http://lacysunshinechallengeblog.blogspot.co.uk/ - Anything Goes
http://littlescrappieces.blogspot.co.uk/ - Let Freedom Ring any project to celebrate 4th of July
http://nutcrafters.blogspot.co.uk/ - show us some texture - Ribbon and stickles
http://paperplaytime.blogspot.co.uk/ - Red White and Blue
http://sisteractcardchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/ - Anything Goes
http://thatcraftplaceblog.blogspot.co.uk/ - Flowers
http://2sisterschallengeblog.blogspot.co.uk/ - use stripes
http://www.craftdoormagazine.com/ - Anything Goes
http://craftsandmechallenges.blogspot.co.uk - Anything Goes
http://happycamperscc.blogspot.co.uk - Bling The stars and the glitter
http://tuesdaythrowdown.blogspot.co.uk/ - Stars and Stripes
http://pileitonchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/ - Bling

First Dance

Having had a trawl of some of my favourite blogs I found that, I could combine a few challenges.

 I decided to go with Allsorts challenge blog for the colour theme as they are doing lavender and lace, I added some cotton lace and doily to the design as well. Over at Totally Papercrafts the theme was wedding  and CD Sunday have chosen Dance as their theme and this reminded me that on the Debbi Moore Deco Wedding CD there was a lovely image of a couple dancing, I printed this off in the lavender colour scheme from the CD and printed off the matching backing papers.

Tuesday Throwdown were asking for glitz and glimmer so I used Centura Pearl white with a hint of gold to create my card blank, as this has a lovely subtle shimmer to it. I also added a thin layer of stickles iridescent glitter to the top layer of my decoupage and the brides veil.

 Crafty Catz and are featuring flowers in their current challenge so I printed off the flowers from the Debbi Moore CD onto velum and then cut the various sizes and layered them up adding pearl centres.

I added some leaves and branches which were cut from the off cuts of the card stock I used for the card blank.

I used my tattered Lace winter floral dies to cut the leave and branches and then coloured them using a promarker.

During the design of the card i ran into a bit of a problem as I didn't have any in the right colour. I tried using white from my stash but the threading on the lace was lost and the lace didn't stand out enough when layered on white ribbon. I just used the same promarker as I had for the leaves and branches and coloured the white ribbon from my stash to match.

Delicious doodles were asking for a charm to be added and so I added the heart charm and the string of pearls.

Finally the challenge at sister act is Anything goes - so I figured that the card fit their challenge as well.

The finishing touches to the card were the inserts which again feature a paper from the Deco wedding CD by Debbi Moor that I have added faux embossing to via my graphics programme.

Edit - following a lovely comment from Anna on this blog having posted it initially a few hours ago I am taking her up on her invite and joining in at C is For Challenge - where the theme for their very first challenge is flowers.

So these are the Challenges I am entering

http://allsortschallenge.blogspot.co.uk/ Lavender and Lace
http://sisteractcardchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/ - Anything Goes
http://cisforchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/ - Flowers
http://craftycatzweeklychallenge.blogspot.co.uk/ - say it with Flowers
http://cdsundaychallenge.blogspot.co.uk/ - Dance
http://deliciousdoodleschallenge.blogspot.co.uk/ - use a charm
http://tuesdaythrowdown.blogspot.co.uk/ - glitz and glimmer
http://totallypapercrafts.blogspot.co.uk/ - June Bride and Groom