Faithful Friends at Ooh La La Creations

Good Morning, what a gorgeous selection of Easter/spring themed projects we were treated to last time to find out if you are winner you can go to the bolg at Ooh La La Creations Challenges.

Our theme this time is .......

Faithful Friends

I have returned to scrapbooking again for this one and used papers from the 'Faithful Friends' CD by Ooh La La you can get a copy from the on line shop 

Chester belonged to my Mother-in-Law and every year in late spring he would go with my hubby and myself to 'help' us get the caravan she owned ready for her to stay there for the whole summer. Chester loved being at the caravan.

These pictures were taken when he decided to help me plant up the hanging baskets for her little garden. Well I thought he was helping until I realised where I had put the table and chairs on the patio was the sunniest position in the garden. 

I cam up with the idea of the title bar having watched Mel Heaton put together a page about her dog on Sunday Scrappers on Create and Craft. I don't have a Cricut so I made a paper template in the shape of a bone and cut the bone shape from this paper from the CD before matting it onto pink and then green card. The letters are wooden and I coated each one with a Sakura glaze pen in green and once that had dried I added the paw prints in black glaze pen. 

I wanted a dark brown background as that colour always reminds me of Ches and whenever I see it I refer to it as Chester Brown. I also wanted to reflect the brightness of the day so used bright pink and green card from American crafts to make my mats an layers and to make the photo's pop.

The green plaid and paw prints papers are also from the Faithful friends CD.

I added a pleated strip from Bazzil basics across the centre of the brown page then added the various panels before embellishing the project.

The pink roses and the journalling tag are from Tilda and I made the hanging basket and the planter (Stephen's Mum had one just like it at the Caravan) using Jonna Sheen dies and off cuts of card. The flowers are cut using the mini blooms die from tattered lace as was the Ivy in eh hanging basket. I just used off cuts from other projects and then used a ball tool to shape the flowers. I added contrasting pearl centres. A picket fence runs across the bottom of one of the panels and I finished off with a smaller bone to match the tittle bar at the bottom corner. 

Sadly Ches is no longer with us but he will never be forgotten. 

Paper piecing with Fab N Funky

Once again thank you for all the floral delights for our Flower Power Challenge last week. Check out the Fab n Funky blog to see if you are one of the lucky winners or top three.

This week we are sponsored by

and our theme is paper piecing. 

I used Paris Honey to produce the following card. 

I wanted Honey to stand out so used muted colours for the background with lots of kraft and cream card accents.

The papers are digital ones from My Craft Studio Shabby Sweet Essentials and because they are digital there is very little wastage as the 'papers could be shrunk to smaller size and the image of honey could be placed in the right position for printing out. In fact the whole honey image and all the paper bits were printed on a single A4 sheet.  I coloured her skin and hair using Promarkers and spectrum Noir pens 

Skin Ivory FS1, FS3, Blush

Hair GB3, GB5 and Caramel.

I also coloured two a separate fringe section which I fussy cut and added to the image before adding the paper pieced hat. just to give her added dimension.

The background paper is from the same CD and I layered this onto Cream and kraft card before adding it to an ivory 8x8 blank.

The doily was cut using a tattered lace die from cream card stock but because it looked lost on the background I coloured it using distress ink in Victorian velvet. 

I added a border that had been punched using a Martha Stewart punch and added the die cut circles.

The flowers and leaves are cut using tattered lace dies and the Eiffel Tower using a Marianne die. the sentiments are done using the computer the font is undercurrent and it is one I like for creating little text bars for my scrapbooking.

I finished off with some pearls and gems.

Struck by creativity at Through the Purple Haze

I seem to be on a bit of a roll with getting some of my digital photographs printed and scrapbooked at the moment mainly due to the fantastic inspiration over on the CSI challenges page 
the latest case file is shown below

so following the rules of having to incorporate all 5 colours ( or the closet proximation of all 5 colours from my stash) at least two pieces from the evidence list and at least one thing from the Testimony list I came up with this layout.

I have included all of the 5 colours. From the evidence list I used several of the things listed. I started with a floral background I didn't have any in my stash that was the correct colours so instead used a sheet of paper from Luminarte intended for use with twinkling H2Os. It has a resist finish with uncoated area that pick u the colours. So not having any H2O's I used distress inks instead and layered up brushed corduroy, iced spruce and stormy sky the edges were then distressed using a pair of scissors. I stuck this down onto a piece of light brown card. I tore and sanded a piece of dotted coredinations card stock in the lovely fresh green and stuck this in one corner. I used something unexpected for the image come on honestly how many of you reading this were actually expecting a photograph of a white Blackbird? 

I framed the image with a die cut frame and also framed a much smaller image of a black Blackbird using a frame made from Paper clay that had been painted with white gesso. 

I added 2 tags one already coloured that just needed a bit of distressing round the edges and the other I coloured with distress inks in the same shades as for the background and gave it a quick spritz with some luminarte gold shimmer mist. 

I added wooden corner flourishes and a wooden bird cage which had also been given the shimmer mist treatment. 

The title was easy I love using song titles or lyrics in my titles and as incomprehensible as the lyrics to my chosen song are it is still one of my favourite songs from the Psychadelic 60's and I was fortunate to see Gary Brooker (former Procul Harum keyboard player) perform it live a few years ago. I just used a computer font then cut each word to form a tile which I coloured with more distress ink. 

I hate throwing anything away so when we recently had a beautiful leather Chesterfield sofa's re upholstered after 20 years I kept the old leather and have used some of it for the flowers die cut using a Tim Holtz tattered flowers die. I added various metal Jewellery findings and gems for the centres and finished off with some metal bird charms.

For the testimony section I included 2 separate tags which I had added Journalling to one tag containing 7 interesting facts about the white Blackbird. for example it isn't actually an albino but a leutino because it does not have red eyes, but the normal colour eyes for a Blackbird it just lacks pigment in its feathers.

So that was my creativity this Monday Morning 

I am entering the layout into the  following challenges 

http://throughthepurplehazechallenges.blogspot.co.uk/ - creativity strikes 

http://allsortschallenge.blogspot.co.uk/ - Birds and feathers 

http://creativeknockouts.blogspot.co.uk/ - Furry or Feathery Friends 

Anything Goes at Through The Purple Haze

This week the challenge at through the Purple Haze is Anything Goes so I have left card making for a few hours to create a scrapbook page The inspiration comes from CSI (Colour Stories Inspiration). This project was for their case file 117 the file is presented as shown below and the rest is up to individual interpretation.

So using the case file above I came up with the following scrap book page the story of a girl and her trike.

this is an old photograph I found of myself in amongst the hundreds of family pictures I am currently turning into scrap book pages. Whilst I wanted to include cogs in the layout, I also wanted to soften it and make it girlie so added the die cut flowers - The centres of the flowers are actually made from watch parts. I added the butterflies to give a flow through the page and lead the eye to the picture. I have also included metal mesh behind the photograph.



I am entering the page into the following challenges
http://throughthepurplehazechallenges.blogspot.co.uk/ - Anything Goes

It's time to Spring into Easter at Ooh La La Creations

Firstly thank you all for your entries into our 'For a Child' challenge last time there were some fantastic entries and it was great fun looking through and commenting. To see if you are a winner go to the blog at  Ooh La La Creations.

Whilst you're there take a look at our new challenge for the next fortnight which is ....

Easter or Spring 

This time I chose to work with an image from the 'Yesterday's Memories' CD and went for spring rather than Easter. I always know when spring is on the way when I see the snowdrops pushing their heads through the soil in my garden. I needed a birthday card for a dear lady who lives near my dad. She is a chef and often pops along to see him to take him  pies, soups or desserts she has made. He in turn keeps her supplied with fresh vegetables he grows in his garden, 

I went with the fresh blue as the main colour and as I hadn't done any decoupage in a while decided to use one f the decoupage images for the centre piece. I surrounded it with a silver frame I had cut from mirror card using a Tattered lace die. rather than popping all the cut out shapes out of the frame I taped them in t give it an embossed feel.

I die cut the flourishes and the words from a bright sky blue paper. the backing paper is from the same CD and I matted this onto silver mirror card and the sky blue card. 

It was a really quick and easy card to make but makes me feel that winter is over and we have spring and summer to look forward to.

Something a Little Different

This week the challenge at Through the Purple Haze Challenges was to create a card using a different fold one that you haven't used before.

I was in the process of designing a card for a friends 30th Birthday she is heavily influenced by the 60's and I had some marvellous papers courtesy of My Craft Studio's Carousel of classics CD. In fact far too many to use on a single or even triple fold card. Then the idea came to me to use them to make a never ending card and I could also enter the challenge as I have never made one before.

The problem is actually photographing a never ending card to it's best advantage so here it is you just have to imagine opening and flipping it!

I am entering this card into the following challenges 

http://throughthepurplehazechallenges.blogspot.co.uk/ - Try a New folding Technique 

In the Pink at Fab and Funky

Thank you everyone for all your fabulous entries for our Once upon a time challenge last week if you pop over to the fab n funky challenge blog you can see if you are a winner.

This week it is all about Pink - you can use other colours for contrast but the predominant colour in the design needs to be pink.

We have a new sponsor this week to Artbymiran do check out the lovely stamps there.

I chose to work with Isabel's Flowers to produce this card

Now I freely admit that pink isn't my most favourite colour in the world, but teamed with black I think it is stunning so that's what I did,

I coloured Isabel using promarkers and spectrum noirs. .

Skin Ivory, blush, blossom and TN1

Hair - FS1, GB1, GB3, GB5, GB6

Clothes, Dusky Pink, Dusky Roze and Magenta ( I then added the spots using a Micron pen)

Shoes Cool Grey 1 and 3 

Leaves and Flowers Pear, Moss and Blossom and dusty pink.

The background is jillian embossed dots from Coredinations and I sanded the surface to reveal the paler core. This was layered onto black card stock and I stuck it to a 8x8 card blank. The patterned papers were freebies from a magazine and I layered these onto black as well to make them pop. Having die cut the image I layered this onto black and trimmed it by hand to leave a really narrow border. The flowers leaves and sentiments were cut with a selection of Tattered Lace dies and I layered up the flowers to give dimension adding pearl centres and then to finish off coated the sentiments in Anita's clear gloss varnish - it's like glossy accents but because it is slightly thicker it is easier to apply to small embellishments.

A little bit Punky at Through The Purple Haze.

This wee the challenge at Through The Purple Haze is Steampunk. Which has turned out quite useful as it inspired me to come up with an Anniversary card for my Hubby. We have been together for twenty four years in May and on May 1st we will have been married for nineteen years. Now hubby doesn't do cute and cuddly when it comes to cards so it is always a challenge to come up with something for him. I now he doesn't come on my blog so it is safe for me to share it with you.

The papers and images are from the My Craft Studio tinkering with Steampunk CD and I overlaid the bacKground paper with two pieces of sequin mesh one in deep blue and one in turquoise.

I added the wings behind the heart to fit with the sentiment and once the image and the tags were stuck down I added die cut cogs to finish the design and keep with the industrial look. 

I added a verse that is really appropriate at the moment I am a Liverpool supporter and he supports Chelsea, and as both teams are fighting for the Premiership title at the moment match days can get a little fraught in our house. I know he'll appreciate the humour. 

I am entering this into the following challenge 

http://throughthepurplehazechallenges.blogspot.co.uk/ Steampunk

Fairy Tales and Fantasy at Fab and Funky

Thank you to everyone who entered our Christmas challenge last week and to find our if you are a winner pop over to the Fab and Funky Challenge blog to take a look.

This week we are sponsored by Stitchy Bear Digital Outlet  Our theme is .....

Once Upon a Time so include anything Fairytale or Fantasy

I used this lovely Flight of Fantasy stamp to create my card.

I love the uncluttered nature of the stamp so kept the design really simple. I used a lovely background paper from the Ooh La La CD - Dreams of Tranquility. I used a fancy square die to cut round the image and then used distress ink on the border. To add to ethereal feel of the image I covered the whole image and background with white organza that I had dotted with iridescent glitter. The fabric is from a wonderful sample book that a friends mother gifted to me last year and it is full of organza and silk samples. I had some left over from covering the card so turned it into a really simple flower by gathering it at the base. I added a sprig of pearls behind and a grey organza flower from my stash for the centre. I finished off with a really simple computer generated sentiment.