Future Rock Star!!

Here’s a birthday card I’ve made for a young boy, which is based on the current sketch over at Sketch ‘n’ Stash.

The image is from All Dressed Up; I’ve had it lurking on my desk, uncoloured for a while now, so it was good to finally get around to giving him some colour and pop him on a card!!

I’ve coloured him using Pro-Markers, then created some mats using cardstock embossed with two different folders.  I was very lucky to spot a bargain American Crafts cardstock pack in Home Sense earlier this week – it’s lovely cardstock to work with!  The chequered mat is a snippet from the Papermania Happy Days stack.

Finally, I punched six small stars, glued them in a stack and dabbed a little Brilliance ink directly onto them.

I’d like to enter this card into the following challenges:

Sketch ‘n’ Stash – see sketch above

 

Advertisement

Fancy A Swift Half?

It’s time for our new challenge over at Crafting At The Weekend!  As usual our theme is Anything Goes and our sponsors, Crafty Ribbons and All Dressed Up, are offering you some great prizes!

I’ve been having a lot of fun with a box card…  I was recently challenged to make a bar themed box card for a lady who loves pubs in general and brandy in particular!  I’m the first to admit I didn’t think I’d pull it off, but I’m proud to share the end result with you today 🙂

I hunted high and low for a digital stamp of a barman, but came up with nothing.  Finally I stumbled across this great barman image at CanStockPhoto – and it’s available pre-coloured, so no agonising over the perfect colour uniform for a barman!

I used the Silhouette software to weld him onto the interior panel of the box card, then created his bar counter on another panel in front of him.  The shelves behind him have all his bottles of spirits, within easy reach – and the back is even mirrored, just as it is in most pubs!

I wanted to find a damask wallpaper to use on the panels, as the decor in most English pubs is quite dark and traditional.  The paper I’ve used on this card was a freebie from the Star Sunflower Studio and it was perfect!  Although it came in several colourways, the brown and cream combo was just the ticket.

My favourite part of the whole card has to be the beer mats on the side flaps!  I made each one from scratch, using some felt-marked paper as it had the right feel to it.  I created two beer mats that are personalised to the lady who will be receiving the card – her name is Barbara, hence “Barb’s Brew” and she was born in 1952!  To create some depth to the beer mats on the flaps I have actually mounted all the layers individually, and then popped the beer mats up on staggered 3D pads so they sit on the flap at an angle.

What have you made recently?  Pop over to Crafting At The Weekend and show us!

 

I’d like to enter this card into the following challenges:

Crafty Calendar – Anything Goes

My Time To Craft – Food and Drink

Oh I Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside…!

This week’s card for Sentimental Sundays had me running for my bucket and spade!  I used Three Little Summer Girls by All Dressed Up, coloured with ProMarkers and cut on the Silhouette, leaving an offset border.

For the background, I used a stamp from the Beach Images Set by Handmade Harbour, which I won a while back but haven’t had a chance to use.  I kept the colouring on the background quite simple, as I wanted the focus of the card to be the little ADU cuties, so I used a dark shade at the point where the horizon meets the sea and again where the sea meets the sand and just blended the darker shade into the lighter area to soften the lines.

The papers are all from the DoCrafts Ahoy There collection, with a little Bazzill cardstock for the frame and aqua mat.  Finally, a little birthday sentiment, printed directly onto vellum and held in place with a couple of co-ordinating brads.

Our theme this week is “Summer” – and this card says it all for me! I’d love to see what summer means to you – come over to Sentimental Sundays and share it with us this week!

I’d like to enter this card into the following challenges:

All Dressed Up – Anything Goes Birthday

Jellypark Friends – Seaside, Beach, Nautical

Allsorts – Summer Girls

 Crazy 4 Challenges – Summer/Winter

Sweet Stampin – Summer Fun

Doodle Garden – Summer Lovin’

Catered Crop – Summer Lovin’

Pile It On – Outdoor Fun

Craft-a-Scene – By The Sea

MAWTT – Birthdays, Buttons and Bunting

GDT and Blog Hop at All Dressed Up

I was over the moon to be asked to join All Dressed Up as a GDT for January, and even more excited to hear that they would be having a blog hop to celebrate a new release….not only would I get to be part of a blog hop for the first time, but I get to play with the new digis to boot!!  

There are four new releases this month, all of which can be found over on the All Dressed Up store.  The theme for the challenge is “Anything Goes”. A nice and easy theme to start the new year with.  The challenge will run until 15th February and the winner will receive 3 images of their choice from the store.  Please make sure you stop by the blog to check out the rest of the talented Dressy Girls creations.

Now as I said earlier All Dressed Up are also having a blog hop for this challenge, two lucky winners will receive 2 images of their choice from the All Dressed Up store.  In order to be in with a chance of winning you have to visit every blog on the hop list and leave a comment by the date shown below.  Two winners will be picked at Random by two of the Dressy Girls on Wednesday 22nd January . A whole week should give you plenty of time to hop along!If you have been following the hop list you have arrived here from Sharon’s blog.  Here is the hopping list so you don’t get lost along the way:

All Dressed Up 

Marilyn

Kat

Lyndsey

Christine L 

Lizzy

Jennifer

Kelly

Carolyn

Peggy 

Bettina

Stacey
Trudie

Maritha 

Anne 

Lis 

Mary

Viv

Nicole 
Lynn

Christine R

Nancy 

Sharon 
Guest Designer Victoria

Tracy 

Good luck on the hop and make sure you check out the blog for the winners & all the challenge details.

Now, on to my project!!  I chose to use Little Bookworm for my project as I felt that I could make more than a card with her (I had a little free time over Christmas and the New Year!).  So, I decided to make a bookmark giftcard – I have no idea if these actually exist, I have simply picked a name for it that describes what I made 🙂

To begin, I made the bookmark by printing the image on a long strip of card, which I folded in half.  I coloured the image using Pro-Markers, then cut a frame from a lovely yellow paper from Studio Calico, which I popped over the top of the image.  Next, I added two strips of magnetic tape to the ends and then lined the inside with a stripy paper from the same studio Calico stack, to hide the magnetic strips and make it look prettier inside (even though you don’t often have to look at it!)

The next step was to make the card – the background is text from Alice In Wonderland, found on Emily’s Image Garden, which I printed as a faded copy and edged with Scattered Straw distress ink.  The little flowers in the corner were made using a combination of petal punches, with heart buttons or little beads as the centres.  The petals were cut from the yellow Studio Calico paper used for the frame and the Alice text, printed smaller and in its original colours.

To mount the bookmark onto the card, I simply cut a strip out of the front of the card, and slipped the bookmark through, closing the magnets to hold it in place, which makes the bookmark the main image for the card.

All in all, a lovely little giftcard for any Little Bookworm!

I’d like to thank All Dressed Up for giving me this opportunity to join them as a Guest Designer!

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:

The Crafting Cafe – anything goes

Silhouette Challenges – Anything Goes

Seemacrafts  – Anything Goes

Natalie and Amys – One for the Girlies

Cards Galore Encore – Anything Goes

Through The Craft Room Door – Anything Goes 

Thanks for reading x

One Image, Two Cards

I’ve been busy making two very similar, but obviously different, cards today.  Both feature Abi Ballerina from All Dressed Up; Abi is an old favourite of mine – my daughter even had a top with her picture on when she smaller!  I also based both cards around the same sketch from the current challenge over at Sketch Saturday:

For the first card, I coloured Abi in shades of lilac and purple, and gave her brown hair.  There are little touches of sparkly Stickles on tutu and hairband.

I used a patterned cream and lilac paper from the Dovecraft Back to Basics III paper stack, added a little Bazill card circle with daughter welded to the edge and popped it on a final layer of cream card, embossed with the X-Cut quilting folder.  I cut the wording out twice and added the second layer on top, just to create a little more depth.

The final touch was the band of lace across the centre – I have been dying to use some lace on a card, but haven’t yet been brave enough….hope it looks OK!

The second card features little Abi again, this time coloured in light greens, with touches of Stickles on the tutu and hairband.

This is for a little blonde girl, so I changed Abi’s hair to reflect the intended recipient!  The layout is the same as the first card, but as I kept the colours much simpler, choosing to add texture to white cardstock instead, I feel there is a much cleaner look about the card.  Unfortunately, the coloured mat hasn’t come out too well in the photo – in reality, it is Celtic Green by Bazzill, and is a much springier green, which is similar to the colour of the tutu.  The band of ribbon across the centre should look a few shades darker….but again, hasn’t been treated well by the photo, despite my best efforts to digitally redress the colour balance!

Which do you prefer?  For me, it has to be the first one – I prefer Abi with darker hair and I’m so pleased that I finally managed to use some lace 🙂

I’d like to enter these cards into the following challenges:

Sketch Saturday – Challenge 291: see sketch above

Thanks for reading x

Poppy and Soldier

Today’s Christmas card was a special request from a friend and features the Cute Just Got Cuter” image from All Dressed Up.

Using the Silhouette Studio software, I removed the sentiment from the original, then copied and flipped the picture to show 2 dogs in mirror image.  I printed the names at the same time as the image, but then re-cut “&” and hung it over the edge of the paper.  I coloured Poppy and Soldier with Pro-Markers, and then followed the current sketch over at From The Heart Stamps.

The papers are all from a Christmas Joy paper stack by First Edition, the snowflake is from my stash, coloured with Pro-Markers to blend with the colour scheme.

I’d like to enter this card into the following challenges:

From The Heart Sketches – Sketch 46 (see sketch above)

LEJ Designs – Festive Fun

All Dressed Up – Christmas

Crafty Sentiments – Christmas

MelonHeadz – Christmas

Papertake Weekly – Christmas Creatures

My Time To Craft – Cute and Cuddly Christmas Creatures

Thanks for reading x

A(bi) for Ava

In amongst all the hustle and bustle of preparing for Christmas every year, my friends from my NCT class back in 2006 are all celebrating their eldest children’s birthdays – and this weekend is no different as it’s Ava’s turn!

Today’s card features a little ballerina that I am very fond of…Abi!  Abi is one of the sweet collection of stamps available from All Dressed Up (and she’s a freebie at the moment too!).  I’m also playing along with the current sketch challenge over at From The Heart Stamps, where this week’s layout looks like this:

And here is my completed card:

I have used a plain baby pink cardstock for the base of the frame, overlaying with a piece of Sienna glitter vellum by Docrafts.  Abi was coloured with Pro-Markers and a little sparkle, courtesy of a little Stickles.  The banner behind the framed image is cut from two layers of shimmery Centura Pearl cardstock (although it’s not easy to see in the photos), the bottom layer is a raspberry colour, and the top layer is an iced pink.  Final touches of a piece of ribbon and some little pink gems, both from my stash, and the card is ready to be written and posted off!

I’d like to enter this card in the following challenges:

All Dressed Up – Ribbon and/or Lace

From The Heart Stamps – Sketch 44

Partytime Tuesdays – Anything Goes

Crafty Hands – Sparkle and Bling

Cute Card Thursday – Anything Goes

I Love Promarkers – Anything Goes

Happy Campers – Glitter It!

LEJ Designs – Buttons and Bows

Sprinkle n Sparkle  – Anything Goes

Paper Crafting Journey – Bling It Up!

Paper Nest Dolls – Bows

Sister Act – Anything Goes

TTCRD – Anything Goes

Penny’s Paper Crafty Challenge – Frame A Female!

Crafter’s Cafe – Anything Goes

Thanks for reading x

Cute Just Got Cuter…

There’s no arguing with that!!  This cute little image is the new freebie from All Dressed Up, to coincide with their first challenge.  I chose to use this little pup to make a birthday card for my step-dad, as he loves dogs!

I based this card around Sketch 14 on the From The Heart Stamps blog.  The image was coloured with Pro-Markers; I’m still working hard at mastering hair and fur colouring, as you can see from this latest effort!  The spotty paper is from a Forever Friends Christmas pack and the stripy paper is from the First Edition Summer Breeze pad.  A length of red satin ribbon, to tie in with the dog’s ribbon in the image and a lovely brown button, tied through with some red and white baker’s twine finished it off.

Thanks for reading x

Challenges:

613 Avenue Create – Challenge 40: Anything Goes

Brown Sugar Challenge 63: Anything Goes

Abi Ballerina

Today, I’d like to introduce you to a gorgeous ballerina….meet Abi!  Abi is just one of a collection of adorable stamps by All Dressed Up.  I just couldn’t resist her cute little face, as she reminds me so much of my daughter, Erin.  With Erin in mind, I coloured Abi using my Pro-Markers.  I am still at the “must practice and concentrate” point with colouring, but this time I tried colouring from light to dark as I find it easier to remember to shade this way, adding depth and darker shades, rather than trying to take the darker colours away to create light.  I added a line of crystal Stickles at the edge of her tutu and on her headband to add a little sparkle and contrasting colour.

I couldn’t shake the idea that she looked like she was pointing to something as she danced, so I made a 3D butterfly using a Martha Stewart punch.  I chose a sparkly vellum for the top layer of the butterfly, to tie in with the Stickles on Abi’s skirt.

I chose to make the card as an S-fold card so that I could add a pop of extra colour without having to mount Abi directly to it.  The spotty paper I used is Easter Dots by SandyLion – I must confess to having it in my stash for around 4 years!  I originally bought it to use on a scrapbook page for my daughter’s baby scrapbook, and then put it in a safe place, never to be seen again…!

Well, here she is….

Thanks for reading x

Challenges:

Card Makin Mamas – CMM74 For the Kids

Chocolate, Coffee, Cards – Challenge 48: Anything Goes