Where Did November Go??!!

Today’s post is all about the new challenge over at Sentimental Sundays!  We have been sponsored by 2 Cute Ink and our new theme is “Heartfelt Thanks“.

Before I carry on though, I need to apologise for going AWOL – I really don’t know what happened to the last three weeks!  I haven’t had much time to craft or blog as we have been having the loft boarded and I’ve also been preparing my bedroom for replastering this week, and then there was my son’s birthday (although I do have some cute projects from his birthday to share with you later this week!)….

Anyway, back to today!  Here’s my card:

I’ve decided to go back to my comfort zone with my projects for a while.  I love CAS – and while I’ve enjoyed developing other areas of my hobby, this is where I craft happiest!  With this in mind, this card is super simple – just the cutest image, coloured with ProMarkers, mounted on a co-ordinating mat….et voila!

As we don’t celebrate Thanksgiving in the UK – so my card is just a thank you card, I like to always keep a couple to hand!

Make sure you pop over to Sentimental Sundays and have a peek at the other DT makes – you won’t be disappointed!  And you could also pop over to 2 Cute Ink for a little retail therapy……..why not, eh?!

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Football Themed Birthday Card

I’m back today with my latest make for the Polkadoodles’ DigiQueens! I’ve chosen to use this cute little footballer, available as an instant download from the Polkadoodles DigiWorld store, on a card for my friend’s football-crazy son….wonder if you can guess which team he supports?!!

The image was coloured with Promarkers – I was stuck for a moment when it came to colouring in the famous claret stripes on the West Ham kit, but after a little playing around with my markers, I found that Purple and Ruby blend together to a reasonable claret 🙂

As for the rest of the card, I kept it fairly simple – the football is a cutfile from the Silhouette store, I created the sentiment myself in the Silhouette software and the mat was simply embossed using a chevron folder!

Pop over to the Polkadoodles blog now to have a peek at the other DT projects….or maybe you’re heading straight to the Polkadoodles Digi Store to grab yourself a cute footballer to play with!!

Christmas Hollibobs With Polkadoodles

Time for my next Polkadoodles post!!  This fortnight, I have a little Christmas card to share with you, using Santa by Polkadoodles, available now as an instant download!

After printing and cutting the image with the Silhouette, I coloured this little chap using ProMarkers.  When I started colouring last year, I remember being so intimidated bold colours like  the red I used for this image – 12 months on and I’m quite chuffed with the end result!

The sentiment and patterned papers are all from the Festive Hollibobs collection, so they co-ordinate with each other really well.  The holly uses a cutfile from the Silhouette store – I simply dragged one of the gorgeous papers into the Silhouette software to fill the shapes, before cutting and printing.  I love the way the paper resizes to fill the shape you have  added it to – in this case, the berries are filled with the same paper as the spotty background and the leaves are filled with the same paper in a different colourway, but as the pattern has resized automatically, the colours appear deeper.  So versatile!!

Head over to the Polkadoodles DigiWorld store now to have a peek at all the gorgeous Christmas images you could get you pens on instantly!!

I Just Want To Dance!

I’m back with another challenge for Sentimental Sundays!  This week, we are sponsored by Calypso’s Crafty Things – and there’s a fabulous prize for the lucky winner!  The theme for this challenge is “Inside and Out”, another first for me!  I always pay a lot of attention to the front of my cards, but I can’t remember ever continuing the theme inside!

I based my card around sketch 60 at From The Heart Sketches.  I love to flick through the old sketches when I’m struggling to pin down a design, it’s just packed full with inspiration! So, the details for my card….  The image I have used is a MilkCoffee freebie from a while back – not sure how I have overlooked her for so long!!  I coloured her using Pro-Markers as usual.  I’ve tried a new hair combo – Ivory, Satin and Tan – and I’m really pleased with the way it’s turned out.  The image on the inside of the card is by Patties Creations.  I’ve coloured the ballet slipper with ProMarkers, then mounted on a lilac mat before popping it inside the card.

To create the frame on the front of the card, I designed a “ring doughnut” shape in the Silhouette software by laying a smaller circle over the larger circle and the subtracting the top shape.  I then welded the letters of my daughter’s name to the outside edge of the doughnut.  The banner pieces were also cut from glitter card on the Silhouette, before being hand stitched to the corrugated card with some matching ribbon.

The papers on the front of the card are from the Papermania Spots and Stripes collection; all the other papers are from my stash.

Make sure you pop over to Sentimental Sundays to see what the rest of the DT have been up to this week!

Higher….Higher!!

It’s time for a new Anything Goes challenge at Crafting From The Heart.  As usual, we’ve been lucky to have some great sponsors – Lacy Sunshine, Chi Chi Memories and The Stamping Chef!

I’ve don’t think I’ve ever used a Chi Chi Memories image before; difficult to believe as they are sooo cute!  I have used Summer Fun Girl for my DT make, pairing it with a branch from Tiddly Inks For The Birds.  With a little playing around, I was able to merge the two images in the Silhouette software, then cut the shape out as a whole.  I used ProMarkers to colour the image, with a Sakura Jelly Roll for the polka dots.

For the background, I just added some clouds that I had left over from my hot air balloon box card, to a piece of sky blue AC cardstock (which has a lovely texture to it).  I added a little shape to the clouds by popping some shadow to the edges and blending out; they are cut from a lovely piece of hammer embossed cardstock, so they have some good cloud texture too.  I attached the sky behind another piece of the hammer embossed card using 3D pads to give some depth and then added my image to the front of the circle aperture.  A little pink and white twine, with a pink and white polka button and pink seed beads finished it off!

It looks like it’s a week of firsts for me….my first Chi Chi Memories image and now, my first entry into the Muse Challenge.  Marion Vagg’s adorable owl makes good use of his branch (see below), as does the little girl in my image!  My white layer creates a frame around the image, and I have also echoed the blue frame in Marion’s card by bringing my background through to to edges of my card.

Head over to Crafting From The Heart to see what the rest of the DT have made to inspire you this week!

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

 Silhouette Challenges – Print and Cut

2 Cute Ink – Anything Goes

Love To Create – Bright and Sunny

Muse Card Club – see pic above

Red, White and Blue!

Over at Sentimental Sundays this week, we’re looking for lots of red, white and blue in your projects!!

We are sponsored by The Doodle Garden; they have such cute images, and this Little Sailor Boy is no exception!  I coloured him with ProMarkers, and then used some blue cardstock as a mat.  The other papers all come from the DoCrafts Ahoy There stack (which has proven to be a great bargain buy recently!).

For the sentiment, I cut the letters three times on the Silhouette; once from blue cardstock and twice from a heavier cardstock, then simply glued the layers altogether to create some lovely, chunky letters!

Make sure you pop over to Sentimental Sundays and show us how you’ve used red, white and blue this week!

I‘d like to enter this into the following challenges:

A Creative Romance – Colours of National Flag (UK: Red/White/Blue)

Bloggers – Red, White and Blue

Jellypark – Red, White and Blue

Polkadoodles – Red, White and Blue

That’s Crafty – All At Sea

Crazy 4 Challenges – Red, White and Blue

When I Grow Up….

This week’s challenge over at Sentimental Sundays is all about what you’d like to be when you grow up!  Our sponsor, PolkaDoodles, offered us three images to choose from; I stayed girly and picked the ballerina, and popped her into a card based around the current sketch challenge over at Try Stampin On Tuesday (see below for sketch).

The image was coloured with ProMarkers and lots of Candy Floss and Star Dust Stickles, and popped into a Kraft frame which I edged lightly with silver Brilliance ink.  To give the impression of daydreaming, I chose to emboss the panel behind the image with the Clouds folder by Darice, smudging my pink chalk VersaMagic ink from the bottom to the top of the panel to highlight the clouds.  I used the same technique on the heart embossed banner, while the second banner just had the ink pulled across, without any embossing!  The panel and both the banners were mounted on Kraft.  The sentiment in the top right was cut from some bubblegum pink glitter cardstock by the Silhouette.

Make sure you head over to Sentimental Sundays to see what the other DT ladies want to be when they grow up!

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

Try Stampin On Tuesday – sketch (rotated)

Pretty Polly!

Warning!!  The following post includes references to “that time of year“!  Readers of a sensitive nature may wish to pop back tomorrow!!

Well, here goes….my first Christmas card of 2014!  If I’m honest, I’m normally start my Christmas crafting in November, or even in a blind panic in December.  It feels a little bizarre to have spent my afternoon with Poinsettia Polly, when the sun is (finally!) blazing outside – but I am feeling very proud of myself for starting early.  Not sure if one card counts as really starting though, guess we’ll have to see what the next few week’s crafting result in!

For this week’s challenge at Crafting From The Heart, we have three amazing sponsors; Lacy Sunshine, Sassy Designs Studio and PaperNest Dolls!  As always, our theme is “Anything Goes” so you are bound to be able to join in!

I have used Poinsettia Polly for my DT card; this little cutie was coloured with ProMarkers.  The layout is based around the current sketch challenge at Your Next Stamp.  Unfortunately, I can’t remember where these papers are from – I can tell you that the bauble paper is from the first paper stack I ever bought though!

As usual, my teamies over at Crafting From The Heart have been crafting their socks off – we’d love you to pop by and leave us some lovely comments!

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

Paper Nest Dolls – Anything Goes

Bunny Zoe’s Craft – Layers

Fan-Tastic Tuesdays – Anything Goes

Fairytale Stamper – Flowers

Pile It On – Use Patterned Paper

We’re Off To The Movies!

This week at Crafting From The Heart, we’re off to the movies!!  We’re looking to see your creations based around a movie theme – maybe your favourite film, or actor or even the Oscars!!

We were sponsored by Art By Miran and Sassy Designs Studios.  I chose to use Miss Sunshine, as she has a hint of Elle from Clueless about her!  I coloured her using Pro-Markers, choosing a light and fresh colour palette.  The papers are all from a Papermania collection, but I can’t remember which!  I chose to keep the layers flat as I will have to post this card, rather than hand deliver – I thought the difference in patterns would create some detail anyway.  The two little flags on the right hand side were stiffened with Mod Podge before sticking them down, so that they can stand forward a little.  Finally, for the circles, I simply cut three decreasing size circles, coloured them with a co-ordinating Pro-Marker and topped with Glossy Accents.

The layout was based on the current sketch over at The Deconstructed Sketch – I finally managed to get one completed in time to enter the challenge 🙂

Make sure you pop over to Crafting From The Heart to have a look at the other movie themed cards the DT have prepared for you…and don’t forget to enter our challenge too!

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

The Deconstructed Sketch: Sketch 142 (see above)

Melonheadz Friends – Girly

Created With Love – Girly

ABC Challenges – H Is For Hair

Emerald Faeries Challenge – Girly and Pink

Jellypark Guest Designer

Happy Friday everyone!  Looks like the brighter days are finally here…for a week or two at least!

I’m really excited to share the card I made for my Guest Designer spot over at Jellypark.  I was thrilled to be asked to join them for a challenge as I love their cute, versatile images!  For example, when I planned this card in my head, it was going to be an Easter card.  Although the design was still basically the same when I finished, it is now a card to celebrate the arrival of a first grandchild…my point is, that the image works beautifully for either occasion!

The theme for this challenge over at Jellypark is “Pretty Pastels” and I was delighted to use this cute little bunny stamp.  I coloured the image using Pro-Markers, after adding a little faux stitched border in the Silhouette software.  I also cut an extra daisy to pop up on her ear and create a little extra depth.  The papers are from the Papermania Spots and Stripes Pastels collection, backed on some green textured card from the First Edition Summer Breeze stack.  The spotty mat, arched sentiment and the image were popped up on 3D pads to add some extra height.  A couple of some daisy buttons from my stash finished it off nicely!

I’d like to thank everyone at Jellypark one last time, I’ve had a great time!  Make sure you head over to have a look at the amazing projects their very talented DT have put together for you this challenge!

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

The Stamping Boutique – Use Bunnies

Your Next Stamp – #10

Savvy Handmade Cards – Spring Flowers

KIS – Stripes

Just Hanna Stamps – CAS