April Showers

We're certainly getting April Showers here this week, today I managed a long walk with the dogs between showers and then retreated to the craft room to make a few cards.  I put together some House Mouse decoupage that had been cut out a while back, isn't this a fun Spring image?  I added some Glossy Accents and Stickles to the raindrops and a couple of ribbons beside my image. 
I'm entering my card for:
House Mouse & Friends - anything goes
Creative Belli - animals
Sassy Cheryl's - April Showers
Use it Tuesday - April Showers (decoupage is my hoarded stash)
Bunny Zoe - ribbon or twine
Get Hippity - April Showers
Scrappers Delight - April Showers
Digi Designs - animal friends

Phindy's Place Challenge #85 - clean and simple

Welcome to this week's challenge, a great one for those of us who are struggling to get last minute cards made for Christmas!  I have made an almost one-layer card;  I embossed the card with a Nestie and then die cut my image and placed it inside the embossed lines.  The image is called Winter Bird and it is really quick to colour, so effective too.  There's some Glamour Dust on the snow and some Glossy Accents on the robin.  I added a sentiment from Butterfly Kisses in red and some red twine to accent the red in the image.
My card is also for the following challenges:
Shopping our Stash - lights, whites or Meljen - I chose white
Simon Says - Christmas photomontage inspiration
Stamp, scrap & doodle - holiday card

Kraftin' Kimmie - embossing
Designed2Delight - snow
Crafty Calender - cold and frosty
Dream Valley - sparkle
Truly Madly Crafty - Christmas images & colours
Hooked on Craft - winter wonderland
Crafty Bloggers Network - shades of winter
Craft your Passion - anything goes + glitter
Top Tip Tuesday - let it snow
Celebrate the Occasion - Christmas no green
My Mum's Craft Shop - traditional Christmas
Crafts & Me - winter snow
Creative Belli - winter & Christmas
Pixie Dust Studio - glitter and bling
Papercrafting Journey - Christmas
Crafty Purple Frog - it's cold outside
Aud Sentiments - winter holiday sentiments

Tiffany Doodles Challenge - use turquoise

I've lots to blog today so first up I'm starting with this month's Tiffany Doodles Challenge, which is to use the colour turquoise.  I love turquoise, wear it a lot, but found to my dismay I didn't have much DP...   I found a Papermania pad that I bought at least a year ago and had never cut into, and paper pieced the fun image Dancing Dress.  Both layers are paper pieced and I've tried to add some shading with my Copics.  I've added stitching in a blue glittery thread, some organza ribbon and some turquoise gems to bling it up a bit, sentiment is from Craftwork Cards.

Do check out the DT cards, they are stunning and you can see some sneak peeks here on the logo for this month:
My card is for the following challenges:
Sketch'n'Stash - sketch
Creative Belli - think seamstress
Your Next Stamp - stitching
Claudia & Company - monochromatic
Digi Design House - stitches
Karen's Doodles - fancy and feminine
Woodware - monochromatic
Gingerloft - got the blues

Paws for the important things in life

Here's one of Phindy's adorable Wee Babbies, used with a matching sentiment from the Create with TLC set.  Each month Paulette and Phnidy have a collaboration and this one is irresistable as it has several sentiments that will be perfect to use with dog images.  This little fellow is called Resistance.  I used my new Prima DP pad again and matched his T-shirt stripe colours to those in the paper.  I also got some stripy twine from Quixotic Paperie that I used on the button and around of the the matted papers.  It arrived less than 24hrs after ordering, which I think is pretty impressive:).  I followed a sketch at ICS which is unusual, really like the effect it gives.

My card is for the following challenges:
Inspirational Card Sketches - sketch
Creative Inspirations Paint - inspired by animals
The Crafty Pad - buttons
2 Sisters - oh baby
Alphabet Challenge - stripes
Fairy Tales - children/babies
Creative Belli - animals and old stash (button)

Phindy's Place Challenge #45 - Oh Baby!

Good moring, it's Friday so today is the double bonus of being nearly the weekend and also time for another Phindy's Place Challenge.  This week we are challenging you to make a card or project for a baby or small child, or use a baby or small child image on your card.  Don't forget to check out the arrival of the adorable Wee Babbies in store at Phindy's Place, they are arriving every few days, rather than all at once, just like real babies!  My little charmer isn't part of the Wee Babbie set, but he easily could be, this image is called Nap Time.

I've used Copics to colour, including the background and I decided to make a tri-fold card.  The Nestie is new stash that I treated myself to from Bunny Zoes, after being lucky enough to win a voucher, I popped it up on tape  above the green square but wish I'd added more height again:).  Sentiment is Joanna Sheen, DP is Stampin' Up and the buttons are Papermania.

My card is for the following challenges:
Pile It On - Tri-fold
Peachy Keen - sketch
Charisma Cardz - Four legged friends
Crafty Sentiments - birthdays
Meljens Challenge - U R such an animal!
Shelley's Images - lots of layers
Creative Belli - animals
Do You Stack Up - use green in it
Dutch Dare - who's who in the zoo

Phindy's Place Challenge #40 - Sketchtime

Good morning and welcome to a new Phindy's Place Challenge.   I'm really excited to tell you that we have 3 talented new Design Team ladies who have joined the team:  Christine, Dorcas and Kathy.  They will be showing off their creations starting next week.  This week we have a great sketch from Anne-Marije to follow. As you can see, I've taken a few liberties with the sketch, I wanted to use the fun Plundering Pirate image and needed a few less embellies:).

I coloured with Copics, added Distress Ink to the background and also inked the embossed circle.  The knotted cord is Roman Blind cord, the sentiment from Craftwork Cards, the charm from Quixotic Cards and the spotty paper from Stampin' Up.

My card is also for the following challenges:
Creative Belli - anything beginning with P - plundering pirate!
Fab 'n' Funky - delight in your digi
Simon Says - animal antics
Allsorts - man/boy card
Creative Card Crew - show us the colours of your country - red/white/blue but minus the skull & crossbones lol!

Phindy's Place Challenge #39 - Lace and Pearls

 Hooray for Friday - it's the weekend, my crafty friend Val is coming over to play and I have 2 all day crafting workshops scheduled for the weekend - and today is Phindy's Place Challenge!  I've been looking forward to showing you this image for ages, I got muddled up and was making it for last week by mistake lol!  Hope you think it's worth the wait:).
I used the beautiful Spring Dress Emma, I've seen so many lovely projects using this digi and decided it was time I tackled her!  I've baed my card on the Sketch'n'Stash Challenge layout.  She's coloured with Copics, cut out and decoupaged onto a Marianne Die that's been Cuttlebugged and then inked with Tea Dye Distress Ink.  The DP is Bearly Mine Designs from Simply Dots (new stash that I was lucky enough to win at Incy Wincy), the sentiment is Craftwork Cards, a lovely deep lace that is very old stash and sweet pearls from the Hobby House.  The little chocolate coloured ones are stuck where the lace points are; do you remember the beads on lace covers for food?
My card is for the following challenges:
Sketch'n'Stash - sketch
Simon Says - Bingo! (lace, flowers, embossing)
Corrosive Challenge Blog - lace and pearls
Copic Creations - what's new (new DP)
Creative Belli - letter P (pink, pretty pearls)
Do it With Digis - pink, girly
Paper Sundae - first birthday choose a challenge - Cut it Out

Top Tip Tuesday Challenge

Good Morning and welcome to another challenge from the Top Tip Tuesday Team!  This week have have a great Copics tutorial for you from Dawn, be sure to check it out!  I've used my Copics to colour a card using an image from this week's sponsors, Whimsy Designs.  It's a shaker card, with flowersoft inside the acetate panel for snow, the background that I've glued my image to is brayered with dye ink to make a scene.  Sorry for the poor photo, we seem plunged into dark and gloomy days at present.  The frame is some blue card flecked with white that I bought at the NEC, the DP is a magazine freebie and the swirl is a Marianne Creatables die.

I'm entering my card for the following challenges:
Creative Belli - use flocking or Flowersoft
Paper Sundaes - let it snow
Charisma Cardz - with love @ Christmas
Creative Inspirations - create a shaker card

PS I have candy - do please join me and play along here

Catching Snowflakes

There is still time to join in the celebrations at Phindy's Place group on PCP, we're partying after reaching a massive 1,000 members!  There are lots of competitions and challenges to take part in, I hope you'll join us.  This is a card I've made just for fun, to fit Tammy's Challenge which is to make a Christmas card using non-traditional colours.

First of all, apologies for the rubbish picture, DH is away gallivanting for the weekend and has the good camera with him, so this is a scan. :(
I've used one of the adorable Christmas Cuties, called Tasty Flakes, you can buy her here.  She's coloured with Copics and I've added Polar White Flowersoft for snow and for the trim on her boots.  The DP is Cosmo Cricket Mitten Weather, sentiment is from Craftwork Cards.  I've followed the Sketch Saturday Challenge layout.  I couldn't think how I wanted to put the thin lines in - until I looked at all the trimmings from matting and layering the image!  The little stars are peel-offs.
My card is for:
Sketch Saturday Challenge  - sketch
Bee Crafty Challenge  - Christmas
Mark's Finest Paper - Holiday cards
One Stop Card Challenge - Anything goes
Fussy & Fancy Friday - Winter wonderland
Creative Belli Challenge - Flowersoft or flocking

Pumpkin Bouquet

Good Morning!  It's absolutely perishing here with lovely blue skies and frozen ground.  I've a beautiful card to show you this morning that uses a Fred-She-Said digi that is a freebie over on Crafters Digital Arts Centre.  The freebie is part of a purple, green and orange challenge, click here to find the challenge and the freebie.  It's such a pretty image, I didn't want to add harsh bright colours to it so I was pleased to find a few sheets of paper left in my Green at Heart Basic Grey pad - ideal!  Coloured with Copics and some Stickles, I've followed this week's Friday Sketch Challenge.  The leaves are cut with a Marianne Creatables set and the sentiment is Joanna Sheen.
My card is for the following challenges:
Friday Sketchers - sketch
Paper Pretties - green, purple and orange
Creative Belli - pumpkins
Crafty Cardmakers - use a freebie - great challenge idea!
Basic Grey - Autumn, harvest time - asters are always in Harvest Festival flower arrangements, aren't they!

ABC Challenge - F is for flowers

Hope to see you over at Fred She Said and playing along in the challenge, don't forget to grab your freebie!