Fred She Said Valentine Blog Hop

Welcome to the Fred, She Said Valentine Blog Hop!  We've got two great prizes to be won:  one $25 certificate to the Fred, She Said Store and one $25 certificate to CropStop.  If you've arrived here from Danielle's blog then you've come to the right place.  If not, you're going to want to go back to Tracy-Lynn's blog and hop along from the start!  Tracy has come up with some gorgeous new ideas for Valentines Day, quite a few of them are great for all sorts of occasions, not just Valentines.  I hope you're enjoying the hop so far.

I've got a couple of projects to show you; the first is a clean & simple card made with a Cuttlebug folder that cuts and embosses a 5 x 7" card.  The DP inside the frame is from Bearly Mine Designs.  I've used the pre-coloured Hearts and Roses set of digis and added Distress Ink to the heart so that it shows up against the white card.  I decoupaged an extra layer of roses onto the heart and put one half under and half over the frame and added some Stickles to both.
The second project I've got to show you is close to my heart - because it contains chocolate! I made a treat holder from a great tutorial at Splitcoaststampers by Beate Johns, using the pre-coloured "Better than chocolate" set from Fred, She Said.  The main image has the text added to it and it's matted onto a Nestie and then attached to the band around the gift box, which has a border punched with my new MS punch.



Pull on the ribbon, without undoing it, and out comes the chocolate, which has the punch line on it.
 I layered 3 copies of the image to decoupage it, you can see the layers here:








 Thanks for looking at my projects, I need to give you your word to make the magic phrase so you can enter the draw - my word is life.  Now it's time for you to see what fabulous creations the talented Marlena has to show you.  You have until midnight on Friday, 4th February to complete the hop.
My card and/or my gift box are for the following challenges:
Delightful Challenges - have a heart
Meljen's Designs - create something with hearts
Paper Play - layer it up
Charisma Cardz - Valentine/love
A Spoonful of Sugar - Valentine
Cupcake Craft - food for thought
Craft Your Passion - use 2 patterned papers (chocolate treat box)

No money here... I'm tapped out

 I've been playing with the Fred, She Said "Empty Pockets Shruggers"  set which you can buy here.  You get a boy and a girl digi with some fun sentiments, here's the first card I've finished.  After Christmas, I know just how he feels!

I've followed the sketch at Just Us Girls Challenge, using Basic Grey Sugar Rush DP, some raffia and brads from stash and Distress Ink on the image and sentiments.  The inside has another sentiment, cut and layered with 2 Nestie dies and a Nellie Snellen die, as well as a Marianne Creatables scroll die.

This card is for the following challenges:
Just Us Girls - sketch
Papertake Weekly - anything goes
Craft Your Passion - anything goes

Splashy Sienna

This image just shouts "Summertime is here!" to me, she's called Splashy Sienna , a digi from the very talented Phindy O'Neill.  I had her coloured and ready to use in a card, but decided to cut her out, pop her up on silicon glue and give her a garden background.  So I found some Glimmer Misted cardstock, cut out a circle, used a Cuttlebug folder on it and then swiped some ink across it to show off the design.  The sketch is from Saturday Sketch Challenge and the colourscheme is from Just Us Girls, who have a navy, orange, green and cream challenge this week.

DP is Basic Grey, the cream panel is pearlescent card that has been embossed with a different folder.  The sentiment is from Craftwork Cards, coloured with a opic, the little flowers are made using a Woodware punch.  I'm also entering Paper Sundae's "make your own flowers" Challenge.

Summer is on the way... I hope

Today has been beautifully sunny but there was a hard frost overnight and there's a biting wind. But I'm being optimistic and what could be more evocative of a hot summer's day than a pot of geraniums, can't you just smell them in the sunshine? I began this card to enter Isabella's Sketchbook Challenge, for their Anything Goes week. I hope to get another entry completed before their challenge closes but we'll see...

Along the way it fits the theme for Lili of the Valley Challenges, with their theme of Here Comes Summer, Paper Sundae's colour challenge of Red, Yellow and Green, Crafty Cardmaker's Distressing Challenge and the Sketch from Just Us Girls.

I've coloured the image, from Isabella's Sketchbook, with Copics and edged it with Scattered Straw and Broken China Inks. I'm trying to use up scraps and I decided to use some of those plain bits of white cardstock that gather by the trimmer. I edged them with Barn Door ink and sponged Scattered Straw on top. The sentiment is Stampin' Up, the green pearls are from the Hobby House and the DP is My Minds Eye.

Easter Bonnet takes in a lot of challenges

What do you think of my lovely Easter bonnet? It's a gorgeous digi from Shirleys2Girls.

I've printed and coloured it twice, popping one up on silicon glue to give it dimension. Image is coloured with Copics, Stickles, Glossy Accents and two tiny flower buttons. Sentiment is also Shirleys2Girls, comes with the digi. The image is mounted onto a piece of Cuttlebigged cardstock that has been distressed around the edges (doesn't show up too well in the photo). The punch is a Martha Stewart pansy punch, with Liquid Pearls on the flower centres. All the DP is Basic Grey Cupcake, ribbons, buttons and thread are all from stash.

This card is for these challenges:
Papertake Weekly for a brilliant sketch
Just Us Girls for the colourscheme of light brown, light blue, yellow and light green
I Love Digi Challenge - Easter
Allsorts Challenge - Spring is in the Air
Crafty Cardmakers - Spring into Spring
Secret Crafter Sat Challenge - Spring has Sprung
Digital Tuesday - Happy Spring
Stampin' for the Weekend - Easter
Stamp Something - Distressed
Your Next Stamp - Distressing
Fussy & Fancy - Green
Simon Says - Easter or Spring with some Glimmer
Everybody Art Challenge - Easter
Incy Wincy Designs - Easter or Spring
Ooh-la-la Creations - a Button, a Bow and some Bling
Stamp with Fun - Easter
Crazy 4 Challenges - Spring
Sweet Stampin' Challenge Blog - Spring is in the Air
Totally Gorjuss - Ribbon
Daring Cardmakers - use a bird (check out the bonnet!)
Paper Garden Challenge - Spring or Easter card

Aqua & Red Willow, Part III

And here's the third in the series, just in time for the Whiff of Joy Challenge - I hope :). This time I've followed Mojo Monday's sketch and included some stitching, which is this week's challenge at Just Us Girls (JUGS). The papers, as before, are free downloads from Summertime Designs. I've added a ribbon onto the strip paper that I used for the top border and a setniment from Craftwork Cards. The stitching is a couple of wavy borders done on my sewing machine. Willow is coloured with Copics and her candlelight has Glossy Accents on it.

Whew! I found this colour combination very tricky and I still think my second card makes Willow look like she's in a football strip :), but I've got there in the end with all three.