Phindy's Place Challenge #104 - vintage

This week at Phindy's Place we are challenging you to make something with a vintage style.  Phindy's been drawing some fabulous new images recently and I chose Potted Primroses for my card.  I printed and coloured four times and made a decoupaged card.  There is lovely detail on the image but it has a very clean outline, perfect for this technique.  I followed the layout from Sketch Saturday, added some embossing and buttons.

My card is also for the following challenges:
Sketch Saturday - sketch

Aud Sentiments - anything goes
Craft us Crazy - favourite stamp company - easy one, Phindy's designs have been my favourite ever since I discovered them!
C.R.A.F.T.  - buttons
Crop Stop - emboss it
Do You Stack Up - circles
Little Miss Muffet - May flowers
Papercrafting Journey - vintage
My Mum's Craft Shop - embossing
Paper Pretties - flowers
Papertake Weekly - anything goes
Tuesday Throwdown - in the garden

It Must be Love

I've played along with the sketch challenge at Waltzing Mouse this week and used the Nordic Spring set to make my card.  There's the most amazing stitch detail in the stamps and I used WOW superfine embossing powder to show it off.  The sentiment is also Waltzing Mouse, I added some gems and a bit of dry embossing.

My card is also for:
Bearly Mine - embossing
Papertake Weekly - a stitch in time (the stitches are knitted ones on the stamps!)
Deep Ocean - song inspiration (Madness, It Must be Love)

Concertina Flower

 For this week's Waltzing Mouse Challenge I tried something new and made a concertina flower from paper that I'd stamped with the small houndstooth.  The Worn Lipstick ink matches the pink DP and butterflies much better in real life!  I used Shabby Shutters for the background and added some stitching and a gold embossed sentiment.  My card is also for Papertake Weekly, my "bingo line" is buttons, free (Stitching), flowers.

Happy Mothering Sunday

This card is for my Mum, who has been staying with me since January and helping to hold things together.  The sentiment is from Pink Petticoat, stripy ribbon is Stampin' Up, I've stitched around the edge and added buttons and twine.
I'm entering my card into;
Papertake - for the girls - or Mum
My Mum's Craft Shop - mum's the word
Delightful Challenges - someone special
Glitter Geeks - mother's day
DRS Designs - clean & simple
Ditzy Craftyness - buttons

Pop!

I've a quick posting here, been trying to finish up some of the decoupage cards from sheets cut out and bagged up.   This is Joanna Sheen House Mouse, I love the way the hummingbirds are trying to bring the mouse down to earth by popping his balloon.  The ribbon came from a bunch of flowers I was bought and all I have added is some pearlised lilac card. 

My card is for:

Crafts & Me - wings and things

Pixie Cottage - things with wings

Craft your Passion - anything goes

My Craft Spot - for the birds

Pink Elephant - lots of layers

Stampin' Sisters in Christ - wings

Allsorts Challenge - spread your wings

Papertake Weekly - anything goes

Monochrome Mauve Mothering Sunday

 

My card for today uses one of the first stamps that I bought:  a very chic lady from Clarity Stamps, coloured with Copics.  I've used her for a Mother's Day card that I was asked to make for a Mum who loves purple.  The label is a new die that I bought at Make It and the ribbon was around some flowers, so it is recycled.  The sentiment is Hobby Art.

My card is for:

Papertake - anything goes

Sweet Stamps - monochromatic

Craft your Passion - anything goes

Lexi's Creations - Mother's Day

Love to Create - monochromatic

Simon Says - Mother's Day

Dream Valley - Mother's Day

Stamp, Scrap, Doodle - use your stash (old stamp used!)

Less is More - diecuts and punches

 I think C&S cards lend themselves to showcasing diecuts and I made a couple more cards for this week's challenge.  I treated myself to a new set of stamps from Waltzing Mouse, 2 frames with words that fit the gap.  The first card uses a Sissix Daisy diecut in spotty and stripy Echo Park DP, I added buttons at the corners. 

Second card is white embossed onto Kraft and uses a Stampin' Up bird on a branch punch, I inked the body of the bird.

My cards are for the following challenges:

Less is More - diecuts and punches

 Cute Card Thursday - flower power (card 1)
Crafty Ann's - bold & bright (card 1)
Papertake Weekly - (card 2)
Kenny K's - emboss it (card 2)
Stampin' Sisters in Christ - feature a flower (card 1)
Crazy4 Challenges - dots and stripes (card 1)

Phindy's Place Challenge #92 - round & round

 Again I am late posting my card for this week's fabulous Phindy's Place Challenge, which is to use circles this week.  The only good thing about being late is that I saw a fab layout at Sketch Saturday that uses lots of circles and was able to use it for my card!

The image is called My Baby and I chose to use it for Easter though it also makes a brilliant new baby card. It's coloured with Copics, Distress Ink and Glossy Accents, the DP is Basic Grey, mostly Marjolaine with a background from the Neutrals.  The lacy ribbon is from Stamp Attic.

My card is for the following challenges:
Sketch Saturday - sketch
Allsorts - free and easy February
Simon Says - love.  I've not entered the multitude of Valentine challenges, but this shows a mother's love, at least I think so!
Papertake Weekly - anything goes
One Stitch at a Time - anything goes
Scrappy Frog - diecuts - lots of diecut circles here!
Drunken Stampers - texture - love this ribbon for texture

Charisma Cardz - things with wings
Moving along with the Times - cute critters

Lots of layers

 

I bought some new House Mouse decoupage from Joanna Sheen and have been cutting out while my mojo is missing.  There is a lot going on with the image so I've kept the rest of the card pretty simple, with a couple of layers, a border punch and some ribbon.

My card is for:

House Mouse & Friends - something new (the decoupage pack)

Charisma Cardz - anything goes

Simon Says - new something

Papertake Weekly - anything goes (option of new)

Jolly Holly

 

 Here's a pretty holly fairy from Phindy's Place, she looks like she is making magic with her holly sprig, don't you think?  She's coloured with Copics and Stickles and the holly DP is Papermania, the holly berries are embossed on it.  The ribbon is coloured with Copics and I've based my card on this week's sketch at Simon Says.

My card is for:

Simon Says - sketch

Papertake - last Christmas card of the year (it may be or I may still make some more!)

Party Time Tuesdays - use ribbon

Top Tip Tuesday - anything Christmas

Craft your Passion - things with wings

Mark's finest papers - make a Christmas card

A wreath for Wednesday

 

Today's card is a fairly simple Christmas wreath, I wanted to keep things fairly plain to show off the gorgeous DP (Memory Box) as well as the stunning image.  Image is from Fred She Said and available as a digi or pre-coloured.  I chose to colour mine, adding Stickles to the berries, and perched a Christmas chickadee, pre-coloured this time on the wreath.  My birdie is less than 1" high, pre-coloured was definitely what I needed here!  The leaves are from a Martha Stewart punch, the sketch is from Papertake.  

Enjoy your Wednesday and remember, we're over half way through the week, not long to the weekend...

My card is for the following challenges:

Papertake - sketch

Partytime Tuesday - anything goes

Christmas Stampin all Year - sparkly

Christmas Inspirations - punches/diecuts (branch punch, scalloped and circle dies)

Flourishes - trees and leaves

Phindy's Place Challenge #76 - Anything Goes Using a Phindy's Place image

Welcome to this week's Phindy's Place Challenge.  As this is the first Friday of the month, this is an Anything Goes image - however you MUST use a Phindy's Place image, which is no hardship given that fabulous images that Phindy draws:).  I've added to my Christmas card pile with Christmas Kitten, which is perfect for our cat loving friends.  Image coloured with Copics, Glossy Accents, Distress Inks.  DP is Basic Grey Jovial, flower and sentiment from Craftwork Cards and leaf punch is Martha Stewart.
My card is for the following challenges:
Sweet Sketch Wednesday - sketch
One Stitch at a Time - use a digi
Crafty Boots - zoo or animal
Papertake - anything goes and Happy Birthday to them!
Crazy Amigos - animals
My Mum's Craft Shop - all creatures great and small
Crafts and Me - use a digi
Paper Crafting Journey - dies and/or punches - leaf punch, scallop die for sentiment
Delightful Challenges - make it dimensional - layered flower
Forever Friends - use a sentiment with your animal

Black and White Bling

 It's ages since I played along at Mojo Monday, but I happened to see this week's sketch and really liked the look of it, so decided to think about combining it with Cupcake Craft's black and white Christmas challenge.  I bought these black, white and silver sheets of paper some years back, very early in my cardmaking and thought they would be great for this.  I just hope all the silver is allowed!  I stamped the Mini Snowy Village from Stamp Addicts and brushed a bit of Black Soot Distress Ink onto the sky.  Then I sprayed iridiscent glitter spray and left it to dry.  Following that I added some Viva white pearl to rooftops and snowdrifts.
It's interesting that the papers, the cardstock, the ribbon, the sentiment and the pearl pen are all slightly different whites though you have to look closely to realise.

I'd like to enter my card for the following challenges:
Mojo Monday - sketch
Cupcake Crafting - black & white Christmas
Kelley Kids - black and white
Simon Says - sparkle and bling
Little Claire - black and white
Sparkles Christmas - Christmas song - In the Bleak Midwinter, my favourite carol fits the stark colouring
The Ribbon Girl - Christmas
Paper Sundaes - lots of layers
Dream Valley - monochrome
Papertake - anything goes and Happy Birthday to them!

Finally please can I ask for your positive thoughts for Red-dog our much loved greyhound who is very ill with what is thought to be a spinal cord infection.  Here he is patiently wearing a paper crown:)

 

This robin is an imposter!

Fred She Said has a lovely image of a pair of robins, sitting on some festive holly, so I'm not quite sure why I felt the need to disguise the chickadee as a robin, with the berries matching the red breast, it must be a contrary streak somewhere in me lol!  Here's a link to the winter bird series, so you can see both the robins and the chickadee, as well as a cardinal, all available as digis or pre-coloured.  I matched my undercover chickadee with Memory Box DP, a MS punch and some traditional red and green ribbons, sentiment is from Craftwork Cards.
Don't forget, you've one more day to do the Fred She Said Fabulous Fall Blog Hop, with great prizes, closes midnight tonight (Thursday).

My card is for the following challenges:
Papertake Weekly - sketch
Raise the Bar - things with wings
Critter Challenge - anything goes
Crafty Boots - things with wings
Paper Makeup Stamps - resize your digi
Simon Says - anything goes

A Touch of Red

I really couldn't resist the new Christmas release at A Day for Daisies and this robin on a fence is gorgeous, isn't it?   I've used Copics, inks and Liquid Pearls to colour it, which sounds like a lot but really I just used a few colours.  The DP was a magazine freebie ages ago, sentiment is from Craftwork Cards and I've used a Cuttlebug folder to emboss the snowflakes on the white card strips. 

The builders are hard at work and there is little space in the house anywhere to craft, but hopefully they are on target and will be through by the weekend, though the floor has to dry out fully before we can carpet, so no sitting room for at least another month:(.

My card is for the following challenges:
A Day for Daisies - a bit of holiday & a bit of red
Stamp Something - digi (sorry to see this challenge closing)
Paper Sundaes - Lisa's sketch
Papertake - anything goes
Shopping our Stash - birds bugs or beasts (no people).  Hmm it's stash but I just got it at the weekend... hope this counts

Snowy Village Mark 3 (or is it four?)

I'm waiting for the builders to arrive, the sitting room is stripped bare and waiting for some floor destruction, time for a quick card to be posted:).  I realised that I hadn't yet played with the snowman stamp in the Snowy Village set, so I thought I'd better make a little scene using him, which grew into a card using the Papertake sketch.  Image is coloured with Copics, white gel pen and Distress Inks.  DP is Memory Box.  I used a marker pen t just ink Merry Christmas from the sentiment stamp included in the set, so that it fitted the space on my card.

My card is for the following challenges:
Papertake - Dawn's sketch
Cute Card Thursday - a pinch and a punch - use at least 1 punch
Crafters Companion - Christmas Wishes
The Paper Shelter - anything goes
Fab Funky Challenges - go mad with embossing

Phindy's Place Challenge #70 - make your own embellishments

Thank goodness it's Friday - and a long weekend too, can't wait!  Fridays are Phindy's Place Challenge days, and this week we are challenging you to make your own embellishments.  I've made my own flowers, using two different methods.  The image I used is called Summer Blossom, isn't she adorable?  Does anyone remember Holly Hobbie?  This little cutie reminds me of her...  The stamped flowers are a Stampin' Up stamp inked with two shades of Distress Ink, with punched suns added for centres and I tried something new and glued some tiny seed beads into the centres as well.  What do you think?  The other flowers use a Little Claire die, then they are rolled up.  I used 2 shades of blue but they look very similar in the photo.  DP is Memory Box Minuet, I paper pieced her little romper suit from one of the papers. 

My card is for the following challenges:
Digistamps4Joy - add a handmade flower
The Papershelter - diecuts and punches
Sisterhood of Crafters - flower power
Creative Card Crew - hand made flowers
Digital Tuesday - cute and girly
Papertake Weekly - dies to die for
Karen's Doodles - punch it out
Paper Creations Ink - show us your flowers
Victorine Originals - summer
Woodware USA - try something new (adding beads)
Corrosive Challenges - girly

A House Mouse ATC

House Mouse and Friends has an ATC Challenge this week -now I've made lots of ATCs in the past but not for years - also quite a few of my HM stamps are rather bigger than ATC size!  I found this image, which a kind friend has sent to me, it's been sitting in a box ever since.  I was very careful colouring it because I think it just may be a pre-Copic image stamped with Versafine.  What an evil mouse he is to wake up his friend like that.  If there was room I'd have put a different sentiment:  "With friends like this, who needs enemies".  My ATC will probably become a card topper in the future, but for now, here's my first ATC for years:).

This is for the following challenges:
House Mouse & Friends - ATC
Stampin' for the Weekend - Paws for thought
Papertake - anything goes (optional metal) brads
Crazy Amigos - free theme

Congratulations to Will (gulp!)

I've been absent from my crafting for a few days, we've had some difficult things to get through.  Today I've done a little bit of crafting and I've taken a photo of this card which was made at a Jenny Mayes workshop.  It had its finishing touch today, when I wrote W1LL on the number plate for older son, who passed his driving test yesterday.  The car is a Butterfly Kisses stamp, it was stamped in the middle of the card with Memento and coloured with Copics.  Another 3 layers were coloured and decoupaged on with Pinflair Glue when the card was completed.  The background stamps were various Hobby Art Scene-It stamps, these were stamped with Versafine and then watercoloured.

Big congratulations to Will, my car insurance has now gone up to over 5 times as much, yikes!

My card is for these challenges:
For Fun Challenges - anything goes
Papertake Weekly - anything goes
Heidi's Hobby - card for a man
Corrosive Challenges - manly

Summer Snooze

I coloured up this little mouse while I was on holiday and I'm really pleased with the way the poppy turned out, I've found this difficult before and I think I've over-complicated it by trying to use too many reds.  This week House Mouse & Friends celebrate their 100th Challenge so I thought I'd make him up into a card to enter - do check it out - they have some amazing prizes and candy!  I've followed Sketch'n'Stash's layout, using Memory Box Brioche DP.  The sentiment is also House Mouse, I've added tiny bits of bling to the dots of the I and the exclamation mark as well as bling in the corners.  The tiny buttons have thread knotted in them and the seam binding bow matches the length of it around the card square.  Didn't add it to the length as I didn't want to obscure his little tail!  Congratulations and best wishes to all those lovely ladies (and gentlemen) at House Mouse & Friends, they are one of the best teams for commenting on entries, thank you!
My card is for the following challenges:

House Mouse & Friends - buttons, bows and bling
Sketch'n'Stash - sketch
Stamptacular Sunday - animal antics
Papertake Weekly - getting cute
Fuzzy Wuzzy - animal + punches
Creative Stamp Friends - summer
Die Cut Dreams -animal antics
I Did it Creations - animals
One Stitch at a Time - flowers
Scrappy Frogs - summer flowers