Phindy's Place Challenge #102 Stitches & Squares

Good Morning and welcome to this week's Phindy's Place Challenge, this week we are challenging you to use some stitching and a square card or image.  I've used the adorable Summer Blossom image for my card, colouring to match the My Minds Eye DP.  I've followed the layout for this week's Sketch Saturday Challenge and added some bold black stitching.
My card is also for:
Sketch Saturday - sketch
Incy Wincy - digis only
Charisma Cardz - shabby chic
Papertake - a stitch in time

Digi Doodle Challenge #104- April Showers

Welcome to this week's Digi Doodle Shop Challenge, which is April Showers.  This means to use water in one form or another on your project and I have been rebellious and frozen my water:).  I loved the Sliding Penguins image the moment I saw it and had so much fun making this card.  The image is coloured with Copics nd some Stickles, I've cut it out and added a background of brayered ink that was sprayed with water and then had some "snow" added.  The DP is glittered, the ribbon has metallic wording and I added some snowflake brads.  Hope you like my winter scene:). 

My card is also for the following challenges:

Cute Card Thursday - metallica

Shopping Our Stash - water related

Oozak - anything goes

ABC Christmas - H is for Hardware

Crafty Sentiments - use a digi

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)

Dancers

 Today's card is pretty and feminine, it uses the ballerina from Stamp Addict's set Ballet Shoes.  I saw a gorgeous card on my friend Viv's blog that uses a button with a shank on and I've pinched her idea here.  The ballerina was masked and stamped in Sepia Versafine onto a textured peach cardstock.  I watercoloured the images with pink and skintone and matted it, adding a MS punch border.

I'm entering my card for:
Paper Sundaes - anything goes
Stamptacular Sundays - freebie week
Stamp, Scrap & Doodle Saturdays - pastels
Little Darlings - pastels
Crazy4Challenges - buttons
Card Makin' Mamas - getting girlie
Prairie Fairy - anything goes
Polka Doodles - pretty in pink

Less is More - one layer doodling

 

The challenge this week at Less is More had me stumped for a while; it is to add doodling to a one-layer card.  I fiddled around with some stamps and didn't like the effect I got, I felt that they looked fine until I doodled on them!

In the end, I used a lovely new background stamp from Stamp Addicts, stamped in Bashful Blue onto a brayered strip of my card.  I dotted either side of the ink with a blue Pigma Pen and decided that was fine.  I then added a dot either side of the sentiment and didn't like it at all, so I added gems over the dots to rescue the card, as well as a few gems on the stamped part of the card too.

Phindy's Place Challenge #101 - what's cooking

Welcome to this week's Phindy's Place Challenge, which is a subject dear to my heart LOL:  food and drink!  I chose to use one of the Two-seven-oh images, Deluxe Cone , colouring it twice and decoupaging it and I just had to add it to the Basic Grey  DP.  I stamped the Dimension Fourth sentiment stamp onto some ribbon and added a couple of Memory Box corner dies to complete my card.

My card is for the following challenges:
Sassy Cheryl's - anything goes
Use it Tuesday - anything goes from stash (I've had the DP for years, also I've never used the image before!)
Anything Goes - anything goes
Pan Pastel UK - sweet treats

Three Shades of Green - plus one!

I don't know if those Lady Limettes will count this card, it has the three shades of green but I've added a sprinkling of flowers in Worn Lipstick, couldn't see anything in the challenges that said it had to be monochromatic!  The stamps are from a Dutch company called Ludiec, the sentiment is Waltzing Mouse again.  The leaves are stamped in SU Pear Pizzaz, the sentiment in Versafine Olympia Green and the dark green cardstock that I used to mat the image is the third green:).

Three Shades of Green

This week's Less is More is a colour challenge:  three shades of green.  This was a perfect challenge to use my reel of shaded ribbon from my stash; I was thinking over how to use it and sadly I need a sympathy card to send.  So I added a Waltzing Mouse sentiment and a Memory Box corner die to my ribbon.

Phindy's Place Challenge #100 - Blog Hop and Anything Phindy Goes!

 

Welcome to our 100th Phindy's Place Challenge, I have been on the DT from the start and I have had so much fun along the way!   I hope you are joining in our Blog Hop, I'm the first stop along the way and the next blog you visit is Cec, be sure to check out her brilliant creation.  We have mega candy up for grabs and the challenge is Anything Goes Using a Phindy image.

I've made my card using Super Sized, isn't this bunny adorable?  Not to mention all that chocolate.... :).   Here's a photo of our mega candy, you may well find some more candy up for offer along the way...

Happy Easter to everyone, here is the Blog Hop order in case you get lost along the way:

Anne Ray (DT Leader) Cec Wintonyk (DT Coordinator) Ann English Catherine Ward Kathy Curry Linda Payne Marlena Peduzzi

I'm also entering my card for the following challenges:

Paper Sundaes - Easter
Forever Friends - embossing and animal
Rainbow Lady - Easter
Sarah Hurley Challenges - Easter
Shelly's Images - check it out (check out the dungarees!)
Fab'n'Funky - embossing
My Mum's Craft Shop - Easter and/or animals
The Paper Shelter - Easter anything goes
Ruby's Rainbow - Easter
Oozak - anything goes

Digi Doodle Challenge #102 - New Stash

Good Morning and welcome to my first posting for the Digi Doodle Shop Challenge.  This week's challenge is to use some new stash.  As I recently visited Hobbycraft this was a very easy challenge for me:).  I used a new sentiment stamp that I bought, as well as the gorgeous digi image Mare & Foal which I used to make this card for my friend.  The DP is My Mind's Eye Stella and I used a MS punch on the mat around the image.  I really loved using this image and I'm looking forward to the future challenges.

Have a blooming wonderful day

This Spring scene is a new stamp from Little Claire, isn't it pretty?  I've coloured it in soft spring colours with my Copics, followed a sketch from Seems a Little Sketchy, adding some garden twine, some seam binding and Basic Grey DPs from Porcelain.  I've matted everything with Kraft card.  The sentiment is Craftwork Cards.
There are lots of Spring challenges around, I'm entering my card for the following:
Seems a Little Sketchy - sketch
Little Claire - Spring/Easter
Paper Pretties - April showers bring forth May flowers

Stamp & Create - Spring
Crazy Challenge - Spring
Stamp with Fun - no Easter card!
Addicted to Stamps - Easter/Spring
Come & Get It - bring it on - Spring
That Craft Place - all about Spring
Copic Challenge Group - Spring
Mark's Finest Papers - square card
Stamp, Scrap & Doodle - Spring
Sweet Stampin' - Spring or Easter
Prairie Fairy - Spring Fling
Incy Wincy - Spring and/or pastel colours
The Kraft Journal - celebrate Spring or Easter

Land of Hope & Glory?

I got these fun Inkylicious stamps at the NEC on my recent trip and have been looking forward to using them.  CASual Friday Challenge is to make a clean & simple project based on a song.  I thought this card was perfect to match with a patriotic song so here's my Land of Hope & Glory card:).

I inked up with Barn Door & Sapphire Distress Inks, adding a tiny bit of bling to the crown and some baker's twine.  Hope you like my Jubilee card:).

Waltzing Mouse meets Less is More

I'm not altogether happy about this card, it's a bit too subtle I think!  I made a one layer card using the doily set from Waltzing Mouse and followed the colourscheme at Less is More.  I tried a new embossing tip that I learned at the NEC on the WOW stand:  I put tiny pinches of spring green over the embossed images, then finished off with white powder.  The background is inked with Sage Green & Spun Sugar; I've added some bling to the doilies and embossed the WM sentiment.  What do you think?

Easter Blooms

I have two cards to show you today, this is made using an Imagination collage stamp that I got at the NEC, I've coloured it with watercolours and decoupaged the crocus so that they stand out.  There's a swirly dry embossed background and the label came from a Nestie set.
My card is for:
Catch the Bug - Easter/Spring
Craft your Days Away - Easter
Di's Digi Designs - embossing
Sweet Stampin' - Spring/Easter
Stamp, Scrap & Doodle - spring
Alphabet Challenge - D is for dry embossing
Just Add Ink - Easter
4 Crafty Chicks - Easter
Aud Sentiments - Happy Easter
Totally Papercrafts - Easter
One Stop Craft Challenge - Easter

Less is More Lucky Dip

Today's Less is More Challenge has a lovely spring photo for inspiration.  I've coloured in an image that was sitting on my workdesk, a Vase from Phindy's Place.   I inked through the Nestie before I cut it, with Spun Sugar and then Pumice Stone, but I think my brushes should have had a rinse through, I'm not very happy with the background colour...

The corner diecuts are Memory Box dies, I quite liked the look if I used 4 corners, but in the interests of LIM I've confined myself to two:)

Phindy's Place Challenge #99- ribbon

Good morning and welcome to this week's Phindy's Place Challenge.  This week we have the very easy challenge of using ribbon in your creation. My ribbon is in three strips across the card, I've added a punched border, gems and a Lili of the Valley sentiment to my Sweet Dreams image.  I've paper pieced the moon from inked paper and added the baby boy after giving the background and moon a good spray of iridiscent spray, it's lovely and glossy in real life.  I've followed the layout for this week's Sketch Saturday, though the sentiment has moved - I love the circles and it worked better for my card...

Easter Chicks

 

I've been lucky enough to be picked for the Design Team at Digi Doodle Shop and will be showing off my first DT posting next week.   In the meantime I have made a paper pieced card using their adorable Hen & Chicks image.  The chicks are paper pieced from Basic Grey Out of Print DP and all are on a Basic Grey chicken wire DP.  I used the same DP for a punched border and added a Happy Easter sentiment.

My card is for the following challenges:

Just Add Ink - just add Easter

Cute Card Thursday - Happy Easter

Charisma Cardz - Easter

Paper Play - Easter

Sisterhood of Crafters - celebrating Easter

Fab'n'Funky - Easter

Paper Shelter Challenge - Easter

Penny's Paper Crafty - Easter

Crafty Sentiments - Easter

Sweet Dreams

Today's card is for a new baby girl, it uses the very cute image Sweet Dreams from Phindy's Place.  I've paper pieced the moon from inked paper and also the little baby,  The inked background has a lovely sparkle to it from iridiscent spray.  The sentiment is Lili of the Valley, I've inked a starry embossing folder and added a big pink bow.
My card is for:
Simon Says - anything goes
Stamp'n'Doodle - embossing

A bit of Less is More

Edited:  better photo added Sun am :)
First of all:  apologies for such a poor photo, the card is bright white in real life!  I'm just home from a fab day at the NEC with the Lady Limette Chrissie herself.  We've had a great time and I wanted to blog my Less Is More card before she arrived home :).  This week we are challenged to combine at least 3 of the earlier challenges.  I missed the Aqua Challenge (53), so I bought some lovely aqua embossing powder from the WOW stand today, which of course added in Embossing (15).  The leaf and the sentiment stamps also came from the WOW stand, which added in (41) leaves and (58) script.  Finally I added a bit of bling (43) either side of the sentiment and I began by inking in a square (28).  I see that most of my challenges were one layers and I've chosen to stick to a one layer card.  I'll hop around and admire everyone elses Recipe entries tomorrow, tonight calls for a bit of vegetating by the telly with Mum:).
I'm also entering my card for One Stop Craft's Clean & Simple Challenge.

Phindy's Place Challenge #98 - animal planet

Good morning and welcome to Phindy's Place Challenge, this week we have the brilliant theme of Animal Planet.  Phnidy has so many gorgeous animal images that it was tricky to choose which one to use, but in the end I settled for Puppy Pile, which I've used before for a Christmas card, but is making a lovely birthday card here.  I've followed the layout from Sketch Saturday, added some stitching as it looks a bit like patchwork, and used Basic Grey Marjolaine DP.
My card is for:
Sketch Saturday - sketch
Dutch Dare - cute & cuddly
Freshly Brewed Challenges - lots of dots (on my DP)
Sisterhood of Crafters - birthday cards
Bearly Mine - dots
Use it Tuesday - green and hoarded supplies (Marjolaine has been "maturing" in my stash lol, also the card blank is almost vintage I've had it so long!)

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 Anniversary

 

This card was made for a friend to give to her son and daughter-in-law, she wasn't able to find a commercial card with the right wording.  I computer generated the sentiment, added a couple of hearts cut with my friend Vals' Memory Box dies and added a couple of layers.  The colourscheme is based on the one used at the wedding.

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

More masking

I've a different method of masking for a second Less is More card:   This has masking fluid flicked across an area of the card to give the impression of snow falling, then Bashful Blue was brayerd across the sky, with the snow masked off with a Post-It.  Then I added Stampin' Up Lovely as a Tree stamps, a clear sentiment from Kaiser (in real life this is straight, not curvy) and a few gems on top of my trees.

Less is More Masking

 

This week at Less is More the challenge is Masking.  This is my third attempt: I wanted to use my Lavinia Stamps and practice my brayering.  I started with a mare and foal, masked in front of the tall trees, but the scale wasn't right and I wasn't happy with it.  A second attempt ended up very smudged and messy so here is the third time lucky attempt.  At least this wasn't a one layer card :).  Background is brayered over a mask, sun used brushes over a circle in the masking paper.  I've Stickled the fairy's wings and added some sparkly bits around her.  The sentiment came free with a magazine.

 

Phindy's Place Challenge #97 - Spring has Sprung

Welcome to Friday, today I'll be taking part in the ritual for spring that is the Cheltenham Racing Festival; I've been racing 3 days on a row and today is the final day and Gold Cup Day.  However my card for this week's Phindy's Place Challenge celebrates another Spring date:  Easter.  The adorable image is called Odd Bod Bunny, how cute is this!  The eggshells all have a glaze of Glossy Accents, I added some card candy and a Waltzing Mouse sentiment.
My card is also for:
Little Darlings - spring is in the air
Paper Make Up Stamps - critters
Digital Tuesday - think spring
Sweet Stamps - think spring

Blue Buddleia Bear

 

I made this card using a Gruffy Bear from a Joanna Sheen set, using lots of blues.  I'm not convinced that the colours quite work...  to many shades of different values.  The colour inspiration came from House Mouse & Friends Monday and I based the layout on Sketch Saturday, with extra flowers and butterflies spilling out.  The lace came from my stash, sentiment is from the same stamp set.

My card is for:

House Mouse & Friends Monday - photo inspiration

Sketch Saturday - sketch

Paper Pretties - thank you card

Sweet Stamps - think spring

Candy Christmas

 

I like this week's sketch at Waltzing Mouse so much that I used it for a second card, I think it's using three elements that appeals to me, it's like planting flowers in threes.  This one uses the Christmas Candy set that I was lucky enough to win from Waltzing Mouse a couple of weeks back.  Both the candy jar and the piles of sweeties are popped up with Pinflair glue gel in front of the rectangular frame and the jar has a thick coating of Glossy Accents.  The sentiment is also from the candy Christmas set.  My colourscheme of red is taken from the photo at Christmas Card Challenges. This week's Shopping our Stash Challenge is food/beverage and is another challenge for this card.

Spring Hyacinths

This card is very simple; I stamped the houndstooth from Waltzing Mouse onto textured cardstock and added a few ribbons where I'd left a gap in the repeat.  The image is Hyacinth & Ivy, a lovely serene Phindy's Place image.    

My card is for:

2 Sisters - spring colours

Crazy4Challenges - spring is in the air

Simon Says - mother's day

Waltzing Mouse Sketch Challenge

It's a beautiful day here, after a long walk and some gardening I'm back with another clean & simple card, this time for the Waltzing Mouse Sketch Challenge.  I've used the chrysanthemum stamps, inked up with an array of small ink pads, adding a tiny bit of clear Stickles here and there.  The squares were cut out with Nesties and popped up on Pinflair glue.  The card is textured linen, I've added one of the new sentiments from WM as well as the Frame-It stamp.  I really like the look of this, hope you do too!
My card is also for:
Allsorts - say it with flowers
Totally Papercrafts - my favourite things (I love purple and I'm also loving my WM stamps at present)
Charisma Cardz - ribbon, ribbon, ribbon

Two cards for two clean & simple challenges

I'm very into my C&S cards just now and here I have two to show off.  The first one is for CAS-ual Friday which wants the sentiment to be the focal point.  Their challenges are shown with an old fashioned typewriter as their logo and this inspired me to ink up a Stampin' Bella stamp that I've had for ages and not used much.  I've added several layers of mat and frame but still left plenty of white space.

Card two is for Less is More, where the challenge is a one-layer card including script.  Similar theme but different card:  I masked off and brushed a background of Versafine Sepia, then inked an Impression Obsession newspaper script and stamped in on top.  The two sentiments I added are both Waltzing Mouse and I scored a line either side of the newsprint.  My stamp does not quite cover the whole of the card, I may trim it down to not-quite-a-square, but I wasn't sure so I have left it for now...

Phindy's Place Challenge #96 - Monochromatic Green

Good morning and welcome to this week's Phindy's Place Challenge.  This week we are celebrating St Patrick's Day with a monochromatic green challenge.  You don't have to make a St Patrick's Day card, though Phindy has some lovely images for this.  I have used Spring Shower, an adorable new image, for a Get Well card. The DP is Stampin' Up and I've followed the layout at Sketch'n'Stash.  Sentiment is Stampin' Bella, image has paper pieced umbrella and is coloured with Copics and Distress Inks.
My card is for:
Sketch'n'Stash - sketch
Crafty Creations - stripes
DigiStamps4Joy - green
Whimsical Designs - going green
My Mum's Craft Shop - spring colours
House of Gilli - green
Stamp & Create - paper piecing
Secret Crafter - green for go

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!)

What happened to Spring?

Last week we had warm, sunshiny weather that was like a summer's day.  Sunday it snowed and today there is a harsh frost and ice everywhere!   My card today is very spring-like, perhaps the weather will follow suit.

I used a lovely parrot tulip digi from Fred, She Said and coloured it with Copics, distress inking the background.  The DP is Basic Grey, I cut a chevron from the DP for a border.  The sentiment is from Craftwork Cads and I added lots of stitching for interest.
My card is for:
Sketch'n'Stash - sketch
Kaboodledoodle - spring flowers
Make my Monday - spring flowers
Stamp with Fun - pink & green
Totally Stampalicious - spring is in the air
Kenny K - bloom and grow

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge #63 - Susie's Sketch

 
Here's my Design Team card for this week's Crafty Cardmaker's Challenge.  This week Susie has set a lovely sketch to follow.  We have two generous sponsors for prizes this week:  One Stop Card Craft offers a £10 gift voucher and Digi Doodle Shop a $10 gift voucher. 

My card uses an adorable  Digi Doodle Shop image called The Horse Kiss.  I coloured with Copics, inking the background with SU Bashful Blue.  The DP is Basic Grey Out of Print, some raffia, tiny buttons and a sentiment from Craftwork Cards complete the card.
I'm also entering my card for:
Crafting When We Can - animals
Sketchy Colours - pink, blue beige
The Crafty Pad - share the good news (newsprint on my DP)
One Stop Craft Challenge - button it
Catch the Bug - March anything goes

Little Love Bugs

I've a couple of fun cards to show off this morning from a new Stamp Addicts set called Love Bugs.  First card has the heart from the set red embossed onto the DP, I've added Glossy Accents to the flower the bug is carrying.  The second card uses that very useful heart stamp again, on red card this time, again I added Glossy Accents.  Hope you like my little bugs :)

Less is More - neutrals and a new arrival

This week's Less is More Colour Challenge is Neutrals, one of my favourites for LIM.  The first card was nearly ready to blog around 9am, when the dishwasher decided to throw a wobbly and flood the kitchen, giving out an error message!  After mopping up the card took a back seat as I have friends visiting and we went to collect a new addition to the family.  Our beloved greyhound died in October and our elderly terrier has been an only dog since then.  My Mum gave me a rescue dog from the local Dogs Trust as a belated birthday present so here is Stella:

Doesn't she have the sweetest face?  I think she is mostly greyhound and staffordshire, what do you think?  OK back to the cards, I saw a stunning white on white card at Susan Raihala's blog which inspired me.  The sentiment is from Waltzing Mouse and I added card candy stamped with a mini alphabet stamp first. 

 The second card uses jewellery tags and a bit of twine, I think this is my favourite.

I'm also entering Aud Sentiment's "use the sentiment Happy Birthday" challenge  and Everybody Art's Monochrome challenge.

Phindy's Place Challenge #95 - Distressing

This week's Phindy's Place Challenge is to use distressing techniques on your project.  I've used Distress Inks, tearing, stitching and distressing of paper edges but I'm sure there are more techniques to try!  I used the adorable Easter Bonnet image for my card and added some lacy ribbon, a lacy border punch and some flowers to the layout, which is this week's sketch from  Mojo Monday, though I changed it slightly by putting the sentiment where the flowers were shown and moving the flowers to bottom right.
My card is for the following challenges:
Mojo Monday - sketch
Tuesday Throwdown - paper tearing
Sew Many Cards - punch it
Hiding in my Craftroom - bring on some spring
Do you Stack Up - things with wings
little Miss Muffet - fancy or lacy
Shelly's Images - seeing spots (DP)

Canine Cuddles

This is a new Lili of the Valley stamp that I bought at MakeIt last week, isn't it adorable?  I saw a card made using this Go-Kreate die on Bev Rochester's blog and thought what a good idea it is.  The DP is My Mind's Eye and I added tiny punched out flowers and leaves.
My card is for:
Crafting for all Seasons - shaped card
Crafty Sentiments - shaped but not square
Paper Sundaes - circles
Simon Says - anything goes