Oh deer I'm falling! Phindy's Place Challenge #75 - Autumn

 It's Friday and time for a new Phindy's Place Challenge, this week along with many other blogs our challenge is Autumn/Fall.  In the Field is an image I've not used before, I really like it now I've coloured it up and I can see some snowy, Christmas deer coming up too:).  I printed the image twice, colouring with Copics and lots of Distress Inks, then decoupaging my deer so they stand proud of the image.  If you're wondering about the very dramatic dark sky, it was first coloured with blue DI and then I saw it didn't work with any of the autumn colours I wanted to use for DP:).  I used my blender pen to get the dappling on the deer's backs, really like the effect.  The card is based on this week's Sketch & Stash, though I have left off the sentiment for now and in fact have no room for it in the right place as I added a load of punched leaves across the bottom:).
My card is for the following challenges:
Sketch'n'Stash - sketch
Woodware USA - happy Fall
Hobbystuggu - autumn
Stempelsonne - autumn is here
Stamping with the Dragon - autumn is here
Crafts 4 Eternity - autumn days
Just Some Lines - fall colours
Corrosive Challenges - punches or dies
CR84FN - fall colour challenge photo
Scrapbook Sisters - leaves
Little Darlings - fall or autumn
Inky Impressions - punches or dies
The House that Stamps Built - animals
Fresh Brewed Challenges -autumn/fall
Crafting for all Seasons - fall colours
 Simon Says - anything goes
Totally Papercrafts - autumn

 

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

Ten minute make

 

This card was so easy it feels like I cheated, it came together in moments:).  I'm really getting into my clean & simple cards, but for me they involve lots of agonising, and usually several rejects before I am happy.  Today, I saw that Shopping Our Stash have a black white and one other colour challenge and remembered some stash that has been sitting unloved for ages and put it to use with Less is More's sketch...

Craftwork Cards had a sale earlier this year which included mystery boxes or goody bags, whichever it was I am a sucker for it lol!  But have I used my stash?  Have I heck, it's still sitting on the desk where it landed.  Included was a set of flowers printed on to pearlised white card, saying that they just needed colouring.  Well if you look there's not a lot needs colouring either!  I love black, white and red so I coloured the flower with my Copics, matted it twice and added some ribbon and a gem.  The sentiment is from Pink Petticoat, love the font.  Ten minutes, card finished!

My card is for the following challenges:
Less is More - sketch
Shopping Our Stash - black, white and one other colour
Allsorts Challenge - clean & simple
Simon Says - anything goes
Celebrate the Occasion - must use ribbon

Tangled up mice

This week's challenge and House Mouse & Friends is Christmas Sparkle and I found this image stamped for me by a friend ages ago to use, as I don't have that many Christmas mice.  As I wasn't sure what it was stamped with I opted for watercolour pencils to colour but disaster struck when I added Stickles to the lights, which somehow bled around the lights.  I added lots of Distress Inks and some Copic dots to try to disguise it, hopefully the background doesn't look too much of a mess:).  I followed the layout from Sketch Saturday, adding some twine and some tiny punched stars that I also glittered with Stickles, though now I wish I'd kept them red not used clear...  DP is Cosmo Cricket and Memory Box, used a MS punch on the centre strip.

My card is for the following challenges:

House Mouse & Friends Monday - Christmas Sparkle

Sketch Saturday - sketch

Simon Says - anything goes

Paper Sundaes - anything goes

Stampin' for the Weekend - what a cutie

Kenny K  - Christmas

Sparkles Forum -something that sparkles

Clearly Inspired - glitter

Card Making Mamas - punches

Bows 'n' Berries - glitter

Netty G - anything goes

Birthday bike

Yesterday was DH's birthday, we had a quiet supper at home as we went out to celebrate last week while older son was still here.  He loves his old motorbikes, not sure how many we have in the garage (I don't want to know!) so this image of a Norton looked like a good choice for him, it came from Stitchybear.  It's a detailed image and I gave it minimal colouring, mostly greys. The sentiments are Joanna Sheen and the clock cogs around the base of the easel are from Stampin' Up.  MS bubble punch got an airing as it's not too feminine, DP is Basic Grey.

My card is for the following challenges:

One Stop Craft - easels

Cards for Men - sports

Incy Wincy - fancy folds

Pile it On - fancy folds

Ooh la la - punches or dies

Victorine Originals - easel cards

Come and Get It - easels

One Stitch at a Time - favourites (Copics, Distress Inks, punches, Basic Grey DP)

Less Is More sketch

We're home from delivering older son to University and, of course, I had to check out LIM and the 1,000 card challenge.  Well we didn't quite get there for the 1,00 entries on Less is More but it wasn't far off:).  This week there is a sketch to follow and my card is almost a CASE of Mandi's inked square.  I used an Inkylicious tree stamp and sentiment, with a Clarity maple leaf.  The backgrounds are Distress Inked (spiced marmalade, mustard seed, barn door) and I used Sepia Versafine for the stamping.  After several goes at stamping the sentiment perfectly level and not stamping it too hard (it's a clear stamp) I can only refer to the wording on it lol!  Incidentally the square is flat on the card, the shadow in the picture taken after dark makes it look like it stands out proud of the surface...

My card is for the following challenges:

Less is More - sketch

Stamptacular Sunday - just sayin'

Allsorts Challenge - keep it simple

CAS-ual Fridays - mostly monochromatic plus brown

Crafty Catz - autumn

Phindy's Place Challenge #73 - Opposites on the colour wheel

Good Morning, it's Friday and it's time for another Phindy's Place Challenge.  This week we have a colour challenge, we'd like you to use opposites on the colour wheel, here's a colour wheel to refresh your memory:).

I've chosen to use blue and orangey-yellow for my card, which uses the adorable flower frock image.   She's coloured with Copics and I used Distress Ink on the background, image is cut out with a Nestie Labels die.  The DP is Memory Box, sentiment from Craftwork Cards, as is the card candy.  I've stitched round the squares of DP and stitched around the image, with no thread, to give an easy paper pierced look

My card is for the following challenges:
Sketch'n'Stash - sketch #7
Digital Tuesday - people images
Simon Says - dies to die for
Crafty Sentiments - happy birthday
Crafts & Me - stripes
My Sheri Crafts - sew simple
Stamp, Scrap and Doodle - birthday

Fred She Said Fabulous Fall Blog Hop!

 

Welcome to the Fabulous Fall Fred She Said Blog Hop!  You should have arrived at my blog from Darsie's fabulous blog, if not you might want to go back to the Fred She Said Blog  at the start, we have some fabulous projects to show you and one great prize of : 

£15 Gift Voucher to Bearly Mine Designs

 $10 Prize Package of yummy goodies chosen by Judy from Pizzazz APlenty

 $30 Gift Certificate to the Fred She Said Store

Instructions on how to enter are on the FSS Challenge Blog.
Entries close on Friday September 30th at midnight EDT and winners will be announced Saturday October 1st.                                  .

Now, on to my card...  My card is very clean and simple, I love the hollyhocks design that Fred brought out recently.  You may wonder about my sentiment, but my garden has been full of hollyhocks for several years now and I have never planted them:).  They obviously love the soil and thrive in it, so they are welcome to stay!   I have simply added two precoloured image, given dimension with Pinflair Glue, in front of some punched trellis which in turn sits on top of Coredinations card, distressed and inked.  There are some yellow Stickles in the centres of the flowers and that is it, one very effective card, thanks to the images. Thanks for looking at my card and now I'm sure you want to know the secret words, which are "Eyes And", before you leave me and visit the uber-talented  Michelle who is your next stop on the hop.

I'm also entering my card for a few challenges:
Shopping our Stash - no colouring allowed
Less is More - anything clean and simple
Wee Memories - no patterned paper

Blue Birdie

Here's a 4th card for Less is More - we need lots more people to join the Anything c&s goes challenge if we are to get to 1,000 entries - come on we can do it!  This is Birdie, a Phindy's Place image that I printed in blue onto watercolour paper.  She is coloured with Weathered Wood Distress Ink which I also used to stamp the Stampin' Up sentiment.  She's been languishing on my desk for a while, I find c&s hard to do for DT stuff, it seems wrong somehow:).  Anyhow I'm pleased with the way she looks, cut out with a Nestie label and added to a Nestie circle, a bit of grosgrain ribbon and some gems.
Birdie is for the following challenges:
Less is More - anything c&s goes
Truly Scrumptious - clean & simple
Simon Says - dies to die for
Digital Tuesday - people images
Anything Goes Challenge - anything goes

Less is More - anything goes - take three

Good morning and on with the quest for 1,000 entries at Less is More!  This is nearly a one layer card:).  I wasn't happy with the colour of my moon so I stamped it again onto a scrap of glossy card had been brayered for another card.   Memory Box stamp is called Autumn Tree Landscape but here I've used pale bluey-green watercolour marker and some Prisma Glitter to make a Christmas card, the sentiment is a magazine freebie and I also glittered the S and G of it.
My card is for the following challenges:
Less is More - anything c&s goes
Totally Papercrafts - clean & simple
Wee Memories - no patterned paper
The Squirrel and the Fox - anything goes
Bows & Berries - glitter

Less is More - anything goes - on the way to 1,000?

This week the Limettes are trying for 1,000 entries to Less Is More and they have helped us by making it an Anything Goes (clean & simple) week.  Here's a second card from me to add to the total.  It's a masculine card using a Stampin' Up set that has just been discontinued and I think it's fab for masculine cards. Mandi, Lady Limette herself, runs a Stampers 6 Club and my Stampin' Up fix arrives really quickly each month, great fun, if you're thinking of joining don't hesitate:).  Both images are stamped off the page, I stamped the inner dial a second time (well ok it came off a reject lol!) and gave it a brad and then some silicon glue to raise it up. I wasted some time trying to add wide stripy grosgrain ribbon which just didn't work, so I abandoned that and used a punch instead, also SU and to be discontinued. Matted onto dark brown to show the punch then on to a Kraft card.
My card is for:
Less is More - anything c&s
Wee Memories - no patterned paper
Prairie Fairies - masculine
Totally Papercrafts - clean & simple
Cards for Men - anything but square

Best Friends

Well that weekend did not go to plan!  I had a fun day at the Berkshire Show on Saturday, though I thought it wasn't as good as it has been in previous years.  Sunday was scheduled for garden tidy up, watching Stamp Addicts on TV and lots of crafting to get ahead.  So it was not helpful to trip over a low piece of trellis and fall - hard- onto the stone patio around the pebble fountain.  In the end, all I get done was the TV watching and some pruning before I fell :(.  Nothing is broken but I am bruised and very sore...

Anyhow back to cards and I made this for my Mum, Friday was the first anniversary of Dad's death.  The ribbon is navy and the DP pale blue, can't seem to get the colours quite right on this one.  The boy and his dog are an image from A Day for Daisies, DP is Memory Box.
I'm entering my card for;
Sweet Sketch Wednesday - sketch
Cute Card Thursday - anything goes

Aly's Sunday - add a bow
Card Cupids - anything goes
Crafty Emma's - embellish me more (ribbon & bow, button, twine, brads)
Papercraft Stars - anything goes
Bearly Mine - button it up

Less is More - anything goes

 

This week Less Is More is trying for a thousand entries now it has a thousand followers and with this in mind the theme was announced early - it's anything c&s goes.  I'm up for the challenge and here's my first card, which is a Christmas card.  I'm making a real effort to make clean & simple Christmas cards, preferably one layer, as adding all the embellies really puts the postage up.

So this is a one layer card, I've embossed an oval and brushed inks into it to make a desert style background for my three wise men, a Stamp Addicts silhouette stamp.  The sentiment is from an Impression obsession clear set and shock, horror, I've used a peel-off to add the star, first time in years.  I didn't want to risk my OL card warping if I embossed a star:).

My card is for the following challenges:

Less is More - anything goes

Simon Says - Sing it (We Three Kings)

Samuel Taylor - Christmas using a rubber stamp - FOUR Prima pads for this challenge!

I'm sure I'll have more entries for LIM later this week... back later to comment, we're off out to the County Show for the day:)

Phindy's Place Challenge #72 - Christmas is creeping up on us...

It's feeling very Autumnal right now and I have realised that I need to get cracking on the Christmas cards, you may have noticed a few being made over the last week or two:).  This week's challenge at Phindy's Place should help you out, we want everyone to make a Christmas card or creation and share it with us.  You don't have to use one of Phindy's images but if you do you get two chances to win the random prize of $5 to spend in store.  
I've chosen Sleigh Ride, which is my all-time favourite image and those of you who follow my blog are probably bored of seeing this one lol!  Before I became a member of Phindy's DT she drew a gorgeous Christmas Colt and I begged her to draw a horse and sleigh, preferably pulled by a Fjord horse as I own one of these beautiful animals.  Phindy came up with this amazing image and I have been her biggest fan ever since:).  It is simply coloured with Copics here, the DP is by Memory Box as is the die that cut the snowflake border.
My card is for the following challenges:
Simon Says - Sing It - Jingle Bells with a bit of poetic licence, this is a two horse sleigh but close enough lol!
Cute Card Thursday - anything goes
Digital Tuesday - celebrate the season (winter)
Woodware USA - happy holidays
Paperplay Challenges - punches & dies
Creatalicious - anything goes
Crafters Companion - Christmas wishes
Christmas Cards all year round - something at least a year old (3rd year I've used this image!)

Hydrangea Bouquet

Our neighbours are getting married soon and I needed a card to say that we will be coming to the evening reception, I don't have a sentiment for this and I decided that "Thanks" would do fine and I can write on it that it's an acceptance Thank You:).  I made a step card that is something a little different for Tracey and Nev to keep, I embossed and Distress Inked cardstock, adding pearls and a bow (the bow is on the back section, doesn't show too well in the photo) and a beautiful Hydrangea image from Fred She Said which is popped up on Pinflair glue to give it dimension.  I found the blooms not as bad to colour as I thought, might really challenge myself with white ones another time:).

My card is for the following challenges:

Simon Says - make a multi fold

Stampin' for the Weekend - tickled pink

Shopping our Stash - vintage, distress, shabby chic

Magical Monday - shaped card

House of Gilli - embossing

Tuesday Throwdown - pearls

Everybody Art Challenge - flowers

Copic Creations - pretty in pink

Stamp Something - anything goes final challenge

Double Trouble!

 I just had to get a second entry made for Less is More this week, I love my House Mouse stamps and love making cards with them.  But... I do tend to throw the kitchen sink at them:  lace, Nesties, brads, pearls, the works.  So could I do clean and simple?  One layer too?  Now Joanna Sheen does unmounted rubber sheets of House Mouse (or do I mean mice?) there are some fab smaller images to play with, so I came up with this duo, complete with purple asters for my friend Morag's birthday this week (she loves purple).  I like it as a change to the other HM cards I make, what do you think?
The card is from Craftwork Cards, it was originally square but somehow didn't look right, so it had one arch lopped off:).  To show off the border I added a strip of Artylicious cardstock inside the card (oops hope this still make it one layer!) and then proceeded to finish off the inside as well, something I'm usually very bad at.  Coloured with watercolour pencils on the outside, Distress Ink inside.  The inside sentiments are both Joanna Sheen from a different set.
My card is for:
Less is More - seeing double
House Mouse & Friends Monday - Happy Birthday with flowers - and Happy 3rd birthday to them!
Paper Sundaes - finishing touches
Stamp Something - stamp anything - last challenge :(
Truly Scrumptious - decorate inside your card

I am here to live out loud!

 

Meet Nolan with Bullfrog, a new image from Fred She Said, you can buy him here , Tracey has included a coloured version too for those cards when you're in a hurry:).  I coloured him with Copics and added him to DP, stitching a border around it.  The sentiment is from Create with TLC, DP is Basic Grey Marjolaine.  I added some twine and some card candy, not too many embellies for a boy card:).

My card is for the following challenges:

Sketch Saturday -sketch

Totally Gorjuss - it's a man thing

Some Odd Girl - stitching

Prairie Fairy - snips and snails and puppy dog tails

Poodle Parlour - animal antics

For Fun - children at play

Crazy Amigos - sewing

Crafting when you can - anything goes

One Stitch at a Time - anything goes

Pile it On - layers

Di's digi delights - anything goes

Less Is More - seeing double

 

This week's Less Is More Challenge is "Seeing Double" which is a great theme and I have lots of ideas for this one.  I wanted to have a go at a reflection card however and this is what I came up with.  The stamp is from Stamp Addicts' Rural Scenery Set and I inked it randomly with watercolour markers, stamping it out a second time below.  I used brushes for the background and just hope I've left enough white space for the Lady Limettes!  The sentiment is a Stampin' Up one from a gorgeous set that came yesterday via Mandi, I have some Seeing Double ideas for this set too:)

I'm also entering my card for:

Polkadoodles - setting the scene

Craft Us Crazy - Autumn Colours

Paper Play - 2 or more stamped images

Fresh Brewed Challenges - something new (ahem, both my stamps are new, don't tell DH!)

Tiffany Doodles 3 Day Blog Hop!

Before my card, here's some update from Tiff:
Greetings to all of my wonderful and loyal Tiffany Doodles fans out there! I can't believe the summer is just about over, seems like it only just started!  I for one am really looking forward to some falling leaves and cooler temperatures. Today we are kicking off a 3 day Blog Hop!  You will find inspiration along every stop!  And of course, I have tons of prizes in store for you!  Be sure to participate everyday by commenting on each post & following every blog to be eligible for all prizes.

The hop continues tomorrow starting at Tiffany Doodles!  In order to qualify for all prizes you must:

1. participate everyday
2. comment on every participants post
3. follow every participants blog
4. Special Note: Make sure that your Blog and Email are listed in your Blogger profile for notification purposes.  If your email is not visible on your profile make sure it is easy to find on your blog.  Thanks! 

While you're hopping keep in mind the SALE we are having this weekend at the store!! All Bird and Flower Digital stamps are on sale for 25% off!  No coupon necessary, discount will be taken at the register.  Your welcome!  =)  PS. Even more sales listed below!

By participating daily in our Blog Hop you will be eligible for prizes!  Lots of prizes! Total Prizes valued at OVER $220!!  All winners will be chosen randomly.  Everyday we will chose 3 winners.  Chosen from the main TD blog.  Your participation on the other blogs will be verified prior to announcement.  If you have won you will be notified by email, so make sure you email is easy to find either in your comment, your blogger profile, or on your blog.  All winners will be announced on the blog after the hop is over.  Prizes will be awarded as follows:

Day 1	Day 2	Day 3
3 winners *	3 winners *	3 winners *
* $10 Shopping Spree * 50 Doodle Soup Reward Points * Fall Leaves (png) Elements Pack for each winner

Even if you don't win on 1 of the 3 days - you still have a chance to win the Grand Prize!!  The Grand Prize will be chosen randomly from the main TD blog from all participants from everyday.

	Grand Prize
	1 winner *
* Level 5 Membership * $25 Shopping Spree * Fall Leaves (png) Elements Pack

On today's Hop we are featuring cards made with a lovely sketch made by Jenyfur at Torn Paper!   And of course, all stamps throughout the blog hop are featured by Tiffany Doodles!

 

There are 2 ways to earn extra entries!!

1) You can earn extra entries for today's prize if you make a card with this sketch!

If you would like too, link your card through inlinkz on the main blog post.

Enter as many times as you wish! One entry per card submitted.

2) If your not up for making a card, you can write your own post

about our Blog Hop & Tiffany Doodles Digi stamps!

If you post about us you can earn 5 extra entries!!

Also submit your post to the inlinkz on Tiff's Blog

 

I made a Christmas card using one of the ornaments from the set available at Tiffany Doodles, you can buy them here.   It's a very simple card following the sketch, with the ornament coloured, cut out and mounted onto the card with Pinflair Glue to give it lots of dimension.  The DP is Memory Box.

 

September Sales

Besides the Blog Hop sale we have going on, we are also having 2 other sales in the store!

 Design Team Member Call

We currently need someone who can make TD digis into Cut files! Video Tutor Details Here.    Position has been filled. Thanks. Cut File Maker Details Here.

Banner Spots Available

Tiffany Doodles blog gets an average of 5,000 to 7,000 visitors per month!

Would you like to get in on that action?  Now accepting banner spots for the blog!

Click here for pricing info!

Here are your blog hop links for today, Day 1....

1. Tiffany Doodles (start)
2. Kim Schofield
3. Vanessa Menhorn
4. Anne Ray
5. Dani Beckman
6. Judy Jung
7. Jessica Griffin

We will see you again tomorrow starting at Tiffany Doodles!  I can't wait to show you the beautiful cards we have in store for you!

Phindy's Place Challenge #72 - stripes somewhere!

 

Good Morning, it's Friday so it's time for another Phindy's Place Challenge.  This week, amidst the chaos of builders digging up the foundations and the floor and an 18th birthday for my younger son yesterday, I realised that it is time I got on with some Christmas cards, otherwise it will have crept up and there will be no cards ready to send!  The challenge this week is to use stripes somewhere on your creation, so I found a traditional stripe which I think is a Stampin' Up paper that I won in blog candy years ago, and used that as the colourscheme for my image, Ho Ho Ho from Phindy's Place.

It's topped by a Christmas light stamp that was a freebie with a new magazine that I stamped onto the completed card and then onto red card.  The lights spell out "Merry Christmas" but I think they are very small so I added a sentiment lower down the card too.

My card is for the following challenges:

Sketch Saturday - sketch

Crafty Ribbons - Festive cheer in September

Charisma Cardz - inspired by a song - not very inventive but this is We Wish You a Merry Christmas:)

Scrapbook Sisters - Ho ho ho

Here's progress to date in the sitting room...

 And the birthday boy at the champagne & oysters bar in Selfridges, looking a little underwhelmed!

Tiffany Doodles Stitching Challenge

It's the 7th of the month and that means a new challenge at Tiffany Doodles.  This month the challenge is one of my favourite techniques:  it is stitching, real, faux, hand or machine.  There's a $10 voucher to Tiffany Doodles Store for the winner, so make sure you get an entry in!

I used the gorgeously opulent Succulent Flower for my card, printing it out 4 times (some of the prints were cropped so as not to waste ink and card), colouring with Copics, cutting and decoupaging.  The colouring could not be simpler, I used 3 shades of RV:  10, 23 and 34.  I had only a few scraps left of a Basic Grey pad called Green at Heart so I went slightly mad and patchworked a background for my image by glueing it onto a grid then stitching a zig-zag over the seams.  The sentiment is from Pink Petticoat, I added a couple of rhinestones beside it and a tiny one as a dewdrop on the flower.    More stitching, MS string punch used on the corners.  Hope you like my stitching card:).

I'm entering it for the following challenges:
Cupcake Craft - patchwork quilt
Stamp Something - digi
365 Cards - 6 different patterned papers - I counted and I did!
Card Cupids - stitching
One Stitch at a Time - use a digi

Day 2 of the building work saw the final digging out of the chalk under the sitting room floor, levelling off and adding of sand, then the damproof membrane.  Today it's loads and loads of concrete.  Here's the foreman inspecting progress:

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

Less is More - metal

I don't feel my Less is More card this week is quite "there" yet, but since the builders we've been waiting on since Spring arrive tomorrow (I hope) to take up and dig out the sitting room floor I think this may just have to do as we have lots of furniture moving around to do today and then for some time we'll have furniture where it shouldn't be and crafting time may not be easily come by...

The theme is Metal and really embossing is my only way to achieve this, so I went for a very minimal gold look. I had a few attempts and came up with the very minimal card above, however the two elements on it have nothing to link them together , they look a bit plonked down, despite several attempts, different stamps and agonizing!  So the next step was to mask off a top and bottom border and unify them with some inking.  I like this better, but the top border looks as though it has a tiny slope.  I measured and checked and it is indeed straight, so it must be the trees that are on a slope!  It's still quite pretty and if I get the chance I'll have another go at it.  Oh, I've made it a one layer card again, my own challenge is to make more of these.
My card is also for the following challenge:
Stampin' for the weekend - holidays

Snowy Village gets the blues

Here's a quick card, very clean and simple, using the Snowy Village set   from Stamp Addicts again. This time I've embossed it and just used a little Distress Ink brushed onto the image.  The wide fibre ribbon works well with the chilly blue and white, the layout is from this week's Midnight Madness sketch.
My card is for the following challenges:
Midnight Madness - sketch
For Fun Challenges - Christmas in August
Samuel Taylor - Christmas card using a rubber stamp (those amazing Prima pads for the prize!)
Crafty Catz - monochromatic

Phindy's Place Challenge #71 - anything goes using a Phindy's Place image

And now for something completely different...  the first challenge of the month at Phindy's Place is always Anything Goes, so long as you use one of Phindy's images.  This means there is always time to plan ahead so I did something I've been thinking about for ages, which is to use a digi image to make something in fabric.  It needed to be digi not rubber so I could get the size I wanted and chose Summer Bare which is one of my favourites from the new releases. 

I printed it out and traced onto Bondaweb, simplifying some of the detail.  The bikini strings were too fine to add in so I hand stitched on some twine.  I bought a lovely bag pattern at Festival of Quilts from a lovely lady on the Monkey Buttons stand, it's called African Basket.  I strip pieced the background and yes, all the panels are different and the stripes were not meant to match up!  I put together my applique image on one of the panels and followed the pattern for the bag which was straightforward to make.  It's ages since I've sewn anything other than a card, what do you think of my Phindy bag?
I'm entering my bag for the following challenges:
Paper Pretties - anything but a card
Die Cut Dreams - make a gift box or bag
My Craft Spot - sewing somewhere on your project - yup!
Victorine Originals - summer
Just some lines - anything but a card
Secret Crafter - in the sea
Totally Papercrafts - not a card
Charisma Cards - anything goes
Simon Says - anything goes hop