Crafty Cardmakers Challenge #61 - monochrome magic

 

Welcome to a new Crafty Cardmaker's Challenge, this is one of those weeks when you almost wish you weren't on the DT when you see the fab sponsorship prizes!  This week we are challenging you to make a monochrome project.  The sponsors are Digi Doodle Store with a $10 gift certificate for their lovely images and IndigoBlu who are offering up an amazing prize of a Flitterglu starter kit AND one of their superb stamps!

I made a blue winter scene using the Here Comes Santa stamp set from IndigoBlu.  I masked off a moon and used a mixture of inks on brushes to make a background, giving it a little spritz of water to blend.   The snowflake border at the top is white heat embossed, it shows up far better in real life.  I then added the sentiment and trees, stamping twice before re-inking for the trees.  I really didn't want to add much more to it, so I matted it a few times, added a ribbon and a few gems on the snowflakes.  Brr...  chilly card for a grey chilly day:).

I'm also entering my card for:

Paper Sundaes - clean & simple (not much white space but I hope it fits their criteria!)

Crazy4Challenges - make a scene

Winter Wonderland - blue & white

Challenge up your Life - monochrome

Craft a Scene - winter scene

Pollycraft - chill out

Craft your Passion - no patterned paper, anything goes

Less is More - things that move

We've had a lovely weekend with friends from Shropshire visiting, very busy with no time to craft.  On Saturday Shona wore a t-shirt with a bicycle image on it and it bugged me all day as then I knew the stamp I wanted to use for this week's Less is More! This is a Little Claire stamp that I bought at Newbury, it has little extras that can fit into the basket but I left it unadorned.  I'm trying to build my skills and collection of One Layer cards, so this is is coloured with watercolour markers not Copics.  The sentiment is a little heavy on the RH side but not enough to cover it up with a second layer with it re-stamped - or at least that's what I think!
My card is for the following challenges:
Less is More - things that move
Challenge up your Life - no patterned paper
Charisma Cardz - negative space
Shopping our Stash - weakest link - I struggle with one layer cards
Little Claire - wedding/anniversary - I think this sentiment is perfect for this

Phindy's Place Challenge #61 - Going Round in Circles

 Welcome to this week's Phindy's Place Challenge, this week we are challenging you to use circles in your project.  I've used the image "Birdie" and made a vintage style card, following this week's sketch at Simon Says.  I hope you'll play along with us, don't forget you get two chances to win if you use a Phindy's Place image.
My image and sentiment are circles and the flowers I've added are all circular in shape.  Image is coloured with Copics and Distress Inks, sentiment is LOTV, the flowers were Blog Candy from the lovely Bente at Sketch Saturday.  I used Tim Holtz tissue tape pleated under the card, lace is from stash and DP is Pink Paislee Butterfly Garden.  Lace is from stash, scroll is Mairanne Creatables die, I've added lots of stitching to my layers. 
My card is for the following challenges:
Simon Says - sketch
Crafts & Me - stitches
Crafting for all Seasons - summer
Creative Inspirations - stitching
One Stitch at a Time - things with wings
Challenge up your Life - circles
Sweet Stampin - things with wings
Forever Friends - 3 design papers
Rainbow Lady - digi day

Wish you were here?

  I got some new Jenny Mayes Hobbyart stamps at the NEC and here's the first card I made with them.  They are slightly bigger than the Scene-It sets and they are on unmounted rubber, not clear.  I found them a bit more of a challenge to use, I think I was trying to combine too many at once!  I masked the deckchairs and stamped the boats out once and used them again for a partial image and added the gulls.  I watercoloured my scene using Aquamarkers and made it up using the sketch at Midnight Madness.  I like the way the corners give it the look of a photo in an old album.  DP is flairdesigns.inc.

My card is for the following challenges:

Midnight Madness - sketch

Delightful Challenges - sun, sea and sand

Challenge Up Your Life - masking

My Time To Craft - nautical

Top Tip Tuesday Challenge - Get Stitching

Good Morning!  It's time for another Top Tip Tuesday Challenge and this week I've done a tutorial on one of my favourite techniques, using the sewing machine.  I hope you'll check out the tutorial over on the challenge blog and I hope you'll find some hints and ideas to help you sttich on your card projects, whether you're a beginner or an old hand at sewing.  I did an enormous amount of sewing at one point and I still teach quilting, my obsession with cardmaking began when I went into the wrong Hall at a big craft exhibition and found rubber stamping lol!

OK on to my card and the snowdrops are flowering their hearts out at the moment, a little later than usual.  It's good to know that spring is coming!  The image I used is from a Fred She Said set called Spring Flowers which come with a paper pricking frame as well as digi images of crocuses, daffodils and tulips, which pretty well sets you up for all spring eventualities!
I've based my card on this week's Friday Sketchers Challenge and stuck to a cool green colour palette.  The snowdrop is coloured with Copics, I've inked the embossed circle with Pine Green Distress Ink, DP is Prima, border punch Martha Stewart and flowers made from a Little Claire die.  I've sttiched a double border round the image and then a straghit line around the DP.  Can't wait to see all the sttiched creations, hand, machine or faux, on this week's Top Tip Tuesday Challenge!
My card is entered for:
Friday Sketchers Challenge - sketch
Digital Tuesday - use a die cut
Bunny Zoe - flowers everywhere
Challenge up your Life - monochrome
Digi Doodle Shop's Best - nature