Phindy's Friday Challenge #18 - Pretty in Pink

Good Morning!  It's Friday the 13th but no need to worry about that, just enjoy the fact that it's nearly the weekend and it's also time for a new Phindy's Place Challenge.  This week the challenge is to be Pretty in Pink.  So it's time to make an unashamedly girly card!  Don't forget to use one of Phindy's gorgeous digis and enjoy being pretty in pink:). 

I've used one of those adorable Summer Cuties, this is Bye-bye Butterfly.  There is a beautiful, to scale butterfly included in Phindy's digi, of course.  However my card is so busy that I chose to add a little punched butterfly instead.  I wanted to add lots of flowers and swirls so I made an easel card, basing it on the sketch at Spoonful of Sugar Challenge this week.  Image is coloured with Copics, cut out and popped up onto silicon glue on top of an embossed circle.  The DP is a freebie from My Mind's Eye that came with a magazine.  The left hand flower is a Prima, with a metal spacer from Quixotic Paperie added.  There are metal butterfly charms added to the computer generated sentiment.  All the leaves, swirls, butterflies and flowers are punched and there are Liquid Pearls centres to the flowers.

I am entering my card for the following challenges:

Spoonful of Sugar - sketch

DareU2Digigstamp - blooms and charms

Flutterby Wednesday - open theme with butterfly

Paper Sundaes - metal

Charisma Cardz - easel

Digital Tuesday - butterflies or lace

Sweet Stampin' - pretty in pink

One Stop Craft Challenge - summer fun
The Pink Elephant - summer fun

Crafty Cardmakers - spotlight on punches

DT Post - Phindy's Place Friday Challenge #15 - Stitched Up

This week at Phindy's Place Challenge the theme is Stitching, we'd like to see stitching, real or faux, on your project.  I was sewing before I ever made a card, so I love cards with stitching on.  There are some AMAZING cards from the DT, do check them out, they are just gorgeous!

I used Spring Breeze, for my card, such a beautiful image, Mum looks a little frazzled yet still happy!  I based my colourscheme on some gorgeous new DP from Fancy Pants that I got at Stamp Attic, my local shop, this week and I chose to paper piece the washing from the DP, which reminds me of vintage fabrics and quilts.  Image is coloured with Copics and the background is a mixture of Copic and Distress Inks.  

The sketch I followed is from this week's Simon Says Challenge.   There's lots of stitching on my card and where you've got stitching you really need buttons, so I've added a few on the sheer dotty ribbon that's tucked under the image.  I've also been playing with a new gadget - a die cutter for roses from Little Claire, so I added some pink flowers on top of a lace flower.  Sentiment is from Craftwork Cards.

This card is for the following challenges:

Simon Says Challenge - sketch
Crazy4Challenges - buttons
Paper Sundaes - make your own flowers
DareU2Digistamp - stitching

DT Post - Phindy's Friday Challenge #6 - Masculine Card

It's Friday, the sun is shining and thank goodness it's the weekend. It's time to take Phindy's Friday Challenge, this week it's to make a masculine card or project. I think this has been my most unproductive week for cards ever, I've just not been inspired. However here's a card I've been thinking about making for ages, with one of DH's fishing flies attached for a present. In reality, when it's sent, it will have several smaller, more useful flies attached, but to take the photo I've used one of the larger more colourful flies so that it shows up:).

The lovely image is simply called "Fishing", you can buy it from Phindy's Place here. Image is coloured with Copics and edged with a bit of Broken China Distress Ink. I chose to work with the Card Patterns Sketch for this week, it's clean and uncluttered, just right for a masculine card:). DP is My Minds Eye, the edge is punched with the first Martha Stewart punch I ever bought, which I think is called Arabesque, which gives a lovely wave effect. The fly is hooked into a piece of ribbon from stash, I'm told it is called a Dentist's Delight :)! Charisma Cards' theme is 3D this week, the fishing fly works perfectly for this.

I opted to decorate the inside of my card as the sentiment stamp I wanted to use is too big for the front of the card, so I'm entering it into Crafty Cardmaker's Inside Out Challenge. Can't remember where the stamp came from I'm afraid, bought it at Ally Pally a year or so ago. Dareu2Digistamp has One for the Boys as it's challenge for this week as does Creative Cottage, so I'm entering my card in their challenges too. One last challenge to nail with this card: Allsorts Challenge is celebrating its brthday with a birthday theme.
I hope you'll join us over at Phindy's Place this week for our challenge. Phindy herself is away at present, her sister is gravely ill in hospital. please keep them in your thoughts and if you'd like to send a card to Gerry, Phindy's sister, there is information in the PCP group here.

Have a Magical Christmas...

I'm still struggling with conjunctivitis in both my eyes, wasn't able to go to the Hennessey (Newbury Races) for the first time in years to my great disappointment. I've had dreadful withdrawal symptoms for my crafting and I've made this card over the last couple of days, which has been a struggle as it's so hard to see what I'm doing. The matting has been cut smaller and smaller on shapes as I've tried to keep it even, to the point you can barely see it all! I have so many ideas buzzing around in my head, just can't wait to get back into action :). But at least I've managed to make something :).

I've used a Shirleys2Girls digi image of a snow-woman. You can buy her as a digi or you can buy the clear stamp for a bargain price while it's still in stock. I printed twice onto white and once onto card sprayed with Glimmer Mist. The idea was for my snow-woman and the hills behine her to be paper pieced from white onto the Glimmer Mist. However I wasn't really thinking and glued the snow-woman onto blue hills. So how did I get out of that one??? Well thanks to Craft Stamper magazine, which came on Friday, it was easy... I read an article in there about watercolour scenes which removed colour with bleach. I used my waterbrush, dipped into a little bleach, and painted until the Glimmer Mist had gone from the hills. I wondered what it would do to lines from the inkjet printer, happily they remained unchanged - phew!

Extra colouring on image was done with Copics, hat and gloves are cut out a second time and foam mounted. Papers are Basic Grey Eskimo Kisses, I've Cuttlebugged some more of the Glimmer Misted paper and rubbed Distress Ink in Dusty Concord across it. The "Snow" sentiment (torn and mounted onto mirri card) and the snowflake brads are Papermania, the image and the dry embossing have some Glamour Dust sprinkled on.

I'm entering this for several challenges:

• Basic Grey - followed Tara's sketch
• Saturday Spotlight - Hat's On - use an image with a hat
• Charisma Cards - Anything Christmas
• Quixotic Challenges - Tearing - the sentiment
• Papertake's Challenge - Christmas Cracker
• Simon Says Challenge - Winter Love - wouldn't we all love a white Christmas? Mmm, maybe as long as it doesn't last as long as the snow last year :)
• Cuttlebug Challenge - Glitter
• Crafty Creations Challenge - Christmas
• Whimsy Stamps - Christmas
• Dare U2 Digistamp - Glitter