Phindy's Place Challenge Challenge #87 - Colour Quartet

 

Welcome to the first Phindy's Place Challenge of 2012, we have a lovely fresh looking colour challenge for you this week:  brown, teal, celery/moss and white.  I've used an image called Snow Buddy, who is one of the Winter Cuties, I don't seem to be quite done with Christmas yet.  I've followed Sketch Saturday's layout and used papers by Basic Grey and Stampin' up, along with some dry embossing, punched snowflakes and some twill tape.  I do hope you join our challenge, it's a lovely colour combination to work with:).
My card is for:
Sketch Saturday - sketch
Gingerloft - Christmas and winter
My Craft Spot - winter wonderland
Sweet Stamps - winter
Everybody Art Challenge - snow
Creative Card Crew - snow day
Divas by Design - Christmas
Creative Belli - snowflakes
Christmas Challenges - punches or dies (snowflakes)

Finally, some of you may know that we have all had a horrid time over Christmas as my husband  left whch has been a dreadful shock to me and to my sons.  On Wednesday I came home to find these beautiful flowers had been delivered - from Phindy herself.  They came with a lovely message and I was very moved by her kindness, especially as she is going through problems herself as her son is treated for a serious injury.  Thank you Phindy.

Phindy's Place Challenge #84 - anything goes

 This is the first Friday of the month, which means we have our Anything Goes Challenge at Phindy's Place - anything goes as long as you use a Phindy's Place image that is:).  I'm very behind with making Christmas cards so I've used the gorgeous In the Winter Field image, colouring with Copics and a bit of Glamour Dust.  I used my blender pen for the snow in the sky and the markings on the deer's back. I've loosely followed the Sketch Saturday sketch for my card, which has a Craftwork Cards sentiment and a Nestie frame, snowflakes are also a Spellbinders die.  I do hope you'll join us at Phindy's Place this week!
My card is also for the following challenges:
Sketch Saturday - sketch
Simon Says Stamp - anything goes
Hooked on Craft - winter wonderland
Gingerloft Challenges - Christmas and winter
Shopping Our Stash - digital image
Whimsical Designs - layers
Delightful Challenges - let it snow

Less Is More - embossing

 Hmm embossing a one layer card sounded interesting for this week's Less Is More Challenge, so I began to play with a set of Flourishes Stamps of coffee cups that belong to by blogging (and real life) friend Val.  I thought the cups would look lovely embossed in gold and coloured with Copics on a tall thin ivory card.  When I opened the pack, they were actually glossy cards, which I thought might be a problem to emboss.  They embossed beautifully, but when I coloured on the card with Copics that was a disaster!  The ink moved around and when I put the next colour on to blend it lifted the first one off!  So the second attempt used metallic watercolours.   I wonder if it would still be a one layer card if I paper pieced the cups...

Next attempt uses a different, beautiful tall cup and is left plain.  Lovely stamps, aren't they?

And finally I was happier with the tree, which is a Sheena Douglass stamp, embossed in brown with a bit of background brushed onto it using Distress Inks.  The sentiment is also a Sheena stamp.

I'm entering my tree card for the Gingerloft  Trees Challenge
 and the Annabelle Stamps Monocromatic Challenge as well as the coffee cups for the Creative Craft World Anything but a Square Challenge.

More using what I have, plus Shop Our Stash!

I've printed off a topper from another unused CD Rom, this is Enchanted Dreams, another Joanna Sheen CD.  It uses artwork from an amazing artist called Jospehine Wall, look at all the little worlds within worlds and details she paints!  I've made a card following Claire's sketch from Sunday Sketch and Stamp.  Card is a gatefold, using the matcing backing paper, a LOTV sentiment (the only stamping) and a tiny punched butterfly in mirri card.   I'm also entering Paper Sundae's Magical & Mythical Challenge as well as Gingerloft's Under The Sea Challenge.
There is a new challenge blog called SOS, or Shop Our Stash, that is a theme close to my heart at the moment.   I am lucky that I can buy nice things and I enjoy getting them, but I do feel guilt as the new things I *need* that lie unloved and gathering dust.  Their first challenge is Show Us Your Stash , show off your crafting space.  Hmm... you know that rule that anything expands to fit its space... that would be my craft room.  DH and I have the biggest room in the house for our hobbies, it used to be a shop attached to the house.  We took out the shop door and big shop window onto the street and put a sash window and the front and French windows at the back.  At the time I was doing lots of quilting and the amazing cupboard I use is purpose built for quilting and now is crammed with crafting things.  You can just see that DH is expanding his fly-tying out slowly from the corner of the room...  I've a couple more pictures but for some reason Blogger is turning them sideways, drat maybe I'll get to them later lol!


Have a great day everyone, hope to see you Shopping your Stash:)

Tiffany Doodles Challenge - use turquoise

I've lots to blog today so first up I'm starting with this month's Tiffany Doodles Challenge, which is to use the colour turquoise.  I love turquoise, wear it a lot, but found to my dismay I didn't have much DP...   I found a Papermania pad that I bought at least a year ago and had never cut into, and paper pieced the fun image Dancing Dress.  Both layers are paper pieced and I've tried to add some shading with my Copics.  I've added stitching in a blue glittery thread, some organza ribbon and some turquoise gems to bling it up a bit, sentiment is from Craftwork Cards.

Do check out the DT cards, they are stunning and you can see some sneak peeks here on the logo for this month:
My card is for the following challenges:
Sketch'n'Stash - sketch
Creative Belli - think seamstress
Your Next Stamp - stitching
Claudia & Company - monochromatic
Digi Design House - stitches
Karen's Doodles - fancy and feminine
Woodware - monochromatic
Gingerloft - got the blues

Lily of the Valley - more Fred flowers

 I keep turning to flower images for my cards at the moment, Spring must be on the way!  Thank goodness we've had a bit of sunshine, even if it.s still pretty cold.  This card uses another gorgeous Fred She Said image, this time it's Lily of the Valley, which you can buy in the shop here.  I've coloured with Copics and edged with Adirondack dye ink, which I've also sponged onto the bubble embossed border.  The DPs are Basic Grey Marjolaine, border uses a Martha Stewart String Lace punch and there are some gems in the corners of the Nestie Labels cut image.

My card is for the following challenges:
Card Patterns - sketch
Gingerloft Challenge - use those flowers
Corrosive Challenges - Going Green
Catered Crop - follow the recipe (used plaids, spring colours, Copics, flowers)
Creative Inspirations Paint - Gone Green
Easy Craft Projects - Green
Little Claires - flowers
Card Making Mamas - something green
Card Cupids - anything goes

Phindy's Place Challenge #43 - sketchtime

 Good Morning and welcome to a new Phindy's Place Challenge!  My goodness I am so glad it's Friday and nearly the weekend!  We had a lovely time away but I'm finding it very hard to get back into the swing of things, hence the lack of blogging!

Anyhow, on with the challenge, which is to use one of Anne-Marije's fab sketches.  For once I've stuck quite closely to the sketch.  My image is Little Star, no prizes for guessing that this long legged beauty is one of my all time favourite images:).  He's simply coloured with Copics, all the DP is My Mind's Eye very heavy weight cardstock, the punch is Martha Stewart Picket Fence.
My card is for the following challenges:
Crafty Sentiments - Spring - what could be more spring-like than the new crop of foals?
Digital Tuesday - use punches
Crazy Challenge - baby love
Gingerloft - furry friends
Paper Sundaes - masculine colours
Allsorts - inspired by nature

Stacks of Strawberries

I have a couple of House Mouse cards to show you today, this is the first one, a Joanna Sheen decoupage.  I've teamed it with a freebie sentiment stamp that came with the DoCrafts magazine sometime last year which is great for all those fruit/veg images.   I've put it together using the very simple sketch at CPS, which works really well for a big complex image like this.  The DP says DaisyD's, I think it was in a bargain bin at a craft show.

My card is for the following challenges:

CPS - sketch

Scrap Creations - animal antics

Cupcake Craft - seeing red

Gingerloft - use red

Craft Your Days Away - photo inspiration

Top Tip Tuesday Challenge - using up ribbon/make it girlie

Welcome to another Top Tip Tuesday Challenge!  This week Dawn has a great tutorial about using scraps of ribbon, be sure to check it out at the challenge blog.  You can either follow her tutorial or make a girlie project - oops I misread the challenge and simply used ribbon!  I've used a piece of wide lacy ribbon as well as a small piece with unusual dots on that I've been hoarding for my card.
I used a Jayne Netley Mayhew stamp from Joanna Sheen, masking it and stamping out 3 times.  The sentiment is from a Sheena Douglass stamp set.  The only colouring I've done is to use watercolour pens then Glossy Accents on the puffin's beaks, so it is virtually monochrome.  The dotty paper came from my recent Stampin' Up workshop, it was a spot prize (pun intended).
I'm entering the following challenges with my card:
Card Patterns - their 100th sketch
Stamps R Us - animals
Gingerloft - things that fly
Stamptacular Sunday - whatevah (must stamp)
Easy Craft Projects - black & white
Delicious Doodles - spots or stripes
Crafts and Me - monochrome
Simon Says - animal antics

Simon Says - is it time to play ball?

 
When I saw this digi at Gingerloft I fell in love!   There's an odd mixture of arty, almost photographic images like this in their store and also cartoons that are not my cup of tea.  But there are some gorgeous images I couldn't resist and I took a few minutes the other night to colour this chap in with watercolour pencils.

I've roughly followed the sketch at Simon Says this week to make my card, though the image is out of proportion.  The DP is Crate Paper, I've punched out rudbeckias and given them black brad centres; the rudbeckias in the images have black Stickled centres.  Ribbon was white coloured with a honey Copic.
My card is for the following challenges: 
The Crazy Challenge - animals
Fuzzy Wuzzy - anything goes, use an animal
Creative Cowgirls - something new (digi)
Simon Says  - sketch

Dream Big!

I've no newly completed cards to blog today, it has been such a busy week!  I made this card at a workshop with Sarah Anderson, at The Stamp Attic, in the Autumn but never got round to blogging it.  That warm gold is great to look at today, it's grey and rainy/sleeting, ugh.
The main image is Stampington, the stitching stamp and sentiment are Wendy Vecchi.   The background was made by spraying Distress Ink sprays and I've paper pieced the wings and the bodice, painting them with acrylic paint.  There's some random machine stitching and that's about it.  If you ever get the chance to take a class with Sarah, be sure to jump at it, it was a really fun day and we all created lots and learnt lots.
I'm entering my card for the following challenges:
Totally Papercrafts - paper piecing
Gingerloft Challenge - distressing
Charisma Cardz - New Year celebrations - what a great New Year sentiment!

Shabby Chic Trees

I was browsing through a Joanna Sheen CD, Times Gone By, and came across this totally stunning tree background paper, really far too beautiful to be a background and decided it was perfect for the sketch at Cute Card Thursday this week which gives it a chance to be seen.  The image uses Inkylicious stamps and Distress Inks in Pumice Stone and Vintage Photo to get as close as I could to the DP.  Sentiment is Craftwork Cards and I've added raffia.  That's it, no extra embellies...
This is for the following challenges:
Cute Card Thursday - Susan's gorgeous sketch
CD Sunday - shabby chic
Cards & Things - marina mist, early espresso, soft suede
Gingerloft - great outdoors
Crafty Calender Challenge -winter

PS I've added to my candy, as promised:)