Back with a few challenges...and some fantastic news!!!!

I finally managed to escape to my craft room today and made a couple of cards for 3 challenges.



I am entering the first one in for the following challenges :-
Stamp Something - Animal Something
Dutch Dare - sketch
The image is a Whimsy image sent to me by a blogging buddy, Sharon, coloured with copic markers, I am so loving these, need to get the last set soon...
Papers are MME, Bloom & Grow, K & Co, Antique Linen & textured one from a DCWV card stack.
I am really pleased with this card, a nice one for a male, makes a change from a football one!

Unfortunately I can't show you the second card yet as its my first card as a DESIGN TEAM MEMBER da da da....... for CREATIVE CARD CREW. I was thrilled to be asked to become a DT member, once I stopped jumping around the room with delight I had to pinch myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming!!

Make sure you visit the Creative Card Crew blog tomorrow to see my card.

A crafty break in Devon -

Apologies for the lack of blogging this week but we booked a last minute holiday, Monday's posting was done from the hotel but there was so much to do that I didn't have time to do any blogging, will have to catch up over the next day or two. Planning some serious card making tomorrow, now I've done all the washing and ironing.

We went to a Craft & Sport hotel at Okehampton in Devon, if you've been there already you'll know how great it is, if you haven't, I thoroughly recommend it. My husband and 2 sons are sport mad, so it meant we could all do what we wanted - everyone happy.

I took lots of craft classes, fitted in a couple of games of badminton & snooker, a couple of swims, saunas and a hot stones massage :-)

I won't bore you with all the photos in one go.... I can feel a couple more hobbies coming on - more details on those later!

Some of the classes I really enjoyed, others, not so keen on, I went to glass engraving 3 times, even managed to drag my eldest son and husband along, the youngest son went off to play squash. Here are the photos of the things I made in this class. My mind was working overtime with presents I could make using this technique.



A couple of vases, an excuse to buy some flowers!



Can a girl have too many glasses? Made one with my name on for work, that way hopefully it shouldn't go astray!



Love these glass coasters.

I had great fun in the enamelling class, these are the 3 things I made. I need to add some leather thong to the pendant and keyring chains to the other 2 items, which I could have done at the class but as I've got loads of these bits at home seemed silly to buy more!
It was fascinating to see the results, I love the way the pendant turned out, the brown lines were supposed to be there but the spots are where I left it in the oven too long and the flux burned, really like the way it turned out, bet I couldn't repeat it though!



I will be back later today with some great news :-) and some challenge cards. Happy Bank Holiday weekend whatever you are doing.

A Quick Post

A very quick post, here's a card I made for the following 3 challenges
Creative Card Crew - Xmas in August
Simon Says Stamp - Xmas in August
Friday Sketchers - Carole's sketch, a great one to work with, one I shall use again!

I'll be back with a goodies list later.

Another late night post...

What a busy day, my eldest son was 15, only seems like yesterday he was a baby! We've had a lovely day spent with family and friends, so didn't manage to escape to my craft room until quite late. Here is my card for today (Friday).



I thought it was about time I inked up my Miss Anya stamps again, they have been neglected of late. I have combined the challenges from
Inspirational Card Sketches - sketch 30, its the first time I've joined this challenge, what a great sketch to work with.
Copic Colour Challenge - to use C3 Cool Gray, YR04 Chrome Orange (didn't have this so used YR07 & YR02) & E57
Stamp Something - make a birthday card
Dusted off some other neglected stash, my SU! papers, used ones from the Sweet Always set and Chocolate Chip patterned papers. Made flowers from SU! 5 petal & X-Cut punches, added swirls - EK Success punch. Sentiment was from a bargain stamp I got at Newbury, it has Happy Birthday on 4 side of the block in different fonts and was only about £1.
Added a bit of pale blue shading and glossy accents at Miss Anya's feet, supposed to look like a puddle but not so sure now LOL!

Am off to bed now, back with a few challenges tomorrow.

Edwin hits the beach!

Here's my second card of the day....



Trying to catch up on a few challenges - I've combined 3 here
Get Sketchy - sketch by Dora & bonus challenge to use patterned paper - would be more of a challenge to make a card without patterned paper these days!!
A Spoon Full of Sugar - travel - use a holiday theme or form of travel - think I've covered both here!
ABC - use buttons - had to dig deep, had these buttons for ages, knew they would come in useful one day!

Stamp - Surfer Edwin - Magnolia Lazy Summer Days kit, sentiment - Hero Arts clear stamp set
Coloured with Promarkers and Copics
Papers - K & Co Tim Coffey paper stack - one of the first paper stacks I bought
Gold mirri card, white pearlescent card and buttons from stash.

Had better be off to bed now, gonna be a busy day tomorrow! :-)

Congratulations - Tilda with Roses

Thought I would make a Congrats card today with the sketch by Beatrix from Friday Sketchers.



I used one of the cute Tilda with Roses images Paula kindly sent me earlier this week. I coloured them with copics, practising my shading - been watching some You Tube videos this week, and finished off the roses with a bit of icicle stickles.
I decided I wanted a bit of white space on this card so didn't put my usual first layer on the base case, quite pleased with how this turned out, not looking to bare as the other layers are quite large.
The papers are from an old DCWV stack, (A Pocket Full of Posies), flowers made from offcuts and an X Cut punch. Sentiment is from a Stampin Up! set, which was free in a promotion earlier this year. Ribbon and brads from stash.

Probably won't get round to any crafting tomorrow as its my oldest son's 15th birthday, so am off to my craft room to make up for it tonight!

Butterfly Tilda goes 3D......

As mentioned in my previous post, here's the project I've been working on over the last couple of days along with commissions and the odd spot of painting - watercolour where I can get away with it, otherwise emulsion :-(

Create 4 Fun challenge this week is a template to make a tag bag. Well my printer is throwing a wobbly, so I cheated a little on this one and cut my tags using a Sizzix red die and stuck those to a box, dimensions look about the same as the template, so hoping thats OK.



The Just Magnolia challenge this week is friendship and the Just Magnolia Monthly challenge is to 3D an image, so thought I would combine all 3 challenges and make the tag bag, which I haven't filled as I wanted you to be able to see the inside which I have decorated with offcuts of paper and a matching card.

Here's the other side of the tag bag. I felt it needed a bit more detail, so dug out some headpins and beads to add that bit of bling!



I love this image, these colours and papers, although I'm not sure I will be working with them again for a while, especially after water colouring about 6 images of Tilda, I was seeing Shabby Shutters and Spiced Marmalade in my sleep LOL!





There are 2 layers of Tilda on the tag bag and 4 on the card. I really enjoyed this technique, I hadn't thought of doing this to stamped images although not quite sure why, decoupage has never been a favourite of mine although I loved making medallion cards when I first started card making.

Anyway off to enjoy the sun while its out and do a spot of colouring, hope to catch up on some blog hopping later tonight.

Who's a lucky girl then!

Had a day out shopping yesterday, we're on the hunt for a firepit, a bathroom suite, paint for the hall, stairs & landing and new bannisters and spindles.... but look what was waiting for me on the doormat when we got back!



I left a comment on Paula's blog recently and she very kindly offered to stamp me up some of the images of Tilda and the rose. Not only did she stamp these, there were various other images included along with a beautiful card - thank you so much Paula, it now has pride of place in my craft room. I look forward to colouring and using the images, such a lovely selection, I love them all.




The second package contained the gorgeous ribbons I won last week on the Colour Create challenge 24 - they are so scrummy, such bright summery colours, can't wait to use them. There was also a beautiful card from Sharon congratulating me on my win, thanks Sharon, gorgeous, now on display in my craft room. The image on the card you made was one included in my stash from Paula, what a coincidence?

Stalking my postman though as I ordered some more Copics :-0, hope he delivers them soon.

Back soon with something I've been working on over the past couple of days - its not that magnificent but with hubby off this week craft time and blogging has been very restricted!



Heyyy the postie has just delivered my copics, guess what I'll be doing this afternoon - not DIY that's for sure!

Anyone for Anya - DT Call

A few weeks ago I entered a DT call for Anyone for Anya, these are such fun images. Unfortunately I was not successful this time, but have been offered a guest designer spot, so all is not lost.



This is the card I entered for the DT call, I just love these colourful papers from the DCWV Citrus stack, some of the papers have got a li'l bit of glitter, every girl has got to have a bit of bling in her life!

Congrats to those who made the DT. I look forward to the taking part in the challenges when they start next week.

Millie's christening card

Here's one of the cards I was working on yesterday.
One of my friend's asked me to make a christening card for her niece's daughter - not sure what that relationship would be?? Think she said that made her a great aunt he he....



I just love this Magnolia image, which I coloured with copics, really getting the hang of shading with these now, I think! Will be stalking the postman this week as I ordered another set last week. I need to get hold of E000, I've got E00 in one of the sets but think I could do with a lighter shade. I had to dig deep for the Blonde Moments papers, love these and had to steel myself when cutting into a new sheet, but it had to be done, the colours matched so well. I cut the flowers and letters using George & Basic Shapes cartridge.

Can't seem to settle to anything today, so not made any cards, hopefully normal service will resume tomorrow. Hope you have had a great weekend, can't believe its Sunday night again already!

Christmas in August

I've had a busy couple of days, not made any cards since Thursday, thought I had better put that right today! When I eventually got up, I ventured into my craft room and have only left it to eat! Been busy catching up on commissions and challenges and trying to avoid football which is on almost every telly in the house - its gonna be a long winter!



I am entering this card for 5 challenges
Winter Wonderland - Twinkle Sparkle
Sunday Sketch and Stamp - sketch challenge
My Time To Craft - Christmas
Dutch Dare - Christmas in August
Passion for Promarkers - Cocoa & Rose Pink

I'm doing quite well making Christmas cards so far this year, think this one takes it into double figures! It will be so nice not to have to burn the midnight oil in December making cards, I'll probably find something else to keep my busy tho!
I love this Edwin & Tilda image, one of my favourites, it reminds me of when I was a keen ice skater - a long time ago, too much of a wuss now!

Recipe
Stamps - Magnolia, Edwin & Tilda skating, Cuddly Buddly, Xmas sentiment
Paper/Card - Paper Mill, DCWV Xmas paper stack, Snow White pearlescent card from the Range
Inks - Memento, Rich Cocoa, Promarkers, various shades including Rose Pink & Cocoa
Embellies - Card candy from Craftwork cards, Glamour dust
Tools - MS snowflake punch, SU! circle, scalloped circle and corner rounder punches

Back tomorrow, lets hope for a bit warmer weather.....

Just Magnolia at the beach

Had to ink up a couple of the Lazy Summer Days stamps for the challenge at Just Magnolia this week which is a sketch with the option of a tag.



Another attempt with the distress inks on this one, think I'm getting there with these lil babies but not finding them as easy to use as markers, I have a tendency to overwet the paper or it bleeds onto a different area :-(.

Stamps - Lazy Summer Days from Magnolia
Papers - DCWV Citrus stack, purple cs is like Bazzil Bling
Inks - Distress inks, Memento - Rich Cocoa
Tools - Punches from SU!, EK Success, X-Cut
Embellies - Bead caps - Bead Cafe, Brads - Papermania

Manga Girl at The Sugar Bowl

Here's my entry for The Sugar Bowl sketch challenge this week.



I've been working at this all evening, with various images and distress inks, it just wasn't happening, so out came the copics and here we have it. I wanted to use papers from the Hopscotch pad by Kay & Co, so the colours for the image were dictated by that.

Stamps - Manga Girl 1 from Funky Kits, sentiment from SU!
Papers - DSP - Hopscotch, Kay & Co, blue card from stash
Colouring - copics and Memento ink pad Paris Dusk
Tools - MS border punch, SU! large oval & scalloped oval punches
Embellies - Gems from Papermania

Jackie, if you are reading this, yes I did get it finished, just in time!!

Manga Girl 2 does Copic Colour challenge

I am having great problems with Blogger tonight, every time I go to upload photos it freezes my laptop - anyone else having the same problem?

I am writing this post in the hope that Mr Blogger will start behaving and let me post this card before the deadline of midnight, I've been trying for the past couple of hours .....

The colours this week at Copic Colour challenge are Y06 Yellow, B12 Icy Blue, & RV02 Sugar Almond Pink and I've got all 3 of those woo hoo!!

I had to ink up my new Manga Girl 2 stamp for these vivid colours, then I had great problems trying to find papers to go with the pink :-s
I settled on these from a DCWV Spring paper stack and some pearlescent card from stash. The sentiment is from a Hero Arts clear set, stamped onto tags made with SU punches. Flowers cut with an X-Cut punch from off cuts.

Best Friends from Wild Rose Studio

I was lucky enough to win the challenge at Sunday Sketch and Stamp last weekend and the prize was 'Best Friends' stamp from Wild Rose Studio. This little lovely plopped onto my door mat towards the end of last week and has been waiting to be inked up.



I am going to enter this card for 3 challenges, not sure if I am too late for one of them....
Spoonful of Sugar - floral fantasy.
Colour Create - use pink, orange and green.
Sketch Saturday - sketch.

The papers are freebies from Cardmaking & Papercraft a while ago, image coloured with copics. The flowers are cut using an X Cut punch, ribbon, brads and gems from stash.

That's me for today, back with some more tomorrow, nite nite.

Manga boy rocks 3 challenges

Must have tempted fate with my earlier comment about the beautiful sunshine as no sooner had I posted that then the sun went in and its been quite dull and chilly ever since! What an excuse to shut myself away in my craft room.

I had a look through the current challenges and with some of these in mind this is what I came up with.....



I used some new rubba, Manga Boy from Funky Kits, which arrived last week, but I haven't managed to ink up, until today. I coloured the image with Promarkers as shown in the picture below and used Basic Grey Archaic papers and offcuts in varying shades to match.



I am going to enter this into the challenges listed below:-
Passion for Promarkers - sketch challenge this week, no specific colours
MTTC - neglected or forgotten stash, the papers and Super Stars stamps from Banana Frog which I found lurking in the back of my cupboard - never inked up I think!
Creative Inspirations - doodling.

Barry's birthday

Morning blogging buddies....
Hope you have had a fab weekend, I can't believe it's Monday already, at least I don't have to go to work tho!

Haven't managed any crafting or blogging this weekend as it was Barry's 50th birthday on Saturday, so we spent the day celebrating and yesterday recovering!
We took his parents out for lunch at the Osborne View and had some friends round for a BBQ in the evening, we had a wonderful time, it was early hours before the first people left and time we should have been getting up, not going to bed, by the time the last people left so think it was a success!

Here is the card I planned to make Barry, unfortunately I ran out of time, I got the basics made, as you can see but wanted to add photographs of special occasions we have celebrated together to the inner pages. Never mind I can add some photos of the day now, so not such a bad thing.
the papers are from Basic Grey Archaic paper pad and letters cut using Cricut, George & Basic Shapes. Finally got round to using the Bind It All I was given for Christmas, a craft item I just had to have otherwise my life wouldn't be the same without it - obviously!!



As his proper card wasn't finished, I had to make another one, but as time was in short supply it had to be a quick one, again using the good old Cricut, cartridge as before, and papers are Basic Grey Boxer paper pad.



I'm off now to catch up on some blogging and challenges, have a lovely day whatever you are doing, the sun is shining brightly as I type this, lets hope its here for the day!

Bizzy Becs DT call card

Look what dropped through my letter box yesterday morning..... so I set about making my card for the DT call for the Bizzy Becs Creatalicious challenge, (detailed on the previous post below)well a girl's got to try- I might get picked one day!

I treated myself to 3 of these lil babies the other day, this one is Manga Girl #1, from Funky Kits. I coloured her with copics, am loving these, especially since watching a tut the other day and discovering how to do the shading and blending.
Papers are from DCWV, Nana's Kids and Citrus stack. Blooms are an X Cut punch and SU! 5 petal flower punch. Brads & gems from stash.

Had better run and get my shower, looking forward to having my hair done this morning.

Hope to be back later, if not have a wonderful weekend.

New challenge launches 15 August

There is a great new challenge launching on 15th August and to celebrate there is some wonderful blog candy on offer and there is also a call out for 2 DT members. Why not visit Bizzy Becs Creatalicious Challenges for details.

What a challenge!!

You know when you're making a card and the finishing touches just won't happen? Had that problem with this card. I stamped and coloured the image with copics, thanks Rach, for the tip off, really enjoyed this bit but it just wouldn't come together with the flower in the top left and I couldn't decide on a sentiment so at 1.15am I decided perhaps I should go to bed and revisit it in the morning.



I'm really pleased with how it turned out, love the summery colours which reflect the weather here today, not like 4.00am this morning when I was woken by torrential rain and a thunderstorm!
I am going to enter this card for 4 challenges
Friday Sketchers - sketch
Cupcake Craft Challenges - beach theme
Creative Card Crew - under the sea
Papertake Weekly - 4 seasons, colour scheme reflecting the season



These are the copics I used to colour in this image, love using these pens but need more practice and more pens!

Recipe
Images - Lazy Summer Days Magnolia summer kit
Sentiment - Hero Arts set
Papers - DCWV Citrus stack, mirri card from stash
Colouring - Copic ciao as above photo, Tempting Turquoise SU! ink
Tools - MS border punch, SU! scalloped circle and large oval punches, 1/2" circle punch, Cricut George & Basic shapes cartridge
Am off to get some breakfast now, see you later.