Happy Easter :-)

Oh bliss! I've had an extra day off from work today for Easter, so I've had chance to potter about and catch up with one or two things. Didn't have time for any crafting, but here is my last Easter teddy card which I made at the weekend. Unfortunately I didn't manage to make enough Easter cards to send to all my friends as I have been working late recently, but even so I'm quite pleased with the value I got out of this free decoupage pack ... I think I'm all teddied-out now lol!

Image: Forever Friends decoupage pack;

Sentiment: Penny Black;

Papers: Papermania "Forever Friends - Springtime";

Supplies: flowers by Wild Orchid Crafts; pearls from The Hobby  House; ribbon from my stash;

Tools: Martha Stewart edge punch; Cuttlebug "daisy pattern" embossing folder; Leone Em "ash Famiily" leaf punch.

Challenges:

Creative Inspirations #157 - Easter

My Mum's #51 - Easter Creations / Animals

Hooked on Craft #19 - Easter
Forever Friends (April) - Embossing

Fab 'n' Funky - Emboss It!

Craft Your Passion #104 - Dots & Stripes

Simon Says - Use Your Favourite Tool (Cuttlebug)

Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes

Divas By Design #29 - Anything Goes

Hopefully I'll get a bit of time to craft tomorrow .. if not I'll be back on Saturday with another Penny Black Saturday Challenge :-)

Cutie with cupcakes :-)

I'm still patiently working my way through my free decoupage kit for Easter ... I'm determined to get some good value from a magazine gift for once instead of letting it all go to waste lol!

Here's an adorable Forever Friends teddy peeking at some  Easter cupcakes ... I can't quite decide but they look to me like chocolate cornflake "bird's nest" cakes - yummy!! I so remember these from when I was little and indeed I could scoff one right now :-)

Making this card gave me opportunity to use up some more of my yummy "Me To You" Easter papers ... I even cut out some little eggs from the paper and decoupaged them along with the teddy image! Here's the result.

Image: Forever Friends decoupage kit;

Sentiment: Penny Black;

Papers: Papermania "Me To You - Spring Chic";

Supplies: gems and ribbon from my stash.

Challenges:

One Stop Craft Challenge #176 - Easter

Craft Your Days Away #42 - Easter

Crafty Cardmakers #65 - Easter

Totally Papercrafts #110 - Easter

Charisma #12 - Easter
Paper Sundaes #114 - Happy Easter

Crafty Pad #164 - It's Egg-Tastic!

Simply Create Too #10 - Eggs &/or Bunnies

Simon Says - Anything Goes (3rd entry)

Sketch 'n' Stash #84 - Sketch (rotated)

I still have enough decoupage cut out to make two more cards ... I'll have to get a wriggle on though if I'm to get them done, dusted and posted in time for Easter; and I think I'll be ready for a change by then!

 

Mmmmm choklit!

Just a quick post from me this afternoon, to show you another Easter card I have made with my Forever Friends free decoupage kit. This time the darling bear is holding an Easter egg ... wish someone would buy me one as big as that lol!  Couldn't get a very true colour pic of this card for some reason, so here is the best I could manage.

Image: Forever Friends decoupage;

Sentiment: Penny Black;

Papers: Papermania "Forever Friends - Springtime";

Supplies: Flowers and pearls from Wild Orchid Crafts; lace from The Ribbon Box; ribbon from my stash.

Challenges:

Wild Orchid Crafts #45 - Bingo!

(gems / flowers / ribbon & lace)

Pollycraft Monday #133 - Mmmmm Choklit!

Papertake Weekly - sketch

That's all from me for today - enjoy the rest of your weekend :-)

 

Hot cross teddy!

Hi there. It's been such a long time since I did any regular crafting that I thought I would try something a little bit different in an attempt to get my mojo back.

In a recent craft magazine the free gift was an Easter-themed decoupage pack of Forever Friends images. (I'm afraid I can't remember which magazine and the pack doesn't say on it!!) I don't normally do decoupage, but these images were so sweet I thought it would be a shame to completely waste them, and here's the result of my first attempt.

I have to confess that I started this card thinking it would be quick, but it took me hugely longer than I originally anticipated - decoupage is clearly not a quick option lol!

Image: Forever Friends decoupage;

Sentiment: Penny Black "Happy Easter";

Paper: Forever Friends "Springtime";

Supplies: Flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts; ribbon from Hobbycraft; lace from John Lewis; gems from The Hobby House;

Tools: Marianne D doily die; Cheery Lynn "Art Deco" corners; Leone Em "Ash Family" leaf punch.

Challenges:

By The Cute & Girly (March) - In The Kitchen

Forever Friends - 3D and/or Decoupage

MAWTT #142 - Cute & Cuddly
Scrapbook Sisters #77 - Easter

Top Tip Tuesday #73 - Easter &/or Animals

Penny's Paper Crafty #76 - Easter

Paperplay #13 - Easter
Paper Shelter #57 - Easter 
Try It On Tuesday - Easter
Crafty Boots - Easter
Cute Card Thursday #210 - Happy Easter
Sentimental Sundays #95 - Easter or Spring

Creative Card Crew #7 - Spring

Sparkles #30 - Spring

Marianne's Design Divas - Spring into Spring

Truly Scrumptious #77 - Use Lace

Totally Gorjuss #124 - Spots & Stripes

Simon Says - Anything Goes

Thanks for visiting - I'll be back on Saturday with a new Penny Black Saturday Challenge.

  

I ♥ ProMarkers #97 - Anything Goes

Good morning and welcome to another I ♥ ProMarkers Challenge. Thanks to everyone who entered last week's colour combo challenge - don't forget to check the main challenge blog to see if you have won last week's prize.

This week is our last challenge for 2011 so it's a nice easy peasy one ....

Anything Goes

This challenge will stay open until 8pm GMT on Tuesday January 3rd 2012 - and we will be back with a  brand new year of I ♥ ProMarkers challenges on Wednesday January 4th. :-)

Don't forget that to be eligible for our challenge prize you need to use Promarkers, Flexmarkers, Aquamarkers or Tria pens on your creation - this week we are sponsored by Di's Digis who are offering a $10 gift certificate for their online shop - lovely!

For this week's challenge I decided to take a pause from my last minute frantic Christmas card making (I have somehow managed to make no less than 37 simple Chrimbo cards in the past 10 days!!), so I took the opportunity to make a card for my boss who will be celebrating her 50th birthday over the New Year.  (She's not into cardmaking so I think I'm safe to post it on here!! ... but as it is the only card I've had time to make with Promarker colouring it just has to be done regardless!!)

I adore this FF stamp and think he is very versatile for celebratory occasions. I made an A5 card to make it a  bit more special, but cut away the front of the card and then lined the inside of the  with Bazzill, punched out to form a border on the right hand side.

I also had my first go with my new Bow-Easy which I bought a couple of weeks ago from Bunny Zoe's Crafts. Took me  a little while to get the hang of it, but once I'd viewed this great Youtube video I was up and running ...and although you can't see it too well I actually made my first ever double loop bow - yay!

Stamps: Forever Friends;

Media: Flexmarkers (Capuccino, Champagne, Tea Rose, Pink Pearl); Promarkers (Sandstone, Ivory); Stickles on flowers and champagne bubbles;

Papers: Crafty Individuals "Springtime" pad;

Supplies: flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts; pearls by The Hobby House; ribbon from my stash;

Tools: large oval and large scalloped oval nestabilities; Martha Stewart "wildflowers" PATP; Crafts Too "daisies" embossing folder; Cuttlebug "Hippie Chick" alphabet dies for numbers.

Challenges:

Paper Sundaes #100 - Celebrate!

Passion For Promarkers #129 - Celebrations (2nd entry)
Secret Crafter #165 - New Year / Celebration

(I have chosen celebration)

Penny Black & More At Allsorts (December) - Happy Birthday! (2nd entry)
CES #66 - Party, Party, Party!

Totally Papercrafts #97 - Time To Party!

Sparkles - Anything But A Christmas Card

Crafty Pad #152 - Anything But Christmas

Corrosive #139 - Anything But Christmas

Sweet Stampin' - Sparkle & Bling

 (sparkly holographic silver card, sparkly champagne ;-) and Stckles on flowers)

Fussy & Fancy #52 - Monochromatic & Sparkle
Pollycraft #121 - Punch It!

Hotshot Crafts #1 - Promarkers (3rd entry)

Everybody Art #173 - Anything Goes

Really Reasonable Ribbon #38 - Anything Goes + Ribbon

Look forward to seeing all your creations - Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year from the I ♥ ProMarkers DT!

 

I ♥ Promarkers #95 - Shaped Card

Hello everyone and welcome to another I ♥ Promarkers Challenge. Thanks so much to everyone who entered last week's snowmen and snowflakes challenge - gorgeous entries!

This week's theme is

A Shaped Card

... by which we really mean anything but a rectangle or square lol!

This week we have a fantastic prize on offer for a randomly drawn winner ... a £10 store gift voucher from the lovely Joanna Sheen

Don't forget ... to be eligible for the prize draw you must use Promarkers, Flexmarkers, Aquamarkers or Tria pens on your creation :-)

The rest of the DT have been fantastically creative and have come up with some fabulous cards - do check them  out.

Again this was a bit of a challenge for me ... I don't really "do" shaped cards as I don't have any large cutting machines, mega-nesties or anything like that ... so the biggest I can make is the size of a standard nestie. Not to be deterred though I decided to make a mini-easel, so at least I would have a bit more space to play with. I also chose fairly teeny decorative elements, including a small image for my main focus ... Yes, you've guessed it - it's the li'l Forever Friends Santa teddy lol!! In fact this card was the reason for me getting out the stamp whereby I ended up colouring eight images (see Monday's post lol!).

Anyhoo .. here's the result.

I have to confess this is also the first time I have coloured a bear using Promarkers, as in the past I found I couldn't get the right shades so bought (whisper it quietly!!) 5 Copics especially for the purpose.However I persevered this time as Iwas determined to do right by the spirit of the challenge. Not entirely happy wiith my colouring but I have ordered 4 new Flexmarkers to give me more furry colouring options in future lol!!

Stamp: Forever Friends;

Media: Promarkers & Flexmarkers; glamour dust on coat and hat;

Papers: none - ultra white pearlescent card;

Supplies: flowers by Petaloo; sentiment by Craftwork Cards; gems from The Hobby house; ribbon from my stash;

Tools: small, large and scalloped circle nestabilities; Cuttlebug "Snowflakes" embossing folder.

Challenges:

CES #64 - Bear Necessities

Allsorts #132 - Going Round in Circles

Passion For Promarkers #129 - Mega Christmas Challenge

Forever Friends (December) - It's All Christmas

Bling it On (December) - It's Christmas

Creative Card Crew - 'Tis The Season

Crazy 4 Challenges #116 - Inspired By A Christmas Movie

(Santa Claus - The Movie)

Pile It On #49 - Bling It Up!

Christmas Inspirations #38 - Folded Card

Crazy Challenge #96 - Anything Goes

Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes

Hope you can join us this week at I ♥ Promarkers and look forward to seeing what you create :-)

Penny Black Saturday #179 - Christmas with Red & Embossing

Good morning all and welcome to another Penny Black Saturday Challenge. Thanks as always to everyone who entered last week's challenge - those of you who are keeping up with our month of Christmas themed challenges should be getting to grips with your Chrimbo makes by now lol!

Before we get on to this week's challenge I need to offer a mahoosive congratulations to my teamies Helen and Nat, who have both won prizes in Cardmaking and Papercraft's Cardmaker of the Year 2011 .... full details here. In Helen's case her prize was in the Penny Black category - woo hoo!!

This week we are continuing with week 4 of our  Christmas themed challenges, and would like to see

Christmas + Red + Embossing

This week's gorgeous prize for a randomly drawn winner is from Fantastic Ribbons,

and is 4 ribbon reels of the winner's choice - lovely!

There are loads of fab sample cards from the rest of the DT on the main challenge blog - here is my effort.

Stamps: Penny Black "Royal Mail" (3766J); sentiment unknown (I've lost the packet!!);

Media: Promarkers and Flexmarkers; polar white flowersoft with glamour dust on the snowy areas;

Papers: Dovecraft

Supplies: flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts; pearls from The Hobby House; ribbon from my stash;

Tools: Crafts Too embossing folder "snowflakes".

Challenges:

Crafty Pad #148 - Festive Cheer (Red + green + gold or silver)

Kaboodle #94 - Baby It's Cold Outside

Fun With Shapes and More #97 - Cold As Ice

Deep Ocean #13 - C is for ...
(Christmas, cute, circles)
Pile It On #47 - Anything with a "P"
(Postbox, papers, pearls)
Charisma #46 - Snowflakes

Crazy 4 Challenges #115 - Snow
Totally Gorjuss #108 - Sparkle
Papertake Weekly - Christmas Crackers

The Ribbon Girl - Jingle All The Way To Christmas

Scrapbook Sisters #61 - Christmas Time

Totally Papercrafts #94 - Christmas

Forever Friends (fortnight) - Christmas Is Coming

Penny Black & More at Allsorts - All Creatures Great & Small (3rd and final entry)

Creative Craft - Free For All

Hope you can join in with us this week - have a great weekend whether you're crafting or braving the Christmas shopping crowds :-)

Santa Claus is Coming to Town!

Just a quick post this morning as I'm going to be out and about all day. Yesterday I managed a fairly mega crafting session and made a grand total of 4 cards which is mahoosive for me (yep ... I'm a very slow worker lol!).

This is the first one, which I made to catch the end of two challenges - Wild Orchid Crafts and Sketch and Stash. I know there are those who may say that Santa isn't a teddy bear, but here's what I say ... I don't have much in the way of stamps with an old fashioned Santa on, and in any case when it comes to Santa it's a matter of what you believe lol!! .. and last but not least, if you look very closely you will see that one of the images on my background paper is actually Santa (he is just about disappearing off the edge of the paper, and his little helpers must be hiding behind the other papers  :-)  lol!)

Stamps: Forever Friends Santa bear; LotV Christmas Sentiment Circles;

Media: Promarkers, Flexmarkers, Copics, glamour dust on coat and ground;

Papers: Dovecraft "Jolly Happy Christmas";

Supplies: Flowers by Wild Orchid Crafts; Ribbon by Papermania; pearls from The Hobby House.

Challenges:

Wild Orchid Crafts #35 - Santa Claus is Coming To Town!

Really Reasonable Ribbon #35 - Christmas

Sketch & Stash #73 - Sketch

(old stash is the stamp and ribbon, new stash is the flowers)

Gotta dash - enjoy the rest of your weekend :-)

All Things Bright And Beautiful

I always try to enter the monthly By The Cute and Girly challenge if I can, as they have both brilliant challenge themes and also fab prizes :-), but this month has just flown by what with holidays and one thing and another. However I have been confined to barracks for the past couple of days due to this stinking cold, so I thought I would make a bright and beautiful card to cheer myself up!!  I found this cute stamped Forever Friends image lying around so decided to colour the flowers using some of my new funky bright tones of Flexmarkers (I always colour fur using Copics, but I'm looking out for what new Flexmarker shades appear later to see if I can get some fur colours from Letraset too!!).

Here's the result of my efforts, which is attempting to address the theme of "bright and beautiful" in 2 ways - "each little flower that opens" (from the hymn lyrics) and bright colours (which I always find a bit scary, but I made myself do it lol!).

I also decided to use one or two neglected bits & bobs from my stash ... the flowers that teddy is holding are daisies, so I dug out some flat flowers from my stash plus some metal spacers .... not been near them for quite a while!

Recipe:

Main image: Forever Friends, coloured with Copics and Flexmarkers;

Sentiment: Craftwork Cards;

Papers: Papermania "Forever Friends - Springtime";

Supplies: pearls and spacers from The Hobby House; ribbon and daisies from my stash;

Tools: large circle, large scalloped circle nestabilities; Martha Stewart "doily lace"edge punch; Leone Em "Ash Family" leaf punch.

Challenges:

Sketch Saturday #174 - Sketch

Cute Card Thursday #184 - Animal Crackers!

Crafty Purple Frog - Lots of Layers

Deep Ocean #9 - Happy Birthday

Cupcake #161 - If You Go Down to the Woods Today ...

Sentimental Sundays #74 - Step Out of Your Comfort Zone (bright colours!)

Corrosive #133 - Punches &/or Dies

Ooh-La-La #89 - Punches / Dies

Wee Memories #69 - Patterned Paper

By The Cute & Girly (September) - All Things Bright & Beautiful

Simon Says - Anything Goes

Southern Girls #28 - Anything Goes

Sweet Stampin' - Anything Goes

Lollipop #50 - Anything Goes

Anything Goes #50 - Anything Goes

Creatalicious #26 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

That's all for now ... back tomorrow with a new Penny Black Saturday Challenge ;-)

Many Thanks

Yesterday I started 2011 in the way I mean to go on (I'm sure it can't last!!) ... and made 2 DT cards ahead of time - they're not needed until NEXT WEEKEND - yay! Having done that I rewarded myself with a little play, and made 2 cards for a few challenges.

Here's the first card .... I had almost forgotten I had this cute Forever friends stamp but was reminded when I received a couple of very cute FF shop bought Christmas cards ... I mentioned to a colleague that you can actually get stamps to hand make a FF card and she was really interested!


Recipe:
Main image: Forever Friends, coloured with Copics and Promarkers;
Sentiment:Penny Black transparent set "Salutations";
Papers: My Mind's Eye;
Supplies: Prima flowers; Doodlebug sparkly brads; lace from Wild Orchid Crafts; pearls from The Hobby House; spacers and pink velvet ribbon from my stash;
Tools: large classic ovals and scalloped ovals nestabilities; Marainne D Creatables "flower swirl" die.
I would like to enter this one for the following challenges:

Papertake Weekly - Be ThankfulAllsorts #84 - Thank You
Cute Card Thursday #145 - Thank You
Winter Wonderland - Thank YouCRAFT #83 - Thank You
Charisma #51 - Pearls and Lace
Passion for Promarkers #80 - Anything Goes
I ♥ ProMarkers #46 - Anything Goes
Kaboodle #48 - Anything Goes

Hope you are enjoying the end of the New year holiday ... back to work tomorrow (sigh!)

Hats on for a green and red Christmas!

I'm back again with the second card from my craft session. I really do adore this Forever Friends teddy stamp - it is just soooo dinky and cute, and when I saw that this week's Saturday Spotlight Challenge (SSHP09) is Hats On!, it was the perfect opportunity to ink up the little fella!

I also followed the sketch from Creative inspirations #22

... and picked the colours red and green for this week's Corrosive Challenges #40, Cupcake Craft Challenge #68 and Incy Wincy #20.

Finally, Kraftin' Kimmie's Challenge #8 is Touchy-Feely ... asking us this week to use textures. I liberally sprinkled around my fave product of the moment - polar white Flowersoft mixed with glamour dust. Hopefully the following pic highlights the texture and dimension it adds to the card :-)


Recipe:
Main image: Forever Friends, coloured with watercolour pencils and Marvey "old English red" marker, and decorated wtih polar white Flowersoft and glamourdust;
Sentiment: Craftwork Cards "Oh! My Words!";
Papers: BasicGrey "Eskimo Kisses";
Supplies: Flowers form Prima "Christmas bubble"; pearl brads and gold spacers from The Hobby House; Papermania gems; pearls and ribbon from my stash;
Tools: small circles, large circles and large scalloped circle nestabilities.