I ♥ Promarkers #99 - Cute & Cuddly

Wow the week is flying  by ... Wednesday already, which means it is time for another  I ♥ Promarkers Challenge. Thanks as always to everyone who entered last week's Buttons & Lace challenge - there were some really pretty creations, and the winner is on the main challenge blog.

This week we have a theme of

Cute & Cuddly

which ties in very well with the type of images produced by our sponsor, Stamp Fairy, who are offering a $10 gift certificate for their online store where you can find a wide selection of whimsical and cute digi images.

Don't forget to be eligible for our prize you should submit a new piece of work that follows the theme, and where your image is coloured using Promarkers, Flexmarkers, Aquamarkers or Tria pens by Letraset.

Stamp Fairy very kindly provided some digi images for the DT to play with, and I chose the adorable Molly Fairy ... here's my card.

This is really rather a departure for me, as I have always deliberately steered away from stamps where the faces have no mouths - I find eg. Tilda really creepy for some reason (I can still admire other people's Tilda cards for their composition and details, but I don't like the images per se). However this stamp seemed to me to have a more appealing face than many stamps of that type, and in the end I really enjoyed colouring her :-)  Here's a closeup to try to show the sparkle on her wand and wings!

I decided to go for a spring-like colour scheme ... partly to distract myself from the dark miserable days of January, but also so that I could use my brand new Me To You "Spring Chic" papers - just bought a 12" * 12" pad and they are absolutely scrumptious! I think they will be appearing on here a lot over the next few weeks lol!

Stamp: Stamp Fairy "Molly Fairy";

Media: Promarkers (Dusky Pink, Blush, Ivory, Sandstone, Vanilla, Duck Egg, Cool Aqua, Buttercup, Primrose) and Flexmarkers ( Soft Aqua, Pale Citrus, Lemon Chiffon, Tea Rose, Nutmeg); glamour dust on wings and wand;

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

Supplies: flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts & Sweet Lilac; lace from The Ribbon Box; pearls from The Hobby House; ribbon from my stash;

Tools: X-Cut nested star die; Marianne D "Branch Forest" (LR0150); Martha Stewart small monarch butterfly punch; Cuttlebug "daisies" embossing folder.

Challenges:

Craft Your Passion #92 - Mythical Creatures

Cute Card Thursday #198 - What's New?

( papers and star shaped die)

Crazy 4 Challenge #118 - New Toys / New Techniques

Crafty Creations #152 - Something New
Papertake Weekly - Die Cute Special
Really Reasonable Ribbon #39 - Sparkle & Ribbon
Passion For Promarkers #131 - Inspired By A Song
("Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star")
Sweet Stampin' - Spots & Dots 
(2 of my 3 papers have dots on)
Simon Says - Spots &/or Stripes
(as above, plus one of my papers has both spots & stripes! :-)  )

One Stop Craft Challenge #164 - Bingo! 

(flowers, diecuts/punches, embossing) 

Dream Valley #23 - Anything Goes

CES #67 - Anything Goes

Magical Mondays - Anything Goes

Anything Goes #58 - Anything Goes
Sketch Saturday #189 - sketch 

Looking forward to seeing all your cute and cuddly creations ... have a great week! 

Oldie But A Goodie - Ribbon and Lace

Good morning everyone - hope it is sunny where you are ... we had a lovely day here yesterday :-)  It's time for another Oldie But A Goodie Challenge - thanks so much to everyone who entered our Anything Goes challenge last time - fab projects as always !

This fortnight we have a theme I'm sure you'll love - I definitely didn't need any encouragement to get going with this one! It is

Ribbon and lace

Ooh! my favourites (along with flowers, pearls etc... etc... lol!!)

This fortnight we are sponsored by Poppy's Cabin - do be sure to check the main blog for further details and all the other ladies' gorgeous ribbony and lacy samples :-) And just a reminder ... in order to be eligible for the prize you should link to a new piece of work that features a stamped image (NO digis please) that is at least 6 months old ... that's why we're called An Oldie But A Goodie ;-)

When I got to thinking about my DT card for this challenge I decided to ink up a stamp which is both old in terms of initial release (1996!!) and also old in terms of the physical stamp in my hand ... but it is new to me. My local craft shop sells a few second hand stamps, and I spotted this pre-loved (but very well cared for as there was hardly a mark on it) vintage Penny Black stamp .... and they were asking £2 for it - that's got to be one of the best crafty bargains I've ever had!! I also got some new summery papers by Prima so I couldn't wait to get started ... the final element of inspiration was this week's Sketch Saturday sketch, which had perfect elements to incorporate as ribbon and lace.  I felt this created a really fresh summery feel, especially when I piled on the flowers :-) Here's the result .... I'm actually rather pelased wtih this one for once :-)

I also noticed that there are a number of stitchy challenges around right now ... and as the image itself has a bit of stitching on it I thought I'd get down to a bit of faux stitching as well (I don't do real stitching lol!!) Unfortunately it doesn't show up too well (my pink marker was running out!!) so here's a closeup just to prove it is there (along with the distressed paper edges)  ...

Recipe:

Main image: Penny Black "A Gift of Flowers" (586K) coloured with Promarkers and Copics;

Sentiment: LotV sentiment circles;

Papers: Prima "Sparkling Spring";

Supplies: flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts and Crafts4U2Do; lace from Crafts4u2Do; ribbons and pearls from my stash;

Tools: pokey tool used to make faux stitching; Tim Holtz distressing tool used to rough up the paper edges.

Challenges:

Sketch Saturday #163 - sketch

Simon Says - A Stitch in Time

Simon Says Stamp and Show - Stitching

One Stop Craft Challenge #139 - Summertime

Totally Gorjuss #88 - Summertime

Crazy 4 Challenges #95 - Summer

Pile It On #28 - Favourite Technique

(colouring with Promarkers)

Penny Black Challenge - Favourite Distressing Technique

(distressing paper edges with TH distressing tool)

CES #44 - Recipe: 1 image, 2 ribbons, lace or twine + 3 DP's

Cute Card Thursday #172 - Lace

Penny Black at Allsorts (July) - Flower Power (2nd entry)

Charisma #27 - All About Flowers

Creative Craft - Pretty Blossoms

Crafty Pad #129 - Lots of Texture

Kaboodle #75 - Use Those Scissors

(my vintage image wasn't a perfect rectangle so I cut it out by hand rather than with a  paper cutter)

Craft your Passion #66 - Just For You

ABC - Y is for Yesterday

Cupcake #150 - Your Favourite Challenge

(wow I could choose so many ... but howzabout 1. Flowers, 11. Vintage, 36. Summer, 61. Going Girly, 69. Flower Power, 103. Lace, 138. Lots of Layers ... all great themes in my opinion :-)  )

Hope you can join in the challenge this fortnight - look forward to seeing your creations.

Now for something a little bit different ...

Just a very quick post today to showcase a couple of the latest crafty bits and bobs I have bought recently.

During my little crafty jaunt on Saturday to Crafts4U2Do, I just couldn't resist some fabulous glitter paper by a company called Robin's Nest. In a 12*12" sheet it really looks like a sunset sky, and is much more sparkly than the picture does justice to. I also knew straight away that I would love to do a resist technique with my recently purchased Unity "insightful meadows" stamps; so I popped a couple of suitable colour distress inks into my basket. Lastly, I could immediately visualise my image framed by my fab new nestabilities squares which I bought earlier in the week but hadn't got round to cutting out yet.

All in all this was a pretty easy card to make although very different from my ususal style - the paper and frame are so stunning that I thought they pretty much spoke for themselves and the card didn't need much else. (I never thought I would hear myself say things like that ... I think LIM-itis must be really getting hold of me - think I'll go and have a lie down lol!!)

I have also taken the opportunity to enter the Simon Says Stamp & Show Challenge for the first time - it hasn't really been my kind of style up until now, but I'm liking using he distress ink sand would like to get more into it :-)

Recipe:

Main image: Unity "Insighful meadows", embossed with detail clear powder and then resist inked with "Scattered Straw" and "Marigold" distress inks;

Sentiment: Penny Black;

Paper: Robin's Nest;

Supplies: ribbon and pearls from my stash;

Tools: Fleur-de-Lys square nestabilities.

Challenges:

CES #31 - Monochromatic

One Stop Craft Challenge #126 - Monochrome

The Stamp Man - Embossing

Simon Says Stamp & Show - Distressing

Thanks for looking :-)

All White Now

I really love a challenge to make an "all white" card .... it makes me feel so Christmassy!! I love the challenge of adding interest through texture rather than a lot of colour, though it's not easy to come up with anything "different".

I have only ever made one "all white" card before and the slightly unusual elelment I used was a feather ... I was so pleased with my own (rare) inventiveness I decided to do it again this time lol!! A feather very quickly suggests to me using an angel image ... so for a Christmas card there was only one way for me to go, and here it is!

I used the sketch from this fortnight's Sunday Sketch & Stamp #40


and would also like to enter

Simon Says - Are You All White?
Craft Your Days Away #7 - All White
I ♥ ProMarkers #39 - Snowflakes (my background embossing folder)
Flutterby Wednesday's #129 - open theme (angel, fairy or butterfly)
LotV #72 - One for the Girls (2nd entry)
CRAFT #75 - Dry Embossing
Crafty Cardmakers' Spotlight - Embossing
One Stop Craft Challenge #105 - Embossing
Thoughtful Thursdays - J is for Jewels

Recipe:
Main image: LotV "Christmas Angels - Praying", coloured with Promarkers & Copics, wings and edging decorated with glamour dust; and headdress decorated with tiny pearls;
Sentiment: Elzybells;
Papers: none - pearlescent white card embossed with Cuttlebug folders "Snowflakes" and "Christmas Stars";
Supplies: hellebores flower from Wild Orchid Crafts; feather, gems and small roses from my stash;
Tools: large scallop circle nestabilities; Martha Stewart "eyelet lace" edge punch.

That's all for now .. back tomorrow with my last GDT card for Papertake Weekly :-)