Bella & Butterfly

hi everyone, yesterday I needed to do some DT work, so when I had finished I decided to make a li’l ATC while I had got my supplies out on the table. When I started making ATC’s back in April I had a ruffle through my stamp boxes and identified a few that I thought would be particularly suitable for that format. This was one that stood out as its size is just about perfect. 😀

Up to now I have tried to achieve an "arty" look with my ATC's, so this one is a bit of a departure ... the image is so cute!!

I stamped my image and then cut the card to slightly smaller than standard ATC size. I coloured the image with Promarkers and then created a “mottled sky” effect by lifting some ink with rubbing alcohol and a cotton bud. I attached a sentiment sticker, matted my image panel onto a snippet of pink linen card stock and finished with Glossy Accents highlights on the butterfly wings and flowers.

Stamps: Wild Rose Studio “Bella & Butterfly”;

Media: Promarkers and Flexmarkers; Glossy Accents highlights;

Tools: Tim Holtz “Small Talk” sticker.

Challenges I would like to enter: 

A Gem Of a Challenge #13 2022 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

A Tiny Craft #10 - All Things Tim (2nd entry)

Simon Says (Wednesday) - Anything Goes

Snippets Playground #431 - Anything Goes Using Snippets

Time Out #217 - Be Kind

An exciting (!) day of household chores ahead today … roll on the weekend! Take care and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Krafty Christmas

                             

Good morning fellow crafters!

Here I am again with a card I’ve never blogged before as I find my way back into cardmaking … and today it is a Christmas card, which makes me think I’m really going to try to make some Christmas cards this year. 

I just love these adorable penguins … “Christmas cuddles” by Wild Rose Studio, and Lili of the Valley Kraft papers … I have been away from crafting for so long that I have still got some physical LotV paper pads!!  Sadly I can no longer list the makes of dies I use as a couple years ago I bought a fab storage caddy for them with magnetic storage pages, but I didn’t make an inventory of what was what!

Challenges I would like to enter:

52 Christmas Card Throwdown - June technique tic tac toe 

(gems, patterned paper, die cuts)

 A Gem of a Challenge #13 - Anything Goes

Allsorts #630 - Use Design Papers

Christmas Crafts All Year Round  - Something Beginning with K or L (Kraft paper)

Corrosive Challenge #6 - Anything Goes

Crafty Hazlenut’s Christmas Challenge #548 - Anything Goes (Christmas) with optional snowflakes

Penny’s Challenge #499 - Anything Goes with paper

Sparkles Christmas Challenge #125 - Krafty Christmas - SPOTLIGHT WINNER

The Holly and Ivy #97 - Anything Christmas Goes -TOP 5

We Love Chocolate Baroque (June) - Hand coloured image

Winter Wonderland - Christmas birds - TOP 3

That’s all for today - thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Annabelle's Meadow

Good afternoon everyone - hope you're all enjoying the weekend. This is my first post for 9 days as I have been suffering from a distinct lack of mojo ... had a sore throat and raging earache this week so I've felt more like curling up in front of the TV after work rather than crafting! Anyhow I have eventually got myself slightly into gear, and here is a card.

 

 

not a great picture I'm afraid as everywhere in the house is either glaring sun (yippee!!) or in shadow ... the greens on this card are not really true but alas it's the best I can do!  I decided to have a go with this extremely pretty stamp "Annabelle's Meadow" by Wild Rose Studio, which was a freebie in this month's Quick Card Made Easy magazine.

 

 

 

Stamps: Wild Rose Studio "Annabelle's meadow" (free with issue 112 of Quick Cards Made Easy magazine); LotV "Everyday Sentiment Circles";

Media: Promarkers and Flexmarkers;

Papers: LotV "Perfect Pair";

Supplies: all flowers by Wild Orchid Crafts; berries by Magnolia from The Glitterpot; pearls from The Hobby House; silky crush ribbon from The Ribbon Girl; doily from my stash;

Tools: martha Stewart "monarch butterfly" punch.

 

 

Challenges:

Sunday Sketch & Stamp #152 - Sketch

 

Allsorts #203 - A Passion For Flowers

Bearly Mine #82 - Spring Flowers

Penny Black & More At Allsorts (April) - Blossoms & Bows (2nd entry)

Divas By Design - Butterflies and Birds

Oldie But A Goodie - Make It Girly

(sentiment stamp and pearls are over 6 months old)

Crafty Ribbons #43 - Pink & Green

Top Tip Tuesday #99 - Say It Isn't Sew! (non-machine sewing)

Live & Love #10 - Bingo! (pink, 2 papers, pearls)

 

That's all for today -  hope you're enjoying the long overdue spring weather we're having :-)

Hugs,

Fifty Shades of ..... Pink!

Hi everyone, hope you're enjoying your weekend. I have spent quite a portion of this past week glued to the Olympics on TV and cheering on our athletes to ever-greater glory - wow what a Games it's been!! I'm rather sad that it's all coming to a close .. just the Closing Ceremony to go, so I'll be popping in front of the TV one last time to watch in a little while.

Meanwhile I spotted a new challenge about a week ago devoted to lovers of pink - woo hoo!! That's me for sure!!  In between watching Tom Daley diving and Mo Farah and Usain Bolt running last night, here's the birthday card I made for my mum.

Not a great picture as easel cards are always so difficult to photograph - here's a closer view of the front.

It all started from this adorable Wild Rose Studio elephant stamp which I was determined to use on my mum's card. Originally I intended making an 8" * 8" card, but this image was a bit too small for that, so I maximized my space by making an easel card instead.

Stamps: Wild Rose Studio "Bella With Butterfly"; LotV sentiment circle;

Media: Promarkers and Flexmarkers; die cut letters and butterflies dusted with glamour dust;

Papers: Papermania "Lucy Cromwell";

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

Tools: Martha Stewart "large monarch butterfly" punch; Leone Em "Ash Family" leaf punch; Cheery Lynn "Lace Flourish Corners" die; Cuttlebug "Hippie Chick" alphabet dies.

Challenges:

In the Pink #1 - Fifty Shades of Pink

Stampin' For The Weekend #15 - Monochromatic

Sweet Stampin' - Things With Wings

Divas By Design #47 - For A Female

Simon Says - Bingo! 

(ribbon / gems / punches OR punches / glitter / blooms)

Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes

That's all for me for today - thanks for looking.

Bella Bella!

Hi everyone, I'd like you to say hello to my new best friend ... Bella With Butterfly by Wild Rose Studio. Isn't she just the cutest and totally adorable??

I'm ashamed to say that Bella has been sitting in my stamp box for two or three months now, so I thought I would let her come out to play for the Bank Holiday weekend :-)  Unlike the rest of us she probably isn't fazed by the torrential torrential rain we've been having!!

Stamps: Wild Rose Studio "Bella With Butterfly"; LotV entiment circle;

Media: Promarkers and Flexmarkers;

Papers: unknown (bought as individual sheets at a craft fair);

Supplies: all flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts; pearls & large pearl brad from The Hobby House; ribbon from The Ribbon Box; lace from John Lewis;

Tools: Martha Stewart "doily lace" edge punch; Leone Em "Ash Family" leaf punch.

Challenges:

Wild Orchid Crafts #51 - Bingo!

(I actually fulfil 4 lines with this card: ribbon & lace / flowers / pink; wings / pink / pearls or bling; lilac / glitter / pearls or bling; wings / flowers / lilac ... do I get a bonus prize lol!?!)

Whimsy #41 - Bingo!

(pearls / image / flowers or flowers / lace / pink)

Pretty Little Ribbon #11 - Lots of Layers
Crafter's Companion #25 - Time To Embellish
Papertake Weekly - sketch

That's all for today, although I have  managed to make one or two more cards over the Bank Holiday to show you during the week.  Enjoy your day whatever you're doing.

 

With Love At Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone - I am scheduling this for Christmas Day ... and hope you will all be having a happy and peaceful time.

I would like today to show you the Christmas card I made for my darling husband ... it has almost become a tradition in our house that I make it on Christmas Eve evening, but this year I got ahead of myself and made it on Friday lol! I never publish it before Christmas Day .. although he never looks on here it just somehow wouldn't seem right lol!

I always really enjoy making this card, as it gives me a rare opportunity to express myself romantically - I just love choosing a suitable image and embellishments! This year I bought this adorable Wild Rose Studio stamp and Magnolia mistletoe die; and I  used some Magnolia mistletoe papers left over from last year!

Stamps: Wild Rose Studio "Christmas Cuddles"; Pink Gem sentiment;

Media: Promarkers and Flexmarkers; polar white Flowersoft mixed with glamour dust on hats and snow on the ground;

Papers: Magnolia;

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

Tools: large, small and lacy circle nestabilities; Magnolia Doohickey "mistletoe with berries" die.

Challenges:

Papertake Weekly - Last Christmas ... Card of the Year

Totally Gorjuss #111 - For Someone Special

Creative Belli #133 - Merry Christmas!

Divas By Design #17 - Merry Christmas!

Top Tip Tuesday #65 - Anything Christmas

Deep Ocean #15 - Warm Wishes

One Stop Craft Challenge #163 - Winter Wishes
My Time To Craft #169 - Winter Pals

Crafty Catz #113 - Santa's Hat

Craft Your Passion #89 - Things With Wings 

(penguins have wings!! ;-)  )

Simon Says - Bingo! 

(Ribbon / Gems / Glitter & Sparkle)

Stampin' For The Weekend #23 - Anything Goes

Crafts & Me #66 - Anything Goes

Charisma #50 - Anything Goes

Creative Inspirations # 43 - Anything Goes

Scrapbook Sisters #66 - Anything Goes

Secret Crafter #166 - Anything Goes
My Mum's #37 - Anything Goes

Really Reasonable Ribbon #38 - Anything Goes + Ribbon (2nd entry)

Well that's about it from me - have a wonderful Christmas.

Hugs,

 

Penguin Fun

I absolutely adore this cute Pickle stamp from Wild Rose Studio - he looks like he is having so much fun delivering his sleigh full of presents. This image is one of several I coloured in a few weeks ago and I have been gradually working my way though them since. A few days ago while having a bit of a crafty clear out I found several squares of embossed pearlised white card sitting ready to make up into cards ... so I quickly put the two together to make another Chrimbo card. I tried to add a bit of interest with these yummy poinsettas from my local craft shop Crafts4U2Do, who are now stocking their own fabulous brand of flowers called "Sweet Lilac", and finished off with my new Cheery Lynn die which is just sooo gorgeous and I'm really pleased with it :-)

Not the best light for photos again ... for some reason I have a real problem getting a true colour when photographing red, as  it always comes out far too bright. I have photo-edited it to calm it down although it is still too light, but that has made my green go a bit off-kilter lol!

Stamps: Wild Rose Studio "Pickle with Sleigh";

Media: Promarkers and Flexmarkers; glamour dust all around!

Supplies: poinsettas by Sweet Lilac dusted wtih Stickles; gems from The Hobby House; ribbon and peel off my stash;

Tools: Cheery Lynn die "holly flourish"; Cuttlebug Snowflake folders.

Challenges:
Joanna Sheen Challenge #1 - It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas

Pollycraft Monday #120 - Christmas Fun

Stamptacular #140 - Anything Christmas

Craft Your Passion #86 - 'Tis The Season

Ooh-La-La #94 - Lots of Sparkle

Dream Valley #21 - Sparkle
Colour Create #85 - Red, White and Green
Cooking it Up With Katie #86 - Anything Goes

Simon Says - Anything Goes

The Ribbon Reel #16 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)
Scrapbook Sisters #62 - Anything Goes
Crafty Creations #146 - Picture inspiration

(I was inspired by the red for the flowers, the green holly wreath, and the wood for the sleigh)

Thanks for looking - have a great day.

A Cutesy Day At The Zoo

Good morning everyone - here's another card I made during my Saturday craftathon. I really do think this Wild Rose Studio stamp is totally adorable :-) Unfortunately the light wasn't great when I was taking the pic so it is a little dark ... but I guess that's winter for you!

I have been entering the Penny Black At Allsorts monthly challenges since they started, and have spotted that they have now opened up the challenges to other makes of stamps ... so I am entering this card for the November challenge. Feels really weird entering a card that doesn't have a Penny Black stamp on it ... but as they allow three entries per challenge I'm sure I'll be back with a PB card before the month is over !! ;-)

Stamps: Wild Rose Studio "Pickle With Sledge";

Media: Promarkers and Flexmarkers;

Papers: Dovecraft "Jolly Happy Christmas";

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

Tools: Cuttlebug "ice crystal" cut 'n' emboss set; Crafts Too "Snowflakes" embossing folder.

Challenges:
Penny Black & More at Allsorts (November) - All Creatures Great & Small

Passion For Promarkers #124 - A Day At The Zoo

Fun With Shapes & More #95 - Animalistic Christmas
CES #60 - Song Or Film
("March of the Penguins")
Charisma #44 - Cutesy!

Card Makin' Mamas #32 - Cut It Out (die cuts)
Cuttlebug Spot - Anything Goes

Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes + bling (3rd entry)

Thanks for looking!

WRS Candy Showcase - and a reminder

I'm currently offering some Christmas candy until midnight Saturday (details of how to enter are here) ... so I thought I would make a card using my version of the adorable Wild Rose Studio Pickle stamp (my candy winner will of course get brand new one!)

I actually coloured a few images from this stamp - he suits both contemporary and traditional colour schemes. Here he is in a vibrant funky colour scheme of lilac and green (made specially for the Ribbon Girl colour challenge !! :-)  ).

Stamps: Wild Rose Studio "Pickle with Sledge"; LotV Christmas Sentiment Circles;

Medium: Promarkers and Flexmarkers; Pickle's hat decorated with Polar White flowersoft mixed with glamour dust;

Papers: Bo Bunny;

Supplies: sparkly gems from The Hobby House; ribbon from my stash;

Tools: Memory Box "Snowflake Border" die from Dies To Die For.

Challenges:

The Ribbon Girl - Jingle All The Way To Christmas!

The Ribbon Girl #12 - Lilac and Green

Christmas Stampin' All Year Long - Sparkly!

Ooh-La-La #91 - Let It Snow!

Secret Crafter #157 - Wrap Up Warm

Christmas Card Challenge #47 - Recipe: 2 DP's 1 ribbon and a bird

Simon Says - Anything Goes
(with optional use of Bo Bunny)

Here's a close up of my fabulous new Memory Box die - when I bought it last week I also received some little die cuts of others in the range (no doubt to tempt me to further purchases lol!) and they really are amazingly intricate. This pic also tries to capture some of the sparkle of the glitter card ... the whole card is very sparkly but alas the poor light hasn't shown that up at all well.

And talking of candy .... Charmed Cards and Crafts is giving away this absolutely AMAZING mega candy here .... you don't want to miss this!!

They are asking people to follw their blog and link back to one of your own projects where you have coloured an image - well this card shows an image of mine coloured using my latest pens - I'm quite pleased with the blending :-)

That's all for today - hope you will hop over to my candy post and enter. Thanks for visiting. 

Sunlight and Snow

I had a happy afternoon on Saturday wandering around the stalls at the Happy Stampers North West craft fair at Port Sunlight.

By far my biggest splurge was with Jill on the Hobby House stall where I worked on a “needs and wants” basis – ie. I visited early to buy the things I “need” such as Neenah card and a whole variety of pearls, gems and charms ... and then I called back later for my “wants” in the form of some Whimsy ticket stamps, a couple of sweet Fizzy Moon stamps and two yummy paper pads!

I also managed to call by the Lili of the Valley stall where I had a nice little chat with the lovely Dawny P, and I was really good as I managed to come away from there with only two stamps in my basket (how did that happen lol??!!).

Finally I said hello to the lovely Jayne from Stamposaurus, who had given me very quick and personalised service when I NEEDED a new set of newly released Flexmarkers to arrive quickly before my holiday .. she had an excellent show offer on including a couple of free Ellie stamps, and when I mentioned  I must have been her first phone order on the day of release she very kiudly let me have one free Ellie stamp - fab!

However I couldn’t wait to start inking my LotV purchases (even though I realised when I got home that I was out of EZMount and had never thought to buy any at the fair – doh!).

Here’s the resulting card I made for this week’s LotV challenge – very pleased as this stamp is actually not too intricate and therefore reasonably quick to colour :-). I deliberately chose the papers to fit with the theme at Paper Sundaes of “favourite colour combo”. Mine is pink and green – admittedly I would normally use more pastel shades, but the concept is still there!

Stamps: LotV "Shine A Light" and "Christmas Sentiment Circles";

Media: Promarkers, Flexmarkers, glamour dust and a li’l bit of polar white Flowersoft forming snow on the ground;

Papers: Wild Rose Studio “Milton’s Christmas”;

Supplies: sparkly gems and large gem brad from The Hobby House; pearls and ribbon from my stash;

Tools: Martha Stewart “eyelet lace” punch; Marianne D “miniature poinsettas”.

Challenges:

Lili of the Valley #115 – Let It Snow

Wild Rose Studio – Festive Frolics (+ blog hop!)

Paper Sundaes #90 – Favourite Colour Combo (Pink & Green)

Jingle Belles – I’m Dreaming of a Pink Christmas

Marianne’s Design Divas #2 – Bloom & Grow (2nd entry)

Top Tip Tuesday #55 – Use DP’s & Make Your Own Flowers

Simon Says – Sparkle & Bling (3rd entry)

Pretty Little Ribbon (October) – Anything Goes

By The Cute & Girly (October) – Anything Goes (+ blog hop!)

Sketch & Stash #72

Well that's me done for today - off to catch up with some ironing now, but hope to colour some images later :-)