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Monday 27 June 2011

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge 49

This time, at Crafty Cardmakers, we want to see your spots and stripes!

We're sponsored this time by One Stop Cards


I decided to do something a little different (for me) and went for some digital paper piecing. My success rate for traditional paper piecing is poor - I've never been happy with a result - so I wondered how it would work.

I searched my digital images for something suitable, and spotted this one from the Windows collection by Lillyboo. I bought the set ages ago, and have only used one until now.
I first sized the image in Photoshop Elements, then created three simple repeating patterns - two dots and one stripes - in 'sunflower' colours. Then I used the magnetic lasso tool to identify an area I wanted to fill, and filled it with an appropriate pattern. In the case of the bean bag, that also meant I'd lost the inner detail, so I repeated the magnetic lasso on the image layer, and copied that part to place on top.

The wall and carpet areas didn't have any detail, so they were simple fills, but I thought a bit of shading in the wall might give the impression of a shallow window recess, so I added some gradients. I think it works fairly well, but it's not too obvious in the photo. Once the result was printed, I coloured the rest of the image with Promarkers, and gave an impression of clouds using the blender pen.

The backing paper is from a freebie pad called Picnic in the Park by Serif. Then I pulled out some Coredinations card. The panel has been embossed in my Wizard and then sanded to bring out the dots. The flowers were cut using some of the Blossom 2 set from Spellbinders. The larger flowers were embossed but not sanded, and I removed every second petal in the upper layer. The top layers were cut from black Coredinations, embossed and sanded to reveal the goldy-yellow lower layer. The leaves were punched from white card and coloured with Promarkers.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
Papercrafting Journey where anything goes,
Rainbow Lady's where they want digis,
I Love Promarkers where anything goes (with Promarkers)
Ruby's Rainbow where they want flowers,
Everybody Art Challenge where anything goes,
Just Some Lines where they want spots and dots.


I hope you can join us!

Sunday 26 June 2011

One Stitch at a Time Challenge 68

It's the last Sunday of the month again, and that means we're previewing next month's fabulous free gift at Stitchy Bear Stamps. Spend $10 in the shop during July, and you'll get a fabulous selection of images and papers, and if you check out the various design team members, you'll see what it includes.

We're sponsored this week by


This time, I worked with some lovely papers from Panda Bear Designs. The theme of the challenge (and the collection) is sympathy/weddings. Two very different occasions, but it's amazing how some images and papers will work well for both if given a slightly different treatment.

Typically, I couldn't make up my mind which occasion to choose, so I made one of each.
First, I made a wedding card. The roses just seemed so beautifully romantic! I kept the design simple so as not to swamp the very pretty paper.  I used an image from Sylvie, coloured with Promarkers, and layered it with silver mirror card and some white card coloured to match the paper. The roses were made from the same white card, again coloured or shaded with Promarkers, punched into basic blossom shapes, and assembled.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
Art Impressions where they want hand-made flowers,
Rainbow Lady's challenge where they want digis,
Everybody Art Challenge where anything goes,
The Crazy Challenge where they want weddings,
Prairie Fairy Fridays where the theme is wedding.




Sympathy cards are very useful things to have in your collection, but it's a variety I'm often reluctant to make. This pretty paper with its lovely soft pink tones seemed perfect, and I teamed it with an image from Floppy Latte Designs which I've coloured with Promarkers. It's matted onto some lovely apricot-gold embossed card. To me, Sympathy cards shouldn't be too fussy, so I didn't add any further embellishment, but again, the paper is so pretty, I don't think it's really lacking at all. Those are just two of the papers Panda Bear Designs has contributed to the July collection, and don't forget all the other designers!

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
Dutch Dare where they want 'clean and simple'
Papercrafting Journey where anything goes,
I Love Promarkers where anything goes (with Promarkers),
Ruby's Rainbow where they want flowers,


I hope you can join us this week.

Tuesday 21 June 2011

Circle Book Card for a Colleague

Someone at work wanted something special for her daughter. She's just finished her A levels and is hoping to go to university after the summer. She's got dreams of writing screenplays, and when asked what her favourite activities of the last few years were, answered, 'Drama, singing, football and skateboarding'. So, armed with that, I set about finding images which would let me make a special card and box for her.

And here's what I finally came up with!

Here, you can see the front of the card, and the box I made to go with it. The schoolgirl image was kindly drawn for me by the very generous Eiglas, and coloured with Promarkers. The background papers on the box lid are from Panda Bear Designs. The drama mask image is from Dulemba. Both the box and the front of the card have the recipient's name on them, but I've brushed them out of the photos.

A view of the open card from above



Here's the first of the 'scenes'. The images here, were again drawn by Eiglas, and coloured with Promakers. The background of the walls and the floor were generated from textures available in Namo Web Editor. The 'Music' sign was generated using Photoshop Elements.
And in close up



And the Skateboarding scene. The image this time is by Hope Jacare, and again coloured with Promarkers. The sky is by Panda Bear Designs, and the sign was generated in Photoshop Elements.
And in close up


And the Art scene:
The artist is from Sassy Cheryl, again coloured with Promarkers. The easel was compiled in Namo Web Canvas and added to the background, and the Art sign was again compiled in Photoshop Elements.
In close up


And the final scene is 'Football' using an image from Digistamp Boutique, again coloured with Promarkers. The sky is again from Panda Bear Designs, and the sign was generated in Photoshop Elements. I included the badge of a team she plays for, but I've brushed out the detail in the photo to preserve privacy.
And finally, a close up of the image.


I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
Crafty Catz where the theme is 'fancy folds',
Just Add Ink where they want us to use some colouring method. (Most backgrounds are computer-printed, but all the girls are coloured with Promarkers.)
Challenge up your Life where they want circles,

My Time to Craft where they want cards with more than one image,
My Grafico where anything goes
A Spoonful of Sugar where they want ribbons and bows,
Everybody Art Challenge where anything goes
Passion for Promarkers where the theme is 'Park Life' (Two scenes - the skateboarding and the football are park themed - hope that's ok.)
.

Monday 20 June 2011

Spotlight Challenges DT

This time, the challenge, set by Jenni, is to put the spotlight on your sentiment. We want the words to be the main focus of whatever you create.

I struggled to get going on this challenge. I'm not much of a one for sentiments on cards at all. I prefer a 'pretty picture' on the front and then I can write something personal inside. I rarely put verses or similar inside either.

So, I decided to keep things simple.
I always like to have a 'thinking of you' card in my box - they're useful for various purposes and can even be used as sympathy cards if the need arises.

I stamped the sentiment in silver ink and embossed it with silver detail powder. I cut it using the Victorian blade that came with my trimmer, and dabbed the outside with some silver ink.

I embossed some white card in my Wizard using embossing folders from Cuttlebug and Papermania, and matted it all on silver mirror card.

I had intended to make some white flowers to finish the card, but once I'd assembled it, I decided I like the slightly stark appearance, so I left well alone!

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
My Mum's Craft Shop where they want spots,
Stamp Insanity where they want clean and simple,
Craft Your Days Away where they want monochrome,

Sunday 19 June 2011

One Stitch at a Time Challenge 67

This week at One Stitch at a Time, our challenge is to make something with wings! That's right - a bird, fairy, butterfly, bat ... as long as it's got wings, you're ok.

And even better, we're sponsored this week by the amazing Joanna Sheen. Remember, she ships around the world without charging extra for postage!


And this week, the artist in the spotlight is Floppy Latte Designs. There are some gorgeous papers and images in her collection, among them some stunning silhouettes.
The image is coloured with Promarkers and I added a little Glamour Dust in gold to her wings. The paper is from Papermania. The butterfly was cut using a Marianne Creatables die in my Wizard. Now, I find those intricate non-Spellbinders dies hard to cut cleanly, so I turned that disadvantage into a positive by cutting it from some fairly thin white card that I use for punching. Then, I coloured the die cut with Promarkers, using the same range of reds I had in the image, and again, added some gold Glamour Dust.

I hope you can join us this week.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
Stampavie and More where they want butterflies,
Craft Your Passion where the theme is 'magical',
Bunny Zoe's Crafts where the theme is 'fairies',
Top Tip Tuesday where there's an open challenge this time,
Delightful Challenges where anything goes,
Southern Girls where anything goes,
Delicious Doodles where they want things that flutter,
Polka Doodles where their theme is 'all of a flutter',
Simply Create where they want us to fly with them,
The Stampman where they want butterflies and dragonflies.

Sunday 12 June 2011

One Stitch at a Time Challenge 66

This week at One Stitch at a Time, we're challengeng you to 'Tag It'. That's right, anything goes providing it's a tag or has a tag somewhere on it. And we're sponsored by
This week, I had a lovely silhouette image from Floppy Latte Designs. And I went kind of crazy!
I started out to make a single gift tag, and then wondered what it would look like in a different colour combination, and this is the result! I did all the manipulations in Photoshop Elements and added some background paper which is taken from some Permission Free samples from a CD called Crafty Image Emporium from Crafty Computer Paper which I altered to match.

But, of course, I couldn't leave it at that, so I made a card to match one of the colour options!
The details are similar to the tags, and I added a border of Coredinations card that I cut using a Martha Stewart punch, and a die cut frame which was embossed in my Wizard. The swirls were also die cut, and the flowers were made from punched shapes and coloured with Promarkers.

Hope you can join us this week.

I'd like to enter the card and tag into following challenges:
Fun with Shapes and More where they want a tag and punch or die cut. (Border and flower elements were all punched.)
Guylou's Inimitability where they want monochromatic projects
The Poodle's Parlour where anything goes,
Stamp Something where they want something punched. (Flower elements and border were punched),
4 Crafty Chicks who want hand made flowers. (All the flowers were made from basic stamped shapes).
Art Impressions who want monochromatic,
Moving Along with the Times where they want anything but a card (entering my range of gift tags)
My Mum's Craft Shop where they want us to punch it! (border and flower elements were all punched)

Wednesday 8 June 2011

Father's Day Card

I was asked to make a Father's Day card for a friend, but I don't have a lot of typical 'men' images, and I don't think he's an entirely typical man anyway. So, I decided to go with this.
The image is one from Dover Books - it came as part of their weekly sampler quite a while ago. It's coloured with Promarkers. The sentiment and  background paper were generated in Photoshop Elements, the backround using a piece of the peacock tail and adding some shading. I've kept the rest of the card fairly simple - just some matting - as I don't want it to be over-fussy.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
Crafting for All Seasons where the theme is Father's Day,
The Paper Variety where they want something 'for the guys',

Passion for Promarkers where they want blue/brown or pink/brown.
Stamping Boutique where the theme is 'Men Only',
There's Magic in the Air where they want something masculine.

Sunday 5 June 2011

One Stitch at a Time Challenge 65

Now, early as it seems to me, this week's challenge at One Stitch at a Time is 'Schools Out/Graduation'. Of course, it's early because in this part of the world, our summer Half Term week is just about over, and tomorrow we go back to school for what always seems to be the longest half term of the year. And graduations won't happen until the university terms are over and final exam results announced - next month for the most part.

We're sponsored this week by Creative Craft World who are offering five romarkers as a prize. Now go on, you can always use five more Promarkers, can't you?


So, when faced with this challenge, my mind went from 'End of Term' straight to 'holidays' and so, when choosing an image, Hope Jacare's 'Island Getaway' seemed ideal.


Isn't that a fabulous image? A little cottage on an island surrounded by the sea, where hopefully the weather will be bright but not too warm, with a lovely breeze. I coloured the image with Promarkers, of course. The background paper is another magazine freebie - this one from Quick Cards some time ago, and designed by Nel Whatmore. I thought the 'doodley' style of the paper was a perfect match for the image.

The flowers and leaves are die cut using a Marianne Creatables die set and the flower centres are punched.

I hope you're able to join us this week.

I'd like to enter the following challenges:
Crafter's Companion where the theme is 'Here Comes Summer' and what's better for summer than an island getaway?
Sir Stampalot where they've got a picture inspiration (I was inspired by the colours.)
Paper Pretties where they have a sketch,
Divas by Design where the theme is 'Florals',
Penny's Paper Crafty Challenges where the theme is 'Here Comes Summer' and what's better for summer than an island getaway?
A Spoonful of Sugar where they want us to use something floral.

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