I ♥ Promarkers Challenge #68 - Sparkle & Bling

Get out your glitter, gems sparkle and bling for this week's I ♥ Promarkers challenge, load up the bling and go completely over the top if you wish!  Our Sponsor is Joanna Sheen and the prize is a voucher to spend in her store.

I really need to get started on my Christmas cards for this year to avoid the end of year rush, so I thought I'd use this week's challenge to get one made for my stock.

The image is a Magnolia stamp, coloured with Promarkers, with lots of Glamour Dust over Glossy Accents on her coat trims and the snow under her boots.  There's also GD on the punched snowflakes and for added sparkle there's Crystal Stickles around the edges of the image and sentiment layers. 

The papers were from my stash, layers were cut with nesties and the trees were cut with a Marianne Designs die.  The sentiment is from Lili of the Valley and the red gems were from my stash.

I hope you'll enter our challenge this week, we love popping over to check out your blogs.

The Black Prince

Welcome to my last project for May for Queen Kat Design's Dark Ink Sorority Blog, boy has this month flown by fast!  I thought I'd bring you a project using the fantastic Brat Prince by Che Gilson as I'll have new release stamps for June to play with next week.

For today's project I decided on a monochrome theme, colouring the image with shades of grey Copics and leaving white spaces as a contrast. The background layer is black pearl card embossed with a Tim Holtz embossing folder. The stars were cut from scraps of the background card using a set of nesties. The sentiment is from one of the monthly Myka Jelina kits from QKD and both the image and sentiment layers were edged around with black Stickles.

Clean, simple and striking I think - how do you feel about monochrome? Are you a fan or do you prefer more colour? Do leave me a comment and let me know, I love to hear what other crafters like.

Thanks for stopping by today, enjoy your Tuesday whatever you are planning.

LIM with Love

Firstly, I'd like to welcome all my Followers back - don't know where Mr Blogger put you for a while, but it is a real pleasure to see all your lovely piccies back where you belong when I log in to my Blog !

This week's Less is More challenge is focused on placement, check out the details here.

For my entry I used a plain white 6x6 base card and added my design element to the centre. 

Using a set of nesties I cut out a white layer on which to stamp both the image and sentiment and a slightly larger one from SU! Peach Parfait cardstock.  The rose is a stamp from Queen Kat Designs and the sentiment is part of a LOTV Christmas stamp (I just masked the unwanted words as I inked it).  I coloured the rose with Copics and stamped the sentiment with Memento Red Brick ink, adding the 'X' freehand with a Copic.

I assembled the layers, curling slightly to add to the impression of an open page, and added silicone glue under the centres of the pages to raise them up.  Finished with just a little Stardust Stickles touched around the edges and on the rose petals to lift and give more definition.

This is the card I've made for mr tom as we shall be celebrating our 42nd Wedding Anniversary on 14 June, I hope he likes it, I don't think it's too feminine - what do you think?  I don't see a problem with giving flowers to a man!

A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes....

Today's card is another CAS card.  I so enjoyed the challenge last week over on Less is More which had a butterflies theme that I went on and made another !

The image and sentiment are from a set of stamps from Queen Kat Designs.  The image was inked once and stamped twice so the second imprint was paler, then the sentiment added to the bottom right.

The butterfly was punched from a scrap of patterened heavyweight paper from my stash and I created a body for it using a Waco Pearlmaker Pen.

Another card to add to my box of 'any occasion' cards, which are always useful to have in stock.

I'm going to try and get an entry made for this week's Less is More Challenge today, which I'll post up later.

Thanks for visiting today, I do so appreciate all my Followers, although Blogger seems to have deleted them all at the moment - I really hope it gets fixed soon and they come back, I miss you all !

Tag for a wee giftie......

As I promised yesterday, I'm sharing with you today the gift tag I created to attach to the birthday gift for my pal Linda. 

I went with Linda and a couple more lovely pals for a delightful indian meal on wednesday evening to celebrate Linda's birthday and we had a really lovely time.  The restaurent we visited is called Veggie Perrins in Plymouth and if you ever find yourself in the vicinity, I can highly recommend it.  They have quite an extensive and interesting menu, despite being totally vegetarian, and the staff are extremely friendly and helpful.  Prices are exceptionally reasonable too !

For my tag I used a set of Spellbinders shapeabilities dies, three colours of SU! cardstock, Magnolia Doo Hickey flower dies and a mini Tilda stamp.  I coloured Tilda with Copics before cutting out and adding over the diecut layers.  The eyelet at the top to reinforce the hole for the ribbon was attached with a Crop-a-dile.

Thanks for stopping by today, I'll be back with another project to share with you tomorrow.

A Little Birdie Told Me....

It was my lovely pal Linda's birthday last monday and I made this card especially for her.  I know she loves blue and is very fond of Mo Manning images, so what else would I choose to use for her card? Simples !

I coloured the image with Copics before cutting it out and attaching over a scalloped oval embossed with a tiny rosebuds embossing folder.  This was added over a scalloped layer cut from blue cardstock.  I used more of the blue cardstock and a Nellies Choice border die for the vertical strip.  The flower was created using a mixture of punched flowers and a Waco Pearlmaker pen, the fronds punched with a Martha Stewart punch. 

The sentiment is by Little Claire's Designs and is just so perfect to go with this lovely Mo's image.  I stamped it with blue ink onto another scrap of the blue cardstock before cutting out with a nestie and adding some blue Stickles around the edge.  Background paper was from my stash.

I'll be back with another project tomorrow - think I might share the gift tag I made to go on Linda's pressie. - what do you think?

Fergus with Bouquet

This week's Cute Card Thursday Challenge has a sketch to work with and our prize Sponsor is Kraftin'Kimmie Stamps.  You can check out the sketch here.

For my DT card I've used this uber cute 'Fergus with Bouquet' stamp from Wild Rose Studios.  I'm a real dragon fan and this little chap is tooo cute for words !

I coloured Fergus with Copics and added a little Glossy Accents to the bow on his bouquet.  I mounted him on a layer cut with a Nellie's Choice die from Pear Pizzazz cardstock from SU!  All the background papers were from my stash, I apologise but I don't know the manufacturer.

The sentiment is from a set from Little Claires and I stamped it with Memento Cottage Ivy ink and mounted on a slightly larger scalloped layer cut with a nestie.  As the final touch, I added a little Crystal Stickles around the edge of the image layer and the sentiment.

Thanks for checking out my project today.

I ♥ Promarkers Challenge #67 - Pearls

It's time for a new challenge over on I ♥ Promarkers and this week our theme is 'Pearls' - using pearls on your creations somewhere.  Our prize Sponsor is Digi Doodle Shop.

Pearls always suggest weddings to me and more at the moment as it is the time of year when a large number of Brides are floating down the aisle.  I do love the old tradition that says the Bride should wear 'Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed and Something Blue'.  I know that friends and family members who have married in recent years combined two of these by wearing a blue garter under their dress.  This gave me inspiration for my DT card this week.

This lovely garter image from DDS comes together with a beautiful bouquet, but I decided to focus just on the garter for my card, coloured in shades of blue.  I added Glossy Accents to the ribbon bow on the front, but it isn't showing up too well in the main picture.

Here's a close up shot of the image and the flowers in the bottom left.  The image layer was cut using a hearts circles nestie die and I added half pearls around the edge.

The background paper was a magazine freebie and the pale blue pearly patterned layer was cut with a Spellbinders die.  The flowers were all punched using Martha Stewart and other punches and layered up, and with Waco Pearlmaker Pen faux pearls in the centres.  The gorgeous pearl embellished pins were made by my lovely DT team member Karen - she does sell them if you're interested !  Leave me a comment if you'd like to get some and I'll pass your contact details to her.

Although it isn't really seen, there is a swirl under the flowers cut with a Marianne's die.  I didn't have a stamp of the sentiment I wanted, so created this one on my computer and cut it out with a smaller die from the nestie hearts circles set.  The piece of rich lace was from my stash as was the heart shaped doily in the top right.

I'm looking forward to seeing your entries this week, do pop over to the I ♥ Promarkers Challenge blog and check out all the other DT cards and get the full details of this week's challenge.

Aulora in a different guise.....

Helllooooo.... it's tuesday again - don't they come round fast - that means I'm showcasing my project on the Queen Kat Designs Dark Ink Sorority Blog.   I also like to share these projects on here for my Followers and other visitors who may not visit the DIS blog.

I hope you'll forgive me, but I just had to bring the lovely Aulora out to play once again.  This time round, I stamped Aulora on to kraft card - I've been experimenting a little lately with stamping and colouring on different colours of card. She was stamped with Memento ink in Rich Cocoa and coloured with Copics.

Here's a closer view of the image which shows it more clearly. Colouring on kraft cardstock gives much softer shading, which I really like. I added touches of Spica Glitter Pen on her gems, wings and the lacing on her bodice.

The flowers were created using various sizes of Martha Stewart Hydrangea punches and layered up, the fronds were cut with another MS punch. I added a teeny tiny pearl in the centre of each flower and some slightly larger pearls in the corners of the top layer.

The base card is a 5x7 and I covered the front and inside with papers by Papermania. The scalloped border layer was cut from the same kraft card and edged with an EK Success punch and a length of brown ribbon tied around.

I used three larger pearls inside for the 'stop' to hold the easel front and more small flowers punched with the MS Hydrangea punch to decorate the inside.

That's it from me today, enjoy your tuesday, I'll be back with a new project tomorrow if you'd care to stop by again.

Flutter By Lovely Butterfly.....

As I was rummaging through my box of bits, I came across a little pack of Anita's Decorative Toppers which included these lush butterflies.

Now, I'm not normally one for using toppers as my main passion is rubber stamping and colouring.  I just love these toppers and a design for a card immediately sprang to mind when I saw them.

I used a deckle edge C6 card, stamped a sentiment from a Dark Room Door set in the bottom right corner using Memento Cottage Ivy ink.  I used a ball tool to emboss around the bodies of the flat diecuts to give them some shape and dimension.  I felt they needed a little 'something' else so added touches of gold Stickles before attaching to the base card.

So, that's my second (and probably last!) entry for the Less is More challenge for this week.

I hope you've enjoyed your visit today, do come back soon - it's lovely to see you.

Love is like a butterfly......

Happy Sunday morning dear Reader, I hope you are having a super weekend and that, like me, you have a bright sun-shiny day so far.  There are some dark clouds flying around, but I'm hoping they'll just pass on by !

This week the Less is More challenge week 16 theme is Butterflies.  Now I know that not everyone is keen on butterflies but I personally do love them, especially in the wild.  There's something quite magical about having a butterfly land close by and standing quiet and still you can examine it's beautiful colours and patterns.

I also love White on White (WoW) - as my regular readers will already know!!  and I do have this gorgeous embossing folder which features...butterflies.  So, a match made in heaven I think. 

The base card is a deckle edge C6 bright white, which I embossed with the folder in my Cuttlebug.  I added a piece of white lace across the bottom and, as it's a 'thank you' card for the cousins who were kind enough to have us to stay with them for a few days when we recently visited Arizona, I attached an appropriate sentiment.  The tiny butterfly was created with a Nellie Snellen punch & emboss set and there are touches of Stardust Stickles on the bodies of the butterflies and around the sentiment.

I hope you like today's project and that you'll leave me a comment if you have a moment to spare.  I'm now off into the garden to enjoy the sunshine while it lasts, and do a little weeding !  Whatever your plans, I hope you have a wonderful day.

Difficult cards to make......

There are some types of cards which I think we all struggle to make, Sympathy cards are in this category although we do all need them occasionally.  I have a dear friend who is a Church Minister in Spain and she asked me to make a stock for her as she finds it difficult to buy this type of card over there.  The nature of her work and the average age amongst her congregation means that she, sadly, sends out quite a few Sympathy cards throughout a year and asked me to make about 15 cards for her.

I think the Clean and Simple (CAS) style is just perfect for this type of card and I settled on six different designs and alternated the wording on the front and inside the cards and used different colour inks for the images. 

I used a lovely selection of stamps from Studio G, Dark Room Door, Crafty Individuals, Hero Arts and Stampendous. 

I used Memento Black and Paris Dusk inks plus Fawn by Impress which my pal Kathy gave to me a while back. 

I do have to say that I am really pleased with all the designs, but if I had to choose my least favourite it is the one where I have coloured the flowers in shades of lavender.  I did want to give my pal a few coloured cards just in case she preferred them.  I shall see which of the designs she likes best when I hand them to her in July !

I'd love you to let me know what you think of each design and maybe tell me which is your favourite, just leave me a comment if you have a moment to spare.  Jackie if you are reading this, please let me know if you like what I've made for you !

Thanks for visiting today, I just love having visitors drop by.

Cute Card Thursday - Using and Colouring on Kraft Card

There's a different style of challenge this week over on Cute Card Thursday, we are asked to use, stamp on and colour on Kraft cardstock.  Kraft card is right on trend at the moment and personally I love using it, although I haven't coloured it before.  Our Sponsor for this week's prize is Some Odd Girl full details are on the Cute Card Thursday Challenge blog.

For my DT card I decided to create a vintage style background/base card in C6 size with the fold on the narrow edge.  I stamped this lovely postcard image using a Crafty Individuals stamp with Rich Cocoa Momento ink and coloured parts of it with Copics.  There are a few touches of Platinum Stickles here and there as highlights and on the edges of the butterfly wings.  The tiny pearls along the lace edging at the bottom were created with a Waco Pearlmaker Pen. 

My main image is by Hanglar & stAnglar and stamped using the Rich Cocoa ink again.  I then coloured it with Copics, the kraft card gives all the colours a lovely vintage soft finish which I have to say I really like, and will probably use this technique again. 

I do hope you'll give this challenge a try, it's so great to check out all the entries.  Thanks for dropping by today to check out my project, I hope you'll stop by again real soon.

I ♥ Promarkers Challenge #66 - Animals

It's time for another I ♥ Promarkers Challenge and this week the theme is Animals.  Our prize sponsor this week is Crafty Emma's Store.

My original design concept for this week's DT card was very different to the finished project !  Do you ever do this ?  Have a clear design in mind and then it sort of has a life of it's own and develops into somethig else ? 

I've had this fun Piggy stamp by Nellie Snellen for a long time without getting it inky, so I thought it was a great opportunity to use it at last.  I also stamped a small flower cluster at the lefthand side using a mini stamp by Studio G.

The image is coloured with Promarkers and I punched the edges of the image layer and the green layer underneath using a Martha Stewart border punch.  The sentiment is also a Studio G stamp and the buttons were from my stash.  I added Glossy Accents on the wellies for both piggy and his tiny teddy pal and also the flowers in the bush.  I created the flower with various punches with Waco Pearlmaker Pen for the centre and also the bodies of the punched butterflies.  The fronds were cut out with a MS punch and the bp was a magazine freebie.

I hope you'll enter the challenge this week, just drop by the I ♥ Promarkers Challenge Blog for full details and to add a link to your project.

Happy Crafting !

Aulora puts in an appearance...

As I promised last tuesday, I'm introducing another new release stamp from Queen Kat Designs on my project today. Last week's image was by Che Gilson, this week it's a Myka Jelina designed stamp that I'm using.  I'm showcasing this on the Dark Ink Sorority Blog today for QKD.

May I formally present this gorgeous vision of loveliness - Aulora. Do you love her as much as I do? I think she is beautiful.

I wanted to do something special for Aulora so decided to create a fancy fold card. It's actually two cards in one, the base card and the smaller card containing the image which opens the opposite way.

I think this side on view on the right here shows the design/shape more clearly.

The background paper is from a 12x12 pad by g.c.d. and I used a strip of the 'other' side on the front. I used a MS punch to create the matching buttons for the front and two sizes of MS hydrangea punch to create the flower in the centre . The flower, which acts as a closure for the smaller card, was layered on to a base cut with a Nellie's Choice die.

Aulora was coloured with Copics and I added touches of Spica Glitter pen and pale blue Stickles on parts of the image.

That's it from me for today, I hope you'll drop by again, I'm busy working on more projects to share with you over the coming days.

Less is More One Layer Card - Embossing

Well, hasn't Blogger been a pain in the b** over the past few days !!  Almost drove me crazy and I'm still not sure that everything I'd posted has been restored.  Especially comments I left on blogs I visited whilst it was experiencing problems.  I'm so pleased that it now seems to be behaving itself and long may it continue.

This week the Less is More Challenge is to create a one layer card and include embossing - and of course follow the usual rules of 'less is more'.

I decided to incorporate some dry embossing on my entry, using my trusty Cuttlebug and a lovely floral embossing folder.  I also used three stamps from a set by Dark Room Door.

My base card is 5x7 used in landscape format and I embossed the front to just over halfway from the lefthand edge.  I then drew two lines at the edge of the embossed area using dark brown ink and stamped the solid flower 5 times next to the lines using Memento Potters Clay ink.  I then overstamped the matching outline over the top of each flower, offsetting some of them so the outline doesn't quite match, using Memento Rich Cocoa ink.  The sentiment was also stamped with Rich Cocoa and I think makes this card appropriate for many occasions.

Thanks for dropping by to check out my project today.

Catch a Falling Star - Cute Card Thursday Challenge #164

Happy Thursday to all my lovely Followers, old and new and a huge welcome to the new ones.  It gives me such a buzz to check my blog and spot new faces popping up amongst my group of Followers.

The new challenge over on Cute Card Thursday is posted today, this week our theme is "It's So Distressing" which can be interpretted just how you like.  The prize sponsor this week is Simon Says Stamp.

For my DT project I decided to use this adorable little chap from a set of stamps by Crafty Individuals, the 'Catch a Falling Star' sentiment is from the same set. 

The dark blue layer was distressed around the edges with a distressing tool as was the lighter blue patterned paper before being crumpled and torn, then Chipped Sapphire Distress Ink dragged across it.  I ironed this layer to make it flat again and easier to attach to the card.

I used the smallest of a set of star shaped nestie dies to cut the dark blue stars at the bottom and a die from Labels Two for the kraft panel.  Leaving the die in place, I distressed the edges with Old Paper DI on the kraft layer.

The little boy image was coloured with Copics before cutting out and attaching,.  I then added Plantinum Stickles over the stamps hearts and around the edges of the dark blue stars.  There's also Stickles around the edges of the crumpled layer, but it isn't so obvious in the piccie.

Pink & Brown - I ♥ Promarkers Challenge #65

This week's challenge on I &hearts Promarkers is sponsored by Robyn's Fetish and I decided to use this cute 'Waking up Birdie' image for my DT project.

I coloured the image with Promarkers, cut it out with a scalloped circle nestie and added that over a slightly larger scalloped circle.  The pink dotty paper was a magazine freebie and the brown was from my stash. 

The pink and white dotty layer was edged with an EK Success border punch and I found the length of brown and pink ribbon in my ribbon bag.  I punched flowers from the dotty paper and some matching pink card using two sizes of Martha Stewart hydrangea punches and layered them up.  The leaves were cut out with a MS front punch.  Small pink pearls in the centres of the flowers were created with a Waco Pearlmaker Pen.  The ticket sentiments are from a set by Cuddly Buddly and I coloured the tiny butterflies on them in pink.

I look forward to seeing your Pink & Brown creations this week, leave a direct link your project on the challenge blog to be in with a chance of winning this week's prize.

Brat Prince - King for a Day !

Yup, it's Tuesday again so here I am with my latest project for Queen Kat Designs to share with you.  I post a project each week on the QKD Dark Ink Sorority blog and this week's features one of the brand new stamps released for May and designed by Che Gilson.

What a handsome chap the Brat Prince is ! He's got so much attitude I just knew I had to design with bold and rich colours to suit him.

He's coloured with Copics and I added Gold Spica glitter pen to his crown and Platinum Stickles to the jewels and buttons on his waistcoat. I dug the scrap of animal print paper from the bottom of my stash and the star design paper is by Tim Holtz.

Here's a closer view of the image. The crown embelishment is from the 'Once Upon a Time' range and the gold coloured chain and brads and amber gems are from my stash.

What do you think huh?  Is he handsome enough for you?  Let me know if you like him or not, I love to read the comments left for me on here.

Thanks so much for visiting, I hope you've enjoyed today's project, next Tuesday - I've got another new stamp to work with. I'll be sharing a project featuring a new design by Myka Jelina - see you then !

LIM - White on White

When I checked this week's challenge over on the Less is More blog today, I was so pleased to see that the theme is 'white on white'.

I really love WoW for all sorts of projects, it's especially fabulous for Christmas cards but great for just about any occasion. 

It's nice to send a card to a friend just because ....... and this one is perfect for that so it will go into my stock ready for when I need this type of card.

I used a 5x5 base card plus :-
*Cuttlebug hearts embossing folder
*Spellbinders Hearts Circles die
*Martha Stewart hydrangea punches
*Marianne's leaf flourish, frond and lace border dies
*Inkadinkado sentiment stamp

I finally added touches of Star Dust Stickles around the edge of the sentiment layer and centres of the  flowers - well a girl needs at least a little bling everyday after all !

Thanks for dropping by to check out my project, hope you are having a great weekend despite the inclement weather !  At least when it's wet outside, there's even more incentive to stay indoors and Craft !!

CAS - You're the Best

The card I'm sharing with you today is another of the Clean and Simple (CAS) designs which I am having so much fun with at the moment. 

Once again I've chosen to use this chic and elegant Penny Black image but this time I've added touches of colour.  The sentiment is from a set by Paper Artsy and this card will go into my stock of 'any occasion' cards which you can never have too many of in my book.

I hope you've enjoyed seeing today's card, thanks so much for dropping by - leave me a comment if you have the time, I love reading them all and will try to visit your blog to reciprocate.