Aries the Fire Eater !

It's March 1st and that means a new month and brand new release stamps by Queen Kat Designs.

My new girl for this week is the fabulous Aries by Che Gilson, she's so gorgeous and very fiery. As soon as I saw her I knew I wanted to use lots of yellow, orange and red - all the colours of fire.

I coloured her with Copics and added touches of clear Spica Glitter Pen before cutting her out using a plain oval nestie. I sponged round the edge with Distress Inks then added her over a layer cut from So Saffron cardstock by SU!.

I've had this totally scrummy background paper in my stash for ages, just waiting for the perfect project - and this was it. I added a length of dark brown ribbon with sparkly dots and punched out three flowers from two sizes of Nellie Snellen punches, layered them up and added the tiny yellow buttons.

The gorgeous Aries is now availble in the Queen Kat Designs Store if you'd like her for yourself.
Thanks for dropping by today, I hope you've enjoyed your visit.

Take Three Squares......

The latest challenge over on the Less is More Challenge blog is to use three squares on your project.

I selected this stamp from a set by Stamping Up! and stamped it first in Chipped Sapphire Distress Ink on whate cardstock and twice more with white chalk ink on SU! Not Quite Navy cardstock.  I then cut each image out using a plain square nestie and added all three images to the front of my C6 size white base card.

The design is completed by the addition of some slightly sparkling dome stickers in graduating sizes.

That's it, nothing more, I consider my card finished !  and so is my entry for the challenge this week!

Thanks for dropping by today.

Craftathon 2011

Last weekend I headed up north to Lancashire with a group of crafty pals from the Craftbubble forum for Craftathon 2011 and boy did we have a ball !  We were all booked on a workshop with Rachel Grieg, the owner of Dark Room Door Stamps on the saturday afternoon at Topaz Crafts in Accrington and stayed in the lovely Maple Lodge Hotel.  They very generously allowed us to use the dining room as our crafting space and each of us took along different crafty goodies to share and play with.  The first hour after arrival was spent in 'oooing' and 'ahhhing' over what the others had brought but we did eventually settle down to some crafting. 

At the saturday workshop we created an Art Journal from scratch, using Viva Decor Ferro Paste/paint, DRD background stamps and metallic paints to achieve some stunning Grungeboard outer  covers.  Here are all the lovely books made by the attendees at the workshop, everyone's cover turned out differently which was fantastic.

Here's a piccie of the insides of the books.   The images used are also DRD and we used a variety of stamps to decorate the pages before adding the images.  We had used Distress Inks to colour the plain cream concertina pages before starting the decoration. 

On the left is  my own book and another project pack which I won when my name was pulled out of the 'hat' - such a pity that mine was the second name as the first one won a set of DRD stamps !! but hey, I was pleased to have another kit to work with at home and see what I can come up with, and of course I just HAD to order both sets of stamps once I got home ! 

I also made good use of one of my pal Kathy's sets of Crafty Individuals stamps which she'd brought along to share and created an ATC during one of our crafting sessions at Maple Lodge. I'm just going to have to get this set myself, it's just fabby ! 

On the left is a pic of Rachel during the workshop and you can just see me hard at work in the background !  I'm afraid I'm a standing up crafter, can't seem to stamp or get the placement of elements just right unless I stand up.

We were lucky enough to have Dawn Bibby around during the afternoon workshop, she was busy preparing for this week's QVC show with Tim Holts TSV so I took the opportunity to get a photo taken with her.  Thanks Dawn - this one's for you Dad !

We all had such a great weekend that we are already planning to do another one, we just need to decide on a venue and a date.  I would also recommend Maple Lodge to anyone who is looking for hotel accommodation in the Accrington area, they made us so welcome, their rates are very reasonable and the rooms are excellent.

That's it from me today folks, hope you've enjoyed hearing all about my craftathon experience, thanks for dropping by.

Like a Spring Day....

I'm enjoying the Clean and Simple (CAS) style of card so much at the moment and this card fits into a couple of challenges too, so I'm a happy crafter ! 

The design for this card was inspired by an embossing folder I saw recently.  I used a ball tool and an embossing board to create the debossed lines (which aren't really showing up too well in the piccie sadly).  The snowdrops image is a digi from Papergardenprojects.com and is coloured with Copics before cutting out with a plain circle nestie.  The sentiment is also from the Spring Flowers digi set and I cut it into a simple rectangle and dragged the same green Copic pen around the edges to tie in to the image.  The image was added over a layer cut from SU! Garden Green cardstock with a small scallop circle nestie. 

The sunday challenge on the Craft Mad & Loving It group on Craftbubble has the theme of Snowdrops, so this is perfect to fit the challenge and the Simply Less is More challenge asks for a Spring themed project so it will be a second entry from me for that challenge too.

I hope you've enjoyed seeing my latest project, thanks for visiting today.

I ♥ Promarkers Challenge #54 - Stitching

The new challenge for this week launched yesterday over on the I ♥ Promarkers Blog and we ask that you use Stitching on your project - this can be real or faux.  Our prize Sponsor for this week is Digi Doodle Shop.

For my DT project I chose the really fun 'Sea Life' set of digi images from DDS - they just made me smile as soon as I saw them!

The background paper is from the Pocketful of Posies stack by DCWV, I created a 'porthole' frame from some SU! Not Quite Navy cardstock using a set of circle nesties.  Coloured the images with Promarkers, of course and added Glossy Accents on their eyes to make them pop out like googley eyes.  The 'bubbles' are clear flat backed gems (I've had this huge bag of them for a couple of years, I think they may be meant to be used as table confettie for parties or weddings).  

I doodled some faux stitching with a white pen and pricked holes around the porthole and a black pen to add stitching around the outside edge of the card.  The sentiment was created by me on my computer and cut out with a small circle nestie.  A simple layout but I just had to use this fabulous blowfish as the focal point of my card, he just makes me smile and I love the expression on the face of the Big Mouth Bass bottom right!

Now it's over to you, create your project, make sure you use Promarkers on it and add some stitching (real or faux).  Finally add a direct link to your project on the I ♥ Promarkers challenge blog for a chance to win this week's prize.

Princess of the Sea

Today Queen Kat Designs are launching fabulous new stamps designed by the artist Sue Miller.  Those of us in the Royal Court of Queen Kat are just bursting with excitement at the fabulous new images are are getting to work with during 2011. 

You should have hopped here after seeing what the lovely Valerie has created for you, if you came straight here do go back to the start of the Hop on the QKD blog, trust me you really won't want to miss any of the gorgeous projects using these fabulous new stamps that the DT have created for you.

The image I'm working with is "Princess of the Sea" don't you think she's totally faberooney?  I've got two cards to share with you today, I wanted to demonstrate how the same image can look completely different dependent upon colour, layout and embelishments added.

For the first card I've coloured the image with Copics and added some Spica Glitter pen on the beads, which matches the larger beads I've added on top of the ribbon at the bottom of the card.  I used a set of Marianne's Designs dies to cut the frame under the image and created the pleated half-circle element at the top using a nestie large scallop circle die set.  The seaweed/fronds behind the ribbon were punched with a Martha Stewart punch.  The background card is SU! Not Quite Navy and the frame and some fronds cut from Sage Shadow.  I created the sentiment on my computer.

My second card is in complete contrast to the first.  I created a 'Clean and Simple' (CAS) design for this one, leaving the image uncoloured.  I used all the same materials as for the first card, except for Copic pens and beads.  Same colour cardstock, same ribbon but a different shape card and the sentiment is a stamp from the January kit by Myka Jelina. 

The lovely Princess of the Sea is available from today in the QKD Store if you'd like to have her for yourself.

I'm now sending you hopping along to the QKD Store so you can pop this gorgeous girl into your cart !

Thanks for joining us today, I hope you've enjoyed yourself.

Triple Tiara Tuesday Challenge

Today it's my turn to host the Queen Kat Designs 'Triple Tiara Tuesday Challenge' along with my fellow DT members Sarah and Loretta.  If you enter the challenge every week each month, you increase your chances of winning the $25 prize to spend in the QKD Store. Full details are on the QKD Blog, just add a link to your project with the linky tool over there once you've completed it, simple as that !  Do check out the fabulous projects that Sarah and Loretta have created to inspire you this week, links to their blogs are also on the QKD blog.

The picture inspiration for this week's challenge is this pretty painted planter on the right here. 

For my project I took the colours and a floral theme from the inspirational picture and decided to use the lovely Pisces image to create a tealight holder card.  I've seen a few of these pretty tealight holder cards as I've been hopping around blogland,

They are a great

gift idea so I thought I'd have a go at making one myself. I based my design on the tutorial here but actually used only the basic measurements from the tutorial to develop my own tealight holder card design.

I do love this Pisces stamp which was newly released for February by QKD. The image was coloured with Copics before cutting out. The patterned base card was from my stash and I used a Marianne Designs die to cut out the leafy swirl.

The layers under Pisces were cut using a set of Labels 4 nestabilities from SU! Early Espresso and Peach Parfait cardstock and the butterflies punched with a Nellie Snellen Punch and Emboss set from cream. I created a closure 'button' from a punched flower and a brad to hold the card closed and tied a ribbon round to hold the tealights safely inside the box. 

I do hope you'll enter our challenge this week, I'll hop over to check out your creations after you enter your link on the QKD Blog, I can't wait to see how this week's picture inspires you - good luck !

Less is More for Spring

The theme for this week's Less is More challenge is 'Spring'.  For my entry I decided to use my newly acquired 'Flutterby' embossing folder from Craft Concepts as the butterflies, flowers and leaves make me think of Spring time.

I embossed a C6 size white base card with the folder and added a simple Thank You sentiment, stamped in black, at the bottom right.  I layered up the stamped sentiment on to a scrap of the white card, cut using one of the smaller dies from the nestie beaded circles set. 

I'm a great fan of the 'white on white' technique and may go on to make a few more cards in this design to keep in stock as you can never have too many thank you cards to hand.

Thanks for dropping by today, I hope you've enjoyed your visit.

Time for Cake !

Cupcakes that is !  Today's card is a sweet and simple design which I created as my entry for the Craftbubble Craft Mad & Loving It group's Sunday Themed Challenge.  This week the theme is 'Sweet Dreams' and what better to dream about than yummy cupcakes !

The image is from the January Myka Jelinka monthly kit from Queen Kat Designs.  I used the accesory stamps that are included in the kit to create a little collage of cupcakes and sentiment. 

As I'm currently staying with my Dad for a few days, I've had to raid his stash in order to do any crafting.  I found this really pretty stripey base card in a draw and some pink cardstock.  I added the image layer over a slightly larger piece of the pink card and cut out a stripe in a sort of bunting style, adding the 'time for cake' sentiment stamped in pink ink.  I don't think Dad minds me using up his stash and it is so fabulous to be able to craft along with him.

The image was coloured with Promarkers and Stardust Stickles added over the icing on the cupcakes. 

Hope you've enjoyed today's creation - til I see you again, Happy Crafting.

Today I bring you Joy !

Well, the stamp is Joy from the Sugar Nellie Adorables collection anyway !  I can't think of a better name for these sweet images as they really are adorable, I knew I had to have the full collection as soon as I saw them.

I decided to use the sketch from the Craft Mad and Loving it weekly sketchie challenge over on Craftbubble for my layout, with the added bonus that I can enter my card for the challenge.  The theme is flowers and there are certainly quite a few on my card.

The image was coloured with Lettraset Aqua Markers - I'm getting more used to them now that I've coloured a few images with them, but I do have to say that I still prefer my Promarkers and Copics.  It's good to try out new techniques and styles though, and I shall persevere with the Aquas and try to learn to love them !

The background layer is embossed with flowers and I matted the floral bp on to a scrap of card before attaching.  The image was cut out using a plain oval nestie and added over a scalloped oval layer cut with a just slightly larger die than the plain oval, so that just a tiny bit of the pink scalloped layer shows around the edge of the image.

The tiny butterflies were created with my Nellie Snellen punch and emboss set and I added pink Waco Pearlmaker pen for the bodies.  The pink flower gems I bought recently at a craft fair as well as the pretty sparkly pink ribbon and the sentiment is from Cuddly Buddly.

Tomorrow I'm heading up to Accrington for the weekend to attend a workshop run by Dark Room Door Stamps at Topaz Crafts.  The excitement is rising I can tell you as I am meeting up with a few on-line crafting buddies for the weekend and it promises to be an absolute Hoot !!!   I'm sure there will be piccies to share with you at a later date - and maybe a few that are not for sharing !!!!