Time for a glass of something that goes "Fizzzzzzzz"

Good evening crafty friends and welcome back to Casa Mia - as the current Covid restrictions ease, I hope you are keeping safe and well … please make sure that you adhere to any requirements that are local for you.

It's the fifteen of the month again (it's worrying how quickly they seem to come round!) and it's time for a new challenge at All Dressed Up Digital Stamps Challenge. As ever, our challenge is Anything Goes with an All Dressed Up Image. Don't have any All Dressed Up images? No worries, Wendy has plenty of gorgeous images available in the All Dressed Up Etsy Store and has also very generously provided some freebies here. However, please play fair with the freebies, and send your friends over to ADU for them … this will ensure that they continue to be available for other crafters to share! Thank you!

One of my colleagues celebrated her 40th Birthday last month, and whilst all team members receive a handcrafted card on their Birthday, I wanted this one to be special as this lady and I have covered a Duty Day together in the office together since the beginning of lockdown. I also happen to know that she particularly enjoys celebrating with a glass of something that goes "fizzzzzzzz", so this gorgeous image was very appropriate and the recipient absolutely loved her card, and the bottle of Prosecco that went with it!

My card recipe is as follows:

• Card base - is a 5" x 7" premade base in white card. This is a new size for me and I quite like being able to print my images that bit larger!
• Design Paper - is this beautiful Gray Paper which is part of a collaboration by the Pixel Scrapper Digital Scrapbooking designers called All the Princesses. This paper can be found in the Solid Paper Kit by Janet Scott. I have matted and layered this onto some matt black card for elegance.
• Image - is the ultra-glamourous Prosecco Time by the wonderful Wendy who is the artist behind All Dressed Up Digital Stamps. This gorgeous girl comes with her own sentiment too, but I cropped it out for this card. I have brought this girl to life using my Copic alcohol markers, before die cutting her with one of my Sizzix Framelits Ovals dies.
• Sentiment - has been die cut from silver mirri card, before being mounted on a fishtail banner made from the Gray Paper.

I hope I have inspired you to come over to the blog and join in with this month's challenge. But if you're in need of further inspiration please head over there to feast your eyes on the gorgeous creations made by my every-so-talented Dressy Teamies. Then, don't forget to come back and show us your creations which need to be Anything Goes with an All Dressed Up Image. This challenge ends on the evening of 14th August, UK time.

In the meantime, I would like to share my card with the following challenges:

• Challenge #39 - Anything Goes at CD Sunday Plus
• Challenge #490 - Creative Free For All but Add Pink at Fab 'n' Funky Challenges
• Challenge #7 - July at World Wide Open Design Team Challenge

That's it from me for now … take care!

Crafty hugs,

Helen x

B is for ....

Blue, Bear … oh and a new Baby!

Good evening crafty friends and welcome to the latest post from Casa Mia. I hope that you are keeping safe and well …

With it being the 15th of the month, it's time for our new challenge at All Dressed Up Challenges . As usual, our challenge is Anything Goes with an All Dressed Up Image. Not got any All Dressed Up images? Wendy has plenty of gorgeous images available in the All Dressed Up Etsy Store and has also very generously provided some freebies here - please send your friends over to ADU for the freebies though, to make sure they're available for other crafters to share!

Fortunately, Papa Mia returned to his normal workplace (with social distancing in place) at the beginning of this month and, although I'm still working from home 2 days each week, I am at least able to access my crafty stash and my day off can be spent how I want 😉 ! So here is my latest creation, made for a one of my work colleagues who will be leaving our team soon to start her Maternity Leave before she welcomes a little blue bundle of joy to her family!

My card recipe is as follows:

• Card base - is a pre-made 6 inch square white card blank
• Design Papers - all come from a Collab Kit at Pixel Scrapper Digital Scrapbooking called Oh Baby, Baby and there is so much in this bundle I was seriously spoilt for choice! I eventually chose a selection by Sheila Reid and used Solid Blue Paper as my background onto which I digitally placed Colourful Stars Paper and I included a dropped shadow on this layer, just to add some depth. I then used Stitches Border to add some faux stitching and a little additional detail.
  
• Image - is by the incredibly talented Wendy Burns at All Dressed Up Digital Stamps and is called Love my Teddy. These toys do come with their own sentiment but unfortunately my largest circle die wasn't big enough to include it. I used some extra Solid Blue Paper and used a craft knife to cut around the outside edge of the die to give a bit of border. I coloured the image using my (rather limited selection of) Copic Alcohol Markers.
• Sentiment - is from a Mixed Circular Sentiment Set (this is the link to the current digi set, but mine is a clear stamp - I've had a little while!) by Lisa at Lili of the Valley (LotV) which I stamped using Black Memento Ink, before using one of my smaller circle dies to cut it out. again, I used a craft knife around the edge of this die and some extra Solid Blue Paper to give a border to the sentiment.
• Silver Gems - are from my stash.

I hope that I have inspired you to come along to All Dressed Up Challenges and join in with this challenge. But if you're in need of further inspiration, please head over to the blog and check out the gorgeous creations by my very talented teamies. Don't forget to then come back and show us your creations which must be Anything Goes with an All Dressed Up Image. Our challenge ends on the evening of 14th June, UK time.

I have been inspired by and would like to enter this card into the following challenges:

• Sketches 184 -185 with Bugaboo at Sweet Sketch Wednesday 2 - I have followed Sketch 185
• Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge ~ J1020 at The House that Stamps Built - I have followed the bottom row of Pink or Blue, Stitching (real or faux) and Babies or Children.

I would also like to enter this card into the following challenges:

• Challenge #202 - Circles at The Paper Girls Challenge
• Challenge #133 - R is for Round at Ike's World Challenges
• Make it Masculine at Dragonfly Dreams Challenge

Hope you have a good and crafty week!

Hugs, Helen x

Summer Colour

Good afternoon Crafty Friends!

I hope this post finds you and yours keeping well and safe. Here at Casa Mia we are coping well with the "Lockdown" situation that the UK has found itself in since 23rd March. I have been working 2 days a week in the office (with proper social distancing) and my remaining 2 workdays have been spent at my new desk, the dining table at home! We are also enjoying some great family time in our allocated exercise slot each day and have had fun exploring our village and spotting rainbows that residents have put up in their windows. 

With it being the 15th of the month, it's time for our new challenge at All Dressed Up Challenges . As usual, our challenge is Anything Goes with an All Dressed Up Image. Not got any All Dressed Up images? Wendy has plenty of gorgeous images available in the All Dressed Up Etsy Store and has also very generously provided some freebies here - please send your friends over to ADU for the freebies though, to make sure they're available for other crafters to share!

It was my Mother-in-Law's Birthday yesterday, so what better reason to colour up one of Wendy's gorgeous images. I had a bit of a challenge making this card, as Papa Mia is working from home and has set up his work zone in my craft space (a.k.a. our study). So I'm stuck as to what crafty bits I can actually get to, in order to create. So, I am not especially happy with the layout of this card but I am super pleased with the colouring.

My card recipe is as follows:

• Card base - is a pre-made A5 card base in white card which I have embossed with a geometric circles embossing folder. I then swiped a pad dabbed with Vintage Photo Distress Ink over the embossing to give a bit more detail.
• 
  Image is the beautiful Hanging Basket by Wendy Burns, the artist behind All Dressed Up Digital Stamps. I have brought this image to life using my Copic Alcohol Markers and following one of my Kit and Clowder Monthly Bonus classes (the Vintage Bicycle Class from February 2019) before cutting the image out with my largest Sizzix Framelits Oval Die. Alyce (the art guru behind K&C) always says you can apply the techniques from the classes to any image, not just the one that the class is set on ... well, this just proves her point. And if you haven't tried any of Alyce's classes why not try now, whilst we are in these strange times - mention my name and Alyce will reduce the price of your class by $5AUS!

So, that's my very simple card for you today. However, if you head over to the All Dressed Up Challenges Blog you will be able to see the stunning inspiration from my very talented teamies. And don't forget to then come back an show us your creations - it's always Anything Goes with an All Dressed Image, for your chance to win some of Wendy's images. Our lucky winner is picked at random, and our Dressy Girls choose their Top 3.

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:

• Challenge #180 - Use a Die at CAS on Friday
• Challenge #506 - Anything Goes with Optional Twist - Outdoors at Crafty Catz Challenge
• Challenge #160 - Use Flowers at Simply Create Too Challenge
• May Challenge 118 - Flowers at Moving Along With The Times
• May 2020 Challenge - Create a Custom Background, Do Not Use Designer Papers at A Place to Start
• May Challenge - Say It With Flowers at Stamping Sensations
• Challenge #27 - Flower Power at Digi Doodle Studios Challenge
• HLS May - Anything Goes with Dies Challenge at Happy Little Stampers
• Challenge 135 - Flowers at Crafty Friends Challenge

I hope that you and your families stay safe during these difficult times and, if your family has been unfortunate to suffer from Covid-19 then my thought are with you.

Crafty Hugs,

Helen x

Seeing Red .... and pink, and silver ;o)

Wowsers, it has been absolutely months since I last posted here ….. and quite a bit has happened in that time! I have still been creating, but not regularly as life kind of got in the way, plus my mojo has been on a very extended break. 

But I'm back now, and so back I tried to post this yesterday afternoon instead of today 😂

With it being the 15th of the month, it's time for our new challenge at All Dressed Up Challenges . As usual, our challenge is Anything Goes with an All Dressed Up Image. Not got any All Dressed Up images? Wendy has plenty of gorgeous images available in the All Dressed Up Etsy Store and has also very generously provided some freebies here - please send your friends over to ADU for the freebies though, to make sure they're available for other crafters to share!

Since youngest Bambino turned 18 last autumn, her friends are (one by one) also celebrating their eighteenth birthdays. Last weekend was youngest's BFF's (best friend forever) 18th, and I know that she loves receiving my cards - apparently she still displays the card I made for her birthday last year! With it being her 18th, I felt I had to create something really special for her, and Wendy's Amore image met with youngest Bambino's approval ... and this card was born:

My card recipe is as follows:

• Card base - is made from Centura Pearl Snow White Silver which I have cut, scored and folded to make an A5 card base with the fold at the top of the card.
  
• Image - is the beautiful Amore, created by Wendy at All Dressed Up Digital Stamps; and this girl really is great value for money as she comes on her own (as here), holding a bunch of balloons (including the sentiment) and the bunch of balloons come on their own. I have brought this girlie to life using my Copic Pens (a mix of Ciao and Sketch), doing my best to follow some of my Kit and Clowder classes, before fussy cutting her out and attaching her to my card.
• Shaker Element - is made using this month's Balloon Die cover gift from Cardmaking and Papercraft Magazine. I have cut this from Red Centura Pearl card and some acetate, which were perfect for "sandwiching" the red, pink and silver "18 Confetti". I wrapped some twine from my stash around the base of the balloon, and led this back to Amore's hand.
• Sentiment - is a very simple Happy Birthday die cut from Silver Mirri card

Youngest Bambino was delighted with my project, and I understand that it was very well received by her BFF!

I hope that I have inspired you to play along with our challenge, but if you are in need of further inspiration please head over to the blog and check out the uber gorgeous creations by my talented teamies. Then come back and show us your creations which are Anything Goes with an All Dressed Up Image!

I would like to play along with the following challenges:

• Challenge #131 - Ladies or Girls at Crafty Friends
• Challenge #246 - Feminine + a Sentiment at Aud Sentiments
• Challenge #157 - Birthday (Including the Optional Twist of both Die Cutting and Fussy Cutting) at Time Out Challenges - I have used 2 different die cuts and also fussy cut my girlie out!
• Challenge #39 - Use Dies at Daisy Chain Challenges
• HLS March Anything Goes With Dies Challenge at Happy Little Stampers
• Challenge #49 For the Ladies/Girls at Pearly Sparkles Challenge Blog
• Challenge #36 - Die Cuts and/or Punches at SheepSki Designs Challenges
• Always Anything Goes at World Wide Open Design Team Challenge

In these uncertain times, I hope that you stay safe and healthy and if the country goes into "lockdown", have fun crafting!

Helen x

A big Birthday

Good afternoon crafty friends and I hope that this post finds you well.

I'm a few days late posting this, but there's been a new challenge launched this week at All Dressed Up Digital Stamps and, as usual, it's Anything Goes with an All Dressed Up Image.


Now, my youngest bambino turned 18 today, and I have 2 questions:

1. How did that happen, because somewhere inside there is a 25 year old trying to escape
2. Can I actually stop "adulting" now that both my bambinos are, ahem, responsible adults themselves 😂

Here's my card, which I'm very proud to say that Wendy designed after one of my suggestions for a new image - thanks Wendy, it's perfect!

My card recipe is as follows:

• Card Base - is a pre-made 15cm square card base in white
• Design Papers - come from an amazing scrapbooking bundle called The Best is Yet to Come by Violet Irisovna at Pixel Scrapper Digital Scrapbooking. I have used this gorgeous Confetti - Gold paper with a banner (even though I completely misjudged the sizing under my "photo frame") in Watercolour Paper Teal 2.

  
• Image - is the beautiful Key to the Door by Wendy at All Dressed Up Digital Stamps. I have brought the key and charms to life using my Spectrum Noir Alcohol Markers following the instructions for gold in the September 2019 Markers class at Kit and Clowder.
• Mock Photo Frame - is made from black cardstock from my stash.
• Sentiment & 18 - were die cut from Watercolour Paper Teal 2, and once stuck on my project were treated to a slick of Clear Sparkle Pen to make them a bit glitzy!
• Enamel Dots - are from My Mind's Eye and were a gift in a card swap … and also just perfect for this project!

I hope that I have inspired you to come over to All Dressed Up Digital Stamps and play along in our Anything Goes with an All Dressed Up Image challenge. But if you are in need of more inspiration, please head over to the challenge blog and check out the gorgeous creations by the other Dressy Girls! This challenge ends on the evening of 14th November, UK time.

The Facebook Dressy Girls have their own challenge over on the Facebook Page and their current challenge is Add Flowers, with an All Dressed Up Image. This challenge ends on 31st October.

Don't forget, that there are some freebies on the blog if you don't have any ADU images … but please be respectful and follow Wendy's simple rules for using them to make sure that they're there for all fellow crafters to use. Thank you 😀 

I would like to enter this project into the following challenges:

• Week #585 with Polkadoodles at Sketch Saturday
• O is for One Word Sentiment at The Alphabet Challenge Blog

Crafty Hugs,

Helen x

Mocktail Time!

Good afternoon crafty friends and I hope this post finds you well.

Here in the UK, we are about half-way through our summer holidays and (typically!) the weather has been rather dreary for the last week or so, and likely to remain like this for the rest of the week. I hope the sunshine comes back next week for a couple of weeks - not only is it the last fortnight of my summer hols, but we're having our kitchen ripped out and refitted so I shall be resorting to cooking on the BBQ or (at the very least) our camping stove 😉 !

As it's the fifteenth of the month, it's time for our new challenge at All Dressed Up Challenges . As usual, our challenge is Anything Goes with an All Dressed Up Image. Not got any All Dressed Up images? Wendy has plenty of gorgeous images available in the All Dressed Up Etsy Store and has also very generously provided some freebies here - please send your friends over to ADU for the freebies though, to make sure they're available for other crafters to share!

I'm using the holidays to make a batch of Birthday Cards to keep at work. Every member of our office receives a handmade card and gift voucher on her Birthday, but usually it's a mad scramble on my part to get a card made. So, I'm trying to be a bit more organised and this card is going into my "here's one I made earlier" box and save a last minute panic for at least one birthday 😂 ! Isn't this image so "on trend" with it's flamingo "swizzle stick"?

My card recipe is as follows:

• Card Base - is a pre-made, 15cm square in white cardstock
  
• Design Papers - come from a Designers' Collabaoration called Sunshine and Lemons at Pixel Scrapper Digital Scrapbooking. This means that the designers have all used the same colour
  

  

  scheme, so you can mix and match papers and elements from any of the kits in the collaboration, safe in the knowledge that they won't clash on your project! I have used Teal Pattern and Yellow Flowers by Sheila Reid together with Yellow Solid Paper by Janet Scott as my Mat & Layer. I have punched a pretty edge to my border using a now retired Heart Border Punch from Hobbycraft (although they do stock one that is a little bit similar).
• Image - is the super-summery Fruitti Tutti by Wendy at All Dressed Up Digital Stamps. I have brought this mocktail to life using my alcohol marker pens. I have used some of my Kit and Clowder classes to help with the colouring: Elements of Nature Class for the fruit, the February 2018 monthly colouring class Hellebores for the glass and table top, and the April/May 2019 bonus colouring class for monthly members called Tropical Flamingo for the flamingo and parasol. I have die cut this using the largest internal rectangle from my Die'sire Nouveau Stamping Frame die using the "Out of the Box" technique to ensure I didn't chop off either the straw or the parasol 😉

• Sentiment - uses a die cut from an Advent Calendar which uses the Yellow Solid Paper by Janet Scott
• Gems - are from my stash
  

I hope that I have inspired you to play along with our challenge, but if you are in need of further inspiration please head over to the blog and check out the uber gorgeous creations by my talented teamies. Then come back and show us your creations which are Anything Goes with an All Dressed Up Image!

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:

• Challenge #393 - Punches and Dies at The Paper Shelter
• Challenge #516 at Tuesday Morning Sketches
• Challenge #119 - Tropical Vacation at Sparkles Monthly Challenge
• Challenge #7 - Summer Fun at Tales from the Craft Room
• Challenge #35 - Dies and/or Punches at Sweet Stampers Challenge Blog

Challenge #516 

Tuesday Morning Sketches

That's it from me for today - I heading back to pack my kitchen into boxes! Hope you have a lovely weekend.

Hugs, Helen x