A Baby Girl ...

Hi,

Another swift post from me this evening ... the lunchboxes are calling! :o) I've had this image for a couple of weeks now from the latest round of the Crafter's Digital Art Center Progressive Challenge. So here's the card I made, quite CAS, but I love it's simplicity!

My card recipe is as follows:

• Base Card - White embossed card 250gsm
• Design Paper - Paintbox Poppets CD Rom, also by Crafter's Companion
• Sentiment - a freebie offered by the lovely Annette on her Blog
• This really cute image is called Girl Bunny Stamp and she is by Stamping Dragon Designs and to bring her to life I used my Spectrum Noir Pens in the following shades (old numbering system):
• Fur - 169, 104, 100
• Hearts - 11
• Dress - 137, 8

I would like to enter this card for the following challenge:

• Progressive Challenge 14 - cdacpc14, sdd at Crafter's Digital Art Center

Hope you're having a great week, and enjoying the wonderful warm weather!

Hugs, Helen x

Exciting News!

Hi,

I hope you were sitting down as this is 2 posts from me in one day, never mind a week! I have some very exciting news to share with you this evening ... I have just received my very first Design Team appointment! :o) From 16th April, I will be proudly designing for

I hope you'll come over and join in the fun at Lexi's Creations by clicking here.

See you there!

Hugs, Helen x

Liebster Blog Award ... passing it on!

Hi,

As I think I may have mentioned last week, the lovely Heike passed a Liebster Blog award to me. Thank you so much Heike, and I am truly delighted that my creations inspire you and I really value our cyber-friendship. If you haven't discovered Heike's blog, you must pop along  and visit her at  http://heikescardsandcrafts.blogspot.co.uk/ and say "Hello" from me - she is currently designing some stunning Celtic cards.

Now, as you may (or may not) know, the LIEBSTER BLOG Award is used to show appreciation of smaller blogs (under 200 followers) and to help spread readership and joy. It comes from the German meaning 'dearest' or 'beloved', but can also mean 'favourite'. As part of the tradition, the award is to be passed along to five other blogs that have motivated and inspired me.

The rules are:

• The blogs I choose must have less than 200 followers.
• I must comment on their blog so they know about it.
• I must link back to the person who gave me the award and thank them as well as post the award on my blog.

Now, I haven't rushed into this as I wanted to make sure that I was nominating bloggers for friendship as well as their inspiration. So without further ado, and in no particular order, I am passing the award onto:

• Von at http://yvonnescreativecards.blogspot.co.uk/ for encouraging me to set up my blog in June last year and being one of my first followers!!!! Thanks honey!
• Julie at http://craftyjulie57.blogspot.co.uk/ for commenting on most of my projects and sharing lovely projects with 'blog land'. You're a good friend!
• Tracey at http://craftyfox.blogspot.co.uk/ who started following me when she was (like me) a GDT in a blog hop last year. Check out her blog for lovely inspiration, and a taste of life "down under".
• Leesa aka The Navy Wife at http://gonebytheboard.blogspot.co.uk/ for her projects which just ooze total gorgeous-ness ... OK I know that's probably not a word but it's my post :o)!

Thanks girls and I hope you'll all wear your blog badge with pride.

Now I know this is only four bloggers, and there are plenty more I could nominate, but they all have more than 200 followers ... I'm sure you girls know who you are! So, rather than rashly nominate a fifth recipient, I'm going to leave at this for now and I'll come back at a later date to pass this on to number 5!

And to all of you who are my followers or if you're someone who just visits from time to time, thank you to you all for the lovely comments you've shared ... you are all wonderful!

I hope you have a great weekend - the sun's out here, so I'm off to do battle with the washing machine!

Hugs, Helen x

Life in Black & White

Hi,

Hope you're all enjoying the fine spring weather that we seem to have at the moment ... it sure makes for a brighter day! Just a quick post from me this evening, as I realised I haven't posted for a week now :o(

This is the card I made for my husband's Birthday, which he celebrated at the weekend:

I wanted the card to be bold and masculine, and I think I've achieved that result!

My Card Recipe is as follows:

• Base card - 300gsm Centura Pearl Black (part of the Darks pack from Crafter's Companion)
• Design Paper - from Paintbox Poppets CD-Rom (Crafter's Companion), on which I changed the colour by using the built in "Colouriser" function. Having embossed the shape onto the paper, I then tore the paper to leave distressed edges.
• Image - from Create With TLC . I just love the simplicity of this vintage image.
• Equipment - my Ultimate Pro by Crafter's Companion . Every card I make starts and finishes with this piece of kit. For this card I used the Paper Trimmer to cut my card to the required size, and then used the Scoring Lines to fold it. I made my aperture in both the card and the design paper using one of the inbuilt Embossing Shapes. And I finished my project by making an envelope exactly the right size to fit my card! I considered whether I would really get my money's worth out of this, but I have to say I am not disappointed. There's so much more I could tell you about it ... but I promised this would be a quick post!

I would like to enter my card for the following challenges:

• National Craft Month Challenge at Jellypark Challenges My favourite craft product has to be my Ultimate - it does so much in a small package!
• Challenge #31 - Sihouette at Little Miss Muffet

Hugs, Helen x

PS: Welcome to my newest followers - I hope you enjoy my creations!

Sunflowers for Mothering Sunday

Hi,

I've had a crafty afternoon today, whilst I was waiting for my youngest to return from her school residential trip and I got to play with my blog candy Paintbox Poppets CD that I won from Marianne on Friday. Speedy service from Crafter's Companion (as usual) as it arrived yesterday - Thank you all! Now it's notoriously difficult to buy a card for my Mother in Law at this time of year as (being a former vicar's wife) she likes to receive a card saying Mothering Sunday rather than Mother's Day. This is the result of my afternoon's work:

This is only the second easel card that I've made, and I'm really pleased with the way it's turned out. My card recipe is as follows:

• Base Card - Centura Pearl 300gsm card in Ivory (Crafter's Companion) cut and folded to a 15cm square easel card.
• Design Papers, Mat and Layer Card under my image and the Design Elements are all from the Paintbox Poppets CD by Crafter's Companion. The mat and layer card and the For You label all came from the section called Stamping Companions. You print off one sheet where everything is coordinated for you, and there is a white area to rubber stamp onto. However, this would have been too tricky to do with my digi image, which I printed separately. The ribbon slider and tag (which I've used as my stopper) all came from the Ribbon Slider section of the CD and, again, came off the same sheet. Using the Verse Writer function, I was able to tailor make the sentiment to suit.
• This wonderful vase of Sunflowers is by Pattie's Creations, and it is available in her shop. I got it from the current Progressive Challenge at the Crafter's Digital Art Center where it is one of the freebies on offer for the current challenge. I brought the flowers to life with my Spectrum Noir Pens in the following colours (old numbering system):
• Flowers - 92, 35, 33
• Leaves and Stalks - 48, 43
• Water in Vase - 178, 171

I'm sorry that some of the photos are a little blurry - I was photographing with failing natural light, and I hate photographing my cards with flash. I'll take some better photos tomorrow and upload them, but I wanted to get this post done this evening.

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

• Progressive Challenge 13 - PC at Crafter's Digital Art Center
• Mother's Day at Craft Your Days Away
• Spring is in the Air at Joanna Sheen
• Challenge #161 - Mum's the Word at The Crafty Pad
• Challenge #48 - Mum's the Word at My Mum's Craft Shop
• Challenge #30 - Easel, Shaped or Step Card at Little Miss Muffet
• Challenge #60 - Mother's Day at Lexi's Creations

Hope you're having a great week so far.

Hugs, Helen x

A Yellow Birthday

Hi,

Well, it's the weekend again and mine has got off to a wonderful start as I found out on Friday evening that I won Marianne's Blog Candy, which is a copy of the brand new Crafter's Companion Paintbox Poppets CD! Thank you Marianne, and I'm sorry if I got a little excited when I posted my comment on your blog :o) !!!!! March is mad for birthday's in this family, so I've got another birthday card to show you:

This layout is the current sketch challenge at Sassy Cheryl's, which I've rotated through 90° to suit my image. OK, now I know what you're thinking ... I only do sketch challenges, as my Mr Froggy New Home last weekend was also a sketch! However, I like the CAS lines of this sketch and (this might be slightly controversial and I don't want to offend anyone) I think sketch challenges even things up for less experienced cardmakers like me.

My Card Recipe is as follows:

• Base card - shop bought A6 Kraft card
• Yellow Design Paper and Blue 'Ribbons' - both from the talented Summer at Summertime Designs. Summer creates digital scrapbooking kits but I love her papers which easily transfer to the cardmaking world! The blue 'ribbons' are from her brand new kit Comforts of Home and the beautiful golden yellow polka dot paper is from a kit called Golden Sunshine.
• Small piece of Design Paper - from Create With TLC (one of my most favourite places!) and is called Happy Birthday to You 7, and it was a goodie which Paulette sent out in The February Club which I subscribed to. This paper has also got some texture in the print as well as these lovely, spring-like colours.
• Sentiment - another freebie, this time by Gerda at Stamp Fairy. The sentiment is black, so I took it into my word processing package to change the colour to a turquoise blue, so that it match the blue colours on my card.
• Image is called Teenage Girl and she is a Jellypark digistamp. I don't think she's available in the store but there are plenty more gorgeous images there to tempt you though! I think I picked her up as a freebie image that Claire from Jellypark was offering at The Crafter's Cafe. To bring this relaxing teenager to life, I've used my Spectrum Noirs in the following colours (old numbering system):
• Skin - 132, 133
• Hair - 96, 91
• Jumper - 35, 33
• Leggings - 68, 65, 64
• Socks - 120, 33
• Outline - CG1
• Design finished with 3 pale blue gems from my crafty stash.

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

• Challenge #105 - Sketch Time at Sassy Cheryl's
• Challenge 49 - Happy Birthday at Aud Sentiments
• Challenge #100 - Anything Goes! at Craft Your Passion
• Challenge #111 - Mellow Yellow at Fab 'n' Funky
• Challenge #136 - Something Old Something New at Incy Wincy Designs (Old - Gems; New - Ribbons from Comforts of Home kit) 
• Challenge #47 - Spring Colours at My Mum's Craft Shop

I hope that you're enjoying the same Spring weather that we've got here on the south coast, and that you're having a great weekend!

Hugs, Helen x

Another New Home!

Hi,

I'm on a roll this weekend - 2 blog posts :o)! This is the second of the cards that I've been commissioned to make for a work colleague. She saw my blog post A New Home and asked me to make a similar card for a friend of hers who has moved house this weekend. So, here is what I came up with:

I've followed the current sketch at Papertake Weekly which, being clean and simple, is right up my street!

My card recipe is as follows:

• Base Card - Centura Pearl 300gsm card in Snow White (Crafter's Companion) cut and folded to a 15cm square card.
• Design Papers and 'ribbon' from the Strawberry Kisses CD (Crafter's Companion).
• Image is by The Crafty Pad and was a freebie on the site - thanks Debbie! I brought this little chap to life with my Spectrum Noir Pens in the following colours:
• Skin - 43, 51
• Eyes - 33
• Outline - CG1
• The sentiment ticket came from the February club at Create With TLC which I then tweaked in my word processing package to remove the original sentiment and then added my own fun sentiment.

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

• Sketch #65 at Papertake Weekly
• Challenge #149 - Things that Leap at Digital Tuesday Challenge
• Challenge #110 - Let's Leap into Action at Fab 'n' Funky Challenges
• Challenge #175 - Green for Go at Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge
• March Challenge - Anything Goes with a Crafty Pad image at The Crafty Pad
• Challenge #40 - Let's see some Green at Card Makin' Mamas

Hope you have a great week!

Hugs, Helen x

Flowers and Butterflies to say "Good Luck"

Hi,

I'm feeling quite excited as this card I'm showing you today is my first commission - whoo hoo! And I'm really pleased with it. It's also the first time I've made a Side Stepper card :o)!

A work colleague has asked me to make her 3 cards, and this is the first of them. It is for a lady who is moving to a new job, and the only requirement was for the card to be pink ... that box can be ticked!

My card recipe is as follows:

• Base Card - Centura Pearl 300gsm card in Fuchsia from the Crafter's Companion Brights pack
• Design Paper - Strawberry Kisses CD Rom, also by Crafter's Companion
• Sentiment - a freebie offered by the lovely Annette on her Blog
• Image is called Nanny Rose and she is, unfortunately, a now retired digi from Kelley Kids, who are no longer operating. She is such a darling and to bring her to life I used my Spectrum Noir Pens in the following shades:
• Hair - 104, 100
• Skin - 132, 133
• Dress & Bows - 147, 88, 86
• Shoes - 120
• Rose - 147, 88, 86, 48, 43
• Outline - CG1
• Butterflies - are one of the stamps in a  "cover freebie" stamp set from Cardmaking and Papercraft, stamped and coloured using my Spectrum Noirs in the same colours as Nanny Rose. I used a small piece of sticky pad to fix each of them to card, and then bent the wings upwards to give some definition.
• Flowers - are recycled from the swing tags from my daughter's pyjamas, also coloured using my Spectrum Noirs (Shades 147, 88, 35, 33) and cut out.

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

• Challenge #159 - Recycle It at The Crafty Pad
• Pink and Girly at Ladybug Crafts
• Challenge 46 - Throw us Some Shapes at My Mum's Craft Shop
• Challenge #27 - Shaped Cards at The Stamping Boutique
• Anything Goes at Simon Says

Hope you're having a great weekend!

Hugs, Helen x