Football Crazy!

Hi,

It's new challenge time at Lexi's Creations - that fortnight went quickly didn't it! Our new challenge is to make a card for The Man / Boy in your life.

The fabby team at at Cropstop are sponsoring our challenge again this week and they're offering our lucky winner a $15 Gift Certificate. Here is a little about them:
"If you’re passionate about paper-crafting whether it be scrapbooking your memories, making cards or altered art, CropStop is your one-stop solution. We offer an extensive selection of dies, embossing folders, inks, stamps and punches by all the popular manufacturers and the CropStop die and embossing folder storage solutions Pocketz Pages™ to keep everything organized. Our selection of embellishments and adhesives is continually expanding and we are excited to be the home of the colorful Ribbon Candy™. 

CropStop ships internationally as well as domestic. Our personalized customer service is only one of our strengths. Call or come visit us at www.CropStop.com and see what’s new in the world of paper-crafting."

The lovely Lexi at Fairy Dust Crafts has, once again, given the DT free rein to work with their choice of image and here is my inspiration for you:

My card recipe is as follows:

• Base Card - Pre-made A6 card base in Kraft card (mine came from Hobbycraft).
• Design Paper - is by Paulette at Create with TLC, and it was a freebie on her site last week. I used a circle from the "nest" on the Ultimate Pro Embossing Board Springtime Sweets and Cupcake Treats to cut it to shape.
• Images - Footie Ali is by Lexi of Fairy Dust Crafts and is just one of the wonderful images that you can find at her store. Ali came to life courtesy of my Spectrum Noir Pens in the following colours:
• Trousers - TN2, TN3
• T-Shirt - DG3, JG6, DR7
• Trainers - EB1, True Black
• Skin - FS2, FS3
• Hair - TN7, TN8
• Grass - CG1, CG2
• Outline - IG1
• Sentiment - also by by Paulette at Create with TLC. I took it into my word processing package in order to change the colour so it fitted in with my papers.
• Buttons - Using my computer, I cropped the image of Ali and his football until I was left with just about the football. I printed this out, cut round the football and then scanned this back into my computer. I then took the new graphic into my word processing programme, and pasted the graphic 10 times at the same size and printed these onto white card. Using Leesa's Faux Button Tutorial I turned these pieces of card into 2 custom buttons that match my project! They were finished with some waxed thread tied through them

I think this is a great card for an older boy or teenager, and it can easily be personalised by making the shirt the colour of his favourite team. I hope you like this card as much as I do! Head on over to Lexi's Creations and see what my Teamies have made for The Man / Boy in your life. Don't forget to come back and then show us your creations! You've got until Saturday 8th June 2012 to link your cards up.

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

• Challenge #55 - Any Sentiment at Aud Sentiments
• Challenge #27 - "It's a Celebration" with Buttons at Crafting For All Seasons
• Challenge #42 - Cute as a Button at Digistamps 4 Joy
• Challenge #80 - Anything Goes at Penny's Paper-Crafty Challenges
• Challenge #109 - Birthday Card with a Sentiment on the Front at Robyn's Fetish

Have a great week!

Hugs, Helen x

Keep Calm and ...

Hi,

I would like to give a warm welcome to all my new followers - thanks for joining me on my creative journey!

This was supposed to have been my my second week of being a Guest Designer with the Team A Girls at The Crafty Pad. However, the girls have asked me join their team so I am very honoured and delighted to say that this is my very first post as a DT Member with Team A!

Our challenge for you this week is The Colours of your Country's Flag and/or Sketch. Plenty of choice here then! Either make your card using the colours of your Country's flag, or follow this lovely sketch, or go the whole hog and really challenge yourself by using both the theme and the sketch!

Our sponsors this week are the lovely girls at Joanna Sheen who are offering this week's lucky winner a £10 voucher to spend in their online store!!!!! And remember that they charge no postage and packing (apart from a few items unavailable to non UK customers) for any country in the world providing you spend a minimum of £9. 

Anyone in the UK can't fail to notice that "Jubilee Fever" is high  and that stores are crammed with products coloured red, white and blue. So, I've taken my lead from them and would like to show you my inspiration using this gorgeous image by Debbie who owns The Crafty Pad Store:

My card recipe is as follows:

• Base Card - Centura Pearl 300gsm card in Snow White, cut and folded to make a 15cm square card.
• Design Papers - by Crafter's Companion and are a now retired collection called A Royal Wedding. These were a Members download in April 2011 to celebrate the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. I've used the red gingham paper, and the red, white and blue striped paper with Union flags on it.
• Image - Lulu Blowing Bubbles is by Debbie at The Crafty Pad Store and you can get your own copy of Lulu by clicking here! Don't forget to check out the other lovely images in Debbie's store. I have brought the gorgeous Lulu (and her bubbles!) to life using my Spectrum Noir Pens in the following colours:
• Dress - TB3, TB4, CR10, CR11
• Bow - CR10, CR11
• Shoes - True Black
• Skin - FS2, FS3
• Hair - TN2, TN3
• Outline & Grounding - CG1, CG3
• Bubbles - Holographic Embossing Powder
• Sentiment - made using the online Poster Maker at The Keep Calm-O-Matic and then tweaked it with a pen so everyone knows Lulu is Party-ing! While you're at the site, check out the "Keep Calm" Guide which tells the story behind this very famous poster.
• Flowers - made using the Union flag coloured teabag tiles that came with my Design Paper Collection. I used the flower shapes on the Ultimate Pro Embossing Board Springtime Sweets and Cupcake Treats and cut out 8 of the same sized shapes for each flower. Then for each flower, I sprayed the shapes to make them damp, scrunched them, opened them again and layered them up in a stack. I then made a hole through the stack, inserted a brad as the centre of the flower, and gathered the petals around into a flower shape, then left each one to dry before attaching them to my project.
• Ric-rac Ribbon - from my local haberdashery store.

I love this very patriotic card! Don't forget to head over to The Crafty Pad and check out the fabulous creations by my Teamies on Team A, and our Guest Designer Linda - leave them some love whilst you're there! Don't forget to link up your own creation using the "Colours of your Country's Flag" and / or use our Sketch. You've got until 8pm (BST) on Saturday 2nd June to join us and be in with a chance of winning this great prize from Joanna Sheen.

I would like to enter this card for the following challenges (with a little help from the girls at Feline Playful - thanks girls!) :

• Weekly Challenge - Feature 3 Brads at Made Especially For You I've used 3 brads as the centres of my 3 flowers
• Challenge #77 - Dig out the Old at Top Tip Tuesday My DPs have been on the hard drive of my computer since April 2011 and I've not used them before even though they're lovely (ahem ... embarrassed!). I brought my brads from a sale bin at Hobbycraft last summer, even though at that time I had absolutely no idea how to use brads!
• Challenge #3 - Anything Goes! at Great Impressions Stamps
• Challenge #24 - Here Comes Summer at Crafter's Companion
• Challenge #116 - What's Your Colour? at Sassy Cheryl's
• True Colours at Papertake Weekly
• Challenge #58 - Cooking up a Recipe (3 Flowers, 2 Papers, 1Ribbon) at My Mum's Craft Shop
• Challenge #35 - Anything Goes at Little Miss Muffet
• Theme of Red, White and Blue at Willow Sketchie
• Week 21 - Diamond Jubilee at Glitter Geeks

Hope you're having a great weekend.

Hugs, Helen x

Busy Bees bringing a Birthday Buzz!

Hi,

It's time for a new challenge over at Lexi's Creations and this time we're challenging you to use just Black and White, plus one other colour.

This fortnight, our sponsor is the lovely Lexi at Fairy Dust Crafts who, as usual, has given the DT their choice of image to work with for this challenge. She is also offering a prize to our lucky winner.

I've tried something completely new for this card, and have made a gatefold card, but the front part of the card is made from acetate. I think it's worked quite well.

My card recipe is as follows:

• Base Card - Centura Pearl 300gsm card in Snow White cut to form a 15cm square card base. Two pieces of Acetate cut  to 8.5cm x 15cm and scored at 1cm on the short side to give a "tab". Double sided tape was used to fix these to the reverse of my card base.
• Design Paper - from the Strawberry Kisses CD-Rom and I tweaked the colour using the built in Colouriser to get the shades of yellow that I wanted. I got the wavy edge round it by using my new acquisition, a Clevercut paper trimmer set to a wavy line.
• Mat & Layer Card - some plain black card I had in my stash, and 2 pieces were using a circles from the  "nest" on the Ultimate Pro Embossing Board Springtime Sweets and cupcake Treats. My TOP TIP for you here is, if there's room on your base mat & layer card, cut out your shape for under your image from that. No-one will see it as it will be hidden by your DP and it will cut down on weight (if you're posting your card) and cost (in these thrifty times) as you won't need to use another sheet! I can't claim this is my own idea ... but as, I've never seen it printed anywhere, I thought I would share it with you as this idea is too good to keep to myself!!!
• Images - Bug 1 is by Lexi of Fairy Dust Crafts and is just one of the gorgeous images that you can find at her store. I printed out 2 images, one for the front of the card and the other (slightly larger) for the inside. These were both cut out and layered onto the black card. Once I had mounted the one inside the card, I closed the acetate on top, and mounted the smaller Bee "sandwich" directly on top of the inside one. When the card is closed, it looks like there's just one image there!   I brought these busy bees to life with my Spectrum Noir Pens in the following colours:
• Bee - CT3, CT4, True Black
• Outline - GG1
• Wings and "Flying Squiggles" - Holographic Embossing Powder
• Edge of shape - Yellow Chalk
• Sentiment - by Paulette at  Create with TLC

Inside the card - slightly larger image

I hope you like this card as much as I do! Head on over to Lexi's Creations and see what the rest of the DT girls got up to using Black and White, plus one other colour. Don't forget to come back and then show us your creations! You've got until Saturday 26th May 2012 to link your cards.


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

• Challenge #76 - Clean and Simple at Top Tip Tuesday
• Challenge #102 - (B)irthday plus a Sentiment at Sentimental Sundays - Sorry there aren't any embellishments starting with the letter B but I've got 2 Bee images ... does that count?
• Happy Birthday! at Joanna Sheen
• Challenge 24 - Here Comes Summer at Crafter's Companion

Have a great week!

Hugs, Helen x

Sew Nice ... a GDT spot at The Crafty Pad

Hi,

I'm thrilled to have been asked by Leesa to GDT with the Team A Girls this month at The Crafty Pad. Today is my first card with them and the challenge is Doodle It! Add some doodling, faux stitching, anything you like ... just take a pen to your creation somewhere.

We're being sponsored this week by the lovely team at MeiFlower who are offering this week's lucky winner a £20 voucher to spend in their online store!!!!! Do hop over and take a look - from ribbons to cord, brads to charms there's something there for everyone.

So, without further ado, here is my inspiration for you using images by Debbie who owns The Crafty Pad Store:

My card recipe is as follows:

• Base Card - Centura Pearl 300gsm card in Ivory cut and folded to make a side stepper card. This is only the second time I've made this style of card, and I'm feeling quite pleased as I worked out all the proportions by myself!
• Design Papers and tag - all by Summer at Summertime Designs from a set called called Angel Mother
• Images - Dressform Trio is by Debbie from The Crafty Pad Store and these is just one set of wonderful images that you can find at her store. For the first time I've had real digital "play" and layered these images onto the tag, and I'm really pleased with the overall result. I love these Dressforms ... very feminine even though they're silhouettes.
• Ribbon Slider - made with a scan of my tape measure (thrifty crafting goes on here!) and the Sentiment Ticket Perfect Fit is also from The Crafty Pad Store
• Faux Stitching - using a black gel pen I did "running stitch" around my mat and layer DPs and "zig-zag stitching" along my tape measure where it is on top of the DPs.
• Die Cut - came from a magazine and the bow is made with some white waxed linen thread, continuing the theme of sewing and threads.

I hope you like this very girlie (and crafty) card as much as I do! Don't forget to head over to The Crafty Pad and check out how the regular DT girls have "Doodled" on their cards, and then show us your pen skills on your creations!

Have a great weekend.

Hugs, Helen x