A Snowy Forest

Good morning friends - hope this post finds you well. Now please can someone shed some light on where last week disappeared to? I can't believe how quickly the weeks are going by!

It's new challenge time it's new challenge time at Incy Wincy Designs and this week we want to see more of your Christmas creations as our theme this week is Christmas - Let It Snow!

Again this week, we've got 2 amazing sponsors offering our lucky winners prizes!

Firstly we've got this gorgeous bundle of charms from Iva Nova Chest ... I have to confess that as soon as us DT girls saw this prize, we all threatened to resign en masse as we would all dearly love to win this!!!!

Our second sponsor is own very own Teamie Nikki who owns Limited Runs Digital Stamps. Nikki is offering our second lucky prize winner 3 digis from her store.

Nikki was also kind enough to let us all loose in her on-line store and each DT member had their own choice of which digi to use - thanks Nikki!!!! :o)


So here is my snowy card:

My card recipe is as follows:

• Base Card - made from Centura Pearl in Snow White, which I cut, scored and folded to make a 10.5cm x 14.7cm card.
• Design Paper - is a members download from Club Inspire section of the Crafter's Companion website. This freebie was released in November 2010 and is called Festive Florals. I have digitally matted my papers with a dark blue border using my word processing programme.
  
• Image - is Pine Forest by Nikki of Limited Runs Stamps which I brought to life using my Craf-T Chalks in the following colours before giving everything a very liberal coating of white glitter!:
• Trees - Dark Green, Light Brown, Dark Brown
• Snow - Grey
• Sky - Turquoise
• Sentiment -  comes from Paulette at Create with TLC  and this was part of the 2011 Christmas Club.
• Ribbon - from my stash
• Snowflakes - punched from Centura Pearl in Snow White using my largest snowflkae punch. I bent up the fronds to give them a bit of dimension.

I hope you'll come over to Incy Wincy Designs and see the wonderful snowy creations by my teamies, our December Guest Designer Sue and our former teamie Annette, who's joining us this week.  Don't forget to come back and share your Christmas - Let it Snow  creations with us - this challenge ends on Sunday 15/12/2013.

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

• Show it Off Linky Party #8 at Create with TLC

Hugs, Helen x

Christmas Stockings

Morning all!

Hope you're well and had a great weekend. I'm sorry, I'm a day and a few hours late with this post ... my crafty days last week got blasted into oblivion by Christmas shopping with "himself" on Tuesday (can't craft with him around ... although he did inadvertently discover one of my crafty hidey-holes whilst trying to hide Christmas presents! Oooooops!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) and then on Wednesday I got a call from the estate agents to say that the sale of my late Mum's house, which wasn't going to be completed last week meaning I could clear up there over the weekend, was going through for Friday - had to drop everything and shoot over there. I must say I got rather itchy fingers not being able to craft.

Anyway, with apologies to the team, it's new challenge time at Incy Wincy Designs and this week we want to see your Christmas Stockings!

We've got 2 wonderful sponsors lined up for you again this week! 

Firstly, Care2Stamp are offering one lucky prize winner a $15 Gift Certificate. 

Our second sponsor is Tamara and her team at The Stamping Chef who is offering our second lucky prize winner a $10 Gift Certificate. 

Thanks to both of them for sponsoring us this week!

Tamara and her team have also been kind enough to give the DT some of Tamara's images to use - here is my card featuring one of Teri's "Smexy Chicks":

My card recipe is as follows:

• Base Card - made from Centura Pearl in Ivory, which I die-cut (using the largest oval in my Framelits Oval Set, and then scored and folded it to make a rocker card
• Design Paper - is by  Paulette at Create with TLC and was, I think, a blog freebie in December 2012.
  
  It's called Stockings were Hung Papers 5 and I die-cut this using the second largest Framelits Oval Die
• Image - this "Smexy Chick" is called Don't Pout, Just Kiss! and she has been designed by Tamara at The Stamping Chef. I die-cut this expectant one using a smaller Framelits Oval Die (although I'm not quite sure I've got the balance in sizes quite right) before bringing her to life using my Spectrum Noir Pens in the following colours:
• Skin - FS2, FS3, CR4
• Jumper and Leg Warmers - LV2, LV3, CG4, gold Gel Pen
• Mistletoe - EB1, CG4, Gold Gel Pen
• Sentiment -  comes from Paulette at Create with TLC (who else manages such witty sentiments?) and this was part of the 2012 Christmas Club.

I hope you'll come over to Incy Wincy Designs and see the wonderfully stocking-ed creations by my teamies and our December Guest Designer Sue.  Don't forget to come back and share your Christmas Stockings with us - this challenge ends on Sunday 8/12/2013.

If you like the sound of sharing fun with us, we've got a DT Call going on right now!!!!!! We're looking for 4 or 5 crafty ladies or gents who enjoy creating with Sponsor Images to join our fun filled team .... and we do have fun, and we do laugh .... alot!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :o) All the details are on this post so do check it out and send us an e-mail. We'd love for you to join us.

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

• Challenge #115 - Christmas Sentiment at Bearly Mine Challenge

That's it from me for today - I'm off to town to do battle with the other Christmas shoppers!

Have a good day.
Hugs, Helen x

Advent Countdown

This is my second post of the day - please scroll down to see my first post

Hi and welcome to my second post of the day - this time introducing this fortnight's challenge at Lexi's Creations. Yesterday was "Stir Up Sunday" at my church (we made our Parish Christmas Cake!) and next Sunday will be Advent Sunday here in the UK, so we're now on the countdown to the big "ho ho". Therefore Susan has set us a topical challenge and would like to see your projects celebrating Christmas. This one should be nice and simple, so no excuses for not joining us!

Of course everyone likes the opportunity to win a prize, and this fortnight our sponsor is the lovely Lexi from Fairy Dust Crafts who will be letting our lucky winner choose 5 digital images from her store. Fairy Dust Crafts  is "Your one stop shop for Lexi's Digi images and a growing choice of delicious crafting goodies. Here you can find all Lexi's Creations digital images...also available as clear rubber stamps plus other crafting goodies in store now!" 


Now, like most things at 'Casa Mia', there is a story behind this project. 

Youngest daughter and I were in a very well known store (that one that has "Magic & Sparkle") in our local shopping centre and as we walked past their Christmas Shop, we saw a perpetual Advent calendar. "Can we get that Mum?" she asked. Mr Mojo must have been light years ahead of my brain because I suddenly heard a voice say "I can make that" ... there was no-one else around us, so it must have been me! Well of course, she's held to me that statement! 


Here is another tutorial for you, this time showing you how I made the cubes for this project:

Materials:

1 piece of card measuring 10.5cm x 15cm for each cube (you can get 2 cubes out of an A4 piece of cardstock if you cut the long edge to 15cm, and then cut the 21cm side in half)
Cutting and scoring tools - I have used my Crafter's Companion Ultimate Pro together with The Boxer Board

Bone Folder
Scissors
Glue

How to cut, score and fold:

 Using the Ultimate Pro Boxer Board, butt one piece of cardstock with the short edge at the top of board and score at 1cm, 4.5cm, 8cm & 11.5 cm. Make sure you take the measurements at the right hand side of the board as I've shown here.

 Turn the cardstock round so the 1cm "tab" is on the left hand side, and butt the long side against the top of the board. Score at 3.5cm & 7cm.
On the right hand panel only, also score at 2.5cm & 8cm - these will make tabs for securing your cube. 
Again, make sure you take the measurements at the right hand side of the board as I've shown here.

  Turn your cardstock round again so the original 1cm "tab" is butted up to the top of your board and score (using the measurements panel at the right hand side of the board as I've shown here) in the right and left hand panels only at 3.5cm and 9cm - these will also make tabs for securing your cube.

I have marked the cutting lines in red on the template; the black lines are fold lines. The shaded areas are going to be cut away. Cut each of the RED lines - you may wish to round the corners on the 1cm wide "tabs" to make them easier to fold into your cube. Then fold and burnish the panels along the BLACK score lines so that they bend away from side of your cardstock you want showing, and your cardstock should look like this:

This point would be a good time to decorate the sides of you cube as it's the last time it's going to be flat! So, turn your cardstock over and embellish to your heart's content - just remember that the cubes have to rest on each of the sides so flat decorations might be best! :o)

 Now, to fold the cube!

With the decorated side of the cube facing up, firstly glue the two tabs marked 1 using a glue suitable for your cardstock - before the glue dries, fold the two side panels up and stick the cube side adjacent to these onto the tabs. Ensure that your folds are square before the glue dries, otherwise it will make your cube wonky. The cube is starting to take shape, and looks like this:

Do the same for the two tabs marked 2- this folds the "lid" of the cube down and the tabs will stick to the side we've just folded up.

Repeat this for the three tabs marked 3, which will close the front of the cube up - just make sure that the tab that's at the end of the front "wall" of the cube tucks in!

And here is the final cube. Each side is 3.5cm square, which gives a perfect base for numbers (or anything else) cut using the smallest of the Sizzix Framelits Scallop Squares Dies.

So, with a nod to that store, and featuring one of Lexi's wonderful images, here is my project for you, with not one, but two of these cubes!:

And for those of you who need a jog ... yes, there really are only 30 days until Christmas :o)

My project recipe is follows:

• Base Card - is the remainder of an A4 sheet of Centura Pearl in Snow White, once I'd taken the off the card I needed for the cubes. Using the Ultimate Pro Boxer Board again, I butted the short edge of my card against the top of the board and scored at 3cm, 7cm and 10cm. I folded and burnished these score lines so that they made 2 "feet" and a plinth to stand the cubes on. For added stability, I used double sided tape to adhere the cardstock together between the 7cm and 10cm fold lines.
• Images - I've used 2 images on this project. The first image is called Pine Forest and it comes from
  
  the pen of Beccy Muir at Beccy's Place. I think this was a blog freebie this spring, as I can't find it in her store. I recoloured the forest using one of the preset colours in my word processing package. The second image is Santa from the Santa Snowglobe (also comes with a Merry Christmas sentiment on the snowglobe base) by Lexi at Fairy Dust Crafts. I brought Santa to life using my Spectrum Noir Pens in the following colours, before fussy cutting him and mounting him on a double set of foam pads (for added depth):
• Santa Suit - DR1, DR2, DR3
• Skin - FS7, FS8, FS9
• Beard - IG1, Colourless Blender
• Fur on Hat - IG1, Colourless Blender, White Glitter
• Boots - True Black and Silver Gel Pen
• Ornament - GG1
• Cubes - made using Centura Pearl in Snow White. I printed the numbers 0 to 9 (doing two copies of the numbers 1 and 2!) in my word processing package using the font 'Stencil' onto the Red Damask Paper  from the kit Believe by Summer at Summertime Designs. I gave the numerals a touch of glitz courtesy of my Versamark Pen and Holographic Embossing Powder before die cutting them into squares using the smallest of my Sizzix Framelits Scallop Squares Dies. I attached these to the cube shapes (you need to be able to make sequences of numbers from 24 to 1, so you need to make sure you have a number 1 and number 2 on each cube) and then made up my cubes using the tutorial above.
• Sentiment - is computer generated, again using the font 'Stencil' in my word processing package and printing onto the Red Damask Paper  from Summer's kit Believe.

I hope you'll come over to Lexi's Creations and look at the wonderful creations made by my teamies. Don't forget to then come back and link up your projects celebrating Christmas! This challenge ends on Saturday 7/12/2013.


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

• November 2013 Challenge - Christmas/Winter at Crafter's Companion Challenge 2nd Entry
• November Monthly Challenge - Christmas at Stamping Sensations - 2nd Entry
• Challenge 113 - Christmas Traditional Colours (Red and Green) using Die Cuts at Bearly Mine Challenge
• Monthly Challenge  #39 - Christmas at Little Claire's
• Christmas Challenge at Crafty Sentiments - I'm now following your Inspirational Blog as well for 3 extra entries!
• A Month of Holiday Cards Challenge at Beccy's Place - 2nd Entry and I'm hoping that a Holiday project (rather than a card) counts!
• Challenge #138 - Christmas is Coming at The Paper Shelter
• Photo Inspiration Challenge (Santa) at Winter Wonderland

Hope you have a good, and crafty, week :o) !

Hugs, Helen x

Howdy Partner!

This is my first post of the day - please scroll up to see my second post

Good morning friends - hope you are all well today.

It's time for a new challenge at Incy Wincy Designs and this week's challenge is to make a card For the Men in Your Life. It could be a Christmas card or, if you're fed up of seasonal makes, it could be a Birthday, Anniversary or a 'just because' card. 

Our sponsor for this challenge is Gerda and her lovely team from Stamp Fairy and they are offering this week's lucky winner a $10 Gift Certificate to their store. Gerda's gorgeous digis combine cuteness with whimsy and with such a large range of images in her store, there's bound to be the one for you! 

Gerda has also kindly supplied us with some of her "male" images for us to use this week (thanks Gerda!) and here is my card for you:

My card recipe is follows:

• Base Card - is Centura Pearl in Regal Blue (from a pack of Darks by Crafter's Companion) which I cut, scored and folded to make a 15cm square easel card.
• Design Papers - come from the Fathers and Fedoras Kit by Summer at Summertime Designs. I have used the Yellow Paper which I embossed using my Embossalicious Birthday Text Embossing Folder.
  
  The mid-layer is called Random Blue Paper and I have die cut this using the second largest of the Sizzix Framelits Scallop Squares Dies. 
• Image - this cowboy pig is in the set Pigs Cowboys 1 and come from the pen and/or mouse of Gerda at Stamp Fairy. I brought Pig to life using my Spectrum Noir Pens in the following colours, before die cuttin him using the second largest of the Sizzix Framelits Scallop Squares Dies:
• Skin - EB1, EB2, FS9
• Necker and Band on Stetson - TB3, TB4
• Stetson - GB8, GB10
• Outline - IG1
• Sentiment - is an old favourite called Happy Birthday Flag - this has seen many an outing on a birthday card! It is by Paulette from Create with TLC and was a download from her blog in August 2012. I've recoloured this into a toning blue shade using my word processing programme.

I've only realised as I'm writing this post (and getting the links for you) that Gerda has a freebie text available to download to go with the images in this cowboy set, but as my nephew is celebrating his birthday today it's a bit late to go tweaking my card now! Will my memory banks remember this the next time I use this image I wonder?

I hope you'll come over to Incy Wincy Designs and check out the other 'male' creations by my teamies, Sandy (with her last creation as our Guest Designer for November) and our Special Guest Designers from Stamp Fairy Blog, Céline and Martina - thanks for sharing your creativity with us this week! Don't forget to come back and show us your projects For the Men in Your Life! This challenge will end on Sunday 1st December 2013.

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

• Challenge #17 - Birthdays at Paper Creator's Crafts 2nd Entry
• Anything Goes 4 Kids at Send a Smile 4 Kids

That's it from me ... for the moment. I'll be back a little later with another post for you but, in the meantime, take care!

Hugs, Helen x

The Christmas Gift

Good afternoon friends, and I hope your weekend is going well. After a sticky start ("himself" managed to pick up a puncture in a tyre yesterday and after about an hour on the phone, managed to track a replacement down ... 30 miles away!) the wheel is now back on the (well, his wagon!) and 'normality' has returned to Casa Mia.

I've been inspired by a couple of challenges this week, and I also wanted to have a play with the contents of my last parcel from Crafter's Companion ... here is the result:

Don't get me wrong - I LOVE Christmas, and now I work in a school I actually get to enjoy the festivities; when I worked in retail I was sooooo fed up of it as it seemed as though the decorations and gift ideas had been in the store for what seemed like months. However, I feel sometimes as though the true meaning of Christmas (one baby who was born as a "gift" to the world) gets lost in the razzle dazzle of the 'must-have-gift'. This very simple image reminds me of the Crib Service on Christmas Eve, when the youngest members of our church dress up as characters from the Nativity.

My card recipe is follows:

• Base Card - is Centura Pearl in Snow White which I cut, scored and folded to make a 10.5cm x 14.7cm card. I embossed my card using the Petite Dot Embossalicious Folder
• Image - this stable scene was one of the goodies in the 2011 Christmas Club - The Sequel by Paulette from Create with TLC.  I brought the manger and stable to life using my Spectrum Noir Pens and Craf-T Chalks (together with a Versamark Pen) in the following colours:
• Star - Yellow, Yellow Orange, Gold Gel Pen
• Stable and Manger - Tan, Light Brown, Dark Brown
• Baby Jesus - FS2, FS3, Grey, Gold Gel Pen
• Ground - Burnt Sienna, Tan
• Sky - Royal Blue
• Sentiment - is also by Paulette from Create with TLC and this one came from the 2011 Christmas Club. I made my own banner shape and as the text was larger than I wanted my banner to be, I cut round it (and opened the top of the J so you can see the stable behind it).

This one is (I feel) a very CAS as well as white on white card - hope you like it.

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

• Day 321 - Super Sketchy Sunday at 365 Cards
• Challenge #74 - It'll be All White on the Night at Little Miss Muffet Challenge
• Show It Off ... Party #7 at Create with TLC
• November 2013 Challenge - Christmas/Winter at Crafter's Companion Challenge
• A Month Of Holiday Cards Challenge at Beccy's Place

Hope the rest of your weekend is good!

Hugs, Helen x

Hey Babe!

Good morning my crafty friends - hope you all had a good weekend! I would like to warmly welcome Chris, who is my newest follower - thanks for joining me and everyone else on this crafty journey.

Well you should know the drill by now ... as it's Monday morning, it's new challenge time at Incy Wincy Designs, and this week we're challenging you to make an Easel Card. We've got two awesome sponsors this week, which means (again!) there are two awesome prizes up for grabs!

Our first sponsor is Heather and her team at Lacy Sunshine Stamps, and they're offering our first lucky prize winner a $20 Gift Certificate to their store!

Our second sponsor is Kenny and his "krew" at Kenny K Downloads, and they're offering our second lucky prize winner 4 Digital Images!

Both Heather and Kenny have very kindly supplied us with some images to showcase this week - thanks guys for helping us out this week! 

Without further ado, here is my easel card featuring an image from Kenny K Downloads:

My card recipe is follows:

• Base Card - is Centura Pearl in Purple which I cut, scored and folded to make a 11.5cm square easel card.
• Design Papers - come from 2 sources. The top paper and the purple mat come from a Card Companions printout from the Strawberry Kisses Papercrafting CD-Rom - these are great because you get a selection of coordinating items (on this sheet were 2 different papers, some ribbon sliders, card candy, buttons and tags) making it oh-so-easy to put a card together! I chose to pair this paper with one I downloaded from Card Making Downloads called Lilac Sparkle ... I know it's turquoise on the card! I took the paper into my word processing programme where I was able to recolour it to this gorgeous shade which contrasts beautifully with the purples don't you think? Unfortunately, I don't think this lovely paper is available any longer :o(
• Image - this girl with attitude is called Ginger Gem and she comes from the pen of Kenny Kiernan
  
  at Kenny K Downloads. I brought Ginger to life using my Spectrum Noir Pens in the following colours, before fussy cutting her:
• Hair - GB5, GB6, GB7, GB8
• Skin - FS2, FS3, DG4, CR4
• T-Shirt - IG1, Colourless Blender
• Jeans - LV1, LV2, LV3
• Shoes - True Black and Silver Gel Pen
• Outline - GG1
• Ribbon - is white organdie satin edged ribbon from my stash
• Sentiment - is from a set of stamps called Special Occasion Stamps which were a magazine freebie earlier this year. I have stamped the sentiment onto the tag from the Strawberry Kisses Papercrafting CD-Rom Card Companion print.
• Pearls - are from my stash and were coloured using my Spectrum Noir Pens in LV3 and BT4.

I hope you'll come over to Incy Wincy Designs and look at the other gorgeous creations by the other Design Team members and Sandy, who continues as this month's Guest Designer. Then don't forget to come back and show us your Easel Cards! This challenge will end on Sunday 24th November 2013.

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

• Challenge 106 - Purple and Turquoise at A Gem of a Challenge
• Challenge #17 - Birthdays at Paper Creator
• Challenge #57 - Use Violet at The Squirrel and The Fox
• Simply Square at CD Sunday Challenge - I hope that entering a square Easel Card is OK; if not please feel free to delete my entry.

Have a great week!

Hugs, Helen x

Wake Up and Smell the Coffee!

Good afternoon everyone and "Happy Hump Day"! We're over Wednesday lunchtime, which means it's downhill to the weekend ...... wheeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!

I know I don't usually do mid-week posts (unless I'm GDTing) but I'd been toying with this card in my mind. And then yesterday, a whole host of challenges popped up in my blog reader and crystallised my thoughts. So this morning I went for a run (OK, if you'd seen me it was more of a waddle ... and then I bumped into 2 students from school, waiting to be picked up to go to their college course; I was looking puce and sweating buckets! Heaven only knows how many sniggers and giggles I'll face tomorrow!) and then went to my yoga class. Came back at lunchtime, knuckled down ... and here's the result of this afternoon's labours:

My card recipe is as follows:

• Base Card - pre-made Kraft Card Blank in A6 size
• Design Papers - are from a kit called Comforts of Home by Summer at Summertime Designs.  (I think that's quite appropriate given the image and sentiment don't you!) The bottom layer is called Large Dots Paper and the top layer is called Red Chevron Paper. 
• Image - this lovely image was a digi freebie on The Alley Way Stamps Blog in November 2012
  
  (unfortunately it is no longer available) and I believe it was drawn by Alison Spelman - can't you just smell the coffee? I looks like it probably is now part of a stamp set called Breakfast Club. I die cut around the digi using an oval die before paper piecing it - my TOP TIP here is to make sure your scissors don't have any sticky residue on them which could wreck your fiddly cutting, give them a clean ... I find that a bit of cotton wool soaked in nail polish remover does the trick (and it doesn't involve rummaging in "himself's" shed for the white spirit either!!!!!) The bottom layer and handle are from Small Dots Paper (Comforts of Home kit), the band reminded me of a wrapper you get with a take-away coffee so I paper pieced this from a sheet of Kraft Card and then the heart shape was printed on Red Dots Paper (Comforts of Home kit) - once the heart was stuck on the other layers, I gave it a slick of Glossy Accents to highlight it. I finished the oval off by hand drawing some faux stitching in my metallic Bronze Gel Pen.
• Sentiment -  is by one of my favourite "sentimentalists" and that is Paulette from Create with TLC. This was a recent freebie on her blog ... thank you Paulette. I have put the sentiment into a speech bubble from the Speech Bubbles set, a freebie from Squigglefly. Again, this came under the spell of my trust metallic Bronze pen, and came out the other side with some faux stitching on!
• Ribbon Slider - is made from a length of satin ribbon in sage green and a faux button. This was made from 4 circles punched from Kraft card using my 1.5 cm circle punch which were stuck together, had 2 holes punched through and then slicked with glossy accents which was allowed to dry before threading my ribbon through.

So there you have it - and I'm quite pleased with this afternoon's work! Now I've just got to put the shopping away and cook tea, oh and hide the evidence of this afternoon's crafting session and pretend I've been doing housework :o) !!!!!!!!!

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

• Be Inspired #41 at The Alley Way Stamps
• Challenge #114 - Borrowed Sketch at Top Tip Tuesday - my TOP TIP is above 
• Challenge #73 - Seeing Dots at Little Miss Muffet Challenges
• Get Krafty - Use Kraft Cardstock at Ladybug Crafts Ink
• SFC4513 - Polka Dots at Squigglefly
• Challenge #188 - Add Some Doodling at Craft Your Passion
• #104 - Paper Piecing at Crafty Cardmakers
• Stitching - real or faux at Just Inspirational Challenges
• Challenge #65 - Stitching - real/faux at Crafting for All Seasons

Whatever you're doing this afternoon/evening, have fun!

Hugs, Helen x

Thank you for being my Friend!

This is my second post of the day - please scroll down to see my first post

Hello again friends and welcome to my second post of the day - this time it's for a new challenge at Lexi's Creations. I know our American friends are celebrating Thanksgiving, so Susan has set our challenge as being Thanks or Thanksgiving. If you don't celebrate Thanksgiving, you can make a card to say "Thanks" instead!

This week's sponsor is Priyanka from My Heart Pieces who is offering a prize of 3 digis to our lucky winner and the lovely Lexi from Fairy Dust Crafts has also let the DT loose in her store again!

Here is my Thank You card featuring one of Priyanka's images and one of Lexi's sentiments:

My card recipe is as follows:

• Base Card - made from Centura Pearl in Ivory, which I cut scored and folded to make a 15cm square card
• Design Papers - are from a kit called Thanks for Giving by Summer at Summertime Designs. The bottom layer is called Cranberry Dots Paper, the next layer is called Jeweled Floral Paper and the top layer is called Torn Green Paper. I have digitally layered these papers, adding a chestnut brown border to them as a faux mat.
  
• Image - this carefree cutie is called Cute Freebie and she comes from the pen of Priyanka at My Heart Pieces - at the time of writing this post (Sunday night) this freebie was still available... just click the link, and please remember to let Priyanka know you came from my blog. The swinging girl was cut out using the second largest Framelits Flowers Die before being brought to life using my Spectrum Noir Pens and Craf-T Chalks in the following colours:
• Girl - GB8, GB10, FS2, FS3, GB2, GB4, GB5, TH7, TN8
• Branch, Flowers, Foliage - OR1, OR2, OR3, DG2, DG4, TN8
• Swing - BGR3, GB4, GB5
• Outline - GG1
• Background - Chalks in Burnt Sienna and Dark Green
• Sentiment -  comes from the pen of Lexi at Fairy Dust Crafts and is a very thoughtful way to say "Thank You" to a friend. I also added a faux mat of a chestnut brown to this before cutting it out and fixing it to my card.

I hope you'll come over to Lexi's Creations and say Thanks or celebrate Thanksgiving with us and this week's Guest Designer Silvi - this challenge ends on Saturday 23/11/2013.

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

• PTT#145 - Thanksgiving / Thank You Notes at Party Time Tuesdays
• Challenge #55 - Autumn Splendor at Nutcrafters
• Midweek Papercraft Party 12 - Thank You or Thanksgiving at Handmade Harbour
• Stella Says Sketch Challenge #145 at Catch The Bug
• Challenge #36 - Friends at The Crafter's Cafe Challenge
• Challenge #93 - Feminine at Aud Sentiments
• CMM76 Thankful Tidings at Card Makin' Mamas

That's it from me today! Enjoy your Monday, and we'll catch up soon.

Hugs, Helen x

Making a Snowman ....

This is my first post of the day - please scroll up to see my second post

... looks like tough work - all will become clear when you see the gorgeous image I've used on this card!!!

Good morning all! Hope you are well this Monday morning and that you had a good weekend. I would like to extend a very warm welcome to Barb, my newest follower - hope you enjoy the madcap crafty ride with us!

There's a new challenge starting this morning at Incy Wincy Designs, and this week we've got a lovely Sketch for you to follow, courtesy of our 'teamie' Karen. We've got two wonderful sponsors this week, which means there are two fabby prizes up for grabs for two lucky winners! 

Our first sponsors are Wendy and her team from Digital Delights, who are offering our first lucky prize winner a $5 Gift Certificate to their store.

Our second sponsors are Esme, Nathaza and the team at Milk 'n' Coffee Digital Stamps. They are offering our second lucky prize winner 5 digital stamps from their store.

Here is Karen's lovely sketch ......

.... and here is my card (having rotated the sketch 90° clockwise) showcasing an image from Milk 'n' Coffee Digital Stamps:

My card recipe is follows:

• Base Card - is Centura Pearl in Snow White which I cut, scored and folded to make a 15cm square card.
• Design Papers - are from a kit called Winter Wonderland by Summer at Summertime Designs. The base layer is called Dark Blue Blizzard and the top layer is called Snowflake. I've digitally placed a faux mat & layer in dark grey on the top DP.
  
• Image - this very cute image is called Children Playing with Snowman in Winter (doesn't it look like the little girl has pushed the snowman too hard and it's going to topple over onto her brother!) and it comes from the pens of Esme and Nathaza who are the illustrators at Milk 'n' Coffee Digital Stamps. These siblings were cut out using one of my Framelits Scallop Squares Dies (in a rectangular shape) before being brought to life using my Spectrum Noir Pens and Craf-T Chalks in the following colours:
• Boy (left) - BT7, BT9, GB8, GB10, FS6, FS8, EB7, EB8, DG4, BG6, BG8, BG10, True Black
• Girl (right) - GB3, GB4, FS6, FS8, CR4, CR5, DG1, DG2, CR11, True Black, White Glitter
• Snowman - True Black, CR11, OR3, IG2, Colourless Blender, White Glitter
• Spade - BGR1, BGR3, DG3, EB2
• Outline - TB1
• Clouds - Chalk in Turquoise
• Snow - IG2 and a sprinkling of White Glitter to get the effect of the sun glinting off the snow!
• Ribbon - is also from the Winter Wonderland kit, and I digitally superimposed it on my base layer of paper before printing.
• Sentiment - is by Paulette at Create with TLC and this one was part of the Winter 2012 Club.
• Snowflakes - were created from Centura Pearl card in Snow White and 2 different sizes of snowflake punches. I bent the fronds up on the snowflakes to give a bit of dimension to them.

I hope you'll come over to Incy Wincy Designs and look at the other gorgeous creations by my team mates, this month's Guest Designer Sandy and our Special Guest Designer Mary from the Milk Coffee Stamps Blog. Then don't forget to come back and show us your creations using our Sketch! This challenge will end on Sunday 17th November 2013.

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

• Challenge #136 - Winter Fun at The Paper Shelter
• Challenge #70 - Photo Inspiration at Addicted to Stamps and More! My inspiration has come from the blue and silver colours (I've used a lighter blue and grey) and the season.
• Christmas in November at Crafty Little Fairies
• November Challenge - Christmas at Stamping Sensations

I'll be back in a little bit with another post ... in the meantime, take care!

Hugs, Helen x