Waiting for the Storm to pass ....

Good morning my crafty friends - hope this post finds you well. I've got two new followers to welcome today on our madcap crafty journey round my craft room - welcome to Jackie and also to Aussie Annie! Hope you ladies enjoy the fun!!!!!! :o)

Can you believe that we're nearly half-way through January already! How are you doing with any New Year's Resolutions that you made? I find it really tricky to keep them, so normally don't bother (tee hee!) however, I have got a few crafty goals tucked up my sleeve for this year: to use more of my stash before getting new things and to improve my colouring skills. There I've said them out loud haven't I? Oh well, that means I've got to stick to them haven't I :o)

It being the 15th of the month, means it's new challenge time over at Feeling Sketchy and, as usual, Michelle has come up with a wonderful sketch which is perfect for those of us who like CAS cards, but can be heavily embellished if you like more decorated layouts.

We've got a fab sponsor lined up again this time, but it's a bittersweet moment ... we're being sponsored by Deedee of Deedee's Digis, but sadly Deedee closed her online store at the end of 2015. However, she is honouring her sponsorship and she has given us 2 image, paper and sentiment sets for our lucky winner, Bugs & Blooms and Rainy Day - a quick preview of these is below.

So here's the sketch for you ...

... and here's my card for you using the Rainy Day set by Deedee at Deedee's Digis:

This card is quite appropriate for those in the UK who have been suffering with floods (including the village where my late grandmother lived); the rain has eased for now, and colder but brighter weather is on it's way.

My card recipe is as follows:

• Card base - is a pre-made A6 card base in white.
• Papers - are both from the Rainy Day set. The base layer is called "Dots" and I've used "Clouds" for the sentiment banner.
• Images - all come from the Rainy Day set. I've used 2 of the Coloured Rain Cloud and superimposed one on top of the other, and then I've also used Duck in Boots in the purple and green colourway. I digitally created this picture in my word processing package and then cut round them by hand, leaving parts of the clouds, umbrella and puddle out of the frame, before mounting it onto the paper.
• Sentiment - is one of 5 which come with the set. I have digitally layered this onto the "Clouds" paper, and then hand cut this into a fishtail banner which I've mounted onto my card. Using a craft knife, I hand cut round the lower portion of the duck's puddle so the sentiment banner runs underneath it.

I hope I've inspired you to come over to Feeling Sketchy and play along with our new sketch - as usual, you can twist or flip our sketch but we still need to be able to see that it's our sketch you're following! If you need any further inspiration, check out the other fabby creations by my wonderful teamies and then don't forget to come back and show us your creations! This challenge will end on 31st January 2016.

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

• Week 180 - Cue word "Open" at CASology - I've drawn inspiration from the open umbrella!

Enjoy the rest of the week!

Hugs, Helen x