Wino alert!

Hello friends .... hope you are feeling OK today. Love and hugs to anyone who has been affected by the tragedies unfolding in Brussels this morning ........

Anyway, this is my last "catch up" DT post from when I was poorly ... last Tuesday saw the launch of the latest challenge at Feeling Sketchy.

We're being sponsored this time, by Brigzy and the great team at Dr Digi's House of Stamps. They've been kind enough to let us choose some digis to showcase as well as providing a prize for the lucky winner of this challenge!

Here's the sketch we'd like you to follow this time, as drawn by the lovely Michelle:

And here's my "take" on it, using a sentiment from  Dr Digi's House of Stamps:

This was actually Papa Mia's birthday card (he celebrated last week) so I've gone for a really CAS design, but for those of you who are clever enough to be able to add many, many embellishments to your projects (OK, so you know that if I do this, it looks I've splattered some glue around and then tipped my embellies box over!) this sketch is perfect for you!

My card recipe is as follows:

• Card base - pre-made 14.8cm square white card base. I've softened the edges of the base by gently inking over them using Seedless Preserves Distress Ink
• Design Paper - is from the Camden Town Male Papercrafting Collection CD-Rom, which is sadly no longer available. I've printed this paper out in a deep pink colour (the bambinos told me in no uncertain terms that it wasn't a good choice of colour for a male card!) but this is the colour I imagine paper would go if I was careless enough to spill some red wine on it ... not that this would ever happen you understand as I'd be there with a straw slurping the spillage up!!!!!!! :oD I've tool distressed the edges of the paper before adhering it to my card base.
  
• Sentiment - is by Brigzy at Dr Digi's House of Stamps and is one of the many sentiments available on the Birthdays Sentiments Sheet 01. I've printed this out fairly large and again, distressed the edges.
• Bottle, Glass and Clock Elements - are all on the Camden Town Male Papercrafting Collection CD-Rom which I've printed out, fussy cut and then adhered to my card.

I hope I've tempted you to play along with this sketch, but if you are in need of any more inspiration, please come over to Feeling Sketchy and check out the other wonderful creations by my very talented teamies. This challenge is still running so you've got time to play along with us, and we'll be back with our next sketch challenge on 1st April 2016.

In the meantime, I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:

• Anything Goes Birthday at Seize the Birthday
• Challeenge #127  All About Birthdays at Dream Valley Challenges
• Monday Challenge - Food and/or Drink at Simon Says Stamp Blog
• Challenge #183 - Add a Sentiment at QKR Stampede
• Challenge #105 - Be Funny/Make a Joke at Simply Create Too
• Creative Playground Challenge #2 - Birthday at Creative Playground/Imagine That! dbK Blog
• Challenge #308 - Square or Rectangle Cards at Robyn's Fetish - Second Entry
• Challenge #109 - Clean and Simple at The Creative Card Crew

Hope you have a great rest of the week and that the Easter Bunny brings lots of goodies to you and yours!

Hugs, Helen x

"Curiouser, and curiouser" said Alice

Good morning crafty friends!

Last week of term for us with it being Good Friday at the end of the week. Although it's been a rather short term, as usual it's been rather action packed!

It's new challenge time at Incy Wincy Designs and our challenge for you this time is 3, 2, 1, GO FOR IT! OK, it's not a running race, it's a recipe challenge! We'd like you to use 3 papers, 2 buttons and 1 ribbon.

As ever, we've got 2 great sponsors lined up for this challenge.

Our first sponsor is the lovely Chrishanthi at PPinky Dolls and our second lovely sponsor are the team at Dr Digi, both of whom are offering our 2 randomly picked, lucky winners a prize package.









Before I show you my project, here are some ramblings from Casa Mia:

A brass on the wall in our parish Church
commemoratingAlice's brother Edward

Many of you will familiar with the stories of Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll and some of you will also know that the original story was invented by Lewis Carroll to entertain a young Alice Liddell and her siblings whilst they were on a boat trip in Oxford. Later, Lewis' story was committed to paper. Fast forward to 1888 and Alice's father (who was still the Dean of Christchurch, Oxford), together with the then Lord Bishop of Winchester, consecrated the church where we now worship - one of Alice's 9 siblings, Edward, was Churchwarden at the church at that time. The font in which both Bambinos were baptised was also donated by Edward! Alice spent the rest of her life in the New Forest, Hampshire and her remains are buried in the Churchyard in Lyndhurst where, coincidentally, the Bambinos and I have spent many happy weekends because there is a Girlguiding UK Activity Centre in the same village! Small world eh or, as Alice would say "Curiouser and curiouser"!

So I'm delighted to be featuring one of Chrishanthi's quirky images with which I have a rather tenuous connection!

My card recipe is as follows:

• Card base - black card which I've cut, scored and folded to make a 14 x 11 cm card
• Design Papers - are by Summer at the now very sadly closed Summertime Designs and they come from a set called All is Calm. I have used the Dots Paper as my base layer and Red Damask Paper as the top layer. My third paper has been used to make the rosette - the paper is Branches and Berries Paper and the die is used is Medallions Strip Die by Sizzix.
  
• Image - is of course Alice who has been drawn by Chrishanthi at PPinky Dolls. I have brought Alice and the rabbit to life using my Spectrum Noir Pencils in the listed colours before die cutting it out using one of the ovals in my Die'sire Essentials Ovals Die. I should say that Chrishanthi has already added some shading to the image which has made it oh-so-easy to know where the light source is and where to use dark and light colours!
• Skin - 005, 004, 009, 047
• Hair - 084, 107, 087
• Dress - 065, 066, 068
• Rabbit - 024, 027
• Grass - 056, 058, 047
• Sentiment - is from the set that came with the Spring 2015 Crafter's Inspiration Magazine ... just perfect for this image I feel! The tag is from a Die'sire set called Tags One which I can't find for sale any longer. I have threaded some organdie ribbon from my stash through the holes in the side of the tag.
• 2 Buttons - from my stash finish off my design

I hope I've inspired you to play along with our 3, 2, 1, Go For It challenge however, if you need any further inspiration, please head over to Incy Wincy Designs where my fellow teamies have a variety of projects to inspire you! Then come back and show us your creations. We'll be back with our next challenge on Monday 4th April 2016.

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

• Challenge #304 - Always Anything Goes at Craft Your Passion
• Critters and Creatures Linky Party 2 at Ellibelles Creative Moments
• Something Fluffy at Make My Monday
• Layer It Up Challenge at Melonheadz Friends
• Challenge 49 - Hippity Hoppity at Dragonfly Journeys
• March Use Any Image With a Ribbon Challenge at The Ribbon Girl

If you're going away for the Easter holidays, I hope you have a great time. Take care!

Hugs, Helen x

Easter Lilies

Good afternoon friends! Hope you are well.

I apologise for the lack of posts from me over the last couple of weeks. I've been completely whacked sideways by another ear infection and this one was/is a whopper! I've just completed my second course of antibiotics in 2 weeks, on steroid ear drops and have conjunctivitis to boot! At least the facial swelling has gone down - last week I seriously resembled a chipmunk :o) !!!!!!!! 

As a result of this, my DT commitments have slid, so I'm now trying to play "catch up".

The first challenge I'd like to show you my project for is the Shades of Green challenge over at Incy Wincy Designs.

We've got 2 amazing sponsors for you this week:

Our first sponsor is Laurie and her team from Doodle Pantry who are offering this week's first lucky prize winner a $10 Gift Certificate if you live outside the European Union OR if you are an EU resident, then the prize is 3 single priced products from the store (anything that isn't labelled as a "bundle").

 Doodle Pantry takes pride in creating a diverse selection of doodling styles, like realistic or whimsical, and all of which are family and kid friendly illustrations.  We hope you enjoy our wide variety of styles for every family occasion!

Our second sponsors are Elena and Kenny Kiernan from KennyK Stamps who are offering this

week's second lucky prize winner 3 digital images of the winner's choice. Even if you're not lucky enough to win this prize, everyone can benefit from the fab discounts they're offering our Incy Wincy fans - read on to find out more ...

Rock Your Crafts with KennyK Stamps!
Elena Kiernan and illustrator hubby Kenny Kiernan bring a perfect storm of creative energy to the bold and fun digi stamps and clear stamp sets at this rockin’ shop, where it’s always 30% OFF your first purchase with code MYFIRSTPURCHASE. Their hundreds of fun-to-color designs include everything from kids’stamps to teenage girls with attitude , skateboard boys, goth and steampunk  styles,mens, sports,superheroes,music… and for those who enjoy a little spice in their crafting, KennyK Stamps is the #1 Shop in the World for SexyStamps!

More great deals from KennyK Stamps; include a Digital Card Kit license: for craft sheet designers on Craftsuprint and similar websites, and a FREE DIGI STAMP  every month to their newsletter subscribers. It’s a no-brainer, sign up here to join!

Click to follow KennyK Stamps and on Facebook and also join their awesome new Facebook Fan Group, “Club KennyK!  

Bonus For our Followers at Incy Wincy 

We want to offer ALL of your followers a 50% discount on their TWO favorite digis! Please include Full name of Digi and Link to their site and on the 2nd week you'll get a code for 50% off those digi. Have fun Picking your faves

I've chosen to work with a gorgeous set called Lily Collection Color Plus from Doodle Pantry (thank you Laurie for allowing me to work with this beautiful set), and here are my Easter cards:

My card recipes are as follows:

Easter Lily Card

• Card base - premade A6 base in white card
• Paper - is called Paper 1 and it comes from the Lily Collection Color Plus set
• Image - is the precoloured Easter Lily in white (it also comes in orange and as an outline if you prefer to do your own colouring) and I have merged the Easter Lily wording with the image before printing it out. The doily die is the now retired Die'sire Ornamental Flower Frame. After I had die cut the frame, I ran it back through my Big Short and embossed it, before swiping some Mowed Lawn Distress Ink over the embossed areas to highlight them
• Sentiment - is a magazine freebie cling stamp, which I stamped in Mowed Lawn Distress Ink before die cutting with a Die'sire Essentials Oval die. I popped 3 clear gems under the sentiment just to add a bit of sparkle.

Calla Lily Card

• Card base - premade A6 base in white card
• Paper - is called Paper 2 and it comes from the Lily Collection Color Plus set. I've distressed the edges of the paper using Shabby Shutters Distress Ink.
  
• Image - is the precoloured, double bloomed Calla Lily in white (it also comes in single blooms and in pink and orange colourways, as well as an outline image for those who would like to colour it themselves)  and I have merged the Calla Lily wording with the image before printing it out. The frame die is the Die'sire Nouveau Frame Die and I swiped some Shabby Shutters Distress Ink around the edges
• Sentiment - is the same magazine freebie cling stamp, which I stamped in black ink before die cutting with a Die'sire Essentials Rectangles Die die and gave this a hint of Shabby Shutters Distress Ink around the edges.
• Ribbon - is from my stash and is a satin edged organza ribbon in white
• Pearls - are from my stash and I coloured these using my DG3 Spectrum Noir Pen to tie them in with my project

Unfortunately, our Shades of Green Challenge has finished, but if you're at a loose end this afternoon perhaps I can tempt you to come over to Incy Wincy Designs have a peek at the stunning creations by my teamies ... hopefully you won't turn green with envy though! In the meantime, we'll be back tomorrow with our new challenge - luckily this project was completed a number of weeks ago in time for my niece's birthday so my next post is all good to go ;o)!

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

• March Challenge - Show us some Green at Delicious Doodles Challenge
• Aloha Friday Challenge #67 - Easter at Kitty Bee Designs
• Game #60: Easter at AAA Cards
• Challenge #308 - Square or Rectangle Cards at Robyn's Fetish Challenge
• Challenge #165 - Easter at A Gem of a Challenge
• Week 335 - Easter at Allsorts Challenge
• Challenge #53 - Easter at Crafting with Dragonflies
• Challenge #317 - Flowers at My Time To Craft
• Easter at Sweet Stampin' Challenge

... and I would like to enter my Calla Lily card only into the following challenge:

• March Bingo Challenge at Catch the Bug Challenge - I am claiming the middle column of  Green, Bling (hoping that pearls count as bling?) and Ribbon

Hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Hugs, Helen x

DT Call

Do you like following sketches and, possibly (or definitely in my case!) being challenged by some of them?

Would you like to be able to create with Sponsor Images, although this isn't necessary.

Are you able to meet deadlines?

If so, you may be interested in the DT Call that's being launched today at Feeling Sketchy!

Some of the DT girls are stepping down at the end of this month, so Cathy and Val are looking for some new DT members to join us starting from 1st April 2016 for a 6 month term.

Our challenges go live on the 1st and 15th of each month, and your creations need to be posted to the private DT Facebook group at least 2 days before this. You are able to work ahead, if you're not waiting for a sponsor image, as the sketches up to and including our challenge on 1st September 2016 are available. DT members are required to comment on all challenge entries and then each DT member picks their Top 4 choice once the challenge has closed.

Full details will be on the Feeling Sketchy blog today - go on, have a go!

Looking forward to seeing your entries!

Hugs, Helen x

And Pretty Flowers All In a Row!

Good morning friends and Happy St. David's Day to any of my friends who are Welsh! 

Wow! We're one sixth of the way through 2016 already - how's it been for you? 

It being the first of the month, it's new challenge time at Feeling Sketchy and I do hope you'll be able to find the time to join in the fun this fortnight as we've got a fab sketch and an even fabbier sponsor for you!

We're welcoming back everyone's favourite sponsor and that's Jodie and her team from Bugaboo Digital Stamps. Jodie is offering a prize to the lucky winner of this challenge :o)

Here's the sketch we'd like you to follow:

And here's my take on it:

I've gone for a one layer (yes, honestly!), clean and simple layout although you could "go to town" and really dress this sketch up!

My card recipe is as follows:

• Card base - is Neenah Solar White cardstock onto which I've directly printed my image layout across the width of the cardstock and have measured it carefully so that the card will fold to DL size once it has been coloured.
• Image - is 4 Square Floral by Jodie at Bugaboo Digital Stamps. This image comes in a 2 x 2 square layout, so I've done a bit of tweaking in my word processing programme to get the 3 flowers side by side in one row. There is also a sentiment square, but I've chosen not to use this on this card. To bring my Floral Squares to life, I have used my Spectrum Noir Pens in the listed colours:

• Left Flower - CR2, CR5, CR6, GB8, GB10, EB8
• Middle Flower -
• Right Flower - HB1, HB2, HB3
• Leaves - DG1, DG2, DG3
• Sentiment - came with the Sentiment Stamp Set which was one of the freebies with Crafter's Inspiration Magazine Issue 6, sadly no longer available. I have stamped this directly onto my card base using Silver Versacolour Ink
• Ivy Detailing - is another magazine freebie, this time from Cardmaking and Papercraft. After I had masked all the blocks with a square of "post it" pad, I used this ivy stamp with Bundled Sage Distress Ink to resemble the design in the sketch.
• Dashed Border - is another stamp which has been stamped with Bundled Sage Distress Ink. Sorry, I can't tell you much about this set other than I bought it at Hobbycraft many years ago and it contains about 6 different border stamps in it!

I hope I've inspired you to have a go at this sketch, but if you're in need of any more inspiration why don't you head over to Feeling Sketchy and see the other wonderful projects using this sketch by my very talented teamies! Then come back and show us your take on our sketch. We'll be back with our new challenge on 15th March 2016.

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

• Challenge #26 - Floral at Crafty Friends Challenge
• Challenge #316 - One Layer Only at My Time to Craft Challenge
• Challenge #14 - N is for New Blooms/Spring Flowers at The Pencil Case
• Aloha Friday Challenge #66 - In the Garden at Kitty Bee Designs
• Challenge #121 - Glitter / Bling at Addicted to Stamps Challenge
• Challenge #77 - One Layer Wonder at CAS on Sunday
• Challenge #46 - Flower Power at Dragonfly Journeys
• Colouring Showcase Feb 28th - Flowers at Lacy Sunshine Colouring Without Boundaries Challenge

Have a great day - take care!

Hugs, Helen x