Wedding Belle

Good evening crafty friends and I do hope that you haven't fallen off your chair with a second post from me in 2 days!

Whilst going through my computer files, I realised that I made this card a number of months ago but hadn't posted it. Never mind about my PHD in card making (projects half done), I think I definitely deserve a  FTBP (forgotten to blog projects!) ;o)!!!!!!! I was reminded of this card as a number of challenges have cropped up this week with wedding themes, so I thought it high time this card made an appearance!

This card was made to order, as one of my brothers had asked me to make a wedding card. He had been invited to an evening reception and knew that my cards would surpass anything he could purchase, and could I possibly do it in cream and purple as those were the colours of the invitation?

Well, how could I resist that challenge? So here's what I made for him:

My card recipe is as follows:

• Card base - is Ivory Centura Pearl which I've cut, scored and folded to make a 6" square card base. 
• Embossed layer - is another piece of Ivory Centura Pearl which I've embossed using my Embossalicious "Butterfly Love" embossing folder from the Sugar and Spice Range (sadly no longer available, but there are some other pretty folders still available if you click the link) and I've matted and layered this onto a piece of purple Core'dinations cardstock.
  
• Image - was a freebie download from Issue 86 Papercraft Inspirations Magazine ... another one that appears to sadly be no longer available :( I've brought this tender moment to life using my Original Spectrum Noir Pencils in the listed colours before die cutting it using a Sizzix Ovals Framelits die
• Bride's Hair - 015, 020, small gems from stash for a tiara
• Dress - 082
• Groom's Hair - 091, 095
• Suit - 120
• Skin - 004
• Flowers - 082, small gems from stash
• Sentiment - was part of the Issue 86 Papercraft Inspirations Magazine download. I recoloured this to purple in my word processing package before printing, and then used a Sizzix Fancy Labels Framelits die as a frame and coloured inside it using my Original Spectrum Noir Pencil in shade 082 which I burnished away from the edge. I drew round the outside of the die to get my label shape, which I then hand cut.

I was pretty chuffed with the way this card turned out, and I know that my brother was very pleased with it too!

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

• Challenge #197 - Here comes the Bride at Eureka Stamps
• Purple Team June Challenge - Wedding at Eclectic Ellapu
• Challenge #171 - Love and Romance at A Gem of a Challenge
• June/July Challenge - Wedding Card at I'm a Crafter's Companion Facebook Group

Hope you have a lovely evening - maybe I'll get to writing up some more FTBP posts, or finish some PHDs!

Hugs, Helen x

Oh Baby!

Good morning friends and welcome to another week, here on Planet Earth! 

Can you believe that tomorrow is the Summer Solstice, and that from Wednesday the evenings will be drawing in! It doesn't even feel like we've had summer yet ... just a couple of really nice days, and then the rain set in again. Our garden's gone completely to pot as everything that usually flowers through late spring into summer seems to have already peaked, and has now gone to seed - I'm sure it's to do with the weather!

Anyway, it's new challenge time over at Incy Wincy Designs and this time we would like you to enter your projects that feature Buttons and Bows.

This week we have another new sponsor, and it's Elena from Just Me Digital Stamps who is offering this week's lucky winner a prize pack. Elena also very kindly gave each DT member their choice of image to showcase from her store so, without further ado, here is my card for you:

My card recipe is as follows:

• Card Base - is a template by Sandra at Sandra's Scrapshop and it is #91 - Bow Card Template. I had seen this template on Jo's Blog and couldn't resist getting it for myself! After paying for the template, Sandra sent me all the .PDF files I needed to make this card. I printed the sections that needed to be on cardstock onto lightweight printer card, and then edge distressed them all with Mustard Seed Distress Ink.
  
• Design Papers - are from the Rachelle Anne Miller Papercrafting Collection CD-Rom. The pretty hearts paper is on Disc 1 - Kids at Play and the lightly checked paper is on Disc 2 - Animal Adventures. Once my DP templates were printed, I ran these through my printer again to get the coloured DP onto each template. A slick of Mustard Seed Distress Ink round all the edges and I was ready to assemble the card!
• Image - is the gorgeous Brand New Baby digi by Elena at Just Me Digital Stamps. This digi comes with the words "Brand New", "Boy", and "Girl" ready to stick onto the label. However, I've left mine blank for now as our neighbours are expecting the patter of tiny feet later in the year, hence the gender neutral card. I've brought this little bundle to life using my Spectrum Noir Pens in the listed colours before paper piecing the sling with the hearts paper and then fussy cutting it out.
• Baby's Skin - FS2, FS4, FS3, FS9, TN4, FS8 
• Baby's Hair - LY2, LY1, LY3
• Baby's Sleepsuit & Bow - CR3, CR1
• Inside Sling - LG1, LG3, LG5
• Buttons - are from my stash

So, with 3 bows (2 making up the card and 1 on my image) and 2 buttons on my project, I think I've met the Buttons and Bows challenge! Please head over to Incy Wincy Designs and see the beautiful projects by my clever teamies, and make sure they've got both elements covered too! :o) !!!!! Then come back and show us your creations - we'll be back with our next challenge on 4th July 2016.

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

• Challenge #74 - Baby at Kitty Bee Designs
• Challenge #264 - Anything Goes with Layer it Up at One Stitch at a Time
• Shaped Cards at Sweet Stampin'
• Challenge #111 - Use Buttons or Bows at Simply Create Too
• Challenge #309 - Shaped Cards at Fab 'n' Funky Challenges

Hope you have a great week!

Hugs, Helen x

Time to Relax

Hello crafty friends!

Wow, what a week it's been weather wise ... scorching sunshine one minute, torrential downpours the next, flash floods and then a glorious evening once again! I'm not sure our weather station has picked up the correct rainfall records as youngest Bambino and I were in the car travelling to gymnastics during a thunder storm with hail, rivers running across the roads and a flood at the bottom of one hill! Fortunately I got her to gym OK, and came home via a different route to avoid the flood!

Father's Day has kind of crept up on me this year, so I've only managed a really quick card for my Dad, inspired by the current sketch at Tuesday Morning Sketches:

My card recipe is as follows:

• Card base - is a premade A5 card in white
• Paper - is from Sara's Signature Range Just for Men and this clock face paper comes from the Urban Collection Paper Pad. My copy actually came from the CD-Rom which came with Crafter's Inspiration Magazine Issue 10. I love the distressed grungy look of this design!
  
• Film Strip - is from the Verity Rose collection on the Crafter's Inspiration Magazine Issue 10 CD-Rom. I cut off the top aperture (as it was a bit girlie!) but I reckon the pictures left work just fine on a male card, don't you?
• Sentiment - is from the Mixed Circular Sentiments Set by Lili of the Valley. This set is great value for money as you get 4 main circular sentiments which you can then mix and match with the 36 word strips to make the perfect sentiment! I have stamped my sentiment in Vintage Photo Distress Ink onto cream card, which I've then die cut using the second smallest Die'sire Essentials Circles die.
• Twine - is from my stash, which I've tied in a reef knot on the front of the card

I have been inspired by and would like to enter the following challenge:

• Challenge #356  at Tuesday Morning Sketches

I would also like to enter the following challenges:

• Challenge #203 - Father's Day at Brown Sugar
• June Challenge - Something Masculine at Craft for the Craic
• June Challenge - Male Project at Sasayaki Glitter Challenge
• Challenge #37 - Theme "Father's Day" at The Male Room

Hope you have a lovely evening!

Hugs, Helen x

A very Feminine Card

Good morning crafty friends and hope that this post finds you well - hugs winging their way to anyone who needs them.

It's new challenge time at Feeling Sketchy and we've got a lovely sketch for you this time, with plenty of possibilities. We've also got a lovely sponsor and it's Nikki from Polkadoodles who is offering our lucky winner from this challenge a prize pack!

So here's the sketch we'd like you to use as the inspiration for your project this time:

And here's my take on it:

As you can see, I've rotated the sketch by 90° and rather than using different Design Papers for the border, I've used an embossing folder.

My card recipe is as follows:

• Base card - is an A5 sized pre-made white card base
• Matting layer - is some Core'dinations Cardstock (the pack I've got isn't available any longer unfortunately) is a dusky pink.
• Top layer - is Centura Pearl Snow White Silver which I've de-bossed with my Embossalicisous Honeycomb Patchwork Border, which was one of the goodies with Crafter's Inspiration Magazine Issue 10
• Flower - is made using my Die'sire Classiques Delicate Flower die (now only available as part of a multi pack here) and the Dusky Pink Core'dinations and Centura Pearl Snow White Silver. Before layering these together, I inked through the die using Picked Raspberry Distress Ink and shaped the petals.
• Leaf Sprays - are made using leaf die in the Die'sire Classiques Delicate Flower set, and before I removed these from the die, I inked through using Silver VersaColor.
• Sentiment - is from my favourite sentiment set of the moment ... Swirly String Sentiment Set by Lili of the Valley which I've stamped directly onto the Centura Pearl in Picked Raspberry Distress Ink.

I hope I've inspired you to come over to Feeling Sketchy and join in with our sketch challenge - don't forget that you can rotate the sketch, change the element shapes etc. ... we just need to see that our sketch is the basis for your project!

Hope you have a great day!

Hugs, Helen

Let there be Light!

Hello there crafty friends!

Hope you're all well today. I finally seem to be getting rid of this stinking cold, but am still coughing and spluttering when I laugh. So what did PapaMia choose to watch last night, but an episode of It'll be Alright on the Night!!!!! Love 'im :oD !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's new challenge time at Incy Wincy Designs and this time we'd like you to Alter Something. Grab a box, tin, anything you can alter (but no cards this time please!), alter it and show us the results! We're also introducing Maria Giselle who is the newest member of our DT - please head over to her blog to say "Hi"!

As usual, we'll be rewarding two lucky crafters for their hard work. 

Our first sponsor is Lizzy from Oddball Art and our second sponsor is Jodie from Bugaboo Stamps. Both ladies are very kindly offering our 2 lucky prize winners a pack of digital images from their respective stores!

They have also kindly given the DT some images to play with and, today, I'm showcasing an image from Bugaboo Stamps and an empty mustard jar!

There seem to be quite a few "glasses" around in some of the shops around us that are made from jars, and Mason or Kilner jars are enjoying a huge revival now too, so I thought I would have a play and see what I could do with a jar from our recycling "bottles box" and I've made a tealight holder! You could even use a summery design, fix some wire around the neck of the jar and hang it from a tree or hook to use on summer evenings.... Or how pretty these would look in wedding colours on tables ... Ooops - looks like Mr Mojo is running away with ideas again ;o) !!!!!

My project recipe is as follows:

• Jar - empty (!), clean and dry with the label removed. To do this try putting the jar in your sink and covering it with warm water. Leave it for a few hours and hopefully the label will float off. If the label is reluctant to part company from the glass, you may need to pull the label off and then scrub any glue/paper remnants from the surface of the jar.
• Image - is Christmas Words - Noel by Jodie at Bugaboo Stamps. I carefully measured the size of my jar, and then resized the image in my word processing package to suit. I printed my image onto a piece of white tissue paper which I had stuck onto a piece of card (carrier) with low tack tape. My tissue paper has a glossy side and a matt side - I printed onto the matt side and used the Draft Setting on my inkjet printer. I coloured the image using my Spectrum Noir Pens in TB3, TB4, and TB8, although in hindsight the colours haven't come out strongly. I then die cut both the tissue paper and carrier card using my second largest Sizzix Framelits Ovals die. I then drew and cut a straight line under the image to flatten to die cut and to make it easier to get the image onto the jar.
• Papers - are one of the co-ordinating papers from the (sadly no longer available) Nordic Christmas CD-Rom by Crafter's Companion. I printed these out onto another piece of tissue paper and then tore these into roughly 2cm squares.
  

I used regular PVA Glue and a paintbrush to put a layer of glue onto my jar and I then carefully smoothed my "Noel" die cut over the glue. Once it was in place, I then smeared another layer of glue over the top to seal it (a bit like decopatch-ing really!). I think I might have used a bit too much glue as the colours on the image smeared, so I went over them again once the glue was dry. I affixed the squares of Design Paper in exactly the same way, making sure they overlapped.

Once all the glue had dried, I embellished the design by glueing some silver glitter to the top of the letter "L" and also added a small Gem to the centre of the snowflake on the letter "O". Some fine silver cord wound around the neck of the jar and tied in a bow completes the project.

I hope I have inspired you to have a root around your recycling box and Alter Something but if you're short on ideas, why not pop over to Incy Wincy Designs and have a peek at the fabulous creations by my talented teamies. Then come back and link up your altered items to be in with a chance of winning one of our prizes or being a DT Top Pick! We'll be back with our next challenge on Monday 20th June 2016.

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

• Snowflakes Challenge at Winter Wonderland
• June Challenge - Anything Goes at Craftyhazelnuts Christmas Challenge Extra
• Challenge 119 - Altered at Card and Scrap
• June Challenge - Anything Goes at Altered Eclectics
• Challenge #165 - Monochrome at Crafty Cardmakers
• Challenge 64 - Upcycling at Quick Quotes
• Challenge #40 - Bingo at Get Creative Challenges - I am claiming the top left to bottom right diagonal of Glitter, Printed Paper, Blue
• Week 21, U is for Utilise at The Pencil Case

That's it from me for today - I hope you manage to enjoy some sunshine and warm weather before the forecast thunder storms strike! 

Take care,

Hugs, Helen x

Kool Kidz

Hi folks! Hope this post finds you well!

We're nearly at the end of half term here at Casa Mia and the whole week has virtually been spent with hot lemon and honey drinks (yuck, I hate honey!) and a box of tissues in tow ... yup, I succumbed to the dreaded "the-holidays-are-here-so-let's-jump-the-school-staff" bug!!!!!!! ;o) At least yesterday evening found me well enough to accompany Mother in Law and PapaMia to an Aled Jones concert (yes he of Walking in the Air fame, and he can still manage the first few lines of the song some 30 years later!) at Portsmouth Guildhall. We were treated to a very entertaining evening of wonderful music (a mix of choral, musicals and pop) and Aled was a very engaging and amusing speaker between the numbers! At least nobody told me to "Shushhhhhhh" so I can't have been coughing too loudly :oD

And now I feel much, much better today, so I'm able to bring you my card for the current challenge at Feeling Sketchy. Our sponsor this time is the lovely Heather Valentin from Lacy Sunshine Stamps who is offering a prize pack to the lucky winner of this challenge.

Here's the sketch we'd like you to use as your inspiration this time:

and here is my take on it using a sponsor image:

Now I have to confess to having had rather a "senior" moment with this project. I chose this image as I thought it would be perfect for our nephew who will be 12 later this summer - a basketball dude with a graffiti wall behind? Perfect! Only when my image arrived did I look more closely at it and see that on his t-shirt is a "No Bullying" slogan. Don't get me wrong ... I most definitely don't have a problem with that (heaven knows I've had to pick up the pieces at the end of a school day for many, many, many years so I know how devastating it can be not only to the victim, but to their families too) but I wasn't sure how right this was going to be for my nephew! Oooooops!

My card recipe is as follows:

• Card base - is a wonky rocker card cut out of black cardstock using my Ultimate Pro together with the largest wonky "circle" from the nest on my Springtime Sweets and Cupcake Treats Embossing Board which I then handcut, carefully! Once cut, I scored and folded the "circle" so that it had 2 scallops on the bottom as "feet" to make my rocker base.
• Image - is the very cool Kyle - Kidz Street as drawn by Heather at Lacy Sunshine Stamps.
  
  Once I'd realised that the whole image on this card base size was going to be far too small for me to colour, I decided to do a close up which I then debossed using the circle which fits inside the wonky "circle" from the nest on my Springtime Sweets and Cupcake Treats Embossing Board and then cut it out by hand. I coloured the image using my Spectrum Noir Pens in the listed colours:
• Skin - FS2, FS4, FS3, FS9, TN4, FS8
• Hair - TN3, EB3, EB8
• Basketball - OR2, TN6, TN4, TN8
• T-Shirt - EB1, EB2, EB6, EB8
• Trousers - BT3, BT4, BT6, BT7, BT0
• Baseball Cap - OR2, TN6, TN4, TN8, True Black
• Sentiment - is one of the Graffiti Words from the image which I imported into my word processing package and then cropped in tightly to the word. I coloured the image using my Spectrum Noir Pens in OR2, TN6, TN4, TN8 (to match the basketball). I love the ombre effect these colours give, don't you?

I hope you'll come over to the Feeling Sketchy blog and check out the other fabulous creations by my talented teamies, and then don't forget to come back and show us your take on our sketch. We'll be back with our next challenge on 15th June 2016.


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

• June Challenge - One for the Guys at Dragon's Lair Designs Challenges
• Aloha Friday Challenge #73 - Masculine Cards/For Dad at Kitty Bee Designs - This card is for my teenage nephew when he celebrates his birthday next month
• Challenge #11 - Shaped Card at Morgan's Artworld
• Week 22 - One for the Boys at Polkadoodles Crafting Challenge

In the meantime, hope you have a great weekend and take care!

Hugs, Helen x