A big Birthday

Good afternoon crafty friends and I hope that this post finds you well.

I'm a few days late posting this, but there's been a new challenge launched this week at All Dressed Up Digital Stamps and, as usual, it's Anything Goes with an All Dressed Up Image.


Now, my youngest bambino turned 18 today, and I have 2 questions:

1. How did that happen, because somewhere inside there is a 25 year old trying to escape
2. Can I actually stop "adulting" now that both my bambinos are, ahem, responsible adults themselves 😂

Here's my card, which I'm very proud to say that Wendy designed after one of my suggestions for a new image - thanks Wendy, it's perfect!

My card recipe is as follows:

• Card Base - is a pre-made 15cm square card base in white
• Design Papers - come from an amazing scrapbooking bundle called The Best is Yet to Come by Violet Irisovna at Pixel Scrapper Digital Scrapbooking. I have used this gorgeous Confetti - Gold paper with a banner (even though I completely misjudged the sizing under my "photo frame") in Watercolour Paper Teal 2.

  
• Image - is the beautiful Key to the Door by Wendy at All Dressed Up Digital Stamps. I have brought the key and charms to life using my Spectrum Noir Alcohol Markers following the instructions for gold in the September 2019 Markers class at Kit and Clowder.
• Mock Photo Frame - is made from black cardstock from my stash.
• Sentiment & 18 - were die cut from Watercolour Paper Teal 2, and once stuck on my project were treated to a slick of Clear Sparkle Pen to make them a bit glitzy!
• Enamel Dots - are from My Mind's Eye and were a gift in a card swap … and also just perfect for this project!

I hope that I have inspired you to come over to All Dressed Up Digital Stamps and play along in our Anything Goes with an All Dressed Up Image challenge. But if you are in need of more inspiration, please head over to the challenge blog and check out the gorgeous creations by the other Dressy Girls! This challenge ends on the evening of 14th November, UK time.

The Facebook Dressy Girls have their own challenge over on the Facebook Page and their current challenge is Add Flowers, with an All Dressed Up Image. This challenge ends on 31st October.

Don't forget, that there are some freebies on the blog if you don't have any ADU images … but please be respectful and follow Wendy's simple rules for using them to make sure that they're there for all fellow crafters to use. Thank you 😀 

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

• Week #585 with Polkadoodles at Sketch Saturday
• O is for One Word Sentiment at The Alphabet Challenge Blog

Crafty Hugs,

Helen x

Mocktail Time!

Good afternoon crafty friends and I hope this post finds you well.

Here in the UK, we are about half-way through our summer holidays and (typically!) the weather has been rather dreary for the last week or so, and likely to remain like this for the rest of the week. I hope the sunshine comes back next week for a couple of weeks - not only is it the last fortnight of my summer hols, but we're having our kitchen ripped out and refitted so I shall be resorting to cooking on the BBQ or (at the very least) our camping stove 😉 !

As it's the fifteenth of the month, it's time for our new challenge at All Dressed Up Challenges . As usual, our challenge is Anything Goes with an All Dressed Up Image. Not got any All Dressed Up images? Wendy has plenty of gorgeous images available in the All Dressed Up Etsy Store and has also very generously provided some freebies here - please send your friends over to ADU for the freebies though, to make sure they're available for other crafters to share!

I'm using the holidays to make a batch of Birthday Cards to keep at work. Every member of our office receives a handmade card and gift voucher on her Birthday, but usually it's a mad scramble on my part to get a card made. So, I'm trying to be a bit more organised and this card is going into my "here's one I made earlier" box and save a last minute panic for at least one birthday 😂 ! Isn't this image so "on trend" with it's flamingo "swizzle stick"?

My card recipe is as follows:

• Card Base - is a pre-made, 15cm square in white cardstock
  
• Design Papers - come from a Designers' Collabaoration called Sunshine and Lemons at Pixel Scrapper Digital Scrapbooking. This means that the designers have all used the same colour
  

  

  scheme, so you can mix and match papers and elements from any of the kits in the collaboration, safe in the knowledge that they won't clash on your project! I have used Teal Pattern and Yellow Flowers by Sheila Reid together with Yellow Solid Paper by Janet Scott as my Mat & Layer. I have punched a pretty edge to my border using a now retired Heart Border Punch from Hobbycraft (although they do stock one that is a little bit similar).
• Image - is the super-summery Fruitti Tutti by Wendy at All Dressed Up Digital Stamps. I have brought this mocktail to life using my alcohol marker pens. I have used some of my Kit and Clowder classes to help with the colouring: Elements of Nature Class for the fruit, the February 2018 monthly colouring class Hellebores for the glass and table top, and the April/May 2019 bonus colouring class for monthly members called Tropical Flamingo for the flamingo and parasol. I have die cut this using the largest internal rectangle from my Die'sire Nouveau Stamping Frame die using the "Out of the Box" technique to ensure I didn't chop off either the straw or the parasol 😉

• Sentiment - uses a die cut from an Advent Calendar which uses the Yellow Solid Paper by Janet Scott
• Gems - are from my stash
  

I hope that I have inspired you to play along with our challenge, but if you are in need of further inspiration please head over to the blog and check out the uber gorgeous creations by my talented teamies. Then come back and show us your creations which are Anything Goes with an All Dressed Up Image!

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

• Challenge #393 - Punches and Dies at The Paper Shelter
• Challenge #516 at Tuesday Morning Sketches
• Challenge #119 - Tropical Vacation at Sparkles Monthly Challenge
• Challenge #7 - Summer Fun at Tales from the Craft Room
• Challenge #35 - Dies and/or Punches at Sweet Stampers Challenge Blog

Challenge #516 

Tuesday Morning Sketches

That's it from me for today - I heading back to pack my kitchen into boxes! Hope you have a lovely weekend.

Hugs, Helen x

Hoppy Easter

Good evening crafty friends!

I hope you had a lovely Easter (didn't have too many Easter Eggs?) and, if you're in the UK, have been enjoying the fabulous weather - most unusual for a Bank Holiday weekend 😂

It's time for the second half of the All Dressed Up Blog Team to celebrate Wendy's new images, and you are not going to be disappointed. Check these beauties out:

From left to right we have Happy Easter, Little Butterfly Girl, Pretty Lashes and Wedding Balloon. They are all available now over at the All Dressed Up Shop.

I have been lucky enough to play with this gorgeous Easter Bunny, and here is the card I sent to my nieces with their Easter gifts.

My card recipe is as follows:

• Card base - is Cream Centura Pearl which I have cut, scored and folded to make a 10cm square card
• Design Papers - are from my "go to" digital paper place, Pixel Scrapper Digital Scrapbooking. I found a lovely set by Marisa Lerin and used the paper from the Easter Mini Kit and made a digital design using faux stitching and the brown flower from the Easter Elements Kit
• Image - is, of course, Happy Easter by the ever-so-talented Wendy Burns, the artist behind All Dressed Up Digital Stamps. I have brought this cutie to life using a Bonus Colouring Class from the fabulous Alyce at Kit and Clowder and my Spectrum Noir Alcohol Markers. Alyce provides a bonus colouring class each month for the monthly subscribers of either the Pens or Pencils colouring classes. And her video tutorials make everything so very easy to follow!

For more inspiration using these fabulous new images, please head over to the All Dressed Up Challenge Blog and check out the gorgeous creations by my talented teamies. 

Whilst you're there, don't forget that we have our monthly challenge Anything Goes with an All Dressed Up Image ending on 14th May 2019 and the Facebook Dressy Girls monthly challenge Animal Madness with an All Dressed Up Image ends on 30th April 2019. Entering either or both challenges will give you the chance to win some of Wendy's fabby images 😄

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

• Challenge #11 - Easter/Anything Goes at Creativ Fusion Arts and Crafts Blog
• April Challenge - Include an Animal at Dragonfly Dreams
• Anything Goes 4 Kids at Send a Smile 4 Kids Challenge
• Challenge #289 - Spring or Fall at Brown Sugar Challenge - I've gone for Spring with this cute Easter Bunny and her pretty flower!
• April Challenge - Easter or Anything Goes at Scrapper's Delights
• Challenge #113 - Spring Celebration at The Card Concept - I would say my style is Clean and Graphic (always a bit more than Clean and Simple!) and I have used the pink/purple colours and bunny as inspiration for this card.

Hope you enjoy the rest of the Bank Holiday!

Hugs, Helen x

Home is where the Heart is ....

Good evening crafty friends and hope this post finds you well.

We're in the middle of our school Easter Holidays, so I've had one relaxing week already, and another slightly less relaxing week to come as we'll be moving eldest Bambino back home from Uni at the end of this week. How quickly her second year has flown past!

As it's the fifteenth of the month, it's time for our new challenge at All Dressed Up Challenges . As usual, our challenge is Anything Goes with an All Dressed Up Image. Not got any All Dressed Up images? Wendy has plenty of gorgeous images available in the All Dressed Up Etsy Store and has also very generously provided some freebies here - please send your friends over to ADU for the freebies though, to make sure they're available for other crafters to share!

So, here is my inspiration for you this month:

I think this creation will be finding a new home with a work colleague who has recently moved house!

My card recipe is as follows:

• Card Base - is Cream Centura Pearl Card which has been cut, scored and folded and then die cut using my largest Die'sire Essentials Hearts die to make a heart shaped easel card.
• 
  Image - is, of course, by Wendy at All Dressed Up Digital Stamps and this one is called Home Sweet Home. I have brought the image to life using a mix of Spectrum Noir and Copic alcohol markers, before die cutting it using my largest Die'sire Essentials Hearts die so that it fitted perfectly over the easel folded base card!
• Stopper - is the word Celebrate which I die cut 3 times from Kraft Card and layered up to look like chipboard
• Flower - is layered flower die from my stash which I used to cut one flower in each of the sizes from Cream Centura Pearl Card. I then shaped and layered each die cut, before adding a clear gem from my stash to the centre of the top flower.

I hope that I have inspired you to dig out an All Dressed Up Digi and come over and join in the fun! However, if you are in need of any further inspiration, please do head over to the All Dressed Up Challenge Blog and check out the gorgeous creations by my ever so talented teamies. Then come back and share your Anything Goes with an All Dressed Up Image project with us!

I would like to share this project with the following challenges:

• Wednesday Challenge: No Designer Paper at Simon Says Stamp
• Challenge #119 - D is for Die Cuts at Ike's World
• Challenge #134 - Fresh Beginnings at The Cutie Pie Challenge
• April Theme Challenge - Back To Nature! at Catch the Bug Challenge
• Challenge #184 - Pop it up at Inkspirational Challenges
• April Challenge: Wings, Tails or Spring Blossoms at Ellibelle's Crafty Wednesday Challenge - think I might have nailed all 3 with this image  😁

Hope you have a lovely and crafty week!

Hugs, Helen x

Shoe Delight

Good afternoon crafty friends!

Hope you are well and that the weather is as sunny with you as it is here on the south coast of the UK; although that breeze is definitely on the nippy side! As promised last week, I have been creating projects as there are a couple of family Birthdays this week. Here is one of them:

My card recipe is as follows:

• Card base - is a premade A5 base in white card
• Design Papers - come from a set by Janet Scott at Pixel Scrapper called All The Princesses. I have used the Gold Paper (which I have embossed using a retired embossing folder called Ornate Fans) and the Green Paper
  
• Image - is Heels Polka Dots by Jodie at Bugaboo Digi Stamps. I have brought this high heel to life using a combination of my Copic and Spectrum Noir Alcohol Markers together with a slick of Clear Sparkle Pen over the bow and ribbon, before die cutting it with my largest Die'sire Essentials Ovals die. I left the cut in the die, and then sponged from the edge inwards using Scattered Straw Distress Ink.
• Sentiment - comes from one of the Crafter's Companion Advent Calendars and I have die cut this from plain black cardstock, and again slicked my Spectrum Noir Clear Sparkle Pen over the letters to add some glitz to the card.
• Gems - are from my stash

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

• Challenge #309 - Colour (So Saffron, Daffodil Delight, Pear Pizzazz) at CAS Colours and Sketches
• February BINGO Challenge at Catch the Bug - I'm claiming the middle column of Bugaboo Image, Embossing and Sparkle
• Sketch #491 at Tuesday Morning Sketches

I would also like to enter this card into these challenges too:

• Challenge #213 - Fancy Folds or Embossing at The Crafter's Cafe Challenge - I'm definitely going with embossing here thanks to this lovely, feminine fan embossing folder. I've used lightweight card and a digital paper and I like the way some of the card has distressed itself and got a white "edge" to it!
• Favourite out of Birthdays or Christmas and Why at As You Like It Challenge - It's Birthdays all the way here at Casa Mia!!!! I only make special Christmas cards for Papa Mia and the Bambinos, and for the Mother in Law. Everyone in the family gets a handmade Birthday card as their Birthdays are spread throughout the year, and I'm just not organised enough to make Christmas cards all year round!
• Challenge #329 - Clean and Simple at Addicted to Stamps and More

That's it from me for today - off to deliver this card to its recipient!

Have a good day.

Hugs, Helen x

It must be Love ......

Good evening crafty friends and hope this post finds you well.

Half term is beckoning here on the south coast of the UK, and it's lovely to know there are no time pressures like having to rise with the alarm! That said, I've got a few "makes" to get sorted as there are a plethora of family birthdays next week, so maybe I do need to rise with the radio 😂

As it's the fifteenth of the month, it's time for our new challenge at All Dressed Up Challenges . As usual, our challenge is Anything Goes with an All Dressed Up Image. Not got any All Dressed Up images? Wendy has plenty of gorgeous images available in the All Dressed Up Etsy Store and has also very generously provided some freebies here - please send your friends over to ADU for the freebies though, to make sure they're available for other crafters to share!

Now, if you're in the UK you can hardly have failed to notice that yesterday was Valentine's Day! Papa Mia and I don't do anything to mark this special occasion other than exchange cards, and here's the Pop Up Box card I made for him:

As usual, there's a bit of a story with this - this time the photography. So, I rushed home from work to take a photo outside. First photo, bench in perfect focus but not the card 😕. Second photo - wall in perfect focus but not the card 😞. Third photo - other wall in perfect focus but not the card 😡. However, I didn't upload my photos until later in the evening so didn't realise that my photos were, basically, rubbish! Panic!!! Gatecrash teenagers room as she has the best electrical lights in order to take above photo, which still isn't perfect 😂

My card recipe is as follows:

• Base card - is Snow White Centura Pearl which I have cut, scored and folded following this tutorial at SplitCoast Stampers, just having a slightly narrower tuck in flap to account for the sheet of A4 card
• Black card - from my stash which I have embossed using a retired embossing folder called Falling Hearts
• Image - is Love Heart by Wendy at All Dressed Up Digital Stamps. I have coloured this very simply using my Spectrum Noir Alochol Markers (sorry, I didn't make a note of which colours I used!) and a silver gel pen to pick out the word "you", before fussy cutting it out and adhering it to the back of the card
• Hearts - are a variety of sizes from 2 different Crafter's Companion Advent Calendars which have been cut from Snow White Centura Pearl and then stuck onto narrow strips of clear acetate which have then been adhered inside the box so that the hearts wobble a bit!

I hope I have inspired you to head over to All Dressed Up Challenges and play along with this challenge. However if you're in need of further inspiration, please do head over there and check out the other gorgeous projects from my exceedingly talented teamies. Then come back and show us your Anything Goes with an All Dressed Up Image creations - this challenge will end on the evening of 14th March 2019 (UK time). 

For more chances to win some of Wendy's gorgeous images, don't forget that the Facebook Dressy Girls are hosting their own challenge of All You Need Is Love which runs until the end of February!

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

• Challenge #287 -February 2019 - Love and/or St Valentine's Day at Brown Sugar Challenge Blog
• Challenge 155 - Love, Love, Love at Pattie's Creations
• #220 - Love or Valentine Sentiment at Aud Sentiments Challenge Blog

• 

  Cookie Challenge #110

  Cookie Challenge #110 at If You Give a Crafter a Cookie
• Challenge #407 - Love at Die Cutting Divas
• Romance at Try It On Tuesday's
• Challenge #104 - Love Your Me at The Male Room
• Challenge #425 - Falling Hearts at Tuesday Throwdown
• Challenge #328 - Holiday at Addicted to Stamps and More!

That's it from me for today, but do standby next week as I might just pop up in your Blog feed with a non-DT project!

Enjoy your weekend!

Crafty Hugs,

Helen x

Bathtime Bubbles

And ….. BOO!

Just in case there is anyone out there in Blogland who still follows my musings and wondered where I got to …..

It's the last day of January, and I can now reveal that I am rather hit and miss with my New Year Resolutions:

• Use up supplies in stash - check & ongoing!
• Blog cards on time - errrr 
• Make cards earlier than the day before they are needed - errrrrrrrrrr .....

OK, so there is room for improvement!

Here is a card I made for our office to give one of our colleagues for her upcoming birthday. As we gave it to her today, I am now safe to blog it!

My card recipe is as follows:

• Card Base - pre-made 15cm square in white card
• Design Papers and Flowers - are from a beautiful kit called Unwind by Melo Vrijhof at Pixel Scrapper. I have put the layout of papers and flower elements together digitally, following this
  
  week's sketch at Sketch Saturday. I used Leaf Paper in Tan, Solid Lime Paper, and cropped a section of the Flower Scatter 01 before copying and flipping it to make the arc of elements as suggested by the sketch. I ensured a drop shadow is under the green strip and the flowers to give some depth to them.
• Image - is the uber-cute Lazy Louise and Bathtime Bubble Friends by Lizzy Love at Oddball Art Co.. I have brought Louise to life with a alcohol markers in a mixture of Copics and Spectrum Noirs before finishing off the bubbles with a Spectrum Noir Sparkle Pen in Clear. I die cut the image using a Die'sire Create-a-Card die called Emma, now sadly retired/
• Sentiment - is one of the freebies that came with Crafter's Inspiration Issue 18 Magazine and I have stamped it directly onto the green strip using Tuxedo Black Memento Ink
• Gems - from my stash, completed this creation.

I would like to enter the following challenges:

• Week #548 with The Paper Shelter at Sketch Saturday
• January Oddball Challenge - Razzle my Dazzle at Oddball Art Stamps - I'm hoping that sparkly bubbly bath counts!
• Challenge #405 - Anything Goes at Die Cutting Divas
• Challenge #326 - Anything Goes at Addicted to Stamps and More
• Anything Goes at Crafty Sentiments Design

Hope you're having a crafty week!

Hugs, Helen x