The Christmas Tree Fairy

Good afternoon my crafty buddies and we're into our first December weekend - eeeek!!!!!

I must confess that I shared this cutie on Facebook yesterday, but didn't get a chance to blog her as I was on transportation duties for the Bambinos. 

The gorgeous girlie on this card was "behind" the first door in the Kit and Clowder Facebook Group Annual Advent Calendar and our very own "Dressy Artist" Wendy Burns was sponsoring this door and this cutie was the freebie on offer for Day 1. The Dressy Girls were asked to share their inspiration using her with the K&C Facebook Group and also the All Dressed Up Facebook Group.

My card recipe is as follows:

• Card Base - Black card which has been cut, scored and folded to make a 17 x 10 cm (approx) card
• Image - is Christmas Tree Fairy available from the All Dressed Up Esty Store and she has been created by Wendy, the artist behind ADU. I have coloured this cutie in monochrome using a free technique class which Alyce Keegan (the maestro behind Kit and Clowder) gave as a bonus to all members of the November Markers Colouring Class - you can still join this class up to 14th December, so if you fancy having a go at monochrome, why not sign up to the classes? I used my Spectrum Noir Markers together with my Blender Pen and my Spectrum Noir Clear Sparkle Pen

Here's a closer look:

I hope that you'll head over to the All Dressed Up Store and treat yourself to this cutie, even though she is no longer free. Don't forget to the share your creations using her over at All Dressed Up Challenges where it's always Anything Goes with an All Dressed Up Image (our current challenge ends on 14th December) and/or the All Dressed Up Monthly Facebook Challenge with an All Dressed Up image and the new theme for the month of December is "Sparkle".

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

• December Challenge - Anything Goes with the Bonus Theme of Clean and Simple at Spectrum Noir Facebook Monthly Challenge

Hope you have a fabulous weekend!

Hugs, Helen x

Snow fun!

Well, hello again friends! As promised earlier, here's another missive from me!

This time I'm bringing you the newest challenge from All Dressed Up and, as usual, our theme is Anything Goes with an All Dressed Up Image. 

Don't have any ADU images? Don't panic, you can find plenty in Wendy's Esty Shop and there are even a few freebies over on the Blog so you can "try before you buy" 😉!!!! Our Random Winner of this challenge gets 3 of Wendy's gorgeous images to play with, the DT will be choosing their Top 3 and you could even be in the running to be a future Guest Designer with us!

Wendy has once again let all the DT girls loose in the shop and choose their own image to play with, and here's my inspiration card for you:

I wanted to create a Christmas card for one of my brothers and his family, but good old Mr Mojo pulled a flanker on me and decided to throw a sickie at creation time. I really was unsure as to how this card would turn out, but I'm actually pretty chuffed with it!

My card recipe is as follows:

• Card base - is black card stock which has been cut, scored and folded to make a 19cm x 10cm card base
  
• Image - is of course by Wendy at All Dressed Up Stamps and these cuties are called Christmas Penguins (this link will take you straight to them in the store 😊!). I have brought this slipping, sliding trio to life using my Spectrum Noir Markers in the listed colours before cutting my card to an 18cm x 9cm rectangle and doodling a border around the edge with my silver gel pen.
• Fur - IG3, IG5, IG7, IG9
• Beaks & Flippers - FS5, CR1, OR3, TN4, TN8
• Large Penguin's Hat & Scarf - TB2, TB3, Silver Gel Pen
• Middle Penguin's Hat & Scarf - GT1, GT2
• Small Penguin's Ear Muffs & Scarf - HB1, HB2, Silver Gel Pen
• Snow - IG1, IG2, Spectrum Noir Clear Sparkle Pen

I hope I've inspired you to come over to the All Dressed Up Blog and play along with us in our Anything Goes with an All Dressed Up Image this month, but if you're in need of further inspiration please go over there and check out the other wonderful creations by my very talented teamies! This challenge will end on 14th December 2016.

Don't forget the Facebook Dressy Girls have their own challenge of Celebrations running until 30th November 2016. So have a look at Wendy's New Release as any of these images would be perfect to use  - why not combine your entries to both challenges for more chances of winning 😉!!!!!!

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

• Challenge #2 - All That Glitters at Daisy Chain Challenge

I hope you have a wonderful evening - take care!

Hugs, Helen x

A Frosty Noel!

Good morning crafty friends and I hope this post finds you well. I'd like to welcome Darcy who is my newest follower - hope you find some inspiration here! 

I'm going to head up not one but two apologies! Firstly, today is going to be complete and utter "post fest" as I'm going to be bringing you THREE cards all on the same day! Two of my DTs have new challenges launching today but, and here's the second apology, I'm running more than a tad late with this post .... 😔blushes wildly! We've been madly helping eldest visiting universities and doing her application form (which is a challenge in itself 😉!) but, as her college deadline is the end of this week, she's completed everything and we just need to review her application to make sure there are no glaring errors and then we'll be keeping fingers, toes and everything else crossed that her favoured institutions like her enough to offer her a place!

Last Monday the new challenge launched at Incy Wincy Designs and this time it's a Sketch Challenge.

We've got 2 awesome sponsors lined up this week. Firstly it's the lovely Wendy from All Dressed Up Digital Stamps who is offering our first lucky prizewinner 2 digis from the store.

Our second sponsor is the equally lovely Jodie from Bugaboo Digital Stamps who is

offering our second lucky prizewinner 7 digis from the store.

And even if you aren't lucky enough to win either of these prize packs, don't forget that Wendy has very kindly shared some freebies over at the All Dressed Up Blog and that Jodie has a Friday Freebie each week, as well as discounts on her new releases.

So, back to the challenge - here's the sketch we'd like you to follow this week please ...

... and here's my take on it, using an image from Bugaboo Digital Stamps ...

My card recipe is as follows:

• Base card - is Centura Pearl Snow White Silver which I have cut, scored and folded to 15cm square
• Papers - are from an old edition of Cardmaking and Papercraft Magazine (possibly from this time last year?) and it was called Christmas Embossing Set designed by Jennifer Ellory. I have used 3 of the 4 papers from the set and chose papers with a cooler colour tone for a wintry/frosty feel.
• Image - is by Jodie at Bugaboo Digital Stamps and is called Noel Snowflake Block. I have recoloured this to grey in my word processing programme and then die cut it using my largest Die'sire Essentials Scalloped Squares before highlighting the lettering and snowflakes with my Spectrum Noir Clear Sparkle Pen to try and get a frosty look.
• Corners - are cut from Centura Pearl Snow White Silver using one of the corner dies from my Die'sire Ornamental Flower Frame set.

I hope that I have inspired you to play along with our Sketch Challenge, but if you're in need of further inspiration please head over to Incy Wincy Designs and check out the other fabby creations by my talented (and long suffering!) teamies. Then come back and show us your take on our sketch - don't forget you can flip or rotate our sketch, just make sure that we can see that you've been inspired by our projects! This challenge will end on Saturday night and we'll be back with our new challenge on Monday 21st November 2016.

I'll be back to link up to some challenges later - I've got 2 more posts to write and schedule 😊

See you soon,

Hugs, Helen x

The Shell Seekers

Hello friends and hope this post finds you well.

You woudn't believe it's nearly the end of April ... after a balmy week weather wise last week, we seem to have had all 4 seasons in one day here with sun, rain, wind, hail and even a quick flurry of snow!

I'm bringing you my second post on behalf of Incy Wincy Designs and to recap, we'd like you to be Inspired by a Song, Book or Movie. So, make sure your creation represents your favourite and don't forget to tell us what it is!!!

We've got 2 lovely sponsors lined up for you with 2 great prizes and, I have to say, most of the DT are showcasing both sponsors because (like me) they simply couldn't choose which sponsor's images to use :oD!!!!!!!

Our first sponsor is the lovely Sami from Sami Stamps who is offering a prize pack to our first random winner.

Our second sponsor is new to us here at Incy Wincy, but has been around blogland for a while - welcome to Nikki from Melonheadz Illustrating. Nikki is offering our second random winner a bundle from her store.

For this card, I've been inspired by one of our favourite Disney songs "Under the Sea" (eldest Bambino reliably informs me this song comes from the film The Little Mermaid!) and I'm featuring one of Sami's gorgeous images. One of my best memories of this song is a number of years ago, and we'd spent a rather chilly October half term in Yorkshire sorting out my late Grandmother's house. The Bambinos had been with us, and a Disney cassette was one of the most played in the car. We were rolling along the M62 with this song playing out full blast and each of us singing one of the parts ... it was almost like the car joined in as we rocked down the road!!!!!!

My card recipe is as follows:

• Card Base - is a pre-made 14.8cm square card base in whie
• Papers - are by Melo Vrijhof at Pixel Scrapper Digital Scrapbooking and are from a set called Summer Splash. I've used the Multicolor Dots and Navy Splash Zentangle papers which I have layered together digitally in my word processing programme.
  
• Image - is the beautifully serene Shell Mermaid 1 from the Ocean section at Sami Stamps. I have brought this girl of the ocean and her little friend to life using my Spectrum Noir Pens in the listed colours together with my Clear Spectrum Noir Sparkle Pen before die cutting it with my second largest Sizzix Framelits Fancy Labels die
• Mermaid's Skin - FS2, FS4, FS9, FS3, TN4, FS8
• Mermaid's Hair - CT1, CT2, CT4, GB8
• Mermaid's Top and Tail - GT1, GT2, GT3
• Shell - CR3, PP3, CR5, DR6
• Seahorse and Starfish - OR1, OR2, OR3
• Sand - TN2, EB2, TN3, EB3 (I got the idea for doing the sand like this from this month's Project Class at Kit & Clowder and I'm pretty please with the way it turned out!)
• Sentiment - is another design from Pixel Scrapper Digital Scrapbooking, this time by Marisa Lerin and it comes from the Ocean Words Kit. I die cut this using my second smallest Sizzix Framelits Ovals die and then mounted it on my card.

If you're in need of more inspiration to take part in this challenge, please head over to Incy Wincy Designs where my very talented teamies have a bevy of delights for you to savour. Don't forget to come back and link up your project which is Inspired by a Song, Book or Movie ... just be sure to tell us what your inspiration is! This challenge ends on Sunday 1st May 2016, and we'll be back with our next challenge on Monday 2nd May.

Don't forget that Incy Wincy Designs is also on Facebook and we've got a DT Call on at the moment ... all the details for that are in this post.

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

• Challenge #164 at {PIN}Spirational Challenges - I've been inspired by the pink, orange, yellow and green colours of your picture!
• D is for Dots at Alphabet Challenge
• Challenge #46 - Polka Dots or Gingham at Paper Creator - I've gone with the Polka Dots option!
• Challenge #127 - Dots and/or Stripes at Deep Ocean Challenge - I've gone with the Dots option!
• Challenge #62 - Sing us a Song at Ike's World Challenges - I've been inspired by Under the Sea from The Little Mermaid by Disney
• Challenge #313 - Anything Goes at Robyn's Fetish Challenges
• Critters and Creatures Linky Party 3 atEllibelle's Creative Moments

Hope you have a great afternoon!

Hugs, Helen x

It's a Present Fairy!

Good afternoon friends and hope you are having a nice weekend!

I have been doing a bit of blog housekeeping and tidying up of photos on my camera, and realised that I made this card a couple of weeks ago for youngest Bambino to take with her to a Birthday sleepover (why are they called that when we know that the children get no sleep whatsoever? Perhaps they should be called No-Sleepovers! ;) !) so I thought it was high time that this gorgeous fairy got blogged.

My card recipe is as follows:

• Card base - is a pre-made 14.8cm square card in white
• Design Papers - come from a mini kit by Marisa Lerin at Pixel Scrapper Digital Scrapbooking called Sisters Always. I have used Notebook Paper 01 as the base layer and then Hearts 19 Paper - Sisters
  
• Image - is called Christmas Present and she is by Wendy at All Dressed Up Digital Stamps. Bambino and I thought that this fairy is so beautiful, it's shame that she should be relegated to Christmas so she's had an airing as a Birthday present fairy! I brought this image to life using my Spectrum Noir Pens in the listed colours, before die cutting her using one of my Die'sire Essentials Rectangles dies. 
• Skin - FS2, FS4, FS9, FS3, TN4, CR1
• Hair - TN2, EB2, EB6, Spectrum Noir Sparkle Clear Overlay
• Dress & Shoes - BP1, BP3, BP4, BP6
• Wings - BP1, BP2, Spectrum Noir Sparkle Clear Overlay
• Ribbons - CG1, CG2, CG3, OR1, OR2, OR3, IG2, IG4, IG7
• Boxes - IG1, IG2, Blender Pen
• Sentiment - is from a set included with Issue 6 of Crafter's Inspiration Magazine. I stamped this directed onto the tag from Marisa's Sisters Always kit before punching a hole in the tag and threading through some satin edged organdie ribbon from my stash.
• Bow - is tied from the same satin edged organdie ribbon using the bow maker on my Ultimate Pro

Rumour has it that all the girls at the sleepover were quite impressed by my talent and didn't realise that I made cards!

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

• Challenge 49 - Anything Goes with an ADU image at All Dressed Up Challenges
• February 2016 Challenge - Hearts at All Dressed Up Facebook Page

Hope you have a good start to the week, especially on the leap day tomorrow! Take care.

Hugs, Helen x

Dance away the Blues!

Good afternoon everyone, and I hope you haven't fallen off your chairs with another blog post from me!

Youngest Bambino was out last Saturday, helping one of her friends celebrate her 14th birthday - shopping in town (not a hardship for my Miss Fashionista I can assure you!), then back to the friend's house to get ready for their evening meal at TGI Friday's. Although Bambino had been thinking about the present since before Christmas, why was it that she left thinking about the card until Friday evening? And by Saturday morning, nothing in my "made" box was, apparently, suitable - pffffff muttered I!

Her friend loves dancing, so picking an image to use was easy, however I was totally bereft of any inspiration, so I turned to blogger and found a couple of challenges which inspired me to create this card:

My card recipe is as follows:

• Card base - is white cardstock, which I've cut, scored and folded to make a 12cm square card
• Layer - is my darkest blue Core'dinations Cardstock, which unfortunately appears to have been discontinued :o(  I've cut the edge of this using a Die'sire Edgeables die called Lattice Flourish which was only available as a freebie with the Winter 2015 Crafter's Inspiration Magazine.
  
• Image - is by Wendy at All Dressed Up and she is called Love to Dance (I've used her without the sentiment that also comes with the image). This gorgeous dancer is, quite unashamedly, my favourite ADU image as I have used her a number of times now :o). I have brought this ballerina to life using my Spectrum Noir Pens in the listed colours, before Die cutting her using a Sizzix Framelits Ovals die.
• Skin - FS2, FS4, FS9, FS3, TN4, FS8, CR6 
• Hair - TN2, EB2, EB6
• Dress & Hairband - TB3, TB4, TB6, Clear Spectrum Noir Sparkle Pen
• Leggings & Shadow - IG1, IG2, IG3, Blender Pen
• Sentiment - is a downloadable freebie by my very generous blogging buddy Annette. I edged the border of the sentiment using my Spectrum Noir Pen in TB3 to tie it in with the image.

I'm not 100% happy with her skin on this image - for some reason it came out rather blotchy and the more I was trying to blend it out, the worse it became! Still, I have recently joined a couple of classes with Alyce over at Kit and Clowder and I can honestly say that some of my colouring is improving as I'm definitely thinking more about light and shade with my images.

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

• Challenge #156 at CAS Colours and Sketches - I've rotated and flipped your sketch, and see my die as being the two layers under the oval. The cut out part of the die is the darker border on your sketch, and the part between the punched holes is the white central portion of your sketch.

• Colour Week #326 - White, Light Blue, Dark Blue at Just us Girls

• Challenge 47 - Anything Goes and DT Call at All Dressed Up - I'm entering the DT call too with this card, so please wish me luck!

That's it from me for now - I've got a sheet full of images that I'm colouring in at the mo as I'm hoping to participate in a week long Birthday celebration at one of the challenge blogs I follow. Whatever you're doing, enjoy the rest of your day and stay warm and safe.

Hugs, Helen x

Wishing on a Star!

Good morning crafty friends and welcome to Monday ... it's back to normal at Casa Mia as the Christmas holidays are over and it's back to school! Still, I have enjoyed having the last fortnight off but I'm ready to back, I think!

It being Monday, it's new challenge time at Incy Wincy Designs. We're changing our challenges a bit this year and we'll be bringing you challenges on the first and third Monday of each month, which gives you plenty of time to get you entries in! Chris has woven some magic with our sponsors which means that most of our challenges will have two sponsors, which means 2 lucky winners will be picked by Mr. Random!!!!! We've also got some changes on the DT. We're very sadly saying Au revoir to our lovely teamie Jenny, who is stepping down for the time being; but we're saying Bonjour to our new teamie Greg who is joining the madcap world here at Incy Wincy!!!!!! I think that covers our changes, so let's get on with this week's challenge which is White, with a splash of Colour.

 We've got 2 fabulous sponsors lined up for this challenge:

A Day For Daisies who are offering a $12 Gift Certificate to the store

AND

That Craft Place Ltd. who are offering 3 digital images

I've chosen to use one of the images by Lisa at That Craft Place Ltd., and here is my card:

My card recipe is as follows:

• Base card - is white cardstock cut to A5 size and folded in half
• Embossing - is done on Snow White Silver Centura Pearl Card using my Embossalicious Petite Dot embossing folder (can't find this for sale any longer unfortunately :o( )
  
• Image - is called Maggie by Lisa at That Craft Place Ltd., and I have brought Maggie to life using my Spectrum Noir Pens in the listed colours, before die cutting her using my largest Die'sire Essentials Rectangles die and adding some sparkle with my Clear Spectrum Noir Sparkle pen.
• Skin - FS2, FS3
• Hair - GB4, GB7, GB9, GB10
• Clothes, Ribbons, Wand & Stars - GT1, GT2, GT3
• Ribbon - is white organdie ribbon from my stash

I'm leaving this cutie sentiment and further embellishment free as I can't decide whether she'll be a Birthday or a Christmas card!

I hope you'll come over to Incy Wincy Designs and check out the other lovely creations which are White, with a splash of colour. Then make sure you come back and share your projects with us! Don't forget that we'll be back with our new challenge on Monday 18th January 2016.

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

• Challenge #157 - Anything Goes with Optional Twist of Create a CAS Card/Project at 613 Avenue Create
• Stella Says Sketch #401 - Happy New Year at Catch The Bug
• December Colour Challenge at Whimsie Doodles
• December Challenge - Clean and Simple at Spectrum Noir Facebook Page

In the meantime, have a great week!

Hugs, Helen

Winter Wonderland

Good evening my crafty friends - hope you are all well!

Well it's the weekend, and I am running rather late with this card, which is my DT inspiration for the current challenge at Incy Wincy Designs which is Winter Wonderland.

We've been sponsored by the lovely team at Stitchy Bear's Digi Outlet who have kindly let us have some images to showcase and our lucky prize winner this week will also get some Stitchy Bear goodies!!!!!!!

Here is my card featuring a gorgeous image by Stitchy Bear Stamps:

I don't think I've ever done a white/silver monochrome card before (not sure I can truly call it "white on white"!) but I'm really pleased with the result, and the image made that so easy to do!

My card recipe is as follows:

• Card base - is a pre-made A5 card blank in white which I've embossed using a Sheena Douglass Embossing Folder called Ornamental Snowflake - unfortunately this doesn't appear to be on sale any more which is a shame is the snowflakes are simply beautiful! I've "swiped" my Silver Versa Color Ink Pad over the embossed part of the snowflakes, just to give them a bit of sheen and definition.
• Frame - is the largest Die'sire Decorative Noveau Stamping Frame die which I've cut from Snow White Silver Centura Pearl card, and then run back through my Big Shot using the embossing mat to highlight parts of the die.
  
• Image - is by Stitchy Bear Stamps at Stitchy Bear's Digi Outlet and it's called Sunday School. I've simply printed this onto Neenah Crest Solar White card, die cut it using the internal part of the Die'sire Decorative Noveau Stamping Frame die, and then I highlighted all the snowy areas of the image using my Spectrum Noir Sparkle - Clear Overlay pen. Click on the image to enlarge it and check out that super sparkle!
• Sentiment - is from the set which came with Crafter's Inspiration Magazine - Issue 8, and I've stamped this directly onto the card using Silver Versa Color Ink Pad.

I'm really quite pleased with this card, and I think it'll be perfect for my Mother-in-Law! Apologies for the not very white photos ... penalty of trying to get photos under electric lights! Might try again in the daylight tomorrow :o/ !

I hope I've inspired you to have a go with this challenge but if not, head over to Incy Wincy Designs and have a look at the other Winter Wonderland projects created by my very talented teamies. There's still plenty of time to join in with this challenge as it ends on Sunday 6th December 2015.

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

• Monthly Stamp Challenge #63 - Christmas in White at Little Claires
• Challenge #73 - Outdoor Scene at The Glory of Christmas Challenge
• Challenge 115 - Brrr It's Cold Outside at Crafting for all Seasons
• Challenge 11 - Winter/Christmas Themed at A Snowflake's Promise

Hope you have a lovely weekend - I'm off to colour next week's DT piece in the hope that I won't be late :o)

Hugs,

Helen x

Live, Laugh, Love

Good morning my crafty friends, and doesn't it feel like we need a bit of love in the world right now? My thoughts and prayers are with everyone affected by Friday night's atrocities in Paris, a city I love having lived there for 3 years as a girl.

It's new challenge time at Feeling Sketchy and we've got another lovely sketch for you this week. But before I reveal the sketch, I guess you'd like to know who is sponsoring this week's challenge?

It's the lovely Jodie and team from Bugaboo Digital Stamps who have very kindly offered the DT members their choice of digi from the store ... thank you! Don't forget that everyone's a winner with Freebie Fridays at Bugaboo - while you're there don't forget to check out all the wonderful digis that Jodie has ... there's bound to be one to suit every occasion!

Right then, here's this week's sketch as drawn by our talented teamie Michelle:

And here's my take on it, using some digis from Bugaboo Digital Stamps:

My card recipe is as follows:

• Card base - pre-made in white cardstock, approx 14.8cm square
• Papers - are from the April 2015 Crafter's Companion Club Inspire download called "Spring is Here". I have digitally created the papers layout, even adding shadows to the right sides and bottom of the yellow and checked layers to give a bit of depth.
• Images - are the Butterfly Live Laugh Love Trio by Jodie at Bugaboo Digital Stamps. I resized these so the fitted the checked paper strip and my die ;o), and then printed them out. I used my smallest Die'sire Essentials Circles die to cut these butterflies out, before I fixed them to my card.
• Flower - is made from the largest and middle sized dies in my Die'sire Essentials Flowers for all Occasions set and some deep red Core'dinations card and then I've added a clear to the centre of the flower.
• Butterfly - is the largest butterfly in the Die'sire Essentials Beautiful Butterflies die set (unfortunately I can't find this for sale any longer) which I cut from Snow White Centrua Pearl card. I edged the wings with my new Spectrum Noir Sparkle Pen Inspired Violet (which is available as part of the Spring - Summer Sparkle Pack).

For more fabulous inspiration for this sketch, please head over to Feeling Sketchy and see what my incredibly talented teamies have created! Then come back and show us your creations following our sketch. Remember, you can flip or rotate the sketch, change the shapes ... we just need to be able to see that you've used our sketch!

I would like to enter my cards into the following challenges:

• CMC#74 - Colour Combo at Card Mania Challenges
• Challenge 4 - Anything Goes/Use Die Cuts at The Crafty Addicts
• Use a Stamp or Digi Image Somewhere on your Project at Crafts Galore Encore
• Friday Challenge 57 - Things with Wings at Quick Quotes

Hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Hugs, Helen x