Cute Animals

Good morning friends - hope this post finds you well and if you've just celebrated Easter, I hope it was a joyous one for you! I'm scheduling this post as we're heading out for the day, so I hope Mr Blogger behaves!

It being a Monday morning means there's a new challenge at Incy Wincy Designs and this time we'd like to see your projects featuring your Furry Friends!

We've got another fabby sponsor for you this week ... it's Veronica and Pedro from The Paper Shelter. When you buy an image from The Paper Shelter, you're really buying a pack of goodies! Each image comes both as a line drawing so you can use your own colour scheme, or it comes pre-coloured for those makes you need in a hurry. You also get a paper design, and a composition with the coloured image on the paper for those times when you need a card like yesterday!!!!! :o)

Veronica and Pedro have very kindly given the Design Team a couple of packs to showcase this week, and here is my project for you - 2 mini cards:

I think I'll make a batch of this sized card, and then leave them in my desk drawer at work. Then, when I get into work and someone says "Don't forget it's ********* Birthday today" at least I'll have a card sat there that I can whizz out!!!!

My card recipe is as follows:

• Card base - is Centura Pearl in Ivory which I have cut and scored to make two 10 x 10.5cm cards
• Images - are by Veronica at The Paper Shelter and they are called The Most Adorable Raccoons and The Most Adorable Cavalier. I have used the composition for both of these, so it was just a case of resizing the design to fit my card, layering over the sentiment (as appropriate), pressing the print button and cutting the design out!
• Sentiment - on the Raccoon card is by Paulette at Create with TLC, and this was (I think) a freebie in March 2014.
• Pearls - from my stash

I hope you'll come over to Incy Wincy Designs and check out the other wonderful creations featuring Furry Friends by my very talented team-mates. Don't forget to then come back and show us your creations. This challenge will end on Sunday 27th April 2014.

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

• #33 - Furry or Feathered Friends at Creative Knockouts 

Hope you have a great day!

Hugs, Helen x

Mmmmmm ... Chocolate and Cream

This is my first post of the day - please scroll up to see my second post

Hello friends,

It's half term here at Casa Mia ... whoo hoo!!!! We've got a week of not-a-lot planned, well I'm hoping to get in a fair bit of crafting but we'll see what the minor folk at Casa Mia have planned for me :o) Hope you're all staying safe in the wind and rain. I'd also like to welcome my newest follower - thanks for joining the rest of us on our journey through my crafting.

It's new challenge time at Lexi's Creations and this one may challenge Mr Mojo as it's Monochrome. It doesn't have to be just black and white though; you can choose any colour scheme you like, as long as you only use shades of that colour.

Our wonderful sponsors for this challenge are the fabby team over at Joanna Sheen who are offering our lucky winner a £10 Gift Voucher to their on-line store. And with postage and packing free if you spend over £9 everyone's a winner if you buy in this Aladdin's cave! This is the last time that Joanna and her team will be sponsoring us for a while :o( - thanks for all your support ladies!


The lovely Lexi has once again let the DT loose in Fairy Dust Crafts (thanks Lexi!) and by the way, there's a sale on there so do go and have a look! Here is my card for you featuring one of Lexi's sweet images:

My card recipe is as follows:

• Card Base - is Centura Pearl Ivory which I have cut, scored and folded to make a 15cm square card
• Design Papers - are from a collection called Chocolate Chip and Cream Delight by Debbie at The
  
  Crafty Pad Designs (available from Card Making Downloads). I have used 2 different papers from the set which I sized in my word processing programme and then put a chocolate brown border around them to give a faux mat.
• Image - is called Hot Chocolate Scruffles and he comes from the pen of Lexi at Fairy Dust Crafts. This cute, and messy!, dog was die cut using the largest Framelits Fancy Labels die, before being brought to life using my Spectrum Noir Pens (thank goodness my collection was completed with the arrival of my Darks pack last week!) in the following colours:
• Fur - EB3, EB4, EB5
• Marshmallows - EB1, EB2
• Cream - EB1, Colourless Blender
• Cup & Saucer - EB6 which I dotted to make a pattern, EB7, EB8
• Sentiment - is by Paulette at Create with TLC and this was a blog freebie in November 2011. I took this into my word processing package and put the same chocolate coloured border around it to make a faux mat
• Ribbon - a recent "grab bag" purchase (15 different ribbons, each 3 metres in length for £5) from Hobbycraft which I can't find, unfortunately, on their website :o(
• Gems - from my stash

If you're short of inspiration on this challenge, do come over to Lexi's Creations and see the other wonderful creations by my teamies, our regular Guest Designer Silvi and this week's special Guest Designer Janny. Don't forget to come back and show us your wonderful Monochromatic creations - this challenge will end on Saturday 1st March 2014.


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

• C is for Chocolate Creams at ABC Christmas Challenge I've gone for a cream & chocolate colour scheme AND a creamy hot chocolate image!!!!
• Challenge #194 - Marie's Sketch at Sunday Sketch and Stamp
• Challenge #25 - Dies and/or Punches at Feeling Crafty Challenge
• DPDC 43 - Any Digi Goes at Doodle Pantry

Hope you have a great week!
Hugs, Helen x

Sass-i-tude!!!!!

Good morning friends and I hope this post finds you well. Well after the wind, rain and hail this weekend, yesterday evening was dry and clear. I hope this is a precursor to some better weather .... but I'm not holding my breath! My heart goes out to anyone who's been wind or rain affected, and I hope you get sorted soon.

I've had a couple of weeks away from blogging as I hurt my neck and couldn't manage to stay in one position long enough to craft. However, all is well now so I'm back with the launch of the new challenge this morning at Incy Wincy Designs. I'm really looking forward to seeing your creations this week as we want you to go Sassy and Sexy.

We've got 2 amazing sponsors this week who have both offered a prize, so there'll be 2 happy crafters next Monday!

Our first sponsor is My Creative Classroom who are offering our first lucky winner a seat to a Workshop Class of their choice, and here is a little about them:

My Creative Classroom is an online arts and crafts learning center. Our interactive and in-depth courses are instructor led and filled with wonderful projects and techniques to help you get the most out of your supplies.  Our Spring 2014 Semester is under way and will offer well over 100 courses. Along with our Traditional Instructor-led Workshop Classes we have also added Self-Paced Workshops. We've recently added more classes to our Library, which offers retired classes at 40%-50% off regular price.

 We have opened our brand new challenge blog, My Creative Life 2014 , which will issue challenges to help us use all of our supplies this year. Along with that is the companion course with the same title, which is FREE to our newsletter subscribers. Come join in on the fun and test drive MCC.

We are excited to be sponsoring Incy Wincy Designs Challenge. You can view our entire class list on our website at My Creative Classroom. You can also view classes on our Facebook Page too! One lucky winner will receive a free seat to a Workshop class of their choice.....Good Luck!

Our second sponsor is Lindsay at Sassy Studio Designs who is offering our second lucky winner 4 Digital Images of their choice. Lindsay has also very kindly given the DT their choice of image to use for this challenge (Thanks Lindsay!) so if you're spoilt for choice, head over to Incy Wincy Designs and check out the inspiration from the DT.

Here is my card for you, featuring Bubble Gum Sassy:

I'm not sure about how sexy she is, but she sure is SASSY!

My card recipe is as follows:

• Base Card - made from Centura Pearl in Ivory which I cut, scored and folded to make a 15cm square card. 
• Backing Paper - is from a set by Summer at Summertime Designs called Freedom. I've used a paper
  
  called Stars. 
• Heart Shape - is also from the Freedom kit and I've digitally layered it onto the paper
• Image - this girl with sass-itude is Bubble Gum Sassy by Lindsay at Sassy Studio Designs. I have brought her to life using my Spectrum Noir Pens in the following colours:
• Skin - FS2, FS3, PP5
• Hair - GB8, GB10
• Top - DR5, DR7
• Trousers - EB1, EB2, Colourless Blender, TB3
• Sneakers - TB3
• Bubble - Craf-T Chalk in Pale Pink
• Outline - BT1, IG2
• Sentiment - is by Paulette at Create with TLC which was a freebie only a couple of weeks ago. When I saw it (knowing I had this image to use) I knew it would be totally perfect!
• Twine - from my stash wrapped around the card 3 times and tied in a handmade bow

I hope you'll come over to Incy Wincy Designs and be tempted to join us on this challenge sharing your Sassy and Sexy projects. This challenge will end on Sunday 16th February 2013.


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

• Challenge #193 - Katrina's Sketch at Sunday Sketch and Stamp - I've flipped the sketch so it suited the direction the image was facing and used a heart instead of the circular shape
• Include a Sentiment Challenge at Whoopsi Daisy Challenge
• Make it Girly at Come and Get It Challenges
• Challenge #27 - One Heart at Challenges and Candies Blog
• Challenge #20 - Showcase (and Explain) Your Favourite Style at As You Like It Challenge - OK, where to start on explaining my favourite style? 
• A square card base - check! 
• Digital Papers from a co-ordinating set, which means I can play with re-sizing, and layering papers/images to get my layout - check! 
• Coloured image, OK so I know my colouring isn't the best (still can't get a 'glossy look' to hair) but I have managed a lighter patch on this girl's trousers - check! 
• Minimal Embellishments, so they don't overpower either the image or papers - check! 
• Sentiment from my "Go To Sentiment Mistress" - check! 
• That must be my favourite style then .... not necessarily CAS but everything showcased to perfection - check! :o)

Have a crafty week!

Hugs, Helen x

Winter Wishes

This is my second post of the day - please scroll down to see my first post

Hello again friends!

It's new challenge time at Lexi's Creations and this one will ease you into the New Year gently as it is Anything Goes! Our sponsor this fortnight is Priyanka from My Heart Pieces and our lucky winner for this challenge will get to choose some of Priyanka's sweet digis!

The lovely Lexi has opened the 'doors' to Fairy Dust Crafts and allowed us in (thanks Lexi!), and here is my card for you featuring one of Lexi's gorgeous images:

My card recipe is as follows:

• Card Base - is Centura Pearl Snow White with hint of Silver which I have cut, scored and folded to make a 15cm square card
• Design Papers - are from a kit called All Is Calm by Summer at Summertime Designs. My base layer
  
  is called Branches and Berries Paper, the next layer is called Blue Snowflake Paper and the top layer is Blue Brown Checkered Paper. I sized the papers using my word processing programme so that I was able to put a dark brown border around them to make a faux mat. Then I cut each layer out and mounted them onto each other. To add an extra bit of sparkle I highlighted all the visible red berries to make them a bit glossy and frosty by popping a blob of glue onto each one and then giving them a liberal dusting of White Glitter! You can just catch the glittery bits in the photo, and I think it makes the paper look like shop bought glittered papers.
• Image - is called Kiri and she comes from the pen of Lexi at Fairy Dust Crafts. This gorgeously glamourous girl was die cut using my second largest Framelits Fancy Labels die, before being brought to life using my Spectrum Noir Pens and Cra-T Chalks in the following colours before I gave all the "fur trims" a liberal coating of White Glitter:
• Skin - FS2, FS3, TB2, PP5
• Hair - GB8, GB10
• Parka - TB2, TB3, TN7
• Jeans - TB5, TB6
• Boots - TN7, TN8
• Background - Craf-T Chalk in Light Blue which I dotted with a cotton bud/q-tip
• Sentiment - is by Paulette at Create with TLC and this was a blog freebie in November 2013. I took this into my word processing package and recoloured it blue so it tied in with the rest of my card
• Gems - from my stash

I hope you'll come over to Lexi's Creations and see the other wonderful creations by my teamies, our regular Guest Silvi and our Special Guest Designer Caroline. Don't forget to come back and show us your wonderful creations - remember it's Anything Goes! This challenge will end on Saturday 18th January 2014.

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

• Challenge #76 - Sketch at Little Miss Muffet Challenge - I've added a row of gems just to give my design a bit more sparkle!:o)
• Challenge #18 - All that Glitters at Creative Knockouts
• Challenge 18 - Your Favourite Colour and Why at As You Like It Challenge - this cool blue colour is perfect for Winter Birthdays as it alludes to snowy and frosty weather ... quite unlike the wet and windy we're experiencing in the UK at the moment!
• Challenge #97 - Blue with Bling (Winter) at Love to Create Challenge
• Make It Girly at Whoopsi Daisy
• Challenge #69 - Layer Up! at Delicious Doodles

Whatever you're doing this week, have fun - if you're in the UK or in the weather affected parts of the US and Canada, please stay safe.

Catch you soon!

Hugs, Helen x

Wake Up and Smell the Coffee!

Good afternoon everyone and "Happy Hump Day"! We're over Wednesday lunchtime, which means it's downhill to the weekend ...... wheeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!

I know I don't usually do mid-week posts (unless I'm GDTing) but I'd been toying with this card in my mind. And then yesterday, a whole host of challenges popped up in my blog reader and crystallised my thoughts. So this morning I went for a run (OK, if you'd seen me it was more of a waddle ... and then I bumped into 2 students from school, waiting to be picked up to go to their college course; I was looking puce and sweating buckets! Heaven only knows how many sniggers and giggles I'll face tomorrow!) and then went to my yoga class. Came back at lunchtime, knuckled down ... and here's the result of this afternoon's labours:

My card recipe is as follows:

• Base Card - pre-made Kraft Card Blank in A6 size
• Design Papers - are from a kit called Comforts of Home by Summer at Summertime Designs.  (I think that's quite appropriate given the image and sentiment don't you!) The bottom layer is called Large Dots Paper and the top layer is called Red Chevron Paper. 
• Image - this lovely image was a digi freebie on The Alley Way Stamps Blog in November 2012
  
  (unfortunately it is no longer available) and I believe it was drawn by Alison Spelman - can't you just smell the coffee? I looks like it probably is now part of a stamp set called Breakfast Club. I die cut around the digi using an oval die before paper piecing it - my TOP TIP here is to make sure your scissors don't have any sticky residue on them which could wreck your fiddly cutting, give them a clean ... I find that a bit of cotton wool soaked in nail polish remover does the trick (and it doesn't involve rummaging in "himself's" shed for the white spirit either!!!!!) The bottom layer and handle are from Small Dots Paper (Comforts of Home kit), the band reminded me of a wrapper you get with a take-away coffee so I paper pieced this from a sheet of Kraft Card and then the heart shape was printed on Red Dots Paper (Comforts of Home kit) - once the heart was stuck on the other layers, I gave it a slick of Glossy Accents to highlight it. I finished the oval off by hand drawing some faux stitching in my metallic Bronze Gel Pen.
• Sentiment -  is by one of my favourite "sentimentalists" and that is Paulette from Create with TLC. This was a recent freebie on her blog ... thank you Paulette. I have put the sentiment into a speech bubble from the Speech Bubbles set, a freebie from Squigglefly. Again, this came under the spell of my trust metallic Bronze pen, and came out the other side with some faux stitching on!
• Ribbon Slider - is made from a length of satin ribbon in sage green and a faux button. This was made from 4 circles punched from Kraft card using my 1.5 cm circle punch which were stuck together, had 2 holes punched through and then slicked with glossy accents which was allowed to dry before threading my ribbon through.

So there you have it - and I'm quite pleased with this afternoon's work! Now I've just got to put the shopping away and cook tea, oh and hide the evidence of this afternoon's crafting session and pretend I've been doing housework :o) !!!!!!!!!

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

• Be Inspired #41 at The Alley Way Stamps
• Challenge #114 - Borrowed Sketch at Top Tip Tuesday - my TOP TIP is above 
• Challenge #73 - Seeing Dots at Little Miss Muffet Challenges
• Get Krafty - Use Kraft Cardstock at Ladybug Crafts Ink
• SFC4513 - Polka Dots at Squigglefly
• Challenge #188 - Add Some Doodling at Craft Your Passion
• #104 - Paper Piecing at Crafty Cardmakers
• Stitching - real or faux at Just Inspirational Challenges
• Challenge #65 - Stitching - real/faux at Crafting for All Seasons

Whatever you're doing this afternoon/evening, have fun!

Hugs, Helen x

Oh Baby!

This is my first post of the day - please scroll up to see my second post

Morning all and hope you're all well!

What a busy day yesterday was, and I'm sooooo veeeery sorry that I didn't get to finalise my posts and get them up and running on here - second week running that I've been late too. Hmmmm - bad me!!!!! However, today is a new day and I'm hoping to not only get caught up but also to get ahead and try and schedule next week's posts too! Wish me luck :o)

Anyway, there's a new challenge started at Incy Wincy Designs and this one's a fab topic - Butterflies and Bows. 

We have got 2 totally amazing sponsors for you this week ... just a shame I can't enter our own competition!

First, we're welcoming Heather Valentin from Lacy Sunshine Stamps . This is Heather's first time sponsoring one of our challenges, and she is offering one lucky winner a $20 Gift Certificate to her store. And with sooooo many gorgeous images to choose from, I can guarantee that you'll be spoilt for choice. Heather also has a retiring section with a number of her digital images priced at just $1, so there is no excuse for not topping up your stash! 

Our second sponsor is perennial favourite, Krista from Saturated Canary who is offering our second lucky winner 2 digital images from her store.

Both of our lovely sponsors very kindly offered the DT their choice of image to use this week. However a number of my teamies, like me, had sooooooooo much trouble choosing between Heather's images and Krista's images that we had to do one of each! 

So here is my first card for this challenge, and this one features one of Krista's gorgeous images:

My card recipe is as follows:

• Base Card - is Centura Pearl in Ivory onto which I embossed the largest Butterfly shape from my    Crafter's Companion Ultimate Pro. Once I had cut out this shape, having left 2 hinges at the top of the wings, I then cut the reverse of the card the the same outline.
  
• Image - this beautiful baby is called Butterfly Baby and she comes from the pen of Krista at Saturated Canary. This little cutie has been brought to life using my Spectrum Noir Pens in the following colours:
• Hair - GB7, GB8
• Face - FS1, FS2, BT2, CR3
• Baby Grow - GB1, GB2, GB3
• Wings - LG3, LG4, LG5, LV1, LV2, LV3
• Outline - GG1
• Sentiment -  is of course by my favourite designer, Paulette at Create with TLC. I took this totally apt sentiment into my word processing package, and recoloured it in purple to match the colour scheme on my card, before printing it out in a purple coloured oval. Once the sentiment was cut out, I punched a hole in each side of the oval and threaded through some thread from my stash, which I had coloured using my Spectrum Noir Pen in LV3 so it matched the rest of the project, to make a "Ribbon Slider". I then finished off the slider, by tying a bow around the threads.

There'll be another post from me in a minute, and then I hope you'll head over to Incy Wincy Designs to check out the other gorgeous creations by my team mates and our Guest Designer for June Linda. Don't forget to then come back and show us your creations featuring Butterflies and Bows. This challenge ends on Sunday 16th June 2012.

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

• Day 152 - Sweet Baby at 365 Cards
• Challenge #48 - Addicted to Colours at Addicted to Stamps and More!
• Challenge 188 - Hey Baby! at Totally Gorjuss
• June Challenge - Summer at Crafter's Companion Challenge

Catch you in a minute!

Hugs, Helen x

Gardening with Clementine

Good afternoon friends and I hope you're well on "middle day! This is the end of "Post-fest" ... I've caught up now! However, it also means I've got to return my crafting items to their various hidey-holes as my husband is due back this evening from a business trip.

This post brings with it news of this week's challenge at Incy Wincy Designs where our challenge for you this week is Metal Mania. We would like to see either some Metal added to your project, or your image could have something on it that's made from metal ... so you could use brads, pins, staples, poppers; or an image with a swing, shovel, wagon, or anything else you can think of!

We've been sponsored this week by the wonderful Gerda at The Stamp Fairy and she is offering this week's lucky winner at $10 Gift Certificate to her store! She's also kindly supplied the DT with some wonderful images to showcase, and here is my card featuring metal staples, a paperclip and a watering can on the image:

My card recipe is as follows:

• Base Card - made from Centura Pearl in Ivory which I cut and scored to make a 15cm square card
• Design Papers - are both from the Summertime Paper Collection, which was a magazine freebie. On the floral paper, I used the largest rosette from the "nest" on the Ultimate Pro Embossing Board Springtime Sweets and Cupcake Treats as a die and embossed this shape onto the DP before cutting it out. I used a corner rounder on the polka dot paper before turning the top corner over to reveal a swatch of the floral paper which I had printed onto the reverse.
  
• Image - this little cutie is called Clementine Spring 3 and she has come from the pen of Gerda at The Stamp Fairy. I've brought this green fingered rabbit to life using my Spectrum Noir Pens and chalks in the following colours:
• Clementine's Fur - EB1, EB2, TN2, TN3, TN4
• Clementine's Hat - Paper Pieced with paper from Summertime Paper Collection
• Watering Can - BGR1, BGR2, BGR3
• Plant Pot - BT4, BT5, BT6
• Flowers - DR4, DR5, DR7, BG8
• Outline - GG1
• Grass - LG3, LG4, LG5
• Sky - Craf-T Chalk in Light Blue
• Sentiment - is by Paulette at Create with TLC. I superimposed the word art onto a banner shape in my word processing programme and, once it was printed and cut out, I gently distressed the edges with some Craf-T Chalk in Red before stapling it to the base DP.
• Twine - from my stash and coloured using a Spectrum Noir Pen in shade DR5
• Staples and Paperclip - are from my desk!

I hope you'll head over to Incy Wincy Designs and check out the very creative metallic projects from my team-mates, this month's Guest Designer Winnie and our very special Guests, Annette and Céline from the Stamp Fairy DT. Don't forget to come back and show us your creations which have Metal Mania! This challenge ends on Sunday 26th May 2012.

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

• Challenge #20 - Anything Goes with Optional Sketch at 613 Avenue Create ... I followed the sketch!
• Challenge #57 - Animals at Dream Valley Challenges
• If The Paper Fits (Paper Piecing) at Papertake Weekly
• Challenge #128 - Circles at Penny's Paper-Crafty
• May Challenge - Anything Goes at Chalk N Stock

Have a great afternoon everyone!

Hugs, Helen x

This is "Whaley" good!

This is my second post of the day - please scroll down for my first post

Good evening friends and a slightly later post than normal from me with the new challenge from  Incy Wincy Designs. This week we want to see your creations featuring Ocean Animals.

We're sponsored this week by the wonderful Melissa at Meljen's Designs, who has kindly provided some images for the DT to showcase this week as well. Thank you Melissa!

So here is my card for you:

My card recipe is as follows:

• Base Card - made from Centura Pearl in Turquoise (mine came in a Brights pack from Crafter's Companion which they don't seem to have on their web site any more). This was I cut, scored and folded to make a 15cm square card.
• Design Papers - are all by Summer at Summertime Designs and they come from her kit Relax. I tried to use colours and shapes that evoked the sea and wave movements. From the bottom layer, the papers I've used are called Stripes, Turquoise, Paisley and Lime Circles. I have digitally matted and layered these papers together using a khaki/tan outline in my word processing programme. The letter tiles are also part of this kit, and I imported them individually into my word processing programme as well and layered them up onto the Lime Circles paper. I had to do a bit of nifty cutting with my craft blade around the "K" so that I could tuck the card rectangle underneath it!
  
• Image - this beautiful image is called Mamma Whale by Melissa at Meljen's Designs. At the moment this tender image is on half price sale, so why not treat yourself? I brought these 2 giants of the oceans to life using my Spectrum Noir Pens in the following colours before gently tool distressing the edge.
• Mamma Whale - IB2, IB3, TB4, PP4
• Whale Calf - IB1, IB2, IB3, PP4
• Swirls - GT2
• Heart - PP4
• Outline - GT1
• Sentiment - is, of course, by Paulette at Create with TLC ... who else can come up with such cracking sentiments? I got this one from Paulette in May 2012 - I think it was a freebie on her blog.

I do hope you'll head over to Incy Wincy Designs this week and see the other wonderful layouts from my very talented team-mates and Valou - it's her last week as our Guest Designer and she has made some wonderful creations, so please head over to her blog and leave her some love. Then come back and show us your creations featuring Ocean Animals. This challenge closes on Sunday 5th May.

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges (with a little help from the girls at Feline Playful - thank you!):

• Cupcake 240 - All at Sea at Cupcake Craft Challenges
• Challenge #157 - Stripes or Dots at Robyn's Fetish
• Craft it Up & Link it Up Party #5 - Use a Pun at Craftin' Desert Diva's
• RCS #34 - Thank You Cards at Red Carpet Studio
• GL Torn & Distressed at Gingerloft Challenges
• Challenge #33 - Something Fishy at Delicious Doodles
• Make us Laugh and Smile at Jellypark Challenges
• Inspiration Challenge - Colour Palette & Photo Inspiration at Crafter's Digital Art Center

Hugs, Helen x

Goal crazy!

This is my second post of the day - please scroll down to see my first post

Hello again friends. This will be a swift second post from me as we're heading out to catch a train to London as it's the Easter holidays still for us!

It's time for a new challenge at  Incy Wincy Designs and this time our challenge wants to get Out of the Box! No, we don't want you to make a box or anything like that .... we're looking for your projects that feature the "Out of the Box" Technique. Still none the wiser? Don't worry - head on over to SplitCoast Stampers and check out this Tutorial which explains this very easy but visually stunning technique.

Our sponsors for htis challenge are the team at Milk N Coffee who are giving this week's lucky winner 5 Digital Images from their shop. And  with over 180 items in the shop, there is such a choice of "Cute Digis for Cute Creations"! 

The DT has been given some of these lovely digis to showcase this week and here is my card for you:

My card recipe is as follows:

• Base Card - made from Centura Pearl in Snow White which I cut, scored and folded to make a 10.5cm square card.
• Design Paper - is from the Men's CD of the Popcorn the Bear Platinum Triple CD-Rom Collection . This football paper is perfect for the image don't you think?
• Image - this fun image is by the artists at Milk N Coffee and is called Soccer Boy. Now because we're using the "Out of the Box" technique, part of the image has to be outside the shape of your die. No die cutting machine? No problem ... I haven't got one either!!!!! I used the smallest rosette from the "nest" on the Ultimate Pro Embossing Board Springtime Sweets and Cupcake Treats to de-boss the shape around my football fanatic. This way I could see as was using the tool where I needed to stop embossing and then start again around the top of his hair. Then when I cut out the shape, I just fussy cut around the hair spikes which left these "Out of the Box"! I brought this sporty lad to life using my Spectrum Noir Pens in the following colours:

• Flesh - FS2, FS6
• Hair - GB3, GB4
• Football Strip - EB1, Colourless Blender, CR10, CR11
• Boots - True Black, OR1, FL3 
• Football - True Black, IG1
• Grass - CG1, CG2
• Sky - Craf-T chalk in Blue
• Outline - GG1
• Sentiments - is by my favourite artist for sentiments, Paulette at Create with TLC. This was a freebie on her blog last month.  I've used my normal hole punch for stationery (before realising is was slightly too large for the job!) to make holes in the side of the oval "tag" before threading some Twine from my stash through them.

We've got another new team member joining us from this week, so I hope you'll come on over to Incy Wincy Designs and give Avril a very warm welcome. Also check out the other great creations from the rest of the Design Team our Guest Designer Valou. Then don't forget to come back and show us your creations that feature the "Out of the Box" Technique. You've got until Sunday 14th April to join in.

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

• Challenge #98 - Girls and Boys Come Out to Play at Top Tip Tuesday  My TOP TIP for you is how to make your design come "Out of the Box" if you don't have a die cutting machine. If you have an embossing board you can used that as I described above, but if you don't you could use a Cookie Cutter and draw round that. If you use a digital image, you could use your Word Processing package to make a shape and superimpose your image onto that so part of the image is outside the shape. If you stamp, you could use an object from your home to draw a shape around your image. Why not experiment and see what you can come up with - just don't forget to leave part of the image outside the shape before cutting out!
• Twine Love Recipe Swap at Catered Crop
• ICC #104 - For a Child at Inky Impressions Challenges
• Challenge 77 - For a Child at Aud Sentiments
• For the Guys at Gingerloft Challenge - I'm hoping that a card for a boy counts!?

I hope you have a great week!

Hugs, Helen x

Is Spring Coming?

This is my second post of the day - please scroll down to see my first post

I was going to title this post "Spring is Coming", but as I sit here typing this post with yet another snow flurry hurtling past the window and hubby's new weather-station display advising that the outside temperature is a paltry 1.5 degrees Celsius here on the south coast of the UK, I can't believe that Spring will ever arrive! When I cast my mind back to this time last year I was wearing cropped trousers and sandals to work, and this year I'm still well and truly wrapped up in my winter woollies! :o)

Never mind, over at Incy Wincy Designs this week, we're going to try and take your mind off the chilly weather and think of warmer climes as our challenge for you this week is Pastel Colours. 

We've got not one, but two great prizes from our fabby sponsors for you this week. Our first lucky winner will receive a Goodie Bag from Iva Nova Chest and our second lucky winner will receive two digis from Saturated Canary.


Krista Smith (the artist behind Saturated Canary) also gave the DT their choice of image to showcase this week, and here is my card featuring one of Krista's gorgeous images:

My card recipe is as follows:

• Base Card - made from Centura Pearl in Snow White which I cut, scored and folded to make a 15cm square card.
• Design Papers - are from the Energy kit by Summer of Summertime Designs. The main paper is called "Plaid" and the banners are cut from the "Green Damask" paper.
• Image - is of course by the very talented Krista Smith from Saturated Canary. This gorgeous girl is called Springtime and I've brought her to life using my Spectrum Noir Pens in the following colours:

• Skin - FS2, FS3, FS6
• Eyes - LV1
• Lips - CR4
• Hair - GB1, GB3
• Dress & Gloves - GB1, TN2, EB1, CR4, CR5
• Socks - CG1, CG2, PP1, PP3, TB2, TB3
• Leggings & Shoes - TB2, TB3
• Flowers - CT3, CR4, LV1
• Grass - CG2, Craf-T chalk in Lime Green
• Clouds - Craf-T chalk in Light Blue
• Outline - GG1
• Sentiment - is by Paulette from Create with TLC and was a freebie on her blog last year. I have cut this into a banner shape too, and then distressed the edges with Craf-T chalk in Pink. To save you doing the maths, 18,250 days makes someone 50, and this card is for my neighbour who is 50 today ... Happy Birthday to her!
• Flower and Gems - are from my stash

I hope you'll come over to Incy Wincy Designs and see the other wonderful creations from my team-mates and this month's Guest Designer Jackie. Then don't forget to come back and show us your creations featuring Pastel Colours. You've got until Sunday 31st March 2013 to join our challenge.

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

• JUGS #181 - Photo Inspiration Challenge at Just Us Girls
• Come Rain or Shine at Joanna Sheen
• Challenge #206 - Spring Colours at Creative Inspirations
• Easy as 1-2-3 Challenge at Crafter's Digital Art Center (1 Flower, 2 Design Papers, 3 Pieces of Bling)
• Challenge #35 - Bring on Spring at Chocolate, Coffee and Cards
• It's Springtime at Card Makin' Mamas
• Pretty Pastels at Jellypark Friends

I hope you have a great Monday!

Hugs, Helen x

Happy Easter!

I'm back with another very swift post, this time for Lexi's Creations where our current challenge is Easter. 

This week's sponsor is Priyanka from My Heart Pieces who is offering a prize of 3 digis to our lucky winner and the lovely Lexi from  Fairy Dust Crafts has kindly allowed the DT their choice of image from her store.

Here is my card, showcasing the gorgeous "Easter Egg Lillie":

Once again, I'll return and post my card recipe. Do come and join in the fun at Lexi's Creations and get a card or two made in time for Easter! This challenge ends on Saturday 16th March.

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

• Challenge #22 - Easter at Broken Box Stock

Hugs, Helen x

Boot-iful!

This is my second post for the day - please scroll down to see my first post.

Hello again friends - normal service is resumed with two blog posts in one day! Whoopeeeeeeeee!

Today sees the launch of our latest challenge at Lexi's Creations and this time Susan has set us the challenge of Monochromatic creations. 

Our wonderful sponsor for this challenge is our very own Lexi from  Fairy Dust Crafts who is giving this weeks winner the great prize of 5 digis from her online store. She's also kindly let the DT loose in the store, so here is my monochromatic creation.

My card recipe is as follows:

• Base Card - made from Centura Pearl in Snow White, which I have cut, scored and folded to make a 15cm square card.
• Design Papers - are from a set by Summer at Summertime Designs called "Dryer Lint at Tiffanys".  I have digitally put the layout together with a faux mat (a border), so there is little bulk to my card - it also cuts down on the amount of paper and ink I'm getting through too! The base layer is called Medium Gray Stripes, the mid layer is called Light Gray Flourish and the top layer is called Dark Gray Dot.

• Image - is by Lexi at Fairy Dust Crafts  and is called  Vintage Boots. I brought them to life using my Spectrum Noir Pens in  the following colours: 
• Boots - True Black, IG8, IG6, and IG4
• Pearl Buttons - EB1
• Outline - IG1
• Background - Craf-T chalk in Grey and Black. The jury in the house of Mia is still out on whether the background suits the image ... but it's too late to change it now!
• Sentiment - is of course by Paulette at Create with TLC. It's called Happy Birthday Flag and I think it was a freebie on her blog in August last year. This has to be one of my favourite and most used sentiments as it's perfect for this style of project!
• Pearls  - from my stash

We're delighted to be welcoming our newest DT member Rachel to the team, and life has settled down for Tracey Mo who is returning to join us - make sure you head over to them to give them a warm welcome! Then come over and join in the fun at Lexi's Creations with us, and check out the Monochromatic creations from the other DT girls and our talented Guest Designer Julie. This challenge is running until Saturday 2nd March 2013 so there's plenty of time for you to link up your projects.

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

• Challenge #20 - Happy Birthday at Broken Box Stock - 2nd Entry
• It's Birthday Time! at Card Makin' Mamas - 2nd Entry
• Black and White at Joanna Sheen

I hope you have a great week - it's half term here and it's a gorgeous sunny day, so I'm hoping to get out and about a bit this week. I'm also hoping that I'll get enough peace to get some crafting in too! :o) Whatever you're doing, have fun!

Hugs, Helen x