It's a good year for the Roses

Good morning crafty friends!

Can you believe it's September already? Is it me, or is there just a slight autumnal nip in the air creeping in first thing in the morning? Here at Casa Mia, we're winding down to the end of the summer holidays: today is the last day of my long hols as I'm back to school on Monday, youngest Bambino returns on Wednesday but eldest Bambino has another couple of weeks at home before we drop her off at her new Uni in the middle of the month.

It being the 1st of the month brings a new challenge over at Feeling Sketchy and for this fortnight our sponsor is the lovely Tracey and team from Fred She Said Digital Designs. Tracey is offering our lucky winner a US$10 Gift Card to their store. Tracey also very kindly gave each DT member their choice of image to use for this challenge.

So, here is the sketch we're playing with this time:

And here is my take on it, using an image from Fred She Said Digital Designs Store:

I have flipped the sketch to suit the rose spray and leaves and added more swirly bits for good measure ... and then realised once I had photographed my card that I had forgotten to add a scatter of something across the top of it ... doh 😝!!!!! Never mind 😁!

My card recipe is as follows:

• Base card - is Centura Pearl Snow White Silver which I have cut, scored and folded to make a 15cm square card base
• Background layer - is a 14cm square piece of black cardstock
  
• Image - is Rose Spray from the gorgeous Hearts and Roses Digi Set which not only includes this image but also Hearts and Roses (where the spray is inside a heart shape), 3 different sentiments and 2 printing sheets with multiple copies of the images to maximise the use of your cardstock. I have brought this image to life using my Spectrum Noir Colouring System Markers and followed the Roses Tutorial in the Kit and Clowder Elements of Nature Class before fussy cutting it and sticking it to the background layer. This is the first time I've coloured roses using this tutorial and I'm pretty pleased at how they've turned out - they almost have a velvet-like sheen to them!
• Flourishes - have been die cut from Centura Pearl Snow White Silver using one of my Die'sire Leaf Swirls dies. I then cut the swirl into 3 pieces (not that you would guess looking at it would you?) before tucking these behind the image.
• Sentiment - was stamped directly onto the black cardstock with Silver VersaColour Ink using one of the cover freebie stamps from the January 2017 issue of Cardmaking and Papercraft.

I hope that I have inspired you to come along and join us with this sketch, but if you are in need of any further inspiration please head over to Feeling Sketchy and take a look at the gorgeous creations by my very talented teamies! Then come back and show us your version of our sketch - don't forget that you can always flip or rotate the sketch, amend the shapes of elements ... as usual we just need to see that you have been inspired by our sketch! We'll be back with our new challenge on 15th September 2017.

I will be back a little later to link up to some challenges.

In the meantime have a lovely day!

Hugs, Helen x

On Your Bike

Good morning crafty friends and hope this post finds you well. After a month's hiatus, I'm back - things got a bit hectic as usual as we approached the end of term at school and then we went to France for a camping holiday the evening we broke up (not to be recommended I can assure you!) and although most of my DT creations were made and posted on the respective DT blogs, somehow I didn't seem to get the time to post them here at Casa Mia. However, now the summer hols are here, normal service should be resumed 😄!

We'll kick things off with the new challenge over at Feeling Sketchy which starts today. This month we're being sponsored by Diane from Di's Digi Stamps. Diane is very kindly offering the lucky winner of this challenge a US$12 Voucher to spend in her store - thank you Diane!

Here is the sketch for this challenge:

And here is my take on it:

We haven't been using sponsor products for this challenge, so everything is from my stash. My card recipe is as follows:

• Base card - is a pre-made A6 card base in white
• Paper - is from the Crafter's Companion May 2015 Club Inspire download called Springtime Florals. I have used this pretty sprigged floral paper and inked the edges using Peacock Feathers Distress Ink to add definition
  
• Topper- is also from the Springtime Florals download and again has been edge distressed using Peacock Feathers Distress Ink
• Flowers - are another part of the Springtime Florals download and I have fussy cut them before adhering them to my project
• Border - is embossed using a border embossing folder from the current (September 2017) issue of Cardmarking and Papercraft magazine. I have embossed this onto a piece of yellow Core'dinations card and then (following a raid on Papa Mia's shed ... shushhhh, don't tell him will you 😏 ) carefully sanded the raised part to reveal the white coloured core.
• Sentiment - is another border embossing folder from the September 2017 issue of Cardmarking and Papercraft magazine. I have embossed this onto a piece of Neenah cardstock and cut it into a pennant shape before very carefully going over the embossed lines with my AB2 Spectrum Noir Marker Pen

I hope that I have inspired to you to have a go with this sketch and join in the fun at Feeling Sketchy this time, however if you're need of any further inspiration please head over to the blog and check out the other wonderful creations by my clever teamies. Then come back and show us your take on our sketch - don't forget that you can flip or rotate the sketch or change the shapes ... we just need to see that you've been inspired by our sketch. We'll be back with our new challenge on 1st September.

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

• Challenge #87 - Embossing Wet or Dry at Crafting with Dragonflies
• Challenge #5 - Flower Power at SheepSki Designs Challenge
• Challenge #53 - Pretty Pastels at Cardz 4 Galz
• Challenge #490 - Embossing at Cute Card Thursday
• Challenge 47 - F is for Flowers at Sunny Day Crafting
• Challenge 69 - Anything Goes with the option of Girly at The Crafty Addicts
• Challenge #235 - Flowers at Ooh La La Creations
• Flower Fancy Challenge at Di's Digi Challenge

I'll be back a little later with my next DT card - in the meantime, enjoy your Tuesday!

Hugs, Helen x

Flower Garden

Good morning crafty friends!

Before I go any further I would like to wish eldest Bambino a very, very Happy Birthday! Today is super special as she reaches the ripe old age of Eighteen! There are no surprises planned - at least we haven't planned any, but I'm not sure the same can be said of her friends. A group of them will be hitting town this evening; you have been warned ...... 😂

Anyway, today sees the launch of our new challenge over at Feeling Sketchy and we're welcoming another new sponsor to our "fold" 😉 - Andrea from Sheepski Designs who is sponsoring both of our sketches for July. Andrea has also very kindly given the DT some of her gorgeous images to use as inspiration for this challenge.

Here's the sketch we're following this time:

And here's my version of it:

I apologise for the light bouncing off the shiny card - the weather and light has been atrocious here today so I've had to take my photos with artificial light, which I really hate doing.

My card recipe is as follows:

• Card base - Snow White Centura Pearl which I've cut, scored and folded to make a 15cm square card. I've used an embossing folder (which was a magazine freebie) to make the 2 borders on the card 
  
• Image - is Floral Heart - Image No 66 which comes both with and without the butterfly. I've used my Spectrum Noir markers in the listed shades to breathe life into the flowers and butterfly, before die cutting it using my largest Die'sire Essentials Hearts die
• Flowers - AP1, AP2,DP2, DP3, EB8, GY1, GY3, GY4, IG1, IG2, IG3, PL3, PL5, PV2, PV4, TB3, Blender Pen
• Butterfly - AB1, AB2, AB3, EB8
• Outline - BT1
• Heart Frame - is die cut from Snow White Centura Pearl using my two smallest Die'sire Essentials Hearts dies
• Sentiment - is another magazine freebie, which I've stamped directly onto white card using Tuxedo Black Memento Ink and then I've die cut this using my smallest Die'sire Essentials Hearts die

I hope I have inspired you to come over to Feeling Sketchy and play along with this sketch, but if you're in need of further inspiration, please check out the other beautiful creations by my talented teamies. Then come back and show us your take on our sketch - don't forget you can twist it, flip it, change the shapes ... we just need to see that you've been inspired by our sketch. We'll be back with our new challenge on 15th July.

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

• Challenge 13 - Anything Goes at SheepSki Designs Facebook Page
• Challenge #4 - Square Cardz at SheepSki Designs Challenge
• Challenge #93 - Embossing Heat or Dry at Sparkles Monthly Challenge
• Challenge #84 - Punches and/or Dies at Crafting with Dragonflies
• Challenge #138- Rural at Inkspirational Challenges
• Challenge #5 - Summertine with Butterflies at Scrap and Craft

Hope you have a lovely weekend.

Hugs, Helen x

A Cupcake for you

Good morning crafty friends and welcome to a new month - eeek! Here at Casa Mia we're in the middle of our half term holidays, a "staycation" as eldest bambino is continuing to revise hard for her "A" level exams in the next couple of weeks. 

It being the first of the month, it's new challenge time over at Feeling Sketchy and our blog has evolved a bit, due to personnel changes. Andreja has taken over as DT Co-ordinator and, for the moment, we may not always have a sponsor for our challenge. Never fear though, my teamies and I love visiting your blogs and commenting on your creations, and we will be awarding our 3 Top Picks for each challenge as chosen by the DT. So I do hope that you will continue to come over and play along with our sketches.

Talking of sketches (😁) here's the sketch for this challenge as designed by Jen:

And here's my take on it:

As you can see, I've kept the panel in the same orientation, but have extended the card base upwards.

My card recipe is as follows:

• Card base - is a pre-made A5 card base in white
• Design Paper - is from a Crafter's Companion Club Inspire Download from July 2009 called Sunflowers and Sunshine. I did my usual and coloured the image before choosing the papers (😜!) but fortunately for me, this sunshine-y yellow gridded paper fits the bill quite nicely!
  
• Image - is Daisy CupCake (available from here) by Fred She Said Designs. They very kindly sponsored an earlier Feeling Sketchy Challenge and I wasn't able to share this image then - so I thought this luscious cupcake should still have an outing and decided to use it on this card. I have brought it to life using my Spectrum Noir System Markers in the listed colours (using a bonus technique class from Alyce at Kit and Clowder) before die cutting it using my largest Sizzix Framelits Ovals die
• Daisy - IG1, IG2, IG3, GB1, GB5
• Cake - TN3, TN7
• Icing - GB1, GB5, GB7
• Cupcake case and leaves - CG3, LG5, CG4, Spectrum Noir Pencil 001 (Original Issue in Essentials Tin)
• Border - I think is from Hobbycraft in a mixed pack of cling stamps, which I stamped using Scattered Straw Distress Ink
• Sentiment - is from my favourite stamp set, Swirly String Sentiments (now only available as a digi) by Lili of the Valley again stamped in Scattered Straw Distress Ink.
• Pearls - from my stash

I hope I have inspired you to come over to Feeling Sketchy and join in with this fab sketch, but if you're in need of further inspiration please head over there to check out the gorgeous creations by my talented teamies. Then come back and show us your take on our sketch - don't forget you can flip it, change the shapes ... we just need to see that you've been inspired by our sketch! We'll be back with our next challenge on 15th June 2017.

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges (with a little help from the girls at Paper Playful):

• Challenge #229 - Food and/or Drink at Ooh La La Creations
• Challenge #296 - Make it Digital at The Paper Shelter - both my image and design paper are digital creations
• Challenge #36 - Anything Goes/Use Die Cuts at The Crafty Addicts
• Challenge #12 - Anything Goes with option to Use Yellow at Creates and Makes Challenge
• SOS305 - You Are So Sweet! at Shopping our Stash - my DP is very old and has been (ahem, unused!) in my stash since March 2013 ... shame on me 😏!

Hope you have a great day.

Hugs, Helen x

Birthday Elegance

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

Our Blue Tit parents are very busy going to and fro the wooded area near us, and when they need a quick fix they hop down to our seed feeders. Their babies can be heard chirping once the parents have flown out of the box and the parents are slightly less timid now when we're in the garden.

It's new challenge time over at Feeling Sketchy and our lovely sponsor for this challenge is Digi Stamps by Lizzy Love who is offering a prize to our lucky winner.

This is the sketch we're playing with this time:

and as soon as I saw the sketch I was inspired to make this Triangle Trifold card:

This card has already gone to my Mother-in-Law who celebrated her Birthday yesterday - I think she liked it 😊!

My card recipe is as follows:

• Card Base - a piece of 28.5cm x 9.5cm Snow White Silver Centura Pearl card which I scored and folded using this tutorial at Splitcoast Stampers. I made sure that the pearlescent side of my card was on the front and then die cut the 2 corners opposite the folds using my Die'sire Classiques Lace Corner dies
  
• Design Paper - is a piece of Navy Blue Pearlescent Paper which I cut to make 2 triangles to go behind my die cut corners to make them stand out
• Sentiment - is by Paulette at Create with TLC and this was a blog freebie, probably in January 2014. I took the sentiment into my word processing package and recoloured it blue to tone in with my DP before cutting it out using my second smallest Die'sire Essentials Ovals die. I then matted this onto another piece of the navy blue paper which had been die cut using my second smallest Die'sire Essentials Scalloped Ovals die and fixed to one flap of the card with foam pads
• Ribbon - is white organdie ribbon from my stash 
• Inside of card - is a piece of white cardstock which has been matted and layered onto another piece of the navy blue paper

I hope that I have inspired you to come over to Feeling Sketchy and join in with this sketch, however if you're in need of any further inspiration please check out the other wonderful creations by my clever teamies. Then come back and show us your take on our sketch - don't forget you can flip it, change the shapes etc. ... we just need to see that you've been inspired by our sketch! We'll be back with our new challenge on 1st June 2017.

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

• Monochrome at Dragonfly Dreams
• May Challenge - Anything Goes with Ribbon at The Ribbon Girl
• Fold it Fancy at Di's Digi Designs Challenge
• Challenge #172 - Cards with optional Fun Folds at Pause Dream Enjoy Challenges
• Challenge #188 - Add a Sentiment at Crafty Cardmakers
• Challenge #248 - Monochrome at The Crazy Challenge
• Challenge #173 - Birthday at The Crafter's Cafe Challenge
• Challenge #1 - Anything Goes Monochrome at Monochrome Magic

Whatever you're up to today, have fun ... I'll be back a little later with another post!

Hugs, Helen x

Sketch Time!

Good morning crafty friends and if you're in the UK, hope you're enjoying the Bank Holiday weekend! We have a pair of blue tits nesting in our bird box again, and both parents have been very busy bobbing in and out with beaks full of food,so I'm guessing that their youngsters have hatched. The parents are very timid whenever anyone is out in the garden and don't go anywhere near the bird box ... of course it doesn't help when the resident sparrows (who are nesting under the eaves on one side of house) sit at the end of the gutter squawking away 😆!

It's new challenge time at Feeling Sketchy and our lucky winner will receive a $10 Gift Certificate to a store of the winner's choice.






Here's the great sketch we're playing with this time:

And here's my take on it:

Because this card is made mainly from die cuts, it went together really quickly ... under an hour, which for me is a really quick card 😁!

My card recipe is as follows:

• Card base - is Ivory Centura Pearl which I have cut, scored and folded to make a 10.5cm square card base
• Design Papers - are from a Mixed Media pack by Donna at Bearly Mine Designs, now sadly closed. I have used paper MM006 to give a real shabby chic feel to my card.
• Heart Frame - is made from Ivory Centura Pearl card and the middle 2 dies from my Die'sire Essentials Hearts die set
  
• Flower and spray - are both cut from another sheet of the MM006 paper, so that they blend in with the rest of the card. The flower die is Die'sire Essentials Flowers for all Occasions die and I used the middle sized die to cut 2 flowers. I curled the petals on both flowers and then layered them on top of each other, but offset, before popping a flat backed pear gem from stash in the centre. The leaf spray is from the Die'sire Classiques Delicate Flower set.
• Sentiment - is from the Swirly String Sentiment clear stamp set by Lili of the Valley (available here as a digi set) and I have stamped it using Tuxedo Black Memento Ink

I hope you'll come over to Feeling Sketchy and check out the other lovely creations by my talented teamies. Then come back and show us your creations - don't forget that you can use any shapes you like, we just need to see that you've our sketch as the inspiration for your project! We'll be back with our new challenge on 15th May 2017.


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

• Challenge #187 - Pearls and/or Gems at Crafty Cardmakers
• Make it Square at Come And Get It Challenges
• Challenge #248 - No Image, Just a Sentiment at Brown Sugar Challenge
• The Magic of 3 at A Vintage Journey - I have used 3 different die cuts on this project which has a mixed media paper at it's centre. The dies I've used are hearts, flowers and leaf spray, and  I've also used 3 pearls in a row on the top left hand side. I could also go for 3 layers and 3 words in my sentiment 😉 !
• Challenge #93 - In the Garden at Aloha Friday Challenge - Kitty Bee Designs
• Use Something Digital at Di's Digi Designs Challenge - Second Entry

Hope you have a great week!

Hugs, Helen x

Carnival Time!

Good morning crafty friends! Can you believe it's the 1st March already? Nor me!!!!!!!!!! I'll be heading off to the gym a little later for my Yoga Class, then we have a Parent's Evening at School with youngest later on.

It being the first of the month, it's new challenge time at Feeling Sketchy. We've got a great sponsor lined up for this time and it's Pattie Gomez from Pattie's Creations. 

Not only are there plenty of images at Pattie's Creations to suit all tastes, but Pattie also runs a monthly Blog Challenge where you must use an image, and she is even generous enough to sometimes provide a freebie to help you play along!

Here is the sketch we're working with this time as designed by Michelle:

and here's my "take" on it:

I've gone quite topical with this card as yesterday was Shrove Tuesday here in the UK, but in New Orleans it was Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday), so I've used this beautiful carnival themed image from Pattie's Creations to create this card. I envisaged the sweep of the ribbon and feathers on the marsk as being the wavy strip of butterflies on our sketch, which is why I've added 2 further butterflies here. The protruding elements on the flourish dies are in place of the 3 blocks on the sketch.

My card recipe is as follows:

• Card base - is black card which I've cut scored and folded to make a 13.2 x 10.5 cm card base ... I know these are very random measurements, but this was the length of the die I've used!
• Die cuts - are both from my Crafter's Companion 2016 Advent Calendar and I've cut both of them from this lovely Regal Blue Centura Pearl cardstock, available in the Darks Pack. I've added 3 gems from my stash to the ends of the flourishes and also the middle "trefoil".
  
• Image - is the wonderful Mardi Gras Mask which comes from the pen of Pattie at Pattie's Creations Etsy Store. I brought this pretty image to life using my Spectrum Noir Alcohol Markers in the listed colours, before fussy cutting the image out and adding it to my card
• Peacock Feathers - AB1, AB2, TB9, BT7, MB3, CG3, Spectrum Noir Sparkle Clear Overlay to add some iridescence to the feathers 
• Mask - AB1, AB2, AB3, TB8, TB9
• Ribbons - CG1, CG3, CG4
• Outline - BT1

I hope that I've inspired you to come over to Feeling Sketchy and join in with this sketch; don't forget that you can flip or turn our sketch ... we just need to see our sketch in your work, and if it's not clear then just leave us a note to explain! If you're in need of any further inspiration, please head over to the blog and check out the other wonderful creations by my very talented teamies. We'll be back with our new sketch on 15th March 2017.

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

• Challenge 154 - Nature Inspired at Southern Girls
• Die Cuts and/or Punches at Di's Digi Designs Challenge
• Challenge #40 - Birds at Make My Monday Challenge
• Challenge 296 - Die Cuts at Stamps & Fun = Creativity
• Destination/Travel Related at The Sisterhood of Crafters - my inspiration comes from the mask which might be worn as part of the Mardi Gras Celebrations in New Orleans!
• W2CB #38 - Celebrations  at Words to Craft By - Second Entry, this one has been inspired by your Mardi Gras inspiration projects!
• Challenge #251 - Anything Goes at Addicted to Stamps and More
• Challenge #19 - Anything Goes at World Wide Open Design Team Challenge - Third Entry
• HIMCR #290 - Any Holiday at Hiding in my Craft Room - hoping that Mardi Gras/Shrove Tuesday counts as a holiday!

Whatever you're doing today, have a great day!

Hugs, Helen x

Time for a Cuppa

Hello crafty friends, and here's my last "chasing my tail" post .... the "post fest" of the last 3 days sees me caught up with all my DT work, and I've started on the next bundle as some of these are printed out already!

Last week saw the start of our new challenge over at Feeling Sketchy but there's still plenty of time for you to play along. Our prize for you this time is a $10 Gift Certificate to any online store of your choice!

Here's the sketch we're playing with this time, as designed by Michelle:

And here's my card using this sketch as the base for my layout for a tea (or coffee lover) as the bottom pouch holds a coffee store gift card:

My card recipe is as follows:

• Card Base - is Snow White Silver Centura Pearl which I have cut, scored and folded to make a 15cm square card base.
• Design Papers - are both by Marisa Lerin at Pixel Scrapper from a kit called England Papers Kit #2. The small flower print paper in the background is England Paper 04
• Pouches - are made from England Paper 03a which have been cut, scored and folded before having a part oval cut from the top using and have had a spotty green ribbon from my stash wrapped around them
• Teapot and Teacup elements - are dies from my Crafter's Companion 2016 Advent Calendar which have been cut out of Snow White Silver Centura Pearl before being adhered to my card. I even layered up 2 teacups to look like a stack!
• Sentiment - is by Lili of the Valley and comes from the Mixed Circular Sentiment Set. Sadly this set is no longer available as a clear stamp, but it is available as a digi set here. I have stamped the sentiment onto Snow White Silver Centura Pearl with Memento Ink before die cutting it with one of my Die'sire Essentials Circles dies. 

I hope I have inspired you to come over to Feeling Sketchy and join in with this sketch. If you need any further inspiration before you grab for your stash, please head over to the blog and check out the other wonderful creations by my talented teamies. We'll be back with our new sketch challenge on 1st March 2017.

I will be back a little later to play along with some challenges.

In the meantime, enjoy the rest of your day.

Hugs, Helen x

Masculine Valentine

Howdy my crafting buddies! Long time no speak! Hope you are all well and a warm welcome to Adaline, who is my newest follower - hope you enjoy my creations!

Well, despite my hopes on my last post with my new job-share joining the team at school, things didn't quite work out as planned and the lady left after just 2 weeks 😞 Since then however, things have moved on apace and another lady has been appointed, so I now have a "new new" job-share and she started yesterday. Early days yet, but I'm hopeful that this one will stay as she seems to have picked up our ways very quickly whilst I've been training her. Please keep your fingers crossed because I badly need my crafty-time back. 😉

It's new challenge time over at Feeling Sketchy and our prize for you this time is a $10 Gift Certificate to any online store of your choice!

Here's the sketch we're playing with this time, as designed by Michelle:

and here's my card using this sketch as the base for my layout:

I've gone for a monochrome, masculine look for this card limiting my colour palette to black and silver - Valentine's card for Papa Mia sorted 😉!!!!!

My card recipe is as follows:

• Card base - is Centura Pearl Snow White Silver card which I have cut, scored and folded to make a DL sized card base
• Inset card - is a piece of matt black card from my stash which I cut to 20cm x 7.8cm
• Hearts - are from a Leonie Pujol stamp set which is free with Crafter's Inspiration Magazine Issue 13. I've stamped these entwined hearts using my VersaColour Silver Ink Pad, using a stamping mask on the left hand side of the card to make the hearts look layered.
• Banners - are cut from scraps of black and Centura Pearl Snow White Silver using my layered banner die which was in my Crafter's Companion Advent Calendar 2016. I ran the banners through my Big Shot using my Darice Script Background embossing folder before swiping a little silver ink over the black ones to make them stand out a little more.
• Sentiment - is from the Swirly String Sentiments Stamp Set (only available now as a Digital Stamp Set) by Lili of the Valley which I stamped using VersaColour Silver Ink.

I hope that I have inspired you to come along and join in at Feeling Sketchy this time. However, if you're in need of any further inspiration, please do head over to the blog and check out the other wonderful creations by my clever teamies. Then come back and share your creations with us. We'll be back with our next challenge on 15th February 2017.

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

• Challenge #172 - Masculine Projects with a sentiment at Aud Sentiments
• Challenge #181 - Love, Love, Love at Crafty Cardmakers
• Challenge #148 - All about Love at Dream Valley Challenges
• Challenge #186 - Hearts and/or Flowers at A Gem of a Challenge
• Challenge #73 - Valentines Card at Crafting with Dragonflies
• All About Love Challenge at Di's Digi Designs Challenge
• Challenge #328 - Love Notes at Tuesday Throwdown

Hope you have a great day!

Hugs, Helen x

Elegant in Cream

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

Good morning crafty friends and a Happy New Year to you all!

I hope you had a fantastic festive season - here at Casa Mia we had a lovely, if slightly quiet, time as some of our engagements were cancelled due to others succumbing to the dreaded cold and flu! However, every cloud has a silver lining and ours was that the Bambinos wanted to play family games. So we've spent most evenings round the dining table with either Cludeo, Mousetrap or Scattegories out and had a fab time. Back to earth tomorrow with a bump though as school starts again 😃

We're running a day late over at Feeling Sketchy as Cathy has been away for New Year, but we're delighted to bring you our first sketch of 2017. We don't have a sponsor for this challenge, so Cathy will be arranging a Gift Certificate for our lucky winner. 

And here's the sketch we're playing with, as drawn by Michelle:

And here's my take on it:

Sadly, I had need for this card and it should already be with it's recipient 😢

My card recipe is as follows:

• Card base - black cardstock which I cut, scored and folded to make DL size with the fold at the top
• Layered card - is Ivory Centura Pearl which is ½cm smaller all round than my DL card base
• Papers - are from the March 2012 Crafter's Companion Club Inspire Download Rose with Love. I used the cream coloured Rose paper from the download and die cut  these using my smallest wonky square from my Die'sire Elegance Stamping Frame Die. I cut a small slit into the bottom right square so I could insert the tags.
  
• Sentiment - is part of the cover gift from the January 2017 issue of Cardmaking and Papercraft magazine which I stamped onto a tag which I had embossed using my Ulti Bags Ultimate Pro Embossing Board
• Flourish - is another old Die'sire Die, this one is called Leaf Swirls and I cut this from the same black cardstock as the base
• Small Tags and Dragonfly - are dies which came from my Crafter's Companion Advent Calendar 2016. I cut these both from Ivory Centura Pearl and curled the dragonfly's wings to give it a bit of dimension. I also added a small Silver Gem from my stash.

I hope I've inspired you to have a go and play along with this sketch, but if you're in need of further inspiration do head over to the Feeling Sketchy Blog where my talented teamies are showcasing some great creations. Then come back and show us your take on our sketch. We'll be back with our next challenge on 15th January 2017.

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

• It's all New at Whoopsi Daisy - my Sentiment is brand new as are the 2 small dies from my crafty Advent Calendar!

I'll catch you a bit later, as I have another blog post going live today.

Hugs, Helen x

Stars and Stripes

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

It's 1st December which means Christmas is this month - yikes !!!!!!!! I'll be putting the decorations up in the office tomorrow as we've only got a couple of weeks left at school now and had also better get a wriggle on with our family preparations, although the majority of the present buying has been done - just need to wrap them now 😂 !

Being the 1st of the month, means it's also new challenge time at Feeling Sketchy and this time, Cathy has gone nice and simple for everyone - it's Keep Calm because Anything Goes! As usual we have a sponsor and prize pack for this challenge, so do come over and play along with us!

Now I had a, OK another "senior moment" when creating this card because I made it when we were still debating what we were doing for this challenge. So I have created using a past sketch for inspiration - I have gone back to Challenge #122 back in June 2015 here at Feeling Sketchy and used the following sketch:

And here is my card for you:

I needed a male birthday card for my B-i-L and this seems to have done the job perfectly 😉

My card recipe is as follows:

• Card base - is Kraft card which I cut, scored and folded to make an A5 card with the fold at the top
• Papers - are part of the great Just For Men Signature Collection by Sara Davies at Crafter's Companion, however you can try out these papers and some of the elements for free by getting the Rock Star - June 2016 Download of the Month. I've used 3 of the 4 papers in the download (wide stripes, ledger paper and stars for one of my stars!)
  
• File Tab - comes from the Die'sire Essentials Just the Ticket die set and I have cut this out of Kraft card and then popped it under the ledger paper. Although it doesn't show very well, I used some foam pads under the tab to lift it off the card.
• Circles - were created using (and please don't spill your tea/coffee etc. here) an upturned glass tealight holder which was just the right size for my ledger paper 😂. I inked the rim with Memento Tuxedo Black Ink and used it to stamp the 4 circles
• Sentiment - comes from a Sheena Douglass Perfect Partners Victorian Floral - Poppy stamp set which came with my Crafter's Inspiration Magazine Issue 7. I again used Memento Tuxedo Black Ink to ink up the sentiment, which fitted inside my circles perfectly!
• Stars - were created from Kraft card and the star paper from the Rock Star Download and my Die'sire Essentials Stars dies in several sizes before being attached to the card, both flat and raised up a bit.

I hope I've inspired you to come along and join in with our Keep Calm because Anything Goes! challenge at Feeling Sketchy, but if you're in need of further inspiration (both seasonal and general) then do head over to the challenge blog and check out the great creations by my wonderful team mates. Then come back and show us your creations. We'll be back with our final challenge of 2016 on 15th December.

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

• Challenge #148 - Something Beginning with T at Cardz4Guyz - My "T" is for tab

Whatever you're up to today, I hope you have fun!

Hugs, Helen x

We Wish You a Merry Christmas!

Good morning my crafty buddies! I would like to warmly welcome my newest followers Carole, Helen and Liz to my madcap world - hope you enjoy my creations ladies!

Wow! Can you believe that it's the 1st of November already? That's means Christmas is next month .... eeeeek!!!!!! In the last couple of weeks, I've reached 100 followers and over 60,000 page views ... double eeeeek!!!!! Sooooo, I thought I might offer a little bit of candy to at least one of my lucky followers. Watch this space, as I'll have a dig through my stash and see what goodies I have to share ;o)

Back to this morning though, and it's new challenge time over at Feeling Sketchy.


Our new challenge is being sponsored by the lovely Jodie at Bugaboo Digital Stamps who is offering the lucky winner of this challenge a prize pack. And don't forget that even if you're not picked as our winner, everyone's a winner thanks to Jodie's generosity on Freebie Friday's and she also has regular sales and discounts on New Release Tuesday's. Please head over to Bugaboo Digital Stamps, take a peek at the wide variety of digis on offer, and why not let one or two drop into your virtual basket ;o)!

Here's the sketch we'd like you to take inspiration from, courtesy of our designer Michelle:

and here's my "take" on it:

I think this is a great sketch for making quick and easy cards, particularly if you need a card in a hurry or "batch making" Christmas cards - two squares of papers cut down, one sentiment and "ta daa", you've got a nice card! Or, of course, you can dress the sketch up to make a very special card.

My card recipe is as follows:

• Card base - is a pre-made 12.5cm square base in cream card
• Design Papers - are both from the Nordic Christmas CD-Rom, now sadly retired :o( There are a few other items still available in the Nordic Christmas Collection ....
  
• Sentiment and Image - are a cling stamp which was a cover freebie on the Christmas 2016 Cardmaking and Papercraft magazine ... perfect timing! I stamped this using Memento Ink in Tuxedo Black then brought the poinsettia to life using my Spectrum Noir Markers in the listed colours before fussy cutting it out and adhering it to my card.
• Poinsettia Bracts - DR6, DR7, Silver Gel Pen
• Leaves - DG2, DG3, DG4
• Swirls - Silver Gel Pen
• Outline - IG1

I hope I've inspired you to come along and join in with this sketch but if you're in need of further inspiration, please head over to Feeling Sketchy and check out the other wonderful creations by my very talented teamies. Don't forget to then come back and share your creation with us! We'll be back with our new challenge on 15th November 2016.

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

• Challenge #5 - Anything Christmas Goes at The Merry Christmas Challenge
• Week 46 - Anything Goes at Weekly Christmas Card Challenges
• Let's Mark a Start on Christmas at Allsorts Challenge Blog
• CHNC 305 - Anything Goes as long as it's Christmas at CraftyHazelNut's Christmas Challenge
• Challenge #367 - Make the Sentiment the Focal Point at Just us Girls
• Inspired by a Book, Film or a Song at Sweet Stampin' - of course I've been inspired by the traditional Christmas song "We Wish You a Merry Christmas"!

Whatever you're up to this week, I hope you have fun!

Hugs, Helen x