Who's that girl?

Good morning blog friends!

Firstly, I need to make an apology as last week I forgot to welcome Lynsey who is my newest follower and a fellow "Clowdie" - thank you for joining me on my crafty ramblings!

Secondly, hope everyone is in fine fettle. For most households in the UK it's back to school/college this week, although the Bambinos get a few more days respite due to Inset Days. I'm back to the madhouse, ooooops school today getting the office ready for the new academic year.

It's new challenge day at Incy Wincy Designs and this time we're bringing you a Colour Challenge. We've got two lovely sponsors lined up which means 2 lucky winners will get picked by Mr. Random.org from our challenge entries and they will each win one sponsor's prize.

Our first sponsor is new to us here at Incy Wincy Towers, and it's Waltraud from Miezo Stamps. They have some funky and quite quirky images, both line art and pre-coloured in the store.

Our second sponsor is Chrishanthi from Ppinky Dolls who is probably best known for creating the Lolita style images of girls!

So, here's your Colour Inspiration and we would like you to use at least THREE of these colours on your project, and our swatch has six colours that shouldn't be too difficult :oD !!! Of course you can also use neutrals and skin tones too!

And here's my card for you, using pale blue, pale pink and yellow from the colour palette above and featuring one of Chrishanthi's images:

My card recipe is as follows:

• Card Base - is a 12cm x 29.6cm piece of Snow White Silver Centura Pearl which I then scored and folded to give a 12cm x 12cm stepper card. Into the front step I used a Die'sire "Mini Victoriana" Edge'ables die to cut the standing piece of latticework - the bit it's cut out from is the back part of the front step. This technique, which I've not used before, was demonstrated in Crafter's Inspiration Magazine Issue 11 and I also saw Sara Davies demo'ing it on TV a few weeks ago, plus I think it looks pretty cool! I think that this die might also have been a past freebie from the same publication, but I can't find which issue it was in at the moment!
  
• Frame - is Die'sire Nouveau Stamping Frame which I have die cut from Centura Pearl in a pale baby blue. My cardstock came from a bulk pack called "Pastels" from Crafter's Companion. The closest I can now find in their store is this Fresh Blue which looks quite a bit darker on screen!
• Image - is the slightly wistful Lonely Sisi by Chrishanthi at Ppinky Dolls. I have brought Sisi to life using my Spectrum Noir Pens in the listed colours and Chrisanthi makes it easy to see where the shadows and highlights should be as she shades the images for you! I then die cut Sisi using the inner rectangle from my Die'sire Nouveau Stamping Frame. 
• Skin - FS2, FS3, FS4, FS9, TN4, FS8
• Hair - CT1, CT4, GB3, GB7
• Dress - PP1, PP2, PP5 

I have deliberately left this card sentiment free as I think it could be used for several occasions, so it'll go into my box ready to be used.

I hope I have inspired you to come on over to Incy Wincy Designs and join in our Colour Challenge. If you need any more inspiration though, please go over to the blog and check out the fantastic showcase of cards from my teamies - there are a variety of cards to suit all tastes! Then don't forget to come back and show us your creations using our colour swatch as your inspiration.

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

• Challenge #212 - Girlie at Ooh-La-La Creations
• O is for Open at ABC Challenge
• Challenge #128 - Anything Goes with the Twist of Colour Challenge at DigiStamps4Joy - I've used Baby Blue for the frame, Yellow in her hair, and Fuschia Pink on her dress
• Game #72 - New to You Technique at AAA Cards - using an Edge'able die to cut across a fold and leave a portion standing up is my "new to me technique"

I hope you have a great day!

Hugs, Helen x

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

Fairy Dance

Hello everyone,

This is just a very quick scheduled post from me as I'm sunning myself somewhere in the Med!

It's new challenge day at Incy Wincy Designs - this week we're looking for you to Frame It!

We're bringing you 2 sponsors this week:

Firstly the team at Wow Embossing Powders are offering our first lucky winner a pack of 6 Embossing Powders, and here's a little about them:

WOW! Embossing Powder has been established as a brand since May 2006 and has grown dramatically since then. We are rapidly becoming very well-known and respected within the craft industry. We pride ourselves on our fast and friendly customer service, and personal touch each and every one of our customers receives. We are the largest manufacturers of embossing powder in the world, therefore are very pleased and proud to offer crafters what we believe is the best product available at a great price. 

WOW! Embossing Powder offer over 160 different colours of embossing powders: Embossing Glitter, Metallic, Puff and Ultra High to name a few collections. WOW! also sell Fab Foils, embossing inks, embossing pens, bonding powder, flock, stamps and stamping accessories. 

Our second sponsor is the team at Polka Doodles who are offering our second lucky winner a £5 gift voucher for their store. They also very kindly provided some images for the DT to use, so here is my card featuring one of their images:

My card recipe is as follows:

• Card Base - is black cardstock which I've cut, scored and folded to make a 12cm card
  
• Image - is called Serenity Joyful and she is available from Polka Doodles. I carefully sized her to fit inside the die cut frame, and then cut a border which can't be seen through the holes in the frame. I brought her to life using my Spectrum Noir Pens in the listed colours:
•  Dress,  Slippers and Butterflies - GT1, GT2, GT3
• Garland - CR1, CR7, Gold Gel Pen
• Skin - FS2, FS3, TN2
• Hair - EB1, EB2, EB6
• Frame - is Die'sire Stamping Frame - Elegance which I've cut from pale orange Core'dinations Card and then mounted onto the black card using foam pads to make it stand out a bit.

I hope you'll come over to Incy Wincy Designs and take a peek at the wonderful and varied creations made by my teamies. Then come back and show us your projects which Frame It! This challenge ends on Sunday 9th August 2015.

Until next time, take care!

Hugs, Helen x