Home is where the Heart is ....

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

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

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

So, here is my inspiration for you this month:

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

My card recipe is as follows:

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

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

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

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

Hope you have a lovely and crafty week!

Hugs, Helen x

It must be Love ......

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

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

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

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

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

My card recipe is as follows:

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

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

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

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

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

• 

  Cookie Challenge #110

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

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

Enjoy your weekend!

Crafty Hugs,

Helen x