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's beginning to feel a bit like Christmas!

Hello to you, crafty friends.

Apologies for such a long hiatus from my blogging activities - the return to school in September was it's usual madness and things weren't great for me in terms of the workload that I was expected to clear during the day, which in turn was impacting on my work/life balance. Soooo, after much soul searching, I applied for a new job and was successfully appointed! It is with huge sadness and much regret that I am leaving the school after nearly 8½ years, and I will be joining my new team next week.

It might take me a wee while to find my feet in my new job, and that very precious work/life balance, but I'm hoping to be able to rejoin the Design Teams I was previously with and I thank them all for their patience throughout 2017 where I appear to have been such a "flaky" teamie!

So, without further ado, it's new challenge time over at All Dressed Up and, as usual, our theme is Anything Goes with an All Dressed Up Image.  Wendy has plenty of gorgeous images available in the All Dressed Up Etsy Store. Haven't got any All Dressed Up images? Wendy has 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!



Here is my inspiration for you using one of Wendy's newly released images Christmas Hair Do:

My card recipe is as follows:

• Base card - is Centura Pearl Snow White Silver which I have cut, scored and folded following this tutorial to make a Triangle Tri-fold card
  
• Design paper - is from the long-since-retired Party Paws collection by Crafter's Companion. This gorgeous foiled paper was in a pack of papers and die-cut toppers which I found in my stash 😳
• Image - is by the oh-so-talented Wendy who is the artist behind All Dressed Up. This image is called Christmas Hair Do and I brought her to life with my Spectrum Noir Marker Pens (but sadly forgot to record the colours I used) and highlighted bits with my Clear Spectrum Noir Sparkle Pen. I then die cut this cutie using my largest Die'sire Essentials Hearts Die
• Ribbon - is from my stash

I hope you'll come over to All Dressed Up and join in with this challenge. Don't forget that our Dressy teamies over on the All Dressed Up Facebook Page run their own challenge and you can enter both challenges with the same project. Why not play along and increase your chances of winning some of Wendy's gorgeous digis?

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

• November Challenge - Christmas/Winter Theme at I'm a Crafter's Companion Facebook Page
• November Challenge - Anything Christmas Goes at Sweet Stampin' Christmas
• Challenge 46 - Anything Goes at A Snowflake's Promise
• November Challenge - Winter is Coming! at Colouring in Scrapland

I'll be back next week - in the meantime, take care!

Hugs, 

Helen x

#takeaselfie

Good morning crafty friends and hope you are well. Can you believe that we're half way through July already! In a little over a week, schools in our area will have broken up for the holidays and I for one, can't wait!

It's new challenge time over at Feeling Sketchy which means it's time for a new sketch. Andrea from SheepSki Designs is sponsoring us for the whole of July (thank you Andrea!)

It's new challenge time over at Feeling Sketchy which means it's time for a new sketch. Andrea from SheepSki Designs is sponsoring us for the whole of July - thank you Andrea! She has also very kindly given the DT some of her gorgeous images to use as inspiration for this challenge, and we showcased these in our last challenge. Some of the DT have swapped images so that you can see how different people use the same image.

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

And here's my take on it, using a SheepSki Designs image which I was lucky enough to win earlier this year:

Regular readers will know that my eldest Bambino celebrated her 18th at the beginning of the month, and this is the card I made for her from Papa Mia and I. And this image was perfect for Bambino as, like many other girls of her age, she's permanently attached to her phone and can often be caught in a similar pose 😁!!!

My card recipe is as follows:

• Card Base - is Centura Pearl Snow White Silver which has been cut, scored and folded to make a 15cm square card base
  
• Image - is the totally mesmerising Selfie Obsession by Andrea at SheepSki Designs which I have coloured using my original Spectrum Noir Markers in the listed colours before die cutting her using my largest Die'sire Essentials Hearts die
• Skin - FS2, FS3, FS4, FS6, TN4, FS8 (Blush), DG4 (Eyes)
• Hair - BG5, BG7, BG9
• Dress - VB1, VB2, VB3
• Phone - IG1, IG2, IG3
• Heart Frames - are made from Silver Glitter Paper which I have die cut using my 2 smallest Die'sire Essentials Hearts dies to make a frame
• Sentiment - comes from 2 separate dies and was cut from Turquiose Glitter Paper. The Happy Birthday die was in my Crafter's Companion Advent Calendar 2016 and I used the "th" portion of this die to cut again from the turquoise glitter to go with the numbers. The "1" and "8" both come from the Diamond Press Whimsical Alphabet collection
• Glitter Domes - are from my stash

I hope that I have inspired you to have a go with this sketch, but if you're in need of any further inspiration then please head over to the Feeling Sketchy blog where you can see the other great projects by my clever teamies. Then come back and show us your creations - don't forget you can flip or twist the sketch, change the shape of the elements ... we just need to see that you've been inspired to create using our sketch! We'll be back with our new challenge on 1st August 2017.

Have a great weekend!

Hugs,

Helen x

It's Holiday Time

Good afternoon crafty friends and hope this post finds you well!

We're now breathing a huge sigh of relief here at Casa Mia as eldest Bambino finished all of her 'A' level exams this afternoon ... it's a long wait now until results day in August to see if she attains enough UCAS points to accept her place at her chosen university. Please keep everything crossed for her! Between us, we've frantically been making cards for her 5 subject lecturers and also her 1 support lecturer.

It's new challenge day at All Dressed Up and, as usual, our theme is Anything Goes with an All Dressed Up Image.  Wendy has plenty of gorgeous images available in the All Dressed Up Etsy Store. Haven't got any All Dressed Up images? Wendy has 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!




With the summer holidays in mind, here's my inspiration for you:

Eldest chose this image for her Travel and Tourism lecturer, which I think is exceedingly appropriate 😀and I wanted to go for a vintage style - I'm thinking of an aged photograph here of a beauty enjoying the French Riviera, or maybe even Monaco ... what do you think?

My card recipe is as follows:

• Card base - is a premade A5 card in white
• Design Paper - is by Debbie at The Crafty Pad and is in the Chocolate Chip and Cream Delight Paper Pack
  
• Photo Frame - is by Marisa at Pixel Scrapper and it's called Polaroid Frame - Grunge. This is a .png file which meant I could superimpose it over my image which makes my design look like it's a photo in a frame!
• Image - is by Wendy at All Dressed Up. This beauty is called Sea View and she was one of last month's New Release images. I have used a Sepia Technique Class by Alyce at Kit and Clowder and I used my Spectrum Noir Pens in just 5 colours (TN1, TN2, TN4, TN7 and TN9) to bring this scene to life. 
• Sentiment - is a magazine freebie, which I have stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black Ink before die cutting the sentiment using one of the label dies in my Die'sire Essentials - Just the Ticket set

I hope that I have inspired you to come over to All Dressed Up and play along with us this month. However, if you're in need of any further inspiration please do head over to the Challenge Blog and check out the other gorgeous creations by my oh-so-talented teamies and Katrina, who is our Guest Designer this month. YOU could be our Guest Designer in July - just enter our Anything Goes with an All Dressed Up Image challenge this month, and be sure to enter the initials GDT after your name! The closing date for this challenge is 14th July 2017.

Don't forget that the Facebook Dressies have their own challenge running until 30th June 2017 and the theme this month is Monochromatic. You can enter one project into both challenges for more chances to win some of Wendy's gorgeous images!

If I've inspired you to have a go at colouring in sepia tones but you don't know where to start, I can highly recommend the classes at Kit and Clowder ... although I think I need waaaay more practice 😁. If you decide to sign up to any of Alyce's classes, please be sure to mention my name and let her know that I sent you over - thank you 😉!

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

• Challenge #9 - Monochrome at Daisy Chain Challenges
• June Challenge - Summer at Dare 2B Artzy
• Challenge #128 - Summer Fun at Simply Create Too
• Summer Sun at Whoopsi Daisy

That's it from me for today - whatever you're doing for the rest of the week, have fun!

Hugs, Helen x

Wedding Day Shoes

Hi Crafty friends and hope this post finds you well. I hope that you managed to enjoy some fine weather over the Bank Holiday weekend and a belated Happy Easter to you and yours.

I've been a very bad blogger again, and have been neglecting posting. In truth, Mr Mojo has cleared off and the run-in to the Easter holidays was the usual end of term mayhem at school. Plus, youngest Bambino went on a Geography Field Trip the first day of the hols (10 days in China visiting both Shanghai and Beijing!) so getting her packed and sorted took up some time. Then Papa Mia has taken time off both sides of our Bank Holiday weekend, which has really cramped my style.

Over the weekend, our newest challenge went live over at All Dressed Up and, as usual, our theme is Anything Goes with an All Dressed Up Image.  Wendy has plenty of gorgeous images available in the All Dressed Up Etsy Store. Haven't got any All Dressed Up images? Wendy has very generously provided some freebies here - please make sure you adhere to the terms of use if you're saving these though, to make sure they're available for other crafters to share!

Here's my inspiration for you:

I apologise for the sub-standard photos - I had to use my phone as the camera was in China 😁!!!!!

My card recipe is as follows:

• Card base - is Centura Pearl Snow White Silver which I have cut, scored and folded to make a 15cm square card base
• Design Paper - is from Sara's Signature Collection - Together Forever and was included on the papercrafting CD Rom which came with Crafter's Inspiration Magazine - Issue 10 
  
• Image - is For Your Wedding Day by Wendy Burns, the artist behind All Dressed Up. I have brought this image to life using my Spectrum Noir Alcohol Marker Pens in the listed colours before die cutting the image using one of my Die'sire Essentials Circles dies
  • Bows on Shoes - PP4, CR6, DR6, DR7
  • Inside of Shoes - EB1, EB2
  • Outside of Shoes - IG1, IG2, IG4, Silver Gel Pen
  • Rose - PP3, PP4, DR6, DR7, DG2, DG3, DG4
• Border - is also from a piece of Centura Pearl Snow White Silver card which I have die cut using my Die'sire Edge'ables Mini Victoriana die. I think this must have been a freebie with an edition of Crafter's Inspiration Magazine as I can't find this precise die in the store. The die isn't as long as my card, so I had to find the centre of my card strip and die cut this, then match up the edge of the die to the cut so that the border repeated itself. Then I repeated this on the other side of the card strip. It was very fiddly to do, and there was much muttering under one's breath as my die cutting machine wasn't being very co-operative either 😆!

I hope that I have inspired you to come over to All Dressed Up and join in the fun this month but if you're in need of further inspiration please head over to the blog and check out the lovely creations by my talented teamies. We've also reintroduced our GDT spot, so our lucky winner is invited to join us on a future challenge - this month it's Jeanette, so please head over to her blog and take a peek at her beautiful card. 

Don't forget that the Facebook Dressy Girls have their own challenge running until the end of April and their theme this month is Feature a Creature. And you can combine both All Dressed Up Challenges if you would like to!

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

• April Challenge - Anything Goes with Optional Twist of Wedding Day at Dragon's Lair Designs Challenges
• Favourite Card Base Shape and Why at As You Like It Challenge - this is definitely a 15cm square card base as it's easy to cut layers to fit it, suits different shaped die cuts for images, borders etc. and suits my OCD tendancies where everything has to fit on the card base!!!!! It's also easy to buy commercially made envelopes to fit this size for posting so I know my creation will reach it's destination safely!
• SOS #299 - A Rose By Any Other Name at Shopping Our Stash - my stash items are both the CD Rom from which the paper came from (issued Spring 2016 I think) and the die I used to make the border which was a magazine freebie (last year too I think)
• {PIN}spirational  Challenge #188 at {PIN}spirational Challenge - I've been inspired by the lace borders around the eggs and have made my own double edged border using a repeated die cut
• April Challenge - Girls Things or Girls Rule at Colouring in Scrapland
• It's a Girl Thing at Come and Get It Challenge
• Challenge #142 - One For the Girls at Crafting When We Can Challenge

I think that's all for me today - the Chinese Laundry beckons, not just because there are a few piles of washing around the house but youngest's suitcase needs emptying of it's contents! Whatever you're up to today, have fun and I hope you manage some crafty time.

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

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

Shake it up!

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

Good afternoon blogging buddies! Yup, this is a second post from me today and I am beyond excited as I've had to keep this news to myself for 2, whole weeks!!!!! 


I am super proud to announce that Wendy and her team liked my entry for their DT Call last month and asked me to join them. I can now call myself a "Dressy Girl" at All Dressed Up and I can't wait to show you my creations with Wendy's gorgeous, girly images !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

So over at All Dressed Up we're introducing all the new "Dressy Girls" both on the blog and also on All Dressed Up Facebook page, and each new DT member has been asked to make a card to showcase. Here's mine:

Papa Mia and I celebrated our 23rd Wedding Anniversary last weekend and this gorgeous image of Wendy's seemed to be just perfect to put on my card to Papa Mia.

My card recipe is as follows:

• Card base - is a premade card around 14.8cm square
• Top Card - is Centura Pearl Snow White Silver cut to fit over the card base. I've die cut into the the middle of this piece of card with my largest Die'sire Essentials Hearts die.
• Shaker Window -  I wanted the die cut heart to be the rear part of my shaker window, so I placed the top piece of card central on my base card, and stuck the heart down through the heart shaped hole! We had a corrugated cardboard box in our recycling, so I cut a smaller square from this, and die cut an aperture with my largest Die'sire Essentials Hearts die. I stuck this down to my base card over the Centura Pearl heart and then filled the hole with pale purple heart sequins and silver glitter which I discovered in the Bambinos' "arty cupboard". A square of acetate stuck over the top of the cardboard sealed the window.
  
• Image - this gorgeous girlie is called Love You and she is by Wendy at All Dressed Up Stamps. I have brought this girl to life using my Spectrum Noir Pens in the listed colours before fussy cutting her and adding her to my card
• Skin - FS2, FS3, FS4, TN4, FS8 (Blush)
• Hair - TN3, EB3, EB8
• Top - IG1, IG2, IG3
• Jeans - TB2, TB3, TB4
• Outline - BT1
• Sentiment - is from the Swirly String Sentiments Set by Lili of the Valley which I stamped in Black Memento Ink directly onto the Centura Pearl

If you want to be blown away by some outstanding creations, please head over to the All Dressed Up Challenge Blog and check out the line up from the other new "Dressy Girls" - make sure you say "Hi" to them all as well won't you? 

And, if you're in need of a further Dressy Fix before our next blog challenge, don't forget that we also have a Facebook Group (with a new monthly challenge starting), a Pinterest Board and, of course, Wendy's  Esty Shop.

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

• Challenge #31 - No Patterned Paper at Make My Monday Challenge
• Challenge #41 - Special Occasions at Crafty Friends Challenge
• Challenge #331 - Always Anything Goes at Craft Your Passion Challenge
• Challenge #211 - Cut it Up at QKR Stampede

Hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Hugs, Helen x

Vintage Rays

Good morning crafty friends and hope that this post finds you well. Can you believe that it's the first day in October and we are officially three quarters of the way through the year!

It's new challenge day at Feeling Sketchy and our sponsor this time is the wonderful Tammy from A Day for Daisies who is offering the winner of this challenge a prize. And everyone can be a winner through Tammy's generosity; if you head to Tammy's shop you will be able to find a couple of freebies to try out Tammy's gorgeous stamps!

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

And here's my "take" on it:

I've gone for a "vintage vibe" with this card and found this softly coloured DP with a gorgeous feminine feel to it and didn't totally copy Michelle's sketch as I fancied trying a "starburst" background.

My card recipe is as follows:

• Card base - is a pre-made A5 card blank in white cardstock
• Design Paper - is Roses Painted Collage Paper from the kit Jane by Melo Vrijhof at Pixel Scrapper Digital Scrapbooking. I followed this tutorial at SplitCoast Stampers to cut and lay the wedge shaped papers onto another piece of white cardstock, which I'd cut slightly smaller than my card base. The tutorial was so easy to follow, and I'm really pleased with the result.
  
• Butterfly - is the largest butterfly in the Die'sire Essentials Beautiful Butterflies set. I coloured this following a Kit and Clowder Monthly Class bonus Mini Workshop on butterflies from July 2016. I had to change the colour scheme to match my paper, and used my Spectrum Noir Pens in shades PP1, CR2, PP2, CR4, CR6, IG8, True Black and Clear Spectrum Noir Sparkle Pen to tone in but followed Alyce's techniques before curving the wings up to make it 3D.
• Sentiment - I embossed a banner shape using my Ulti Bags Embossing Board with my Ultimate Pro and cut this out, before stamping the Happy Birthday sentiment from the Swirly String Sentiment Set by Lili of the Valley (which is fast becoming my "go to" set!) in Tattered Rose Distress Ink
• Ribbon - is from my stash

I hope I've inspired you to come over to Feeling Sketchy and join in with this sketch but if you're short of inspiration, please head over to the blog and check out the other wonderful creations by my clever teamies. Then come back and link up your "make" - we'll be back with our next challenge on 15th October 2016.

I would like to take part in the following challenges:

• Challenge #266 - Blooming Days at The Paper Shelter
• Challenge #169 - Ribbon or Lace at Crafty Ribbons
• Happy Birthday with additional topping of Soft and Simple at Seize the Birthday

I'll be back later on with a rather exciting post ... in the meantime, take care!

Hugs, Helen x

The Butterflies and the Bee .... !

Good morning crafty friends, and no this is not going to be a biology lesson ;o) !!!!!!

Hope that this post finds you well. Given that it is now the 1st of July, can anyone in the Northern Hemisphere please explain where summer has disappeared to? I know that the tennis at Wimbledon has started and that this usually heralds rain, but I've resorted to jeans and jumpers again this week. Much more and the heating will have to go back on!

It's new challenge time at Feeling Sketchy and we've got another fabby sketch in store for you. 

We've also got a fabby sponsor and this time it's the lovely Jodie from Bugaboo Digital Stamps and she'll be offering a prize pack to our lucky winner. Having been lucky enough to have had a couple of recent wins on challenges that Jodie has sponsored, I know that the prizes she offers are great! And don't forget that even if you don't win the main prize, everyone's a winner with Bugaboo's legendary "Friday Freebies"!

So, here goes with the sketch created as usual by Michelle:

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

My card recipe is as follows:

• Card base - is made from Centura Pearl Snow White Silver which I cut, scored and folded to make a 12.5cm x 15cm card base. To make sure the card base shape matched the die cut shapes, I scanned the die and then increase the size to suit. I printed out the resulting shape and used this as a template to cut my card base with a craft knife and ruler.
• Mat & Layer - is made from plain black card and I created a further template to ensure this was the correct size by measuring in 0.5cm on each edge of the card base template and then ruling the lines. I cut along these lines, and used the resulting shape as my template.
  
  
• Images - are the lovely Rose Block Trio by Jodie at Bugaboo Digital Stamps. These come in monochrome and are set into squares. However, I wanted to use these pretty Diamond Press Stitched Hexagon Dies which came with Crafter's Inspiration Magazine Issue 10, so I increased the size of the blocks. Once the roses had been die cut, I laid them out in this lovely offset pattern. I then stamped the sweet little bumble bee (from the stamp set included with Crafter's Inspiration Magazine Issue 10) twice in Versamark Ink (the second time I masked the little bee, so it's only the trail that shows) and then heat embossed this using Silver Embossing Powder.
• Flowers - are die cut from Centura Pearl Snow White Silver using the middle and smallest dies in the Die'sire Essentials Flowers for all Occasions set. I die cut these and then ran them back through my machine to emboss the details. Before removing the flowers from the dies, I applied my Versamark Pen to the raised areas, then quickly removed each flower from the die, applied Silver Embossing Powder and heated to highlight the centre of the petals.
• Butterfly - is also die cut from Centura Pearl Snow White Silver using a die from the Die'sire Essentials Beautiful Butterflies set. The silver accents were added exactly the same way as for the flowers.
• Sentiment - comes from the Swirly String Sentiments set at Lili of the Valley. Again, this was stamped in Versamark Ink and heat embossed this using Silver Embossing Powder.

I hope that I've inspired you to have a go with this sketch but if you're in need of any further inspiration then please come over to Feeling Sketchy and have a peek at the fabby creations made by my clever teamies. Then come back and show us your take on our sketch - don't forget, you can change the shapes, rotate the sketch etc. ... we just need to be able to see that our sketch was the inspiration for your project! We'll be back with our next challenge on 15th July 2016.

I'm off to the Year 11 Prom this evening straight from school as our Staff Band is playing. But I'll be back in the morning to link up to these challenges:

• Anything Goes with the Additional Topping of Birds, Bees or Butterflies at Seize the Birthday - I've got some butterflies and one bee on my project
• Challenge #305 - Anything Goes at 4 Crafty Chicks
• Challenge #148 - All about the Flowers at Creative Knockouts

Hope you have a lovely weekend!

Hugs, Helen x