Time for a glass of something that goes "Fizzzzzzzz"

Good evening crafty friends and welcome back to Casa Mia - as the current Covid restrictions ease, I hope you are keeping safe and well … please make sure that you adhere to any requirements that are local for you.

It's the fifteen of the month again (it's worrying how quickly they seem to come round!) and it's time for a new challenge at All Dressed Up Digital Stamps Challenge. As ever, our challenge is Anything Goes with an All Dressed Up Image. Don't have any All Dressed Up images? No worries, Wendy has plenty of gorgeous images available in the All Dressed Up Etsy Store and has also very generously provided some freebies here. However, please play fair with the freebies, and send your friends over to ADU for them … this will ensure that they continue to be available for other crafters to share! Thank you!

One of my colleagues celebrated her 40th Birthday last month, and whilst all team members receive a handcrafted card on their Birthday, I wanted this one to be special as this lady and I have covered a Duty Day together in the office together since the beginning of lockdown. I also happen to know that she particularly enjoys celebrating with a glass of something that goes "fizzzzzzzz", so this gorgeous image was very appropriate and the recipient absolutely loved her card, and the bottle of Prosecco that went with it!

My card recipe is as follows:

• Card base - is a 5" x 7" premade base in white card. This is a new size for me and I quite like being able to print my images that bit larger!
• Design Paper - is this beautiful Gray Paper which is part of a collaboration by the Pixel Scrapper Digital Scrapbooking designers called All the Princesses. This paper can be found in the Solid Paper Kit by Janet Scott. I have matted and layered this onto some matt black card for elegance.
• Image - is the ultra-glamourous Prosecco Time by the wonderful Wendy who is the artist behind All Dressed Up Digital Stamps. This gorgeous girl comes with her own sentiment too, but I cropped it out for this card. I have brought this girl to life using my Copic alcohol markers, before die cutting her with one of my Sizzix Framelits Ovals dies.
• Sentiment - has been die cut from silver mirri card, before being mounted on a fishtail banner made from the Gray Paper.

I hope I have inspired you to come over to the blog and join in with this month's challenge. But if you're in need of further inspiration please head over there to feast your eyes on the gorgeous creations made by my every-so-talented Dressy Teamies. Then, don't forget to come back and show us your creations which need to be Anything Goes with an All Dressed Up Image. This challenge ends on the evening of 14th August, UK time.

In the meantime, I would like to share my card with the following challenges:

• Challenge #39 - Anything Goes at CD Sunday Plus
• Challenge #490 - Creative Free For All but Add Pink at Fab 'n' Funky Challenges
• Challenge #7 - July at World Wide Open Design Team Challenge

That's it from me for now … take care!

Crafty hugs,

Helen x

Summer Colour

Good afternoon Crafty Friends!

I hope this post finds you and yours keeping well and safe. Here at Casa Mia we are coping well with the "Lockdown" situation that the UK has found itself in since 23rd March. I have been working 2 days a week in the office (with proper social distancing) and my remaining 2 workdays have been spent at my new desk, the dining table at home! We are also enjoying some great family time in our allocated exercise slot each day and have had fun exploring our village and spotting rainbows that residents have put up in their windows. 

With it being the 15th 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!

It was my Mother-in-Law's Birthday yesterday, so what better reason to colour up one of Wendy's gorgeous images. I had a bit of a challenge making this card, as Papa Mia is working from home and has set up his work zone in my craft space (a.k.a. our study). So I'm stuck as to what crafty bits I can actually get to, in order to create. So, I am not especially happy with the layout of this card but I am super pleased with the colouring.

My card recipe is as follows:

• Card base - is a pre-made A5 card base in white card which I have embossed with a geometric circles embossing folder. I then swiped a pad dabbed with Vintage Photo Distress Ink over the embossing to give a bit more detail.
• 
  Image is the beautiful Hanging Basket by Wendy Burns, the artist behind All Dressed Up Digital Stamps. I have brought this image to life using my Copic Alcohol Markers and following one of my Kit and Clowder Monthly Bonus classes (the Vintage Bicycle Class from February 2019) before cutting the image out with my largest Sizzix Framelits Oval Die. Alyce (the art guru behind K&C) always says you can apply the techniques from the classes to any image, not just the one that the class is set on ... well, this just proves her point. And if you haven't tried any of Alyce's classes why not try now, whilst we are in these strange times - mention my name and Alyce will reduce the price of your class by $5AUS!

So, that's my very simple card for you today. However, if you head over to the All Dressed Up Challenges Blog you will be able to see the stunning inspiration from my very talented teamies. And don't forget to then come back an show us your creations - it's always Anything Goes with an All Dressed Image, for your chance to win some of Wendy's images. Our lucky winner is picked at random, and our Dressy Girls choose their Top 3.

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

• Challenge #180 - Use a Die at CAS on Friday
• Challenge #506 - Anything Goes with Optional Twist - Outdoors at Crafty Catz Challenge
• Challenge #160 - Use Flowers at Simply Create Too Challenge
• May Challenge 118 - Flowers at Moving Along With The Times
• May 2020 Challenge - Create a Custom Background, Do Not Use Designer Papers at A Place to Start
• May Challenge - Say It With Flowers at Stamping Sensations
• Challenge #27 - Flower Power at Digi Doodle Studios Challenge
• HLS May - Anything Goes with Dies Challenge at Happy Little Stampers
• Challenge 135 - Flowers at Crafty Friends Challenge

I hope that you and your families stay safe during these difficult times and, if your family has been unfortunate to suffer from Covid-19 then my thought are with you.

Crafty Hugs,

Helen x

The Love Bus

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

Good evening crafty friends and I'm back with another post!

I'm GDT with the Dressy Girls over on the All Dressed Up Facebook page and tonight sees the launch of the new Challenge - our theme for you this month is Square Cardz with an All Dressed Up Image.

We're heading off to a family wedding tomorrow - the bride was one of my bridesmaids when Papa Mia and I got married many moons ago and is also one of his cousins, so this is the very special card I made for the happy couple using one of Wendy's gorgeous wedding images and trying to follow the wedding colours of blush and rose gold:

My card recipe is as follows:

• Card base - is Centura Pearl Snow White with Hint of Gold which I have cut, scored and folded to make a 15cm square card base. I have also scored 5 vertical lines at ½cm intervals on the folded side of the card
  
• Image - is the beautiful Just Married by Wendy at All Dressed Up Digital Stamps. I have brought this lovely camper van to life using my Spectrum Noir Colouring System Marker Pens in the listed colours before die cutting it using my largest Sizzix Ovals die. I then tool distressed the edge of the oval just to add a little bit more detail
• Love Birds - IG1, IG2, IG3, CR6, DR5, DR7
• Suitcases - CR2, PP3, PP5, CR6, DR5, DR7, EB1, EB2
• Bunting - CR6, DR5, DR7
• Windows - IG3, IG1
• Bodywork - IG1, IG2, IG3, CR2, PP3, PP5, CR6, DR5, DR7, Clear Spectrum Noir Sparkle Pen and 2 pearls
• Tyres - IG4, IG6, IG9
• Grounding - EB1, EB2,
• Outline - BT1
• Embellishments - of pearls and ribbon were from my stash and I used the bow-maker on my Ultimate Pro to tie that lovely big bow.

I hope that you've inspired you to come over to the All Dressed Up Facebook page and play along with our Square Cardz with an All Dressed Up Image. 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! Don't forget that our blog challenge of Anything Goes with an All Dressed Up Image is also running at the moment - why not enter your card into both challenges so that you're in with a chance of winning more images? 

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

• For Someone Special Challenge at Crafty Sentiments Challenge
• Challenge #162 - Use a Stamp or Digi Image at Dream Valley Challenges
• M is for Make Your Mark at The Alphabet Challenge Blog
• Use a Digital Image at Little C's Aloha Friday Challenge
• Challenge #171 - Anything Goes with Ribbon at Really Reasonable Ribbon Challenge

That's it from me for this evening ... now I must shoot off and ensure we've got everything ready for travelling to the wedding tomorrow!

Have a great 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

I'm going on an Easter Egg hunt!

Good evening crafty friends and hope this post finds you fit and well. Sorry for my slight absence over the last week and a half - I was covering at work for my colleague and then had a surprise 50th Birthday Party planned for Papa Mia who hit the big Five-O last weekend. You might find you get a "post fest" from me, as I try (desperately) to catch up with everything!

It's the second chance to see DT inspiration using Wendy's March Releases over at All Dressed Up, and here are the new images:

Top left is Flowers for Mum, top right is Clunk Clunk, bottom left is Feeling Spoilt and bottom right is Pretty Bonnet and they are all available now over at the All Dressed Up Digital Stamps Etsy store.

I've been given Pretty Bonnet to play with, and here is my inspiration for you:

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
• Paper - is from a retired digital paper collection by Summer at Summertime Designs called It's a Spring Thing. I've used this pretty Floral Paper.
  
• Image - is the very sweet Pretty Bonnet by Wendy at All Dressed Up Digital Stamps. I have brought this cutie and her fluttery friend to life using my Spectrum Noir Markers in the listed colours, before die cutting it using my largest Sizzix Framelits Ovals die.
• Skin - FS2, FS3, FS4, TN4, FS8 (Blush)
• Hair - TN3, EB3, EB8
• Basket - BO1, BO2, BO3, BO4
• Dress - AP1, AP2, AP3, AP4, GB3
• Hat - AP1, AP2, AP3, AP4, IB3, BGR4
• Flowers - GB3, IG1, IG2, CG3, LG5
• Eggs - RB1, GB3, AP2, CG3, IB3
• Butterfly - AP1, TN3
• Banner - is a Die'sire Classique die called Traditional Bunting which I have used to cut the Blue Paper from It's a Spring Thing paper collection
• Ribbon - is from my stash and I've wrapped some around my paper as well as making a bow.

I hope I've inspired you to head over to All Dressed Up Digital Stamps and treat yourself to this image, but if you're in need of any further inspiration then do head over to the All Dressed Up Challenge Blog where my very talented teamies have made some gorgeous creations with this wonderul images. Don't forget we're also hosting our current challenge Anything Goes with an All Dressed Up Image which ends on 14th April. Our Facebook team-mates are hosting their own challenge 1 - 2 - 3 with an All Dressed Up Image on the All Dressed Up Facebook Page until the end of March, and you can combine your entries with both challenges.

I'll be back a little later to link this cutie up to some challenges.

Hope you have a lovely evening!

Hugs, Helen x

Life is a Cabaret

Good afternoon crafty friends, and I hope that you're not being blown away by Storm Doris if you're in the UK. I've only had to go out into the garden to re-cover the patio furniture twice, and managed to do the bins before it got really windy - just hope they don't blow over and send all our recycling rubbish off down the street 😆!

I'm running a few days late with this post, as Monday saw the start of our new challenge over at Incy Wincy Designs and our theme for you this fortnight is Leather and/or Lace.

We have 2 amazing sponsors lined up for you:

Firstly Elena and Kenny Kiernan, the team behind KennyK Stamps are offering our first lucky winner a prize of 3 digital stamps. Here's a bit about them, and everyone's a winner with their discount code and offer of a free digi stamp every month:

Stamp designer Elena Kiernan and illustrator hubby Kenny Kiernan bring a perfect storm of creative energy to the bold and fun digi stamps and clear stamp sets at this rockin’ shop, where it’s always 30% OFF your first purchase with code MYFIRSTPURCHASE. Their hundreds of fun-to-color designs include everything from kids’ to teenage girls with attitude, skateboard boys, steampunk, men, sports, superheroes, music… and for those who enjoy a little spice in their crafting, KennyK Stamps is the #1 Shop in the World for Sexy Stamps!  Rock Your Crafts with KennyK Stamps! 

Get a FREE DIGI STAMP every month by subscribing to their newsletter. It’s a no-brainer, sign up here to join!

Click to follow KennyK Stamps on Facebook and also join their awesome new Facebook Fan Group, “Club KennyK!”

Our second sponsor is the team at WOW Embossing Powder who are offering our second lucky prize winner 6 embossing powders and a travel case to store them in, and these will be shipped directly to our winner from WOW HQ! If you haven't tried WOW Embossing Powders, you'll love them ... and here's a bit more 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

The DT have been given their choice of KennyK Stamps to showcase this time, so here's a sneak peak or the "Watershed Version" of my card - I will warn you, this is waaaaayyyyyy out of my comfort zone and not my usual style at all, so if you're easily offended I would suggest that you read no further!

This will be my card to Papa Mia who will be celebrating a certain Birthday next month! OK - so if you're reading on, I will take it that you're happy with seeing a picture of a scantily clad woman and I will not be held responsible! 😄

So here she is, in all her glory with a faux leather background, so easy to do and incredibly effective too!

My card recipe is as follows:

• Card Base - is piece of Ivory Centura Pearl which I have cut, scored and folded to make an 11.5 x 15.4 cm card
• Mat & Layer - is a piece of black cardstock sized to 11 x 14.9 cm
• Background - is an A6 piece of Kraft card and I followed this Faux Leather Tutorial by Sheena Douglass to make it look like this using glycerine, water, a spray bottle, a Sheena embossing folder called Distress Splatter, Distress Inks in Vintage Photo and Spiced Marmalade and a spray varnish, although I had to use my Spray and Sparkle Glitter Varnish so my faux leather background has a glittery finish to it!
  
• Image - is the lovely Cabaret by Kenny at KennyK Stamps. I drew a stool under her and then brought this bewitching one to life using my Spectrum Noir Markers before die cutting her using my second largest Sizzix Framelits Ovals die using an "Out of the Box" technique.
• Sentiment - is die cut from Ivory Centura Pearl which has been layered onto an additional die cut from black card to give a shadow. 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 both the ivory and black card to go with the numbers. The "5" and "0" both come from the Diamond Press Whimsical Alphabet collection.

Please do head over to  Incy Wincy Designs and check out the other wonderful creations featuring Leather and/or Lace from my very talented teamies. Then come back and show us your creations. We'll be back with our next challenge on Monday 6th March 2017.

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

• February Challenge - Anything Goes with a KennyK Stamp at Club KennyK Facebook Page
• Challenge 39 - For a Man at Moving Along With The Times
• Challenge 282 - Boys are Back in Town at The Paper Shelter
• Let's Get Messy at Try It On Tuesday - I got very messy with the faux leather technique, rubbing a mix of glycerine and water into both sides of my Kraft card before scrunching it up and repeating. Once the card was nice and pliable, I embossed it and allowed it to dry. Then I rubbed my Distress Inks onto it, before smearing varnish over it to create the finished background!
• Challenge 142 - Use a Number (with a Stamp) at Addicted to Stamps
• Challenge #79 - Happy Birthday at Inky Chicks
• #119 - Male Colours at Through the Purple Haze
• Challenge #19 - Anything Goes at World Wide Open Design Team Challenge - Second Entry

Whatever you're doing for the rest of the day, have fun and stay safe!

Hugs, Helen x

A Jar of Love

Hello again friends!

This week seems a bit like "blog post fest", as my two DT's coincide with having new challenges launching!

This time, I'm sharing the new challenge at Incy Wincy Designs and this time we'd like to see your creations that say Get Well or With Sympathy. 

We're being sponsored this time by the lovely Tammy from A Day for Daisies, who is offering the random winner of this challenge a $12 Gift Certificate to the store. And even if you're not the lucky winner of this challenge do drop by the store as Tammy sometimes has some freebies on offer .... ;o) ! And there's always plenty of inspiration from the ADFD Design Team at A Day for Daisies Blog.

Tammy has also kind been enough to give each member of our DT their choice of image to showcase for this challenge, so here's my With Sympathy card, featuring an image from A Day for Daisies:

I don't know about you, but I always find sympathy cards the hardest to create and they take me a really long time. Maybe it's because I'm trying too hard to make something that's right for the occasion. I've kept this one really uncluttered and I shall keep it stashed safely so that the next time I need a sympathy card, I'll be able to send it straight away instead of being a day or two late whilst I create!

My card recipe is as follows:

• Card base - is Centura Pearl Snow White Silver which I've cut, scored and folded to make a 6 inch square card base. I've then embossed directly onto this using my Embossalicious Geometric Motif embossing folder, sadly no longer available from Crafter's Companion.
  
• Image - is Jar of Wild Poppies by Tammy at A Day for Daisies which I have brought to life using my Spectrum Noir Pens in the listed shades together with a tutorial from the Elements of Nature colouring class from Kit and Clowder before die cutting it with my largest Sizzix Framelits Scalloped Square Die.
• Poppies - CR6, CR11, DR5, DR7
• Stems - DG2, DG3, DG4
• Jar - IG1, IG3, IG5, CR11
• Sentiment - comes from a set by Kris at Imagine That Digi Stamp called Thoughts and Prayers Sentiments which I was lucky enough to win from their blog earlier this year. I've cut the sentiment into a fishtail banner, and then very lightly run my CR11 Spectrum Noir Pen around the edges of the banner for definition.

I hope I've inspired you to have a go at making either a Get Well or With Sympathy project. If you're in need of further inspiration, then do head over to Incy Wincy Designs and feast your eyes on the projects which have been made by my fabbie teamies. Then don't forget to come back and share your creations with us. This challenge ends on Saturday 3rd September 2016 and we'll be back on Monday 5th September 2016 with our next challenge.

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

• Challenge #44 - Mason Jars at Scribbles Designs
• Hip to be Square Card Challenge at Cards in Envy
• Challenge #50 - Keep it Simple at Paper Creator's Crafts
• L is for Love at Alphabet Challenge
• Challenge #327 - Embossing (Heat or Dry) at My Time to Craft
• Week 33 - Anything Goes at Digi Choosday

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

Hugs, Helen x

Wedding Belle

Good evening crafty friends and I do hope that you haven't fallen off your chair with a second post from me in 2 days!

Whilst going through my computer files, I realised that I made this card a number of months ago but hadn't posted it. Never mind about my PHD in card making (projects half done), I think I definitely deserve a  FTBP (forgotten to blog projects!) ;o)!!!!!!! I was reminded of this card as a number of challenges have cropped up this week with wedding themes, so I thought it high time this card made an appearance!

This card was made to order, as one of my brothers had asked me to make a wedding card. He had been invited to an evening reception and knew that my cards would surpass anything he could purchase, and could I possibly do it in cream and purple as those were the colours of the invitation?

Well, how could I resist that challenge? So here's what I made for him:

My card recipe is as follows:

• Card base - is Ivory Centura Pearl which I've cut, scored and folded to make a 6" square card base. 
• Embossed layer - is another piece of Ivory Centura Pearl which I've embossed using my Embossalicious "Butterfly Love" embossing folder from the Sugar and Spice Range (sadly no longer available, but there are some other pretty folders still available if you click the link) and I've matted and layered this onto a piece of purple Core'dinations cardstock.
  
• Image - was a freebie download from Issue 86 Papercraft Inspirations Magazine ... another one that appears to sadly be no longer available :( I've brought this tender moment to life using my Original Spectrum Noir Pencils in the listed colours before die cutting it using a Sizzix Ovals Framelits die
• Bride's Hair - 015, 020, small gems from stash for a tiara
• Dress - 082
• Groom's Hair - 091, 095
• Suit - 120
• Skin - 004
• Flowers - 082, small gems from stash
• Sentiment - was part of the Issue 86 Papercraft Inspirations Magazine download. I recoloured this to purple in my word processing package before printing, and then used a Sizzix Fancy Labels Framelits die as a frame and coloured inside it using my Original Spectrum Noir Pencil in shade 082 which I burnished away from the edge. I drew round the outside of the die to get my label shape, which I then hand cut.

I was pretty chuffed with the way this card turned out, and I know that my brother was very pleased with it too!

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

• Challenge #197 - Here comes the Bride at Eureka Stamps
• Purple Team June Challenge - Wedding at Eclectic Ellapu
• Challenge #171 - Love and Romance at A Gem of a Challenge
• June/July Challenge - Wedding Card at I'm a Crafter's Companion Facebook Group

Hope you have a lovely evening - maybe I'll get to writing up some more FTBP posts, or finish some PHDs!

Hugs, Helen x

Let there be Light!

Hello there crafty friends!

Hope you're all well today. I finally seem to be getting rid of this stinking cold, but am still coughing and spluttering when I laugh. So what did PapaMia choose to watch last night, but an episode of It'll be Alright on the Night!!!!! Love 'im :oD !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's new challenge time at Incy Wincy Designs and this time we'd like you to Alter Something. Grab a box, tin, anything you can alter (but no cards this time please!), alter it and show us the results! We're also introducing Maria Giselle who is the newest member of our DT - please head over to her blog to say "Hi"!

As usual, we'll be rewarding two lucky crafters for their hard work. 

Our first sponsor is Lizzy from Oddball Art and our second sponsor is Jodie from Bugaboo Stamps. Both ladies are very kindly offering our 2 lucky prize winners a pack of digital images from their respective stores!

They have also kindly given the DT some images to play with and, today, I'm showcasing an image from Bugaboo Stamps and an empty mustard jar!

There seem to be quite a few "glasses" around in some of the shops around us that are made from jars, and Mason or Kilner jars are enjoying a huge revival now too, so I thought I would have a play and see what I could do with a jar from our recycling "bottles box" and I've made a tealight holder! You could even use a summery design, fix some wire around the neck of the jar and hang it from a tree or hook to use on summer evenings.... Or how pretty these would look in wedding colours on tables ... Ooops - looks like Mr Mojo is running away with ideas again ;o) !!!!!

My project recipe is as follows:

• Jar - empty (!), clean and dry with the label removed. To do this try putting the jar in your sink and covering it with warm water. Leave it for a few hours and hopefully the label will float off. If the label is reluctant to part company from the glass, you may need to pull the label off and then scrub any glue/paper remnants from the surface of the jar.
• Image - is Christmas Words - Noel by Jodie at Bugaboo Stamps. I carefully measured the size of my jar, and then resized the image in my word processing package to suit. I printed my image onto a piece of white tissue paper which I had stuck onto a piece of card (carrier) with low tack tape. My tissue paper has a glossy side and a matt side - I printed onto the matt side and used the Draft Setting on my inkjet printer. I coloured the image using my Spectrum Noir Pens in TB3, TB4, and TB8, although in hindsight the colours haven't come out strongly. I then die cut both the tissue paper and carrier card using my second largest Sizzix Framelits Ovals die. I then drew and cut a straight line under the image to flatten to die cut and to make it easier to get the image onto the jar.
• Papers - are one of the co-ordinating papers from the (sadly no longer available) Nordic Christmas CD-Rom by Crafter's Companion. I printed these out onto another piece of tissue paper and then tore these into roughly 2cm squares.
  

I used regular PVA Glue and a paintbrush to put a layer of glue onto my jar and I then carefully smoothed my "Noel" die cut over the glue. Once it was in place, I then smeared another layer of glue over the top to seal it (a bit like decopatch-ing really!). I think I might have used a bit too much glue as the colours on the image smeared, so I went over them again once the glue was dry. I affixed the squares of Design Paper in exactly the same way, making sure they overlapped.

Once all the glue had dried, I embellished the design by glueing some silver glitter to the top of the letter "L" and also added a small Gem to the centre of the snowflake on the letter "O". Some fine silver cord wound around the neck of the jar and tied in a bow completes the project.

I hope I have inspired you to have a root around your recycling box and Alter Something but if you're short on ideas, why not pop over to Incy Wincy Designs and have a peek at the fabulous creations by my talented teamies. Then come back and link up your altered items to be in with a chance of winning one of our prizes or being a DT Top Pick! We'll be back with our next challenge on Monday 20th June 2016.

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

• Snowflakes Challenge at Winter Wonderland
• June Challenge - Anything Goes at Craftyhazelnuts Christmas Challenge Extra
• Challenge 119 - Altered at Card and Scrap
• June Challenge - Anything Goes at Altered Eclectics
• Challenge #165 - Monochrome at Crafty Cardmakers
• Challenge 64 - Upcycling at Quick Quotes
• Challenge #40 - Bingo at Get Creative Challenges - I am claiming the top left to bottom right diagonal of Glitter, Printed Paper, Blue
• Week 21, U is for Utilise at The Pencil Case

That's it from me for today - I hope you manage to enjoy some sunshine and warm weather before the forecast thunder storms strike! 

Take care,

Hugs, Helen x