Mmmmmm ... Chocolate and Cream

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

Hello friends,

It's half term here at Casa Mia ... whoo hoo!!!! We've got a week of not-a-lot planned, well I'm hoping to get in a fair bit of crafting but we'll see what the minor folk at Casa Mia have planned for me :o) Hope you're all staying safe in the wind and rain. I'd also like to welcome my newest follower - thanks for joining the rest of us on our journey through my crafting.

It's new challenge time at Lexi's Creations and this one may challenge Mr Mojo as it's Monochrome. It doesn't have to be just black and white though; you can choose any colour scheme you like, as long as you only use shades of that colour.

Our wonderful sponsors for this challenge are the fabby team over at Joanna Sheen who are offering our lucky winner a £10 Gift Voucher to their on-line store. And with postage and packing free if you spend over £9 everyone's a winner if you buy in this Aladdin's cave! This is the last time that Joanna and her team will be sponsoring us for a while :o( - thanks for all your support ladies!


The lovely Lexi has once again let the DT loose in Fairy Dust Crafts (thanks Lexi!) and by the way, there's a sale on there so do go and have a look! Here is my card for you featuring one of Lexi's sweet images:

My card recipe is as follows:

• Card Base - is Centura Pearl Ivory which I have cut, scored and folded to make a 15cm square card
• Design Papers - are from a collection called Chocolate Chip and Cream Delight by Debbie at The
  
  Crafty Pad Designs (available from Card Making Downloads). I have used 2 different papers from the set which I sized in my word processing programme and then put a chocolate brown border around them to give a faux mat.
• Image - is called Hot Chocolate Scruffles and he comes from the pen of Lexi at Fairy Dust Crafts. This cute, and messy!, dog was die cut using the largest Framelits Fancy Labels die, before being brought to life using my Spectrum Noir Pens (thank goodness my collection was completed with the arrival of my Darks pack last week!) in the following colours:
• Fur - EB3, EB4, EB5
• Marshmallows - EB1, EB2
• Cream - EB1, Colourless Blender
• Cup & Saucer - EB6 which I dotted to make a pattern, EB7, EB8
• Sentiment - is by Paulette at Create with TLC and this was a blog freebie in November 2011. I took this into my word processing package and put the same chocolate coloured border around it to make a faux mat
• Ribbon - a recent "grab bag" purchase (15 different ribbons, each 3 metres in length for £5) from Hobbycraft which I can't find, unfortunately, on their website :o(
• Gems - from my stash

If you're short of inspiration on this challenge, do come over to Lexi's Creations and see the other wonderful creations by my teamies, our regular Guest Designer Silvi and this week's special Guest Designer Janny. Don't forget to come back and show us your wonderful Monochromatic creations - this challenge will end on Saturday 1st March 2014.


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

• C is for Chocolate Creams at ABC Christmas Challenge I've gone for a cream & chocolate colour scheme AND a creamy hot chocolate image!!!!
• Challenge #194 - Marie's Sketch at Sunday Sketch and Stamp
• Challenge #25 - Dies and/or Punches at Feeling Crafty Challenge
• DPDC 43 - Any Digi Goes at Doodle Pantry

Hope you have a great week!
Hugs, Helen x

Winter Wishes

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

Hello again friends!

It's new challenge time at Lexi's Creations and this one will ease you into the New Year gently as it is Anything Goes! Our sponsor this fortnight is Priyanka from My Heart Pieces and our lucky winner for this challenge will get to choose some of Priyanka's sweet digis!

The lovely Lexi has opened the 'doors' to Fairy Dust Crafts and allowed us in (thanks Lexi!), and here is my card for you featuring one of Lexi's gorgeous images:

My card recipe is as follows:

• Card Base - is Centura Pearl Snow White with hint of Silver which I have cut, scored and folded to make a 15cm square card
• Design Papers - are from a kit called All Is Calm by Summer at Summertime Designs. My base layer
  
  is called Branches and Berries Paper, the next layer is called Blue Snowflake Paper and the top layer is Blue Brown Checkered Paper. I sized the papers using my word processing programme so that I was able to put a dark brown border around them to make a faux mat. Then I cut each layer out and mounted them onto each other. To add an extra bit of sparkle I highlighted all the visible red berries to make them a bit glossy and frosty by popping a blob of glue onto each one and then giving them a liberal dusting of White Glitter! You can just catch the glittery bits in the photo, and I think it makes the paper look like shop bought glittered papers.
• Image - is called Kiri and she comes from the pen of Lexi at Fairy Dust Crafts. This gorgeously glamourous girl was die cut using my second largest Framelits Fancy Labels die, before being brought to life using my Spectrum Noir Pens and Cra-T Chalks in the following colours before I gave all the "fur trims" a liberal coating of White Glitter:
• Skin - FS2, FS3, TB2, PP5
• Hair - GB8, GB10
• Parka - TB2, TB3, TN7
• Jeans - TB5, TB6
• Boots - TN7, TN8
• Background - Craf-T Chalk in Light Blue which I dotted with a cotton bud/q-tip
• Sentiment - is by Paulette at Create with TLC and this was a blog freebie in November 2013. I took this into my word processing package and recoloured it blue so it tied in with the rest of my card
• Gems - from my stash

I hope you'll come over to Lexi's Creations and see the other wonderful creations by my teamies, our regular Guest Silvi and our Special Guest Designer Caroline. Don't forget to come back and show us your wonderful creations - remember it's Anything Goes! This challenge will end on Saturday 18th January 2014.

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

• Challenge #76 - Sketch at Little Miss Muffet Challenge - I've added a row of gems just to give my design a bit more sparkle!:o)
• Challenge #18 - All that Glitters at Creative Knockouts
• Challenge 18 - Your Favourite Colour and Why at As You Like It Challenge - this cool blue colour is perfect for Winter Birthdays as it alludes to snowy and frosty weather ... quite unlike the wet and windy we're experiencing in the UK at the moment!
• Challenge #97 - Blue with Bling (Winter) at Love to Create Challenge
• Make It Girly at Whoopsi Daisy
• Challenge #69 - Layer Up! at Delicious Doodles

Whatever you're doing this week, have fun - if you're in the UK or in the weather affected parts of the US and Canada, please stay safe.

Catch you soon!

Hugs, Helen x

Thank you for being my Friend!

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

Hello again friends and welcome to my second post of the day - this time it's for a new challenge at Lexi's Creations. I know our American friends are celebrating Thanksgiving, so Susan has set our challenge as being Thanks or Thanksgiving. If you don't celebrate Thanksgiving, you can make a card to say "Thanks" instead!

This week's sponsor is Priyanka from My Heart Pieces who is offering a prize of 3 digis to our lucky winner and the lovely Lexi from Fairy Dust Crafts has also let the DT loose in her store again!

Here is my Thank You card featuring one of Priyanka's images and one of Lexi's sentiments:

My card recipe is as follows:

• Base Card - made from Centura Pearl in Ivory, which I cut scored and folded to make a 15cm square card
• Design Papers - are from a kit called Thanks for Giving by Summer at Summertime Designs. The bottom layer is called Cranberry Dots Paper, the next layer is called Jeweled Floral Paper and the top layer is called Torn Green Paper. I have digitally layered these papers, adding a chestnut brown border to them as a faux mat.
  
• Image - this carefree cutie is called Cute Freebie and she comes from the pen of Priyanka at My Heart Pieces - at the time of writing this post (Sunday night) this freebie was still available... just click the link, and please remember to let Priyanka know you came from my blog. The swinging girl was cut out using the second largest Framelits Flowers Die before being brought to life using my Spectrum Noir Pens and Craf-T Chalks in the following colours:
• Girl - GB8, GB10, FS2, FS3, GB2, GB4, GB5, TH7, TN8
• Branch, Flowers, Foliage - OR1, OR2, OR3, DG2, DG4, TN8
• Swing - BGR3, GB4, GB5
• Outline - GG1
• Background - Chalks in Burnt Sienna and Dark Green
• Sentiment -  comes from the pen of Lexi at Fairy Dust Crafts and is a very thoughtful way to say "Thank You" to a friend. I also added a faux mat of a chestnut brown to this before cutting it out and fixing it to my card.

I hope you'll come over to Lexi's Creations and say Thanks or celebrate Thanksgiving with us and this week's Guest Designer Silvi - this challenge ends on Saturday 23/11/2013.

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

• PTT#145 - Thanksgiving / Thank You Notes at Party Time Tuesdays
• Challenge #55 - Autumn Splendor at Nutcrafters
• Midweek Papercraft Party 12 - Thank You or Thanksgiving at Handmade Harbour
• Stella Says Sketch Challenge #145 at Catch The Bug
• Challenge #36 - Friends at The Crafter's Cafe Challenge
• Challenge #93 - Feminine at Aud Sentiments
• CMM76 Thankful Tidings at Card Makin' Mamas

That's it from me today! Enjoy your Monday, and we'll catch up soon.

Hugs, Helen x

Attishoooo

Good morning friends and welcome to Monday. By the time this post goes live, I'll have been up for about 6 hours and will maybe have gone for an "early bird" swim too! The reason behind this? At the time of posting, eldest should be airbourne on her way west ... to New York City on a Geography Field Trip with school. We had to be at school at 4.45am - groans all round! Let's just hope that her flight doesn't get delayed.

Enough of the domestic notices! It's new challenge time at Lexi's Creations and this one is a great excuse to top up your "card boxes" as we'd like to see your creations for a Birthday Celebration.

Our sponsor for this challenge is our very own Lexi from Fairy Dust Crafts who will be letting our lucky winner choose 5 digital images from her store. Fairy Dust Crafts  is "Your one stop shop for Lexi's Digi images and a growing choice of delicious crafting goodies. Here you can find all Lexi's Creations digital images...also available as clear rubber stamps plus other crafting goodies in store now!"

As usual, Lexi has let us all loose in the store again (thanks Lexi) and here is my project featuring one of her cute images, using the current sketch at Bearly Mine Designs:

I'm sorry that this is a scan of my card - forgot to take a photo whilst it was daylight! Also, I've haven't put a sentiment on this card yet as I couldn't find one that said "One today" that I liked ... I shall have to keep looking on that front!

Anyway, my card recipe is follows:

• Base Card - made from Centura Pearl in Snow White, which I cut scored and folded to make a 15cm square card
• Design Papers - are from a kit called Patio Picnic by Summer at Summertime Designs
• Image - this very surprised youngster is called Ellie Blowing Bubbles and she comes from the pen of Lexi at Fairy Dust Crafts. Ellie was cut out using the second largest Framelits Scallop Squares Die before being brought to life using my Spectrum Noir Pens (I think some of my pens may be having a protest about not being used for a while as they don't seem to be blending very well!) in the following colours:
• Ellie - CG1, CG2, CG3, PP5, PP6
• Bow - DR1, DR2
• Bubbles - EB1
• Outline - CG1
• Sentiment -  none yet, but it will be for a First Birthday which my twin nieces will be celebrating in December
• Ribbon - white organdie with a Satin Trim from my stash

I hope you'll come over to Lexi's Creations and add to your stash of Birthday Celebration cards along with us and this week's Guest Designers Kate and Silvi - this challenge ends on Saturday 9/11/2013.

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

• Challenge #109 - Monthly Sketch Challenge at Bearly Mine Challenges
• Challenge #38 - Child's Birthday at Little Claire's Challenge

Hope you have a great week.

Hugs, Helen x

PS: I'll bring more photo's later today, I hope!

It's all in the Words

Hello again friends!

It's new challenge time at Lexi's Creations and this fortnight our challenge is for you to Focus on the Sentiment. No images this week and the sentiment has to be the main focus of your creation which can be anything card, gift, ATC, scrapbook layout etc. 

Our sponsor for this challenge is Priyanka from My Heart Pieces who is offering a prize of 3 digis to our lucky winner - here's a little about her: 

Hi I am Priyanka from India, I am a student here. I want to welcome you in my wonder land My Heart Pieces. This art world is for me a wonder land, because what I can imagine I can give shape only here. Like fairy, vampire is not happen in real life. I greatly appreciate it that you give your valuable time to see my digis. I always try to keep an extra touch on my every images so they can make a place in your heart and can directly touch their heart who receive your hand made gifts. So come and enjoy. My store have an Challenge Blog and freebies every Monday.  

The lovely Lexi from  Fairy Dust Crafts has once again let us loose in her on-line store where there is a real treasure trove of goodies, not just digi-images! Here is my card this week featuring some of Lexi's work:

I've made this card for a work colleague who (with her husband) will shortly come to the end of the very long process of adopting a 5 year old girl. I wanted to give them a card that was a bit of a grown-up way of celebrating the expansion into a family!

My card recipe is as follows:

• Base Card - made from Centura Pearl in Snow White which I cut and scored to make a 10.5cm spring card. Haven't made one of these for ages and I'd forgotten how good they look!
• Design Paper - is by Summer at Summertime Designs and is from the Sweet Springtime kit. This gorgeous paper is called "Wild Flowers" and I love the varying shades of pink.
  
• Sentiment - is by Lexi at Fairy Dust Crafts and is called Sugar 'n' Spice. I printed this into an oval shape which I cut out, and then ink distressed the edge of the oval using a Papermania Capsule Collection Pigment Ink Pad in Red Hot. I then coated this with Holographic Embossing Powder before heating it to give the whole thing a bit of sparkle - unfortunately the ink didn't take up the embossing powder very well!
• Butterfly - is also by Lexi at Fairy Dust Crafts and this image is called DIY Butterfly. Perfect for this challenge as I paper pieced the image using the "Dark Pink Blossoms" paper from the Summertime Designs kit Sweet Springtime. I then dabbed my Versamark Ink Pad over the wings and liberally sprinkled them with Holographic Embossing Powder before heating it. Just check out the sparkle!!!!!!
  
• Pearls - are from my stash and coloured using my Spectrum Noir Pen in shade PP6
• Ribbon - surfaced from my craft things put aside for Guides but not used. It was a bumper bag of ribbon and cord offcuts priced 99p (!) I think from Hobbycraft.

I do hope you'll come over to Lexi's Creations during the next 2 weeks and see what my talented team-mates have made which Focus on the Sentiment. Don't forget to  come back and share your creations with us! You've got until Saturday 8th June to link your projects up.

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

• Challenge #215 - Bingo! at Creative Inspirations I'm claiming the top line of Pink, Pearls and Glitter
• Challenge #217 - Flutterby Butterfly at Dutch Dare Challenge
• Challenge #46 - Anything Goes with Ribbon at Crafty Ribbons

Hope you have a great day!

Hugs, Helen x

A Joke for you

Good morning friends and welcome to another week! I hope this post finds you well.

This morning sees the start of a new challenge at  Lexi's Creations. Susan is challenging our 'little grey cells' this week (well mine at least!) as our new challenge is Black and White, plus one colour. This means that your creation has to be predominantly Black and White with a "splash" of one other colour. The DT girls have got some fab inspiration for you this week and if you need a little more help check out the regular DT girls' projects at this post, as we did this challenge last year!




Our sponsor for this challenge is our very own Lexi from Fairy Dust Crafts who will be letting our lucky winner choose 5 digital images from her store. Fairy Dust Crafts  is "Your one stop shop for Lexi's Digi images and a growing choice of delicious crafting goodies. Here you can find all Lexi's Creations digital images...also available as clear rubber stamps plus other crafting goodies in store now!"


As usual, Lexi has let us all loose in the store again (thanks Lexi) and here is my project featuring one of her cute images:

My bookmark recipe is as follows:

• Base Card - is Centura Pearl in Black, which I cut to 18cm x 6cm
• Design Paper - is Paper 1 and it's from a mini scrapping kit called Only You by Studio Basic Designs at Sweete Shoppe Designs. I thought this paper was quite apt as the background is newsprint! I imported the paper into the word processing programme on my computer, superimposed a text box on to it and then typed the joke "What's Black and White and Red all over?" I popped another text box at the bottom and made the writing upside down and small with the answer!
  
• Image - This cute ladybird is called Baby Ladybug and it is by Lexi from Fairy Dust Crafts. I used my Spectrum Noir Pens in CR11 and True Black, plus my Silver Gel Pen to bring this little bug to life, before fussy cutting it .... don't look too closely as I think I need a better pair of scissors! 

I hope you'll come over to Lexi's Creations during the next 2 weeks and see what my talented team-mates and this week's Guest Designer Jackie have made using Black and White, plus one colour. Don't forget to  come back and share your creations with us! You've got until Saturday 25th May 2013 to link your projects up.

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

• Challenge #18 - Black & white plus One at Charisma Cardz
• Seeing Red at Ooh La La Creations

Hope you have a great week.

Hugs, Helen x

PS: nearly forgot to tell you the answer to the joke, if you don't already know it  .... it's a book (or newspaper) because it's black typeface on white paper and it's read by people!!!!!!!!!!!

Fluttering by

Phew .... has anyone else got or had the latest cold bug, the one with the fevers for several days and a lasting, hacking cough? I'm sorry to say that the house of "Mia" needs a sign put on the door as we've all got it in some form or another. I have been so unwell that my crafty efforts over the last week have just gone straight into the bin once photographed .... I haven't been happy with my creations at all!

Anyway, a day later than it should be, here are the details of this fortnight's challenge over at Lexi's Creations where Susan is asking us to use our Dies or Punches. Now this sort of challenge always throws me a problem, as I still don't own a die cutting machine, and I only have a couple of punches (mainly snowflakes!). 

Our sponsor for this challenge are the fabby team over at Joanna Sheen who are offering this week's lucky winner a £10 voucher to their online store - thank you! The lovely Lexi from Fairy Dust Crafts has, as usual, let the DT loose in her on-line store too so we can raid the digis (!) and here is my card for you:

My card recipe is as follows:

• Base Card - is Centura Pearl in Ivory, onto which I've embossed the largest rosette shape from the "nest" on the Ultimate Pro Embossing Board Springtime Sweets and Cupcake Treats. Having cut this die-like shape out, I then scored and folded the card to make a Rocker Card.
• Image - is by Lexi from Fairy Dust Crafts and is called DIY Butterfly. I printed out 2 butterflies in slightly different sizes (and I flipped one for good measure too!) onto plain white card and then printed the butterflies out again onto digital paper swatches in lavender and vanilla - these were scans I took from a paper collection called Emma's Garden which was a magazine freebie last month. I carefully cut out the wing shapes and paper pieced them onto the white card, before adding a bit of bling to the bodies. Having teased the wings upwards, I fixed each butterfly to my cardstock using wet glue to the underside of the bodies to give some dimension to the card.
• Sentiment - is by Debbie at The Crafty Pad

Do come on over to Lexi's Creations and see how my talented teamies and our Guest Designer Edith have used their Dies and Punches. Don't forget to come back and share your creations with us! You've got until Saturday 13th April 2013 to link your cards up.

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

• Challenge #175 - Lavender, Buttercream and Vanilla at The Play Date Cafe
• Recipe Challenge - Anything You Choose (Paper Piecing), Bling and Cardstock at Catch the Bug
• Challenge #148 - Shaped Cards at Sentimental Sundays
• Monthly Challenge No.16 - Paper Piecing at Forever Friends
• Challenge 47 - Your Favourite Style at LEJ Designs - very simple, less is more is my style!
• Challenge #230 - Shaped Card at Everybody Art Challenge

Have a great week, and if you have 'the lurgy' I hope you feel better soon!

Hugs, Helen x

Mother's Day Card

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



Hello again, crafty friends and welcome to "Who's the dimwit, Version Two"! Yes, that would be ummm, errrrrr (looking round room frantically) .... Me again!!!!! :o)

It's new challenge time at Lexi's Creations and this time Susan has set us the challenge of Mother's Day or a Special Female Birthday Card.  Obviously, Mothering Sunday (Mother's Day) in the UK has now passed, but you can show us the cards you made for your mother this year, as long as there's no backlinking, or you could make a card for a special female in your life.

Our sponsor for this fortnight's challenge is the lovely Lexi from Fairy Dust Crafts, who (as well as letting the DT loose in her store to choose images to showcase for this challenge) is offering our lucky winner 5 Digital Stamps from her store. Not only will you find the gorgeous digital images there, you'll also find rubber stamps and lots of other fabulous crafting goodies like Viva Decor, Promarkers, a variety of lace and ribbons, embellishments, flowers, charms etc. and all at fantastic prices ... now that's well worth a visit!

So, here is the card I made for my Mother in Law featuring one of Lexi's gorgeous images: 

My card recipe is as follows:

• Base Card - is Centura Pearl in Ivory, which I have cut, scored and folded to make a 15cm square card
• Design Papers - from the Paintbox Poppets Papercrafting Collection CD Rom this is a Card Companion Set meaning there are matching papers, sentiments and embellishments just ready to be printed! I love the soft colours of this set.
• Image - this gorgeous bouquet of flowers is called Roses and is by Lexi at Fairy Dust Crafts. I have brought them to life using my Spectrum Noir Pens in the following colours:
• Roses - PP4, PP5
• Seedheads - Gold Gel Pen
• Foliage - DG2, DG3
• Wrap - FS2, FS3
• Ribbon - PP4, PP5
• Outline - GG1
• Sentiment - is by one I created within the Paintbox Poppets Papercrafting Collection CD Rom Card Companion using the inbuilt Verse Writer. This natty part of the program means that you can tailor make a sentiment for the recipient, before printing out the set. And as my MiL is a "church lady" and believes that Mother's Day should be Mothering Sunday (to give it the correct title from the church calendar), I was able to oblige!
• Buttons - are faux button embellishments from the same Card Companion set. I cut the "buttons" out, and then stuck 2 more layers of card underneath each one to make them stand out from the card a bit more.

Head on over to Lexi's Creations and see how my talented teamies and our Guest Designer Viv are celebrating Mother's Day or Special Female Birthday. Don't forget to come back and share your creations with us! You've got until Saturday 30th March 2013 to link your cards up.

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

• Mum's The Word at Joanna Sheen
• Challenge 52 - Mother's Day at Dream Valley Challenges

Hope you all have a fab week!

Hugs, Helen x

Happy Easter!

I'm back with another very swift post, this time for Lexi's Creations where our current challenge is Easter. 

This week's sponsor is Priyanka from My Heart Pieces who is offering a prize of 3 digis to our lucky winner and the lovely Lexi from  Fairy Dust Crafts has kindly allowed the DT their choice of image from her store.

Here is my card, showcasing the gorgeous "Easter Egg Lillie":

Once again, I'll return and post my card recipe. Do come and join in the fun at Lexi's Creations and get a card or two made in time for Easter! This challenge ends on Saturday 16th March.

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

• Challenge #22 - Easter at Broken Box Stock

Hugs, Helen x

Boot-iful!

This is my second post for the day - please scroll down to see my first post.

Hello again friends - normal service is resumed with two blog posts in one day! Whoopeeeeeeeee!

Today sees the launch of our latest challenge at Lexi's Creations and this time Susan has set us the challenge of Monochromatic creations. 

Our wonderful sponsor for this challenge is our very own Lexi from  Fairy Dust Crafts who is giving this weeks winner the great prize of 5 digis from her online store. She's also kindly let the DT loose in the store, so here is my monochromatic creation.

My card recipe is as follows:

• Base Card - made from Centura Pearl in Snow White, which I have cut, scored and folded to make a 15cm square card.
• Design Papers - are from a set by Summer at Summertime Designs called "Dryer Lint at Tiffanys".  I have digitally put the layout together with a faux mat (a border), so there is little bulk to my card - it also cuts down on the amount of paper and ink I'm getting through too! The base layer is called Medium Gray Stripes, the mid layer is called Light Gray Flourish and the top layer is called Dark Gray Dot.

• Image - is by Lexi at Fairy Dust Crafts  and is called  Vintage Boots. I brought them to life using my Spectrum Noir Pens in  the following colours: 
• Boots - True Black, IG8, IG6, and IG4
• Pearl Buttons - EB1
• Outline - IG1
• Background - Craf-T chalk in Grey and Black. The jury in the house of Mia is still out on whether the background suits the image ... but it's too late to change it now!
• Sentiment - is of course by Paulette at Create with TLC. It's called Happy Birthday Flag and I think it was a freebie on her blog in August last year. This has to be one of my favourite and most used sentiments as it's perfect for this style of project!
• Pearls  - from my stash

We're delighted to be welcoming our newest DT member Rachel to the team, and life has settled down for Tracey Mo who is returning to join us - make sure you head over to them to give them a warm welcome! Then come over and join in the fun at Lexi's Creations with us, and check out the Monochromatic creations from the other DT girls and our talented Guest Designer Julie. This challenge is running until Saturday 2nd March 2013 so there's plenty of time for you to link up your projects.

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

• Challenge #20 - Happy Birthday at Broken Box Stock - 2nd Entry
• It's Birthday Time! at Card Makin' Mamas - 2nd Entry
• Black and White at Joanna Sheen

I hope you have a great week - it's half term here and it's a gorgeous sunny day, so I'm hoping to get out and about a bit this week. I'm also hoping that I'll get enough peace to get some crafting in too! :o) Whatever you're doing, have fun!

Hugs, Helen x

Feathers, Flowers and a Diamond!

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

Hello again friends!

It's time for a new challenge at Lexi's Creations again. Wow, you sure loved the Anything Goes challenge ... I was quite worn out heading round your blogs looking at your creations, and I'm sure the other DT girls felt the same! This fortnight, Susan has set us the theme of Fancy Folds ... no one-fold cards please, but cards with multiple folds.

Our wonderful sponsor this time is Priyanka from My Heart Pieces. The prize that is up for grabs this week is 3 of Priyanka's lovely digital images. Pop over to her blog to check out her cute digis.

 I decided to challenge myself (again!) and use a card fold that I've not tried before, a Diamond Fold Card. There is a great tutorial here on this fold (including a video) at Splitcoast Stampers but the measurements are all in inches and a standard sheet of A4 of paper or card isn't quite big enough to get a strip that is 12" long! So, with apologies to Splitcoast Stampers, here is my tutorial (the first one I've ever done, so I hope it's OK!) using metric measurements and making this card from one A4 sheet of card:

Materials:

1 A4 sheet of paper or card - I used 120gsm card in cream. You could print a digital paper onto your card first to save you having to decorate your card when it's complete. I've left mine blank

Cutting and scoring tools - I have used my Clevercut Paper Trimmer

Bone Folder

Ruler

How to cut, score and fold:

 Cut the paper card so it measures 27cm x 9cm

 Measuring along the long edge (27cm) score at 4.5cm and again at 22.5cm. Fold along these score lines both ways, so folding the flaps to both the front and back of your card.

 On the reverse of your card (especially important if you're using a DP) mark the long edge (27cm) at 13.5cm

Using a ruler (or like me, the straight edge on my Clevercut) line up the 2 marks at the midpoint on the card. Now, take one side of your card and fold it along the straight edge so that top of the strip of card is now folded over and running along the ruler. Move your ruler to the other side of the midpoint marks, and do the same with the other side of your card.

Turn the strip round and repeat the last stage, and you end up with 2 diagonal lines each side of the midpoint going out to the flap and intersecting across the card.

 Now the clever part, folding the card!

I found the easiest way to do it was to pinch the top and bottom triangles with my left hand, whilst teasing the left hand triangle and left hand side of the diamond in to make a sharp point - photo below. The mechanics of this will fold the top and bottom triangles in half.

And then unfold the flap ... one side done!

Repeat the folding process on the other side, and unfold the flap

Turn the card round so the flap are at each side, let the spring in the fold open out naturally and the card will sit nicely on the bottom point of the diamond and the two side flaps. It's now ready to decorate and embellish as you choose - the side flaps measure 4.5cm x 9cm and the diamond is 9cm high by 9cm wide.

And here is my finished project using the card base photographed above using a gorgeous digi by Lexi at Fairy Dust Crafts (thanks Lexi!):

 My card recipe is as follows:

• Base Card - made from cream card, which I cut, scored and folded (using my Clevercut) as above to make a Diamond Fold Card
• Design Papers - are called Green Paper and Yellow Floral Paper. They are both from a kit by Summer at Summertime Designs called Moments.
• Image - is by Lexi at Fairy Dust Crafts  and this little cutie is called Lillie with Tulips. I brought this very happy feathered friend to life using my Spectrum Noir Pens in the following colours:
  

  • Beak & Feet - OR1
  • Feathers - GB3, GB4
  • Bow - DR3
  • Petals - GB1, GB3
  • Stamens - DR3
  • Stalks, Leaves & Grass - DG2, DG4
• Outline - TB1
• Clouds - Chalk in Light
• Sentiment - is by Paulette from Create with TLC, and is simply called "Thank you, Thank you". This was a freebie on her blog in May 2012. I have used my Versamark Pen and Holographic Embossing Powder to highlight the script on the sentiment. Click on the photo to supersize it and check out sparkle!
  
  

  
  

  
  Do come over and join in the fun at Lexi's Creations with us, and check out what Fancy Folds the other DT girls and our talented Guest Designer Jen Zeeb have made. And then come back and link up your creations. This challenge ends on Saturday 2nd February 2013.

I would like to enter the following challenges:

• Challenge 252 - Diamonds are Forever at Cute Card Thursday - my diamond is the shape of my card
• Challenge AC154 - Colour Challenge (Artichoke, Pineapple, Pumpkin) at Annabelle Stamps - I'm hoping that the splash of red and blue sky is OK
• Challenge 63 - Emboss It at Pink Gem Challenges
• Thank You Challenge at Pixie Dust Studios
• Bingo at Aud Sentiments - I claim the upwards diagonal line of Flowers (as I've got flowers on both my DP and image), Embossing and "You" 
• Challenge 25 - More than One Fold at Artistic Inspirations

Don't forget to let me know what you thought of my first attempt at a tutorial! Hope you have a great week!
Hugs, Helen x