Warm & Snug

Hello there my crafty friends! 

Another post from me and so far I'm keeping up with my New Year Goal of making at least one card each week. This week I have exceeded my goal as there are a plethora of birthdays this month, both family and work. I made this card for my Sis-in-Law whose birthday was earlier this week, so I reckon I'm OK in posting it now!

My card recipe is as follows:

• Card base -  is a pre-made A5 white card blank 
• Design Paper - is from the Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady Twin CD-Rom which I treated myself to in October, but have only just "cracked" the cellophane! :o) I love these bare trees, and it's just right for a winter birthday! I imported the paper into my word processing programme, resized it to suit the card, and  put a brown border around the paper as a faux mat.
• Image - This beautiful lady out for a stroll is called Winter Emily (Emily Winter Wonderland) and she comes from the art desk of Heather at Lacy Sunshine. I die cut an oval using the 3rd smallest oval in my Sizzix Framelits Ovals die set before bringing brought Emily to life using my Spectrum Noir Pens in the following colours:
• Skin - FS2, FS3, BGR3, 
• Hair - TN2, TN3, TN5, TN7, TN9
• Cape, Muffler & Umbrella - BGR1, BGR2, BGR3, BGR4, BGR5, White Glitter, Silver Gel Pen
• Dress - EB1, EB2, EB3
• Snow & Outline - IG1, White Glitter
• Sentiment - is by Paulette at Create with TLC and I have recoloured the sentiment in my word processing programme so it fits with my blue and brown themed card. 
• Gemstones - on the top right hand corner of the card and on Emily's muffler, but I've just realised they're not showing terribly well in the photo .... ooops!

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

• Bling it up at Jellypark Challenges
• Winter Walks at CD Sunday Challenge
• Winter Birthday at The Stamping Boutique
• Challenge #49 - Sparkly and New at Lacy Sunshine Challenge  - the glitter and gems are sparkly and the CD-Rom I used is new
• Challenge #121 - Baby It's Cold Outside at QKR Stampede Challenge
• Tic Tac Toe at Polkadoodles Challenge -  I'm claiming the top horizontal line of  Sentiment, Image, Die Cut

Hope you have a great weekend!

Hugs, Helen x

A Snowy Reindeer

Good morning friends and I hope this post finds you well. We've had some dry and sunny weather this weekend (makes a change from the wind and rain!) ... hope some sunshine came your way.

It's new challenge time at Incy Wincy Designs this morning, and this one might require you to use the 'little grey cells'. We want you to Add Texture to your creations.

Our wonderful sponsors for this challenge are Jodie and the team at Bugaboo Digi Stamps who are offering this week's lucky prize winner a whopping 7, yes seven!, digital stamps. If you're not our lucky winner, don't worry as everyone's a winner with Freebie Fridays at Bugaboo. Jodie has also very kindly offered the DT their choice of image for this challenge, thank you Jodie!, so without further ado here is my card:

My card recipe is as follows:

• Base Card - is some black card I had in my stash which I cut, scored and folded to make a 10cm square card. This is my last sheet of this card :o( ... think I'll have to invest in some more!
• Background - is made from homemade texture paste and a stencil made out of a cereal packet (good old Blue Peter "makes" ... they set you up for most things!). The texture paste is made to a recipe in this month's Cardmaking and Papercraft magazine using PVA glue, talcum powder, Pearl White Acrylic Paint and a little water, which I mixed together with a coffee stirrer (now I know what that good reason was when it jumped into my handbag last time I was at  Coffee Shop!) in an old mustard jar with a lid. The stencil was made by using my small Snowflake Punch to make a random snowflake pattern in the card. I then used an old plastic club membership card to smear the texture paste across
  
  the stencil, so that the shape of the snowflake came out on my base card. I then sprinkled some White Glitter onto the snowflakes and then left it all to dry overnight.
• Image - is the utterly gorgeous Snowflake Reindeer Silhouette by Jodie at Bugaboo Digi Stamps. I have simply printed this onto white card, cut round  and mounted it onto my snowy, night sky  ... OK, so a little imagination may be needed here!
• Sentiment - is by Paulette at Create with TLC which was a goodie in the December 2011 Club. I know that the line "Dashing through the snow" relates to a horse-drawn sleigh, but I thought it highly appropriate for this image too, given the number of snowflakes on the Reindeer image and my background.

So, that's it for my card with texture - why don't you head over to Incy Wincy Designs and see how my teamies have Added Texture. Don't forget to come back and show us your projects with texture - this challenge will end on Sunday 19th January 2014.

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

• A is for Anything Christmas at ABC Christmas Challenge
• Challenge #1 - Use New Toys or New Technique at Open Minded Crafting Fun - new technique is using Texture Paste, which I had to make first! :o)
• Challenge #70 - Film or Song Title at Ruby's Rainbow - I've been inspired by Run, Run Rudolph by Chuck Berry ... yup, I'm still in Christmas mode! ;o)
• Monochrome at Winter Wonderland
• January Theme Challenge - Winter Wonderland at Catch the Bug Challenge
• Challenge 105 - Monochromatic at Fussy and Fancy Friday Challenge
• Challenge #194 - No Patterned Paper; Cardstock Only at Robyn's Fetish Challenge
• Challenge #61 - Show off your New Stuff at The Squirrel and The Fox - new technique of making and using Texture Paste!
• DTBS #211 - Creative Technique at Sassy Studio Designs - my creative technique is the snowflakes made from texture paste behind my image

Hope you have a good and crafty day!

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

In my "itsy bitsy little polka dot bikini"!

OK ... so it's not me in my itsy bitsy little polka dot bikini you understand. I'm sure there's probably a law against that! :oD!!!!!!!!!!!

Anyway, I hope you're all well today. 

It's new challenge time at Whoopsi Daisy and this week we're giving you the option of style either Fun in the Sun or Summer ... now that's a bit of wishful thinking as our spring/summer weather here in the UK appears to be around for a couple of days and then we get some more cool and dreary weather!

As usual, Linnie is offering our lucky prize winner one sheet of images from the Whoopsi Daisy Store, unless you've used a Whoopsi Daisy Image for your project in which case you can choose two sheets of images.




Summer fun is definitely enjoying the sunshine, preferably at the beach. So for this challenge, I've used one of Linnie's past freebie images which is just perfect for my idea of summer!!!!! And here's my card which, apart from the base card, is made up entirely of freebies!:

My card recipe is as follows:

• Base Card - is Centura Pearl in Ivory which I cut, scored and folded to make a 12cm square card.
• Design Papers - are from the July 2012 Cardmaking & Papercraft Magazine. How perfect are these beach hut and "swimmies" papers for a summer card?
  
• Image - this little one dipping her toes into the waves is by Linnie at Whoopsi Daisy and she was a freebie on Linnie's blog in March of this year. If you're not already following Linnie's blog then you really should as she sometimes offers her followers some lovely goodies! I have brought this cutie to life using my Spectrum Noir Pens and Craf-T Chalks in the following colours:
• Skin - FS4, FS5
• Lips - CR5
• Hair - GB8, GB10
• Hair Ribbons - CG3, CG4
• Bikini - CG3, CG4, EB1
• Sunglasses - OR3, FS6
• Outline - BT1
• Sky - Chalk in Light Blue
• Sand - Chalk in Tan
• Sea - Chalk in Turquoise with a sprinkling of White Glitter to get the effect of the sun glinting off the sea!
• Sentiments -  is perfect for this card, and is a freebie by my very generous blogging buddy Annette. If you head over there, please be sure to let her know that I sent you!

So there you have it ... my idea of Fun in the Sun! I do hope you'll come over to Whoopsi Daisy Challenge and have a look at the wonderful creations by the other Divas and come back to show us your Summer-y creations. Don't forget that if you're using a Whoopsi Daisy image then you don't have to follow this week's theme!!! This challenge closes on Sunday 23rd June 2013.

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

• Challenge #38 - Anything Goes With Chalk at Chalk-Ah-Lot Cafe
• June Monthly Challenge - Summer Fun at Stamp and Create
• PNDC #6 - Summer Lovin' at The Paper Nest Dolls
• ABC33 - Summer at 'ABC' Challenges
• Challenge #12 - Bright and Breezy at The Crafty Bloggers Network
• Challenge #176 - Summer at Kaboodle Doodles
• June Monthly Challenge - The Great Outdoors at Lady Anne's Challenges
• June Challenge - Anything Goes with an Optional Twist at Mema's Crafts - I've taken the twist of Summer/Vacation

Hope you have a great day!

Hugs, Helen x

A Sparkly Fairy

Good morning friends,

I'm really sorry - this post is coming out slightly later than it should be. Hubby and I saw the Human League last night, and it was only as we were driving over to Bournemouth that I remembered that I hadn't written my post up. The band were totally brilliant though, and by the end of the evening virtually everyone in the hall was on their feet bopping around ... my feet are rather sore this morning as I usually wear 'flats' and last night went out in heels!!!



Anyway, it being Sunday morning, it's time for a new challenge at The Crafty Pad and Pauline has set the challenge for Team A this week. Our theme for you is Add Some Glitter.

You'll love this week's sponsor. It's the fabby team from Joanna Sheen who are offering this week's lucky winner a £10 voucher to their online store ... having recently won a voucher which I've just spent, I can vouch for the fact that there are loads of goodies there to tempt a girl!!!



Debbie (our lovely Crafty Pad boss) has let the DT loose in the store again, and here is the card I've made for you this week using one of Debbie's gorgeous images, and the matching sentiment:

 

My card recipe is as follows:

• Base Card - is Centura Pearl in Ivory, which I have cut, scored and folded to make a circular side stepper card.
• Design Papers - is one of the recent goodies from the Winter Club at Create with TLC. This one is called December Snows Paper 7 in this gorgeous red/pink colour combination.
• Image - this beautiful fairy is called  Fairy Chloe on Daisies by Debbie at The Crafty Pad. I've  taken a slight liberty and tried to give Chloe and her daisies a bit of a Christmas look and to do this I used my Spectrum Noir pens in the following colours:
• Dress - BP1, BP2
• Wings - PP1, PP3, PP4 and some white glitter to give a sparkly highlight
• Hair - GB3, GB4, GB5
• Tiara - White Glitter
• Skin - FS2, FS3, FS6, GB2
• Shoes - BP2, BP6
• Flowers - CR8, CR10, EB7, GB10 and that White Glitter again!
• Leaves - CG2, CG4
• Sentiment - is also by Debbie at The Crafty Pad and goes perfectly with Fairy Chloe. It is called Fairy Bling Happy Birthday Circle and I have distressed the edge using a Papermania pigment ink cube in a hot pink shade (I've just discovered The Range, as I joined a friend for lunch there last week!). This, of course, had to be blinged up ... so I set to work with my pot of white glitter again!

The weather looks a bit better now, so I'm going to try and get a clear close-up view of my card for you ... I'll post back later.

In the meantime, do hop over to The Crafty Pad and see the gorgeous creations by the rest of Team A. Then come back and show us your creations to which you've Added some Glitter! You've got until 8pm (GMT) on Saturday 1st December 2012 to link your cards up.

With the help of the girls at Feline Playful (thanks girls!) I would like to enter the following challenge:

 

• More than One Fold at Come and Get It Challenges
• Celebration with Sparkle at Eclectic Ellapu
• No Squares Allowed at That Craft Place
• Challenge 159 - Don't be Square! at Totally Gorjuss
   

Hope you have a great weekend and if you're doing "stir up Sunday" hope it goes well for you ... our Christmas Cake was made a couple of weekends ago, so I'm ahead on that one this year!

Hugs, Helen x

Give it up for Pink!

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

Hi,

I'm back again with another post that is later than it should have been ... sorry! It's time for a new challenge at Lexi's Creations and this time our challenge theme is Pink, as it's Breast Cancer Awareness month. 

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.


The lovely Lexi has let the DT loose in her on-line store again (thanks Lexi!) and this is the card I have made to show to you today:



I've gone back to a lovely CAS style, and I've used the current sketch at Annabelle Stamps Blog for my inspiration.


My card recipe is as follows:

• Base Card - made from Centura Pearl in Pastel Pink which is cut, scored and folded to around 10.5cm square.
• Image - This beautiful floaty butterfly is called "Fairy Dust Butterfly" and it is just one of the gorgeous images to have come from the pen of  Lexi at Fairy Dust Crafts. I set this image into an off-centre oval and then brought this butterfly to life using my Spectrum Noir Pens in the following colours:
• Butterfly - PP1, PP3, PP4, PP5, IG2
• Outline - IG1
• Butterfly's Abdomen, Wing Ends and "Dust Trail" - Pink Glitter and Silver Gel Pen
• Background - Chalk in Pale Pink
• Sentiment - I used my Silver Gel Pen to write the words 'Faith ... Hope ... Courage' around the top of the oval
• Gems - from my stash

Head on over to Lexi's Creations and see how Pink my talented team-mates and our awesome Guest Designer Mark have gone - don't forget to come back and share your creations with us for this worthy cause! You've got until Saturday 13th October 2012 to link your cards up.

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

• absc054 Sketch Challenge at Annabelle Stamps
• Challenge 42 - Go Pink at Dream Valley Challenges
• Challenge #136 - Pretty Pastels at Totally Papercrafts
• 2nd Annual Link Up For Pink Party at Link Up For Pink
• Challenge #47 at Word Art Wednesday
• Down in the Garden at Joanna Sheen
• Challenge #130 - Save the Hooters at Craft Your Passion
• Challenge 133 - Butterflies or Buttons at One Stitch at a Time
• Cupcake 212 - Think Pink at Cupcake Craft

 That's it from me for today ... think I'm off to try and catch my tail! Thank goodness tomorrow is a new day, and I might get organised :o)

Hugs, Helen x

It's gotta be love!

Hello friends!

Team A at The Crafty Pad are choosing the challenge again this week, and the lovely Joanie has set our task. She has chosen the theme of Interactive - make it move. So, your cards have to move, pop-up, spin, waterfall ... anyway you want it, as long as it moves!

We have a great prize lined up for our lucky winner this week, courtesy of our friends at Crafty Ribbons - this lovely bundle of Teddy Bear Picnic Ribbons ... do you think anyone would notice if I slipped in a entry to this comp as I think these ribbons are gorgeous?

Debbie, our lovely boss lady, has let the DT loose in The Crafty Pad Store again, and I chose the cute image called Teds in Love and here is my card:

Of course, we've gone interactive so this is a "shaker" card ... and here it is shaken, definitely not stirred!

My card recipe is as follows:

• Base Card - made from Centura Pearl in Snow White onto which I embossed the smallest rosette shape from the "nest" on the Ultimate Pro Embossing Board Springtime Sweets and Cupcake Treats onto the top layer of my card and then cut this out to leave an aperture.
• Design Papers - are called Colourful Polka Dots and Lots of Hearts Gray from a kit by Summer at Summertime Designs called Dance with Me. I used the same rosette shape from the "nest" on the Ultimate Pro Embossing Board Springtime Sweets and Cupcake Treats to get the aperture on the DPs, and cut these out.
• Image - Teds in Love is just one of the many wonderful images by Debbie at Crafty Pad Designs and you can get your own copy of this lovestruck duo by clicking here! This couple came to life courtesy of my trusty Spectrum Noir Pens in the following colours:
• Girl Bear - IG1, IG2, IG4
• Boy Bear - IG4, IG5, IG6
• Heart and Rose - CR10, CR11
• Shaker Aperture Pocket - made from acetate, some thicker card (to separate my 2 layers of acetate) and fine red glitter (which I think came from a magazine earlier in the year)
• Sentiment - computer generated using a banner and font in my word processing package

Why don't you hop over to The Crafty Pad and see the lovely projects that my "Teamies" and our awesome Guest Designer have made. Then come back and show us your Interactive creations! You've got until 8pm (BST) on Saturday 28th July 2012 to link your cards up.

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

• Challenge #16 at {PIN}spirational Challenges
• Challenge #33 - Cute Animals at Ruby's Rainbow
• Challenge #50 - Shades of Grey & one other colour at Craft Your Days Away
• Use a Digi Stamp at The Poodles Parlour
• Challenge #150 - We Celebrate at Hanna and Friends
• Challenge 117 - Anything Goes at Digi Doodle Shop
• Challenge  #73 - Anything Goes at The Paper Shelter
• PSC41 - Anything Goes (with a sentiment) at The Perfect Sentiment
• Challenge #7 - The use of Acetate at Creations by Gill M

Have a great weekend, and enjoy the (whispering) sunshine!

Hugs, Helen x

Happy Birthday with "Lenny Cupcakes 2"

Hi,

My eldest came home from school last night and said it was her friend's birthday; could I do a card? Luckily I had this topper sat ready to mount on a card, so I quickly finished this card off. I apologise for the poor quality of the photos, but they were taken in great haste before school this morning (and it was quite foggy here so the light levels were not brilliant!).

My base card is 300gsm Centura Pearl in White, available from Crafter's Companion, which I folded to make a 6 inch square card base. The digital image on the topper is "Lenny Cupcakes 2" available from Stamp Fairy. This was the image I won from Karen in July, when the Stamp Fairies organised a Blog Hop to celebrate Gerda's birthday. Thank you Karen :o) !!!!!! It is mounted onto a digital paper from the set Urbanized 2 by Heather Jolly's Digital Scrapping. I've just tried to link to the site from this post but I get a message saying the blog has been removed :o(  I do hope this is just a blogger error, because Heather had some stunning sets on her blog available for download.  The "Happy Birthday" ticket is a freebie from Stamp Fairy. The red organza ribbon came from my stash (it was bought from Hobbycraft) and was tied into a little bow using the bow maker on my Ultimate Pro (from Crafter's Companion).

I used my Spectrum Noirs (Crafter's Companion) in the following colours to bring Lenny and his little friend to life:

Lenny

Fur: 96, 91, 98

Nose: 120

Paws: 33

Hat: 84, 82, 81

Friend

Fur: 104, 100, 92

Nose: 120

Paws: 33

Balloon: 12, 14, 11

Cupcake

Case: 171, 68

Icing: 137, 8

Cherry: 15, 48

I embossed the coloured image and my backing paper using the 2 largest sizes of circular 'nests' on the  Ultimate Pro Embossing Board "Springtime Sweets and Cupcake Treats" and cut these out so they could be layered. Before I did this I sprayed (quite liberally :D!) my coloured design with Iridescent Spray and Shine (Crafter's Companion again! lol!), although this layer of glitter really doesn't show up terribly well in the photo above - sorry :o(

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

• Glitter Challenge at Stamp Fairy
• Challenge #5 Bears at The Cutie Pie Challenge

I hope you like this card.

Hugs,
Helen x